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L O S A N G E L E S

DATELINEUSAFROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

October 17-20, 2015

SEAFOOD CITY 1

Volume 25 - No. 81 • 4 Sections – 38 Pages

A LIGHT drizzle as the clock struck 5 pm on Friday, Oct. 16 punctuated the festive five-day filing of certificates of candidacy (COC) at the main offices of the Commission on Elections (Com-elec) in Intramuros, Manila.

130 presidential hopefuls expected to be trimmed down

SEN. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Thursday, Oct. 15 confirmed that Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will be her running mate in 2016.

“I think we mutually chose each other,” Santiago said, referring to Marcos, who had filed his certificate of can-didacy as an independent vice presidential candidate.

In a statement issued on Thursday afternoon, Mar-cos said he met on Wednesday, Oct. 14 with Santiago’s husband, former DILG undersecretary Narciso “Jun” Santiago Jr., to discuss a possible alliance, but stopped short of confirming he had agreed to be Santiago’s run-ning mate.

“I can confirm that I had a lunch meeting with Sec-

‘WE CHOSE EACH OTHER’Santiago con�rms tandem with Marcos

LAS VEGAS – Democratic presidential hopefuls took to the stage for the first debate on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at the Wynn Hotel.

Sanders, Clinton take the lead in �rst Democratic presidential debate

Asian American leaders, voters react

”Overall, the outcome pre-served the fiesta atmosphere … hopefully it continues the pro-cess. Mas maayos ang pag-file kesa nakalipas na halalan [this year’s filing period was more or-derly than last year’s],” Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista told reporters in a briefing held short-ly after security personnel closed

the entrance gates of the Palacio del Governador where the Com-elec is housed.

During the week-long period, the Comelec received COC ap-plications from 130 individuals who want to run for President, 19 for Vice President and 172 for senators.

The two-hour debate, which was aired and moderated by CNN and sponsored by Face-book, featured five candidates: Hillary Clinton, former secretary of state, senator and first lady; Bernie Sanders, US senator from Vermont; former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley; Jim Webb, for-

mer US senator from Virginia; and Lincoln Chafee, former governor and former US sena-tor from Rhode Island.

CNN host Anderson Cooper served as the moderator, while Dana Bash, chief political cor-respondent for the network,

ASIAN Americans Advancing Justice re-leased a new report about the growing Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Is-lander (NHPI) populations in the West--in-cluding new demographics in Arizona, Ha-waii, Oregon, Las Vegas, and Seattle.

The report follows a new study from Pew Research Center, which shows the rapid growth of the Asian American population in the United States, fueled largely by immigra-tion following passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965.

In 2065, about one in three Americans would be an immigrant or have immigrant parents, compared with one-in-four in 2015, Pew projects. Among the projected 441 mil-lion Americans in 2065, 78 million will be im-migrants and 81 million will be people born in the U.S. to immigrant parents.

“As our communities have grown, more Asian Americans and NHPI are becoming

Study: Growing disparities among Western Asian American population

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite infighting and partisan bickering among the nation’s elected leaders about how to avert govern-ment shutdowns or deal with climate change, some of them at least took the time last week to focus on something less controversial.

Like recognizing Filipino American History Month (FAHM).

October is a month celebrated by the nearly four million Filipinos and Filipino Americans, many of whom call America home, and that figure certainly matters come election time.

Introduced October 8 by U.S. Senator Maize Hirono (Dem.-Hawaii) and U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (Dem.-Calif.), the FAHM resolu-tion bills itself as “bipartisan” and “bicam-eral,” which means it has the broad support of Democrats and Republicans. It’s a rarity in this very politically polarized town.

Among the supporters: • Democrat Harry Reid and Republican

O�cial Washington pauses to honor Fil-Am History Month

A RECENTLY posted video purportedly showing four hostages who were kidnapped in September by armed militants in the southern Philippines is still being veri-fied but appears to be authentic, a Philippine military spokesman said Wednesday, Oct. 14.

“A technical team is validating it,” Col. Restituto Padil-la Jr. said of the clip that was posted Twitter, according to The New York Times. “No group has been identified with finality, and none have claimed responsibility.”

The video was posted on Twitter on Sunday, Oct. 11, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks ter-

PH militants post video of four hostages kidnapped in September

NEW YORK – Asia Society honored Manny Pacquiao with its Asia Game Changer Award Tuesday, Oct. 13 at the United Nations. Pacquiao joins last year’s awardees Jack Ma, CEO of Alibaba; Malala Yousafzai, icon of girls’ rights from Pakistan; Il-lac Diaz, founder of MyShelter and Liter of Light and other in-spiring Asian personalities who are making a transformative im-pact on the future of Asia.

This is the second year that

Pacquiao honored with Asia Game Changer Award

For using his sport, and his star power, as forces for good

Asia Society is honoring the dreamers and leaders who are making a positive impact on the future of Asia. This year’s batch of awardees include Nobel Lau-reates in Physics from Japan, a ballet dancer from China, an edu-cator in India, a communications mogul in China, a comedian from the United States and the UAE’s first female fighter pilot.

These inspiring men and women represent the spectrum of achievement – those who have led from positions of power, as well as those who have done so

by MOMAR G. VISAYAAJPress

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OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797A�

From the Front Page

POE-ESCUDERO TANDEM. Sen. Grace Poe and Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Thursday, Oct. 15 filed their certificates of candidacy for president and vice president, respectively, before the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Poe was accompanied by her mother, actress Susan Roces, while Escudero was with his wife, actress Heart Evangelista. Philstar.com photo by Jonathan Asuncion

More than 190 groups have also filed for the party-list elec-tions.

The Comelec is expected to purge the candidates’ list and weed out the so-called nuisance candidates before the poll body proceeds with the printing of the ballots.

Election lawyer Romulo Ma-

calintal said accepting COCs did not mean the applicants were al-ready candidates.

”Comelec will weigh if they have the capacity to run. The Comelec may not approve their COCs,” he added.

Duterte no-showOver a hundred supporters

of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, joined by scores of sup-

porters of Sen. Alan Peter Cay-etano who had filed his COC for Vice President, waited outside the Palacio del Governador, hop-ing to catch a glimpse of the feisty mayor who was reported to be heading for the Comelec main offices to file his COC for Presi-dent.

Former North Cotabato gover-nor Manny Piñol told The Manila Times that Duterte was already in Manila.

“We’re optimistic that he’ll heed the call of the people that’s why we’re here,” former Quezon City Rep. Dante Liban, told the Times. Liban has filed his COC for senator purportedly under Duterte’s ticket.

The mayor, who had repeat-edly said he is not running for President, did not show up.

Minus Duterte, next year’s presidential contest is shaping into a four-cornered fight with pre-election survey leaders Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Je-jomar Binay slugging it out with

Four-cornered fight looms for PH…

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retary Jun Santiago yesterday [Wednesday],” the senator said. “We agreed to meet again soon.”

Santiago refused to divulge further details on the Santiago-Marcos tandem but told report-ers that she will file her COC at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday, the last day of the registration of candidates. She said she is not sure if Marcos will accompany her.

“I don’t know if he’ll be there but he probably will be,” San-tiago told reporters after her induction to the Hall of Fame of the Philippine Judges Associa-tion (PJA).

In announcing her candidacy during the launch of her book on Tuesday, she said, “I think it would be prudent [to run for President] because I would dis-appoint a lot of people if I don’t do that.”

Santiago, who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2014, said she is 100 percent sure of running for President and she can only be stopped if she is struck again by cancer.

Santiago…

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(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 A�From the Front page

MILF’s Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim (left) and Muslimin Sema of the MNLF (right) sign a declaration, recognizing the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law as a convergence of the separate peace accords of their respective groups with Malacañang. The two-page declaration was signed in Sultan Kudarat town in Maguindanao by the figurehead of the MILF, Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim, and former Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema, chairman of the largest of three factions in the MNLF.   Philstar.com photo by John Unson

rorist activities on the web. In the clip, the four hostages – three men and one woman – are shown sitting in a row on the ground, along with 10 masked men hold-ing automatic weapons. One un-masked man is shown holding a machete to the neck of one hos-tage.

It further shows three hostages – two Canadians, Robert Hall and John Ridsdel, and one Norwe-gian, Kjartan Sekkingstad – beg-ging for help from the Philippine and Canadian governments. The fourth person, a Filipino woman, Tess Flor, does not speak in the clip.

“To my family and friends, I am O.K., but I am in grave dan-ger,” says a man in the clip who identifies himself as Hall. “I en-courage you, please, to contact the Canadian government and ask them, plead with them to co-operate with the Philippine gov-ernment to stop the bombings and the problems that are going on here.”

The hostage who had the ma-chete against his neck, identified himself as Ridsdel.

“We beseech the Canadian government to please, please help us and the Philippine gov-ernment … by stopping all of the operations that have been going on, like artillery fire which came near us,” he said.

The hostages were abducted on the evening of Sept. 21 at the Oceanview Resort on Samal Is-land, off the coast of Mindanao, according to the Philippine mili-tary.

At the end of the video, a masked man made the follow-ing demand to the Canadian and Philippine governments:

“Number one, that there must be no military operation and there must be no artillery attack and all of this harmful against us. Once you meet our require-ments, then we can talk about negotiation and demand.”

While the kidnappers do not identify their affiliation in the clip, they appear to be members of Abu Sayyaf, said Matt Wil-liams, country director in the Philippines for risk management and security firm Pacific Strate-gies and Assessments. The firm tracks insurgencies in the coun-try.

“Every indication suggests that the video is authentic,” he said, according to the Times. “It is important not to link these latest kidnappings in the Philip-pines with jihadi movements like Islamic State. The Abu Sayyaf are all about the money and have little time for ideology.”

Williams further told the Times that previous ransom negotia-tions with Abu Sayyaf have taken several years.

The video was the first indi-cation of what happened to the hostages and that they were still alive, according to The Associ-ated Press.

Canada’s Department of For-eign Affairs said the government was aware that two Canadian cit-izens were taken hostage, CNN reported.

“Canadian officials are in close contact with Filipino authori-ties and have been pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information. The Govern-ment of Canada will not comment or release any information which may compromise ongoing efforts and risks endangering the safety of Canadian citizens abroad,” a spokesman said.

The Norwegian government confirmed it is aware of the vid-eo’s existence but declined to comment except to say that it is working with authorities and the Philippine government on the situation, Rune Bjastad, commu-nications adviser and press con-tact for the Minister of Foreign affairs, told CNN.

The September kidnapping comes after a time of relative optimism in the southern Phil-ippines, the Times reported. In 2012, the Philippine government reached a peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which was hoped would result in

PH militants post video of four hostages…PAGE A1 t

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OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797A� From the Front page

and CNN en Español reporter Juan Carlos Lopez asked addi-tional questions.

15.3 million people tuned in on Tuesday night, making it the highest-rated Democratic debate in history, the network said.

Clinton and Sanders, who have been leading in the polls, got the most speaking time. The three other candidates remained on the sidelines with minimal op-portunities to make themselves stand out, which was crucial as

this platform was their introduc-tion to American voters.

The progression of the night shifted in favor of Clinton — whose email controversy has overshadowed her campaign and has been a point of attack for Republicans — as she worked to regain trust from Democrats by highlighting her competency after nearly a quarter century in politics and defending her his-tory of flip-flopping on issues like immigration, same-sex marriage and trade deals.

The first question addressed that inconsistency, to which Clin-ton said, “Well, actually, I have been very consistent. Over the course of my entire life, I have always fought for the same val-ues and principles, but, like most human beings — including those of us who run for office — I do absorb new information. I do look at what’s happening in the world.”

Her political leaning, whether she is a progressive or moderate, was also under question.

“I’m a progressive. But I’m a progressive who likes to get things done,” she responded. “And I know how to find com-mon ground, and I know how to stand my ground, and I have proved that in every position that I’ve had, even dealing with Re-publicans who never had a good word to say about me, honestly.”

When asked whether she wanted to respond to her use of a private email account while secretary of state, she firmly said “no.” Even Sanders, Clinton’s closest opponent, came to her defense by saying Americans “are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails,” which led to agreement from Clinton and a handshake, as the crowd cheered.

In the two hours, a range of issues was discussed, from im-migration, free education, gun control and national security.

On immigration, Sanders was asked to explain why he

Sanders, Clinton take the lead in…PAGE A1 t

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from ground-level laboratories of innovation, according to Asia Society.

Against the backdrop of New York’s East River and Queens-boro Bridge, Pacquiao and his fellow awardees mingled with Asia Society trustees, officers, and other guests from around the world. Josette Sheeran, Asia Society’s president and CEO, began the ceremony by noting that Asians have received insuf-

ficient recognition for their con-tributions to the world. “More than 950 Nobel prizes have been awarded since 1901, and less than six percent have gone to Asians — even though 60 per-cent of the world’s population is in Asia and Asia has 50 percent of the world’s patents,” Sheeran said. “We at Asia Society want to recognize the brilliance of Asia — those who are changing the world for the better.”

In his five-minute acceptance speech, Pacquiao related his story as a young boy who de-sired to help his mother move their family out of poverty.

“That desire became big and I never expected and imagined that I will accomplish all I have done. This award is a very pres-tigious award and it is a big hon-or to my family and me and the whole Filipino people because of their support,” he said.

Pacquiao also expressed his thanks to Asia Society and the people who have been support-ing him.

“I’m so thankful and blessed by God because of this honor and blessing. I experienced a life that you never experienced, a life that sometimes we have food, sometimes none. We had no shelter. I tried to sleep on the streets. My success in life...I will never forget my past that’s why I help them by giving them a house, jobs, free education and health care - everything that I

can do to help them.”“Thank God for giving me

strength and good health every day and because of the inspi-ration that the Filipino people and boxing fans from all over the world have been giving me that’s why I am still here, and I keep on fighting and punching,” he added.

Tennis legend John McEn-roe presented the Asia Game Changer Award to Pacquiao.

“He is an amazing champion,” McEnroe said, and added that he has similarities with the boxing hero. “We are both left-hand-ed, we both play one-on-one sport and we’re both extremely tough.”

In his introduction, McEn-roe shared a story about Nel-son Mandela who told him that sports have the ability to change the world.

“Manny Pacquiao is a living proof. He is one of those indi-viduals who has done that. He is a humanitarian who has giv-en back in his own country to people who are much less fortu-nate,” McEnroe said.

The tennis champ then went on to commend Pacquiao for his guts in venturing into politics.

“To go into the world of poli-tics, that is really unbelievable. I think you’re used to hitting peo-ple above the belt, now people are hitting you below the belt all the time,” he said, directly ad-

Pacquiao honored with Asia Game…

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The 2015 Asia Society Asia Game Changers. (L-R) Shuji Nakamura, Aasif Mandvi, Mariam al-Mansouri, Kiran Bir Sethi, Li Cunxin, Manny Pacquiao, Chanda Kochhar, and Lei Jun. Photographed on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

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CHAMPIONS OF RESILIENCE. Senator Loren Legarda with children from Banaue, Ifugao. In celebration of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, the UNISDR recognized the Ifugao people as Champion of Resilience for utilizing indigenous knowledge in building resilience. Senate photo

administration-backed candidate Manuel Roxas 2nd and Sen. Mir-iam Defensor-Santiago.

A total of 48 individuals filed their COC for President on the last day of the filing period.

Santiago, who announced her intention to join the presidential race last Tuesday was the 105th to file a COC for President. She arrived at the Comelec around 2 pm.

The senator, who had an-nounced that she was already cured of lung cancer, is running for the presidency a third time. She placed second to President Fidel V. Ramos in 1992 and was 4th in a field of 10 candidates in 1998.

She earlier announced she will be running with Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as her vice presiden-tial running mate.

Marcos has not categorically confirmed his team-up with San-tiago, but said his and her

camps have held talks about the possibility.

Former ambassador and now OFW Family party-list Rep. Roy Señeres also filed his COC for President on Friday. He and his running mate, Bishop Ted

Malangen of the JesusChrist the Deliverer Church,

are running under the Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka.

Señeres said he has already drafted his first executive order if ever he wins the presidency.

Former Quezon City barangay captain Martin Diño, chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), was the last to file a COC for President.

It was widely speculated that Diño filed his candidacy to en-able Duterte to still get a chance to join the race via substitution.

Duterte is a member of PDP-La-ban. The last day for the filing of substitution is on December 10.

Comelec Chairman Bautista said under the rules, substitution can only be made by persons in the same party and “the person to be substituted has to withdraw and there has to be a new Cona or certification of nomination and acceptance by the person to be substituted.”

Vice presidential raceThe vice presidential contest

is also turning out to be exciting. Six incumbent legislators, six senators and a congresswoman have joined the field of 19 aspi-rants for the second highest posi-

tion of the land.They are Senators Gregorio

Honasan (United Nationalist Alli-ance), Marcos Jr. (independent), Francis Joseph Escudero (inde-pendent), Antonio Trillanes 4th (independent), Allan Peter Cay-etano (Nationalist People’s Co-alition) and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo (Liberal Party).

Cayetano, accompanied by his wife, Taguig City Mayor Lani Cayetano, filed his COC on the last day.

Senate raceA mix of veterans, neophytes

and celebrities filed their COC for

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The senator has been on sick leave since she publicly announced she has Stage 4 lung cancer.

Despite her medical condition, she remains to be the most prolific legislator for having the most num-ber of bills and resolutions filed.

Santiago said she will be run-ning under her own party, the People’s Reform Party (PRP), which was established in 1992 when she first ran for President.

It will be the third time for San-tiago to seek the presidency.

Her first attempt was in 1992 when she lost to Fidel Ramos, the candidate endorsed by former President Corazon Aquino.

Santiago placed 2nd to Ra-mos, getting 4.4 million votes or 19.72 percent of the 24.2 million votes cast. Ramos got 5.3 million votes.

Santiago placed the outcome of the elections under protest, but it was eventually dismissed on a technicality by the Presiden-tial Electoral Tribunal.

Media reports at the time said Santiago was leading the can-vassing of votes for the first five days.

Following a string of power outages, the tabulation con-cluded, and Ramos was declared President-elect.

Santiago again ran in 1998 but only placed 4th in a field of 10 candidates.

She received 797,206 votes or just 2.96 percent of the total votes cast, while the winner, Vice President Joseph Estrada got 10.7 million votes or 39.86 per-cent of the total votes cast.

No effect on Moro lawMarcos on Thursday gave his

assurance that his vice presiden-tial bid will not get in the way of the Senate deliberation on his version of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which is being referred to as the Basic Law of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region (BLBAR).

Marcos, who heads the Sen-ate local government committee, vowed to do everything humanly

possible to finish it.He said the committee will

immediately resume delibera-tions once the chamber passes the 2016 General Appropria-tions Act (GAA) on third and fi-nal reading.

It has been a practice of the chamber to put all pending leg-islation on the back seat to give way to the passage of the nation-al budget, Marcos added.

The Senate, before going on a three-week break, was already on the interpellation period on the BLBAR and is expected to begin with the period of amend-ments once Congress resumes its session on November 3.

Senate plenary debates on the BLBAR are going smoothly, un-like in the House of Representa-tives where quorum remains to be a major stumbling block.

“We will go back to it [BLBAR] immediately, maybe November or before Christmas, as soon as the budget is finished,” Marcos said. n

Santiago confirms tandem with…PAGE A2 t

rejected Pres. Bush’s immigra-tion overhaul in 2007 to which he responded that he has voiced concerns over guest-worker pro-grams because of the working conditions and because tempo-rary foreign workers do not help reduce US unemployment.

“I voted against that piece of legislation because it had guest-worker provisions in it which the Southern Poverty Law Center

talked about being semi-slavery. Guest workers are coming in, they’re working under terrible conditions, but if they stand up for their rights, they’re thrown out of the country,” Sanders said. “My view right now -- and always has been -- is that when you have 11 million undocumented people in this country, we need compre-hensive immigration reform, we need a path toward citizenship, we need to take people out of the

shadows.”In response to rising college

costs and student loans, Sand-ers proposed “free” public col-lege tuition, while Clinton said students should work 10 hours a week to earn their tuition at pub-lic institutions.

With the number of shootings in the United States, the candi-dates took on the issue of gun control, largely clashing over

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FAREWELL CALL. President Benigno S. Aquino III greets outgoing Qatar Ambassador to the Philippines Jassim Ali Al Obaidli during his farewell call at the Music Room of the Malacañang Palace on Tuesday, Oct. 13. Malacañang photo by Joseph Vidal

greater security and prosperity in the area. However, approval of the deal has been delayed in the Philippine Congress, and the mil-itary has periodically battled oth-er rebel groups that are against the agreement, according to the publication.

Philippine authorities pledged

to bolster security in the south after the kidnapping in Sep-tember. However, three weeks later in a separate incident, the Italian owner of a Mindanao pizzeria was kidnapped from the city of Dipolog. Police said they have not linked this situ-ation to Abu Sayyaf, the Times reported. n

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dressing Pacquiao.A short video about Pac-

quiao’s life from the slums to his achievements as a boxer and as a humanitarian was shown.

In addition to his athletic ca-reer, Pacquiao is also a philan-thropist, musician, and, since 2010, a politician: he represents Sarangani in the Philippine House of Representatives. Ear-lier this week, Pacquiao con-

firmed his interest in seeking a seat in the Philippine Senate, and would not rule out an even-tual run for the presidency.

This year’s honorees were nominated by thought leaders in Asia. Asia Society’s global net-work generated more than 130 nominations of individuals and institutions.

Among the other game chang-ers recognized this year were Lei Jun, co-founder of Xiaomi, China’s leading smart phone vendor and the world’s third largest phone manufacturer; Chanda Kochhar, the first fe-male to head an Indian bank; Li Cunxin, ballet dancer from China who is now the artistic director of Queensland Ballet in Australia; Aasif Mandvi, a come-dian on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart who used this platform to tackle Islamophobia; Mariam al-Man-souri, UAE’s first female fight-er pilot who has led airstrikes against ISIS in Syria.

Also recognized were Kiran Bir Sethi, who founded The Riv-erside School to offer an alterna-tive to a rigid education system with an emphasis on encourag-ing youth volunteerism; Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura who won the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Pacquiao visited the Asia So-ciety Museum on Monday for a 30-minute tour of Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms, an exhibition dis-playing the country’s pre-colo-nial tradition of golden jewelry, armaments, and ornamentation. As he was guided by Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, consulting curator from the Ayala Museum in the Philippines, Pacquiao ap-peared loose and relaxed, fre-quently expressing amazement that the items on display were made of actual gold.

The conversation during the subsequent press conference, naturally, turned to boxing. Five

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how to go about it.Clinton criticized Sanders for

not being tough enough on guns and even voting against legisla-tion that mandated background checks. She, O’Malley and Chafee directly went after the National Rifle Association (NRA) in their responses and pressed massive gun controls, while Webb de-fended the 2nd Amendment.

Another moment of disagree-ment between Clinton and Sand-ers came when Sanders lashed

out against the “casino capital-ist process” and “Wall Street’s greed,” to which Clinton said being anti-capitalist would go against the system that built America’s middle class.

“…When I think about capital-ism, I think about all the small businesses that were started be-cause we have the opportunity and the freedom in our country for people to do that and to make a good living for themselves and their families…[W]e would be making a grave mistake to

turn our backs on what built the greatest middle class in the his-tory,” she said.

The candidates were also asked to name the “greatest na-tional security threat to the Unit-ed States”; responses included the situation in the Middle East, nuclear weapons, climate change and the US’ relationship with China.

Though there were not as many dynamic moments or bick-ering between candidates as seen during the past two Republican debates, the discussion provided more substance on top issues.

“On this stage you didn’t hear anyone denigrate women,” O’Malley said in his closing statement. “You didn’t hear any-one make racist comments about new American immigrants. You didn’t hear anyone speak ill of another American because of their religious belief. What you heard instead on this stage to-night was an honest search for the answers that will move our country forward…”

The next Democratic debate is scheduled for Nov. 14 at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. Though the list of participants is yet to be disclosed, the five can-didates who appeared in Las Ve-gas will likely be included.

Post-debate reactionsAfter the debate, a CNN/Face-

book poll showed that 81 percent of online voters thought Sanders was the winner, while 13 percent

Sanders, Clinton take the lead in…PAGE A5 t

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senator. Of the 172 aspirants, 89 filed on the last day.

Among the late filers were for-mer Special Action Force com-mander Getulio Napenas, retired Major General Jovito Palparan, Maria Susana Ople, broadcast-er Rey Langit, former Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, actor Edu Manzano, former Tesda chief Joel Villanueva, former Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello, world boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Emmanuel Pacquiao, former senator Rich-ard Gordon, Manila Vice Mayor Franciso Domagoso also known as Isko Moreno, former DILG Secretary Rafael Alunan 3rd, re-tired general and congressman Rodrigo Gutang, comedian Amay Bisay, and retired police generals Ramon Montaño and Diosdado Valeroso. n

Four-cornered…PAGE A5 t

citizens, registering to vote and casting ballots. Elected officials need to pay attention and be re-sponsive to the growing needs and concerns of two of the fast-est growing constituencies in the West,” said Steward Kwoh, president and executive direc-tor of Advancing Justice -- Los Angeles.

Aside from highlighting the disparities between specific Asian ethnicities, the report (en-titled “A Community of Contrasts: Asian Americans, Native Hawai-ians, and Pacific Islanders in the West”) illustrates the numerous business and economic contri-butions by the Asian American community.

“It underscores the future po-litical power of the [Asian] demo-graphic in the Western United States,” Advancing Justice said in a press release.

The Community of Contrasts report is part of a series of de-mographic research and profiles that present the latest, clear data on Asian American and NHPI communities: including popula-tion counts, growth, and socio-economic characteristics such as age, immigration, language, employment, income, housing, and health in both larger and in-dividual communities.

The series includes a national report providing a holistic snap-shot of Asian American commu-nities, a report focused solely on the NHPI population, as well as regional reports on the Asian

American and NHPI communi-ties in the Midwest, California, the Northeast, the South, and now, the West.

“When we talk about the grow-ing Asian American community in the United States, it’s crucial to recognize that Asian Ameri-cans are extremely diverse,” said Mee Moua, president and executive director of Advancing Justice | AAJC. “While some are doing well, others are struggling. We must celebrate the communi-ties’ successes, but also realize that the success of certain ethnic

groups often mask[s] the difficul-ties faced by others that fall under the Asian American and NHPI umbrella. We are able to show-case our contributions and needs by using disaggregated data in our demographic reports.”

Some key facts from the West report include:• There are more than 8 mil-

lion Asian Americans living in the West. One out of every ten people in the West is Asian American. There are 870,000 NHPI living in the West. NHPI comprise 1 per-

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EL NIÑO is coming. The tropi-cal storm phenomenon--caused by warming ocean waters in the equatorial Pacific--has been expected for a while, but now climate scientists are saying El Niño is on track to become “one of the most powerful [storms] on record.”

The National Weather Service predicts stronger, wetter rains to virtually all of California, which has been experiencing heavier-than-usual rainfall and humidity.

“The present El Niño is already one of the strongest on record and is expected to strengthen further through the late fall or early win-ter months,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with Stanford University. “At this juncture, the likeliest outcome for California is a wetter-than-average winter.”

The new forecast is significant because it raises the chance that El Niño will send big storms not only to Southern California and up to the Bay Area, but also to the mountains that feed California’s most important water reservoirs, said the Los Angeles Times.

California’s largest reservoirs, fueling water for much of the entire state, are Shasta Lake and Lake Oroville in the northern edge of the state.

“If patterns from previous strong El Niños repeat, there will be a number of significant storms that will bring heavy rains. What

Stronger El Niño coming to the WestCalifornia faces storms, drenching rain

by Allyson EscobArAJPress

that brings will be floods and mudslides,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director of the National Weather Service’s Climate Pre-diction Center, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration. “We’re more confident we’re going to be seeing El Niño through this water.”

“This El Niño is the strongest on record,” Halpert added, not-ing the record dating back to 1950.

Weather experts said they ex-pect El Niño rains to ease drought conditions, but not completely eliminate the drought--which is currently taking up 97 percent of the state, according to the US Drought Monitor.

While more rainfall would cer-tainly be welcome, there is virtu-ally no hope that one rainy winter could reverse the severe effects of California’s four-year drought, officials said. It would take many years of above-average rain and snow to officially end the drought and refill empty, dried-up reser-voirs and wells, experts say.

“Californians should continue to use water carefully and spar-ingly in the face of the ongoing extreme drought,” state climatol-ogist Michael L. Anderson said in a statement. “Californians should not count on El Niño to end the drought.”

The chance of heavy rain is strongest in Los Angeles and San Diego, where there is a 60 per-cent chance of a wet winter, a

33 percent chance of an average winter, and less than a 7 percent chance of a dry winter.

But in Silicon Valley, there is more than a 50 percent likelihood of a wet winter and less than a 17 percent chance of a dry winter. Farther north, there is a greater than 40 percent chance of a wet-ter-than-average rainy winter in San Francisco and Sacramento, and less than a 27 percent prob-ability of a drier-than-normal winter, reports said.

With the latest prediction, northern parts of California, in-cluding the border with Oregon, are expected to have a 33-39 per-cent chance of a wetter-than-av-erage winter, and a 28-33 percent chance of a dry one. In Septem-ber, the climate forecast for that region was only equal chances of a wet or dry winter.

The latest winter climate fore-cast for the January-February-March time frame, predicted by the National Weather Service, comes as El Niño is still particu-larly strong in the Pacific Ocean, west of Peru.

A powerful storm can move the jet stream that funnels wet winter storms over the jungles of south-ern Mexico and Central America north, hitting California and the southern US region with intense, potentially deadly winter rain.

Halpert said the power of the upcoming El Niño could com-pare to previous storms in 1982-83 and 1997-98, which brought

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Among the dozens of US Senators and US Representatives who signed the bipartisan Resolution recognizing Filipino American History Month are (from left, back row) Sen. Tim Kaine (Dem.-Virginia), Rep. Juan Vargas (Dem.-Calif.), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Dem.-Hawaii), Rep. Joe Heck (Rep.-Nevada) and Sen. Maize Hirono, seen in this photo with Filipino World War II veterans, including Maj. Gen. Taguba (left) at a June 8 press conference. Photo by Jon Melegrito

Dean Heller, US Senators from Nevada – a state with the fastest growing Filipino population in the nation.

• Republican Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois and Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia – two key states, which always figure prominently in national elections, with Filipino Ameri-cans assuming the role of “swing voters.”

• Democratic Senator Rich-ard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – relatively

smaller states but with significant numbers of Filipino Americans asserting their presence.

• And 21 U.S. Representa-tives, all Democrats. A handful of Republicans were expected to sign on but a leadership crisis (triggered by a failure to elect House Speaker John Boehner’s successor) got in the way.

The congressional resolution basically notes the contributions to America by Filipinos and Fili-pino Americans, notably World War II veterans, farm workers and labor leaders, nurses, doc-tors and health professionals, artists and architects, educators and entertainers, entrepreneurs and elected officials.

Obama’s proclamationBut it was President Obama

who kicked-off the national com-memoration with his October 1 Proclamation. He enjoined all Americans to reflect on “the struggles and victories of the many Filipino Americans who have helped shaped our Nation” and to “celebrate the extraordi-nary ways Filipino Americans have contributed to our coun-try.”

The president noted that the victory of Allied forces during World War II was “made possible in part by thousands of Filipino Americans who fought for our Nation but who, for far too long, were denied the compensation they had earned.”

The next day, Obama hosted – through the White House Initia-tive on Asian American and Pa-cific Islanders (WHIAAPI) – more than 200 Filipino American lead-ers from across the country.

They toured the White House in the morning, and in the after-noon they assembled in a large hall where they were addressed and entertained by Nani Coloret-ti, the highest ranking Filipino American in the Obama adminis-tration and the Number Two of-ficial in the Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development, Apl.de.ap of Black Eyed Peas and a few others.

Timed with the occasion for maximum effect was the much-awaited announcement that the Department of Homeland Securi-

ty would soon be processing pa-role visas for families of Filipino World War II veterans. No less than Leon Rodriguez, director of the U.S. Citizenship & Immigra-tion Services, broke the news to a cheering crowd.

It will be recalled that Presi-dent Obama, frustrated by Con-gress’ inability to pass compre-hensive immigration reform, has taken upon himself to issue executive orders granting immi-gration relief to undocumented immigrants.

Knowing how broken the im-migration system is, the presi-dent also took executive action to fast-track the visa petitions of family members who have been waiting for years (20 in most cases) to reunite with their aging parents. It is estimated that from 2,000 to 6,000 Filipino Veterans still residing in the U.S. will ben-efit from this humanitarian ges-ture.

Call to ActionThe Congressional Asian Pa-

cific American Caucus (CAPAC), a bipartisan group of lawmak-ers, also noted the valuable role Filipinos – notably World War II veterans – have played in the nation’s pursuit of peace and prosperity.

On October 1, CAPAC hosted a press conference in the U.S. Capitol. Led by Sen. Maize Hi-rono (Dem.-Hawaii), and joined by U.S. Representatives Mike Honda (Dem.-Calif.), Grace Meng (Dem.-New York), Mark Takai (Dem. Hawaii) and Mad-eleine Bordallo (Dem.-Guam), they called on their colleagues to sign on to the Filipino Veterans Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015. Its passage will once and for all secure official recognition of the 260,000 Filipino and Filipi-no American soldiers who served in World War II.

In the days following the kick-off events, a number of Filipino Americans from California, Flor-ida Illinois, Nevada, Texas and Washington fanned out to dif-ferent Capitol Hill offices, urg-ing their US Representatives and Senators to support the Congres-sional Gold Medal legislation. As

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dramatic weather changes world-wide and extensive damage and flooding throughout California.

According to Swain, California could receive stronger storms than typical, especially between December through March. With sea temperatures particularly warm offshore, that could bring even more atmospheric moisture to fuel storm systems bound for this state, he wrote in his blog.

“All of this suggests that there could be a substantially increased risk of precipitation-related haz-ards this winter in California, in-cluding flooding and landslides,” Swain said.

The harsh effects of the drought–deaths of trees, thick ash and debris left behind by

wildfires–could also increase the risk of mudslides and debris flow this winter.

In addition, “the last massive El Niño to hit California was suc-ceeded a few months later by its sister, La Niña, the demon of drought,” commented Bill Patzert, a climatologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“Once they arrive, the storms won’t just stop in L.A. They will continue across the southern United States, through Texas and into Florida,” Patzert said.

“The flip side of that is the northern tier of the United States tends to be relatively mild and benign.”

While more precipitation is likely across the southern part of the country, the drier-than-aver-

age weather is forecasted in most of Alaska, the northern Rockies, the northern Plains, and around the Great Lakes, according to the Climate Prediction Center.

The center does not specify how much of the precipitation falls as snow, ice, or rain, only that is overall more likely, said USA Today. Snow forecasts are dependent upon the strength and track of winter storms, which are generally not predictable more than a week in advance, the cen-ter said.

As for how cold it should be this winter, most of the western and northern US should see a milder-than-average season, as weather patterns should keep the worst of the extended cold outbreaks away. n

Stronger El Niño coming to the…PAGE A8 t

cent of the West’s population.• Asian Americans and Pacific

Islanders are becoming citizens in greater numbers. Asian Amer-icans and NHPIs are registering to vote and going to polls in in-creasing numbers in the West. In certain jurisdictions, Asian Americans and NHPIs have al-ready had or will soon have the ability to produce the margin of victory to impact the outcomes of

elections.• Asian Americans and NHPIs

continue to own businesses and employ millions of people. Asian American and NHPIs buying power continues to grow in all major regions in the West.

• While some Asian Ameri-cans and NHPIs in the West have achieved economic success, oth-ers still struggle to make ends meet. The reality is Asian Ameri-cans and NHPIs in the West are

more likely to live in poverty, be low income, make less money and be less likely to own homes than Whites.

• While some Asian Ameri-cans and NHPIs have no trouble speaking English and accessing educational opportunities and health care, many still need lan-guage assistance to access criti-cal services, and have difficulty graduating high school. (Allyson Escobar / AJPress)

Study: Growing disparities among Western…PAGE A7 t

a result, seven more Senators and four more U.S. Representa-tives signed up as co-sponsors.

Month in the sunJust hours before the Octo-

ber 1 deadline, on the morning after Congress voted to avert a government shutdown, Obama expressed relief and remarked that “we should celebrate where we can.” Soon after, he issued his proclamation calling for the celebration of Filipino American History Month.

As it turned out, averting a shutdown was propitious, which made the celebration happen: CAPAC didn’t have to cancel

its press conference; the White House Initiative on Asian Ameri-can Pacific Islanders didn’t have to postpone the Tour and White House event; and Capitol Hill offices remained open for their constituents.

“You know, it’s a good indica-tor that you’ve arrived when you don’t only have your own month but that the White House is say-ing they want to celebrate it, too,” said Coloretti in her open-ing keynote remarks.

“The Filipino American cul-ture deserves its month in the sun,” chimed in New York Sena-tor Chuck Schumer in his press statement honoring FAHM.

Official Washington pauses to honor Fil-Am…But the sun was nowhere to

be found in Washington’s dark skies during the first three days of October. Hurricane Joaquin was passing through and tried to grab all the attention. But it didn’t matter. The spirit of Fili-pino American History Month in the nation’s capital asserted it-self with Pinoy-style humor and laughter, despite relentless driz-zle and soggy weather.

“Well take this over a govern-ment shutdown, anytime, rain or shine,” said Rozita Villanueva Lee, former WHIAAPI Commis-sioner who flew in from sunny Las Vegas. (Jon Melegrito / In-quirer.net)

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were in favor of Clinton. Scores for O’Malley, Webb and Chafee were below 3 percent.

Despite claims from Sand-ers’ camp that he dominated the stage, Clinton supporters praised her performance and asserted that she is the clear frontrunner in this race.

“[Clinton] did really well. She showed herself to be a leader for this country…[and] laid the groundwork for winning,” Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) said in the post-debate spin room, add-ing that Clinton demonstrated how she differs from President Barack Obama, yet how she will continue on from what he was accomplished.

While in Las Vegas, Chu met with Asian American Pacific Is-lander (AAPI) leaders who are working to register and orga-nize of the Asian American vote, which currently has one of the lowest rates in voter history.

“As the fastest growing racial population in our country and one of our nation’s fastest grow-ing swing votes, the AAPI elec-torate will undoubtedly play a critical role in key states like Ne-vada, where the AAPI population has more than doubled over the past decade,” Chu continued.

AAPIs currently make up 10 percent of Nevada’s state popu-lation, with around 130,000 eli-gible AAPI voters. The number of registered AAPI voters in Nevada has also increased 157 percent between 2004 and 2012, accord-ing to Asian Americans Advanc-ing Justice.

“I thought when she said ‘I’m a progressive who could get things done,’ that kind of summed it up and it was the best combination of ‘I’m right there on the issues that people care about but I know how to make it happen,’ added Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.).

She noted that much of the fo-cus on Tuesday was on domestic policy, but has no doubt that for-eign policy — an area Clinton has expertise in — will be brought up in later debates.

“I think all of the candidates sounded so much better than the Republicans. There is gen-eral consensus that we need to have comprehensive immigra-tion reform. Senator Clinton laid out a plan for expanding DACA and DAPA and making sure the children here are able to go to school, get a job and obtain their potential. So, I’m very pleased that they are making this a prior-ity,” Titus said.

Titus, who represents Ne-vada’s 1st District, which has a large concentration of Asian resi-dents, particularly Filipinos and Chinese, said she will continue mobilizing voters leading up to the election.

“Education for children in the Asian community is very impor-tant — they want their children to get ahead and I respect that. A number of Asians in my district own small businesses so they want to be sure that the economy is moving forward and that the tax structure benefits them,” she said.

A rally for Clinton was sched-uled on Wednesday afternoon,

Oct. 14, at Springs Preserve in Las Vegas, before she continues on the campaign trail.

In Southern California, a coali-tion of Filipinos is gearing up to launch Filipinos for Hillary next week.

“…I know [Clinton] will be the best advocate in the Oval Office for the Asian American and Pa-cific Islander (AAPI) community. Her campaign is the only cam-paign that has reached out to the community and is actively engaging with us and for this I will make sure she wins in 2016,” said Melissa Ramoso, immediate past state chair of the Filipino American Democratic Caucus for the California Democratic Party who is spearheading efforts for Filipinos for Hillary.

Ramoso, who watched the debate with her socially conser-vative parents, said that it’s im-portant for AAPIs to recognize Clinton’s track record of listen-ing to and fighting for the com-munity.

Lisa Changadveja, the AAPI Outreach Director for Hillary for America, tweeted out her support of Clinton with the hard facts.

“Nearly 40 percent of #AAPI workers don’t have access to paid leave. #Hillary will work to change that. #AAPIforHillary #ImWithHer #DemDebate,” Changadveja said, followed up with a tweet that said Clinton will “defend & enhance social security,” which reportedly keeps 19 percent of AAPIs out of poverty.

Despite the rally of support

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Philstar.com photo

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Rhizomes

EVERY candidate in the 2016 elections is required to sign a so-called Integrity Pledge. It commits the candidate to abide by the Constitution, elections laws, rules and regulations to ensure that the 2016 vote will be “free, orderly, honest, peaceful and credible.”

Integrity Pledge

The pledge also commits the candidate to eschew violence and bribery, and to conduct a “clean” campaign, “observing fairness, common decency, honesty and good faith.” The candidate also pledges to promptly and accurately report campaign contributions and expenditures when the elections are over.

Prepared by the Commission on Elections, the Integrity Pledge is not legally binding, but it re-minds candidates of acts that violate the law and election rules. In recent years certain offenses have been classified as election sabotage, which merit tough penalties including life imprisonment.

The pledge reflects the nation’s wish for peaceful and clean elections. An acronym was even coined – HOPE, for honest, orderly and peaceful elections

– but so far it has remained just in the realm of hope.

In many parts of the country, murder is still seen as the ulti-

mate tool for eliminating a political rival. As the public is now seeing, negative campaigning, smear jobs and dirty tricks dominate even races for na-tional office. Gifts and bribes from candidates are the norm. Statements of campaign contributions and expenditures submitted by candidates often provide the same comic relief as the annual state-ments of assets, liabilities and net worth submitted by public officials.

It’s good to see candidates signing the Integ-rity Pledge. The public can only hope that can-didates make it more than a best-efforts pledge. (Philstar.com)

Guest Editorial

“YOU can no more resign citizenship in time of war than you can resign from the human race.” — Wayne Collins

“If there is any principle of the Con-stitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other, it is the prin-ciple of free thought – not free thought for those who agree with us, but freedom for the thought that we hate.” — Justice Oli-ver Wendell Holmes

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tap-estry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their color.” — Maya Angelou

I must admit that I got to appreciate US President Barack Obama much ear-lier than Madame Secretary Hillary Clin-ton. Both get put down by the media, yet they seem unflappable, articulate and unaffected by the sensationalism games being played by Fox News and even of late, CNN. They are standing tall on their convictions, values and principles, but mostly from the strength of their public records, in alignment with our American values of democracy.

If the US Constitution allowed for a third term, my vote would go to Barack Obama. But, the US Constitution lim-its presidential term to two terms -- 8 years. Besides, the president said, “the White House needs new blood.”

But, whose blood? Whose blood car-ries the DNA imprint of diversity, hu-manity of citizenship and principles of the Constitution?

Diversity in thoughts and actionsWhen presidential candidates speak

of diversity, notice that Donald Trump speaks to only his own kind as worthy individuals. Noticed how he demonized folks of color, starting with Mexicans, insulting them, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re not sending you, they’re send-ing people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.” He said this in June 2015.

Notice what Trump says to the crowd, “They’re not sending you,” addressing a mostly all- whites, with a few folks of color. It is a dangerous form of demon-izing, reminiscent of what Adolph Hitler did, favoring Germans, while denigrat-

ing: “The Whites have carried to these (colonial) people the worst that they could carry: the plagues of the world: materialism, fanaticism, alcoholism, and syphilis. Moreover, since what these people possessed on their own was

superior to anything we could give them, they have remained themselves... The sole result of the activ-ity of the colonizers is: they have everywhere aroused hatred,” as Martin Bormann wrote in “Adolf Hitler,

The Political Testament Of Adolf Hitler: Recorded.”

That‘s the GOP side, not a single presidential hopeful amongst them (Carson, Rubio, Cruz, Christie, Fiorina and more) even took moments to dis-tance themselves from Donald Trump and to tell him that theirs is a non-racist party. Not a single Republican presi-dential candidate!

It took Hillary Clinton to denounce Trump’s demonizing tactics during the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas on Oct. 13.

She went further even months ear-lier, when she approached the #Black-LivesMatter movement, which defines diversity as “committed to acknowledg-ing, respecting and celebrating differ-ences.”

That definition of diversity does not go deep enough to embrace folks. Diversity in practice goes beyond acknowledging differences, it means understanding the world not just from our own American perspective, but considering other ways of knowing, including those totally dif-ferent from us. It is understanding the culture enough to recognize genuine nuances and those not.

That diverse understanding of the world, the intricacies of cultures, are what Hillary Clinton, even while as Sec-retary of State, enabled her to strength-en ties with foreign leaders, including that of the Philippines, and demonstrat-ed her DNA of diversity in practice.

It shows how diversity is not simply favoring Whites over folks of color, but recognizing that each of us has a God-given potential, which needs access to opportunities to pursue a decent quality of life, education, jobs and a habitable place to live in, around the world.

Humanity of citizenshipI love listening to US Senator Bernie

Sanders, as he is fired up with passion and convictions. He illustrates catego-

ries of inequalities, as in his daily memes on facebook: how government favors Wall Street over ordinary folks who live in Main Street: the students who need free college tuition, the drug offenders who are jailed for years, while bankers who engineered the meltdown have not been brought to justice.

But, let us face the facts, US Bernie Sanders has been co-cooned in his mostly white Ver-mont state, with a population of 626,562, 95 percent of whom are white, predominantly Eng-lish, Irish, French, German and French Canadians. It would be extremely difficult for Bernie Sanders to comprehend what is diversity of knowing and di-versity in practice, having been social-ized to deal with mostly whites in his beloved Vermont, but also reflected in his campaign staffing, who are mostly whites.

When his rally was disrupted by #BlackLivesMatter, he chose to leave and not engage with them, which was revelatory to me, and made me recall our daily experiences of being habitu-ally shunned.

But, it took Hillary Clinton to engage with the activists of #BlackLivesMat-ter into a dialogue. It is a conversation amongst equals, a chance of common ground to be made, but also for these activists to understand that disruption is not the only tactic for engagement, that constructive dialogue is as effective.

For all the memes that US Senator Bernie Sanders have been illustrating on facebook, it took Hillary Clinton to specify that 9 million Americans lost jobs during the recession of 2007, under Pres. G.W. Bush, that 5 million Americans lost their homes, $13 tril-lion in wealth vanished, and that when Democrats are in office, the economy does much better.

As an aside, Pres. Bill Clinton left a surplus of $280 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, which quickly ballooned into a deficit of $6 trillion under Pres. G.W.Bush. Now this deficit during Pres. Obama’s tenure has shrunk to $426 billion as of August 2015, that is an exponential change by the way.

Indeed, after 7 years of a near col-lapse of the US economy in 2007, we are seeing a boom in construction in Los Angeles, with apartment buildings, condos and high-rises going up, mak-

ing us verify, that unemployment rate is down, from 10 percent to 5.1 percent, as Pres. Obama reported on Oct. 10, 2015. Not only did he save the automobile in-dustry and its dependent industries, but created new alternative industries to do the hard work of climate change.

A big sigh of relief for my community as well, as musicians, artists, directors, actors now have Obamacare, along with 17 million others, who signed up for af-fordable health care, and are more at ease in pursuing their artistic ventures.

We also have seen the rise of jobs in solar industry, as friends are now employed as solar engineers, “with 20 more jobs in this industry” compared to 2008, and even wind industry jobs, as reported by the President on Oct. 10.

Constitutional limits of war and re-lentless hard-core diplomacy

While male presidential candidates from both parties are still boning up in foreign affairs, Hillary Clinton has flown over a million of miles, to not just shake hands, but to solidify friendships amongst nations. She has been able to do this, during a period when America did not enjoy goodwill amongst na-tions, as a result of the prior Pres. G.W. Bush’s tenure.

Recently, Pres. Obama said: “We were in the middle of two wars, and the world’s opinion about America was as low as it had been in a very long time. And not only were we able to end those wars and bring our troops back home to their families, but around the globe we brought about changes that showed how to lead not just militarily but lead by example, and lead through our values, and lead through diplomacy. Whether it’s dealing with Ebola and we mobilized the entire international

community to save hundreds of thousands of lives in West Africa; or opening to Cuba for the first time in a long time -- or making sure that Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon, but doing it in a way that doesn’t lead to war.”

I believe part of that global paradigm shift is due in part to the efforts of Hillary Clinton.

A footnote, a Plaridel Award from the Philippine American Press Club, was given to Dr. Jorge Emmanuel, for best in-ternational reporting, for his personal essay on Ebola activi-ties, reporting on his training of medical professionals on the proper use of autoclave to kill off the Ebola virus and to stop its

spread in medical waste. While it might be too soon to celebrate that only two cases remain -- down from thousands -- America has shown its strengths of collaboration, its ability to export medi-cal technology, and knowhow and even demonstrate compassion to those who might need America’s strengths in sci-ence, research and diplomacy.

I believe Hillary Clinton is most ad-ept to be our next US President, not be-cause she is a woman, but because she has diversity in her DNA, demonstrable humanity in her public life, compas-sion in her private life, but most of all, peace-making, both here and abroad. If necessary, she has the ability to mount defense capabilities for our national se-curity and America’s allies. We would not want, for example, our West Philip-pine Sea, to be “plucked off” the oceans by China’s man-made islands and de-struction of coral reefs and the beauty of Mother Nature. China’s aggression must stop, upholding the sovereign se-curity of the Philippines and its neigh-boring ASEAN nations.

* * *Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D. writes a weekly column for Asian Journal, called “Rhizomes.” She has been writing for Asian Journal Press for 8 years now. She contributes to Balikbayan Magazine. Her training and experiences are in the field of science, food technology, law and community volunteerism for 4 decades. She holds a B.S. degree from the University of the Philippines, a law degree from Whittier College School of Law in California and a certificate on 21st Century Leadership from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She has been a participant in NVM Writing Workshops taught by Prof. Peter Bacho for 4 years and Prof. Russell Leong. She has travelled to France, Holland, Belgium and Mexico and 22 national parks in the US, in pursuit of her love for arts.

An American President in training: Madame Hillary Clinton

SORRY, supporters of Rodrigo Duterte, but the man you think would be the best president the Philippines could ever have at this time will per-haps just be the best President the Philippines would never have. The tough Davao City Mayor did not file his certificate of candidacy (COC), and has reportedly decided to seek re-election as may-or of Davao City.

But his supporters, many of whom even shaved their heads to urge Mayor Duterte to run for Presi-dent, never stop believing. They wanted to believe Duterte will still change his mind and replace a candidate who withdraws on or before December 10, 2015; though Duterte himself said this would not happen.

And so as of press time, Filipino voters in the

Philippines and around the world, including dual citizens who hold another passport aside from the Philippine passport, will have to choose between the candidates who have officially filed their COCs before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

There are other unknown can-didates who have filed their COCs: a tricycle driver; a man who wants to legalize the four seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter); a woman who said God and aliens spoke to her and told her she should run for president, etc. For the purposes of this piece, let me just limit the candidates who have bigger chances of winning:

VP Jejomar Binay, Sec. Mar Roxas, Sen. Grace Poe, and finally, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

The buzz on social media echoed with support for San-tiago, especially among those who were disappointed by Duterte’s decision not to run for President. But many of

those who earlier were jubilant by Santiago’s bid for the presidency were turned off by her choice of Sen. Bongbong Marcos to be her running mate. Marcos loyalists, however, expressed support for the tandem should Marcos decide to team up with Santiago.

Just before Sen. Santiago announced her candi-dacy, The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Bali-tang America” asked its viewers: “Which tandem in the Philippine presidential elections would you support?”

The results were: Roxas-Robredo at 84 percent; Poe-Escudero at 13 percent; and Binay-Honasan at 3 percent.

With Miriam in the game, who is YOUR choice for President?

* * *Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos

With certificate of candidacies filed, who is your presidential pick: Binay, Roxas, Poe or Santiago?

Gel sAntos-relos

The Fil-Am Perspective

Hillary Clinton

(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 A11OpiniOn & Features

SO the last shall be first, and The first last; for many be called, But few chosen. – St. Matthew’s Gospel Verse20:16 New Testa-ment of the Holy Bible

If Sen. Miriam Defensor-San-tiago filed her Certificate of Can-didacy for the presidency yester-day, just in time to beat the Oct. 16 deadline, she will be the last natural-born Filipino politician to enter the race. She will round up to four the personages who will seriously contest the presidency in the May elec-tions next year.

I was afraid that if Senator Miriam would not push through with her candidacy, we would be fac-ing next year an election of false choices, wherein the candidates we would be compelled to choose from are all running under false pretenses; viz,

• Mar Roxas running with a hand-me-down agen-da from President Aquino — the misnamed “Tuwid na Daan” (straight path) program of government – and the daunting challenge of defending on the campaign trail the appalling record of BS Aquno .

Vice President Jejomar Binay running like a Christlike figure, carrying a cross of persecution on his shoulders, and the Ombudsman Conchita Car-pio-Morales playing Pontius Pilate.

Senator Grace Poe Llamanzares running for president, as though she fulfills all the consitu-tional qualifications for the presidency (including being a natural-born Filipino) and possesses the even more stringent professional and intellectual requirements for the job.

With the three hobbled by a handicap, there was a chance that the field could be reduced to two candidates, or even just one.

When news finally came yesterday of Miriam’s fil-ing her COC, I felt an overwhelming sense of relief.

Miriam, I am convinced, would bring credibil-ity and gravitas to the 2016 election. She would force the candidates to debate the issues. And she would force Filipino voters to look for substance, not show, in the candidates.

Propelled to the front rank of contendersThere was some drama up to the end whether

the lady would file her COC as she intimated earli-er. There were questions about her physical fitness for even just filing her candidacy papers.

Now that her COC has been accepted and cer-tified by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), she is officially, and for better or for worse, a can-didate for president.

Now that she has chosen Sen. Ferdinand “Bong-bong” Marcos, Jr as her running mate for the cam-paign and elections, she has propelled herself into the front ranks of the presidential contenders.

If their campaign comes together as planned, and rallies thousands, perhaps even millions to their cause, the Biblical promise could come to pass. Miriam, with her masteral degree in theol-ogy, may just be the type who would think that be-ing the last to file her COC is an advantage.

A parable of equality in heavenThe Biblical passage needs explication so it’s not

wantonly misunderstood and misapplied.Jesus made the statement that “many who are

first will be last, and many who are last will be first” in His response to the disciples’ asking what reward they would have for giving up everything to follow Him (Matthew 19:27-30; Mark 10:28-31). He reiter-ated this truth in Matthew 20:16 at the end of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. This state-

ment is not, as many believe, a de-scription of the reversal of earthly roles in heaven. There is no hier-archy in heaven wherein the poor and oppressed will rule over the rich and powerful when we get there. Nor will those believers who enjoy wealth and prestige on earth be somehow abased in heaven. Earthly rank will not automatically

translate into heavenly rank.When Jesus told the disciples they would be

greatly rewarded in heaven for what they had given up on earth, He was making a contrast with the rich young ruler, who was unwilling to give up much of anything for Christ’s sake (verses 16-22). The “last” in this world—the disciples in their poverty—would be “first” in the kingdom of heaven. Conversely, the “first” in this world—the self-sufficient rich—would be the last to find the kingdom.

An intriguing and compelling tandemMiriam Santiago and Bongbong Marcos as a tan-

dem is intriguing and compelling.Miriam will be making her third run for the

presidency. Bongbong bears the burden of carry-ing the legacy of his father, President Ferdinand Marcos, and of restoring the family name to na-tional respect and regard, after three decades of demonization by the dominant Yellow forces.

One media colleague, Dick Pascual of the Star, has called the Santiago-Marcos tandem “a game changer.”

It will fundamentally change the 2016 race, to the extent of even becoming the favorite to win it all.

I will go even farther. I believe a Santiago- Mar-cos teamup could become the antidote (or kryp-tonite) to the perpetration of wholesale cheating by Smartmatic in the May 2016 election. Individually , Miriam and Bongbong have their own respective constituencies and bases across the archipelago. They have strong records and credentials as lead-ers and public servants. If you combine the two in a strategic partnership for 2016, they can build a formidable national organization in a hurry. And they can attract the kind of funding to meet every challenge during the campaign.

The idea of an antidote to cheating came from a friend who specializes in political consulting. In his analysis, he said that President BS Aquino dreads being thrown in jail by the next administration, so he will do anything to put a friendly face in Malaca-ñang, including stealing the election.

He said only a really formidable and popular team, who can command sufficient support from the people and police-military forces can stop this cheating scenario from happening.

If the team can command sizable national sup-port, and attract enough muscle to back it up, they can deter any dark agenda to steal the election from them. People power will be the ultimate weapon.

I see the Santiago-Marcos tandem as one that can command popular support across the length and breadth of the archipelago, and enough mus-cle to preserve their victory. I think the people will not allow Miriam to be cheated of victory a second time around. It is a miracle that she is standing for election in 2016, having overcome a bout with cancer.

It is remarkable that this late in the day, we Fili-pinos have this formidable pair on whom to bestow the challenge of leading our nation to the 500th year of discovery and Christianization. (yenmakabenta@yahoo.com)

The last to file could be first

Yen Makabenta

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for the Democratic contenders, many AAPIs voters and Repub-licans reacted to what was dis-cussed on Tuesday.

AAPIs who were unimpressed said the debate barely addressed their concerns.

“Would have heard more about #AAPI concerns if I watched #FreshOffTheBoat than #DemDebate. Made wrong choice which to TiVo. Finding remote…” tweeted Christopher Kang (@ChrisNCAPA).

Among issues AAPIs are con-cerned about are immigration, opportunities for undocumented immigrants and voting rights.

“1 in 10 undocumented immi-grants are Asian--immigration is NOT only about Latino commu-nities,” tweeted Alton Wang (@altonwang).

Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC also tweeted: “The US’s fastest growing group of voters want to hear more about immigration and voting rights from presidential candidates.

#DemDebate #AAPI.”Ninio Fetalvo, APA Press Sec-

retary for the Republican Nation-al Committee (RNC) said that the presidential candidates showed an “out-of-touch” agenda that doesn’t speak to the concerns of AAPIs, especially Filipino Ameri-cans.

“Tonight’s Democrat debate proves once again that the Dem-ocrats are only interested in pro-moting an out-of-touch liberal agenda and not providing long-term solutions to everyday issues facing Filipino Americans. Re-publicans will continue working toward earning the trust of voters across the country – something Hillary Clinton and the Demo-crats have failed to do,” Fetalvo said.

RNC chairman Reince Priebus said in a statement that the de-bate was predictable and showed the “weak caliber of Clinton’s competition.”

“Clinton’s record of hypocrisy and flip-flops on everything from Wall Street, trade, immigration, and foreign policy was on full display. Her unwillingness to fully explain the circumstances surrounding her secret email server, and the ongoing FBI in-vestigation into it, further dam-ages her credibility,” he said. “Judging from tonight, it’s clear why the Democrat National Com-mittee limited the number of de-bates – their bench of candidates for the most powerful office in the world is laughable at best. Clinton needed to shine and she came up short.”

Real estate mogul and Re-publican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who live tweeted the “boring” debate, wrote that, “there is no STAR on the stage tonight!”

“[Clinton] got through it fine. It was a very kind debate, very gen-tle. She came out the winner,” Trump later told ABC, adding that Sanders missed his chance to attack Clinton.

There is no word yet on wheth-er Vice President Joe Biden will enter the Democratic race, though he is expected to an-nounce his decision sometime this week. Even with Clinton’s strong performance on Tuesday, supporters are still pushing for the vice president to run.

When asked to comment to about the debate, Biden briefly told reporters in Washington, “I thought every one of those folks last night…I thought they all did well.” n

Sanders, Clinton take the lead in…PAGE A9 t

months after an injured shoul-der contributed to his defeat to Floyd Mayweather, Jr. in a much-anticipated welterweight match, Pacquiao says his shoul-der is now “80 to 90 percent healed” and that he could fight again as early as March. And while he still hasn’t settled on an opponent, he’s keeping the 28-year-old British boxer ‘Amir Kahn’ in mind as a possibility.

“Although we’re friends, I think that when we’re doing our job in the ring, there is no friendship,” Pacquiao said. “This is sport — we allow each other to hit each other.”

PACMAN: IN HIS OWN WORDS

At a press conference Mon-day, Oct. 12 at Asia Society in New York, Pacquiao had a free-wheeling Q-and-A with the media and some members of the Filipino-American commu-nity. He responded to questions about his run for the Senate and how similar politics is with box-ing, among other topics.

The following are excerpts –• On overseas Filipinos reg-

istering to voteIf they still love the country,

they should register and vote. Their vote is important for our country, to choose who the next leader will be.

• On who he is supporting for president of the Philip-pines

Duterte is not running, so… (laughs). Anyway, I’m PDP-La-ban and we don’t have a resi-dent so I can file a candidacy under PDP-Laban without a president. I will announce on the right time who the presiden-tial candidate I will support.

• On why he is runningI’m running because I really

believe that I can help more peo-ple. It was difficult to make a de-cision before I finally decided to run. It’s a very difficult decision because you have to consider a lot of things, specially your time for your family. When you be-come a senator, you have to give up other activity just to focus on your job as a public servant.

• On being a politicianI never expected to be a poli-

tician. When I was young, I nev-er thought I’d be a champion all over the world. What I have done in boxing is beyond my imagination when I was young. I’m really thankful to God that He gave me this favor and these

blessings. The honor and glory belong to God.

• On how he hated politics and politicians before

Before, this is the true story behind that, I don’t like politics. I hate politicians before. When people interviewed me, some-body talked to me and suggest-ed that I enter politics so I can help more people. I said I don’t like politics. I just want to help these people, they are starving and hungry and I feel what they are feeling because I’ve been there. My life before, I used to sleep in the streets and I know how to feel hungry.

Later on, I realized that more people find out that I give to people who need, more people come to my house asking and begging for help. I’m a person who won’t turn my back. One day I realized that the Lord gave me the desire and wisdom to enter politics, that’s the time I decided to enter politics.

My prayer to the Lord is, if I commit sin serving people, it is better for me not to enter poli-tics. In the future, If I am go-ing to commit sin against God, against man, it’s better for me not to enter politics.

• On his vision as a public servant

My vision as a public servant is honestly helping people and serving honestly. That’s my mission so that one day when I am gone in this world, that’s my legacy in life.

I can enjoy all the money I earned from boxing and go all over the world and spend time with my family but every time that I can hear the voice of these people – the poor people “Oh, I need help. I don’t have money to buy food. Help me.” – Even if I don’t see them, I can hear their voice, I can feel that in my heart. If I turn my back from them, it’s hard for me be-cause I’ve been there. I’m serv-ing honestly with the guidance of the Lord. You cannot please everybody, some people are criticizing me.

You cannot just give them money, so give them a sustain-able livelihood so they can earn money so they can buy food ev-ery day. Give them healthcare, specially the senior citizens. And of course, free education, I think that’s the most important thing that we need to answer and resolve. A lot of people are starving and they really need

help from the government.• On Amir Khan as his next

fightActually, that’s one of the

names that my promoter has given me but we haven’t decid-ed yet. Although we are friends, when we are doing our job in the ring, there is no friend. I mean, you know what I mean? Nothing personal, just doing your job.”

• On thinking about being president in the future

Right now, I don’t have that in my mind. I mean, to become a president is not a plan of man, it’s a plan of God. Like Noynoy. Who knows that he will become president? It’s God anointed. If that’s the will of God, then you become a president. If you don’t have that anointing, how can you be a president?

What’s in my mind right now is to focus on my job as a con-gressman and the next election next year.

• On politics and boxingIf we study politics, we don’t

have to fight each other. Let the people choose who they’re go-ing to vote. We have to support each other. If the people want to support a politician (over an-other one), we have to respect that. The decision of the people is the decision of God. We have to learn that. What is happening right now not only in the Philip-pines but also around the world, politics has become boxing also. They are fighting each other.

• On how frustrating is it to pass bills in the Congress

I have a lot of bills that I filed in Congress and those bills are important especially to ad-dress human trafficking, about health care center all over the Philippines, increasing salary of teachers. There’s a lot of bills that I filed in Congress but the thing is in my second term, we are more than 300 congressmen so they also filed a lot of bills. If you’re nit friendly with higher positions, there’s a problem.

• On what he has learned in politics

In politics, a lot of people are masquerading as righteous. That’s what I learned. A lot of politicians are masquerading as righteous people especially in times of election. What I learned also, it’s simple. 24 hours a day, seven days a week, you have to make yourself to help people. I also learned to always forgive your enemy. n

Pacquiao honored with Asia Game…PAGE A6 t

(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 A13Dateline PHiliPPineS

JUNJUN OUT, BINAY IN. Makati Rep. Abigail Binay (center) is joined by running mate Makati First District Rep. Monique Lagdameo (left), brother dismissed Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay and father Vice President Jejomar Binay as she files her certificate of candidacy at the Commission on Elections office on Thursday, Oct. 15. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Vice President

MANILA – Former President Fidel Ramos lashed out at the government for its failure to bring justice to 44 fallen mem-bers of the police Special Action Force.

He lamented the failure of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to identify and account for all the Muslim rebels and private armed groups behind the brutal deaths of the members of the anti-terror SAF.

Ramos issued the statement yesterday at the launching of the “First FVR Golf Classic,” a fund-raising campaign at Camp Agui-naldo Golf Club.

He and a group of retired gen-erals organized the event to help fund the schooling of orphaned children of the fallen SAF 44.

“Maybe we are just being fooled. More so, they are fooling victims and their families. Where is the follow up? Suddenly, all an-nouncements (on the progress of the case) have stopped. Is it be-cause there are some new people coming in at the Department of Justice?” said Ramos, founder of the SAF.

He was referring to the DOJ’s filing of criminal cases against 90 members of the Moro Is-lamic Liberation Front (MILF),

FVR hits government for failure to bring justice to SAF 44

Former President Fidel Ramos flaunts his fallen SAF 44 t-shirt during the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Manila on February 14, 2015. Philstar.com poto by Edd Gumban

Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) as well as mem-bers of private armed groups, most of them still unidentified.

The former Philippine Con-stabulary chief also twitted Presi-dent Aquino, being the com-mander-in-chief, for his failure to maximize government human resources – from Malacañang down to the lowest level of gov-ernance through the Peace and Order Council – and identify all those behind the Mamasapano

carnage.Saying that most of the MILF

rebels also doubled as BIFF members, Ramos stressed that the DOJ probers could have easi-ly secured all the identities of the suspects had they asked the help and assistance of local officials.

He said most of these rebels and vigilantes in Maguindanao are known to local executives – from barangay councilors, ba-rangay captains, municipal coun-cilors and municipal mayors. n

by Jaime LaudePhilstar.com

THE UNITED Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Oct. 13 unanimously approved the ap-pointment by UN Secretary Gen-eral Ban Ki-moon of Commission on Audit (COA) commissioner Heidi Mendoza as undersecretary general of the UN’s Office of In-ternal Oversight Services (OIOS).

Mendoza is the first Filipino to be appointed as undersecretary general in the UN secretariat.

Ambassador Lourdes Yparra-guirre, permanent representative of the Philippines to the UN, wel-comed Mendoza’s appointment and expressed gratitude to the regional groups of the UN for their endorsement and the mem-ber-states for their affirmation of the appointment.

Under UN rules, the appoint-ment by the UN secretary gen-eral is submitted to the General Assembly for approval.

“It is a great honor for the Philippines that a highly-quali-fied woman from the develop-ing world was chosen to serve in a senior position in the United Nations,” Yparraguirre said in a statement.

She added that Mendoza’s “qualifications and wealth of ex-perience, coupled with her com-mitment to excellence and integ-rity, make her a wise choice for the job.

“Her qualifications are crucial in the history of the UN which is celebrating its 70th anniversary, moving forward with an ambi-tious 2030 Agenda for Sustain-able Development, and pursuing a platform of reforms in various fields of UN work.”

The United States and the Nor-dic countries of Denmark, Fin-land, Iceland, Norway and Swe-den also hailed the appointment.

Speaking on behalf of the United States, Ambassador Iso-bel Coleman, Ambassador for UN Management and Reform, said they “look forward to working with Ms. Mendoza” and are “com-mitted to ensuring a strong OIOS to carry out robust audits and ef-fective investigations to ferret out waste, fraud and corruption.”

Mendoza is expected to begin her term on Nov. 15, 2015. She will be based in the UN head-quarters in New York.

According to UN regulations, her appointment is for a fixed term of five years without renewal.

As the UN’s undersecretary General for Internal Oversight, she will be responsible over the resources and staff of the orga-nization through internal audit, monitoring, inspection, evalua-tion and investigation services. Aside from New York, OIOS also has staff based in Geneva, Nai-robi and Vienna.

Mendoza was the state audi-tor who blew the whistle on the corruption scandal in the Armed

Forces of the Philippines in 2011.

Mendoza had to quit her job at the Asian Development Bank so she could testify about the cor-ruption in the military.

“As a certified public accoun-tant, Ms. Mendoza has over 20 years of service in government particularly in the field of audit, investigation, fraud examination, anticorruption and integrity ad-vocacy,” the UN said. n

UN General Assembly OKs Heidi Mendoza’s appointment

by Niña P. CaLLeJaInquirer.net

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SHOWBIZ&STYLEJournal

Singer-actress Sarah geronimo said she would not be endorsing any presidential candidate for the 2016 elections.

“i want to take a break from it,” she said during the fans and media day organized by Michaela, a local brand of bags and shoes that she endorses, at SM Megamall in Man-daluyong City.

Sarah supported nacionalista Party’s tandem of Manny Villar and Loren Legarda during the 2010 presidential elections. “i [would] get

Sarah Geronimo not endorsing a presidential hopeful

by Marinel r. CruzInquirer.net

involved in that again if [i become more knowledgeable] about politics. i want to learn as much as i can about it first,” she told the inquirer.

Women’s rightsin an interview in 2010, Sarah

said she backed the Villar-Legarda team because of its “concern for issues about women’s rights and overseas Filipino workers.” She said she considered it an honor that at her age, she was chosen to help spread the message of the party’s campaign.

To fellow celebrities who endorse politicians, Sarah advised: “Make sure to know as much as you can about the candidate before agreeing to help promote his or her cause. never say yes to doing it just for the money. it’s important that you also believe in the person’s advocacies. After all, he or she will help shape the country’s future.”

Sarah is busy preparing for a con-

cert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Dec. 4.

Titled “From the Top,” the show promises a “more daring” Sarah. “We decided on the concert’s title during our most recent meeting.”

She explained: “i am now at a stage in my life where i am getting older but am still worried about do-ing something drastic, something that doesn’t suit my personality. We’ve agreed to simply do a recol-lection of the previous years and then the rest will follow.”

Brave, daringFor now, Sarah said she preferred

to keep the songs in her repertoire a secret. “Let’s just say that it will be the first time that i will be doing this concept,” she said. “it’s something brave and daring, but not daring in the sense that i would take my clothes off.”

Paolo Valenciano will direct the concert.

AARP is a non-profit organization committed to enhancing your life at 50-plus by providing trusted and useful resources to help you stay active, engaged and vibrant.

Caregiving • Health & Wellness • Fraud Prevention • Volunteer • Life Reimagined

This could be my best move yet.Loida Nicolas Lewis, AARP MemberChair and CEO of TLC Beatrice, LLCPhilanthropist

Dahil sa Health and Wellness resources ng AARP, si Loida at iba pang katulad niya are now able to have as much fun in the ballroom as they did in the boardroom.

Loida has enjoyed a long career as a successful businesswoman, and she remains just as active today. Bilang miyembro ng halos 20 na taon, she keeps current with AARP publications on health, diet, exercise at iba pang activities that help her enjoy life and live it to the fullest. Not surprisingly, her boundless energy and generous contributions para sa Filipino community have made her a role model for many. Para kay Loida, walang hanggan ang mga posibilidad and the best is yet to come. AARP offers members a wealth of resources na siguradong makapagbibigay ng saya, sigla at importanteng impormasyon para rin sa inyo. To learn more, visit aarp.org/aapi or call 1-866-805-1986 today.

AARP_15_Lewis_Testimonial_HP_FIL_AJ.indd 1 10/9/15 12:08 PM

OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (213) 250-9797B� Features

Moonlighting

by Mylah de leon

EmErging from their ink-stained asylum, LA-based me-dia trooped to the Philippine Consulate general on Thursday, Oct. 8 for a briefing with Philip-pine Ambassador to the US Jose L. Cuisia Jr. regarding the 2016 national elections and the over-seas absentee voting, (OAV), the ongoing developments in the West Philippine Sea and his visions for the community.

We listened with the Fil-Am youth group, organizations and prominent business and civic leaders, as Cuisia dis-played his renowned skills on economic diplomacy, compre-hensive knowledge on the local and international economy -- its

The consummate art of diplomacy at the Philippine Consulate

Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia and Consul General Leo Herrera-Lim unveiled a marker dedicating the Community Hall to the service of the Filipino Community. Photo by Cesar Angeles

Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia meets with Filipino-American community of Los Angeles. Photos by Sid T. Guererro, Bobby Crisostomo, Cesar Angeles

On the lighter side, the Ambassador obliged to give a soothing and glib answer to our slightly obtuse question.

weaknesses and opportunities.it is said that the art of di-

plomacy is a blend of fact, fic-tion and poetry. it is about the

important, the tragic, the snug, the amusing and the humane. in a wealth of light-hearted knowl-edge about how foreign services

actually work—from their clois-tered Embassy, to summit meet-ings on the problems of interna-tional life through a fund of an-ecdotes and quotations—we’re able to understand that now and then lies a persuasive message about truth, accuracy, calmness, patience, good temper, modesty, loyalty, intelligence, discern-ment, prudence, hospitality, charm, industry, courage and fact. Splendid requirements? These are the qualities expected of an ideal diplomat.

The public image of diplo-mats (particularly reflected in the media) could be at times, strangely confusing. How they deal with the posturings of the politically committed, to find a middle course into the well-oiled mechanism of international re-

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

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

Among these Clippers is a well-trained warrior named Sunny, portrayed by Wu, who encounters a young boy named m.K., portrayed by Knight, in an attack against the Badland’s most powerful Baron, Quinn, to who Sunny’s loyalty is dedicated. The series follows the spiritual journey of Sunny and m.K. across a dangerous land.

Based loosely on the clas-sic Chinese tale Journey to the West, the action-packed series has already been touted for ‘groundbreaking’ casting, nBC news reported.

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

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

During the panel discussion in new York, Wu was asked about how he felt being one among a handful of Asian leads cast in a television show in recent times.

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

by agnes Constante AJPress

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

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

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

“That’ll definitely be obvious when people start watching it, that the relationship between m.K. and Sunny is very similar to that of me and Daniel’s,” he said.

Fight scenes in the show were choreographed under the direc-tion of Stephen Fung, who served as both executive producer and fight director. At the roundtable, he expressed pride in the actors on the series who never had a day of martial arts training but managed to execute moves on screen.

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

Jade (Sarah Bolger), Quinn (Marton Csokas), Lydia (Orla Brady), Ryder (Oliver Stark), M.K. (Aramis Knight), Sunny (Daniel Wu), Veil (Madeleine Mantock), The Widow (Emily Beecham) and Tilda (Alexia Ioannides) Photo by James Minchin III/AMC

(213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 B�Features

CAN A LONELY WIFE STILL PETITION HER HUSBAND EVEN IF SHE IS UNEMPLOYED? THIS QUESTION AND MORE WILL BE ANSWERED THIS SUNDAY ON “CITIZEN PINOY!” Leading US immigration attorney Michael J. Gurfinkel replies to this question from Jovelle (left). Also, get answers to questions like: Can my mother have a second chance, after being banned from the US for 10 years for overstaying? Can my brother immigrate as “single” since he has been separated from his wife for over 25 years? Get the answers to these questions and more, on a brand new episode of the information-packed, award-winning public service program — “Citizen Pinoy,” this Sunday, October 18 at 6:15pm PST/EST (9:15pm EST thru select Cable/Satellite providers).

THIS Sunday, leading US immi-gration attorney Michael J. Gurfin-kel continues to answer questions from Kapamilya, one-on-one and face-to-face, at his Law Offices in Glendale, California.

Can my mom qualify for a “waiver” and re-enter the US after she was banned for 10 years for overstaying as a tourist?

If I petition my mother, can her 14-year-old adopted daughter be included in the petition?

Can a wife petition her hus-band even if she’s unemployed and not able to provide financial support?

Watch an all-new edition of your information-packed, award-winning public service program

on television – Citizen Pinoy: Your Tanong, My Sagot–on Sunday, Oc-tober 18 at 6:15 pm PST/EST (9:15 pm EST thru select Cable/Satellite providers).

Also, for latest immigration news and updates, please “like” and “share” our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/gurfinkellaw. (Advertising Supplement)

Can son’s ‘secret marriage’ affect mother’s petition for him as ‘single?’

Get the answer to this question on ‘Citizen Pinoy: Your Tanong, My Sagot’

lations and its complexities, negotiations and political as-sessment was illuminated by the US Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia in that forum attended by the Fil-Am community.

In an off-the-cuff answer to our little queries (under the watchful eyes and dimpled smile of Consul General Leo Herrera-Lim), we asked about some of the lighter aspects on diplomacy, that are more entertaining and have amusing aspects including its trivialities helped by fiction, and a bit of humor.

We asked questions like: “Sir, was there ever a time

The consummate art of diplomacy... PAGE B2

UNFORTUNATELY, not every-one is familiar of the signs that indicate stroke.

According to the latest WHO data published in 2014, stroke deaths in Philippines reached 63,261 or 12.14% of total deaths. Stroke, which is currently named as the 2nd cause of death of many Filipinos, is also called “brain attack” since it is caused by the interruption of the blood supply to the brain. Usually, a blood vessel bursts or is blocked by a clot.

Because it targets the brain, the person having stroke usually does not recognize it. In lieu with this, Dr. Willie Ong, a cardiologist and internist and The Philippine Star columnist shares on his blog tips on how to recognize a person having a stroke:

Here is a short code to recog-nize a stroke. Let’s use the code word “STRAW.”

S – Smile Ask the person to smile. If

one side of the face lags behind or looks crooked, then that is a telltale sign of a stroke. This is because a stroke can affect the nerve controlling the muscles of the face.

T – Talk a few words

5 ways to easily recognize stroke warning signs

Diagram showing how stroke occurs. Photo courtesy of ConstructionDealMkting/CC-BY

Then stick out your tongue. In a stroke, the person cannot speak coherently and may slur his words. And when he puts out the tongue, the tongue may point slightly to one side of the face. However, in mild cases, there could only be a difficulty in pronouncing the words.

R – Raise your armsIn a stroke, the patient may

lose the strength of one side of his arms or legs. There could also be numbness of the limbs. And when

you ask the person to raise both hands, one arm could be lagging behind. Another technique is to ask the person to grip your hand tightly. If one hand is weaker, then this is another sign of a stroke.

A - Ask questions pertaining to H-E-N

Does the person have a head-ache, eye problems or numbness of the hands or legs? In the “isch-emic type” of stroke, the patient may not complain of a headache.

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OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (213) 250-9797B� Features

By Monet Lu

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

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

There you have it. Spoken by

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

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

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

blessed.” He said while his mom possess

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***Monet Lu is a Marikina-born, award-winning

celebrity beauty stylist with his own chain of Monet Salon salons across Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. Ultimately, Monet is known as an all-around artiste who produces sold-out fashion and awards shows as well as unforgettable marketing campaigns. Monet is also the founder of the revolutionary all-natural beauty products such as Enlighten, your solution to discoloration. To contact Monet, please visit www.monetsalon.com or email him at monetsalon@aol.com

An AsiAn JournAl ExclusivE

G. TönGi

The Global Kababayan

October 19 — Exclusive Screening of the documentary by Sheila and Jon Imme called “The Hidden Dream.” This documenta-ry portrays the little known history of America’s second largest immi-grant group since 1990: filipinos. Survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and equally brutal Japanese prisoner of war camps share their memories of courage, torture, and death. They speak with outrage of the Rescission Act of 1946 which denied them the benefits and recognition deserved as being part of the United States Army. Regular programming of Kababayn moves to 4-5pm to accomodate this exclusive screening.

October 20 — Kulturahan Episode where we talk to our correspondent Giovanni Ortega and Theater Maker Alison Dela Cruz with Gerlie Collado from the Pasadena Playhouse. filipino American History Month has sev-eral celebrations for the commu-nity in the theater scene. from American Conservatory Theater to the Pasadena Playhouse, learn about the filipino American sto-ries through the creative medium of the theater.

October 21 — Midweek News updates from the Asian Journal, “The Real Estate Buzz” with Mia

McLeod of McLeod and Associ-ates, and learn how to tell and research our own filipino-Ameri-can stories with Eloisa Borah, a historian that has chronicled the life of Isidro Canlas.

October 22 — A reading of “filipinotown: Voices from Los Angeles,” which shares the his-tory of filipino American artists and community members in Los Angeles.

October 23 — for filipi-no American History Month, Kababayan Today tackles the Student Movement after 1965 Civil Rights Movement with flo-rante & Rose Ibanez and Professor Dom Magwili. from the filipino Peoples far West Conventions to the filipino American experience being taught in higher education, we discuss the effect of post 1965 civil rights movement to our com-munity.

*** Giselle “G” Töngi is the host and producer

of Kababayan Today, a daily talk show that features relevant topics for Filipino’s living in America. Her aim is to bridge not only the cultural gap between America & the Philippines but to help with the generational gap between our own people. She is married with two children and is based in Southern California and makes frequent trips in the Pacific Rim to Hawaii and Manila to feature fellow kababayans who are empowering the FilAm community.

Programming of Kababayan Today, October 19-23, 2015

“If you are reaching down inside yourself and bringing your creative impulses to light, your self-esteem will grow daily. It doesn’t matter if your creative product is a poem, a symphony, a happy marriage or a tureen of transcendental clam chowder. All that matters is that we commit ourselves to full expression and are taking action on our creative projects.” -- Gay Hendricks, How to Create a Life of your Own De-sign: Conscious Living, 2000.

It was an early evening at The Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, California. Inside, I saw a man on crutches enter the VIP reception, with such a radiance. I walked towards him. I told him his smile filled up the room, and he smiled some more. His colleagues from Pacific Western Bank were with him, as the bank was one of Celerity’s sponsors.

His name is Michael Behm, born premature at 2 1/2 months old, and given a 20 percent chance to live. But even with that dire forecast, including being on a wheelchair all his life, his mother refused to settle. He shared this: “God gave us two feet, so we must keep moving forward, not looking back at our past. Two feet pointing forward, so we need to keep moving, north, forward in that direction.” I knew with those words, the evening’s success would be as inspired, as one is in God’s hands.

I went to this musical at the in-vitation of Jennifer ferrer Burrel, my niece and Sion ferrer, my sister. Jennifer works at Celerity School, part of Celerity Educa-tional Group, with seven branches in California, including florida, Louisiana and Ohio. She taught multiple subjects, including math for five years and her students, mostly African – Americans, Cau-casians, Asians, and Latinos, over-achieved under her tutelage, such that their academic performance scores exceeded the LAUSD’s highest performance ratings compared to students enrolled in a richer zip code district. Now, as a curriculum specialist, she works with fellow teachers to enhance the curriculum content.

Hundreds of students, from

first grade to high school, includ-ing their dance and vocal teach-ers, converged onstage to perform in a seamless musical, with no dead spaces. It was professionally directed, with well-choreographed dances, and a program flow which allowed the audience to under-stand the scene sequences. It was called Ease On Down the road, the African American version of Dorothy of Oz, adapted from the 1978 film classic “The Wiz” a musical, starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

Arts have a way of touching the hearts, enriching minds and with students’ early immersion in creative endeavors; they become more motivated in academics.

I have seen the same pedagogy of using cultural performances to motivate college students at Leyte Normal University, wherein students became part of a theater group, but only if they performed well academically and in turn, their tuition is waived incremen-tally as they moved up.

Mentoring by teachers and ac-tors in a public charter school

Vivid. Vibrant. Imaginative. Creative. Uplifting. “Ease on Down Oz The Road” was intended to benefit Celerity Schools. It was called Celerity Global Develop-ment’s first Annual Uniting for Change Gala, whose sponsors’ philanthropy (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Image Source, Expert Building Maintenance, Pacific Western Bank, GEMs, CSMC, Savantco Education, Marinello Schools of Beauty, Paybridge, Pico Outlet, Arctic Air, Inc) al-lowed the community to watch the musical at affordable prices. It also supported “the expansion of the performing arts department and educational programs in Af-rica and Southeast Asia, ” Cassie Crump said.

Cassie Crump is the artistic director of Celerity Schools who shared the school’s pedagogy: “Performing, acting, dancing, and singing is an integral part of our instructional program. All students at all of our schools receive weekly performing arts instruction. It took twice a week for five months and 3 weekend rehearsals to get the students doing the entire musical.

Celerity’s Ease on Down the Oz Roadby Prosy AbArquez-DelAcruz, J.D.

AJPress

Scene from “Ease on Down” with the poppies Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man finally meet the Oz. Photos by Prosy Abarquez-Delacruz, J.D.

Vielka McFarlane, founder of Celerity Educational Group with Jennifer Burrel

dialogues.Glinda’s singing voice occupied

a huge stage presence, which the audience applauded with boister-ous appreciation.

But, nothing compared to the whimsical “Poppy Girls” which donned multi-colored wigs, had fun onstage with their coordinated dancing moves, simulating the blooming perhaps, of a flower, but not really, as they gave life to the “the poppy fields.”

The audience shouted in excite-ment as they appreciated the Tin Man, the Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Green, the Red and the Gold dance groups who also performed with gusto.

The musical’s creative pro-cess

I interviewed Cassie Crump, the creative artistic director, via email, to get to know the musical’s creative process.

Asian Journal (AJ): Why this musical fundraiser?

Cassie Crump (CC): We wanted to pick a timeless piece that people from any place around the world, any culture, and any generation would be familiar [with] and be able to enjoy without any language barriers.

AJ: What is the creative pro-cess for this musical?

CC: The Artistic Director, Direc-tor, and Assistant Director includ-ed the Writers and the Production team in creating the script and selecting scenes. following scene selection, character auditions were conducted; collaboration of cho-reography, and dance selections [were] assigned to the different

PAGE B5

The consummate art of diplomacy... PAGE B3

where you had marched up to the President, whom you represent in a foreign land and had politely asked ‘Mr. Presi-dent, Sir, is there something I should know, or do not know?;” And before he could reply, we continued “You know, Sir, for deniability.”

The ensuing repartee was such a diplomatic treat that I have yet to recover as we found ourselves conversing with a complete diplomat with such polish and elegance, which is a far cry from his Central Bank days when he would tease around the media and regal us with fun filled anecdotes at the 365 Club.

Today, we already know, that the Ambassador is there to rep-resent Pres. Benigno Aquino III for the good of the Philippines, more distinguished by new addresses with which he deals with privilege and challenges.

5 ways to easily recognize...Eye problems, such as blurring of vision and trouble seeing periph-eral objects, may also be a sign of a stroke. And a commonly missed finding is numbness of the arms

PAGE B3

We have varying reasons for liking our very own Consul General Leo Herera Lim. first, he is a good Consul General who supports fil-Am communi-ties under his jurisdiction and defends their interest without blinked insularity. He demands a total cleavage between an ac-cident and absolute, the just and the expedient, in an application of tact and humor. He has finally captured the media, or have we captured him?

At the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles, our consuls are there to help us with accidents, illness, death, emergency pass-ports and imprisonment. They cannot, of course, do everything that is asked of them. They are not (as surprisingly often expected) travel agents, bank-ers, doctors, lawyers, plumb-ers, detectives or nannies. But if something goes seriously wrongs, they are there for our countrymen.

On-going acting workshops is also part of our plan for expanding our performing arts program.”

I was in awe of the African-American and Latina actors who gave their best to their artistry, dancing, singing, and their dia-logues to make the scenes come alive. Even the staging of actors, called blocking, kept the stage people-high with creative ener-gies. The musical numbers were accompanied by a live band (Master’s Crib – Stacey Lamont Sydnor on drums, Darrell Crook on guitar, Robert “Peewee” Hill on bass, Michiko Hill on keyboard, Arturo Kristofer Ramirez on guitar and Jerry Lewis as sound engi-neer), which resonated with the exuberant audience.

The Scarecrow (Nikki Mason), Lion (Christopher Smith), Tin Man (Roderick Davis), The Wiz (Dorien Wilson), Glinda (Peggi Blu) characters were exceptionally well acted, and Dorothy, played by Caleigh Torrocha, a 7th grader, (even though her microphone in-consistently amplified her voice), held her own.

Characters, through their cos-tumes: colors, tails and head-pieces, uniquely came together to give them vibrant and visually appealing stage lives. They glided, they jumped, and they became adept dancing athletes. Mylette Nora (costume designer) and Ro-cio Galeano (face artist) selected the costumes, giving sensually-ap-pealing images to the characters.

The Scarecrow had credible movements, as if a bird moving onstage with its bowed legs, while the Lion was quite engaged in

or legs. Touch the person’s arms and legs lightly. Then ask the person if he has the same feeling for both sides of the arms or legs. If there is some loss of sensation on one side, then it could be a

stroke.W – Walk in straight lineLastly, ask the patient to walk

in a straight line. Because a stroke can affect the strength and bal-ance of one’s legs, the patient can have difficulty walking. Can he stand straight or does he fall

on one side? Is there something wrong with his stride?

If any of the above findings are present, then a CT-Scan or MRI Scan may be requested to find out if the person has had a stroke. Consult your doctor im-mediately.

(213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 B�Features

AZUSA, CA – Rosedale, an award-winning master-planned community, offers homebuyers the finest selection of new luxury homes in the San Gabriel Val-ley. These include the expansive, single-family luxury homes at Aza-lea by Christopher Homes. Three contemporary floorplans feature oversized rooms, soaring ceilings, naturally illuminated interiors and exquisite amenities. Each floorplan also has a versatile bonus room that can be transformed into a playroom or workspace depending on indi-vidual preferences and a convenient downstairs bedroom ideal for in-laws and guests. Open, functional living spaces with impressive great rooms and gourmet kitchens with

large center islands for meal prepa-ration are ideal for entertaining with family and friends. An assortment of customization options are avail-able for buyers to further enhance their new home at Azalea such as beautiful California Rooms that seamlessly expand living and din-ing space outdoors and an optional outdoor fireplace. To learn more about the new luxury homes at Rosedale, buyers are encouraged to join the interest list online at www.LiveRosedale.com.

“Rosedale offers homebuyers an array of beautiful new luxury homes in a desirable Azusa setting,” said Mercedes Meserve, Vice President of Marketing for Rosedale Land Partners, LLC, the developer of

Rosedale. “Buyers should visit the Rosedale community to explore the luxurious new homes and ex-perience the exciting lifestyle that awaits.”

Azalea’s two-story residences range from approximately 3,174 to 3,538 square feet, with four bedrooms plus a bonus room, three and one-half baths to five and one-half baths and two-car at-tached garages with storage and/or workshop space. The Residence Two also boasts a private home of-fice for those who enjoy the luxury of working from home as well as master suites on both the first and second floors. The neighborhood’s largest design, Residence Three, offers the ultimate luxury of his and

her master baths and a secluded master retreat, plus a spacious first-floor guest suite. Complement-ing the beautiful interiors of these homes are finely detailed architec-tural themes showcasing Spanish, Monterey and Cottage influences. Prices for these luxury residences start from the $800,000s.

In addition to Azalea, there are two other luxury home neighbor-hoods now selling at Rosedale. Aster Heights by Brookfield Resi-dential offers a brand new collec-tion of single-family luxury homes from the $1.3 millions and Camellia by Brookfield Residential presents single-family luxury homes from the $900,000s to low $1 millions.

New home luxury awaits at Rosedale in the San Gabriel Valley

LAKEWOOD—Homebuyers looking for beautiful townhomes to fit their lives are quickly dis-covering the bright side of buying new at William Lyon Homes’ Can-vas neighborhood in convenient Lakewood. With attainable prices starting from the low $400,000s and the promise of quality, brand-new construction, this contem-porary attached-home collection

offers three-story row town-home-inspired architecture that includes two to three bedrooms; two full baths and two powder baths; flowing living spaces with a versatile first-level bonus room; a direct-access two-car side-by-side garage and an outdoor patio. In-terested buyers are encouraged to visit the Canvas Sales Gallery for model tours to find out why from

Buyers discover the bright side of buying new at William Lyon Homes’ Canvas floor to ceiling and everything in between, nothing compares to the beauty of buying new at Canvas. For immediate details on the collection, log on to www.LyonCanvas.com.

“Purchasing a brand-new home at Canvas is one of the most prudent decisions a first-time buyer could make,” said Lesley Pennington, Vice President of Sales for William Lyon Homes. “Not only are Canvas’ designs smartly planned to embrace the best of contemporary living, but they’re also built with William Lyon Homes’ signature quality, giving buyers both confidence and true peace of mind.”

Canvas’ three attached-home designs span from approximately 1,647 to 1,801 square feet with open-concept living that includes a well-equipped kitchen, living and dining room spaces and much more.

The commuter-friendly set-ting in Lakewood near Long Beach puts Davenport Park, Lakewood Country Club, Lake-

wood Golf Course, Mayfair Park and Pool and other recreational opportunities all within reach. Lakewood Center’s Costco, Best Buy, Macy’s, and Target are also nearby, as well as attractions at the Long Beach Towne Center. Downtown Long Beach, The Pike at Rainbow Harbor, Belmont Shores and the Aquarium of the Pacific are also convenient, while medical services are ac-cessible at Lakewood Regional Medical Center.

It matters who your builder is and William Lyon Homes is a company built upon a legacy of pride and integrity. A team of visionaries who are passionate about homebuilding and com-mitted to providing a high quality homebuying and homeownership experience, William Lyon Homes has earned a solid track record for outstanding construction and customer service since 1956. The company continues to expand its well-respected brand beyond Cali-fornia, Arizona and Nevada and into other market areas across

the Western region with the ac-quisition of Polygon Northwest Homes, its newest division in Washington and Oregon, and its Village Homes division in Colo-rado. William Lyon Homes’ shares are publicly traded on NYSE un-der the symbol WLH. For updated information and to learn more, visit www.lyonhomes.com.

To visit Canvas, travel the 405 Freeway, exit Lakewood Blvd., and head east. Turn left on E. South St. and follow the signs to

the Sales Gallery, which is located on the left hand side.

The sales gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information, please call (562) 470-7404, or visit www.Lyon-Canvas.com and register your interest.

Prices are effective as of the date of publication. Pricing is approximate and is subject to change without prior notice. Cal-BRE Officer License: 00982816.

(Advertising Supplement)

Celerity Schools. AJ: How were the dance rou-

tines taught and the songs?CC: Each school’s dance in-

structor taught the routine to their students. Celerity’s vocal coaches taught the performers their num-bers at the school sites.

AJ: Criteria for auditioning to be part of this musical?

CC: 1) academically, students must be performing at or above

Celerity’s Ease on Down... PAGE B4

their creative pursuits. So, in Celerity, “Teachers monitor on a weekly basis students’ academic progress and maximize instruc-tional time to allow 2-45 minutes blocks of time weekly to cultivate their creative pursuits through our Performing Arts Program,” Cassie Crump continued.

Crump, was definitely at the top of her game as the artistic director, as were Denise Dowse (director) and Elle Johnson (as-sistant director).

Much like Dorothy, who went to Emerald City and befriended

the Scarecrow who wants a brain, the Tin Man who wants a heart, and the Lion who wants cour-age, all of Celerity’s performing students found their own cour-age, guided by their hearts and minds, to perform their parts in this musical.

What a great lesson to teach to the Celerity student population by caring mentors and teachers, and years from now, we will be wit-nesses to how Celerity educated children to have a full measure of self-esteem, while excelling in their academics.

grade level (no student who is academically behind was allowed to audition) 2) to be included in the musical, students must maintain daily school attendance 3) only students whose parents committed to ensuring that their child attended all after-school and weekend rehearsals were allowed to participate.

A school must also ensure that the students stay academically rigorous, while giving spaces for

PAGE B7

age gracefully

Souper Powered Pumpkin and Squash

© 2015 by FoodTrients.com

GRACE O – Combining her passion for food and a commitment topromoting a healthy lifestyle, GRACE O has created FoodTrients®, a uniqueprogram for optimizing wellness. Grace O is a fusion chef with a mission: to cookup recipes for a long and joyful life that are built on a foundation of anti-agingscience and her 15 years in the healthcare industry. Visit FoodTrients.com tolearn more. Email us at info@FoodTrients.com

BY GRACE O

Moringa Vegetable Soup Serves 2–42 cups diced kabocha squash or pumpkin, seeds removed and rind on1 quart chicken stock¾ cup diced eggplant9 pieces okra, cut in halves or thirds¾ cup cut string beans¼ cup olive oil2 tsp. minced garlic½ cup diced onion¾ cup diced medium tomato¼ lb. flaked smoked fish or 1 Tbs. fish sauce½ cup fresh moringa leaves or 1 Tbs.moringa powder dissolved in 3-4 Tbs. warm water Sea salt and ground pepper to taste

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, boilthe squash or pumpkin in the chickenstock for 10 minutes.

2. Add the eggplant, okra, and stringbeans, and boil the vegetables until theyare tender, about 7–10 minutes.

3. While the soup is cooking, heat the oil ina sauté pan over medium-high heat.Add the garlic and onion and stir-fryuntil the onion is translucent, about 3minutes.

4. Add the tomato to the sauté pan andcontinue cooking for 3 minutes. Add theflaked fish or fish sauce and cook anadditional 5 minutes.

5. Remove soup from heat and stir in thesauté mixture. Add the moringa leavesor powder. Season with the salt andpepper.

You may only associate pumpkins withHalloween, but fresh pumpkins are availablefrom October through February. They containlarge amounts of potassium (33 percent morethan a medium banana) and beta carotenewithout a boat-load of calories—49 per cupmashed. The high amounts of potassium inpumpkins works with sodium to balance theamount of water in the body. A diet high inpotassium helps keep blood pressure at ahealthy level and assists with the prevention ofstrokes. Pumpkins contain more than 2400mcg of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin,which are important for eye health. I like tomake a Moringa Vegetable Soup, which alsocontains powdered moringa leaves, pumpkin,eggplant, okra, onions and many othervegetables. The moringa leaf powder is rich inprotein, vitamins A, B, C and minerals. It’s adelicious, high FoodTrient meal in a bowl!In Africa and Asia, where moringa plants growin abundance, people add the tiny leaves tosoups and stews just before serving. Theleaves are wilted by the hot liquid but are notfully cooked, so their vitamins stay intact. Ialso like the flavor of moringa combined withsquash, eggplant, and okra (another Africaningredient). For this soup, any smoked fish,such as salmon, can be used. To make thissoup vegan, use vegetable stock in place of thechicken stock and omit the fish or fish sauce.To give this soup an Asian flair, add 1tablespoon of ginger root, cut into strips.

AJ Ads 53_Layout 1 10/5/15 12:54 PM Page 1

SEAFOOD CITYADVERTORIAL

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(213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 B�Features

Wi Spa: an urban sanctuary in the

heart of LA

benefits of anything you decide to do, like sweating it out in the sauna. Outside the bath-ing areas, you’ll find changing rooms, complete with vanities and toiletries.

And take this as a fair warning to expect nudity from guests of the same gender, but any judg-ments and awkwardness should be left at the door.

If you want to treat yourself further, the spa offers a menu of body treatments at the fraction of the price tag you’d find at a spa elsewhere in the city. Better yet, if you purchase a treatment worth $110 or more, the en-trance fee is waived. The usual spa treatments, like acupressure massages, facials, manicure/ pedicure, can be booked by reservation. But one must try the full-body scrub, perhaps Wi’s signature offering.

Based on the traditional Ko-rean technique of buffing, the

scrub entails a procedure of sloughing off dead skin cells with an exfoliating towel, as you lie down on a table and get doused with water every so often. It may take a few min-utes to get accustomed to the intensity, but the person (of the same gender) administering the service repeatedly asks you if you’re doing fine. The service can last 35 minutes ($30) or can be reserved as a $90 package complete with the scrub, aroma oil massage, a face mask and hair shampoo, which all lasts for 90 minutes. Depending on one’s pain tolerance, the impression afterward may vary, but you’ll feel cleaner after the dead skin is washed off to make way for the lasting effects of radiating, supple skin.

On the co-ed floor (called the Jimjilbang, which translates to “bathhouse”), guests are required to wear the yellow T-

shirt and khaki shorts received upon check-in. There you’ll find families and couples convening at one of the five specialty sauna rooms, noshing on Korean cui-sine staples at the full-service restaurant, or taking in fresh air on the rooftop deck. The floor also features a kid’s area, a li-brary and computer room.

It’s worth noting that the five sauna rooms—Bulgama, Salt, Clay, Jade and Ice—boast unique characteristics that con-tribute to the detoxification and healing powers. The Bulgama is set at 231 degrees, inviting guests to lie down somewhere between 10 to 15 minutes to sweat out toxins from the body; Salt features minerals to purify and strengthen the body; layers of clay improved from Korea are placed in the Clay sauna to aid in lymphatic stimulation and heavy metal detoxification; the Jade room is hot to relieve any tension

and stress; and the Ice sauna is recommended to end your visit to cool the body’s temperature, tighten the skin and improve circulation.

If you felt like you’ve detoxed enough from technology, free Wi-Fi is provided throughout the building to bring you back from your moment of zen, as are TVs in lounge areas.

Before you leave, don’t forget to take another shower and close out your tab. Whether you stay for an hour or the whole day, it’s nearly impossible to not feel rejuvenated and make you itch for another visit. Good thing, Wi won’t leave holes in your wallet. (AJPress)

Wi Spa is located at 2700 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90057 (on the corner of Ram-part). Visit http://www.wispausa.com/ for more details on spa services and specials.

(Advertising Supplement)

ThInK of a spa and the im-mediate perception is an air of pretense and privilege that only a select few can indulge in, given the exorbitant prices.

however, if you live in Los Angeles, Korean spas have sprouted up, contributing to the idea that pampering oneself and affordability are not mutually exclusive.

Though the options are abun-dant, among the best is Wi Spa, known as the “Disneyland of Korean day spas.” While there are no shiny bells and whistles to it, the spa certainly lives up to its reputation as an urban sanctu-ary, and it’s family-friendly too.

Prior to venturing into a Ko-rean spa, one must understand the significance it plays in Ko-rean culture: a communal place for friends and families to gather, bathe and receive the therapeu-tic benefits rooted in ancient bathhouse traditions.

Conveniently located in be-tween Koreatown and Down-town, Wi Spa itself is an expan-sive, multi-level facility (48,000 square feet, to be exact) that blends the bathhouse tradition with the modernity of marble and glass interiors. It is open 24/7, so you can go anytime,

even on a whim. Enter Wi and the process of

unwinding begins. For starters, valet parking is complimentary to relieve you of the stress of having to find parking, especially when there are a lot of guests checked in.

With the $25 admission fee, you gain full access to amenities like a fitness room, pools, show-ers, saunas, a restaurant, and the rooftop deck. A wristwatch is given as your locker key and form of identification during your stay.

The rush of cramming in the day spa experience and trying out all the rooms is practically gone, as you are welcome to stay for hours on end. There are spaces to lounge in between services and even designated “sleeping rooms” for those who want to doze off in peace.

Wi is divided into gender-specific floors, where the spa and other facilities are located, as well as locker rooms and changing areas. For Korean spa newbies, it’s best to take a shower once you get settled in to wash away the day’s grime (dirt and the tubs do not make a great combination) and to ensure you get the maximum

Living at Azalea, homeown-ers have access to the private resort-inspired amenities within the master-planned community. These include The Resort, a 4,500 square-foot private clubhouse and two-acre recreation center, that is the social centerpiece of the com-munity with a private state-of-the-art fitness center, Junior Olympic swimming pool and children’s wading pool, an open-turf play area, turf volleyball, picnic tables and benches and more. Residents can also enjoy an afternoon hike, bike ride or leisurely walk at the central arroyo which features 13.5 acres of beautiful open space that runs throughout the community. One-of-a-kind community parks further enhance the collection of amenities that await residents providing countless opportunities for picnics, play dates and pick-up ball games.

Rosedale residents are conve-niently located within close proxim-ity of the I-10 and 210 corridors, making downtown Los Angeles, Or-ange and San Bernardino counties within easy reach for commuters. As an added convenience, the new Metro Gold Line boarding station at Citrus Avenue and Palm Drive is scheduled to open to the public in March 2016 and is located within walking distance for Rosedale resi-dents. When the station opens early next year it will provide residents a

New Home Luxury Awaits... PAGE B5 simple, cost-efficient alternative to

driving for both work and leisure. For more information on the Metro Gold Line, visit www.foothillexten-sion.org.

Great shopping, dining and entertainment destinations are also nearby including Old Town Pasa-dena, Westfield Santa Anita Fashion Square, Westfield West Covina, home Depot, Target,

Trader Joe’s and Costco. Azusa Pacific University and Citrus Com-munity College are also within a short walk of the community.

To visit the master-planned com-munity of Rosedale, exit the 210 Freeway at Citrus Ave and head north towards the mountains. Turn left on Foothill Blvd, right on Palm Drive, left on The Promenade and follow the signs to the individual neighborhoods.

About Rosedale Land Partners – Ownership and development management of the 518-acre mas-ter-planned community of Rosedale in the city of Azusa, CA is a new partnership between

Brookfield homes, Christopher Development Group (CDG) and Starwood Capital Group. As Rose-dale Land Partners, these compa-nies bring together the necessary depth of large-scale community planning, development and financ-ing experience required for the successful implementation of com-munity-based master planning and development. (Advertising Supplement)

SEAFOOD CITYFOOD SERVICE

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(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 C�

COMMUNITYJ o u r n a l

Atty. RobeRt Reeves ben LovemAnAnd nAncy miLLeR

Your ImmigrationSolution

TWO recent developments in the world of ‘extreme hardship’ waivers will allow many more ap-plicants to apply and should result in a higher proportion approval for well-prepared applications. First, USCIS recently announced that the provisional waiver pro-cess will be made available to all persons who have an immigrant visa available regardless of the petitioner’s status. This proposal significantly expands eligibil-ity to apply for the provisional waiver which was previously lim-ited to beneficiaries of immediate relative visa petitions, essentially spousal or parental-child peti-tions (not including adult chil-dren) from US citizens. Under the new regulation all persons with an approved petition and available visa, regardless of visa category will be eligible to par-ticipate in the provisional waiver program if otherwise eligible. Of course, obtaining a provisional waiver still requires establishing extreme hardship to a US citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent.

The second change involves how USCIS will judge ‘extreme hardship’ and is seen by many experts as a sign that USCIS may be relaxing the ‘extreme hardship’ standard. On October 7, 2015 USCIS disseminated a draft policy memorandum which, if made effective, will significantly impact the way the agency makes decisions on applications for ‘extreme hard-ship’ waivers.The new policy would impact all types of waiver application including waivers for unlawful presence-including provisional waivers which were discussed above-, for misrepre-sentation and for criminal con-victions.

This new policy should be of particular interest to persons who have filed for waivers in the past and had their applications denied or to persons who have not filed

USCIS issues proposed guidance on ‘extreme hardship’ and expansion of the provisional waiver programwaiver applications because they were worried that they would not be able to establish the required level of ‘extreme’ hardship. Of course, it will also be beneficial to all new waiver applicants go-ing forward. Before turning to the particulars of the proposed new policy it will be useful to have a little background on the ‘extreme’ hardship waiver and when it is required.

To be eligible for permanent residency in the United States a person must be admissible under the Immigration and National-ity Act (INA). The INA lays out multiple potential grounds that will make a person inadmissible. Some of these grounds include having made a material misrep-resentation (like lying about one’s marital status, or using an altered visa or passport to enter the coun-try), having been unlawfully pres-ent in the United States for over six-months and then departing the country, and certain crimi-nal convictions. However, these and other grounds of inadmissi-bility can sometimes be waived. Most such waivers require a showing“extreme hardship” to qualifying relativesincluding US citizen or Lawful permanent resi-dent family members.

The challenge in extreme hard-ship waiver cases is establishing that the hardship to a qualifying relative rises to the level of ‘ex-treme.’ USCIS has long recog-nized that some hardship will result if a family member is not

allowed to stay in the US with their loved ones or if US citizen or lawful permanent relatives must relocate to a foreign country to be close to their spouse, parent or child. This being the case US-CIS has said that ‘extreme hard-ship’ is hardship that rises above and beyond the level of hardship which is typically to be expected under either scenario.

Importantly, the new policy provides direct guidance to US-CIS officers about factors which would ‘strongly suggest; and support a finding of ‘extreme hardship’. Some of these fac-tors are hardships which experi-enced attorneys have raised with USCIS for years but which USCIS previously did not recognize as justifying a finding of ‘extreme hardship’. Some of the factors identified include substantial displacement of care of appli-cant’s children, Travel Warn-ings against travel to country of residence, active military duty of qualifying relative, medical dis-ability, and prior grant of asylum or refugee status.

Extreme hardship can still be established absent one of these factors and, crucially, the mere presence of one of these factors may not be sufficient in and of it-self. As always obtaining approv-al of an ‘extreme hardship’ waiv-er will come down to carefully and thoroughly documenting all issues relevant to hardships in any particular case. Often, even

uPAGE C3

OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797C� Community Journal

Atty. RAymond BulAon

Minding Your Finances

VictoR Sy, cPA, mBA AndARlene Al-oS,cPA, mBA

Tax Tips

IF you fail to file on time or pay on time, penalties kick in. Here are 10 reasonable causes to abate (forgive) penalties for late filing or late paying:

1. Tax returns were mailed on time. A return used to be considered filed on time if it is postmarked on or before the due date. Recent Development: You are now required to use certified mail for filing a return to prove that mailing was made on time.

2. Delay or failure to file was due to erroneous information supplied by an IRS employee.

3. Delay was caused by seri-ous illness or death of the tax-payer or a member of your im-mediate family.

4. Delay was caused by your

10 excuses to abate penalties for late filing or paying taxes

unavoidable absence.5. Delay was caused by the de-

struction by fire or other casualty of your business records.

6. You were not able to deter-mine the amount of tax due to reasons beyond your control.

7. You called the IRS for blank forms that did not arrive on time.

8. You personally visited an IRS office but were not attended to through no fault of your own.

9. You filed the return in the wrong district of the IRS and ar-rived at the right district after the deadline.

10. You relied on erroneous advice from the IRS.

And oh, you died.* * *

Sy Al-os Accountancy Corporation provides accounting and tax services to individuals, corporations, LLCs and business entities. The Firm has a niche in defending taxpayers audited by the IRS and other governmental

agencies. The firm celebrates its 38th anniversary in 2015.

* * *Victor Santos Sy graduated Cum Laude from UE with a BBA and from Indiana State University with an MBA. Vic worked with SyCip, Gorres, Velayo (SGV - Andersen Consulting) and Ernst & Young before establishing Sy Accountancy Corporation in 704 Mira Monte Place, Pasadena, CA 91101. He has 50 years of experience in accounting, consulting, and tax work.

* * *The Firm proudly welcomes Arlene Al-os in 2015. She obtained her bachelors of Science in Accountancy from Mindanao State University and MBA from Ateneo de Manila University. She teaches intermediate accounting at UCLA and was a professor of Economics at Asia Pacific College. She has over 15 years of experience including member firms of KPMG and BDO Seidman accounting firms.

* * *Our readers may call (626) 744-0200 or email tax questions to info@victorsycpa.com. Please visit our website for about 300 tax tips at www.victorsycpa.com. (Advertising Supplement)

Atty. Kenneth uRSuA ReyeS

Barrister’s Corner

FAMILY Code 760 provides that all property acquired by the spouse during the marriage is community property. That means each spouse has a half interest on any assets that are ac-quired during the marriage, with certain exceptions, since it is generally characterized as com-munity property. On the same to-ken, Family Code 771(a) provides that earnings and accumulations of a spouse while living “separate

Do you need to be living in separate residences to be considered ‘separated’ from your spouse under the California family law?

and apart” from the other spouse, are the separate property of the spouse. How about the situa-tion where the couple continues to live together due to economic reasons like roommates. Is a cou-ple living “separate and apart” under family code 771(a) when they continue to live together in the same home even though they no longer live their lives like mar-ried couple?

The California Supreme Court, in a recent case In re Marriage of Davis, 61 Cal 4th 4th 846 (2015), held that the phrase “living sepa-rate and apart” in the California family code refers to a situation in which spouses are living in separate residences and at least one of them has the subjective intent to end the marital relation-ship, abrogating In re Marriage

of Johnson, 134 Cal. App.3d. 148. Prior to this decision, the date of “separation” occurs only when the parties have come to a part-ing of the ways with no present intent to resume their marriage and their conduct evidences a complete and final break in the marital relationship. The Court would consider all of the relevant evidence regarding whether the parties’ conduct evidences a complete and final break in the marital relationship. Living in separate residences, although a factor to be considered, was not required for a separation.

In re Marriage of Davis, hus-band and wife married in 1993 and had two children. Couple stopped having sexual relation-ship in 1999. Wife moved to

uPAGE C4

ARE you being harassed by your creditors day and night due to unpaid bills? If you are, you know that this is a pretty unpleasant experience. You may feel scared, angry or embar-rassed about your situation. The prospect of debt relief through bankruptcy may sound appealing to you but you are not quite sure if this is really the way to go. Per-haps you have heard good things and bad things about bankruptcy and you need to learn more about it before making a decision.

But just how can you tell when it’s time to make that move and declare bankruptcy? Of course, situations vary and whether or not bankruptcy is your best al-ternative will depend on the facts and circumstances of your case. But generally, the answer has to do with your ability to pay, which means that you need to consider your income, expenses, your assets and the amount of your debt. You also need to look at the types of debt you have. For example, if you are dealing with nothing but IRS taxes and they type of taxes you have cannot be wiped out in bankruptcy, you

5 questions to ask yourself if you’re considering bankruptcy

may have other options in solv-ing your tax problems besides filing for bankruptcy.

Generally speaking, how-ever, here are a few questions you should be asking yourself to help you assess whether it’s time for you to consider filing for bankruptcy: (1) Are you strug-gling to pay even the minimum payments on your credit cards? (2) Have you started borrowing money just to be able to cover your basic living expenses such as rent or mortgage, food, gas, etc? (3) Have you lost track of how much you owe? (4) Are bill collectors calling you because you have accounts in collection? (5) Have creditors taken legal action against you such as filing a lawsuit, obtained a judgment and threatening to garnish your wages or levy your bank ac-count?

If you said “yes” to any or most of the above, you could be in a financial danger zone and you need to take action as soon as possible before your financial problems get worse. It may be time to face your financial real-ity instead of pretending that everything is “OK”. Perhaps you’ve been ignoring your pile of bills and the collection calls. But you’re only going to be able to do

this for so long. Sooner or later, you need to face your creditors and do something to change your situation.

I believe that bankruptcy should be a last resort and that you need to exhaust all debt re-lief options before resorting to it. But I also believe that a lot of people put off the decision to file bankruptcy for too long that they needlessly suffer in debt when they could have acted sooner to rebuild their finances and their life.

Since 1997, I have helped thousands of clients get out of debt. Let me help you determine if bankruptcy is right for your situation. If you are under a lot of financial stress and don’t know what to do, I’d like to help you fig-ure out the best way to get your finances back in order again. Call us for a free consultation at Toll-Free 1-866-477-7772. We have offices in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Cerritos and Valencia.

* * *None of the information herein is in-

tended to give legal advice for any specific situation. Atty. Ray Bulaon has successfully helped thousands of clients in getting out of debt. For a free attorney evaluation of your situation, please call Ray Bulaon Law Offices at TOLL FREE 1 (866) 477-7772.

(Advertising Supplement) ON October 2, 2015, the De-partment of Homeland Security (DHS) formally announced the upcoming implementation of a parole program that will help re-unite certain family members of Filipino WWII Veterans. Given the great sacrifices that Filipino WWII Veterans have endured, the program is significant in as-sisting them and their families deal with the hardships that sep-aration from loved ones causes.

The parole program was first mentioned in November 2014 as part of President Obama’s Ex-ecutive Actions on immigration. In July 2015, the White House is-sued a report entitled “Modern-izing and Streamlining Our Legal Immigration System for the 21st Century,” which reiterated the President’s desire to implement a parole program for Filipino WWII Veterans. The report rec-ognizes the “ultimate sacrifice” of the approximately 260,000 Filipinos who were “soldiers in the U.S. Armed Forces in the Far East and as guerilla fighters dur-ing the Imperial Japanese occu-pation of the Philippines.”

It is estimated that approxi-mately 26,000 Filipino soldiers

AMeriCAn DreAM

Allison Aquino-silvA, Esq

Filipino WWII Veterans: Family reunification on the horizon

were eventually granted US citi-zenship. Because the struggle for US citizenship took so long, though, many Filipino WWII Vet-erans who relocated to the US were faced with the hardship of being separated from their chil-dren. As US citizens, Filipino WWII Veterans are able to file visa petitions for their children. However, children who are over age 21 are left behind waiting several years to obtain their visa and be reunited with their par-ent. For those who are single, the wait is about 14 years. Chil-dren who are married are sub-jected to an even longer wait of about 22 years.

The report states that there are “approximately 6,000 Filipino American World War II Veterans still alive in the United States to-day, many of whom require the care and assistance of their fami-lies and greatly desire to have their family members in the Unit-ed States during their final days.” To accomplish this, the DHS is now actively in the process of im-plementing the parole program.

The program will allow cer-tain family members, such as the children of these Veterans, to expeditiously obtain a temporary visa known as parole so that they can “provide support and care to their Filipino veteran family

members who are U.S. citizens or LPRs.” Similar reunification pro-grams have been implemented in the past, such as the Cuban Fam-ily Reunification Parole Program and Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program.

The DHS is now putting to-gether the application require-ments and process. It will an-nounce the implementation of the parole program one it has been finalized. Applications can only be filed at that time.

The parole program is a sig-nificant recognition by the US government of the great contri-butions that Filipino WWII Vet-erans and their families have provided. Although this benefit is long overdue, the nearing im-plementation of the program is greatly heralded so that the Fili-pino WWII Veterans can finally be together with their loved ones once again.

* * *For further information, please schedule an appointment with an attorney at Aquino & Loew, Certified Immigration Law Specialists; (888) 797-1140 or (626) 799-3089; info@aquinoloew.com. Please also visit Aquino & Loew at www.aquinoloew.com and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter. Aquino & Loew also handles family law and criminal matters. Providing Personalized Service Nationwide & Abroad Since 1996. (Advertising Supplement)

(818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797 • http://www.asianjournal.com LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL • OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 C�Community Journal

Atty. C. Joe SAyAS, Jr.

Protecting Employee & Consumer Rights

Dear Attorney Tan,I HAVE an approved I-140 immigrant petition which was filed by

Company A on my behalf. Company A would like to employ me as a bookkeeper. Based on that approved I-140 petition, I filed an application for green card (I-485 adjustment of status) in August 2014. Since that time, my green card application has been pend-ing, as USCIS has requested additional documents in support of my application. Recently, another company, Company B, has ex-pressed interest in hiring me for a payroll clerk position. Company B is a more established company based in the Midwest and pays $10,000.00 less but offers much better benefits. Is there a way I can substitute Company B as the employer in my green card ap-plication? --P.T.

Dear P.T.Under INA Section 204(j), commonly referred to as AC 21, an

approved I-140 employment-based immigrant petition filed by one employer can be used by or “ported” to another employer provid-ing certain requirements are met. First, a green card (I-485 ad-justment of status) application must have been filed and must be pending for at least 180 days. Second, the “new” job offered by the second employer must be in the same or similar occupational classification as the job for which the first employer filed the I-140 petition.

In your situation, you meet the first requirement in that your application for green card (I-485) was filed in August 2014. Your application has been pending for 1 year, which is more than the required 180 days under AC 21.

In depth analysis in your case is needed as to whether Company B’s job of “payroll clerk” is considered a “similar occupational classification” to Company A’s job of “bookkeeper,” for which Company A petitioned you. In determining whether one job is similar enough to another job for AC 21 purposes, the USCIS takes into account the totality of the circumstances, including the job duties of both positions, the Standard Occupational Code (SOC) from the approved I-140 and the SOC code for the job offered by the new prospective employer, as well as the offered wages for each position.

In your case, analysis would begin with the job duties of each position. The more similarity in job duties between bookkeeper and payroll clerk, the greater the likelihood that USCIS would consider them similar. Also, the SOC code for the 2 jobs would be taken into account. In addition, the wages offered by each employer would be considered. The existence of a big disparity in wages offered by each employer is not by itself a reason to conclude that the jobs are not similar. In your case, the fact that Company B is offering $10,000 less than Company A has to take into account the fact that the Midwest has a lower cost of living, as well as the fact that better benefits are being offered by Company B.

If it is considered a “similar occupational classification,” Company B may be substituted in as the employer in your pending green card application, and Company B will not have to start the process from the beginning by filing a labor certification application and by obtaining an approved I-140 petition.

The analysis of whether you can use or “port” your approved I-140 requires additional analysis, and consulting with an experienced attorney is recommended.

* * *Darrick V. Tan, Esq. is admitted to practice law in California and Nevada. Mr. Tan is a gradu-

ate of UCLA and Southwestern University School of Law. He is a member of the Consumers Attorney Association of Los Angeles and is a former member of the Board of Governors of the Philippine American Bar Association. LAW OFFICES OF DARRICK V. TAN, 3580 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 900, Los Angeles, CA 90010. Tel: (323) 639-0277. Email: info@dtanlaw.com. (Advertising Supplement)

AC 21: changing the employer of your employment-based green card application

IT is illegal to harass a worker because of that person’s race or sex. Racial harassment may be verbal or physical conduct target-ing the worker’s race, skin color, or national origin. Sexual harass-ment includes unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual fa-vors, or offensive remarks about a person’s sex. Both types of ha-rassment are illegal, particularly if the conduct or the remarks are frequent or severe that they create a hostile environment, or when it results in an adverse em-ployment decision, such as the firing of the worker.

This is the situation that Daniel Beasley found himself in.

Beasley, reports The Daily Journal, is an African-American, who began work at a Roscoe’s House of Chicken N’ Waffles lo-cation in Los Angeles, CA. His manager, Jenetta Phillips, an Af-rican-American woman, consid-ered him a good employee and promoted him to shift leader. Five months later, Beasley was transferred to another location in West Los Angeles managed by Lisa Hernandez, a Hispanic wom-an. Beasley claimed that during work, Hernandez regularly used derogatory language and made many negative comments about black people, in both English and Spanish.

Another shift leader, Adriana Terrones, also regularly used a racially offensive Spanish term referring to African-Americans and engaged in sexually offen-sive behavior. Beasley claimed Terrones made sexual com-ments, performed sexually sug-gestive motions on fellow em-ployees, and commented on the body parts of Roscoe’s female employees and customers.

Beasley complained about the racial and sexual harassment at work. However, Terrones

Racial and sexual harassment lead to wrongful termination of employeemocked him for his complaints, and Hernandez threatened to fire him for complaining. Beasley also complained to the Human Resource (HR) Manager, and to the CEO and owner of the res-taurant chain. Hernandez told Beasley that he complained too much and it was causing prob-lems between him and Terrones. Hernandez then fired him.

Beasley became homeless and was living behind a dump-ster when he sued Roscoe’s for, among other things, wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimi-nation and harassment.

The employer contended that Beasley was fired for his failure to order enough supplies and for attendance issues. The em-ployer denied that Beasley had ever complained about harass-ment to the HR manager or the CEO. The employer argued that Beasley was not a sexual harass-ment victim because he admitted that no sexual harassment was directed at him. Furthermore, the employer denied that Beas-ley was racially discriminated by Hernandez because Hernandez was the person who hired him and later gave him two raises during his 8-month work at the restaurant.

The case went to trial, which lasted 14 days. After almost two days of deliberations, the jury found in favor of Beasley and awarded him $1,661,800 in dam-ages. The employer was also found liable for retaliation, dis-crimination, the negligent hiring of Hernandez and Terrones, and failure to prevent harassment and discrimination.

For employees who experi-ence what appears to be sex or race discrimination at work, the following things are worth re-membering:

Petty slights, annoyances, and isolated incidents (unless ex-

tremely serious) will not rise to the level of illegal harassment. To be unlawful, the conduct must create a work environment that would be intimidating, hos-tile, or offensive to reasonable people.

Offensive conduct may include offensive jokes, slurs, epithets or name calling, physical assaults or threats, intimidation, ridicule or mockery, insults or put-downs, offensive objects or pictures, and interference with work per-formance. The harasser can be a direct supervisor, a supervisor in another area, an agent of the employer, a co-worker, or a non-employee.

As in Beasley’s case, the vic-tim does not have to be the ac-tual harassment target, but may be someone who witnessed the harassment or is affected by the offensive conduct.

Finally, employers who retali-ate against employees who op-posed the unlawful practices or who filed a complaint, testified or assisted in an investigation conducted by government agen-cies regarding harassment and discrimination, may be liable for lost wages, emotional distress, and punitive damages.

***The Law Offices of C. Joe Sayas, Jr. welcomes inquiries about this topic. All inquiries are confidential and at no-cost. Atty. Sayas’ Law Office is located at 500 N. Brand Blvd. Suite 980, Glendale, CA 91203. You can contact the office at (818) 291-0088 or visit www.joesayaslaw.com.

***C. Joe Sayas, Jr., Esq. is trial attorney who has obtained several million dollar recoveries for his clients against employers and insurance companies. He has been selected as a Super Lawyer by the Los Angeles Magazine, featured in the cover of Los Angeles Daily Journal’s Verdicts and Settlements, and is a member of the Million Dollar-Advocates Forum.

(Advertising Supplement)

when applicants have strong equities in their case they have their waivers denied because of a failure to present their cases ef-fectively to USCIS. This is why quality representation can be the key to obtaining a waiver.

In coming weeks we will pro-vide additional information from this new proposed policy on ‘ex-

treme hardship’ determinations. If you or a loved one believe you have inadmissibility issues, you should consult a knowledgeable and experienced immigration lawyer.

***Atty. Reeves has represented clients in numerous landmark immigration cases that have set new policies regarding INS action and immigrants’ rights. His offices are located

in Pasadena, Irvine, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Makati City. Telephone: (800) 795-8009 E-mail: immigration@rreeves.com Website: www.rreeves.com.

***The analysis and suggestions offered in this column do not create a lawyer-client relationship and are not a substitute for the personalized representation that is essential to every case. (Advertising Supplement)

USCIS issues proposed guidance on ‘extreme hardship’…PAGE C1 t

Atty. EthElEnE F. SAlAS

Family Law

DIVORCES do not have to get costly and lengthy. Divorce can carry its own set of stresses that couples do not need.

An alternative to a costly and lengthy divorce is mediation.

Mediation on divorcesMediation provides an option to divorcing families or families embroiled in a custody dispute to have these issues mediated and resolved as quickly and as privately as possible with the least amount of disruption and ongoing uncertainty. Sensitive and often complex financial is-sues can be openly discussed and resolved within the privacy of a confidential mediation. The end result is the hope that par-

ties come to a written agreement to resolve all their issues so that a judge do not have to decide or rule on an issue.

A mediator can and will help the parties file the necessary pa-perwork to begin and finalize the parties’ divorce in court without the parties ever having to step foot in the courtroom themselves. The parties are often encouraged to have their own independent

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OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797C� Community Journal

Atty. LAwrence yAng

Debt Relief

reverendrodeL g. BALAgtAs

To Live With Faith

Client no. 1IS it even legally possible that

your social security benefits can be garnished? If creditors can get your social security income when you retire, how can you have peace of mind when you retire? To be sure, not every kind of creditor can garnish your social security, because social security income is generally ex-empt from garnishment. So who can garnish your social security? The bad guy who doesn’t care if you live or die has been, is, and will always be the IRS. The IRS can garnish your social security for unpaid taxes. The IRS is the shark that will eat you alive. But the shark does have a heart and is capable of a little mercy. The IRS usually will not garnish more than 15% of your social security income! Still, receiving 15% less of social security can make or break your monthly retirement budget, especially if, all you rely on at retirement is social security and nothing else.

Client is 63 years old with a previous Chapter 7 discharge in 2008 when he wiped out $30K of credit cards. He took early re-tirement at 62 because he said that he was getting depressed with life. He has been receiving social security of $1,315. Re-cently, he received something that made him more depressed, a letter from the IRS saying that they were going to garnish a portion of his social security for unpaid income taxes for 2009 of $10,000. It appears that client liquidated all of his 401K of $85K in 2009 because his son needed a heart bypass surgery and had no medical insurance. Son lived in client’s country of origin where the cost of heart bypass surgery was significantly less than here,

Client files chapter 13 to stop garnishment of social security

Abandoned wife files chapter 7 to discharge collection lawsuits for $20K

but nevertheless reached $60K.Here’s how the IRS problem

arose. He did not declare the liquidation of the 401K in his tax returns because he knew that if he disclosed it, his income would increase by $85K, result-ing in higher income tax liability which he had no ability to pay. The nondisclosure gave him temporary relief but as Benja-min Franklin said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” So, eventually the IRS assessed her additional taxes. What he did not expect that the IRS would also assess her an “accuracy pen-alty” of 25% because she knew that she liquidated her 401K but did not disclose it. An “accuracy penalty” also makes that tax non-dischargeable because it shows conduct or intent to evade taxes. Client cannot discharge this tax even in a Chapter 7.

Client will file Chapter 13 to stop the garnishment and pay the IRS without interest and penalty at $170 a month for 60 months. This is still a better deal than an installment payment plan or continued garnishment, both of which have interest and penalty.

Client no. 2Client is 45 years old. Husband

abandoned her 5 years ago and left her with $40K of credit card debt. Husband worked as hotel manager for a big hotel in Los Angeles. A woman lawyer rep-resented the owner of the hotel. The lawyer conducted audits of the hotel operations. The lawyer would fly in from abroad and spend a long time with client’s husband discussing hotel busi-ness. They had meetings late at night. Apparently, the lady lawyer found client’s husband attractive. Being the hotel man-ager, he had access to the hotel

rooms. One drink led to another, and soon enough, they were in the hotel room purportedly in-specting if the sheets were clean enough. You know the rest of the story.

Suspecting something was go-ing on, client asked husband if he was having an affair with the lady lawyer that her husband had introduced to her in a business party. Husband replied, “ No way, she is so ugly! I wouldn’t touch her with a ten foot pole!” Eventually, husband decided to divorce client to marry the ugly lawyer who got husband promot-ed to regional manager for the hotel chain. Husband promised to pay off the community prop-erty credit card debt of $40K. He made minimum payments for 3 months then stopped alto-gether. Client paid the minimum of $1,200 monthly to keep them current for 5 years. After pay-ing $72K in 5 years, she found out that the principal owed was still $40K! She defaulted on the cards. Now she faces collection lawsuits for half of the cards. Cli-ent now decides to file for Chap-ter 7 relief. She should have done it 5 years ago and she would have saved herself $72K and would have very good credit again by now close to 700.

“The sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights.” – Habak-kuk 3:19.

* * *Lawrence Bautista Yang specializes in bankruptcy, business, real estate and civil litigation and has successfully represented more than five thousand clients in California. Please call Angie, Barbara or Jess at (626) 284-1142 for an appointment at 1000 S. Fremont Ave, Mailstop 58, Building A-1 Suite 1125, Alhambra, CA 91803. (Advertising Supplement)

attorney review the marital set-tlement agreement before it is signed and sent in to the court. Although many parties are reluc-tant to hire an independent at-torney to review the agreement that the parties and the mediator prepared together, this step can provide assurance that both par-ties fully understand the agree-

ment as well as their legal rights and obligations.

In many instances, mediators are best in resolving custody and support issues. It will allow par-ties to create an agreement that will satisfy both parties without the need of going in front of a judge. Call me to mediate your problem. Together, we can draft a settlement agreement and file it

with the court.* * *

Ethelene F. Salas, Esq. is a practicing family law attorney. Ms. Salas is a Filipino-American born in the Philippines, raised in the United States, and speaks Tagalog fluently. The Law Offices of Ethelene F. Salas is located at two locations – the main office at 100 N. Barranca St., Suite 700, West Covina, CA 91791 and affiliated offices at 18000 Studebaker Road, Suite 700, Cerritos, CA 90703. To schedule an appointment with her, please call (626) 858-4646 or visit www.EFS-Law.com. (Advertising Supplement

Mediation on…PAGE C3 t

ONE day I asked a friend, “Can you live an anonymous life?” He said, “Yes, I can.” A part of me did not believe him because I know that everyone is tainted with pride and self-glory. Most people want to be on the top, to be popular, and to be recog-nized.

We live in a society that breeds this attitude of being self-ab-sorbed. In high school, for exam-ple, girls and boys already feel the pressure of success, popu-larity, and being part of the in-group of academics, sports, and other extra-curricular activities.

Television and social media are filled with pages of important and popular people. That’s why we take pictures with them to post them on Facebook or watch them on YouTube to see the latest hap-penings in their lives. Without knowing it, many folks’ appetite for looking at the lives of people (like the Kardashians) feeds these fellow human beings with egos and make them millionaires.

Even the Church at times is guilty of promoting this milieu in the way that it gives title to priests and lay people. Ask priests what’s the usual topic of conversation among them and they will tell you that it’s who was made a bishop, a cardinal, a monsignor or who is being promoted to a certain office. Of course, having a title is being perceived as a servant-leader, but many times positions

On self-absorptionin the church cause competition, envy and disappointment.

Clamoring for position or be-ing self-absorbed is an age-old problem even during the time of Jesus. One of the famous passages regarding this matter is this Sunday’s Gospel when James and John, the sons of Ze-bedee, came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. To this Jesus replied, “What do you wish me to do for you?” They an-swered, “Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left.” Then the other ten disciples became indig-nant at James and John on hear-ing their want.

So what’s wrong with this at-titude? For one thing, it brings restlessness in people to feed one’s ego or to feel important. And if they don’t get this affirma-tion or recognition they become depressed. Moreover, in the Christian sense, their attitude is “all about me” and not “all about God and other people”.

In the Gospel, Jesus corrected this attitude of self-absorption when he said, “Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Thank God that there are peo-ple like The New York Times’ Op-Ed Columnist, David Brooks who are also correcting this egotisical attitude that can be deadly to the soul and the human spirit. In his book, “The Road to Character”, Brooks distinguishes two types

of people, which he calls Adam I and Adam II. He says, “The hard part of this confrontation, I’d add, is that Adam I and II live by different logics. Adam I—the creating, building, and discover-ing Adam—lives by a straight-forward utilitarian logic. It’s the logic of economics. Input leads to output. Efforts lead to reward. Practice makes perfect. Pursue-self interest. Maximize your util-ity. Impress the world. Adam II lives by an inverse logic. It’s a moral logic, not an economic one. You have to give to receive. You have to surrender to something outside yourself to gain strength within yourself. You have to con-quer your desire to get what you crave. Success leads to the great-est failure, which is pride. Fail-ure leads to the greatest success, which is humility and learning. In order to fulfill yourself, you have to forget yourself. In order to find yourself, you have to lose your-self.”

May we never fall into the dangerous pit of self-absorption! Rather, may we do everything for the glory of God and the well be-ing of other people!

* * *From a Filipino immigrant family, Reverend Rodel G. Balagtas was ordained to the priesthood from St. John’s Seminary in 1991. He served as Associate Pastor at St. Augustine, Culver City (1991-1993); St. Martha, Valinda (1993-1999); and St. Joseph the Worker, Canoga Park (1999-2001). In 2001, he served as Administrator Pro Tem of St. John Neumann in Santa Maria, CA, until his appointment as pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles, in 2002, which lasted 12 years. His term as Associate Director of Pastoral Field Education at St. John’s Seminary began in July 2014.

another bedroom in the house either in 2001 or 2004. Husband and wife attended children’s ac-tivities but used separate cars. On June 1, 2006 wife announced she was “through” with the marriage. Wife believed couple were acting simply as roommates after 2006. Wife increased her earnings af-ter this date while husband left his job. Parties continued to live in the marital home and went on vacation together. Wife filed for divorce in 2008. Wife moves out of the marital residence on July1, 2011. Wife alleges date of sepa-ration of June 1, 2006. Husband alleges a date of separation of July 1, 2011. The trial court and the court of appeal found June1,

2006 as the date of separation. The California Supreme Court reversed the decision holding that living in separate residences “is an indispensable threshold requirement for a finding that spouses are “living separate and apart” for purposes of section 771(a). The interpretation aligns with the common understanding of the words, the statutory his-tory of the provision, and legiti-mate public policy concerns.

The In re Marriage of Davis de-cision now requires the parties to be living in separate residences as a prerequisite to a separation. In IRMO Davis, the California Supreme Court looked into the plain meaning of the statute, the legislative intent and history

of the statute, and the case law in interpreting the term “sepa-rate and apart.” The California Supreme Court looked into the wording and legislative intent of family code 771(a) by tracing it back to a 145 year old predeces-sor statute enacted in 1870 “ An Act to Protect the Rights of Mar-ried Women in Certain Cases.” Section 4 of the 1870 act pro-vided a procedure for a wife who was “living separate and apart” from her husband to sell her real property without joining with her husband by stating in a declara-tion ”her own place of residence that is “separate and apart from her husband” which strongly suggests that the statute was di-

Do you need to be living in separate…PAGE C2 t

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rected at a situation where the spouses had physically separat-ed and the wife in fact had her own residence. The Supreme Court also relied on the holding in the Norviel case which held that living apart physically is an indispensable threshold require-ment to separation, whether or not it is sufficient, by itself to establish separation. Although the Davis case has adopted a bright line test in determining date of separation, it also ac-knowledge that there may be “exceptional circumstances” when a couple is under one roof but still separated. This

was noted in footnote 7 in Da-vis and the concurring opinion written by Justice Liu and joined by Justice Werdergar. Davis has listed facts that do not qualify as exceptional circumstances. The date of separation is one of the most litigated issues in a divorce case since it directly affects the characterization and division of community property. This case changes that analysis and may create problems in its practical application to the realities of contemporary families.

* * *Attorney Kenneth Ursua Reyes is a Certified Family Law Specialist. He was President of the Philippine American Bar Association. He

is a member of both the Family law section and Immigration law section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He has extensive CPA experience prior to law practice. LAW OFFICES OF KENNETH REYES, P.C. is located at 3699 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 747, Los Angeles, CA, 90010. Tel. (213) 388-1611 or e-mail kureyeslaw@gmail.com or visit our website at Kenreyeslaw.com.

* * *Please note that this article is not legal advice and is not intended as legal advice. The article is intended to provide only general, non-specific legal information. This article is not intended to cover all the issues related to the topic discussed. The specific facts that apply to your matter may make the outcome different than would be anticipated by you. This article does create any attorney client relationship between you and the Law Offices of Kenneth U. Reyes, P.C. This article is not a solicitation. (Advertising Supplement)

Do you need to be living in separate…PAGE C4 t

ON October 7, 2015 USCIS re-leased draft policy guidance re-garding the “extreme hardship” threshold that Waiver of Inad-missibility applicants must reach. The draft guidance is now in its comments period, which closes on November 23, after which time USCIS will formalize its new policy. The new policy will clar-ify and consolidate the extreme hardship standard which adjudi-cators use in deciding whether to grant U.S. immigration benefits.

By way of background, admis-sibility is a requirement for U.S. entry and immigration benefits. A person is “inadmissible” if something in their past renders them ineligible for U.S. entry or immigration benefits. In such scenarios, the individual can overcome their inadmissibility if the U.S. Citizenship and Immi-gration Services (“USCIS”) ap-proves a waiver of the ground of inadmissibility. A waiver can be granted if the USCIS adjudicator believes that “extreme hardship” would result to a qualifying rela-tive if the waiver is not granted.

For years, immigration attor-neys and officers have struggled to find a truly clear and con-sistent understanding of what constitutes extreme hardship. Naturally, any time an individual is to be separated from family, “extreme hardship” – as the term is commonly used – can be pre-sumed. However, in practice, the “extreme hardship” that must be shown in order to receive a

Atty. Jeff Khurgel

Immigration Essentials

waiver for U.S. immigration is a much higher standard. Indeed, mere familial separation is not enough.

The recent draft guidance is important as it seeks to clarify and consolidate guidance as to how USCIS will make extreme hardship determinations. Feder-al Courts, the Board of Immigra-tion Appeals and earlier USCIS guidance have created the stan-dards that have been established over time, however it is thought that the final version of the draft memorandum will consolidate the past policy. The nascent memo already reminds us of the 2009 Neufeld/Scialabba/Chang USCIS Memorandum on Unlaw-ful Presence, which consolidated decades of disparate inadmissi-bility guidance into a helpful and concise guide.

Here are six key takeaways from the October 7, 2015 Ex-treme Hardship Draft Guidance:

• AggregationThe guidance clarifies that

establishing extreme hardship does not require showing that one single hardship, taken alone, rises to the level of “extreme.” Instead, all relevant hardship fac-tors “must be considered in the aggregate, not in isolation.” Non-Qualifying Relative Hardship

• Non-Qualifying Relative Hardship

While the definition of a “qualifying relative” is fixed and defined by status, the guidance proposes that hardship to non-qualifying relatives can also be considered. The extreme hard-

ship to the non-qualifying rela-tive would be considered with respect to the hardship caused to the qualifying relative.

• Separation vs. RelocationUnder the current standard,

the waiver applicant is required to show Extreme Hardship to the qualifying relative in two sce-narios: 1) due to separation if the Waiver Applicant is removed from the U.S.; and 2) due to re-location if the qualifying relative is forced to reside in the Waiv-er Applicant’s country.Under the Draft Guidance Memo, the Waiver Applicant can show that the extreme hardship standard has been met by showing that either separation or relocation would cause extreme hardship. However, a threshold must first be met: the applicant would need to first prove that it is reasonably foreseeable that the qualifying relative would relocate abroad if relocation hardship is being argued.

• PresumptionIt is hoped that the final ver-

sion of the Policy Memorandum will contain reference to instanc-es under which adjudicators can presume that the hardship standard has been met, thus al-leviating inconsistent adjudica-tions and providing clarity to ap-plicants and their families. In the guidance’s current draft form, reference as to such a presump-tion is not present.

• Special CircumstancesAccording to the Draft Guid-

ance Memo, the following cir-

Extreme hardship waiver guidance to be revised by USCIS – what’s new and what’s next

People and Events

LOS ANGELES – PeDRO, Philippine Disaster Relief Orga-nization, on its 11th Anniversary Celebration - is delighted to an-nounce a concert, dinner and dance event to be held on No-vember 21, 2015. Headlining the concert is award-winning singer, songwriter, actress, producer and director, Becca Godinez in a much anticipated return to the concert stage.

Becca was the first female singer-songwriter of pop music in the Philippines. She not only wrote original songs for herself but co-wrote songs with other famous artists. Aside from a successful music career, Becca is one of a few artists who have achieved a successful acting ca-reer as well. Few know that she is a theatre arts major with a minor in voice. In these last two years, Becca was seen onstage in a triumphant return to the the-atre where her performance in “Flipzoids” received rave reviews from Los Angeles critics. Inspired by its success, Becca produced the play in Manila, bringing the LA production’s director and cast there last year. Praises were also accorded them by Manila re-viewers. In October she donned a new hat; that of co-producer of the highly touted, “MasterPiec-es”, the 45th Anniversary tour of Ballet Philippines in Los Angeles and San Jose, CA.

“I’m so ready to get back to music”, Becca said. “I’ve titled the concert, “ReminiSing” - a play on the word. I’ll be sing-ing songs that through the years have touched, excited and moved me and there will be tunes that folks will remember well.” We hope she includes two of her gold-record songs, “Shining” and “Bakit Ganyan ang Pag-ibig” in the mix. Becca thanks God for this wonderful opportunity and truly wants everyone to experi-ence her fun-loving, crazy and expressive side.

It all began a few months ago when she was approached by PeDRO president, Mrs. Myrna Baculi. She asked if Becca would work hand in hand with PeDRO to help raise funds for their proj-ects. PeDRO is a 501©3 non-profit organization whose aim is to restore hope and to work with the underprivileged and under-served – to rebuild and restruc-ture after disaster strikes. Becca met with the team, heard their

ReminiSing with Becca Godinez

goals, their mission and the suc-cess by which the funds they raise are put to good use. More impor-tantly, Becca was impressed by the sincerity and dedication of the group as a whole.

The special evening will begin with dinner followed by Becca’s concert which features a live band and vocalists. Following her per-formance, music provided by Full Frequency Entertainment will surely entice the audience to dance

the night away. The concert’s con-cept and staging is a collaboration between Becca and producer Ted Benito of PAE, Live!

“ReminiSing with Becca Godi-nez” will be held at the Renais-sance Hotel located at 111 Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, CA. Tickets are $85 each and parking is free. Event begins at 6:00 pm – attire is formal. For tickets please call B. Francisco at (323) 828-7648 or B. Miranda at (310) 600-5675. n

Becca Godinez

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If you have an upcoming event and would like us to post it, please email us the details at info@asianjournalinc.com or calendar@asianjournalinc.com

Americaalendar of EventsacrossC

ADVERTISE YOUR EVENTS!PRE-EVENT AND POST-EVENT

GO DEEPER. GO WIDER. LET THE WORLD KNOW.CALL ASIAN JOURNAL: (818) 502-0651DISPLAY AD SIZES AT SPECIAL RATES

FOR NON-PROFIT GROUPS

UNITED LAB-USA 32nd Anniversary The UNITED LAB-USA will celebrate their 32nd Anniversary on Saturday, October 17,

2015 at Royal Garden in Cerritos. The association is headed by Rey Guieb, President. Music will be provided by The Midnight Motion Band. For other questions, please call Felix Belen, outgoing president at (626) 839-0736.

OCTOBER 17

UERMMMC - Medical Alumni Association Inaugural Ball The University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center - Medical Alumni

Association of Southern California (UERMMMC - MAASC ), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corpora-tion which participates in many humanitarian projects and medical missions to barangays in the Philippines, will hold its Inaugural Ball and Dinner=Dance on October 17, 2015 at the Manhattan Beach Marriott (1400 Parkview Avenue; Manhattan Beach, CA 90266). Proceeds from the event will benefit underserved areas and families in Lucena, Quezon and District 2 of Pampanga (Lubao, Sasmuan, Guagua, Floridablanca) who are in need of medical and surgical care. The theme of the Inaugural Ball will be “A Black and White Event.” The evening starts at 6:00pm. Tickets are $90 per person and are tax deductible; VIP packages ranging from $500 and up are also available. For more information, please call Dr. Teri Pastor at 310-707-8480, Gloria Legaspi at 951-496-0536 and Lucy Babaran at 818-395-9348. We thank our guests and sponsors for their generous support!

Paco Catholic High School Class of 1964 Reunionsa Amerika” at the Gold Coast Casino & Hotel (4000 Flamingo Rd. Las Vegas, NV 89103)

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

OCTOBER 25-27

Legionarios del Trabajo in America Triennial ConventionThe Legionarios del Trabajo in America, Inc. will hold its 18th Triennial Convention, Octo-

ber 15-18, 2015, at the Clarion Inn and Suites in Stockton, CA (4219 Waterloo Rd, Stockton, CA 95215). For more information, please contact Cora Gines at (209) 957-0217 / (209) 406-5438, or Elena Gabriel at (209) 598-1436.

OCTOBER 15-18

CANA in Galilee Couples RetreatThe CANA Marriage Renewal Movement will have their 59th couples retreat at the Holi-

day Inn & Suites, Fullerton, CA (2932 Nutwood Ave Fullerton, CA 92831) on Oct. 16-18. It is a 3-day experience designed to revitalize the interpersonal growth of the couple towards each other and God. Through a particular method of communication and dialogue, they dis-cover their “coupleness” and couple power in a new way. The retreat starts on Friday evening with registration and orientation at 6 pm, and ends with the celebration of Eucharist on Sunday evening. We request a donation of $300 per couple to cover hotel accommodations, meals and snacks. No one is refused the opportunity to attend the retreat because of lack of funds, but prior arrangements must be made. Registration is still open, please contact Alain or Cecile Graziani (818 421-6505), email cnagraziani@charter.net, or St Lorenzo Ruiz Parish Office (909) 595-9545.

OCTOBER 16-18

Mandacal 26th Anniversary Dinner-Dance MANDACAL (Mandaluyong Civic Group of Southern California) would like to invite you

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

OCTOBER 24

Bohol Children Bamboo Ensemble in ConcertPresented by Bible Christian Fellowship Church, the one-of-a-kind Bohol Children Bam-

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

FACCOC 21st Annual GALA Join the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce of Orange County on Saturday,

October 17th for an evening of casino games, recognition of local business owners, inspir-ing presentations, and entertainment at the 21st Annual GALA, “Monte Carlo Night,” at the Wyndham Hotel (12021 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92840). Registration and network-ing starts at 5pm. There will be cocktails and classic casino games such as blackjack, craps, roulette, and wheel of fortune available to guests from 5:30 to 7pm. Arrive early to take advantage of casino-style games and the photobooth (provided by OC fotobooth) before our main program and dinner starts. For RSVP tickets, sponsorships and vendor tables informa-tion, please visit www.faccoc.org.

FilAm Art Alive! Comes to San Diego FilAm Art Alive! is proud to announce the first annual San Diego event bringing together

amazing local Filipino-American artists, entertainment, food vendors, and more surprises. FilAm Art Alive! will be on Sunday, October 18, 2015 at Sushi On A Roll (1620 National Ave. San Diego, CA 92113) restaurant from 2-6pm. The Art Miles Murals Project in partnership with Philippine Art Miles is thrilled to join the festivities with the magnificent “Fishes of the Ocean” mural, a 250-foot section from the 6-mile longest mural visiting from the Philippines. The mural is presented by On The Spot Artist Association, headed by Rolando De Leon of Quezon City. “Fishes Of The Ocean” is a part of UNESCO’s 70th Anniversary celebration. This FREE event will feature interactive art of various mediums, food vendors, live entertainment, folklore and dancing, and much more! For further information and questions about FilAm Art Alive!, please contact: filamartalive@gmail.com, or Laarni Thornton at 619.781.2727. Visit our Facebook for more details: www.facebook.com/FilAmArtAlive.

OCTOBER 18

Helping Hands Marriage Enrichment SeminarCouples, please join for the Marriage Enrichment Seminar on Saturday, October 24

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

cumstances would act as strong factors favoring an Extreme Hardship finding, including if the qualifying relative:

1. Is an asylee or refugee;2. Has a U.S. government-rec-

ognized disability;3. Would face substantial dis-

ruption to childcare caused by the separation;

4. Is on active military duty; or5. If the Department of State

has issued travel warnings for the Waiver Applicant’s home country

• What’s next?USCIS will review the pub-

lic comments until November 23, and then formalize its final policy memorandum with re-spect to the extreme hardship standard. As we previously wrote, USCIS has also released a proposed rule to expand the Provisional Waiver. The com-ments period for that proposed rule ended on September 21st. It is possible that the extreme hardship memorandum will be released to coincide with the fi-nal expanded provisional waiver rule. Final guidance as to the extreme hardship standard, the Provisional Waiver expansion, or both, will be most likely be

released late this year or early next year.

***Atty. Khurgel is a former USCIS and Department of State Embassy Officer and was previously a Partner at Reeves & Associates. His Firm’s Offices are located in Irvine and Los Angeles, California, and the Firm provides representation for clients in Deportation/Removal proceedings, Waivers, Appeals, Naturalization, Adjustments, Criminal Relief, Citizenship, Consulate Processing, Work and Employment Status, Investment Visas and all other areas of Immigration and Naturalization Law. You can go online to www.khurgel.com to ask your questions or call us at (949) 509-6515 for an in-person office consultation. � (Advertising�Supplement)

Extreme hardship waiver guidance to be…PAGE C5 t

CAUSE Veterans Initiative Fel-lows pose with their congres-sional certificates of recognition from Congresswoman Grace Na-politano (CA-32) at the CAUSE Veterans Initiative Program Kick-off on October 13, 2015. Brig-adier General Mark Toy, who delivered the keynote speech for the program, also received a cer-tificate of recognition from the Congresswoman.

Pictured (L-R): Fellow Henry Chan, Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, Brigadier General Mark Toy, Fellow Wen Lin, and Fellow Jonathan Kim.

CAUSE veterans initiative program kickoffShort summary of the pro-

gram:The Veterans Initiative pro-

gram was designed for individu-als interested in enhancing the accessibility to and awareness of veteran resources to advocate on behalf of the Asian Pacific Ameri-can veteran community. Despite all the efforts being taken by the government and community based organizations for members

of the military and their families, surveys show that over 50 percent of veterans are not aware of how to access these services. Over the course of the next nine-months, our fellows will be provided with valuable tools and resources for the purpose of changing the na-ture of this situation.

Congressmember Ted Lieu (CA-33), Congress member Grace Napolitano (CA-32), and Los An-geles City Controller Ron Galperin were in attendance to give special remarks. Brigadier General Mark Toy, South Pacific Division Com-mander of the US Army Corps of Engineers, ended the program by delivering the keynote speech. “I want you to remember to be the leader you wish you always had. If you do that you can’t go wrong,” he said. Brig. Gen. Toy encour-aged our veteran fellows to con-tinually pursue leadership roles in the community and stay con-nected with public service to help the veteran community. n

FACCOC 21st Annual GALA JOIN the Filipino-American

Chamber of Commerce of Or-ange County on Saturday, Octo-ber 17th for an evening of casino games, recognition of local busi-ness owners, inspiring presenta-tions, and entertainment at the 21st Annual GALA, “Monte Carlo Night,” at the Wyndham Hotel (12021 Harbor Blvd, Garden Grove, CA 92840).

Registration and network-ing starts at 5pm. There will

be cocktails and classic casino games such as blackjack, craps, roulette, and wheel of fortune available to guests from 5:30 to 7pm.

Arrive early to take advan-tage of casino-style games and the photobooth (provided by OC fotobooth) before our main pro-gram and dinner starts.

For RSVP tickets, sponsorships and vendor tables information, please visit www.faccoc.org. n

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OCTOBER 17-20, 2015 • LA WEEKEND ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797C�

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&MARKETPLACESHOWROOM

Business Quote of the Week“Transforming a brand into a socially responsible

leader doesn’t happen overnight by simply writing new marketing and advertising strategies.

It takes effort to identify a vision that your customers will find credible and aligned with

their values.” - Simon Mainwaring,

We First founder

Atty. MichAelGurfinkel, eSQ

ImmigrationCorner

EACH month, the Visa Office of the State Department pub-lishes, in the Visa Bulletin, the priority dates for that particular month, for the various family and employment based categories. A priority date is a person’s “place in line” for a visa, meaning im-migrant visas (or green cards) would be available for persons whose priority date is earlier than the cut-off date listed be-low. If your priority date was “current,” but later retrogressed (or “moved backwards” and be-came unavailable) before your immigrant visa was issued (or before you adjusted status in the US), you would have to wait until it becomes current again.

Beginning in October 2015, the format of the Visa Bulletin changed, in that a new column was added, called the “Applica-tion Filing Date.” If a person’s priority date is earlier than the Application Filing Date, they can already file for adjustment of status and work authorization (provided they are otherwise

The November 2015 Priority DatesThe Priority dates for the Philippines are as follows:

FAMILY CATEGORY:

First Preference

Second Preference

Third Preference

Fourth Preference

LABOR CERTIFICATION:

Third Preference

Other Workers

Unmarried sons and daughters of US citizens (over 21 years of age)

(2A) Spouse and minor children (below 21 years old) of green card holder

(2b) Unmarried sons and daughters (21 years old or older) of green card holder

Married sons and daughters of US citizens.

brothers and sisters of US citizens.

Professional/Skilled Workers

Non-Skilled Workers

ApplicationFiling Date

Visa IssuanceDate

September1, 2005

June 1, 2002

March 1, 2015 May 15, 2014

May 1, 2005 November 1, 2004

August 1, 1995 October 8, 1993

January 1, 1993

June 15, 1992

Visa Issuance Date

January 1, 2010

January 1, 2010

June 15, 2007

June 15, 2007

eligible), even though the Visa Issuance Date (which is the old “priority dates” from previ-ous Visa Bulletins) is not yet current. This allows people to obtain work authorization much sooner than before, where they had to wait for the priority date to be current in order to both file for adjustment and be eli-gible for a green card.

* * *Michael J. Gurfinkel is licensed, and

an active member of the State Bar of California and New York. All immigration services are provided by, or under the supervision of, an active member of the State Bar of California. Each case is different. The information contained herein including testimonials, “Success Stories,” endorsements and re-enactments) is of a general nature, and is not intended to apply to any particular case, and does not constitute a prediction, warranty, guarantee or legal advice regarding the outcome of your legal matter. No attorney-client relationship is, or shall be, established with any reader.

WEBSITE: www.gurfinkel.comCall Toll free to schedule a consultation

for anywhere in the US: (866)—GURFINKELFour offices to serve you: LOS ANGELES

· SAN FRANCISCO · NEW YORK · PHILIPPINES (Advertising Supplement)

The panel that reacted to the report included (from left) Ms. Daphne Kwok, Vice President, Multicultural Markets and Engagement; Sandy Poon-Wing, Vice President and Financial Planning Specialist at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management; Howard Shih, Director of Research and Policy at the Asian American Federation; Beth Finkel, AARP New York State director and Angela Houghton, AARP senior research advisor. AJPress photo by Momar G. Visaya

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

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

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

STRUGGLING TO SAVE FOR RETIREMENTAsian Americans worried about retirement, stressed out byunaffordability & lack of savings

by MoMar G. VisayaAJPress

Americans in the city.“I think the biggest takeaway

here is that the younger people should start looking at this is-sue now, especially those that are just coming out of college. Filipinos can check out AARP online to check the resources provided there. They just need to get more involved,” said Ste-ven Raga, a thirty-something Fil-Am community leader who belongs to the ‘Millennials’ gen-eration (those born between the early 1980s to early 2000s).

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

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

MORE Filipinos are expecting the economy and their quality of life to improve in the coming months, according to a survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS).

In its third quarter nation-wide survey, the SWS said 30 percent of the respondents were “optimistic” that the economy will get better in the next 12 months while 12 percent were “pessimistic.”

This brings the net optimism to “very high” plus 18 (percent-age of optimistic minus percent-age of pessimistic) about the economy. It was three points more than the similarly “very high” plus 15 logged in June (31 percent optimistic versus 15 percent pessimistic, rounded off).

The SWS survey was con-ducted from September 2 to 5, among 1,200 respondents, which was first published in a business newspaper on Thursday.

Net optimism about the econ-omy refers to expectations about the Philippine economy in gen-eral, and is different from net personal optimism, which refers to expectations in personal qual-ity of life.

The SWS explained that the three-point improvement in net economic optimism was a result of increases of 12, six and two points in Metro Manila (to a “very high” +19 from a “high” +7 in June), Mindanao (where it stayed “very high” at +25 from +19) and in Balance Luzon

More Pinoys see betterlives, economy ahead - SWS

by Catherine s. ValenteManilatimes.net

(where it also stayed “high” at +19 from +17), respectively, that offset a seven-point drop in the Visayas (to a “high” +7 from a “very high” +14).

It noted the improvements of seven, four and two points for classes ABC (to a “very high” +16 from a “high” +7), E (where it stayed “very high” at +25 from +21) and D (where it also stayed “very high” at +17 from +15), respectively.

The same survey also found that 38 percent of respondents believed that their quality of life would improve in the next 12 months, against 5 percent who thought otherwise.

This resulted in a net opti-mism rating of plus 33, that was three points less than June’s plus 36 (42 percent optimists versus 6 percent pessimists).

The SWS attributed the three-point decrease in the national net personal optimism to the negligible four-point increase in Metro Manila (to +40 from +36 in June) that was otherwise tempered by declines in Bal-ance Luzon (by four points to +33 from +37), the Visayas (also four points to +25 from +29) and Mindanao (by six points to +34 from +40).

The net personal optimism, however, improved among those belonging to ABC class (to +41 from +37 in June) that was simi-larly offset by four-point drops each in class D (to +31 from +35) and in E (to +35 from +39).

When asked if they experi-enced a change in their quality

PAGE D2

october 17-20, 2015 • LA WeeKeND ASIAN JoUrNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (818) 502-0651 • (213) 250-9797D� Marketplace & ShowrooM

PAGE D1

of life over the past 12 months, 29 percent of respondents said they experienced an improve-ment, while 25 percent said the opposite.

This translates into a “high” net gainers score of plus 4, a mere point above the similarly “high” plus 3 recorded in June (28 percent gainers versus 26 percent losers, rounded off).

The SWS attributed the slight improvement among “net gain-ers” to a turnaround to plus 3 from minus 5 in June in Min-danao that offset flat results in Metro Manila (+2) and the Vi-sayas (-1) as well as a negligible decrease in Balance Luzon (to +7 from +8).

It also noted the six-point increase among ABC respon-dents (to +18 from June’s +12) and a turnaround among those in E (to +4 from -12) that off-set a two-point fall in D (to +3 from +5).

The SWS survey used face-to-face interviews of adults nationwide and has sampling error margins of three points for national percentages and six points each for Metro Manila,

More Pinoys see better lives...

Asian Americans worried about...and Pacific Islander Audience at AARP.

Among other key findings of the report: 65% of Asian Amer-ican Gen-Xers and Boomers worry about not saving enough; 68% of Asian American Gen-Xers and 43% of Boomers are either current or expected fu-ture borrowers of student debt; 67% of these borrowers say these loans make it even harder to save for retirement; 57% of Asian American Gen-Xers and Boomers worry about be-ing able to afford the rent or mortgage in the coming years and 41% Asian American vot-ers worry about not being able to keep or find a job because of age.

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

Gen-Xers are the first gen-eration to approach retirement age with a new playbook, hav-ing lived the entirety of their working years during the rise of 401k plans and a shift away from traditional pension plans.

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

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

PAGE D1 in savings, and just $12,000 for those nearing retirement.

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

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

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

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

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

balance of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

The SWS classifies net per-sonal optimism scores of 30 and above as “very high”; 20 to 29 as “high”; 10 to 19 – which includes the historical median and mode, “or what is normally expected” – “fair”; 1 to 9, “me-diocre”; zero to -9, “low”; and minus 10 and below as “very low.”

For net optimism about the economy, it considers “very high” scores of at least 10; those 1 to 9 as “high”; zero to -9 as “fair” noting that “a slightly negative score is already bet-ter than normal”; -10 to -19 as “mediocre”; -20 to -29 as “low”; and scores -30 and below as “very low.”

Malacañang, meanwhile, wel-comed the latest SWS survey on the increasing optimism of Fili-pinos, especially in the last year of the Aquino administration.

In a news conference, Com-munications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the government is happy to know that despite various challenges, the public remains optimistic about their future.

Orange County International Auto Show kicks off this weekend in Anaheim

The Hyundai Santa Cruz Concept: a diesel-powered, crossover-based truck with a smaller fuel footprint that is similar to a crossover SUV.

Test-driving the Italian design sports car, the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, with 237 horsepower.

A clean lineup of Toyotas, Jeeps, GMCs, and much more at the #OCAutoShow.

The Honda Civic classic sedan from 1975, and the new 10th Generation 2016 Civic, designed with a sportier look while providing fun-to-drive performance, safety, driver-assistive technologies, and fuel efficiency.

The Lamborghini Aventador SV Roadster.

The Toyota FT-1 concept car: introducing the future of Toyota sports cars, combining elements of “emotion and energy.” Photos by: Ian Vergara

A sleek-looking Dodge Viper, one of the models available for a test drive spin.

Go off-roading at Camp Jeep, an interactive experience for the whole family, where you can ride in a new Jeep model through an outdoor “off-road” obstacle course.

THE Orange County Interna-tional Auto Show is underway this weekend, October 15-18, at the Anaheim Convention Center. With over 500 new vehicles on display, including concept cars of the future, there is something for everyone to see. Kids 12 and under can enjoy FREE admission with a paid adult admission, and can take part in fun activities like a scavenger hunt, Hot Wheels racing, and food trucks. Car en-thusiasts will enjoy the gallery of exotic models in the “Exotic Level,” from Lamborghini, Fer-

by Allyson EscobArAJPress

rari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and the rare McLaren 57OS. Licensed adults can test drive over 100 hybrid and luxury vehicles, from Fiats to Fords, Volkswagen GTIs to Mercedes-Benz--taking the Auto Show experience to the road. The show also features interactive experiences for the whole family, from Camp Jeep’s off-roading obstacle course, to Ford and Dodge Challenger rac-ing simulators. “We try to have a good balance of what people look at in an everyday vehicle and something they can aspire to and get excited about,” said Dana Greger, vehicle field sales

manager for Toyota Motor Co.’s L.A. region. “At the auto show, they look at the FT-1 Concept or they can sit in a new Camry or even take it on a drive.”

Sponsored by the Orange County Register, Bank of America, Cars.com, Orange County Auto-matic Dealers Association, and the Exotic Car Collection by Enter-prise, the OC International Auto Show promises a fun time behind the wheel for the whole family. Tickets to the Auto Show are $12 for adults; free for kids 12 and under. Free parking with shuttle is available at Angel Stadium all weekend long.

Mazda’s race car with cutting-edge Skyactive technology.

Volkswagen, showcasing their newer Beetle models and 2016 GTIs, was also present at the event.

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DANA POINT—Summers/Mur-phy & Partners, Inc., a prominent, award-winning landscape architec-tural design firm led by President/CEO Patrick Murphy, recently won top honors at two of the building in-dustry’s most distinguished awards galas — the 2015 SoCal Awards held at the Grove of Anaheim and the 2015 BIA Icon Awards at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla. The highly regarded firm proudly accepted five prestigious awards, each under-scoring their longstanding reputa-tion for excellence and reaffirming their reputation as one of Southern California’s most respected and ac-complished landscape architectural firms. Their 2015 SoCal Award wins include Master Planned Commu-nity of the Year for Beacon Park at Great Park Neighborhoods by FivePoint™ Communities, Best Model Complex Landscape Design for The Estates at Del Sur by Stan-dard Pacific Homes; Best Outdoor Living Space for Capri Collection at Hidden Canyon – Capri Plan by Toll Brothers; and Home of the Year for Toll Brothers’ Capri Collection – Ca-pri Plan. They were also honored with Best Landscape Design-Single Family for The Estates at Del Sur by Standard Pacific Homes at the Icon Awards.

Presented by the Greater Sales & Marketing Council and BIA of Southern California, the

SoCal Awards pays tribute to

the southern California’s best and brightest in all facets of professional achievement ranging from sales and marketing to merchandising and design, while The Icon Awards, presented by the Building Industry Association of San Diego County, recognizes the region’s most out-standing contributors (Builder, Trade and Design Professionals) who have

distinguished themselves by working hard to deliver their best each day for the betterment of the industry.

“We are thrilled that our peers at the SoCal and Icon Awards have distinguished our hard work with such prestigious recognition. With so many gifted landscape archi-tects in our region, we consider this a terrific honor that our entire team cherishes,” said Pat Murphy, president and CEO of Summers/Murphy & Partners, Inc. “Part of what makes landscape architecture so rewarding is the challenges we face that inspire our creativity and ultimately lead us to a solution that complements a home’s architecture and enriches the entire residential environment. We couldn’t accom-plish any of these goals without the vision and passion of our team at Summers/Murphy & Partners and I would like to congratulate every one who took part in making these communities worthy of such amaz-ing accolades.”

Summers/Murphy & Partners, Inc. has provided landscape ar-chitectural services to builders, developers and master-planned communities in California, Hawaii, Nevada, Arizona and other Western states since 1960, and for elaborate master-planned communities in the Middle East, China and Russia. The company prides itself on its team approach to design development. They also pride themselves on their diverse client list, and the loyalty they have inspired among their professional affiliations throughout the years.

The company has designed and planned memorable environments for all types of projects including affordable attached developments, single-family detached homes, custom residences, master-planned communities, senior housing, hos-pitality, national and international resorts,

industrial parks, commercial centers, golf courses and play-grounds.

Summers/Murphy & Partners, Inc. corporate offices are located at 34197 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 200, Dana Point CA 92629; 979 Osos Street, Suite B6, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401; and 7114 Stet-son Drive, Suite 350, Scottsdale, AZ 85251. For more information, visit www.smpinc.net, or call (949) 443-1446.

(Advertising Supplement)

Award-winning landscape architect firm Summers/Murphy & Partners

wins five prestigious awards

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Longo Lexus offers the ultimate conveniences in customer amenities

We all know that the process of buying a car is not just as sim-ple as buying a new pair of shoes at the mall. It is a long process that involves careful comparison between vehicle models, review-ing the car’s specifications with regards to the needs of the buy-er, and of course, the negotia-tions for the financing packages and promos.

As such, it is very important for Longo Lexus that its custom-ers are supremely comfortable and well-pampered if they are going to make that important decision of which Lexus they will drive home.

As a car dealership, there are many reasons why Longo Lexus has been an elite of Lexus dealer since 1992. One of those reasons includes the ultimate conve-niences that they offer in cus-tomer amenities. As one of the leading Lexus car dealerships, Longo Lexus provides not only pre-sales conveniences, but also noteworthy post-sales services.

Longo Lexus is known for the unique amenities that they offer to dealership customers.

One of those unique amenities include an on-site Auto Club of Southern California (AAA) cen-ter. The AAA branch offers DMV services, airline, car, and hotel reservations, discounted movie and local attraction tickets, AAA membership application process-ing, OnBoard Teen Safe Driver Program, auto and home insur-ance, and more. Sign up at our AAA branch in Longo, and you’ll receive a special $13 discount off the original membership price.

Aside from from the on-site AAA branch, Longo is also the first dealership in the US to of-fer Verizon Wireless and Verizon Wireless Neighborhood services on-site. Offering the latest tech-nologies in telecommunications, mobile accessories, and services, Longo’s on-site Verizon branch makes it even more convenient for customers to stay connected with the world. Our Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer is open from Monday to Friday, 7am-7pm; Saturday, from 7am to 5:30pm; and Sunday, from 8am to 4pm. Please call (888) 811-5201.

While waiting for your car to come out of our premium car-care service lines or while you’re going through our wide inven-tory of luxurious Lexus vehicles, you can enjoy a quick bite at Sub-

way or a nice re-freshing drink at Starbucks.

If you want to pamper your car, you can also shop at the Lon-go Lexus Parts Boutique, which carries a wide selection of gen-uine Lexus parts and accessories for your vehicle. With over 31,000 parts and acces-sories in stock, you’re sure to find what you’re looking for.

The after-sales services of a dealership is just as important as the pre-sales amenities. And it these after-sales services that make buying a vehicle at Longo Lexus a truly rewarding experience.

We offer complimentary loaner vehicles for your use while your car is in our service center. For inquiries, on our loaners, please call our coordinators at 1-800-597-0813.

For your convenience, we also offer complimentary shuttle ser-vice to take you to your office, home, or even the mall—basically anywhere within a 15-mile ra-dius—while your vehicle is being serviced.

If you don’t have time to make the drive to our dealership, our Longo Lexus Mobile Service Van and Truck can provide routine maintenance services, such as oil changes and tire rotations, right at your home or office. Appoint-ments can be made up to 6 months in advance.

Similarly, if your service require-ments need the car to be physi-cally present at our Longo service center, we offer complimentary flatbed truck pick-up and delivery of your vehicle to and from our dealership. Our Longo Lexus Mo-bile Service Van and Truck, and our complimentary flatbed truch pick-up and delivery service are exclusively for cars that are pur-chased from Longo Lexus, and are located within 60mile radius from Longo.

Please call 1-800-597-0813 to schedule your appointment.

Also, for every service appoint-ment, each vehicle receives a com-plimentary car wash in our Longo Lexus Car Spa.

For our clients who wish to use other cars, aside from those among our fleet of loaner Lexus cars, they can avail of the services of our enterprise Rent-A-Car offices.

With two branches on the Longo Premises, enterprise is ready to address all your car rental needs. Please call (800) 969-6519 for more information.

We understand that life’s daily grind requires our customers to be always on top of everything while keeping up with an on-the-go lifestyle. Which is they are more than welcome to work at our Longo Business Center where they can work on our com-puter terminals, free of charge. We also offer complimentary Wireless Internet Access (Wi-Fi) to our customers throughout the facility. This is particularly useful for our customers with mobile devices, laptops, and tablets.

While you wait for your car to come out of our service center, your kids can enjoy and have a good time at our Children Play Area, where we offer video games and other activities for the young ones.

Longo Lexus customers will also be offered complimentary use of our iPads while they are waiting for their vehicle.

For more information on our Longo Lexus Guest Services, please log on to www.longolex-us.com/GuestAmenities or call (626) 539-2956.

Longo Lexus is located at 3530 North Peck Road, el Monte, CA 91731.

Longo Toyota delivers world class experienceBeing the premiere Toyota

retailer in the nation, Longo Toyota aims to deliver a truly world-class experience to our guests on every transaction, everyday.

it all starts with our friendly and welcoming staff, a clean and modern environment, and a wide range of services to make your visit pleasant and convenient. Here are some of our key amenities at Longo Toyota:

Auto Club of Southern California (AAA)

in november 1999, Longo Toyota became the first automotive dealership in the US to have the Auto Club on its premises. For 14 long years, our Auto Club branch has served countless satisfied Longo customers with its wide array of services

Today, our on-site branch offers DMV services, airline, car and hotel reservations, discounted movie and local attraction tickets, membership processing, OnBoard Teen Safe Driver Program, and more. Sign up at our Longo Toyota branch and get $13 off the original membership application price. Located in our new car showroom, our AAA branch is open Mondays thru Saturdays, from 11am to 7pm.

Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer

Longo Lexus is the first car dealership in the US to provide Verizon Wireless and Verizon Wireless neighborhood services on-site. Our Verizon branch offers the latest in telecommunications, mobile devices, accessories and services. We also offer complimentary cellphone charging stations for our customers. Our Verizon retailer is located inside our parts retail center. Our Wireless Playground is open Monday-Friday, 7am-7pm; Saturday, 7am-5:30pm; and Sunday, 8-4pm. Please call (888) 623-2133 for more information.

Starbucks and SubwayWhile waiting for your car

to come out of our car-care service lines, you can enjoy a quick bite at Subway or a nice refreshing drink at Starbucks. We offer healthy dining options with Subway’s wide variety of sandwiches, salads, and wraps.

if you’re thirsty and you’re looking for that quick coffee

fix, you can grab a refreshing Hazelnut Macchiato or a smooth Caramel Frappuccino at Starbucks. Offering only the finest coffee specialties, teas, juices, and assortment of pastries, there’s something for everybody at our on-site Starbucks branch.

Both our Subway and Starbucks branches are available for catering services.

Enterprise Rent-A-CarLongo Toyota also has two

enterprise Rent-A-Car offices on its premises. One is located adjacent to the Service Drive in the Pre-Owned Vehicle Showroom, and the other is in the Collision Repair Center. Customers are welcome to utilize the enterprise rental services, regardless of whether or not they leave their vehicle in Longo for any car service.

Complimentary Vehicle Delivery Service

Longo Toyota also offer complimentary vehicle delivery service. Our delivery service is available 6 days a week, Monday thru Saturday, anywhere within a 60-mile radius of Longo Toyota.

Longo Toyota Parts and Accessories Department

You can also shop at the Longo Toyota Parts and Accessories Department, which carries a wide selection of genuine Toyota parts and accessories for your vehicle. With thousands of parts and accessories in stock, we definitely have whatever it is you’re looking for. Our boutique also carries a selection of Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses, women’s and men’s apparel, and so much more.

Shuttle ServiceFor your convenience, Longo

Toyota offers complimentary shuttle service while your vehicles are being serviced. Our shuttles can take you to virtually anywhere within a 15-mile radius of Longo Toyota – be it your home, work, the mall, or even the parlor! Anywhere!

An engaging stayWhile we understand that our

customer’s time is precious, we realize that many of them may need internet connectivity at all times. As such we are more than happy to provide FReeWiFi throughout our facility, and FRee use of our great business center. in our business center, we provide a quiet setting where our guests can work on our computers or on their own laptops.

We also provide free use of an iPad for Longo guests who are waiting for their vehicles. Our guest Check-in representative will be more than happy to arrange this for you.

if you decide to bring the kids to the dealership, boredom will never be a problem. We also offer a variety of video games and DVDs just for kids so that they can also enjoy their visit to Longo Toyota.

For more information on our Longo Toyota guest Services, please log on to http://www.longotoyota.com/dealership/amenities.htm.

Longo Toyota is located at 3534 north Peck Road, el Monte, CA 91731. Call (626)539-2584 to set up your appointment.

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