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Filipino and Fil-Am newsmakers of 2015By AJ Editorial Team

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

w w w. a s i a n . c o mVolume 15 - No. 1 • 3 Sections – 20 Pages JANUARY 1-7, 2016

DATELINEUSAFROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

A DAY after getting reprieve from the Supreme Court on the disqualification suits against her, Sen. Grace Poe on Tuesday, Dec. 29, slammed the Com-mission on Elections (Comelec) for supposedly insin-uating that she was a liar.

“Pinaka ayoko sa lahat ‘yung sinasabing sinungal-ing ako,” Poe said in a press briefing, alluding to the decision of the poll body to cancel her certificate of candidacy for president over citizenship and residen-cy issues.

(What I don’t like most is calling me a liar.)The Comelec en banc affirmed previous ruling of

its first and second divisions to disqualify Poe from the presidential derby, saying that the lady senator deliberately attempted to mislead the electorate in the entries in her COC.

Poe said the Comelec did not even take a look at the evidence that her camp presented, noting that she herself can go personally to the commissioners to prove that she was not lying.

Poe also maintained that she was still a candidate for President in next year’s polls, saying she was en-couraged by the high court’s issuance of temporary restraining orders against the Comelec rulings.

“Inaamin ko po na ang desisyon ng Comelec ay nagdulot sa amin ng kalungkutan, lalo na ito’y lumabas ilang araw lang bago ang Pasko. Ngunit pinanumbalik po ng Korte Suprema ang ating pag-

California minimum wage increases to $10 in New Year

ON New Year’s Day, California employees will get a raise.

Effective Jan. 1, 2016, the state minimum wage will go up one dollar to $10 an hour. As signed by California Governor Jerry Brown, and voted on in July by the Los Angeles Coun-ty Board of Supervisors, workers will also have job-protected leave to address childcare or school emergencies.

The scheduled wage hike bring California workers’ minimum wage (currently at $9 in the Golden State) up more than two dollars over the $7.25 federal minimum wage, report-ed CBS Los Angeles.

LA City Council voted in July to continue in-creasing the minimum wage slowly each year, to reach $15 by 2020.

The widely anticipated wage hike to $10 by Los Angeles, the largest local government in the United States, applies to unincorporated areas and thousands of employees, joining at least 12 states. Within a few years, according to reports, more than half of the countywide workforce will be guaranteed a base income more than 60 percent higher than the current rate.

With some exceptions to the new law, the statewide change is expected to affect over

WITH the new year less than a week away, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is reminding the public that beginning Jan. 1, old Philippine peso bills will no longer be accepted when paying for goods and services.

The old banknotes, however,

Old peso bills no longer valid starting Jan. 1can still be exchanged in banks and BSP offices through the end of 2016 free of charge for the new notes that were launched in 2010.

Filipinos residing abroad with old peso bills who are unable exchange the notes in 2016 can register online between Oct. 1, 2016 to Dec. 31, 2016 on the BSP

by AGNES CONSTANTEAJPress

by YUJI VINCENT GONZALESInquirer.net

FILIPINOS/Filipino-Americans have been very active this year, bringing in recognition to our community and ex-celling in their respective fields.

In Philippine politics, the race for the highest position in the country is just as noisy. With more presidential candidates bringing their platforms, issues and drama, no one can be sure who among them would really win.

With the end of this year, we look forward to what the Filipinos, Fil-Am community and the Philippines can do. For now, the Asian Journal Editorial Team gives you the top Filipino/Fil-Am newsmakers of 2015.

THE BEST MISTAKE: MISS PHIL-IPPINES PIA WURTZBACH IS MISS

UNIVERSEHalf Filipina, half German actress

and Miss Philippines Pia Alonzo Wurtz-bach, 26, took home the crown for Miss

Universe 2015 on live television on Sunday, December 20th at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Ve-gas, Nevada.

Wurtzbach’s final crowning did not go without drama and a surprise ending when show host Steve Harvey acciden-tally announced Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez Arévalo as the winner, but backtracked a few moments later to pro-claim Wurtzbach as the true Miss Uni-verse. Wurtzbach was born in Stuttgart, southwest Germany, and grew up in Cagayan de Oro. A winner of Binibining Pilipinas and Miss Universe-Philippines beauty pageants, she attended second-ary school in Quezon City, culinary arts school in Metro Manila, and speaks Ta-galog, English, and German. On the live Miss Universe stage, Wurtzbach pub-licly shared her support of US military

ANOTHER year has passed and many events happened so quickly that many people tend to forget. As 2015 closes, the Asian Journal Editorial Team pooled together the top stories that made it to the front pages of our six editions.

POPE FRANCIS GRACES THE PHILIPPINES

When Pope Francis visited the Philippines in January for a four-day trip, at least two million Filipinos waited on the street to watch him ride away in his non-bulletproof “Popemobile.” After 20 years, Pope Francis was the third leader of the Catholic Church to visit the country, and came to personally show sym-pathy for the thousands who

ASIAN JOURNAL YEAREND REPORT

Top news stories for 2015

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FROM THE FRONT PAGE

asa na siyang tunay na kahulu-gan ng Kapaskuhan,” Poe said, thanking SC justices led by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for the TROs.

(I admit the decision of the Comelec has brought us sad-ness, especially when it came out a few days before Christmas. But the Supreme Court brought us hope, which is the true meaning of Christmas.)

“Maraming salamat din po sa ating mga kababayan na hindi natinag ang suporta sa kabila ng kalituhang hinahasik ng iba. Hin-di pa po tapos ang laban… Kan-didato pa rin po ako. Ang ating pangalan ay hindi po tatangga-lin,” she added.

(Many thanks to our fellow citi-zens who didn’t waver their sup-port despite the confusion that the others have been spreading. The fight is not yet over. I am still a candidate. Our name won’t be removed.)

Poe said she was confident that she would win her case before the Supreme Court, but reiterated her hope that the three justices who voted against her in the Senate Electoral Tribunal would inhibit.

“Tinuruan po ako ng tatay ko na manalig na ang katotohanan ay laging iiral sa huli. Tinuruan din niya akong magtiwala sa ba-tas dahil, sabi niya, kung walang batas, walang puedeng pangha-wakan ang maliliit at walang ka-pangyarihan,” Poe said.

(My father taught me to have faith that the truth will prevail in the end. He also taught me to have faith in the law because, he said, if there’s no law, the power-less and those who have little in life have nothing to hold on to.)

“Aasahan ko po ang inyong patuloy na tulong sa pagpapan-day ng maunlad at inklusibong kinabukasan. Harapin po na-tin ang Bagong Taon na may bagong lakas at paniniwala na ang katotohanan at tinig ng bay-an ang mananaig,” she added.

(I expect your continuous sup-port for a progressive future. Let us face the New Year with new-found energy and belief that the truth and the voice of the people will prevail.) ■

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9 million workers being paid at or below the federal minimum wage in California, according to a recent report from US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We’re at a turning point,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics research firm, told the Los Angeles Times. “I think it’ll be a breakout year [in 2016] for wage growth.”

With an estimated 2.5 million working mothers with children under 18 in California, SB 579 will also provide job-protected leave to address child-care or school emergencies, and pro-

hibit employers with 25 or more employees from discharging or discriminating against employ-ees for taking up to eight hours a month to participate in school or day care activities with their children.

Another new law that went into effect on July 1 allows eligi-ble part-time and hourly workers to accrue sick time, giving them access to benefits already enjoyed by white collar professionals.

Economic growth in 2016 is projected to remain moderate, but about half a point stronger than this year’s pace of just over 2 percent, said the LA Times.

Reactions were mixed, mostly among small business owners, who both welcomed and were disgruntled at the change.

“We don’t really have a choice and it’s going to happen,” said Chris Ulrich, co-owner of First Awakenings restaurant in Pacific Grove, California.

Ulrich added that under the new law about 17 of their em-ployees will get a raise, mean-ing the restaurant will have pay to more than 130 extra dollars a day to their staff.

“As a business owner you al-ways want to try and keep your expenses down,” said Ulrich. “We’re not happy about it be-cause it drives our customers away that are used to a certain amount. But we just raised ev-erything a small percentage not even 10 percent.”

Gaby Granados with Medina’s Bridal Shop in Salinas already makes $10 dollars an hour.

“We have bills, insurance, rent, food,” Granados told CNN news partner KION, applauding the new wage increase but argu-ing that 10 dollars an hour is not much. “We’re still trying to fit in school it’s really, really hard. I think they should do at least $12 and I still don’t think that’s enough.”

She also expressed her fears that some businesses will not im-plement the new wage increase.

“There’s a lot of people who take advantage of field workers or even people who don’t have

California minimum wage increases to $10…t

Filipino and Fil-Am newsmakers…presence in the Philippines, and told viewers, “I want to show the world—the universe, rather—that I am confidently beautiful, with a heart.” Since her crowning, she has also apologized to Miss Colombia and to her supporters for the confusion that happened.

JASON DAY WINS PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Filipino-Australian golfer Jason Day in August won the Profes-sional Golf Association (PGA) Championship golf tournament where he defeated Jordan Spi-eth, the world’s No. 1 golfer. Day now ranks as the No. 2 golfer by the Official World Golf Ranking. He holds an average of 10.9398 points and a total of 437.59 points. Philippine Com-munication Secretario Herminio Coloma said the Philippines is proud of Day, whose mother hails from Visayas.

ROBERT MURPHY, FIL-AM CO-FOUNDER OF SNAPCHAT

AMONG WORLD’SYOUNGEST BILLIONAIRES

A young Fil-Am, Robert “Bob-by” Murphy, 26, is on Forbes’ list of world billionaires for 2015. Co-founder of the popular social media app Snapchat with his fra-ternity brother Evan Spiegel, both Stanford students, Murphy has a net worth of $1.5 billion—making him the second youngest dollar billionaire in the club, Forbes reported. He has an estimated stake of at least 15 percent in the business. Murphy now serves as Snapchat’s chief technology officer, developing prototype and infrastructure for the app.

JUDGE JULIAN RECANA SWORN INTO LA COUNTY

SUPERIOR COURTJulian C. Recana became the

newest Fil-Am judge in Los An-geles County in August, following his appointment by California Gov. Jerry Brown in July. Recana has

BY MAYOR GARCETTI AS LA BOARD OF PUBLIC

WORKS COMMISSIONERIt was a historic occasion for

the Fil-Am and Asian Pacific Is-lander (API) communities when Joel Jacinto, executive director of the Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) was confirmed as the new Los Angeles Board of Public Works Commissioner last August 11.

Jacinto’s appointment makes him only a handful of Asian Americans who have served in

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website. The old notes can then be exchanged with the BSP with-in a year of the registration date. OFWs are limited to exchanging P10,000, and only the amount they register will be honored by BSP.

By Jan. 1, 2017, the old notes, which use a design that has been used since 1985, will be consid-ered demonetized and no longer have any monetary value.

BSP Deputy Gov. Diwa Guini-gundo said all local banks should begin releasing and circulating new banknotes, according to CNN.

“We have always encourage[d] the banks of release and circulate brand new notes. We have ample delivery from our production

t staff both printed in house and outsourced. So there is no ex-cuse for any bank not to release new notes,” Guinigundo said.

The old notes, New Design Series, will be replaced with new notes called New Generation Currency, which incorporates en-hanced security features to help guard against counterfeiting.

The phasing out of the old notes is in line with provisions of Section 57 of the New Central Bank Act - or Republic Act No. 7653 - that authorizes BSP to re-place banknotes that are in circu-lation for over five years.

Guinigundo said there are a total of 2.42 billion pieces of new peso bills valued at P753.42 bil-lion ($15.94 billion), according to Rappler. ■

Old peso bills no longer valid…

userved as deputy district attorney in the Long Beach Courthouse for 11 years and has been with the County District Attorney’s Office since 1999, seeking justice for victims of crime and murder. His father, Hon. Judge Mel Red Recana, was the first Fil-Am judge in the US when he appointed 34 years ago. There are over 2,000 judges in the state of California — 11 of them Filipino-American, nine of whom serve in LA County, and only one father-and-son duo, the Recanas.

JOEL JACINTO HONORED

were killed after Super Typhoon Yolanda in late 2013. The pope was reportedly impressed with the hospitality of Filipinos, with whom he met at various places in the Philippines, including the Mall of Asia Arena, Tacloban and Leyte.

MAMASAPANO MASSACREOn January 25, special forces

were massacred after encounter with rebel troops.

Forty-four members of the Philippine National Police-Spe-cial Action Force (PNP-SAF) were killed in Mamasapano, Magu-indanao following a clash with armed fighters from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Bangsamoro Islamic Free-dom Fighters. The PNP-SAF’s objective was to pursue Zulkifli Abdhir — also known as Marwan Usman — and Basit Usman as part of Oplan Exodus; they were successful in killing the former. The deaths of the PNP-SAF of cers ignited debate on the pro-posed Bangsamoro Basic Law, which will be the foundation of a new autonomous entity called Bangsamoro.

FIGHT OF THE CENTURY: PACQUIAO

LOSES TO MAYWEATHERAfter months of hype surround-

ing the long-awaited “Fight of the Century” between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather, Jr., many boxing fans and Filipi-nos were left disappointed, as the

Top news stories for…

papers and I think that’s really wrong,” Granados said, adding her belief that with the minimum wage going up, so will every-thing else, leaving her and other employees “stuck in the same place financially, instead of mov-ing ahead.”

“No matter how much we’re getting paid things are just gon-na keep going up and up and up,” said Granados.

LA cities like Santa Monica and West Hollywood are consider-ing their own wage hikes. Many other local cities—such as Glen-

dale, Pasadena, Santa Clarita, Torrance and Long Beach—have yet to decide whether to boost wages.

“With more proof that gradual wage increases won’t shock the economy, more states are going to follow suit,” said Bill Scher, an activist and analyst for the Cam-paign for America’s Future.

Four other states--including New York, Oregon, and Wash-ington DC--are also considering proposals in the coming year to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. (Allyson Escobar / AJPress)

California minimum wage…t

Filipino and Fil-Am…such a capacity. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti said that he selected Jacinto as Commissioner because of the difference he has made in his community and to help orga-nize the API community so it can “have the muscle inside City Hall to get things done.” Garrett also said that Jacinto has an infectious way of bringing people together, and a belief in pushing his com-munity and the larger community forward.

With his appointment, Jacinto took a two-year leave of absence as executive director of SIPA, but will remain involved in the organization.

PH PRESIDENTIALCANDIDATES

Next year’s Philippine presi-dential election could be one of the most interesting in history, considering who the candidates are and the drama they bring into the race.

Frontrunner Senator Grace Poe, who was leading the polls for next year’s presidential election was disqualified by the Commis-sion on Elections (Comelec). Two Comelec divisions had disquali-fied Poe, who led voters’ prefer-ence polls, for failing to meet the 10-year residency requirement for a presidential candidate, cit-ing her certificate of candidacy (COC) for senator in 2013. Poe said she erred in the COC. Poe’s disqualification case, however, was junked by the Senate Elec-toral Tribunal, although Supreme Court justice members ruled that Poe was not a natural-born citizen. As provided in the 1987 Constitution, only natural-born Filipinos are allowed to assume the presidency.

On Dec. 29, the Supreme Court (SC) amended the temporary re-straining orders (TROs) against the Comelec’s decision to dis-qualify Poe candidacy. The pri-vate petitioners of the disqualifi-cation cases against the senator and the poll body are given ten (10) days from notice to file their comments. Oral arguments are scheduled on Jan. 19, 2016.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, considered as the dark horse from Mindanao, finally

filed his COC in December, after months of denying his intention to run for president. Duterte entered the presidential race under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan, or PDP-Laban, as the substitute of anti-corruption advocate Martin Diño, who withdrew his certifi-cate on October 29. Diño named Duterte as his possible replace-ment. He withdrew from the Davao City mayoral race and has been substituted by his daughter, Sara Duterte (who was also a former Davao City Mayor). As of press time, surveys have showed Duterte as a top contender for the country highest post in spite of criticisms about his vigilante style of leadership.

Wanting continuity on his “tuwid na daan” administration, Pres. Benigno Aquino III troduced former Interior and Local Govern-ment secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II as the presidential can-didate of the ruling Liberal Party in next year’s Philippine elec-tions. Roxas vowed to continue the reforms made by the Aquino administration and to never stray from the “tuwid na daan” or straight path platform of the Aquino government. Despite the President’s backing, Roxas still trails behind leading presidential candidates Poe, Duterte and Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay based on recent surveys.

Probably one of the most intel-ligent presidential candidates, Senator Miriam Defensor San-tiago announced her intention to run last October, with Senator Bongbong Marcos as her running mate for Vice President. Notable for having served in all three branches of the government—ju-dicial, executive and legislative—she ran in the 1992 presidential elections but lost.

Initially polled highly among expected presidential candidates, Binay’s charisma towards the masses—especially in the City of Makati—is what will pull people to vote for him. Despite of the number of corruption cases filed against him and his family, Binay remains a frontrunner with his promise to alleviate the lives of the Filipinos.

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THE REIGN OF TERROR: PARIS ATTACKED TWICE,

MASS SHOOTINGIN SAN BERNARDINO

Gunmen killed 17 individuals in Paris throughout a three-day attack that began on Jan. 7 at the office of Charlie Hebdo, a weekly provocative French satirical magazine that typically features cartoons of the Prophet Muham-mad. The attackers were two brothers who were born, raised and radicalized in Paris. The brothers were shot dead by police three days after they fired shots at Charlie Hebdo.

Paris was again the site of mul-tiple terrorist attacks on Nov. 13, coordinated by the Islamic State extremist group. Explosions occurred outside of the Stade de France, the national sports stadium, where an anticipated soccer match between Germany and France was taking place. Several street shootings and bombing attacks also occurred at four populated outdoor plazas, where a 23-year-old American student from Cal State Long Beach was killed. The worst massacre of the night was a mass shooting at the Bataclan music hall venue, where the Eagles of Death Metal was performing to a crowd of over 1,000 people. Three men entered the hall and opened fire. The deadly attacks, which reportedly left at least 129 people dead and 352 wounded, prompted French President Fran-çois Hollande to declare a state of emergency and that France is “at war.” He further said that France is committed to “destroying” the Islamic State group, and France has launched airstrikes in ISIS territories’ Iraq and Syria. While several of the gunmen have been killed or detained, police are still

on the search for others involved with the ISIS-coordinated at-tacks.

Terror hit close to home when on Dec. 2, a practicing Muslim couple entered the Inland Re-gional Center in San Bernardino, California, and opened gunfire in a room full of county health employees who were celebrating a holiday party. Fourteen people were killed and 21 injured in the attack, which officials later learned was premeditated, and it became the deadliest incident of gun violence in 2015.

The radicalized husband and wife, identified as 28-year-old Syed Rizwan Farook and 27-year-old Tashfeen Malik, were killed hours after the rampage in a shootout with a police. Farook was also an employee for the San Bernardino County Public Health Department. Investigators believe the attacks were radical-ized because of their organized nature, the weapons used, and the couple’s recent travel to and from Saudi Arabia. Upon search

of the couple’s home and elec-tronic devices, officials discov-ered that Malik advocated jihad in secret messages with friends, and had also pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State. FBI said that both attackers were “homegrown violent extremists” who acted on their own, inspired by the actions of foreign terrorist groups like ISIS.

Following the attacks, as well as deadly massacres by ISIS members in Paris, The Obama ad-ministration announced changes to the visa waiver program that allows millions of immigrants from 38 countries into the US ev-ery year without a visa, for stays of 90 days or less if they meet certain requirements. The pro-gram will include more stringent screenings at airports and secu-rity restrictions and watch lists for suspect individuals. Repub-lican presidential front-runner candidate Donald Trump has also called for a controversial ban on all Muslims entering the United

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that he suffered a shoulder injury and was denied a request to get an injection for it the night before the fight. Over 30 lawsuits seek-ing refunds were filed, claiming that the fight was a fraud and that Pacquiao should have disclosed his injury. u

People’s Champ failed to tarnish Mayweather’s undefeated record last May. Pacquiao later revealed

SEAFOOD CITYADVERTORIAL

FPFC

Top news stories for…States, arguing that it “cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in ji-had, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life.” Mean-while, Republicans in Congress announced that they would not take immediate action to bring up new gun control legislation in the wake of the San Bernardino attacks, saying it was “unconsti-tutional” to deny the right to bear arms, but wanted to focus on an overhaul of the country’s mental health system..

PHILIPPINES HOSTSAPEC SUMMIT

With the theme “Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World,” this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit gathered promi-nent heads of state and business leaders from member states and territories in Manila. The Philippine government allotted P10 billion in hosting the annual meeting of the 21-member Asia Pacific economies. Held on Nov. 17-20, the global leaders—which included Pres. Barack Obama and Chinese Pres. Xi Jinping—dis-cussed some of the region’s most pressing issues including economic integration, trade lib-eralization, sustainable growth and international security par-ticularly in the South China Sea. Milestones of the APEC Summit include the agenda for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the adoption of the APEC Strategy for Strengthening Quality Growth, which will guide member economies in undertak-ing robust, comprehensive, and ambitious structural reforms over the next five years and the approval of the APEC Services Cooperation Framework, which underscores the importance of the services sector, which makes up approximately two-thirds of the GDP in the APEC region.

JUAN PONCE ENRILE

GRANTED BAILIn a 8-4 vote on Aug. 18, the

Philippine Supreme Court grant-ed Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile’s plea to post bail in connection with his plunder trial over his alleged in-volvement in the P10 billion Prior-ity Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), also known as the pork barrel scam. Enrile is accused of plunder for allegedly pocketing P172 million in commissions in the PDAF scam. He was under hospital arrest at the Philippine National Police General Hospital since July 2014, before his ap-peal was granted. The high court cited “humanitarian reasons” for granting the 91-year-old senator his temporary liberty.

SUPREME COURT RULES FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE A divided Supreme Court made

a landmark decision in June by ruling in favor of same-sex mar-riage, making the United States the 21st country in the world to legalize this nationwide. The decision, which also applies to US territories, allows married same-sex couples to have the same legal rights and benefits as married heterosexual couples.

US MARINE JOSEPH PEMBERTON FOUND GUILTY OF MURDERING JENNIFER

LAUDEJoseph Scott Pemberton, the

US Marine Private First Class charged with murder for the death of Filipina transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in Oc-tober 2014, was found guilty on Tuesday, Dec. 1 in the Philip-pines, where he will remain in prison.

Pfc. Pemberton, who was on a break after taking part in joint military exercises in Subic Bay, was charged with the homicide of Laude, whom he reportedly strangled to death in the hotel room they had checked into in Olongapo City, near the former US naval base. The young Ma-rine first testified that he was intoxicated at the time of Laude’s death, and that he became en-raged after discovering Laude was a man, which led to a fight in the room and prompted a defensive chokehold. The Olon-gapo City Regional Trial Court threw out Pemberton’s defense that he merely rendered Laude unconscious in a chokehold, and that someone else had strangled and drowned her n the toilet bowl after he had left the scene. Pem-berton has been charged with murder but was convicted of the lesser offense of homicide, which does not require malicious intent. The court found no treachery, abuse of strength, or cruelty on the part of the Marine soldier. Sentenced for six to 12 years, Pemberton will be held by the US-controlled Bureau of Correc-tions, guarded by the Philippine National Police, and has been ordered to pay more than 4.5 mil-lion pesos ($95,350) to Laude’s family. He can still appeal against the verdict and sentence.

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DATELINE PHILIPPINES

Abad accused of lying, hiding ‘pork’ in 2016 budget

MANILA—Budget Secretary Florencio Abad was lying when he declared there was no “pork” in the 2016 national budget, one of the lead petitioners in the Su-preme Court against the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) said on Monday, Dec. 28.

“(Abad) is using the same pork barrel system the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional, but in greater amounts. Almost half of the budget are pork bar-rel funds of the President,” Greco Belgica said in a statement.

He warned that funds put at the discretion of the President or administration officials might be used for election purposes, spe-cifically for bribing polls officials and even Smartmatic, which is the provider of election counting machines.

He said that in the SC ruling against DAP and PDAF, any lump sums and discretionary funds

by MICHAEL PUNONGBAYAN Philstar.com

given to politicians or officials are unconstitutional, regardless of whether such officials belong to the executive or legislative de-partments.

He added special purpose funds, automatic appropriations fund and unprogrammed funds remain to be lump sums and dis-cretionary to the President.

Belgica said lawmakers follow the dictates of the DBM so they can get their share of pork for the elections.

“Most of them don’t even bother to go through the GAA (General Appropriations Act) be-cause of the established system of collusion between the execu-tive and the legislative body to get their share of the pork the Supreme Court declared uncon-stitutional,” he added.

Belgica explained that “bot-tom up” budgeting is a system prescribed in the Local Govern-ment Code and that instead of following the law by making it go through the process of the lo-cal development council, “they (administration officials) opted

again to cut short the process by not organizing the councils, therefore directly putting the request and so the money to the national agencies.”

“Thus, discretionary and once again lump sum funds to the President and for Mar’s cam-paign,” he said, referring to administration standard bearer in next year’s elections Manuel Roxas II.

Abad, he said, cannot point an accusing finger at Congress be-cause he proposes and controls the budget while dangling funds to lawmakers.

“I challenge Abad to answer in public our evidences of pork barrel allocations in the GAA one by one and face to face like true leaders and gentlemen,” he said.

“If I prove him wrong then he must resign, face the conse-quences of his actions and allow us to correct their mistakes. If I am wrong then I will keep quiet and face the consequences of my allegations,” Belgica pointed out. ■

OPINION FEATURES

ReflectionBEFORE we charge 2015 to history, we are again reminded

to look back and reflect on all the important events that have happened in the past 12 months. This year we celebrated triumphs and suffered defeats. Which way does the Philippines go? Will Filipinos learn from mistakes and lead themselves to better lives, or will we constitute a false dawn?

In a nutshell, 2015 will go down as one of the most eventful years, for it has shaped and changed the world by leaps and bounds.

The Philippine economy is boom-ing—it stands strong by sustaining a steady growth. Remittances sent by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are forecast to reach $29.7 bil-lion this year, making the Philippines the world’s third largest recipient of remittances, just behind India ($72.2 billion) and China ($63.9 billion). The labor markets for Filipinos are now expanding and demands for Filipinos workers are seen.

With sound government spending, the eco-nomic potential of the country is now confident to go head-to-head with its aggressive neighbors. The current administration has also led develop-ment to agriculture, education, health and social welfare.

2015 started on a high note when Pope Fran-cis visited the country in January. In November, Filipinos welcomed global leaders for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Summit in Manila. The leaders from the 21-member association discussed some of the region’s most pressing issues including economic integration, trade liberalization, sustainable growth and en-ergy security.

On Dec. 20, 26-year-old Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach won the Miss Universe crown, the third crown for the Philippines. Besting 80 beauties from around the globe, Wurtzbach won the hearts of the judges

by displaying her intellect, cultural values, sense of poise and of being. She did not only epitomize what the world considers beautiful, but she also represented what a Filipina

has to offer.Along the victories Filipinos rejoiced were

adversities that the country had to bear. The ongoing Spratlys dispute between China and the Philippines remains unresolved. Travel advisories were issued against the Philippines for purported terrorism. Many Filipinos were affected by the series of typhoons that hit the country. Some lost power for days, others had their homes flooded and a number lost their homes altogether, while damages amounted to billions.

During the latter part of the year, difficulties have posed threats on the integrity of the coun-try’s political system. Political vendettas and government procrastination have cast doubts on the Filipinos’ practice of democracy. To say that Philippine politics has never been more contro-versial this year is an understatement.

While 2015 proved to be a challenging year, it also fortified our courage, vigilance, resilience and hope as a people, in the face of adversity. No matter how dreadful some of the unfortunate events are, Filipinos have still managed to score achievements, solve problems and most of all, set goals. The work is not yet done for Filipinos. Challenges will still come and improvements must still transpire. (AJPress)

Editorial

Aquino years in review

In 2010, I was told by confi-dential sources that we should be very careful about who we elect as president. I thought that as a journalist I would open a topic for discussion. That did not happen but as my sources consoled me—just think when all is said and done you can say “I told you so.” Some consola-tion. That is what I will write about today.

At first I did not understand the words of warning “walang ka-drive drive.” Indeed I found it harmless criticism because not everyone needs to be an A-personality to achieve aims and goals. It is only now that many others and I understand what that warning “walang ka-drive drive” was all about. It had a whole array of implications but these came out bit by bit, event after event until it reached where we are today.

But first a little introduction. As soon as Benigno Aquino III won the 2010 election the Lib-eral International held its con-vention in Manila. This it seat of

liberalism from which it could spread out to other countries in the region. Liberal parliamen-tarians from all over the world came in a triumphant event because a Liberal had won big in the Philippines. There are liberalisms and liberalisms. We were soon to know what that meant in pushing for a person-ality—Benigno Aquino III—in the service of the liberal political philosophy. It came in bits and pieces and some mattered more to others. Here are the events I consider most important that finally revealed the meaning of “walang ka-drive drive.”

***The first debacle that reflect-

ed Aquino’s character was the way he handled the Luneta fias-co when Chinese tourists were killed by uncoordinated police action.

Chinese Premier Wen Jia-bao asked for an apology from Aquino indirectly accusing the Philippine government was partly to blame for the deaths. He came to the scene too late and was caught by the camera smiling. There were also stories that instead of going straight to Luneta to talk to the police of-ficers and the bus which carried

the hostages, he had passed by to eat siopao in the Emerald restaurant nearby.

Another story said he was re-portedly asleep when his aide notified him of the incident. All this incensed the Chinese. Mr. Aquino was surprised at the diplomatic protest because he claimed the DFA said the issue was a dead one. Investigations were made by both the Chinese and Filipino governments and the blame was traced to a bun-gled police operation. Aquino did not think it was something to apologize for.

***Two years after Typhoon

Yolanda, no one can say for certain how many people per-ished. Police estimated at the time some 7,000 casualties and 1,800 missing or presumed dead which was the projection made by police Chief Superintendent Elmer Soria. He was sacked as Eastern Visayas regional head for saying the number of fatali-ties could reach 10,000.

Up to this day nothing sub-stantial has come out after so much aid was brought in by international donors. The Tai-wanese Buddhist NGO was able to raise P1 billion.

CARMEN N. PEDROSA

From adistance

Until today Tacloban remains in ruins. A recent picture showed makeshift houses of galvanized iron and wooden posts as hous-ing aid despite the millions poured in to houses for the vic-tims who had lost their homes.

The donations from local and international donors are said to be unaccounted for. The re-sponse from the international community was quick and sub-stantial but up to this day peo-ple were asking where did it all go? Nobody knows.

The Aquino government sim-ply was not able to cope or ad-minister the disaster, said lead-ing CNN’s Anderson Cooper when he landed in Tacloban in the early days when it seemed no government was in charge but plenty of political bicker-ing.

Roxas refusing to move be-cause the mayor was a Romual-dez and the President was an Aquino. The political bicker-ing and blame shifting took place even at a time when they needed to cooperate to save the victims and restore order in the city.

Because of the politics in-volved, Aquino did not attend the anniversary commemora-tion of the typhoon disaster.

As if Tacloban officials didn’t have enough problems they

had to cope with what they called insensitive government officials chiefly the President himself. They talked about Be-nigno Simeon Aquino’s “unpro-fessional conduct and behavior unbecoming of a statesman.”

***The Mamasapano massacre

of elite special action force takes the cake in this review on what went wrong close at the end of the term of Benigno Aquino III.

It was in Mamasapano in Ma-guindanao that the bloody en-counter between the elite Spe-cial Action Force (SAF) of the Philippine National Police and Muslim rebels took place. But the question remains on who is to blame for the deaths of the Special Police because Aquino did not send help that might have saved them.

Aquino included it in his last Sona but it was about half-truths with Aquino leaving out crucial details that would hide his com-plicity for the deaths. It is now known that he may have been conducting the operations near-by when the decision was made to abandon the police. The rea-son is not clear. Strangely DILG Secretary Mar Roxas quickly re-ferred to the brutal incident as a “misencounter.” The PNP Chief in a press conference confirmed

this statement. Yet it took Presi-dent Aquino three days before speaking about it and making incoherent and contradictory statements to clear his officials chiefly General Purisima who was said to have been in charge of the planning and operation. Could Purisima have taken the decisions that led to the deaths of the Special Police Forces?

At the same time that Presi-dent Aquino refused to con-demn the massacre he was also pushing for the Bangsamoro Ba-sic Law. There was speculation that the operation was made covert because of millions of dollars in reward money for the terrorist targets. Malaysian ter-rorist bomber Zulkifli bin Abdul Hir (aka Marwan), one of the two terrorists targeted by SAF, carries $5 million bounty. The other target, Basit Usman, has a $1 million bounty. There are malicious reports that the SAF and others involved in the se-cret operation may have want-ed to claim the reward money for themselves hence the covert and uncoordinated operation.

These three events are enough to show why Aquino should never have been elect-ed President. Nor I would add whoever the LP candidate who will continue its incompetence. (Philstar.com)

GEL SANTOS-RELOS

The Fil-Am Perspective Victorious thoughts to guide us in 2016

The battle starts in our minds

I HOPE you all had the mer-riest Christmas with your loved ones. This happy holiday season also heralds the ending of the year, and the beginning of a new chapter in our lives.

No matter how crazy and busy our schedules haven been in the last days of the year, let us find those solemn moments to be quiet and reflect on the gift and lessons 2015 has brought us as we welcome the coming of 2016.

As we aspire and strive to make 2016 a better year, let us be guided by positive healthy

thoughts on the first day of the year, and everyday thereafter. Remember that the battle starts in our minds, and so let us feed our minds with thoughts of hope, faith and victory.

HAVE A BLESSED 2016!Below are some of my favorites

that I gather from many sources.“Year’s end is neither an end

nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experi-ence can instill in us. Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.” - Oprah Winfrey

“For last year’s words be-long to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice.” - T.S. Eliot

“Your success and happiness

lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficul-ties.” - Helen Keller

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” - Lao Tzu

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” - Walt Disney

“All of us every single year, we’re a different person. I don’t think we’re the same person all our lives.” - Steven Spielberg

“Make New Year’s goals. Dig within, and discover what you would like to have happen in your life this year. This helps you do your part. It is an affirmation that you’re interested in fully living life in the year to come.” - Melody Beattie

“Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed.” - Cavett Robert

“For a new year to bring you something new, make a move, like a butterfly tearing its cocoon! Make a move!” - Mehmet Murat Ildan

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” - Eleanor Roosevelt

“Success means having the

courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.” - George Sheehan

“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year, but rather that we should have a new soul.” - G.K. Chesterton

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” - C.S. Lewis

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” - Albert Einstein

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Be-cause if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, liv-ing, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world.

You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more impor-tantly, you’re doing something.” - Neil Gaiman

“Here’s to the bright New Year, and a fond farewell to the old; here’s to the things that are yet to come, and to the memories that we hold.” - Unknown

“.Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead..” - Philip-pians 3:13

* * *

DOT upbeat about reaching 6M tourists in 2016

MANILA—With visitor arriv-als to the Philippines breach-ing the 5 million mark, officials of the Department of Tourism (DOT) remain upbeat on draw-ing even more tourists next year with projects lined up to improve the country’s airports and seaports.

Greater connectivity and ser-vice quality upgrade, accord-ing to DOT undersecretary for tourism development Benito Bengzon Jr., are the agency’s current focus to easily achieve next year’s target of 6 million tourists.

Bengzon pointed out that while the DOT has successfully built global awareness of the country as a whole, the agency would still work to create “a bigger demand for specific destinations,” hinged on the Philippines’ advantage of having multiple gateways.

Among such destinations are: Manila, Cebu, Bohol, Boracay, Palawan, Davao, Iloilo, and Siar-gao Island.

“It is part of the strategy of the DOT to position ourselves as a multiple-gateway destination. We have that unique advantage over the others because many countries in Southeast Asia, at best, only have three or four des-

tinations,” the tourism official said.

“We are able to push eight destinations. This is why con-nectivity is very important,” he stressed and added that connec-tivity means better transporta-tion facilities and infrastructure, thus, accessibility.

Bengzon said that the agency has become focused on comple-menting the marketing strategy with infrastructure for greater connectivity and expanding our capacity to absorb visitors. Likewise, the DOT is looking to upgrade the quality of services delivered by frontliners in the tourism industry.

He said that while the country has faced challenges since 2010, including: the Quirino grand-stand hostage crisis; superty-phoon Yolanda; foreign embas-sy-issued travel advisories; and the “tanim-bala” (bullet-plant-ing) debacle that hit the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the tourism industry has remained strong.

From January to October this year, visitor receipts grew by 8.24 percent at P186.89 billion compared to the same period last year’s P172.66 billion.

Korea is still the top visitor spending market, followed by the US, Canada, Japan, Austra-lia, China, Malaysia, the United

Kingdom, India, and Taiwan. Korea also contributed the most number of arrivals at 1.1 mil-lion.

On December 21 the country’s 5 millionth visitor for 2015, Fili-pino-American Gabby Grantham, arrived at the NAIA terminal 2 on a Philippine Airlines flight from Los Angeles. She was surprised by officials of the DOT and the Bureau of Immigration with a bouquet and a VIP tour voucher for her next visit.

Looking forward, Bengzon as-sured the continuity of whatever project the DOT would under-take before the change in admin-istration next year, saying that there would be a smooth transi-tion with the plan in place and strategic infrastructure projects already embedded in the work programs of the Departments of Public Works and Highways and the Transportation and Commu-nications.

“The overall framework is in-tact. In fact, now we are work-ing for the next phase of tourism development for 2016. We call it the successor plan which will be from 2016 through 2025,” he said.

Bengzon further assured, “There will be a solid corps of technocrats and bureaucrats who will make sure the programs will be implemented.” ■

El Niño phenomenon leaves hundreds of people dead

MANILA—The El Niño phe-nomenon brought drought and destructive cyclones to the Philip-pines this year, leaving scores of people dead and billions of pesos in damage mostly in the agricul-ture sector.

El Niño refers to the abnormal warming of the Pacific Ocean and is associated with below normal rainfall.

As of Nov. 30, four provinces were still affected by drought – Quezon, Camarines Norte, North-ern Samar and Samar.

Drought refers to three con-secutive months of “way below normal” rainfall or less than 60 percent less than average rainfall.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGA-SA) said the El Niño episode is expected to last until June 2016.

Anthony Lucero, officer-in-charge of the Climate Impacts Monitoring and Prediction sec-tion of PAGASA, confirmed that the drought that hit several areas in the country this year and the strong typhoons were caused by El Niño.

“Compared to other strong El Niño events, the impact this year may be milder,” Lucero told The STAR.

He, however, could not say if the country has already experi-enced the worst of El Niño. “It’s too early to conclude.”

The next El Niño update is ex-pected to be released by PAGA-SA on Jan. 6.

A total of 15 tropical cyclones entered the country so far this year, lower than the average 19 to 20 cyclones that enter the Philippines annually.

The country experienced 11 tropical cyclones in 2010, 19 in 2011, 17 in 2012, 25 in 2013 and 19 in 2014. It was in 2007 when the country last experienced 15 tropical cyclones.

NonaTyphoon Nona, the 14th trop-

ical cyclone to enter the country this year and the first weather disturbance this month, left at least 41 people dead and dam-age worth P4.9 billion, accord-ing to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

On the other hand, rains from Nona (international name Melor) filled up major dams in Luzon, including Angat Dam in Bulacan, which supplies 97 percent of Metro Manila’s water demands.

Early this year, Angat’s water level hit its 180-meter critical level for irrigation due to lack of rain, forcing the National Wa-ter Resources Board (NWRB) to lower the allocation for Metro Manila.

LandoThe amount of damage due

to Typhoon Lando reached P9.8 billion and left 47 people dead.

But after Lando passed through Luzon last October and significantly increased the water level of Angat Dam, the NWRB raised last month the allocation for Metro Manila from 36 cubic meters per sec-ond last October to 38 cubic me-ters per second last month.

PAGASA has decommissioned the name Lando from the list of typhoons due to the major dam-age on lives and property. The agency is also set to decommis-sion the name Nona.

The weather bureau has been decommissioning “extraordi-narily destructive storms” since February 1979.

There are four sets of names of tropical cyclones, used one set per year. On the fifth year, it goes back to the first set. An auxiliary list is used in case the number of tropical cyclones within the year exceeds 25. ■

US embassy warns against Sayyaf, BIFF threatsDAVAO CITY—American citi-

zens have been alerted against traveling to areas in Mindanao as well as in Palawan, southern Ne-gros Island and the resort island of Boracay, citing threats by the Abu Sayyaf and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).

“The United States embassy would like to alert US citizens residing in, or traveling to, the Philippines to recent statements by Philippine security officials regarding an increase in the Ter-rorist Threat Level to Level III (High) in seven cities and nine provinces across the country due to persistent reports of kid-napping for ransom plots and potential bombings by the Abu Sayyaf and BIFF members,” the embassy said yesterday.

The separatist BIFF rebels warned of more attacks following the three-day military operations against local jihadist factions.

“The embassy wishes to re-mind all US citizens to review your personal security plans, remain aware of your surround-

ings, including local events, and monitor local news stations for updates. Be vigilant and take ap-propriate steps to enhance your personal security.”

The US embassy also pointed out that Philippine security offi-cials indicated that cities under the increased terrorism alert are Zamboanga, Marawi, Isabela, Kidapawan, Dipolog, Dapitan and Cotabato.

Philippine security officials were also quoted to have further indicated that provinces under increased terrorism alert are Sul-tan Kudarat North Cotabato, Ma-guindanao, Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu.

The areas in Palawan, south-ern Negros island and Boracay island in Aklan have also been placed in the same situation by the US embassy.

The embassy also said Philip-pine officials in several of the areas have announced increased security measures.

Malacañang said government forces will hunt down the BIFF rebels.

Quoting military spokesman Col. Restituto Padilla, Presiden-

tial Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Colo-ma Jr. said the BIFF’s “lightning raids and harassment are still ex-pected following losses incurred” in military operations conducted during the last few weeks.

“They intend to show that they are not yet a spent force follow-ing recent debacles,” Padilla said.

Padilla, however, said the Armed Forces of the Philippines had determined these activities were localized and focused on-going military operations against the BIFF.

Government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer added the BIFF’s sporadic attacks across the three provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat and North Cotabato “indicate an attempt to gain momentum for their bid to destabilize the situa-tion in these areas and garner at-tention for themselves and their flagging cause.”

Ferrer asked the leaders of the BIFF to reconsider their violent ways and take heed of the peo-ple’s desire for peace and nor-malcy in their lives. ■

Leila de Lima: I’ll �ght Duterte’s bidDAGUPAN CITY—Former Jus-

tice Secretary Leila de Lima will fight Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s bid to become Presi-dent if he continues advocating an iron-hand policy that violates human rights.

“I will continue to fight him because [violating human rights] is wrong and a person who has no respect for human rights has no right to lead the country,” De Lima said in a news conference on Monday, Dec. 28.

“If you have no respect for human rights, you also have no respect for the law. So how can he lead our country if that is his belief?” said De Lima, who is running for senator under the administration coalition led by the Liberal Party.

The Department of Justice is in-vestigating reports about the exis-tence of a Davao death squad, to which Duterte has been linked.

According to De Lima, when she was still the chair of the Com-mission on Human Rights, she went to Davao City, held public hearings and had the mayor sub-poenaed.

“I think that was when he got angry with me,” she said.

De Lima said none of the cases prospered because no witnesses offered to testify.

“But we have a self-confessed

hitman, who is now under the WPP (Witness Protection Pro-gram). He now has a statement and a special team of NBI (Na-tional Bureau of Investigation) is validating it and is gathering corroborative evidence,” De Lima said.

She said she had nothing per-sonal against Duterte, noting they both graduated from the San Beda College of Law.

Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz on Monday said he dis-agreed with Duterte’s solution to the drug menace and criminality in the country—public execu-tions.

“This is very shocking… They (Duterte and those who support his policy) seem to have been born too late, the time of the bar-barians is gone,” said Cruz.

The public hanging of con-victed criminals no longer has a place in this day and age when civilization has already moved forward.

“I don’t agree with Mayor Duterte as far as taking human life so cheaply and lightly as if it is just getting rid of mosquitoes, getting rid of rats and the like,” said Cruz.

In his regular TV talk show on Sunday, Duterte warned citi-zens to expect the return of the death penalty and the public hanging of convicted criminals in three to six months if he is elected President, noting that

the drug problem has turned into a major threat to national security.

Meanwhile, Duterte and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, said they would take down half of the 3,000 to 5,000 drug lords to stop the drug menace if the win.

Duterte went even further by vowing that he would mobilize the military and the police as well as use the “extraordinary powers of the President” to stop the drug problem in the country.

“In three to six months, ev-erything has to stop. Corruption, drug, criminality. You criminals are oppressing the Filipinos, and I hate it,” Duterte said, as quoted in a statement issued by Cayeta-no’s office.

The statement quoted what Duterte had said in his television program in Davao on Sunday, Dec. 27. ■

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Your ImmigrationSolution MENTAL health problems and substance use

disorders sometimes occur together. This is be-cause:

• Certain illegal drugs can cause people with an addiction to experience one or more symptoms of a mental health problem.

• Mental health problems can sometimes lead to alcohol or drug use, as some people with a men-tal health problem may misuse these substances as a form of self-medication.

• Mental and substance use disorders share some underlying causes, including changes in brain composition, genetic vulnerabilities, and early exposure to stress or trauma.

More than one in four adults living with serious mental health problems also has a substance use problem. Substance use problems occur more fre-quently with certain mental health problems, in-cluding:

• Depression• Anxiety disorders• Schizophrenia• Personality disordersSubstance use disordersSubstance use disorders can refer to substance

use or substance dependence. Symptoms of sub-stance use disorders may include:

• Behavioral changes, such as: - Drop in attendance and performance at work

or school - Frequently getting into trouble (fights, ac-

cidents, illegal activities) - Using substances in physically hazardous

situations such as while driving or operating a ma-chine

- Engaging in secretive or suspicious behav-iors

- Changes in appetite or sleep patterns - Unexplained change in personality or attitude

- Sudden mood swings, irritability, or angry outbursts

- Periods of unusual hyperactivity, agitation, or giddiness

- Lacking of motivation - Appearing fearful, anxious, or paranoid, with

no reason.• Physical changes, such as: - Bloodshot eyes and abnormally sized pupils - Sudden weight loss or weight gain - Deterioration of physical appearance - Unusual smells on breath, body, or clothing - Tremors, slurred speech, or impaired coor-

dination.• Social changes, such as: - Sudden change in friends, favorite hangouts,

and hobbies - Legal problems related to substance use - Unexplained need for money or financial

problems - Using substances even though it causes prob-

lems in relationships.Recovering from mental health problems and

substance useSomeone with a mental health problem and sub-

stance use disorder must treat both issues. Treat-ment for both mental health problems and sub-stance use disorders may include rehabilitation, medications, support groups, and talk therapy.

Looking for more information or support?Read more about how individuals living with

both mental health and substance use disorders and their families can actively engage in their re-covery process exit disclaimer icon.

Learn how to talk about mental health or how to get help for yourself or someone you care about.

Read about the science behind substance use and get facts about how drugs affect the brain and body. (Mentalhealth.gov)

Mental health and substance use disorders

SACRAMENTO — California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith on Dec. 23 announced that Califor-nia is experiencing an increase in norovirus cases, commonly re-ferred to as stomach flu or winter vomiting disease. CDPH has con-firmed 32 outbreaks of norovirus in California since Oct. 1, 2015 – likely resulting in hundreds of reported sicknesses in the state. These outbreaks far exceed the number reported at this time in 2014.

“One of the most important things you can do to avoid no-rovirus and other illnesses this

Norovirus is on the rise in Californiaholiday season is to wash your hands frequently with soap and running water for at least 20 sec-onds,” Dr. Smith said. “This is especially important after using the bathroom, changing diapers, and before preparing or eating food. Hand sanitizers are not ef-fective against norovirus.”

Norovirus is a highly conta-gious virus that causes gastro-enteritis, an illness that usually involves vomiting and diarrhea. It is the most common cause of gastroenteritis in the United States, and is responsible for ap-proximately 20 million illnesses each year, with 570-800 deaths reported annually. The virus can

spread quickly in closed and crowded environments such as hospitals, nursing homes, day-care centers, schools, cruise ships and food service settings like restaurants.

People with norovirus are very contagious and can easily spread the illness from person to person. The virus may be found in both stool and vomit and ill persons can still be contagious up to two weeks or more after recovery. People can become infected in several ways, including: having direct contact with another per-son who is infected, eating food or drinking liquids contaminated

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CHILDREN who come to the United States unaccompanied are among the most vulnerable types of persons to arrive in the United States. These children are sometimes all alone and of-ten have suffered mistreatment or abuse in their home country, which prompts them to take the extraordinary risk of traveling to the United States without an ac-companying adult or parent.

About 15 years ago, Congress drafted legislation which led to the creation of Special Immi-grant Juvenile Status (“SIJS”) as an avenue to United States Citizenship for unaccompanied children. About 8 years later, the William Wilber-force Trafficking Victims Protec-tion Reauthoriza-tion Act of 2008 (“TVPRA”) was enacted, which provided addi-tional protections for unaccom-panied children, including ex-panded qualifications for SIJS.

In order to qualify for SIJS, the child must be under 21 years of age and must be physically pres-ent inside the United States at the time of filing, cannot be mar-ried (either at the time of filing or at the time a decision is made on the child’s application), and must have an order from a state court in the United States with the fol-lowing findings: 1) that the child is a dependent of the court or was legally placed in the custody of a state agency, private agency, or a private person; 2) that it is not in the best interest of the child to be returned to their home coun-try; and 3) that the child cannot be reunited with 1 or both of the child’s parents due to abuse, ne-glect, abandonment, or similar basis under state law. If the child

Help for children in need of legal statusis granted SIJS, the child is im-mediately eligible to adjust to Lawful Permanent Resident Sta-tus, as well receive employment authorization, and eventually may apply to become a Citizen of the United States.

Securing the state court order is a complicated process, but one that can be managed by a knowl-edgeable and experienced immi-gration attorney. The process can become especially complicated if the child is able to reunite with one of his or her parents, but not the other, or if one of the parents is deceased. As the rules indi-cate, the child only has to show

that reunification with one par-ent is not viable.

However, some courts have been reluctant to issue the need-ed order if a child is living with one of his or her parents and the other parent is deceased. This situation iscommonly referred to as “Single-Parent Special Immi-grant Juvenile Status.” Just a few months ago, the California Court of Appeal issued a decision in the case of Eddie E. v. Superior Court, in which the Court found that a parent’s death in and of it-self does not disqualify the child from seeking SIJS. The Court clarified that the relationship be-tween the deceased parent and child prior to the parent’s death should be reviewed. Ultimately, the Court found that if a parent abandoned their child prior to the parent’s death, theparental abandonment of the child does not end with the parent’s death,

but is instead cemented as the ultimate form of abandonment. It is important to note that if the child is granted SIJS, the child will never be able to enter a peti-tion as an immediate relative of the other parent.

An unfortunately common sce-nario is the following. A mother gives birth to a child, and the father abandons both mother and child shortly thereafter. The single mother leaves her home country to come to the United States in order to seek oppor-tunities to provide for her child. The father dies, cementing his abandonment of his child for-

ever. The child then eventually travels to the United States to reunite with the mother. In this basic scenario, the child would likely be able to establish that reunif icat ion with one of his parents is not

viable due to abandonment and neglect despite the fact that the father is deceased.

There are many other scenar-ios which would allow a child to qualify for SIJS. In order to find out if a child you know may be qualified to seek SIJS, consult with a knowledgeable and expe-rienced immigration attorney.

***

“ The process can become especially complicated if the child is able to reunite

with one of his or her parents, but not the other, or if one of the parents is

deceased. As the rules indicate, the child only has to show that reunification with

one parent is not viable.”

The CTVFiles

ATTY. LILLI B. BACULIMONETTEADEVA MAGLAYA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

IF we are blessed with a grate-ful heart, we will see beauty and light amid darkness especially during Christmas, when hope wells within many hearts.

A grateful heart is one that is mindful of the abundant blessings of family, friends, and other peo-ple who orbit our lives. A grateful heart is well aware of all the infi-nite number of graces, seen and unseen, that abound and perme-ate our daily lives, from the rising of the sun to its setting.

Each day becomes even more meaningful particularly for those whose lives are suddenly shattered by a life-changing experience. To be given the chance to find one’s purpose in life and rewrite one’s story midstream is a rare and pre-cious gift coming directly from above. Use it or lose it.

If you’ve been given the chance to restart a new life after you’ve gone through some life-chang-ing, miraculous experience, you will know exactly what I mean.

If you survived a horrific ac-cident when everyone else per-ished, or if you found yourself in-explicably healed from a deadly disease, then you’ll know what it feels to be given a reprieve.

It is a new lease on life — a fresh slate, a clean paper, what the Greeks call tabula rasa, on which you can start writing your new story. Or if you use a comput-er, click on a new blank document and chase the cursor until the rest of your life story unfolds.

How does one use this new lease on life?

Most people lucky enough to be given a second chance, will quickly realize that this new lease can just be an extra few months or years, and in the most blessed scenarios, a decade or two.

Each day beyond that critical turning point is a bonus, every single moment, a gift. Sometimes, God mercifully knocks some sense into us through drastic means by throwing us a curve ball to bring us down on our knees so that we have no choice but to look above and beyond our own petty, selfish concerns and total self-involve-ment in order to grasp the concept of our own mortality and to know that we are here for a purpose.

We’re not here to merely con-sume resources or take up space. Consider the fearsome dinosaurs.

Tweaking our own life story“A useless life is an early death.” — Goethe

Grazing the earth for millions of years, that is essentially what they did — consumed resources and took up space.

Not by intelligence but by sheer size and numbers, they had dominion over all other species for millions of years, until one day, as scientists try to explain their extinction, a rogue asteroid about 7 miles long, possibly got unhinged off its orbit in the aster-oid belt, hit the earth with such impact, setting off a series of vol-canic eruptions that covered the atmosphere with ash far above the stratosphere, so that sun-light could not penetrate through the haze for years, killing off the plant life, upsetting and destroy-ing the food chain balance and effectively starving and wiping the dinosaurs off the face of the earth 65 million years ago.

Here is earth’s tabula rasa sto-ry — starting on a clean slate, a new lease on life. When the rep-tiles died, mammals, of which we are classified under, began their ascent. Human beings with pur-pose came to be.

Yet each man’s purpose is nebulous and not always obvi-ous. Purpose does not come as clear as the light of day. We have to seek it out. Either by choice or circumstance, some exceptional ones find their purpose early enough and proceed to fulfill it. Sometimes, it is as simple as blooming where God planted us.

But the great majority of peo-ple on the bell curve don’t have the nose to sense their true north. Most of us of the garden variety meander about our lives trying different things until we finally stumble upon it by trial and er-ror. The annals of history are rife with such stories.

St. Paul played a critical role in the beginnings of the early Christian church through his numerous travels. But he didn’t start out that way. He was just as passionate about persecuting Christians before he was tapped from above to do what he did.

Edwin Hubble, the great as-tronomer who lived in the nine-teen twenties and for whom the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is named for his outstanding achievements in expanding our view of the universe, tried dif-ferent things before finding out what he was meant to do. In col-

lege, he played championship basketball and even tried boxing. After fighting in World War I, he studied law, tried lawyering for a year and obviously didn’t like it.

Something must have hap-pened because he went back to college to study astronomy and finally found his footing and his purpose in life.

That’s what most of us do. We try different lives until we find the one that matches heaven’s purpose. Just don’t run out of time. No one wants to leave with unfinished business.

If our stations in life allow us the luxury of choice, then more than likely, we will be mean-dering too and trying different things before coming on board to the ship that will likely bring us to the port of our purpose. Try reading all or portions of Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life.” Warren, who has just gone through some difficult personal trial, is the pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Cali-fornia. His book continues to be received widely for its clear, well-structured and succinct explana-tion of what living with purpose means. True, its skewed towards his ministry but there are valu-able truths about purpose and meaning to be gleaned by both the secular and spiritual.

We don’t really have to wait for something dramatic, traumatic or tragic to happen to get us on track to finding that purpose. But do go to the right source. Nix the harebrained ideas coming from most of the media about what that purpose might be. When it comes to things that matter, most of the mainstream media has proven itself to be unworthy of trust. It pushes its own agenda of power that comes from profit.

Tune out of the external world and go deep within. If you pray hard enough and long enough and live in the silence for a little while, chances are, you’ll find it. You can then begin tweaking your own story on a new document page — your own life story that will get heaven’s stamp of approval on it.

TO ONE AND ALL, A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND BLESSED 2016!

* * *

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

Attention all graduates of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines and the Philippine College of Commerce: join us in our FIRST GLOBAL REUNION being organized by the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Alumni Association, USA Inc. scheduled on May 27-29, 2016 (Memorial Day Weekend) at the New Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. We promise a weekend of fun-filled activities, of friendship and camaraderie as we reminisce our best memories during our high school and college days. There will be lots of entertainment, singing and dancing and photo opportunities with your classmates and friends.

For more information, please contact any of the following: Loi Herrera at 562-544-8210 or loiherrera@yahoo.com; Monette Santillan-Rivera at 818-970-8317 or Monette_santillan@yahoo.com; Rose Mejia at 323-997-3838 or Rosemariemejia@kw.com; Marissa Sugay-Palanca at 818-281-7460 or marispalanca@yahoo.com; Rose Maghari at 661-794-8906 or rmaghari@gmail.com; Sally Mendoza at 323-695-0235 or sally.mendoza616@yahoo.com; Honeylette De Leon at 562-480-5743 orhoney@worldclassfreight.com; Virginia Herbito at virginiaherbito@gmail.com; Connie Acosta at 323-854-5303 orconnieacosta1@att.net; Violeta D. Cristobal at 310-880-5808 or vee@cristobalcpa.com; Jun Mapoy at 323-627-5326 or jcmapoy@yahoo.com.

All are cordially invited to the Feast of Santo Niño de Cebu on Saturday, January 9, 2016, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Bellflower, California, organized and sponsored by the Santo Niño de Cebu Association of Southern California, Inc., a non-profit religious organization. The Eucharistic Celebration will be presided by the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, His Excellency Bishop Oscar A. Solis at 10:00 am followed by the traditional procession of the image of Santo Niño de Cebu, fiesta lunch and Sinulog pres-entations. Food and financial donations are welcome, and all donations are tax deductible. For further information, you may contact the association President, Danny C. Diluvio at (323) 252-4991 or email at: dannydiluvio1@gmail.com.

Fr. Jose Joseph Parathanal of Holy Trinity Parish, San Pedro District, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, invites all to join Fr. Joseph Parathanal’s Pilgrimages to EASTERN EUROPE, OL-GUADALUPE/Colonial Mexico, and INDIA. During the journey, pilgrims will pray to God for healing of body, mind and spirit especially for healing of the world from violence, terrorism and climate changes. Trip dates are: Divine Mercy/Infant Jesus of Prague/Austria/Hungary/Medjugorje (Eastern Europe) April 17- April 30; OLGuadalupe and Colonial Mexico - June 20 - June 27; and Mother Teresa/St. Thomas/St. Alphonsa/St. Euprasia/St. Chavarra (India) - Sept. 15 - Sept. 29, 2016. For more details and pilgrimage information, please contact Bernadette at bcorp1114@hotmail.com or call 323-344-1548 & 323-547-6618.

Santo Niño Cruzada USA, with the participation of the Cathedral Knights of Columbus and a Sinulog group, is inviting everyone for a holy mass to celebrate the 29th anniversary of the Feast of Santo Niño, the Divine Infant Jesus, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles (555 W Temple St, Los Angeles, CA 90012) on Sunday, January 17, at 3:30pm. The main celebrant is Monsignor Kevin Kostelnik, with Father David Gallardo as concelebrant. For more information, please contact any of the following offic-ers: Romy & Tess Esturas (213-387-9682), Rey & Tess Edpao (818-469-7292), Lilia Figuracion (626-394-2661, Carmen Estrada (213-413-2881), Fe Montana (323-218-1587), Ester Paredes (213-864-1149), Fe Reyes (213-413-5286), Laurie Dolorfino (213-407-0097), and Cherry Guerrero (213-632-2096).

FORMER employees of Philippine Veterans Bank will hold their Grand Reunion on Feb-ruary 21, 2016 at the Marco Polo Hotel in Ortigas, Manila. We are trying to reach out to all members residing all over the world to disseminate information about the upcoming event. For more details about the reunion, please contact the following members through their Facebook accounts:

Southern California – Aurora CarilloNorthern California – Angie VirolaPhilippines – Lourdes Barbero Ramos and Lyn LagpitanghapWe look to forward to see you all!

with norovirus, or touching con-taminated surfaces or objects and then touching your mouth.

It is particularly important for ill persons to practice good handwashing and to avoid pre-paring food for others while they are sick and for at least 48 hours after symptoms are no longer present, as to prevent norovirus from spreading. Food workers should not work while they are sick and for 48 hours after symp-toms stop. Persons caring for

Norovirus is on the rise in…

LYONS, NEBRASKA — On Dec. 17, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued their final rule to define what it means to be actively engaged in farm-ing, and therefore eligible to re-ceive federal farm payments.The final rule made no progress from the proposed rule issued last May, and it not only ensures ac-cess to unlimited farm program payments for the majority of the largest farms in the country, it goes one step further by writing loopholes directly into regula-tion.

“The purpose of revising the actively engaged definition was to make farm payment lim-its more effective,” said Traci Bruckner, Senior Associate at the Center for Rural Affairs. “The USDA is, however, clearly more interested in defending the inter-ests of mega-farms by preserving loose definitions that will contin-ue to allow the nation’s largest farms to avoid meaningful pay-ment limits.”

“This is not reform” added Bruckner. “In 2007, while cam-paigning in Iowa for his first elec-tion, President Obama promised to close these loopholes. He said that “every President since Ron-ald Reagan has had the authority to close this loophole without ac-tion by Congress, but has failed to act.” noted Bruckner. “Well, now we can add President Obama to that list of Presidents that have failed to act.”

“The lack of effective payment limitations has resulted in federal farm programs financing farm consolidation and the elimination of many mid-size family farms…. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will close the loopholes that allow

someone who may have noro-virus disease should be particu-larly careful about handwashing and cleaning contaminated sur-faces and materials.

Symptoms usually begin 12 to 48 hours after the person has been exposed to the virus and last for one to three days. The most common symptoms include vomiting, nausea, di-arrhea and stomach cramps. Other symptoms may include low-grade fever, headache and body aches. Norovirus symp-

toms can lead to dehydration, especially in young children, older adults and people with other illnesses.

Safe food handling practices can prevent the spread of noro-virus and other infectious dis-eases. In addition to washing your hands after every bathroom visit, this includes washing fruits and vegetables before eating, cleaning and disinfecting food preparation equipment and sur-faces, and thoroughly cooking all meats, fish and poultry. ■

t

No progress on farm payment limit reformCenter for Rural Affairs rebukes

USDA ‘actively engaged’ proposalmega farms to get around the limits by subdividing their opera-tions into multiple paper corpo-rations. They will take immedi-ate action to close the loophole by proposing regulations to limit payments to active farmers who work the land…. Every President since Ronald Reagan has had the authority to close this loop-hole without additional action by Congress, but has failed to act.” President Barack Obama, writ-ing as a candidate for President in his rural platform - Obama-Biden: Real Leadership For Rural America

According to Bruckner, the USDA stated in the final rule that the 2014 Farm Bill language prohibits them from applying any new rule to farms structured solely of family members.

“We disagree with that prem-ise, and this rule does nothing more than say the largest and wealthiest farms structured solely of family members are not subject to this new rule or any payment limitation,” argued Bruckner. “In fact, if USDA would have interpreted the 2014 Farm Bill language correctly, they would have crafted a rule that says farms structured solely of family members can only qual-ify for farm programs payments if they provide labor - meaning they actually work on the farm,” added Bruckner.

“That is what happens when Congressional leaders throw the will of the House and the Sen-ate under the bus, in the dark of night, behind closed doors… you get messy language. The USDA makes matters worse by choos-ing to interpret the intent of Congress only in ways that lack

reform and are easily evaded by the nation’s largest and wealthi-est farms,” said Bruckner. “And of the few farms this rule would impact, those structured as non-family member operations, most will surely work with an attorney to reorganize their operations to be structured solely of family members to evade any payment limitations.”

Bruckner also explained that the new rule affects less than four percent of farm operations. And leaves the loophole door wide open for the other 96 per-cent, the USDA has issued an invitation to farm reorganiza-tions undertaken to maximize subsidies beyond the payment limit. Even for those farms who choose to keep their business structures organized as part of the four percent, the new rule provides for a limit over $1 mil-lion in subsidies per year for the largest farms. This is the antith-esis of reform.

“The proposed rule makes one improvement, tightening the farm management definition by requiring recordkeeping to back up management claims and add-ing a quantifiable test for farm management,” added Bruckner. “This small step forward could serve as a key ingredient for real reform if a future Administration should decide to enforce pay-ment limits and actually close the loopholes.”

“However, overall this final rule is fatally flawed, lacks real reform, and will result in few changes other than mega-farms scrambling to reorganize their business structure to fit within the loopholes,” Bruckner con-cluded. ■

THE power to give, take away, and deport. The United States does not welcome you with open arms. It allows non-citizens en-try into the United States, under certain conditions. When these conditions are broken, you can expect nothing but the full force of the United States govern-ment through the Department of Homeland Security to bear down on you. Until you are a full-fledged US citizen, you may be deportable.

It all starts with the Notice to Appear (NTA). The NTA is the charging document issued by an authorized agent of the US De-partment of Homeland Security (DHS), to noncitizens who the government believes are inad-missible or removable. The NTA is issued to place a noncitizen in a full removal proceeding before an immigration judge, who will determine whether the nonciti-zen is to be removed or allowed to remain in the United States.

Who Can Issue an NTA? Var-ious officials within DHS are empowered to issue NTAs in different circumstances. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is an arm of DHS that conducts in-vestigations and enforcement and removal operations, may issue NTAs.

What makes you deportableThe US Citizenship and Im-

migration Services (USCIS) may also issue an NTA when it finds a noncitizen has not complied with regulations governing admission or maintaining lawful status after admission.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) may also issue NTAs. CBP operates primarily at designated ports of entry and manages customs, immigration, security, and agricultural inspec-tion duties. CBP makes thou-sands of determinations daily, concerning the admissibility of arriving noncitizens.

Below is a discussion on ex-amples of what might trigger the USCIS, ICE or CBP to issue an NTA putting you in removal pro-ceedings.

Inadmissible: When you are not allowed to enter. Nikolai is a Lawful Permanent Resident (LPR) who was admitted to the US in 1970. In 2000, he was convicted for 2 DUI convictions and petty theft. Recently, he took a vacation outside of the US for a few weeks. Upon his return, CBP took him aside and issued him an NTA for being an “inadmissible alien.”

Deportable: When you are get-ting thrown out of the country. Jennifer (also an LPR) was con-victed of 2 counts of possession of marijuana, 2 counts of being under the influence of mari-juana. She is currently out on bail for her 4th case in a span of 12 months, for resisting arrest, public indecency, and being un-

der the influence of a controlled substance. She has just recently been issued an NTA alleging that she is “deportable.”

The Filing of an Application May be Trigger an NTA. In a third scenario, Marco has been living under the radar for 20 years and finally decided on filing for citi-zenship, without first consulting with an experienced immigration attorney. At the interview, he is shown a record of conviction for DUI that he had forgotten. Worse, there were several misdemeanor theft convictions from 10 years ago that he had also forgotten. Marco is scheduled for a second interview, and he is panicking as to what might happen.

In either of these scenarios, Nikolai, Jennifer, and Marco run the risk of being removed (de-ported) from the US because of their convictions, notwithstand-ing their LPR status, and their long-term residence in the Unit-ed States.

A Criminal Conviction’s Nega-tive Impact on Immigration Status. The Record of Convic-tion (ROC) details an individual’s criminal history – his/her arrest, what s/he plead to, and the final judgment/sentence. The relief(s) available to an individual facing removal/deportation proceed-ings will depend largely on the record of conviction.

Not every criminal convic-tion will result in deportation and not every deportation pro-ceeding will lead to an order of

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ATTY. MICHAELGURFINKEL, ESQ

ImmigrationCorner

FORMER employees of Philippine Veterans Bank will hold their Grand Reunion on Febru-ary 21, 2016 at the Marco Polo Hotel in Ortigas, Manila.

We are trying to reach out to all members re-siding all over the world to disseminate informa-tion about the upcoming event. For more details

about the reunion, please contact the following members through their Facebook accounts:

Southern California – Aurora CarilloNorthern California – Angie VirolaPhilippines – Lourdes Barbero Ramos and

Lyn LagpitanghapWe look to forward to see you all! ■

Former PVB employees 2016 Grand Reunion

CHRISTMAS tree recycling collection is avail-able on regular service days. Republic Services (formerly Allied Waste Services) request that you please follow these collection guidelines when placing your tree out for collection:

• Trees must be cut into 4 ft. sections.• Stands, lights and decorations must be re-

moved.• Flocked trees will be collected but not recy-

cled.• Multi-family residents must call Customer

Service to arrange for pick-up.• Place trees next to yard waste cart for removal.After January 31, please call Customer Service

for tree pick-up unless you are able to fit the tree in your green waste collection.

Customer Service may be reached at (650) 756-1130. ■

DR. VALERIE DE LEON

Dr. Val’s Dental Views

ARE you pregnant or think-ing about becoming pregnant? Do you know someone who is pregnant? While you’re pick-ing out tiny clothes and reading childcare books, remember the importance of your oral health!

Pregnancy brings so many physical changes. You crave dif-ferent things. Your hair feels dif-ferent. In fact, just about every-thing feels different. And, your mouth is different, too. Not sure why it’s important to know that? Don’t worry -- we’re here to help.

Increased gum disease riskPregnancy brings heightened

hormone activity which can lead to increased gum disease risk and gum sensitivity. Just remem-ber that pregnancy doesn’t cause gum disease—plaque does. Keep up your great oral care habits.

Are you experiencing…?Beginning around your sec-

Pregnant? Let’s keep both your mouth and your baby healthyond month, and often continuing through your eighth month you may be experiencing:

• Bleeding gums• A potential increase in cavi-

ties• Granulomas (small, tumor-

like growths inside your mouth)Here are a few simple recom-

mendations:• Brush and floss regularly.• Keep your regular checkup

appointment during your preg-nancy and let us know that you’re pregnant.

• Lay low on the sweets.Routine checkups during preg-

nancyAn ideal time for your check-

up appointment is during your second trimester when your pregnancy is stable, but not far enough along to risk stress-in-duced issues. In the old days, women were anxious about den-

tal checkups during pregnancy. Typically there’s never an issue. Just be sure to let us know you’re expecting.

Morning sicknessDON’T brush your teeth right

after being sick. Stomach acid makes your teeth softer and brushing can wear them down. Rinse out your mouth, and then wait a while before brushing.

Congratulations on your pregnancy! If you have questions, please ask. We appreciate having you as our valued patient!

***

Christmas tree recycling available in Daly City

THERE has been much unde-served criticism and condemna-tion hurled at USCIS and consul-ar officers over issuing a fiancée (K – 1) visa to the female terrorist in the San Bernardino shootings. I would like to offer my defense of those officers, as I do not be-lieve the USCIS and consular officers should be faulted. How-ever, I believe the actions of the terrorist couple are horrible and indefensible.

First, the primary purpose of the vetting or investigative pro-cess for K – 1 visas is simply to determine if it is a bona fide/love relationship-- not to determine if an applicant is a terrorist. There are many other governmental agencies whose primary func-tions are to monitor and root out terrorism, including the CIA, FBI, NSA, Armed Forces, to name a few. Apparently, none of these other agencies found anything in this couple’s background, such that there were no negative en-tries in our government’s com-puter database. Are we expect-ing USCIS or consular officers to take over the functions of these other agencies?

Second, there has been much criticism leveled against USCIS and consular offices on whether there was enough evidence in this couple’s file to establish they had “met in person,” as re-quired by the K – 1 regulations. According to one Congressman, there was insufficient evidence. Again, the “meet in person” re-quirement deals with whether or not the relationship is bona fide, and does not, in any way, provide any indication that either party is a terrorist or a supporter of ter-rorism. In fact, the regulations provide that a couple does not necessarily need to meet in per-son if it would cause hardship or because of religious prohibitions. In this case, their file indicated the husband obtained a special visa to Saudi Arabia to attend the Hajj (pilgrimage) in Mecca, and his fiancée was also there at the same time. He even produced that Saudi visa. The Husband claimed they met in person at her relative’s house on October 3, 2013. Therefore, there was evidence of the petitioner meet-ing the fiancée while attending a holy pilgrimage, so why would

You can’t water-board �ancées at the US embassy!there be suspicions of them lying about the in-person meeting?

Third, there was extensive/overwhelming evidence this was a bona fide relationship. She en-tered the US, they married within 90 days, she filed for adjustment of status, they went through an-other interview in the US, with finger printing and security background checks, and even had a child together. That ap-pears to me to have been a bona fide, good faith relationship for K – 1 purposes.

Fourth, after the San Bernardi-no massacre, it was discovered that before she entered the US, the female terrorist posted pri-vate messages on Facebook un-der a pseudonym (false name) to friends, expressing her support for Isis. However, at the time she applied for her visa, it was not our government’s policy to check applicants’ social media, e-mails, text messages, Twitter accounts, or the like in adjudicat-ing petitions or visa applications. Can you imagine the time and resources that would now have to be expended by USCIS and the State Department to scour all of the social media accounts, whether for fiancée visas or even for a visitor visa? Moreover, there probably would have been an up-roar over privacy concerns had this shooting not occurred, and it was discovered the government was going through visa appli-cants’ social media content.

Fifth, if USCIS and consular of-ficers will now be required to con-duct the extensive background in-vestigations (that their critics are demanding), then the processing time for visas (whether K – 1 or even visitor’s visas) could take a year or more. Should we also investigate the background of the petitioner’s and beneficiary’s relatives? What if a fiancée has a brother who posted a pro–Isis message on his Facebook ac-count? Should her visa be denied? What about the increased cost for visas? It would cost thousands upon thousands of dollars in extra petition and visa fees for this type of intensive background inves-tigation for visa applicants. And once they enter the US, should we make all aliens report monthly or quarterly with ICE or FBI, and have their e-mails and social me-dia constantly monitored?

Finally, when applying for a fiancée visa, the applicant must

provide NBI\police clearance, police certificates from all for-eign countries where they have lived for at least six months, their name and fingerprints are run through several criminal data-bases, all of which came up with no “hits” for the female terrorist. In addition, questionnaires appli-cants fill out in connection with their visa interview ask if they are coming to the US to “engage in terrorist activities,” if they are a member “of a terrorist organiza-tion,” and if they intend to pro-vide “support to terrorists or ter-rorist organizations.”

Of course, they are going to answer “no” to these questions. And there was nothing in this couple’s background that even the CIA, FBI, NSA, or other of our governmental agencies (specifi-cally tasked with the job of moni-toring terrorists), could discover or input into USCIS or consular officer’s computers. Therefore, it would seem the only way we could have uncovered their ter-rorist background in a reason-ably timely fashion would have been to water board her at the US Embassy (or at her adjustment interview). But bear in mind that there was a known terrorist who was water boarded over 80 times by seasoned interrogators, who could still not extract valuable in-formation from him.

In conclusion, in hindsight, this K – 1 visa should not have been is-sued, but unless we equip USCIS and consular officers with crystal balls, time machines, or water boards, they cannot be blamed for the holes in our system.

* * *

CHP highlights new laws a�ecting motorists, cyclists and public safety

SACRAMENTO – As part of its mission to save lives, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) seeks to inform people about several new laws signed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. during the 2015 legislative session. These new laws apply to vari-ous aspects of roadway safety.

Child safety seats (AB 53, Garcia) Beginning January 1, 2017, children under two years of age must ride rear-facing in an appropriate child pas-senger safety seat. Children weighing 40 or more pounds or standing 40 or more inches tall would be exempt. California law continues to require that all children under the age of eight be properly re-strained in an appropriate child safety seat in the back seat of the vehicle.

Hit-and-run (AB 8, Gatto) A “Yellow Alert” noti-fication system will be established as of January 1, 2016, for specified hit-and-run incidents resulting in death or serious injury. As with AMBER, Silver, or Blue Alerts, the CHP will work with requesting law enforcement agencies to determine whether the hit-and-run meets the criteria for a Yellow Alert, including the use of the freeway Changeable Message Signs (CMS). Criteria established in the law include the availability of information about the hit-and-run suspect or the suspect’s vehicle, and whether disseminating the information will be helpful.

Driving under the influence: Ignition Interlock Device (SB 61, Hill) This new law grants a one-year extension to a pilot project for the Ignition In-terlock Device (IID) in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sac-ramento, and Tulare counties. The pilot was first instituted in 2010. Under the current law, a person convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) may be required to install an IID in their vehicle. If the IID registers alcohol on the driver’s breath, the ve-hicle will not start. The length of time the IID is required in the vehicle is based on how many prior DUI convictions the driver has had.

Silver Alerts (AB 643, Nazarian) The “Silver Alert” notification system has been amended to al-

low the alert to be communicated on CMS when there is a vehicle involved in the missing person incident. The Silver Alert is an emergency system that allows law enforcement to broadcast regional or statewide alerts for seniors, or individuals with developmental disabilities or who are cognitively impaired, and are missing and may be in danger.

Highway lane use (AB 208, Bigelow) The law requiring slow-moving passenger vehicles to pull over safely to let traffic pass has been amended to apply to all vehicles, effective January 1, 2016. Bicycles will now be included in the legal require-ment that slow-moving vehicles use the next avail-able turnout or other area to let backed-up traffic – five or more vehicles – get by.

Electronically motorized boards (AB 604, Olsen) The new law defines “electronically motorized board” as a wheeled device designed to be stood on and powered by electronic propulsion, going no more than 15 miles per hour. The electronically motorized boards can only be ridden on a highway with a speed limit of 35 miles per hour or less, or specific designated bikeways. The rider must be at least 16 years old and must wear a bicycle helmet. Cities and counties are authorized to restrict the use of the electrically motorized boards.

Electric bicycles (AB 1096, Chiu) The new law, effective January 1, 2016, creates three separate classes of electric bicycles, defined by their maxi-mum speed and how much power is supplied by the motor. Classes 1 and 2 have a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour. A Class 3 electric bicycle has a maximum speed of 28 miles per hour. The op-erator of a Class 3 bicycle must be at least 16 years old and wear a helmet. Manufacturers and distrib-utors must label the bicycles with the classification number, top assisted speed, and wattage. The new law sets up safety restrictions and regulates access on trails and paths.

For complete information on bills enacted in 2015, please refer to the Legislative Counsel Web site at http://LegInfo.Legislature.ca.gov . ■

deportation. Nevertheless, cer-tain commission of crimes will render a non-citizen inadmissible or deportable, and will run the risk of being placed in deporta-tion proceedings. An individual should act quickly and consult both with a criminal attorney and with an experienced criminal im-migration attorney who handles deportation defense, to mitigate

the negative consequences of a criminal conviction to his/her im-migration status.

It is important to be informed and know your options. An ex-perienced immigration firm or attorney will be able to help you understand the options available to you under the evolving immi-gration laws.

* * *

What makes you…t

BASED on sound science and a com-prehensive review, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is taking several important steps today regarding food from genetically engineered (GE) plants and animals, including the first ap-proval for a genetically engineered ani-mal intended for food, AquAdvantage Salmon. The agency is also issuing two guidances for manufacturers who wish to voluntarily label their products as containing ingredients from GE or non-GE sources: a draft guidance on label-ing foods derived from Atlantic salmon, and a final guidance on foods derived from GE plants.

FDA approves application for AquAdvantage Salmon

The FDA has approved AquaBounty Technologies’ application for AquAd-vantage Salmon, an Atlantic salmon that reaches market size more quickly than non-GE farm-raised Atlantic salmon. The FDA regulates GE animals under the new animal drug provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, because the recombinant DNA (rDNA) construct introduced into the animal meets the definition of a drug. In this case, the rDNA construct introduces a trait that makes the AquAdvantage Salmon grow faster.

“The FDA has thoroughly analyzed and evaluated the data and information submitted by AquaBounty Technolo-gies regarding AquAdvantage Salmon and determined that they have met the regulatory requirements for approval, including that food from the fish is safe to eat,” said Bernadette Dunham, DVM,

PhD, director of the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine.

Based on a comprehensive analysis of the scientific evidence, the FDA de-termined that AquAdvantage Salmon meets the statutory requirements for safety and effectiveness under the Fed-eral Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Among the requirements the sponsor had to meet are that food from the fish is safe to eat; the rDNA construct (the piece of DNA that makes the salmon grow faster) is safe for the fish itself; and the AquAdvantage Salmon meets the sponsor’s claim about faster growth. In addition, the FDA determined that food from AquAdvantage Salmon is as safe to eat and as nutritious as food from other non-GE Atlantic salmon and that there are no biologically relevant differences in the nutritional profile of AquAdvan-tage Salmon compared to that of other farm-raised Atlantic salmon.

The AquAdvantage Salmon may be raised only in land-based, contained hatchery tanks in two specific facilities in Canada and Panama. The approval does not allow AquAdvantage Salm-on to be bred or raised in the United States. In fact, under this approval, no other facilities or locations, in the United States or elsewhere, are autho-rized for breeding or raising AquAd-vantage Salmon that are intended for marketing as food to US consumers. As required by the National Environ-mental Policy Act, the FDA completed an environmental assessment to deter-mine whether approval of the applica-tion would result in significant effects

on the quality of the human environ-ment in the United States. The FDA has determined that the approval of the AquAdvantage Salmon application would not have a significant environ-mental impact because of the multiple and redundant measures being taken to contain the fish and prevent their escape and establishment in the envi-ronment.

These measures include a series of multiple and redundant levels of physi-cal barriers placed in the tanks and in the plumbing that carries water out of the facilities to prevent the escape of eggs and fish. Finally, the AquAdvan-tage Salmon are reproductively sterile so that even in the highly unlikely event of an escape, they would be unable to interbreed or establish populations in the wild.

The FDA will maintain regulatory oversight over the production and fa-cilities, and will conduct inspections to confirm that adequate physical con-tainment measures remain in place. In addition, the Canadian and Panamani-an governments will also be conduct-ing inspections of the facilities.

The FDA held a Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee meeting on the sufficiency of the scientific review and a hearing to gather opinions on label-ing of food from AquAdvantage Salm-on. The agency received and reviewed comments from these two meetings. In addition, the agency released a draft environmental assessment and prelim-inary finding of no significant impact for public comment; these comments

were also reviewed prior to the agen-cy’s final decision.

Agency publishes guidances on voluntary labeling of food from ge-netically engineered sources

The FDA’s responsibility is to en-sure that foods under its purview meet applicable safety, labeling, and other statutory and regulatory requirements. Foods derived from GE plants and animals must meet the same require-ments, including safety and labeling requirements, as other foods. Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the FDA can only require addi-tional labeling of foods derived from GE sources if there is a material differ-ence – such as a different nutritional profile – between the GE product and its non-GE counterpart. In the case of the AquAdvantage Salmon, the FDA did not find any such differences.

“We recognize that some consum-ers are interested in knowing whether food ingredients are derived from GE sources,” said Susan Mayne, Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. “The FDA is issuing two guidance docu-ments that explain how food compa-nies that want to voluntarily label their products can provide this information to consumers.”

These two guidance documents in-clude a draft guidance on voluntary la-beling indicating whether food has or has not been derived from GE Atlantic salmon, and a final guidance on volun-tary labeling indicating whether food has or has not been derived from GE

plants. Although companies can always

voluntarily add labeling to their prod-ucts as long as it’s truthful and not misleading, these guidances provide recommended actions for manufactur-ers who may wish to voluntarily label their products with information about whether the foods contain ingredients from GE sources.

The agency is accepting public com-ment for 60 days starting on November 24 via instructions in the Federal Reg-ister on Draft Guidance for Industry: Voluntary Labeling Indicating Wheth-er Food Has or Has Not Been Derived from Genetically Engineered Atlantic Salmon.

How to comment on the Draft Guidance

To comment on the draft guid-ance on voluntary labeling indicating whether food has or has not been de-rived from GE Atlantic salmon:

1. Read the Draft Guidance.2. Starting Tuesday, November 24,

submit comments on the draft guid-ance on Regulations.gov.

The FDA, an agency within the US Department of Health and Human Ser-vices, protects the public health by as-suring the safety and effectiveness of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for hu-man use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safe-ty of our nation’s food supply, cosmet-ics, dietary supplements, and products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products. ■

FDA takes several actions involving genetically engineered plants and animals for food

MAYOR Edwin M. Lee on Dec. 3 announced a goal for his sec-ond term of helping at least 8,000 people out of homelessness forever through strategies that stabilize people’s lives through the City’s nationally recognized housing and services and build-ing a system that ends a person’s homelessness before it becomes chronic. Mayor Lee is creating a new Department to help home-less residents permanently exit the streets and move into hous-ing and services and has commit-ted to maintaining and enhancing funding for homeless prevention and solutions of at least $250 million per year.

“Despite decades of best ef-forts, we haven’t eliminated homelessness, and as we house and serve thousands, they’re replaced by new thousands. And they all deserve our com-passion and care,” said Mayor Lee. “Building on the work that came before us, we can solve

Homeless program: Mayor announces bold goal to help 8,000 people out of homelessnessstreet homelessness, but it will require cooperation like never before. With a goal of helping at least 8,000 people off our streets in the next four years, we can make a difference if we leverage the passion and energy from our service providers, advocates, national experts and our City departments and work together. All of the ingredients for success on ending homelessness for thousands of our fellow citizens are already here in the City of Saint Francis. Moving forward with progressive approaches on mental health, expanding the successful navigation center program, creating a Department to coordinate these and other efforts, with the nation’s best minds working with us, we can make homelessness rare, brief and one-time.”

Mayor Lee, who made the announcement at St. Anthony Foundation in the Tenderloin, set a goal to move at least 8,000

people out of homelessness for-ever by the end of his second term by housing families, vet-erans, the long-term homeless, and through Homeward Bound and long-term care for the se-riously mentally ill. The Mayor will create the Department, a new City agency with the budget and the mandate to solve street homelessness.

The new Department will bring together the multitude of home-less outreach, housing, shelter, and supportive services that ex-ist across San Francisco govern-ment under one roof. Barbara Garcia, the director of Public Health, Trent Rhorer, the direc-tor of Human Services, and Sam Dodge, the Director of HOPE, who have all implemented some of the most forward-thinking, progressive homeless policies in America, are tasked to develop the new Department to with ser-vice providers, homeless advo-cates and national experts.

The Mayor also challenged the courts, the public defender, the District Attorney, and our health providers to come together next year for a task force to redesign the 5150 and conservatorship programs to better serve the intended populations while re-specting their civil liberties.

Finally, the Mayor called for stepped-up enforcement for predatory drug dealing around Navigation Centers, shelters, and other homeless service locations. Drug dealers who loiter around places where the homeless con-gregate are preying on addicted people, selling them drugs they use to self-medicate, and contrib-uting to serious health problems. The Mayor emphasized that the City is not criminalizing drug addiction, but instead better en-forcing existing laws to protect the most vulnerable.

Since Mayor Lee’s creation of the nation’s first Navigation Cen-ter, more than 250 people have

been successfully moved off the streets and into healthier settings in just nine months. Under the new Department, the City will be expanding the successful Navi-gation Center program that has made a difference by removing barriers to entry into the shelter system and pairing every Navi-gation Center client with a hous-ing exit.

Mayor Lee hopes that exist-ing philanthropic partners and business leaders – and any new funders interested in supporting the compassionate work – will participate as sustainable funders to help San Francisco end home-lessness once and for all.

Homelessness is a growing problem, not just for San Fran-cisco, but for major cities across the nation as well – Los Angeles, New York, Honolulu, Seattle and others – with State and Federal governments offering little as-sistance. Mayor Lee joined May-ors from major West Coast cities

on December 10 in Portland for the two-day West Coast Mayors Summit and discussed press-ing issues affecting each of their cities: homelessness, housing, and climate action. Mayor Lee, joined by Portland Mayor Charlie Hales, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray, Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, convened to trade ideas, best practices and experiences about issues associated with homeless-ness, housing, and climate ac-tion, and talked about working to generate actionable solutions. Mayors were also joined by ex-perts in each topic area – includ-ing US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Castro and Matthew Doherty, Executive Director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness. The goal of the West Coast Mayors Summit was to exchange infor-mation, develop a joint federal agenda, and identify action items on mutual issues. ■

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Friday, January 1, 2016

THE year 2015 came by so fast that most of us hardly had the time to look back and real-ize how much has happened. The Filipino-American commu-nity in California—particularly in the Bay Area—was abuzz with events, activities, movers and shakers that put Pinoys in the spotlight. Here are a few of our favorites who made it to our Something Filipino magazine cover this year:

Aileen Suzara goes back to the land to raise the impor-tance of sustainable farming and food traditions in our community (February 12)

Educator, eco-advocate and chef Aileen Suzara went back to the land to understand that sustainable farming is the start to eating healthy —but deli-cious food.

“Nutrition isn’t just about calories and micronutrients—it depends on farms and those who grow and harvest it, too,” she said. Born in Washington and raised in California and Hawai’i, Aileen grew up in the island and witnessed how food, health and culture connected.

“So much food – pine-apples, papayas, coffee – was grown to be shipped thousands of miles away, while imports like Spam flooded the stores,” she explained and added, “I became inspired by efforts to revitalize native food[s], not only to curb the epidemic of chronic diseases, but to strengthen their culture and heal the environ-ment. As I grew older, I began to explore how that kind of healing could look like for our Filipino-American community.”

Vivian Zalvidea Araullo, Executive Director of West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Cen-ter: Building a stronger voice for the Fil-Am community and beyond (February 19)

Vivian Zalvidea Araullo, Executive Director of West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center in San Francisco, shifted from her career as a full-time journalist to work with a nonprofit. For her, it is a challenge, but a meaning-ful one.

West Bay was founded in 1968 by local activist Ed de la Cruz to address the most press-ing socioeconomic challenges facing the Filipino immigrant community living in San Francis-co’s South of Martket (SoMA) District. It is the oldest Filipino-led non-profit organization in Northern California today.

Having worked for ABS-CBN in Manila, Vivian has covered many stories about social justice, among them the execution of a Filipina domes-tic helper in Singapore. This led to an investigation by the Philippine government about the plight of Filipino workers abroad, in which she testified. Because of this, the Overseas Filipino Act of 1995 was passed, establishing a higher standard for migrant workers. Sharing that the daily grind of her work in the newsroom took its toll on her, Vivian wanted her work to have that kind of social impact.

Today, Vivian and West Bay tackle issues facing the Filipino community in San Francisco, and takes them point-by-point and offer solutions. She also believes that although Filipi-nos are now the biggest Asian American community in the US, our voice is weak.

“We are determined to rep-

resent the Filipino population in San Francisco, the Bay Area and the rest of the country with a loud and strong voice,” she said and added, “Our community’s needs and wants deserve to be heard and respected,” she said. “Look at what we Filipinos in America are going through, and help your countrymen the ones who walked with you on that long and difficult road of immigration. If you think you’ve reached that so-called American Dream, please don’t go to sleep and turn your back on your fel-low Filipinos. Please wake up, and help empower the people who are right beside you, your community. “

Seizing the day: Stage performer Julian de Guzman shares his talent and passion in Disney’s hit musical, Newsies (March 12)

Proving that nothing can stop him from pursuing his dream, Fil-Am Julian de Guz-man beat cancer twice and yet lived to perform on Broadway.

Born in Vallejo and raised in Alameda, Julian is part of Disney’s Broadway smash hit, Newsies. Newsies is based on the 1992 American musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, about the New York City Newboys Strike of 1899. Onstage, the show has won the 2012 Tony Awards for Best Score and Best Choreog-raphy.

Playing the role of Finch, Ju-lian shared that life is too short to hold back on opportunities. “Also, always remember that your reputation can work both for you and against you. Always be cordial and genuine, and a bastion of positivity,” he said and added, “The opportunities to perform will come with this attitude.”

Kain Na, Cali!: Bringing Filipino cuisine on the fore-front (March 19)

Kain Na, Cali! celebrated the Filipino cuisine across the state of California in March with 15 pop-up meals from San Francisco to San Diego.

Conceptualized by Chef AC Boral of Filipino Kitchen and Chef Yan Gilbuena of The SALO Project, they were joined by other Filipino chefs: Chef Jes-sette Kalsi of Nouveau Filipino in Napa Valley, Chef Chad Ven-lencia of LASA in Los Angeles, Chef Eric Pascual of Eats by E and The Lumpia Company, and Chef Rob Menor of Stockton.

Kain Na, Cali! was also supported by the Filipino Food Movement (FFM), whose ultimate goal is to bring Filipino food to the forefront by creat-ing a community and network that will work together.

Preserving the art of laga weaving (April 1)

For the Kalinga, an indig-enous group that resides in the Cordillera region north of Luzon, one tradition that identifies them is laga. Utilized to make blankets, celebratory regalia and clothing items, laga is the traditional backstrap loom weaving, an indigenous technol-ogy where the weaver with a back support made of bark of trees or animal skin is strapped to the weaver’s back while seated with her stretched feet supported by a log.

Born in Lubuagan and cradled by a family that bears the Kalingas’ traditional way of life, Jenny Bawer Young’s

Something Filipino in 2015

by MALOU LIWANAG-BLEDSOE/AJPress

SF2 cover storyThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - January 1, 2016

Aileen Suzara

Julian de Guzman (far right) in “Newsies.”

Project PEARLS Founder and Executive Director Melissa Villa at Ulingan, the slum community in Tondo that is engulfed in toxic smoke from the charcoal pits around the community. Children are taken away from the pits and are brought to the day care center that Project PEARLS built.

Fil-Am jazz artist Lazaro “Lloyd” Pementil (far left) with his band.

parents and grandparents have been passing onto her and her siblings their knowledge of traditional arts, particularly the laga. She learned to weave from her maternal grandmother, Mambot Cusay, and her aunt, Alice Dumatog. She began weaving as a child, making her first belt at the age of 10.

When she moved to the United States with her husband Jeffrey Young and children Bodhi and Jacoby, Bawer Young brought with her valuable skills and knowledge on Kalinga culture for the Fil-Am commu-nity, especially in the Bay Area. Together with her apprentice Holly Calica, she founded the Laga, CA Circle-Kalingafornia, a women’s collective dedicated to the goal of preserving and promoting traditional Kalinga culture and arts. Also, Bawer Young is most likely the only Kalinga weaver in California, and possibly in the US.

The Philippines in the in-ternational cheerleading stage (April 30)

Working their way up the in-ternational cheerleading scene this year is Team Pilipinas. They pushed and trained hard this year to be able to get ahead of what they start ICU World Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Florida last April.

Joining Team Pilipinas in two other divisions for the first time were 2015 National Champions and back-to-back UAAP Cham-pions National University (NU) for Coed Elite and Sayawatha of Miram College for the Cheer Hip Hop division.

Although the two groups joined for the first time, both bagged the bronze medal in their respective divisions.

Paula Isabel de la Llana-Nun-ag, Vice President of the PCA and National Director of the National Cheerleading Cham-pionship (NCC) said, “I would describe the Team Pilipinas per-formances in all three catego-ries to be exceptional and world

class,” and added, “The global cheerleading community really took notice. We showed them that the Philippines is a team to watch out for! “

Human Nature: Chang-ing the way of doing business (July 23)

Human Nature began with a cosmetics junkie, a radical Englishman, a harassed new mom and a newborn baby. The brainchild of Gawad Kalinga (GK) volunteers Anna Meloto-Wilk, Dylan Wilk and Camille Wilk, the idea stemmed from their desire to help uplift the Philippines and the Filipino people from poverty.

With research and hard work, Human Nature kicked off in the Philippines in 2008, offering only genuinely natural, affordable personal and home care products, Human Nature is 100 percent free of harmful chemicals.

Apart from that, Human Nature works closely with GK, a globally recognized movement that transforms slum areas into peaceful and productive com-munities.

The company supports GK communities by equipping them with resources and training to grow and harness the ingredi-ents used in their products.

Human Nature also partners with other social enterprises by providing them access to their own distribution channels, co-marketing and internal resourc-es. The company has become a mentor to these social enterpris-es, shortening the learning curve towards attaining scalability and sustainability.

Monstress: A story of the Filipino life in the Bay Area and the pursuit of the American dream (September 3)

Based on the short stories of Lysley Tenorio, Monstress went onstage at the American Conservatory Theater (ACT) last September. Adapted for the stage by Bay Area playwrights Philip Kan Gotanda and Sean

San Jose, Monstress is a fictional tale of contemporary Fil-Am life.

The two tales from the book showed a vibrant array of characters that strived for personal transformation, making the play wonderfully moving and distinctly theatrical.

The infamous headline-mak-ing eviction of Filipino residents from San Francisco’s Interna-tional Hotel in the 1970s sets the background for Gotanda’s stirring Remember the I-Ho-tel. The story illuminates the dangers of love that crosses forbidden territories.

San Jose’s retelling of the title story Monstress moves us from the streets of Manila to the Bay Area, where a B-movie director has been seduced by the opportunity to work with a shady American filmmaker. An evening of song and story about love and family, hope and indifference, triumph and failure, Monstress explores the resilience of a com-munity struggling to find a home in the ever-shifting sands of the American dream.

Project PEARLS: Giving hope and a bright future to the poor children in the Philippines (October 8)

In 2008, Melissa Villa and her daughter, Francesca (who are based in San Jose, California), started a humble project to help a deaf and mute childhood friend, who was living in the Manila’s slums. They helped her send her two children to school.

Two years later, Manila-based Belgian photojournalist Sidney Snoeck posted on Facebook a photo of a child worker in Ulingan who was coated with soot and dirt from head to toe. Located in Tondo, Manila, Ulingan—the Filipino word for

“charcoal factory”—is a small community in a reclaimed area of Manila’s North Harbor. The families living there worked to produce charcoal to sell and only earn a meager $2 a day. From there, Villa founded Project PEARLS (Peace, Education, Aspi-ration, Respect Love and Smiles) to protect and provide the basic human rights of the poorest of the poor children in the Philip-pines.

Today, Project PEARLS are now helping feed at least 300 children, as well as providing them with the education they need from pre-school to college.

8th San Francisco Fil-Am Jazz Festival: Celebrating the Fil-Am heritage in jazz music (October 15)

To celebrate their eighth year, the annual San Francisco Filipino-American Jazz Festival (SFFAJF) honored the life and music of Fil-Am jazz artist Lazaro “Lloyd” Pementil with a post-humous Lifetime Achievement Award.

Pementil left the Philip-pines at the age of 17 to work in the sugarcane plantations in Hawaii, then came to the mainland and settled in Salinas as a field laborer. A self-taught musician, he and his four-piece band learned songs by going to cafes and places with juke boxes, using their own money to feed the machines until they learned a particular song.

SFFAJF have been work-ing hard to keep the history of Fil-Am Jazz alive, and consis-tently presented world-class artists at the best venues in San Francisco/Bay Area, which have traditionally excluded people of color due to racism or some other reason.

Jenny Bawer Young (right) and her daughter, Jacoby.

One of Chef Yana Gilbuenaʼs food offerings from The SALO Project.

From “Monstress:” Philip Kan Gotanda, Lysley Tenorio and Sean San Jose.

Pilipinas All-Girl Human Natureʼs Care Lab staff Vivian Zalvidea Araullo with the children at West Bay

SF3entertainmentThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE – January 1, 2016

BY MONET LU

Announcement of Miss Universe 2015: The ‘most beautiful’

mistake ever made in history

Gossip blogger Perez Hilton says Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach deserves to win the title. Photo from Perez Hiltonʼs Twitter account

I WAS about to step out of the auditorium disappoint-ed—once again—when sud-denly I heard louder cheers; I turned around and saw the host, Steve Harvey onstage and Miss Colombia just standing there. I wondered, ‘Isn’t she supposed to take her first walk as Miss Uni-verse?’ Then Harvey confessed about what seemed to be the most wonderful ‘mistake’ that will change the course of the ‘universe.’

Last December 20, the Miss Universe 2015 Beauty Pageant held at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas scored yet another unforget-table moment in the pageant history—and perhaps in the hosting arena—when Steve Harvey announced the winner, only to take it back five minutes after. Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez was initially crowned as Miss Universe 2015 but by some twist of epic-failure made by the host, the crown was taken off her head and was put on the head of its rightful bearer – our very own – Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach. I was there watching it all unfold right before my eyes. It was like watching a docu-mentary slash prank show slash Telenovela! The surrealism is just unexplainable.

A few months before the unimaginable happened, I was preparing to leave for Vegas to watch the pageant. I didn’t want to keep my hopes up because I have not gotten over Janine Tugonon’s placing 1st Runner-Up in Miss Universe 2012; I was confident that she was going to bring home that crown – only, it didn’t happen. So here I am three years after, and sworn never to expect anything at all. When I got to the hotel, I was touched by the support of fellow Filipinos who flew all the way there to cheer for our lovely can-

didate. The men were all wear-ing barong Tagalogs while the women slipped into their most fashionable Filipiniana. So much love and patriotism, I thought.

The competition started with the usual parade of beau-ties in their national costume. All the women were stunning and very confident. But the one thing that stood out like the rest of the candidates, is the loudest cheer you will ever hear from the Filipino supporters. As most foreigners described it, it did seem like we (Filipinos) brought the whole country there. Pinoys were waving Philippine flags and screaming their lungs off whenever Miss Wurtzbach’s about to strut her stuff. It was so moving. It is very evident that most Filipinos, regardless of gender, still go gaga over the Miss Universe pageant. As I call it in one of my past columns, this is the “Superbowl” of countless Filipinos worldwide.

As I watched Ms. Wurtzbach beam with pride as she intro-duced herself, I affirmed her place in the top 15. I was sure she would make it. It was later confirmed through the pre-judging results that she indeed made it to top 15. Then came the swimsuit round. Slowly but surely I started breaking my vow of not expecting anything as I confidently told myself that this lady is definitely going to be on the top 10, and she actually did. I was so excited and have moved on from the disappointment I felt 2 years ago. When it came down to the top 5 where the ladies were asked their individual questions, I was holding on to my seat like a passenger on a fast-and-the-furious-race car. In the same breath, our Kababay-ans too were all praying and hoping that Ms. Philippines would give a good answer. Then

the question was asked. I held my breath as I listened intently to Ms. Wurtzbach’s answer to the question of US military presence in the Philippines. To which the brilliant half-Filipino, half-German beauty concluded with, “…we are very welcoming with the Americans and I see no problem with that at all.”

That was it. All it took was a wise answer and I knew, we (Ms. Philippines) are going to be on the Final 3. Not very long after that, the final question was asked to each of the candidates. Ms. Philippines’ answer was by far the most honest, precise and straightforward. I was so sure we are going to take home the crown.

We all know that the mo-ments that followed the last Q&A portion were the most intense; yet at the end of it all, beauty, grace and humility resigned. Ms. Pia Alonzo Wurtz-

bach was crowned Miss Universe 2015.

I want to congratulate Ms. Pia Wurtzbach’s Mentor, Jonas Gaffud. And To Aces and Queens, More power and be encouraged.

To the new Miss Universe who has both beauty and brains, Ms. Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach: Mabuhay Ka! You are indeed ‘confidently beautiful with a heart.’

Gloria, Margie didn’t train for Miss U

as hard as Pia didWE can’t have enough of Pia

Alonzo Wurtzbach, can we?We gobble up with gusto

every morsel of every story about Pia, don’t we?

We want to know every little part of Pia’s life as much as we can, can’t we?

Now, did you know that Pia is far different from Gloria Diaz (1969) and Margie Moran (1973)?

Pia dreamed of becoming a beauty queen since she was a kid. Recalled her mom Cheryl Alonzo in a TV interview, Pia would wear mom Cheryl’s high heels and sashay like a, well, beauty queen while she would ask Pia, “What is the essence of being a woman?” (the decid-ing question that helped clinch the title for India’s Sushmita Sen when the Miss Universe pageant was held here the second time in 1994, after the first in 1974).

“I never thought of myself as a beauty queen,” Gloria told Fun-fare. “I don’t even NOW imagine myself being that!!!”

“No, I didn’t,” replied Mar-gie. “I joined (the Bb. Pilipinas pageant) because Auggie Cordero convinced me.” (Auggie

by RICKY LO Philstar

designed the gown Margie wore when she was crowned Miss U in Athens.)

Shown on TV a few days ago was Pia during her rigorous training for the Miss Universe pageant in Las Vegas, stretching every part of her body, pumping iron, bending and sitting up, run-ning on treadmill, eating healthy, reviewing the Q&A segments of previous Bb. Pilipinas pageants in which she finished runner-up and semi-finalist, never giving up, and generally adopting a posi-tive attitude and psyching herself walking on stage with the Miss U crown perched on her head.

“During my time,” added Gloria, “there was no training, no plastic surgery. With Bob Barker as host, the pageant went like clockwork. No voting by the audience, just a simple ‘you win or you lose’ by the judges. No country participation.”

“During my time,” recalled Margie, “we had no training. I was a model and I danced on stage at CCP and Meralco Theater so I knew how to walk and to project. I worked out and got a tan before I left for Athens. I read a lot and made sure that

The countryʼs three Misses Universe in their fabulous gowns, from left: Pia Wurtzbach (2015, by Albert Andrada), Margie Moran (1974, by Auggie Cordero) and Gloria Diaz (1969, by Pitoy Moreno).

Continued on Page SF4

SF4 celebrityworldThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - January 1, 2016

celebrity worldBy Ferdie Villar

First Lady Michelle Obama heads list of Januarybirthday celebrants

UNITED States First Lady Michelle Robinson Obama heads the list January birth-day celebrants. She will be celebrating her 52nd birthday on Sunday, January 17, with her husband, President Barack Obama and daughters Malia and Natasha.

Mrs. Obama is a lawyer and writer prior to becoming First Lady. Raised at the South Side of Chicago, she attended Princeton University and Har-vard Law School. She returned to Chicago and worked at Sidley Austin, where she met her husband. Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and for the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Throughout 2007 and 2008, she helped campaign for her husband’s presidential bid. She delivered a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention and also spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Other celebrities who will be celebrating their birthdays for the first month of the year are:

January1 - Daly City teenager Joseph Cabreraw ho will celebrate his lucky l6th birthday;

January 2 - Former Mrs. RP-USA Fely Casco;

January 4 - Kapuso Chan-nel actress K atrina Halili;

January 5 - Costco execu-tive Renato “Boyet” Bala;

January 6 - Tire-Pro owner Richard Tan;

January 7 - Megastar Sha-ron Cuneta-Pangilinan;

January 8 - Dancing queen of the Bay Area Lilly Smith;

January 10 - Movie pro-

First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama heads the list of prominent personalities who will be celebrating their birthdays for the first month of the year. Our lovely First Lady will turn 52 years old on Sunday, January 17.ducer Jessie Ejercito;

January 12 - ASAP co-host and actor Piolo Pascual, A, comedian Bentong, Kapamilya actress Melissa Ricks, and box-ing champ Manny Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee Pacquiao;

January 14 - San Rafael’s singing diva Malou Hajian;

January 15 - Kapamilya ac-tress and singer Toni Gonzaga, actor Jestoni Alarcon and South San Francisco business executive JR Garvida;

January 17 - Los Angeles-based Filipina actress Hilda Koronel;

January 20 - San Mateo Harbor District Commissioner

Robert Bernardo;January 24 - Club Royale

grand dame Jet Viray Navarro;January 25 - the late former

Presiden Corazon Aquino, beauty guru Dr. Vicki Belo, former Jukebox Queen Imelda Papin, and actor Richard Guti-errez;

January 29 - Hotel execu-tive Flordelis L. Mayapis, and South San Francisco commu-nity leader Ressie Espiritu;

January 31 - Singer-actress Jessa Zaragosa.

Happy birthday to all Janu-ary celebrants, and my loyal readers, a Happy and Prosper-ous New Year!

TV game show host and comedian Willie Revillame will celebrate his 58th birthday on Wednesday, January 27. Willie is shown with beauty impresario Ferdie Villar during his last visit here in the Bay Area.

Ballroom dancing queen in the Bay Area Lilly Smith will celebrate her birthday on Friday, January 8.

Beauty guru Dr. Vicki Belo will celebrate her birthday on Monday, January 25.

Megastar Sharon Cuneta-Pangilinan will celebrate her birthday on Thursday, January 7.

Club Royale grand dame Jet Viray Navarro will celebrate her birthday on Sunday, Janu-ary 24.

Former President of South San Francisco Golden Gate Lions Club Pressy M. Yusi will celebrate her birthday on Monday, January 11.

New Yearʼs Day birthday celebrant Joseph Cabrera turns 16. He is the only son of SamTrans executive Manny and Joy Cabrera of Daly City.

San Mateo Harbor District Commissioner Robert Bernardo will celebrate his birthday on Wednesday, January 20.

Hotel executive and Daly City community leader Flordelis L. Mayapis will celebrate her birthday on Friday, January 29.

I was aware of current events. It was more simple then.”

Now in New York which will be her home during her year-long reign, Pia has appealed to “those fighting about this” (referring to the post-pageant brouhaha): “Please let’s all stop now.” In short, come on guys, move on!

“I am very happy about Pia’s Miss Universe win,” said Madame Stella Marquez-Araneta, head of the Bb. Pilipinas Charities, Inc. (BPCI), who won the first Miss International crown for her home country (Colombia). “It is a well-deserved crown! All the hard work in her training at BPCI paid off. She did consistently well in the pre-pageant activities and impressed everyone with her excellent performance during the coronation night. Our heartfelt thanks go out to those who

Gloria, Margie didn’t train...From Page SF3

supported Pia in her journey. Congratulations!”

Here’s what Paula Shugart, president of Miss Universe Organization (MUO), said: “The past Sunday night, human error caused an unfortunate incident that is now being talked about around the world. My heart broke, not only for Ariadna Gutierrez (Miss Colombia, first runner-up) but for Pia and all the young women who worked so hard to be on that stage that night.

“However, knowing Pia’s sole desire was to ensure Ariadna was okay and witnessing Ariadna’s grace right after the show and ever since, knowing that destiny has other great things in store for her, only reinforced my faith in the incredible women we have the privilege of working with at the Miss Universe Organization. My sincere congratulations to Pia

and Ariadna, both for a job well done. And to our reigning Miss USA, Olivia Jordan, thank you for your kindness and support these past few days. You continue to make us proud.”

Now, this trivia (reported by Funfare’s “other beauty expert Celso de Guzman Caparas): Pia’s roommate, Myanmar’s May Thaw, visited Pia at her suite (where she was trans-ferred after she won) to bid her goodbye before she flew back to Myanmar. Revealed Pia, “I gave her my last pearl earrings to keep and remember me. I’m so thankful to have met so many amazing women during this journey.”

Meanwhile, Celso has filed a report on the country’s 2015 golden harvest in world/uni-verse/global pageants. The win-ners and runners-up are pictured on this page.

entertainment SF5The Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - January 1, 2016

Amid MMFF ‘scandal,’ Erik Matti tells filmgoers: You deserve better

by CHUCK SMITH Philstar

MANILA—Thank you for the free publicity.

Thus said Erik Matti of Honor Thy Father after he won the Best Director award at the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) Gabi ng Parangal at the Kia The-ater in Quezon City on Sunday, Dec. 27.

It can be remembered that Honor Thy Father was dis-qualified from the Best Picture category of the MMFF due to its inclusion in the 2015 Cin-ema One Originals as the film festival’s opening film.

The issue has made a buzz on social media. Netizens tagged the issue as the (hashtag) “MMFF2015scandal” on Twitter and other social networking sites.

Matti did not attend the MMFF awards night; Shiel Calde of Honor Thy Father producer Reality Entertain-ment accepted the award and gave the acceptance speech in behalf of the director.

Read Matti’s acceptance speech for the Best Director award below:

Kahit kalian po, hindi ako gumawa ng pelikula para magka-award. At kung may mga reklamo man ako sa MMFF, hindi ‘yun tungkol sa pagdisqualify n’yo sa ‘Honor Thy Father’ from the Best Pic-ture category… Mas malalim kaysa d’yan ang disappoint-ment ko sa MMFF—mula sa pagpili n’yo ng sineng isasali hanggang sa pagkunsinti n’yo sa masahol na trato ng mga sinehan sa ibang pelikula, lalo na sa mga maliliit na produc-

ers. Para sa isang die-hard movie fan na gaya ko, hindi ko na halos makilala ang film festival na lagi kong hinangaan at nirespeto.

Maraming salamat po sa libreng publicity at, higit lahat, para buksan ang pinto para pagusapan na sa wakas ng filmmakers, lalo na ng filmgo-ers, ang mga hinangad nilang pagbabago para sa MMFF.

Para naman sa mga Pilipi-nong hindi pa rin nagsasawang manood ng mga pelikulang ginagawa namin dito, salamat po sa inyo. You deserve better. Kaya tulungan n’yo naman po kami. Demand for better films. Demand for more choices in the cinemas. Kaya pa nating baguhin ito. Hindi ako titigil hangga’t di kayo tumitigil.

His speech also references the yearly problem in the MMFF of cinemas pulling out entries a few days into the fes-tival due to poor performance

John Lloyd Cruz with director Erik Matti (left) and Reality Entertainment co-producer Dondon Monteverde (right) on the set of “Honor Thy Father.”

in the box office.Other filmmakers who are

part of the 2015 MMFF also expressed their disappoint-ment over the disqualification of Honor Thy Father and the decision of cinemas to pull out entries that are not performing well in the box office.

“Panoorin po natin lahat ng pelikulang Pilipino na kasal sa MMFF, especially ang Honor Thy Father. Napanood ko po siya, I highly recommend it,” Walang Forever director Dan Villegas said during his accep-tance speech for his Best Story award (which he won with Antoinette Jadaone).

Joji Alonso of Quantum Films, the producer of Walang Forever, said when her movie own Best Picture: “This should be a very joyous moment, but I’m not that happy. I only wish that Honor Thy Father was also part of this category, and I mean that with all sincerity.”

Dingdong, Marian, baby Letizia in first family photo

ACTOR Dingdong Dantes on Thursday, Dec. 25 posted a photo of himself with wife Marian Rivera and their one-month-old daughter Maria Letizia in their first portrait as a family.

The celebrity couple are celebrating their first Christ-mas with their daughter who recently made headlines for “winning the genetic lottery.”

“This Christmas, we offer you our warmest wishes as we glorify the birth of the Child who came and filled the world with a love so true,” the actor said on his Instagram account.

“May the love of the Fa-ther, personified through His son, embrace you and fill your hearts and homes this holiday season. #MariaLetizia”

The couple celebrated the first month of Maria Letizia’s birth on Wednesday, sharing photos of the baby on their respective Instagram ac-counts. Maria Letizia was born on Nov. 23. (Inquirer.net)

‘Walang Forever’ runaway winner at 41st MMFF

MANILA—Walang Forever, a romantic comedy starring Jenny-lyn Mercado and Jericho Rosales, was the runaway winner at the 41st Metro Manila Film Festival awards ceremony at the Kia Theater, Quezon City on Sunday, Dec. 27.

Walang Forever took the Best Picture, Best Story, and Best Screenplay awards as well as the FPJ Memorial Award for Excel-lence.

Rosales was named Best Actor, while Mercado was Best Actress for their performances in Walang Forever. Buy Now, Die Later bagged the Second Best Picture award while My Bebe Love was Third Best Picture.

The Best Supporting Actress award went to phenomenal star Maine Mendoza (My Bebe Love) while the Best Supporting Actor was given to Tirso Cruz III (Honor Thy Father).

Krystel Brimner (Honor Thy Father) got the Best Child Per-former award.

Erik Matti (Honor Thy Father) was named Best Director.

My Bebe Love also bagged the Gatpuno Villegas Award.

Other awards/winners were Best Story, Dan Villegas and Antoinette Jadaone, Walang Forever; Best Editing, Nilalang; Best Cinematography, Nilalang; Best Festival Float, Buy Now Die Later;

Best Festival Sound Award, Ditoy Aguila, Nilalang; Best Musical Score, Jessie Lasaten, Nilalang; Best Original Theme Song, Tao by Armi Millare, Honor Thy Father; Best Festival Visual Effects, Nilalang;

Best in Makeup, Honor Thy Father; and Best Festival Produc-tion Design, Buy Now, Die Later.

Mercado was named Female Celebrity of the Night, while Ce-sar Montano was Male Celebrity of the Night.

The event was hosted by KC Concepcion and Richard Guiter-rez. (Philstar.com)

Jericho Rosales was named Best Actor, while Jennylyn Mercado was Best Actress for their performances in “Walang Forever.”

Vic Sotto in high spiritsVIC Sotto is ending this year,

and welcoming the next one, in high spirits.

While he’s busy promoting his entry in this year’s Metro Ma-nila Film Festival, the romantic comedy movie, My Bebe Love: #KiligPaMore, Vic’s fiancée, Pauleen Luna, has been taking charge of preparations for their wedding in January next year.

And amid this outpouring of blessings, the actor-television host couldn’t be more grateful. “God is good. Things have been going well, not just for me, but for everyone in my life—my fam-ily, friends. I think when you do good things, they come back to you tenfold,” he told a group of reporters at a press conference.

After four years of dating, Vic confirmed last September that he and Pauleen were finally engaged. Settling down, Vic pointed out, was just a matter of right timing.

Right woman, moment“I found the right woman

at the right time, at the right moment,” said the Kapuso star, who holds the same mind-set when it comes to having a baby.

by ALLAN POLICARPIOInquirer

“In God’s time. We’ll just wait for that. If we’re blessed with that, we’ll be thankful.”

The couple related that they prefer to keep the ceremony private and intimate. Asked for additional details about the wedding, Vic urged show biz observes to stay tuned to Eat Bulaga! “You’ll find out all about it there,” he said.

After the wedding, Vic and Pauleen plan to go on a short vacation. “Then, it’s back to the grind. Anyway, araw-araw na-man dapat honeymoon!” the

61-year-old quipped, break-ing into a cheeky smile.

Pauleen will likewise resume her work, added Vic, saying that he wouldn’t stop his soon-to-be wife from doing what she wants. “Show biz is in her blood. Maybe she’ll work less should her priorities change, but it’s re-ally all up to her,” Vic said.

Meanwhile, he has ex-pressed “all-out” support for Vico—his son with Coney Reyes—who’s running for coun-cilor in Pasig City’s first district.

“He has always wanted to do public service and work for the government since he was young. And Vico thinks now’s

the right time,” Vic said of his child, who works for the Ateneo School of Government. “He’s very passionate and sincere. We’re all for him.”

As for his film, which many predict to top the box office, Vic said he’s not pressured—he doesn’t want to think about it. “But I’m optimistic that movie-goers will like it,” he said.

Vic wants coming wedding ceremony private and intimate.

Dingdong Dantes, Marian Rivera and Maria Letizia

The Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - January 1, 2016SF6

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