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DATELINEUSAFROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA

Volume 25 - No. 76 • 3 Sections - 20 Pages

September 30-October 2, 2015

ACCORDING to a new report by the Pew Research Center, Asians are on track to become the largest population of immigrants in the United States.

The study released on Monday, Sept. 28 also mentioned that the share of new Hispanic arrivals is smaller than it was 50 years ago, and that the percentage of the whole US immigrant population

was higher in 1890 than it is today.By 2065, Pew projects that there will

be 441 million people living in the US, and 88 percent of that growth will be attributed to future immigrants and their children. Asians are expected to outnumber Hispanics, making up 38 percent of all immigrants.

The nearly 130-page document--enti-tled “Modern Immigration Wave Brings 59 Million to US, Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065”--

provides “nonpartisan analysis that ex-plores trends and projects the future,” and comes 50 years after the 1965 Im-migration and Nationality Act, CNN reported. The act took away a quota system that once favored European im-migrants, and replaced it with a policy that looked toward reuniting immigrant families and providing necessary em-ployees.

Since the act’s passage, about 51 per-cent of immigrants have come to the US

from Latin America, and a quarter of new immigrants have come from Asia.

The US currently holds the largest im-migrant population in the world--today, about 14 percent of the nation’s popula-tion are immigrants, but that number is expected to rise to at least 18 percent, Pew Research Center projected.

Of the current largest immigrant groups, Hispanics made up 4 percent of the total U.S. population in 1965. To-day, they make up 18 percent, and by

2065, that figure is projected to be 24 percent. Asians, meanwhile, were less than 1 percent of the total population 50 years ago--today, their numbers went up to 6 percent in 2015, and they are expected to meet 14 percent by 2065.

Earlier data from the Migrant Policy Institute revealed Asians have one of the highest naturalization rates in the country. While only 47 percent of all immigrants in the country are natural-

MANILA – The Philippines may not recover in 2022 if the president who will not continue “Daang Matuwid” will win next year’s polls, President Benig-no Aquino III said Monday, Sept. 28

Speaking at the national as-sembly of the Liga ng mga Ba-rangay sa Pilipinas, Aquino reminded community leaders

Aquino: PH may not recover in 2022 if wrong president wins in 2016

that the country’s achievements under his watch will be at risk if the administration’s “Daang Ma-tuwid” platform will be discon-tinued.

“Idiin ko lang: Sa susunod na eleksiyon, di lang anim na taon ang nakataya, kundi ang mis-mong buhay at kinabukasan ng bawat Pilipino,” Aquino said.

“Kung lilihis nga po tayo sa tu-wid at talagang subok sa 2016, walang nakakatiyak na makak-abawi pa tayo pagdating ng

2022,” he added.Aquino took the opportunity

to urge the country’s barangay leaders to support his preferred successor, presidential aspirant Manuel Roxas II.

He said community leaders should not be partisan politicians but they must back the one who will continue the administration’s reforms.

“Ang akin po: Dapat tumulong kayo sa talakayan; himukin ninyo

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IN holding that Sen. Grace Poe is merely a naturalized and not a natural-born Filipino, Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Anto-nio Carpio is just being consistent with his dis-senting opinion in the 2004 case against Poe’s adoptive father, Fernan-do Poe Jr. (FPJ), whose citizenship was ques-tioned after he decided to seek the presidency.

In 2004 case, Carpio ruled that Fernando Poe Jr. was not Filipino

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) will not extend the registration and biometric validation of new and old voters.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista on Monday, Sept. 28 said the poll body can no longer afford any delay in its preparations for the 2016 national and lo-cal elections.

The poll body set October 31 as the last day for voters to file applications for registration, transfer of registration and validation, among others. It is also the last day for overseas voters to file their application for registration/certification, transfer of registration records from one post to another post, transfer from one residence to another within the same post and county, and to request for a change of address.

The Comelec has tapped the support of malls in

Comelec will not extend voters’ registration

MANILA – The Philippines’ maritime police is better than any other maritime institution in the region, although the country has greater challenges since it is an archipelago, a top US official said.

State Assistant Secretary William Brown-field, head of the US Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), said the Philip-pines, through the Philippine National Police-Maritime Group, could do with more boats, vessels and even aircraft to protect national patrimony.

“My own view is the PNP and its Maritime

US envoy: PH maritime law enforcement best in region

by WILLIAM B. DEPASUPILManilaTimes.net

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by LOUIS BACANIPhilstar.com

by ALLYSON ESCOBARAJPress

by JEROME ANINGInquirer.net

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Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson on the upcoming NBA season and representing Filipino fans

by AGNES CONSTANTEAJPress

WITH the start of the 2015-2016 NBA season less than a month away, Los Angeles Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson is hoping “great things will happen” and anticipates the team will mesh well together.

“We got a lot of guys that want to learn and want to have a good season. We pretty strong.... Last year wasn’t fun, losing all those games, but at the same time we did learn a lot and we worked, we kept improving and that’s all we can ask for...” he told report-ers during Lakers Media Day on Monday, Sept. 28.

The Fil-Am basketball player, who is entering is second year in the league, is looking to work hard and “put it all on the line” when the regular season begins on Oct. 27. Over the summer, he worked on honing his skills over-all and told reporters his three-point shots, among others, are easier to make.

“I was in there in the workshop [this summer] chopping my game down and working it back up and trying to build a lot of confidence for the season,” he said.

In his rookie year, Clarkson av-eraged 11.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 0.86 steals and 0.20 blocks in 59 games. He was also

OVER the weekend, Pope Francis made a fi-nal stop during his historic six-day US visit to Philadelphia, to continue spreading his mes-sage of hope to diverse audiences, including immigrants, prison inmates, victims of sexual abuse, and Christian families from around the world.

Pope Francis arrived in Philadelphia on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 26, to celebrate a Holy Mass with the bishops and clergymen and women religious of Pennsylvania. The mass was held at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the mother church of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.

“What about you?” the pope asked, speak-ing in his native Spanish to priests, deacons,

Pope Francis o�ers words of healing and peace before departing the US

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FROM THE FRONT PAGE

ized, the number for Asian immi-grants is considerably higher, at 59 percent.

Breaking it down by Asian sub-groups, data found that Vietnam-ese and Taiwanese immigrants have the highest naturalization rates at 76 percent and 74 per-cent, respectively. Data reveals 59 percent of Koreans, 51 per-cent of Chinese, 47 percent of In-dians, and 68 percent of Filipinos are naturalized.

As of 2013, 1.26 million Filipi-nos are US naturalized citizens; 43,489 of whom were natural-ized that year. Today, the total Asian population in the United States amounts to over 18 million — nearly 18 times more than 1.5 million in 1970.

Though Hispanics make up 47 percent of US immigrants, im-migration from Latin American countries has generally slowed, especially from Mexico.

“A steep decline began in 2007, in part because of the Great Recession,” Mark Lopez, director of Hispanic research for Pew, explained. “It became more difficult to cross the border and to demographic changes in Mexico with fewer young people wanting to head north.”

Lopez, who oversaw this study, says the steady rise of Asian im-migrants has “bubbled up” over

the past decade, noting Chinese citizens who’ve flocked to the United States for educational op-portunities like graduate school. He also mentioned the great in-flux of Indians arriving on visas to work in high tech, taking jobs in Silicon Valley.

Of newer immigrants from the past five years, more have come from Asia (2.5 million) than from Central and South America (1.7 million).

According to Pew, the US will no longer have a “majority group” within four decades. By 2065, Hispanics are expected to make up 31 percent of immi-grants, the study predicts. Asians will later outnumber Hispanics to make up 38 percent of immi-grants.

“On one hand, US citizenship offers more security than let’s say, permanent resident status, which can be lost or revoked in some instances. In addition, to

having the right to vote and hav-ing the ability to run for political office, US citizens can sponsor a wider range of family mem-bers — they can bring children, spouses and parents quicker than what’s allowed for the lawful per-manent residents,” commented Jeanne Batalova, a senior policy researcher at the Migration Pol-icy Institute.

Becoming a citizen is “a very important step for the Asian American community because it allows them to become more integrated in America,” said Jan-nette Diep, executive director of Boat People SOS-Houston, in a press call back in June. “This integration allows the AAPI com-munity to become more visible in US cities, increasingly getting elected to public office. Some immigrants never thought they would become a US citizen and have the right to vote in their life-times.” ■

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Carpio, head of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), was one of the five justices who declared that FPJ was not only not a natu-ral-born Philippine citizen but also not a Filipino, since he was an illegitimate child of his father, movie actor Fernando Poe Sr. (Allan F. Poe in real life), and his American mother, Bessie Kelley.

Being an illegitimate child, FPJ took the citizenship of his moth-er, Carpio said.

Burden of proofCarpio’s dissenting opinion

also stated that the burden of proof of proving citizenship was vested in any person who would claim to be a citizen of the Philip-pines and that any doubt regard-ing citizenship must be resolved against that person.

“Any person who claims to be a citizen of the Philippines has the burden of proving his Philip-pine citizenship. Any person who claims to be qualified to run for President because he is, among others, a natural-born Philippine citizen, has the burden of prov-ing he is a natural-born citizen. Any doubt whether or not he is natural-born citizen is resolved against him. The constitutional requirement of a natural-born citizen, being an express qualifi-cation for election as President,

must be complied with strictly,” Carpio said.

Voting 8-5, the Supreme Court threw out the challenge to FPJ’s citizenship in March 2004.

Those who voted in favor of FPJ were then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and Associate Justices Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez, Ali-cia Austria-Martinez, Consuelo Yñares-Santiago, Romeo Callejo Sr., Adolf Azcuna, Reynato Puno and Jose Vitug.

Voting with Carpio against FPJ were then Associate Justices Conchita Carpio Morales (now the Ombudsman), Leonardo Quisumbing, Renato Corona and Dante Tiñga.

The majority decision, written by Vitug, said that while FPJ was born out of wedlock to Kelley and Poe Sr., Poe Sr.’s father, Spanish subject Lorenzo Pou, did not de-clare allegiance to Spain and he benefited from “en masse Fili-pinization” when the Philippine Bill of 1902 took effect.

Proof of filiationThe decision was heavily in-

fluenced by the legal opinions of four amici curiae, or friends of the court, who all said that in establishing citizenship, the Con-stitution did not distinguish be-tween a legitimate or illegitimate child as long as there was proof of filiation.

Carpio, in his dissent, said FPJ was not a natural-born Philippine citizen “since there is no show-ing that his alleged Filipino fa-ther [Poe Sr.] acknowledged him at birth.”

“The Constitution defines a nat-ural-born citizen as a Philippine citizen from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect his Philippine citizenship. Private respondent FPJ does not meet this citizenship qualifica-tion,” Carpio said.

The court, however, recog-nized as proof of FPJ’s filiation a declaration by his maternal aunt, Ruby Kelley Mangahas, that his father recognized him as his own son.

Carpio has drawn flak for stat-ing during oral arguments on a petition for the ouster of Senator Poe on Sept. 21 that she was a naturalized Filipino and not a natural-born Filipino unless she could prove blood relations to Filipino parents.

Critics of Carpio, among them Rep. Silvestre Bello III, urged him to inhibit himself from the case for prejudging it and because of his association with Avelino “Nonong” Cruz, a lawyer for the administration standard-bearer, Mar Roxas.

Carpio and Cruz cofounded

In 2004 case, Carpio ruled that Fernando Poe…t

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the first-ever Lakers player to be named the Kia NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month, an award he received in April for games he played in March this year.

Clarkson on GilasIn addition to representing the

Los Angeles team, Clarkson was in talks earlier this year to play for Gilas Pilipinas in the ongo-ing FIBA Asia Championship, for which he was cleared to play. However, due to scheduling con-flicts with Lakers training camp, which began Monday, he did not make the Philippine roster.

Although Gilas lost to Palestine on the opening day of the cham-pionship on Sept. 23, it has se-cured the top seed after sweep-ing the second round of the tournament, claiming its most recent victory Tuesday, Sept. 29, against India. On Thursday, Oct. 1, Gilas will face Lebanon in the final round.

“Just keep continuing to put it all on the line,” he said in a message to the Philippine team. “Keep continuing to play and good things are going to happen, keep continuing to win. That’s all anybody can ask for, but most importantly, keep representing the flag and keep playing.”

He also said he hopes Gilas makes it to Rio.

On visiting the Philippines & Filipino fans

Clarkson, the only current Filipino-American player in the NBA, has expressed pride in his Filipino roots. In May, he visited

Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson…t

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LUNSOD NG BELLFLOWERPAUNAWA NG PAMPUBLIKONG PAGDINIG

ANG PAUNAWA AY IBINIBIGAY SA PAMAMAGITAN NITO

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SEAFOOD CITY AD2

sa diskurso’t debate ang inyong mga kasamahan at tanungin: Sino nga ba ang nararapat na mamuno sa bansa pagdating ng taong 2016?” Aquino said.

“Di ko na ho kailangang sabi-hin sa inyo kung sino ang kandi-datong papanigan ko. Ang boto ko, doon sa siguradong itutuloy ang Daang Matuwid,” he added.

Last July, Aquino formally en-dorsed Roxas as the Liberal Par-ty’s standard bearer.

Roxas is expected to identify his running mate on Wednes-day along with the members of the Liberal Party’s senatorial ticket. ■

Aquino: PH…t

setting up satellite registration booths to make it easier for vot-ers to submit to biometric proce-dure. The poll body also imple-mented satellite registration in various barangays and opened priority lanes as well for senior citizens, persons with disability and pregnant women.

As of October 2013, there were 54.051 million registered vot-ers but this was whittled down to 49.5 million in July 2014 as a result of the deactivation and del-

isting of 6,300,935 voters.But Bautista said this figure

could go up to 55 million after the October 31 deadline.

The Comelec said around 4.3 million registered voters have yet to have their biometrics taken.

Biometric proceedings require the taking of a digital photograph, signature, and fingerprints of ev-ery voter, an added election safe-guard aimed at eliminating flying voters, among other forms of vot-ing frauds. ■

Comelec will not extend…t

Group are in fact as good as or better than any other maritime police institution in this region in conducting that mission. Could they benefit with more resourc-es? Yes, they could. Would they have to get more boats? Yes, they would. Are we prepared to work with them in that area? Yes,” Brownfield told reporters.

Brownfield was with the com-mandant of the US Coast Guard, Admiral Paul Zukunft, when they met with PNP chief Director General Ricardo Marquez and other top police officials at Camp

US envoy: PH maritime law enforcement…Crame recently.

Brownfield’s office is tasked with combating international crime and illegal drugs and their impact on the United States, by providing effective foreign assis-tance and fostering cooperation to counter the threats.

INL currently manages $20 million in foreign assistance to the Philippines, with plans to continue providing more than $8 million in assistance annually.

The assistance has had sig-nificant impact on expanding the capabilities of Philippine partner agencies across the criminal jus-

tice spectrum.Brownfield noted that the Phil-

ippines “is a nation of 7,100 is-lands, and obviously, that most of its territories are in fact maritime as supposed to land, I believe that the law enforcement challenges can be divided into a number of categories, some of them related to those protecting the national patrimony, whether it is fish or whether it is coral reefs or wheth-er mineral wealth located in the national waters, protecting them from criminals who would steal those assets.” (Cecille Suerte Fe-lipe/Philstar.com)

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The Firm, a controversial law firm now known as CVCLAW Vil-laraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco, which in 2001 backed then Presi-dent Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and again in her presidential bid in 2004.

Constitution violatedOn Monday, Sept. 28 a former

social welfare undersecretary and former alternate chair of the Inter-Country Adoption Board, Luwalhati “Lulu” Pablo, said Carpio’s statement that found-lings could not be considered natural-born Filipinos violated the Constitution.

“[Being a] social worker by profession, and a child rights ad-vocate by vocation, it pains me to hear that we are now threatening to deny foundlings their rightful place in our society,” Pablo said in a statement.

“I am not a lawyer, nor am I a legal expert, but in my almost 50 years as a social worker, this is the first time that I have heard the Constitution being invoked to justify an injustice. Whatever happened to the basic social justice principle that ‘those who have less in life must have more in law’?” she said.

Pablo also said Carpio’s state-ment had grave implications on children’s rights.

“I have met these foundlings firsthand. They will be the last

ones to complain. It is up to us to speak for them. It is up to us to stand up and fight for the rights of children, especially the vulner-able ones and those born under especially difficult circumstanc-es, chief among them are the foundlings,” she said.

“I have worked with many law-yers, doctors, psychologists, psy-chiatrists, adoptive families and adoptive parents, adult adoptees, child-caring institutions, public and private orphanages, schools and universities. We have tried, at each turn, to uphold and ad-vance the rights of children,” she said.

Pablo said Senator Poe’s citi-zenship issue was also affecting the work of social workers and children’s rights advocates.

“I have seen some low blows during [elections], but this one is the unkindest cut of them all. I am not ready to throw away all the significant advancements in international law and in Philip-

In 2004 case, Carpio ruled that Fernando Poe…pine child protection laws. And I cannot understand how a patent discrimination against children can be justified on constitutional grounds,” Pablo said.

Social worker’s missionShe also had a message to

those who would indirectly at-tack children’s rights to jus-tify political ends: “The social worker’s mission is to create a society that will protect, nurture and give all the opportunities to all Filipino children, especially the foundlings. We have fought many battles in the halls of Con-gress and in the courts of law, but I have found that the most impor-tant struggles are those that we wage in the hearts and minds of our people.”

“Let us not lose sight of the lifelong struggles of abandoned children, as the way we treat our children may determine our fu-ture as a nation, and could very well define our spirit as Filipi-nos,” she said. ■

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the Philippines, an experience he spoke positively about. His mother, Annette Davis, is half-Filipino.

“Learning about my culture and being around those peo-ple.... It was a fun time for me and I really enjoyed it. Definitely being there with my country on my back is definitely something I want to do so hopefully we make that happen,” he told reporters.

While in the Philippines, Clark-son hosted an NBA Cares clinic with Trey Burke from the Utah Jazz and four-time NBA cham-pion Horace Grant.

As Clarkson’s Filipino fans fol-low him into the NBA season, he offered the following message to them: “I’m going to keep trying

to represent well and keep trying to put on for the country and the flag and try and do my best.”

Upcoming seasonWith reports that Kobe Bryant

could be retiring after this sea-son, Clarkson said it means a lot to be playing with the NBA vet-eran.

“We want to send him out on a good note so that’s what we hope to do,” Clarkson said.

And with a rough season for the team last year, the Fil-Am said he wants to help bring back the Lakers’ winning days, espe-cially because of the fans.

“We got the best fans in the league so they definitely make you want to put it all on the line when you’re out there playing. That’s what I’m trying to do,” he

said.Clarkson also said he and rook-

ie point guard D’Angelo Russell were able to build chemistry dur-ing the summer. The better off-court relationship makes it easy to bring that chemistry on game days, especially, he said, because it’s important that they are both able to communicate with each other easily.

“As a rookie, [we’re] both young guys and [we’re] both still learning.... Building that com-fortability with each other off the court is going to make it much easier to do it when we’re on the court,” he said.

The Lakers will play its first game of the season on Oct. 28 against the Minnesota Timber-wolves. ■

Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson on the…t

and consecrated religious men and women, to remind them of their mission of building up the church. “How many young peo-ple in our parishes and schools have the same high ideals, gen-erosity of spirit, and love for Christ and the Church! Do we challenge them? Do we make space for them and help them to do their part? Do we share our own joy and enthusiasm in serv-ing the Lord?”

He also called on the impor-tance of women in the modern church, citing the example of St. Katharine Drexel, an heiress from Philadelphia who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sac-rament, and used her wealth to support minority students in the early 1900s.

After the Mass and visit to St.

Charles Borromeo Seminary, Pope Francis greeted a crowd of thousands from the steps of Philadelphia’s historic Indepen-dence Mall, only a few feet from the building where the Declara-tion of Independence and Con-stitution were signed. Thousands gathered to catch a glimpse of the “Popemobile”-- a modest black Fiat 500--and chanted, “Francisco!” and “Viva Papa!”

In his remarks, the pontiff talk-ed about the importance of cul-tural heritage, also tying Ameri-ca’s historic founding to religious freedom, which he has been ad-vocating for throughout the trip. He championed religious diver-sity and “compassion for those in need,” Huffington Post and the News Journal reported.

“I ask you not to forget that, like those who came here before

you, you bring many gifts to your new nation. You should never be ashamed of your traditions,” Francis said. “I repeat, do not be ashamed of what is part of you, your lifeblood.”

Pope Francis’ pro-immigrant message has echoed throughout his tour, from his historic address to Congress last Thursday, Sept. 24 to the Mass of thousands cel-ebrated Friday night, Sept. 25 at Madison Square Garden in New York, reported the Los Angeles Times. He called for compassion and understanding towards im-migrants, calling on Americans to minister to the disadvantaged and forgotten in society.

“Many of you have emigrated to this country at great personal cost, but in the hope of building a new life. Do not be discour-aged by whatever challenges and hardships you face… you are called to be responsible citizens,

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Pope Francis o�ers words of…

SEAFOOD CITYADVERTORIAL

FPFC

JUST days after Pope Francis elevated Blessed Father Junipero Serra to sainthood, vandalism occurred at the Carmel Mission Basilica where the remains of the controversial Catholic missionary are buried.

At the cemetery and basilica in Carmel, California, there were toppled statues, splattered paint and damaged gravesites. Some-one scrawled “Saint of Geno-cide” on a headstone, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Carmel police Sgt. Luke Powell said the incident was being inves-tigated as a hate crime, because the vandals targeted “specifically the headstones of people of Eu-ropean descent, and not Native American descent.”

Other parts of the mission near Monterey Bay were also vandal-ized, including tombstones and other statues, CNN said.

Within hours of reports, vol-unteers came to help clean up the mess, picking up statues and scrubbing graffiti. Police have not named any suspects in the case.

Serra, an 18th century Francis-can friar who arrived to California in 1769 and later established the first nine missions, has been crit-icized for his “harsh treatment” of Native Americans. While sup-porters view him as a faithful apostle who brought Catholicism

Junipero Serra statue vandalized days after canonizationto the state, opponents believe he was a Spanish conquistador who oppressed native Indian popula-tions, according to The National Catholic Reporter.

Despite protests, Pope Francis canonized Serra at a ceremonial papal mass on Wednesday, Sept. 23 in Washington, D.C., during his historic first visit to the US. The pontiff said Serra “sought to defend the dignity of the native community,” and suggested that his legacy and treatment of the Natives was misinterpreted.

“Junipero Serra left his native land and its way of life,” Francis said in his homily during the can-onization Mass. “He was excited about blazing trails, going forth to meet many people, learning and valuing their particular cus-toms and ways of life.”

The Carmel Mission had planned an event on Sunday, Sept. 27 that celebrated Serra’s sainthood.

“Pray for the people [who] did take this responsibility for their actions on this sacred property, and that they seek reconcilia-tion,” a mission representative wrote on the Carmel Mission’s Facebook page. “Let us remem-ber that we live in a loving com-munity, and let us not be discour-aged by such things.”

“As St. Serra said, ‘Always look forward, never back’.”

Powell said investigators were reviewing surveillance video

to try to identify the vandal or vandals. He added that several security guards were stationed overnight at the mission, but the vandalism went undetected until 7am on Sunday.

“No one has claimed responsi-bility for this act,” Powell said.

This year, legislators attempted to replace a statue of Serra sit-ting in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington with a statue of Sally Ride, an astronaut and educator with a less contro-versial legacy.

Those who opposed the canon-ization argue that Serra did not uphold the dignity of the indig-enous populations living at the mission sites.

“We’re stunned and we’re in disbelief,” Valentin Lopez, 63, the chairman of the Amah Mut-sun Tribal Band in Monterey Bay, told CNN. “There was no Jesus Christ lifestyle at the mis-sions.”

Those present at the mission communities expressed their shock at the blatant vandalism at a historical California mission, open since 1793.

“When I came out for Mass this morning, I was disappointed, but it could have been much worse,” said Carmel Mission Basilica pas-tor Father Paul Murphy. “Being a saint doesn’t mean a person is perfect. We all have our flaws, we all have our defects, and so it was with Serra.” ■

by ALLYSON ESCOBARAJPress

and to contribute fruitfully to the life of the communities in which you live,” the pontiff said.

“He talks not like a pope, but like someone from my town, like a normal person,” Gerardo Flores, a Philadelphian and im-migrant from Mexico, told the Los Angeles Times. “His words are going to change the ideas of the politicians.”

Later, the pope concluded his first day in Philadelphia at the Vatican-sponsored Festival of Families, as part of the World Meeting of Families along Ben-jamin Franklin Parkway. The event included live performances from comedian Jim Gaffigan, the Philadelphia Orchestra, singer Aretha Franklin, Andrea Bocelli, and Juanes, according to the As-sociated Press.

Actor Mark Wahlberg wel-comed the pope before he led the crowd of over 20,000 people in prayer: “Holy Father, welcome to

who became Pope Benedict XVI.The pope spoke on the seri-

ous issue of sexual abuse in the church, saying that “God weeps for the sexual abuse of children,” and apologizing on behalf of the number of priests and religious persons involved in such scan-dals.

At the meeting, he also met with several victims to pray with them.

“Please know that the Holy Fa-ther hears you and believes you. I deeply regret that some bish-ops failed in their responsibil-ity to protect children. It is very disturbing to know that in some cases bishops were even abus-ers.”

Francis has created a Vatican tribunal to address the issue; also to prosecute clergy mem-bers and bishops who fail to pro-tect victims, the Washington Post reported.

Later in the day, he visited in-mates at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadel-phia, going row by row to greet prisoners with sincere smiles and, for some, heartfelt hugs.

“Life is a journey, along differ-ent roads, different paths, which leave their mark on us,” Fran-cis told 100 inmates at the site, which processes nearly 3,000 men a year. “All of us need to be cleaned, to be washed. [Jesus] invites us to share in his lot…to create new opportunities, for society as a whole. I encourage you to have this attitude with one another and with all those who in any way are part of this institu-tion. May you make possible new opportunities, new journeys, new paths.”

To end his visit, the Pope cele-brated his final mass to conclude the World Meeting of Families.

The outdoor 4 pm mass was held in front of the Philadelphia Mu-seum of Art, and included a 500-member papal choir.

In his homily, Francis encour-aged the thousands of families gathered from around the world with words of love: “Faith grows when it is practiced and it is shaped by love. That is why our families, our homes, are true do-mestic churches. These are the right place for faith to become life, and for faith to grow in life.”

At the Mass, he also announced the next World Meeting of Fami-lies to be held in Dublin, Ireland, in 2018. The global gathering of Catholics is held every three

t Philadelphia…the City of Broth-erly Love.”

Families are “a factory of hope,” Pope Francis addressed the crowd in Spanish, reported CNN. “In the family, indeed, there are difficulties. But those difficulties are overcome with love.”

“Hatred is not capable of deal-ing with any difficulty and over-coming any difficulty. Division of hearts cannot overcome any difficulty. Only love. Only love is able to overcome. Love is about celebration, love is joy, love is moving forward.”

Papal message of healing to victims, prisoners, and believ-ers

On his final day in the US, Sept. 27, Pope Francis had a packed schedule filled with visits, fare-well remarks, and a Holy Mass for the people.

He spoke to about 300 bish-ops and religious at the chapel at St. Charles Borromeo Semi-

years.Before departing by plane

back to Rome, the Holy Pontiff thanked the volunteers, bishops and priests, and US lawmak-ers including President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden for hosting and preparing for his historic visit.

“Please know that as I prepare to leave, I do so with a heart filled with gratitude and hope,” Pope Francis said, before his evening flight from Philadelphia Interna-tional Airport. “I will pray for you and your families, and I ask you, please, to pray for me. May God bless you all. God bless Ameri-ca!” (Allyson Escobar / AJPress)

nary, where he stayed overnight in Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The seminary was also visited by St. John Paul II in 1797, as well as Blessed Mother Teresa and then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,

Pope Francis o�ers words of…

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Thursday, October 1, 2015

FEATURESOPINION

THE Metro Manila urban area, accord-ing to a World Bank study, is one of the densest in the region. It is also becoming even denser.

Why does that mat-ter? Two things make that matter. It makes the quality of life for its inhabitants worse with every passing year. It also makes for unimaginable consequences, if a big calamity strikes.

I hate to be gruesome, but sometimes I think we need a big earthquake to give us the resolve to fix things, but that comes with a huge cost in lives. Indeed, a catastrophic tremor will likely seri-ously damage, if not bring down older structures.

Every time I fly in or out of Metro Manila, it is so clear from the air how despicably chaotic it is down there. No zoning or land use policies in effect and the congestion in its arteries of roads paint a picture of a city on the verge of paralysis.

What happened in Metro Manila is the result of poor governance through the years. Perhaps it all started after the city was pulverized by the Americans and the Japanese during WW 2. We were left to pick up the pieces and re-make our lives as creatively as we can amidst war debris.

The Liberation mentality never left us. Just look at the jeepney, the pub-lic transportation born out of necessity from Army surplus jeeps, it is still here 70 years after. What was makeshift or intended to be temporary became per-manent out of necessity and laziness on the part of leaders and people.

The last few weeks, our attention was focused on Metro Manila’s traffic jams. Of course, there is nothing really much we can do now for the short term be-yond fielding armed constabulary offi-cers to instill discipline among drivers.

But that’s more PR for an inept regime than anything else.

Even the long term solutions will likely not happen due to a combi-nation of lethargy and absence of strong po-litical will to make the tough decisions. There

is, for instance, no going around the need to reduce the metro area’s popu-lation density. It is just too dangerous to keep all those souls crowding in an area that’s prone to natural calamities.

I am glad that because the congestion problem is now more than an annoy-ance in our lives, there is open discus-sion of my favorite topic: how to govern the metro area. We cannot go on allow-ing those 17 mayors of Metro Manila cities to continue ruling their fiefdoms as their family businesses. We need a metro perspective.

The World Bank points out the Ma-nila urban area is notable not just for its size and density, but also for its ex-treme administrative fragmentation. Mindless growth and poor governance have aggravated urban blight and made it difficult to have more inclusive eco-nomic growth.

Yet, the World Bank points out, “ur-banization is a key process in ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.” But even as urban growth provides opportunities for the poor, the Bank warns, it can also aggravate ex-isting inequalities in access to services, employment, and housing.

This is why better regional planning is a must. “Spatial planning can help reduce inequality in access to urban opportunities and amenities. The pat-tern of urban form is one of many fac-tors that affect the ability of the urban poor to access economic opportunities in their cities.

“Ensuring a spatial match between jobs, affordable retail, public transpor-

tation, health and education services, recreational areas, and affordable housing is one of the means of foster-ing such access. Risk-sensitive land use planning can ensure that urban growth does not expose the urban poor to natu-ral disasters.”

On that basis, I think Metro Manila is a hopeless case. We have to start more or less from scratch, learning from the mistakes we have committed in our Na-tional Capital Region.

In any case, it is now too late to im-pose any sensible spatial planning in Metro Manila. It is even impossible to expropriate enough land to build a new runway for NAIA, which is a less ambi-tious project.

This is why the offer of BCDA to put up a “backup government center” at Clark’s Green City should be taken se-riously. It is the right strategy to take in conjunction with our disaster pre-paredness plan for Metro Manila. It also could be the start of an effort to move government offices and inevi-tably, people away from the crowded Metro Manila area.

According to Arnel Casanova, BCDA president and chief executive, they have offered free lots inside the Clark Green City for government agencies to use in establishing backup offices. These will ensure uninterrupted deliv-ery of services in the aftermath of major calamities.

Green City is a 9,450-hectare metrop-olis to rise within the Clark Freeport Zone whose development was recently won by the Filinvest Group. It is expect-ed to be the first smart, disaster-resil-ient city in the Philippines.

Clark Green City is around 100 ki-lometers from the West Valley Fault Line and is surrounded by the typhoon-mitigating Zambales and Sierra Madre mountain ranges.

For now, BCDA made the offer to pre-pare for the eventuality of a big earth-quake in Metro Manila’s West Valley

Fault. “When the Big One strikes, deliv-ery of government services and opera-tions of businesses suffer the longest because you will have to face issues of health or personnel shortage, sup-ply chain problems, public order, and a host of other challenges,” Cassanova said.

But really, Clark is a good area to build a new government center, our version of Malaysia’s Putrajaya. A new large center of population in Clark can be jumpstarted, if government initiates the move.

Perhaps, the government buildings can be constructed by the developer, Filinvest, along the lines of the DepEd partnership with the private sector for constructing school buildings. Govern-ment budgets for rent and upkeep of Manila-based offices can be used to amortize the cost of new buildings in Green City.

Moving government offices to Clark will also solve the NAIA congestion problem. Flights will no longer have to crowd limited slots at NAIA because there will also be rising demand to fly directly in or out of Clark.

But one thing we have to watch out for is the haphazard development of the adjoining San Fernando-Angeles urban center, something already evident. It will be easy to do things right at Green City, but complementary efforts must be made for the adjoining areas.

Why do we have to move now on this worsening problem of Metro Ma-nila congestion? Simply because doing nothing may make the situation explo-sive over time as life, specially among the urban poor, becomes more and more oppressive.

The findings in this World Bank study reinforce the connection between eco-nomic growth and urbanization. But how a city expands directly affects the poor.

Getting urban form, density, and administrative coordination right, the

World Bank says, will be essential to ensuring that urbanization helps achieve the twin goals of ending ex-treme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

We have this golden opportunity to try something we really ought to be doing anyway by working with BCDA in Clark. Once Clark itself gets built up, we will lose the chance to have a na-tional capital that is done right.

Indeed, we should not wait for the Big One to happen. Once a massive earthquake devastates Metro Manila to make it nearly uninhabitable, we may no longer have the massive land area now available in Clark to build a new National Capital from scratch.

In any case, Metro Manila will be increasingly uninhabitable too even without an earthquake. Climate change may make more than half of the metro area extremely flood prone, if not per-manently under water. I saw some maps simulating what could happen and it isn’t pretty.

I realize we have a lot of current problems that keep us preoccupied. But someone in authority must step up and execute a viable plan to reduce population density in Metro Manila. I don’t think we can wait.

I hope this issue gets discussed during the campaign, but I doubt it. I hope the next administration will start the ball rolling so future generations can have a better life. It looks like an impossible task, but to do nothing is worse.

I suggest that BCDA be made to jumpstart that program on behalf of government. I am confident its very competent management today can get the job done. We have no more time to lose and I think BCDA is ready to go right now, in case P-Noy wants to do something significant.

* * *

Metro Manila is dangerously crowded

BOO CHANCO

Demandand Supply

TOURISM is a dynamic and complex industry, where apart from lei-sure, the success of any tourism destination will depend on how well it can provide a safe and secure environment for its visitors.

Alerted

Currently on the upswing, the Philippine tourism’s momentum as being one of the leading tourist attractions in Asia might be halted following the highly publicized ab-duction on Samal Island in Davao Del Norte.

Local and international authorities have been alerted after the kidnapping incident of three for-eigners and a Filipina from a luxury resort island in Samal. Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, Hall’s Filipino girlfriend Marites Flor, and Nor-wegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, were taken from the Holiday Oceanview Marina before midnight on Sept. 21, by armed men who claimed that they were members of the New People’s Army (NPA). However, early speculations also pointed out that the Abu Sayyaf Group, a terrorist group linked to Al-Qaeda, initiated the attack. The group is notori-ous for kidnap-for-ransom activities in Mindanao but the military has yet to confirm if the group is behind the recent abduction.

There has been no breakthrough in the search and rescue operation as of Tuesday, Sept. 29. Hun-dreds of policemen, elite Army troops and Navy members are currently scouring the coasts of Davao and nearby provinces in search of the cap-tives and the armed group.

Canada has advised its nationals against travel-ing in several areas in Mindanao after two of its citizens were among the captives. Canada said its nationals should avoid travel to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Zamboanga Penin-sula and the provinces of Sarangani, Lanao del

Norte, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Davao Ori-ental, Cotabato, South Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat “due to the serious threat of terrorist attacks and kidnap-

ping.” Other countries followed suit as the United King-

dom, Australia and New Zealand have issued trav-el advisories to their citizens. If not concluded at the soonest time possible, more travel advisories against the Philippines are to be expected, and its consequences to the tourism industry may be ex-acerbated.

Malacañang accepted the travel advisories is-sued against areas in Mindanao. However, Com-munications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. as-sured everyone that the Philippine government is working double time to apprehend the perpetra-tors. Coloma also allayed the possible effects of the latest kidnapping in the tourism industry saying that it was an isolated case in the last 14 years.

Coloma added that the government has enforced tighter security also as part of the country’s prepa-ration for the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Nov. 18 and 19. President Barack Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin are among the expected high-profile visitors of this year’s gathering of world leaders.

The kidnapping incident is not to be tolerated, but it is enough reason to make the national gov-ernment and concerned agencies improve their operation to promote a safer environment not just

Editorial

for the country’s tourists but also its citizens. The country’s tourism will undoubtedly suffer after this, but this doesn’t mean all the things that have made Philippines—a country full of history and cultural

diversity—are gone. All agencies concerned will just have to compromise and compensate for the damages that may be incurred from this unfortu-nate incident. (AJPress)

AS the election season in the Philippines heats up, we see possible tandems forming among those seeking the highest posts of government. Anticipation and excitement are growing, and Fil-Ams are very much in the loop about the political developments in the Motherland.

As of press time, Sec. Mar Roxas still awaits Cong. Leni Robredo to be on board as his vice president, but she asked for more time to dis-cern whether this is her true calling, because her daughters with the late DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo’s daughters wish that she would not run for the sec-ond-highest post.

Only Sen. Grace Poe has a solid tandem with Sen. Chiz Escudero, who is definitely running as

her vice president.VP Jejomar Binay has not yet

announced who his pick is for VP, although rumors are circulat-ing that it would probably be Sen. Bongbong Marcos, a solid anti-ad-ministration figure whose political interests match those of Binay at this time.

But even Marcos is not sure whether to run with Binay as other rumors say he could be picked by Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte has yet to formally announce his intent to run, but the latest survey shows a strong following, placing fourth after Poe, Roxas and Bi-nay.

Pictures of Duterte and Sen. Allan Peter Cayetano have been circulating in the news after Cayetano formally announced that he is indeed running for VP. Could this scenario push Robre-do to run with Roxas?

On September 16, after Poe announced her candidacy, The Filipino Channel’s daily news-

cast Balitang America asked its viewers: If the Philippine Presidential Elections were held today, who would you vote for to be the next President of the Philippines?

The results: Mar Roxas - 56 percent

Grace Poe - 29 percentNone of the above - 15 percentJejomar Binay - 0 percentIt looks like Binay has a lot of work to do among

Filipinos in America. meanwhile, will Duterte shake the dynamics if and when he decides to run for President? Will Grace Poe be able to keep her lead? Will Mar’s upward momentum catapult him to be the next President?

ABANGAN ANG SUSUNOD NA KABANATA!* * *

Early poll results: Fil-Ams choose Roxas over Poe and Binay

GEL SANTOS-RELOS

The Fil-Am Perspective

DATELINE PHILIPPINES

MANILA — Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte on Sat-urday, Sept. 26 heeds the clamor of his supporters and told them he will go on a “final soul search-ing” before coming up with a de-cision for 2016.

Duterte said the soul-searching time he sought will not only involve himself but also his family.

“Sa lahat sa kababayan natin, humihingi ako ng konting pana-hon na lang po, so I can do some final soul-searching with myself and my family. At pagkatapos, sa konting panahon na lang po, haharap ako sa bansa at sa in-yong lahat. At magdedesisyon ako ng buong kalooban at mula sa puso,” Duterte said in a text message read during the “Mil-lion People March” at the Rizal Park in Manila City on Saturday.

“Pangako ko sa inyo – hinding hindi ko kayo papabayaan,” he added.

Duterte’s text message sparked hope in the minds of his supporters who continued with the rally to convince him to run even if he earlier proclaimed he is not running and called on his supporters to stop the “Million People March.”

In the text message, Duterte reiterated he had no ambitions to be the country’s president but he noted that he heard the public’s clamor.

Duterte to decide on 2016 bid after ‘�nal soul-searching’

“I hear your clamor loud and clear. I know you want an alter-native to those who now present themselves with their ambition to lead the country,” Duterte said.

He stressed that leaders must “answer not interest or their personal glory” and “leaders re-spond to duty and moral obliga-tion.”

Although Duterte was not present during the “Million Peo-ple March,” he thanked his sup-porters who attended the gather-ing through the text message he sent that was read at the Quirino Grandstand, Manila on Saturday afternoon.

The mayor also apologized that he was not present in the

said event as he is in Zamboanga City to help in the search and res-cue operation connected to the kidnapping incident in Samal Is-land’s Peal Farm Resort, Davao.

Duterte’s text message was sent 5:50 p.m., Saturday and was read by his friend Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon before an estimated 6,000 supporters.

Last September 8, Duterte made an announcement that he is officially out of the 2016 polls and he will retire. He repeatedly said his decision was final since.

The “Million People March” was originally slated September 15 but was moved to September 26, Saturday afternoon. ■

MANILA – The Court of Ap-peals (CA) was asked on Mon-day, Sept. 28 to enforce a 1995 US court decision awarding $1,964,005,859.90 in damages to human rights victims of mar-tial law.

Petitioners led by former Human Rights Commission chairman Lo-retta Ann Rosales asked the CA’s 13th Division to reverse a ruling of the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissing their plea.

However, the CA did not im-mediately resolve the petition.

It ordered lawyers of the heirs of former President Ferdinand Marcos to clarify who will be their lead counsel.

Martial law victims seek $1.9-B awardLawyer Robert Sison and the

Marcos Ochoa Serapio Tan law offices are to submit written manifestation from their clients clarifying the representation on the case.

“The defendant-appellee (Marcos estate) must choose which of the two law firms is its lead counsel, and who is the col-laborating counsel, if any,” read the CA decision.

Non-monetary benefitsNon-monetary benefits for hu-

man-rights (HR) victims of mar-tial law will be made possible through a partnership between the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board (HRVCB) and four

other government agencies.Signatories to the memo-

randum of agreement are the HRVCB, the Department of So-cial Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR).

Under the agreement, the DSWD will develop a comprehen-sive psychosocial services and re-habilitation program for victims or survivors of human-rights abuses, which will include ensuring ac-cess to relevant education and training. (Edu Punay, Rhodina Villanueva/Philstar.com)

by ROSETTE ADELPhilstar.com

SEAFOOD CITYREGULAR AD

FPFC

COMMUNITY J O U R N A LBusiness News

MANILA – Inflation and work-ers’ pay are the top concerns of the Filipinos, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

Reacting to the survey, Malaca-ñang said inflation was at its low-

Poll: Pinoys concerned about in�ation, workers’ pay

est this year.Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.

of the Presidential Communica-tions Operation Office said the government was exerting maxi-mum effort to preserve the pur-chasing power of the peso.

As of August, inflation rate was at 1.7 percent.

Deputy presidential spokes-person Abigail Valte said that since 2010, inflation on a yearly average has been going down (3.8 percent in 2010, 4.6 percent in 2011, 3.2 percent in 2012, three percent in 2013 and 4.1 percent in 2014).

WHILE the Chinese manufac-turing sector is in the process of transitioning to higher value-added manufacturing under the government’s new strategic in-dustrial policy of Made in China 2025, a number of countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are emerging as new low-cost manu-facturing hubs.

As China leads new regional initiatives to strengthen con-nectivity with large-scale infra-structure investment through the Asian Infrastructure Invest-ment Bank and Silk Road Fund, both the country and ASEAN are set to benefit in the next decade and beyond from rapid regional growth in long-term trade and investment flows.

The ASEAN countries and Chi-nese provinces in the Greater

Low-cost manufacturing hubs emerge in ASEAN

Mekong Subregion (GMS) are expected to be among the big-gest beneficiaries, as they are well-positioned to become low-cost manufacturing suppliers to the rapidly growing Chinese consumer market and industrial supply chain.

Average manufacturing wages in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambo-dia and Laos are considerably below those in Chinese coastal provinces. Yunnan and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region — the Chinese areas that are part of the GMS — also have relatively lower wage costs compared to the national average, and consid-erably lower wages than those of coastal industrial hubs such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Beijing.

However, a major competitive weakness of the GMS is relatively

poor infrastructure connectivity, which has been a constraint on economic development.

This issue was one of the main areas of focus at the 5th Greater Mekong Subregion Leaders’ Summit in 2014.

If infrastructure connectivity is strengthened in Southeast Asia to allow high-speed rail networks and modern roads to link Chi-nese provinces, such as Yunnan in southern China, to the Indian Ocean via Thailand and Myan-mar, it could significantly im-prove freight logistics for south-ern China for both imports and exports.

It will also create significant opportunities for the develop-ment of major new ports and free trade zones in Thailand and Myanmar, thus boosting their

MANILA – The Philippines re-mains an attractive investment destination among companies from Hong Kong and China despite ongoing territorial dis-putes.

“There’s tremendous inter-est in what’s going on in the Philippines. It is not only Hong Kong companies but also main-land Chinese companies that are in Hong Kong. I hope we’ll see more companies coming into the Philippines soon,” Invest Hong Kong Director General of Invest-ment Promotion Simon Galpin told The STAR in an interview.

According to Galpin, more Hong Kong and Chinese firms are currently looking to see which part of their businesses is well suited to be in one of the region’s fastest growing economy.

“It took time for the Philippine economic story to get through

PH remains attractive to Chinese investors

MANILA – Rising investments in human capital amid the ris-ing number of young population would help groom the Philippines to become a major economic powerhouse over the long term.

Editha Martin, executive direc-tor of the Investor Relations Of-

Young population to help PH become economic powerhouse

fice (IRO), said the government’s growing budget for human capi-tal development shows the inten-tion to further improve the qual-ity of workforce.

She said rising investments in human capital also reflects the government’s desire to make the economy reap the potential de-mographic dividends.

“Consistently rising invest-

ments in health and education will help ensure that the Philip-pines does not miss out on the opportunity offered by its entry to the demographic window,” she added.

Starting this year until 2050, the Philippines is said to be with-in the “demographic window,” loosely defined as a period when

but I think it now has not only among the mainland and Hong Kong business community but also the large international busi-ness community. The Philippines is definitely the economy people

are watching,” he said.“The fact that the Philippines

has done so well in business pro-cess outsourcing is an indication. The Philippines is definitely a

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by RICHMOND S. MERCURIOPhilstar.com

by LAWRENCE AGCAOILIPhilstar.com

by AUREA CALICAPhilstar.com

MANILA – Zurich-based Credit Suisse has slashed the economic growth forecast for the Philip-pines due to the slowdown in the first half of the year brought about by weak global demand and lack of government spend-ing.

At the same time, the invest-ment bank does not see monetary authorities adjusting key interest rates until end of 2016.

In its Emerging Markets Quar-terly report, Credit Suisse econo-mist Michael Wan said the bank trimmed the Philippines’ gross

domestic product (GDP) growth forecast to 6.1 percent instead of 6.4 percent this year, but main-tained next year’s projection at 6.4 percent.

“We have trimmed our 2015 estimates reflecting the weak first half numbers seen thus far. Nonetheless, moving forward, we expect private consump-tion spending to underpin the strength in GDP over the next two years, with our analysis suggesting that lower rice and oil price inflation is expected to boost consumption with around two quarters’ lag,” Wan said.

The country’s GDP growth slowed down to 5.3 percent in

the first half of the year from 6.4 percent in the same period last year on the back of weak global demand and lack of government spending.

Wan said exports are also ex-pected to show some recovery in the second half following the weak first half performance, re-flecting a bounce back after sup-ply disruptions from typhoons.

However, he explained the severe and prolonged El Niño and the associated dry weather would cap improvement in agri-culture exports.

According to him, there are some signs of improvement in

Credit Suisse lowers PH GDP forecast

Valte said unemployment and underemployment rates were also on a downtrend.

Based on the survey, 47 percent of Filipinos were most concerned with the country’s inflation while 46 percent were concerned with workers’ pay.

Corruption in government (39 percent), employment (36 per-cent) and poverty (35 percent) are among the second cluster of national issues deemed urgent by Filipinos.

The third cluster of urgent na-tional issues includes peace (21 percent), crimes (20 percent), rule of law (16 percent) and en-vironmental destruction (15 per-cent).

The survey showed that Fili-pinos are least concerned about rapid population growth (nine percent), national territorial in-tegrity (seven percent), Charter change (four percent) and terror-ism (four percent).

The survey was conducted from May 30 to June 5. ■

Poll: Pinoys…t

good news story,” Galpin added.Investments from Hong Kong

that have qualified for investment incentives from Philippine gov-ernment are currently among the biggest in the country according to the Department of Trade and Industry.

Galpin said the number of Hong Kong and Chinese firms showing interest in investing in the Philippine market is not the only one increasing but Filipino companies looking to invest in Hong Kong as well.

“We’re starting to see an in-crease now and with a little bit more push, we can encourage more companies to take the next

step,” he said.Galpin cited technology, train-

ing and education, and consum-er product sectors as potential growth areas in Hong Kong for local businesses.

“Hong Kong imports all its food products but we’re a major food market because we have so many visitors. So we’d like to think companies in food and bev-erage sector can benefit in Hong Kong too,” he said.

“At present, we’ve got the (Filipino) big guys. We’ve got the banks, airlines, some big compa-nies using Hong Kong for merg-ers and acquisition. What I would love to see is the medium sized companies. Companies that are

already doing well here but want to take the next step and do some-thing overseas. We want them to consider Hong Kong as their next step. Medium companies, if they have a competitive product, a competitive service, we’d like to think they can do well in Hong Kong also,” Galpin added.

The Philippines last Thursday forged a new agreement with the Hong Kong government to bolster investment cooperation between the two economies.

The DTI signed a memoran-dum of intent with executives from InvestHK pledging mutual cooperation on investment pro-motion exchanges and best prac-tices. ■

PH remains attractive to Chinese…

a great majority of the population are of working age.

Because the number of work-force far outweighs that of de-pendents, the increase in in-comes may accelerate.

But this can only happen if there is good quality of labor force.

Under the Aquino administra-tion, the government’s budget allocations for education and health have risen substantially year after year.

The budget for the Department

of Education increased 18.6 per-cent to P367.1 billion, while that of the Department of Health went up 19.2 percent to P108.2 billion for this year.

Moreover, the budget for the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, which encourages school attendance among chil-dren from poor households, is high in the government’s agenda. Its budget of P62.3 billion for this year is six times the P10-billion allocation in 2010.

For his part, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio

Balisacan stressed the need to sustain the trend of rising in-vestments in human capital de-velopment.

“We need to understand that having a fast growing working-age population is a boon for the economy, but only if we do two things: invest more and more in human capital development and make sure the job opportunities match the skills of the people,” Balisacan said.

The country’s chief economist also highlighted the need to make education more accessible and to intensify measures that will make the country’s investment climate more attractive.

Based on official projection, the country’s working-age popu-lation (between 15 and 64 years old) this year accounts for 66.6 percent of the total population of 101.6 million.

The share of the working-age population is expected to rise to 68 percent of 110 million people in 2020, and further to 70.6 per-cent of 125.3 people million in 2030.

Government strategies and private-sector suggestions to further boost the country’s chances of reaping demographic dividends would be discussed in more detail during the 28th Philippine Economic Briefing on Sept. 30. ■

Young population to help PH…t

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by LAWRENCE AGCAOILIPhilstar.com

t

Americaalendar of EventsacrossC

ADVERTISE YOUR EVENTS!PRE-EVENT AND POST-EVENT

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FOR NON-PROFIT GROUPS

The legacy of Naomi Palma-Armada, who died of a heart attack June 10, lives on. On October 3, from 6pm to midnight, the Philippine Heritage Institute International (PHII), a private non-profit foundation founded by Naomi in 1989, will present Tribute 2015: White House Millennium Council Award to Outstanding Filipino American Nurses (on its 17th year) and President’s Award: Profiles of Service, Pillars of Community (on its 8th year) at the Shera-ton Cerritos Hotel (12725 Center Court Drive, Cerritos, CA 90703). Parking for the event is free. Attire: Formal or Filipiniana. Music provided by The Midnight Motion Band. For more information, contact president Josie E. de Jesus (714) 272-0300; joestarisdejesus@gmail.com, or event chair Norma Merza (562) 947-0248; norma.merza@yahoo.com.

Please join us at the Carson Library (151 E. Carson St. Carson, CA 90745) on Oct 3rd, from 1-4pm, at the Carson Library to hear stories of individuals from the books, “Filipinos in Carson and the South Bay” and “Hawaiians in Los Angeles.” Join with FANHS-LA Chapter, the Filipino American Library, Friends of the Carson Library, APALA, and other community leaders as we celebrate October as Filipino American History Month and the birthday of Larry Itliong, one of the main organizers of the 1965 UFW Delano Grape Strike. There will also be a screenings of Delano Manongs: Forgotten Heroes of the UFW, and America Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawaii; both are educational documentary films about the Filipino and Hawaiian ex-perience in America. This is a FREE event with a talk, book signings by the authors, and light refreshments afterwards. For more information and to RSVP, please contact roseeibanez@gmail.com.

ATTY. LAWRENCE YANG

Debt Relief

Chapter 20NEVER heard of Chapter 20?

That’s because in the Central District of California, most courts don’t allow Chapter 20, except in Riverside. Riverside bank-ruptcy court allows Chapter 20. What is Chapter 20? First, you do a Chapter 7 to discharge your debts. Then you file a Chapter 13 to avoid a junior lien on your residence. The two together is a Chapter 20. Clients, husband & wife are in their fifties. They owe $100K of credit card and personal debt. Wife is a registered nurse. Husband is a warehouse person. They owe two mortgages on their residence. They owe a balance of $480K on the first, and $120K on the second. They have not paid the first mortgage for six months and there are arrears of $20K on the first. They have not paid the 2nd for a year and owe arrears of $12K on the 2nd.

The house surprisingly is still upside down. There is no equity supporting the 2nd. The current fair market value of the house is $420K. Even though they haven’t paid the first for six months, there is no notice of default yet. There-fore, foreclosure has not started. They want to save the house and get rid of all unsecured debt of $100K. Should they file Chapter 13 because of the mortgage de-fault and because they want to get rid of the 2nd trust deed, or should they do a Chapter 7? The best strategy for clients is to do a Chapter 20. First, they do a Chap-ter 7. That will discharge all their debts. Then, they do a Chapter

Client seeks Chapter 20 relief to avoid lien

Senior protects house from $100K judgment lien with Chapter 7

13 to remove the 2nd trust deed. However, the time frame is criti-cal. If the Chapter 7 sails through without problem, they get a dis-charge in four months. In the fourth month, they will still own the house because foreclosure has not yet started. When they get their Chapter 7 discharge on the fourth month, they can then file a Chapter 13 to remove the 2nd trust deed.

What this strategy will allow them to do is not worry about paying a portion of the unse-cured debt of $100K in the Chap-ter 13 because that has been discharged in Chapter 7, it will also allow them to cure the de-fault of the first mortgage over 60 months in the Chapter 13, and most importantly, when they strip the 2nd mortgage in the Chapter 13, there is no unsecured portion of the 2nd trust deed that has to be paid in the plan because the Chapter 7 discharged the 2nd trust deed. In other words, the Chapter 13 plan only has to pay the arrears of the first mortgage. The plan doesn’t have to pay any unsecured debt because they are all discharged in the Chapter 7, including the 2nd mortgage, which becomes unsecured debt of $120K when it is avoided by the LAM motion in the Chapter 13.

Note that you can only do this if your residence is still upside down now and for the next 4 to 5 months, and that there is no risk of foreclosure of your residence in the next 4 to 5 months. Start-ing this month, even bankruptcy

courts in the Central District of California, namely, Los Angeles, Woodland Hills, and Santa Ana will allow Chapter 20 because the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision on July 9, 2015 in Re Boukatch, that the Court of Ap-peals was joining the ‘growing consensus of courts’ allowing debtors to use Chapter 13 to strip off wholly unsecured liens after receiving a Chapter 7 discharge. So, they now recognize Chapter 20 debtors. Prior to this ruling, you can only get a Chapter 20 in Riverside.

Chapter 7Client is 68. I saw him last year

and I told him last year to file his Chapter 7 at that time to prevent a judgment lien on his residence from happening. But being the stubborn person that he is and one who seems to revel in pro-crastinating, he decided to not file his Chapter 7 last year. Last year, he was sued for $100K in a business lawsuit, which he decided not to defend against. Probably because he knew he was guilty. A default judgment was entered two months ago. Still he waited and did not do anything to protect his house. If he filed for Chapter 7 two months ago, the judgment of $100K would have been wiped out, thus preventing a judgment lien for $100K on his house from happening this week. This week, he received a notice of involun-tary judgment lien on his house for $108K, which I warned him about last year. Now, he wants

The Los Angeles Builder Lions Club will celebrate their 25th Anniversary and Annual Outstanding Parents Night on October 10, 2015 at the Almansor Court banquet hall (700 S Almansor St, Alhambra, CA 91801). Music will be provided by The Midnight Motion Band. For further questions, please call Lion Bill Menor (323) 465-0613, Lion Yoli Ramo (213) 305-1332, chairpersons or Lion Tita James, co-chair at (818) 203-2325.

Kultura Festival, an all-ages, contemporary Filipino-American food and arts festival, will take place in Logan Square’s Emporium Arcade Bar in Chicago on Sunday, October 4, from 11 AM to 6 PM. Presented by Filipino Kitchen, this festival is carefully curated to appeal to those who personally identify with Filipino culture, food, and those who are curious or uniniti-ated. With a craft beer bar, food trucks, special guest chefs, and an expected 2,000 festival guests and staff, Kultura Festival aims to highlight the best of Filipino cuisine to Chicago and the Midwest. Tickets can be purchased for $10 general admission at https://ti.to/fili-pino-kitchen/kultura-festival, $5 for students and seniors. More information can be found at http://filipino.kitchen/kulturafestival.

The UNITED LAB-USA will celebrate their 32nd Anniversary on Saturday, October 17, 2015 at Royal Garden in Cerritos. The association is headed by Rey Guieb, President. Music will be provided by The Midnight Motion Band. For other questions, please call Felix Belen, outgoing president at (626) 839-0736.

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

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

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

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

Save the date! FPAC 24 will occur on November 7th at the El Pueblo Historical Monu-ment. Please visit www.FilAmARTS.org for more exciting details and information!

economic development.With rapid infrastructure de-

velopment creating an improv-ing business climate for low-cost manufacturing production in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, the GDP of the Greater Mekong Subregion is forecast to rise from $1.2 trillion in 2015 to $3.2 trillion by 2025.

Auto production hubsSince the implementation of

the ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2010, the Thai automotive indus-try has grown rapidly to become one of Asia’s leading hubs for auto and parts production. It pro-duced 1.9 million passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in 2014. Total production could rise to 3 million cars and commercial vehicles by 2024, based on IHS Automotive’s projection.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian auto industry has also grown rapidly, helped by strong growth in domestic demand from the fast-growing middle class. Total Indonesian production of cars and commercial vehicles was 1.24 million units in 2014. It is projected to rise to 1.9 million units by 2024.

Annual production of pas-senger cars in Indonesia now exceeds that of Thailand, with 1,001,686 units produced in In-donesia in 2014, compared with 857,723 passenger cars in Thai-land in the same year. IHS Auto-motive forecasts that Indonesian passenger vehicle production will rise to 1.5 million autos by 2024.

Electronics hubA new wave of shifting manu-

facturing production is currently underway in the electronics in-dustry, as multinationals reposi-tion their East Asian production of electronics products such as semiconductor chips, mobile phones and printers toward low-er-cost production hubs.

Vietnam has been a key ben-eficiary of this trend since 2009, when Samsung invested in a new mobile phone factory in the country. A year later Intel set up a semiconductor chip plant in Vietnam.

Many other multinationals have followed suit with more in-vestments in electronics manu-facturing, including major new investments by Samsung, as

well as by other electronics firms such as Kyocera, Canon, LG and Nokia.

Samsung has become a major investor in Vietnam, with pro-duction facilities in Ho Chi Minh City, BacNinh and Thai Nguyen. The South Korean tech giant an-nounced plans in late 2014 to build a second smartphone fac-tory in Vietnam involving an in-vestment of $3 billion. Samsung already accounts for around 20 per cent of total Vietnamese ex-ports and has around 73,000 em-ployees in Vietnam.

Textile industrial hubsThe China-ASEAN Free Trade

Agreement that was implement-ed in 2010 has accelerated the growth of bilateral trade and in-vestment flows between ASEAN and China, with the regional bloc’s textiles, clothing and foot-wear sector being a major ben-eficiary.

The textiles and footwear in-dustry has been a key driver of Cambodia’s economic develop-ment in the last decade. Total exports of these products have grown from $27 million in 1995 to $5.8 billion in 2014, and are estimated to account for 600,000 jobs in the country’s economy.

Industry exports rose 10.6 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2015, and are expect-ed to be an important long-term growth engine for the Cambo-dian economy, which will benefit from the fast-growing Chinese consumer market.

The Vietnamese textiles indus-try has also been experiencing rapid growth, with total exports of garments and textiles reaching $24.5 billion in 2014, up 19 per cent on the previous year. The new European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement agreed in principle in August will provide a further boost to Vietnamese gar-ments exports to the EU, which is already a key market for Viet-namese garments.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, if concluded, will be another major boost for Vietnam’s garments sector, as it will provide duty-free access for Vietnam into the US market.

IT-BPO industryASEAN’s information technol-

ogy and business process out-sourcing (BPO) industry has also

become one of the region’s fast-growing sectors, with Malaysia and the Philippines among the leading global hubs for the IT-BPO industry.

The competitiveness of Ma-laysia and the Philippines in this industry has been particularly helped by the large pool of uni-versity-educated workers as well as the strong English-language skills of the work force in both countries.

In the Philippines, the indus-try’s export revenue has more than doubled between 2008 and 2014, reaching an estimated $18 billion by 2014, while its total number of employees exceeded 1 million.

By 2016, the industry in the Philippines is projected to have 1.3 million employees. The rapid growth of this industry is also driving economic development in a number of cities across the Philippines, with Manila and Cebu now ranked among the world’s leading IT-BPO hubs.

In Malaysia, the industry has also posted fast growth, with major hubs having developed in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. A new IT-BPO Park being built in Penang is expected to cre-ate around 21,000 new jobs by 2020.

ASEAN has become one of the world’s fastest-growing economic regions, driven by a range of fac-tors, including its large domestic consumer population of 600 mil-lion, dynamic economic reforms and trade liberalisation to boost competitiveness, and close trade and investment ties with Asia’s largest economy, China.

With China having emerged as an upper-middle-income econo-my with a fast-growing consumer market, ASEAN’s industrial hubs in a wide range of industries, including autos, electronics and textiles, are poised to experience rapid growth in exports to the Chinese market.

Intra-ASEAN trade will also grow rapidly, helped by trade liberalization and economic inte-gration as the ASEAN Economic Community agreement is imple-mented. At a time when many emerging markets worldwide are struggling, the long-term growth and trade prospects for ASEAN still look very bright. (In-quirer.net)

Low-cost manufacturing hubs…t

government spending and dis-bursement.

“Our expectation is for govern-ment spending to improve grad-ually over the next few quarters, although probably not as much as other analysts expect during an election period,” he added.

Credit Suisse also lowered its inflation forecasts to 1.4 percent instead of 2.2 percent for this year, and to 2.4 percent instead of 3.7 percent for next year due to the benign inflation environ-ment.

Inflation eased to a new record low of 0.6 percent in August from 0.8 percent in July, bringing the average inflation to 1.7 percent in the first eight months of the year amid stable food prices and

Credit Suisse lowers PH GDP…lower utility rates.

“These partly reflect the low-er-than-expected inflation prints that we have already seen in the first half of the year, with infla-tion falling to a multi-year low of 0.6 percent year-on-year in the latest print,” he said.

The revised forecasts, he ex-plained, reflects a lower assumed path for oil prices and more mod-erate food and electricity price in-creases from the El Niño impact.

As such, the bank now expects the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to keep interest rates until the end of next year.

“We have removed our ex-pectation for rate hikes in 2016. Partly on the back of the more moderate profile for headline inflation, we have removed our

forecast for BSP to hike rates come 2016, and now expect the central bank to keep rates on hold until the end of next year,” Wan said.

He added the risks to mon-etary policy are nonetheless bi-ased towards easing by tweaking macroprudential measures and reserve requirement ratio as po-tential first step.

“Nonetheless, we believe that the risk is tilted towards a more dovish central bank at this stage, given the very low and manage-able inflation and the moderating credit growth profile,” he said.

The bank added the Philip-pines has policy space compared to other members of the Associa-tion of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ■

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The 2015 Filipino American History Month celebration in Carson will be held on Saturday, Oct. 3rd from 12 to 4pm at the South Bay Pavilion (20700 Avalon Blvd, Carson, CA 90746). Organized by the Filipino American Chamber of Commerce South Bay Los Angeles (FACC-SLAA), the event headlines musical entertainment, business vendors, networking, exhibits, an immigration panel, and health and fitness activities. Special performances by Malou Toler, Mon Concepcion, Sara Mislang, Cecile and Mighty Show, and with host Gee Gee Starr. For more information on the FilAm History Month in Carson, please 310.748.9688, or South Bay Pavilion at 310.366.6629.

The Legionarios del Trabajo in America, Inc. will hold its 18th Triennial Convention, Octo-ber 15-18, 2015, at the Clarion Inn and Suites in Stockton, CA (4219 Waterloo Rd, Stockton, CA 95215). For more information, please contact Cora Gines at (209) 957-0217 / (209) 406-5438, or Elena Gabriel at (209) 598-1436.

MONETTEADEVA MAGLAYA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

HERE’S a thought. How about playing tourist in your own na-tive land?

Get out of the city and really look with fresh eyes at the coun-tryside. Let it not be said that aliens and other strangers saw something worthwhile that we didn’t — right in our own back-yard. Let’s hope that even with gale force winds brought on by the latest super storm to hit the area, Vigan remained unflap-pable.

Those cavernous shopping malls, tiendecitas, tianggues and the stalls of Greenhills springing up like mushrooms, awash with gizmos, trinkets, doodads and brand name knock-offs for con-sumers to buy —we will always have with us—but certain places in the country deserve a long, hard look and a VISIT, before they fade away to oblivion.

Vigan is one of them. If you fit the bill of an expatriate who must

Begin the Beguine with Vigan“The real voyage of discovery consistsnot in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” — Marcel Proust

cram the tourist experience into a 2 to 3 week time frame and there is only one chance for a lo-cal side trip, just one chance to do one mad dance before your Philippine trip is over, begin the beguine with Vigan. It has first claim to being the best of the old remaining towns of our Philip-pine colonial past. It shows the eclectic blending of many cul-tures forged over hundreds of years. Vigan shows aspects we would never see just by read-ing a travel book or watching a video. Vigan shows aspects of our character, of who we are as a people. VIGAN TEACHES US.

For the longest time, I have always wanted to go North of Manila and visit Vigan in the Ilocos province, struck by the memory of an image I’ve seen in some tattered travel poster years back. Here is Philippine history you can actually touch, a nar-

row, colonial street you can ac-tually walk on or keep your ears peeled to listen at sundown to the soothing clip clop of horse-drawn calesas for hire to tour-ists at 150 Php/hour or more, mixed with the annoyingly grat-ing sound of the ubiquitous tri-cycles. The authentic remnants of Spanish architecture on Calle Crisologo, a short strip of nar-row, cobblestone road, allow us to get a glimpse of what life must have been like several hun-dred years ago.

If you have any clairvoyant bone in your body, you can even sense the presence of curious, benign ghosts of ages past in the ancestral homes, mingling and jostling with the tourists ey-ing strangers curiously wonder-ing about us just as we wonder about them. At the nice, neat bed and breakfast inn we stayed in

ATTY. KENNETH URSUA REYES

Barrister’s Corner

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FOR most people, being served with divorce papers by your spouse is probably one of the biggest surprises in your life. The spouse in the receiving end of the divorce sometimes are not offered any explanation for the divorce petition by their spouse. You may start getting upset about how this can happen to you and start doing things that are go-ing to be seriously detrimental to your divorce case later on in the proceeding. Here are seven things you should not do.

Do not confront your spouse and commit domestic violence

Many spouse feel very angry and upset upon receiving the divorce papers. You may start blaming your spouse and attack-ing your spouse. You may even yell, threaten, scream, or even physically assault your spouse. This type of confrontation is called “domestic violence.” You may be arrested criminally if your spouse calls law enforcement.

7 things you should not do when served with divorce papers by your spouseYour spouse may also file a do-mestic violence restraining order against you. Either one would compromise your ability to seek custody of your children, child support, and spousal support. It would also affect your credibility as a witness for future proceed-ings. In addition if you do this in front of the children, this may be looked at as domestic violence and abuse against the children. The incident may be reported to Child Protective Services for in-vestigation.

Do not run to the bank and empty out all your bank accounts or sell assets except for funds necessary retain legal represen-tation in the divorce.

If you have assets, do not run and empty out your bank ac-counts with the goal of securing it from your spouse. The divorce petition and summons includes certain automatic temporary re-straining orders (ATROS) which prohibits transferring and en-cumbering assets. You will be

in violation of the ATROS if you do this. Your spouse may also make a claim for breach of fidu-ciary duty against you. However there are certain exceptions to withdrawing funds such as funds necessary for your living expens-es and funds you need to retain an attorney.

Do not cut off your spouse from any insurance policies

One of the ATROS prohibits you from removing your spouse from health insurance coverage and other insurance policy. It would be a violation of ATROS to do so. You need to maintain your spouse on all existing insur-ance until the divorce is finalized or the status of marriage is dis-solved in a bifurcated trial.

Do not take off with your child and move out of state or out of the country

If the child has been living in this state, California Court has jurisdiction over your child even if you leave California after being

EMPLOYMENT

FOR RENT

EMPLOYMENT

FOR SALE

EMPLOYMENT

People and Eventsto file the Chapter 7. After the judgment lien came in, the IRS followed with $90K of tax liens.

Well, it not that simple any-more. His residence has $300,000 of equity. Even if he qualifies for $175K equity exemption, there still $125K of free equity on which the lien attaches. He can-not remove the judgment lien on the $125K at this late time. He is afraid that creditor may move to sell his house because of the lien, is this possible he asks? Of course the creditor can move to sell the house because creditor has a secured lien on the house, and if that is not paid, he can ask

the superior court to allow him to sell the house so he can get paid.

Chapter 7 now will prevent creditor from taking the next step of selling his house because the discharge will prevent credi-tor from taking any further steps to collect the debt, including asking the court to sell client’s house. So, the Chapter 7 still protects his house by prevent-ing the judgment creditor from selling his house because of the lien, so he can live in the house until he dies and the judgment creditor will not be able to do anything to collect the judg-ment. Frankly, I don’t know how

this client thinks. I warned him early enough to file Chapter 7 last year to prevent this from happening. Makes no sense to me at all.

“By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me - a prayer to the gold of my life.” — Psalm 42:8h.

Client seeks Chapter 20 relief…

called Grandpa’s Inn, named for the doctor who owned it some-time ago, I could swear there is a quietly hovering presence in one part of the upstairs open area, faintly caught on camera, mysterious and otherworldly, making the small hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. If it were not for the bagnet, the daing and the longganisa they were serving for breakfast and the quaint calesa bed, the pleas-ant people at the reception desk and the efficiently working air conditioning in the Kalesa Room we were billeted in, I would have bolted for other accommoda-tions.

It takes serious money and pigheaded determination to un-dertake preservation projects on a huge scale. In time, the ancestral homes that line Calle Crisologo will need to be pre-served, if they are to be seen by generations yet to come who

must be afforded the chance to see bits of our past in order to understand who they are, as a people with a shared history, heritage and distinct personality in the context of an increasingly global world.

The venerable Ayala Family, who understood history, art and culture and its collective role in nation-building, saw this clearly far ahead of anyone else in the country and did its part through Ayala Foundation, decades ago. The legacy lives on in the well-kept Burgos House which is now under the auspices of the Na-tional Museum. But more needs to get done. There is a certain sense of urgency in seeing just such a place — before the pas-sage of time, changing mores, priorities and the inroads of crass commercialism endanger and eventually transform these old remnants of our history into just a memory, preserved only in history and travel books.

Sadly, under present condi-tions with the country constantly grappling with its social, eco-nomic and political woes while searching for its soul in waging a fight to the death with endem-ic corruption from the highest to the lowest rungs of government, preserving history, art and cul-ture will have to stay in the back burner for a very long time. What this means for us is that the remaining relics of our his-tory, if we don’t take the effort today to provide for their preser-vation, will simply be allowed to crumble to dust and fade away.

But enough thinking about tomorrow! Today has enough troubles of its own. For now, there’s enough yet of Vigan to enjoy just the way it is. (To be continued)

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Begin the Beguine with…

LOS ANGELES – UST Med 70 L.A. Chapter attended LA Rock’s 15th anniversary on Sept. 12, at the Casa Italiana, to cheer colleague keyboard player Max Basco of the Rubber Sounds Revival band. Dr. Basco was recognized with a ‘Music Award’ for his contribu-tion to the ‘Rock N Roll’ music in-dustry. Founded by Jimmy Lizaso, assisted by Carmelita Paule, the dinner dance fundraiser will ben-efit the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels’ Los Angeles Outreach Volunteers Foundation. Norma and Harry Salceda sponsored the medical group’s table, coordinated by Dr. Basco. Marissa Bautista, granddaughter of Jun and Concep Bautista, entertained guests with Broadway hits from “Cats” and “The Phantom of the Opera.” Mem-bers of the Bits N’ Pieces band also received music awards. ■

Let’s Rock! to fund the Cathedral of the Angels’ LA Outreach Volunteers Foundation

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served the divorce. Your spouse can get an order from the Cali-fornia court to return the child to California and get sole physical custody of your child. This can be enforced through law enforce-ment in other states. In addition, this would also be an ATROS vio-lation. Such a move would seri-ously undermine your claim for custody of the children.

Do not use your child as a messenger to communicate with your spouse

Divorce process is a very dif-ficult process for the children. Children often blame themselves

for the divorce of their parents. Children sometimes manifest this through their academic per-formance during the divorce pro-cess. Do not involve the children in your divorce case. Using the children to communicate mes-sages to your spouse puts them in a difficult and very stressful situation. This will also affect your claim for custody of your children if you regularly involve your children in your attempt to communicate with your spouse. In addition, you should not say disparaging remarks about the other parent to your children.

Do not stalk your spouse in

social medias such as facebook or tweeter.

Your spouse probably stopped informing you as to what is going on in his/her life at this point. You may be curious if your spouse hooked up with a third party or an old flamer. You may be curi-ous what your spouse are telling your friends and family. Do not stalk your spouse in social media such as facebook. Do not hack into your spouse’s e-mail. This is a crime. Your spouse can also file a domestic violence restrain-ing order against you for stalking. Most of the evidence obtained il-legally is not admissible in court

anyways. If you have been un-friended by your spouse, let it be.

Do not quit your job volun-tarily

If you think you can dodge child support and spousal sup-port by quitting your job volun-tarily, it is not going to happen. Your spouse’s lawyer will argue that there was no legitimate reason for you to leave your employment and may seek the court to impute income on you. Your spouse may seek vocational evaluation for purposes of deter-mining your earning capacity. In addition, the amount of income you will lose by quitting is sub-

stantially more than the money you will owe in child or spousal support. Even if you are suc-cessful in dodging the support orders by quitting your job, your spouse can modify them back up the moment you go back to the work force.

If you have been served with divorce papers and are unsure how to react, seek professional help before you dig yourself deeper in the hole.

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7 things you should not do when served with divorce papers by your…t

Annual Awards Banquet presented by TOYOTA

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

The Globe Theatre Universal Studios Hollywood

Black Tie Optional

Honorees

Business Enterprise of the Year CJ America, Inc.

Media Company of the Year Wong Fu Productions

ABA Chairperson Award

Honorable David E. Ryu

Corporation of the Year U.S. Bank

Advocate of the Year Richard Chacon

Celebrating the success of Asian owned businesses.

abala.org ǀ @ABALosAngeles ǀ #ABAAwards

Emcees

James Kyson Mei Melançon

Entertainment

Paul Dateh Maker Empire

T A J

MDWKMAGAZINEWednesday, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015

ON THE COVER: PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALVIN CAILAN AND EGGSLUT

The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - September 30, 2015

2 cover story

How Eggslut’s Alvin Cailan got Los Angeles to eat eggs all day

by CHRISTINA M. ORIEL / AJPRESS

AN ASIAN JOURNAL EXCLUSIVE

IT all started with eggs.Growing up as a latchkey

kid, Alvin Cailan’s father taught him how to cook eggs when he was tall enough to reach the stove.

Who would have thought that years down the road and experiences at fine-dining restaurants under his belt, he would circle back to what he first learned how to cook? And even, build an empire on the basic ingredient that’s making Angelenos salivate and queue up?

“All my life,” Cailan shared, “I always wanted to cook.” At 15 years old, he got a job as a dishwasher, eventually making his way up to kitchen manager.

However, he steered into a different route after high school: he studied business at Cal State Fullerton and worked at a construction company upon graduation. “All I could think of every day was, ‘what am I going to cook for dinner?’” he said.

With that insatiable hunger to prepare food and a personal mantra of ‘just doing it,’ Cailan took a leap and moved to Portland to attend the Or-egon Culinary Institute.

However, reality hit that breaking into the culinary industry wasn’t so simple. He knocked on every major restaurant in the city and faced constant rejection; if there was an opening, it was for free and a short period of time. When he landed his first paying job, the restaurant shuttered six months later.

It was back down the coast of California for Cailan, as he stopped at Yountville and Napa along the way, where some of the country’s best and Michelin-starred restaurants are located. Bouchon offered him a job, but he declined and moved back to his hometown of LA, where he made rounds at places like Spago and Hatfield’s.

For six months, he worked at Manhattan Beach Post, which he continues to regard as one of his most rewarding experiences.

“My experiences from Man-hattan Beach Post and working with a chef that lets a lot of [his] cooks figure out things for themselves made me realize that opening a restaurant for myself would be easy. That six months there really taught me how to be an restaurant owner. That’s when I knew I was ready,” Cailan said.

A breakfast revolution At this point, Cailan was

nearing 30 years old and stum-bled upon perhaps the saddest and most pathetic breakfast sandwich to exist — so sad that it motivated him to sell his car and buy a food truck, just as the city’s food truck movement was hitting its peak.

“I was really in shock [over] how breakfast was at the time. I went to a diner in Hollywood and they’re known for their breakfast. I ate their sandwich, and I thought, ‘in Portland, this is the lowest of the low,’ he said. “Then, I really looked into it and Yelped to see who were our competitors: McDonald’s or Starbucks. But in the craft realm, there were none.”

Along with his cousin Jeff Vales, Cailan based his mobile eatery on something as simple as eggs and breakfast sandwich-es, drawing in that comfort and familiarity. Yet, there would be a twist of innovation, and a jarring

name to it: Eggslut. “I’m not going to take credit

for actually inventing the word. But if you looked at food blogs 10 years ago, chefs were using that term, which then became an industry term, like ‘oh, all the chef does is make food with eggs…he is an eggslut,’” he shared. “I figured, being Filipino and in the second larg-est market in the country, how do you make waves? Having a name like Eggslut threw people off. Immediately people were in-trigued by the name, [but] they would walk in, taste the food, stay and then come back. I took a word that no one was using commercially, got the trademark and went forward with it.”

The Eggslut truck was ini-tially parked in front of Intelli-gentsia in Silver Lake, under the premise that “if people buy $7 coffee, they’re going to buy $6 breakfast sandwiches,” Cailan said.

Some of the menu items were elevated and elaborate --

a pork belly banh mi or croque madame, for example. But, it really was the simple, bacon-egg-cheese combinations that resonated.

“At the end of the day, when you’re eating at a food truck, the last thing you want is fancy because it doesn’t trans-late. You’re eating on the side of the street and eating something hard to eat. It took some time to realize that making bacon, egg and cheese is the right thing to do… As far as how Eggslut really became Eggslut was finding out what people wanted to eat because you have to be selfless in opening a restaurant — you can’t just cook what you want to eat,” he said.

The eggs made for a natural pairing with one’s morning cof-fee. Cailan did research on what classic coffee shops offered, and one of the dishes was a coddled egg, a process that required cracking an egg into an espresso cup and stirring it with an espresso wand to heat the top until it coddles.

Eggslut’s rendition became known as the “Slut,” a coddled egg on top of a smooth potato purée, poached in a glass jar and served with a demi ba-guette. At $9 a pop, it’s a dainty dish, but signifies the burst flavor that “both the novice and extreme foodie” could indulge in.

Other menu items include a turkey sausage sandwich, which came about to offer a less heavy option for pork in the morning, and the “Fairfax” (scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, caramel-ized onions and sriracha mayo in a warm brioche bun), which was composed from separate

elements already present in the kitchen.

The popularity and crowd-ing near the Silver Lake cof-fee shop, however, eventually caused other business owners to complain.

“…I had to move and that was the biggest hit. Three months rolled by and I was mak-ing like $50 a day. I was running the truck myself. I would wake up at 4 in the morning from Compton and drive it down to West Hollywood myself. Back then, it was just yell 1, 2 or 3 because I [was] the cashier, cook and everything else,” he said.

Then a “miraculous” morn-ing happened in January 2012, as the truck was parked along Fairfax Ave. in Mid-City: Ruth Reichl, famed food critic and former editor-in-chief of Gour-met magazine, approached and ordered the “Slut”.

“She comes up to the truck and my knees are shaking. She was the reason in the 80s and 90s why restaurants in New York would either be soaring success-es or closing their doors. She

was that kind of food critic,” Cailan recounted. “I did

everything to order all for her, gave it to

her and ran back to the truck…Food trucks have a lit-tle window and I’m looking out the window and she digs in and eats it. Boom, you just see it. I’m like I…crushed this.”

Following that morn-

ing encounter, Eggslut’s Twitter

went from 70 to 2,000 followers, all

thanks to Reichl’s blog post, “The Most Deca-

dent Breakfast” — a poetic narration of why she was drawn to the food truck not because of its name, but because of the description of the coddled egg dish:

“A well-coddled egg is a beautiful thing, and when the chef said, ‘This will take a while; we coddle them to order,’ I was hooked.

As anyone would be. This is a perfect way to start the day - a tender egg, held together with no more than a wish, on top of buttery pureed potatoes. The crunch of salt, the snappy bite of chives. Heaven in a spoon. And so rich it made three of us deliriously happy for the rest of the day.”

“I owe it to her. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have gotten to shine,” Cailan noted. “She gave me a chance…Next thing you know, every food blog and writer [was] hitting me up.”

In late 2013, Eggslut transi-tioned from four wheels to a 20-seat counter at Grand Central Market in downtown LA. On opening day, the staff of three only expected 150 orders and even thought that was a stretch.

“But at 8 am, on the day we opened on November 19, [2013], there were 400 people who showed up to Grand Central Market. We opened and sold our breakfast menu in an hour and 15 minutes. We reopened for lunch and sold out in two hours. Immediately after that, I was freaking out because I didn’t order enough,” Calian recalled how their supplies for the next week were gone within a few hours, and forced them to close for the next two days. Luckily, their purveyors were able to deliver ingredients im-mediately.

“We ended up muscling through and got over the first

week. We thought that maybe in two weeks the lines would go down, but it just got worse,” he joked.

Head over to the market at any time between 8 am and 4 pm, and Eggslut isn’t hard to miss with a line of customers, 50-100 people deep, snaking behind the stand.

The marketing behind Egg-slut has been organic and social media driven.

“At the end of the day, you can spend millions of dollars on promoting a name, but if your product sucks, no one is going to show up,” he said. “We get fortunate when a famous person with like 2 million followers tweets or Instagrams us, be-cause immediately that’s a reach of 2 million people.”

To date, the brick-and-mortar does about 500 covers on weekdays, with wait times averaging 45 minutes around lunchtime, and 1,000 covers on weekends, with an hour-long wait time.

It may be peculiar from afar that something so uncom-plicated like an egg sandwich would magnetize a horde of curious foodies. Is it for the name Eggslut itself? For the coolness factor and the Insta-gram? Scrambled eggs with sriracha mayo? A seared wagyu tri-tip steak and eggs wedged in a warm brioche bun?

Every minute — from wait-ing in line to placing the order to taking the first bite — is part of the entire Eggslut experi-ence.

“At Grand Central Market, it’s the perfect place to wait because you have the option to try cheese or grab coffee. It’s a food hall, so in an hour, you can easily try every restaurant and then wait for us [Eggslut] to end your meal. Grand Central Market in itself as a location is perfect. But going forward, we want to make sure that our food is the reason why people wait in line, especially with locations we plan on opening later on, we have to make sure our food is on point. We have to show people that we’re different and why they should eat with us and not stray away. That’s our mar-keting plan,” Cailan said, name dropping all of the local farms in Southern California where the ingredients are sourced from. “Everything is as local as possible at a really low price. Again, that’s another reason why people come and wait in line — it’s quality.”

However, like anything pop-ular or successful, not everyone has been eating up Eggslut.

“There are certain places that we couldn’t do events in because of our name. Like a lot of these food truck roundups, some places didn’t want Eggslut because of the name. When we

were announcing our opening at Grand Central Market, we received a lot of letters, saying the name is disgusting and vulgar…But in due time, we’ve ended up changing the conno-tation of the word by someone who’s obsessed and loves a certain thing, which is eggs,” he said.

Earlier this year, Eggslut was invited to be at Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and at an event in New York, both instances where the lines were long.

“I think we chose the right name. Our work ethic and our food are here to stay,” Cailan affirmed.

Eggslut expansion In the nearly two years

since the Grand Central loca-tion opened, Cailan has since dipped into other ventures.

Cailan frequented Men Oh in Little Tokyo and other restau-rants across the city in pursuit of the perfect ramen bowl, which led to studying broth, noodles and the ramen-ya con-cept. Along with partners John-ny Lee and Nathan Asamoto, former chef of Men Oh, Ramen Champ was opened in Chi-natown in January, as a place where everything is completely made from scratch, Japanese style. The broth is an elaborate process wherein pork bones are cleaned and soaked for two days, then cooked for 20 hours. (Cailan mentions that Drew Barrymore is a fan — “She says that it’s the closest bowl to To-kyo. We ended up being really good friends over it.”)

“After the broth is finished, we only serve it for that night and after that, whatever’s left over gets thrown out. That’s why we always sell out be-cause it costs so much to make from scratch, so we only make enough to sustain,” Cailan said.

In other words, there’s no room for mistakes.

“You can mess up a bacon and egg sandwich, but in 10 minutes later, you can make a new one. But if you mess up a batch of ramen, that’s it for the day. There were times when I shut the restaurant down be-cause I didn’t like how the broth tasted. It’s a lot tougher and there’s a lot of risk,” he said.

At first, juggling both restau-rants brought on sleepless days with a routine of making sure Eggslut was running smoothly in the morning, only to spend another eight hours at Ramen Champ.

Being in Chinatown, Cailan said, is tricky because of the ab-sence of other ramen competi-tors that could provide a taste comparison. In August, Ramen Champ went on hiatus, and will be re-opening in early October under new ownership.

“I wish I could’ve given all my attention to Ramen Champ

and that simply wasn’t the case. Eggslut and other projects kept me busy and I had to find people who can keep pushing the best ramen in town. The folks from Yokocho were the perfect fit and now they’re continuing the legacy. It couldn’t have landed in better hands while I grow Eggslut and other endeavors,” the Ramen Champ co-founder, who will stay on as a consultant, said.

Cailan also conceptual-ized a diner that would bring simple comfort food — in a city “where we’ve gotten so crazy with food” — but the concept would be too time-consuming for Cailan, who realized that the attention shouldn’t be taken away from Eggslut.

“The realistic thing is, our customers at Eggslut want us to open more because they’re tired of waiting too,” he said. “It’s crazy, like when Krispy Kreme first opened in LA, we would wait freaking three hours for a donut and I hated that. I always wondered why they wouldn’t just open another [store]. I was really stubborn and wouldn’t want to open another Eggslut, but now I’m getting backlash from customers who want another one so they don’t have to wait in line. Now my focus is finding the right place that doesn’t jeopardize who we are integrity wise.”

While nothing is set in stone just yet, Cailan said Mid-City and the Westside are consid-erations for additional Eggslut locations.

Lessons from the kitchenIn addition to his parents,

Cailan credits his success to his past experiences and go-getter attitude. Working in the kitchen since 15 has made him “as power as possible” to open his own restaurant.

As for mentors, Cailan mentions three men who have helped shape him into the chef he is today: Chef Mark Tagnipez, who has been his best friend since kindergarten; Michael Hannigan (chef de partie of Ten 01 in Portland), who taught him how to focus; and David LeFevre of Manhat-tan Beach Post, who taught him how to open and run a restau-rant.

“We talk a lot all the time about how it’s easy to have a dream and it’s easy to make it happen, especially when people are shoveling money your way,” he added. “But can you actually be a smart business owner? The only way you can be a smart business owner is through experience. I learned a lot from [working]. Also closing a restaurant taught me what not to do.”

He said camaraderie, especially among Filipinos in the food industry, is essential in building up support for each other’s projects. “With more and more entrepreneurial spirit from restaurant industry people, Filipino food is go-ing to grow really quickly,” he noted.

“Don’t do it for the money. You can’t be in this industry if you’re doing it in the money. A lot of people who go to culi-nary school end up being wait-ers because you make more money than being a cook or chef. If you really want to cook, know that we are the lowest paid people in the hospitality game, so be prepared to cap at $14 an hour. If you go into the industry, it’s because you love it,” he said.

Eggslutʼs Alvin Cailan

AJPress photo by Ding Carreon

Photos courtesy of Alvin Cailan and Eggslut

Bacon, egg and cheese sandwich

The lunchtime crowd at EggslutThe “Slut,” a coddled egg dish

features 3The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - September 30, 2015

TV series ‘Transcendent’ looks to break misconceptions of transgender women

By ALLYSON ESCOBAR AJPRESS

A BRAND new TV series is premiering on Fuse, uniquely focusing on the everyday lives, struggles and overall experi-ences of today’s transwomen.

Produced by World of Wonder Productions (creators of “RuPaul’s Drag Race:), the show “Transcendent” will follow the lives of a diverse group of trans-women living in San Francisco.

The show will document the physical and mental struggles, as well as triumphs, of this group of women, and will shed light on their professional, personal, even romantic lives. Episodes will take a close look at how the women connect through their sisterhood of shared experiences.

“One of the really great things about ‘Transcendent’ that makes the series stand out from other trans-focused serious is how diverse the women are,” said Hillary Wilson from The Lippin Group, who works with the show. “They are everyday women who struggle with the difficulties of being transgender, as well as being of a different race.”

The show -- which makes its debut on Fuse on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 11:30pm/10:30c -- features two Filipinas (Nya and L.A.), two Latinas, and an African-American woman, who are all connected through the world-famous AsiaSF Cabaret & Restaurant in San Francisco.

“At first, I didn’t want to be a part of it; I didn’t even think it would happen,” Nya, 31, told the Asian Journal. “I love to dance and to entertain people; that’s what I do. But having my personal life so public, on blast, is kind of weird for me.”

Nya (pronounced na-ya), from Hayward, California, has been working at the club since she was 19 years old, and was promoted to a managerial posi-tion. Confidently knowing she has been female her whole life, she has never struggled with self-identity and her family has been very accepting of who she is.

“Transitioning was a bit rocky, but it’s not because they didn’t accept me. Looking back, I think my mother was hard on

me because she was just trying to protect me from bullies,” Nya said. “A lot happens in the transgender community, espe-cially to women of color.”

She talked about the nega-tive labels being both trans and Filipino--“In Filipino culture, they still call us ‘bading,’ which means gay. But we’re not gay. We’re trying to ban these ste-reotypes.”

Nya expressed her hopes for the future of the transgender community, especially with the premiere of the new show.

“I was always kind of scared because I am going to be out there for people to criticize. Some people may like me, and some may not. But I’m doing this for the future generations of trans people who will watch. Now, transgender people are in the forefront of media. Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox…I’m very grateful that there are so many role models in our community that the youth can look up to.”

“We’ve been out there, but we just haven’t been visible. We are learning to exercise our voices and be who we truly are.”

Nya is very open on the show, which captures everything from her personal struggles to her romantic endeavors, all on camera. As a leader of the girls, she especially loves to express herself through dance--a regular part of AsiaSF cabaret life.

“Dancing has always been my outlet for not worrying about self-identifying myself, bullying, and hate,” she said. “When I’m performing, I feel like this is the one place that I

can really be myself. I feel ac-cepted and I feel beautiful.”

The show also follows the newest and youngest of the group, L.A.,--whose real name is Lauren Anthony--who is just starting with her transition, guided by her new friends at AsiaSF.

“While her new friends have become like family, L.A. is still faced with the prospect of telling her own family about her transition,” read a Transcendent synopsis from Fuse.

“Looking at these girls, they’re all gorgeous, strong, and proud of who they are,” said L.A., who became a part of ‘Transcendent’ through Nya, a longtime friend in the com-munity. “And that’s who I want to be.”

The show follows L.A.’s transition, her regular visits to the doctor, the audition process for AsiaSF, as well as her personal struggle coming out as a woman to her family. She recently moved to San Francisco from the Philippines.

“I was never really exposed to the transgender community; growing up, I was always identi-fied as a ‘gay male.’ I didn’t know any better,” L.A. told Asian Journal. “I know Filipinos mean well--as a culture, we are all about togetherness and being a family, and no matter what, my family has always been supportive of me. They still love me, as long as I don’t step on anyone’s toes.”

L.A. also talked about the ongoing discrimination and prejudices in the community.

In Need of Human Connection: An evening of comfort and hope

“The vibrations on the air are the breath of God speak-ing to man’s soul. Music is the language of God. We musicians are as close to God as man can be. We hear his voice, we read his lips, we give birth to the children of God, who sing his praise. That’s what musicians are.” - Ludwig van Beethoven

HOLLYWOOD—On August 9, Mon David opened up his show at the Catalina Jazz Bar and Grill with a special aura.

It was as if he was on top of a mountain summit, overlook-ing the grandeur of God’s cre-ations and watching the sunset colors of orange and yellow gold for the evening.

“I lead a very privileged ex-istence, surrounded by friends, colleagues, family. I am grateful for [you] coming out and [me] performing in front of the live audience,” he said.

Midway in the program, his children, Nicole and Carlo (who just flew in from the Philip-pines), joined him in scatting Moanin.

It was perhaps one of the best that night. The audience raved at the trio’s performance. Mon has clearly mentored his kids well. Jazz music has become his legacy to them, taking them to different parts of the world. Mon and his children are not just singers -- they are also composers, instrumentalists and arrangers.

Onstage, Mon was both reflective and appreciative, singing every note and every word as if they were his last, perhaps reflecting on the very untimely death of his musician friend, Zane Musa.

He culled some of the words and thoughts from the compilation which resonated with him:

“As long as there’s a song to sing, I’ll stay younger than spring.”

“If I ruled the world, every man would be as free as a bird.”

“Even the stars when they glow in the night, say thanks to you, our Divine.”

“Our seeds will scatter far and wide, across God’s fertile countryside.”

Zane Musa was a most celebrated saxophonist. His

genius was appreciated by the likes of Arturo Sandoval and the close-knit jazz community. He played three songs from Mon’s CD, This is All I Ask (“Grati-tude”, “Conviction” and “Love Abounds”).

In his groove, ruling the stage

“If I ruled the world every man will sing/everyone is his friend/everyone would say the world is his friend,” Mon gives the audience his all and they respond.

“We all enjoyed the sounds and acoustics and of course, the ‘interplay’ and the audience’s warm recep-tion. I felt each one of them really listening and feeling each note…each note. Many of those who came to me were crying as we hugged and some couldn’t even talk sa sobrang tuwa at pagka-overwhelmed sa music.., the words..messages and that really fulfills me – when I see and feel that. I am connect-ing through the songs that I choose to express my visions and views,” Mon said.

Why this fusion number? Ala Thelonious Monk with Pinoy Touch?, I asked.

“That piece is called “Moanin,” a classic jazzy gospel blues tune written by Bobby Timmons with lyrics by Jon Hendricks.

“Jon is considered the father of ‘vocalese’ - the art of putting words to pieces originally written as instrumen-tal pieces for sax, piano, etc. (which inspired me to write Filipino words for the Theloni-ous Monk and Charlie Parker tunes),” Mon shared.

“These have become favorite jam pieces among jazz players because of the chal-lenging lines, notes, phrasings. Itong dalawa [Nicole and Carlo] nag-eenjoy mag-improvise at mag-scat over chord changes! Nakakatuwa na patuloy ang kanilang pag-e-evolve at pag-expand sa kanilang repertoire! I’m happy and fulfilled with what happened at Catalina’s,” he added.

Mon expressed pride at his children’s accelerated growth as artists and musicians

Mon paid tribute to the

By PROSY ABARQUEZ-DELACRUZ, J.D. AJPRESS

great musicians who agreed to join him: Theo Sanders, Trevor Ware, Abe Lagrimas, Jr., Chuck Manning (who is a scientist by day and everybody’s musical coach by night), Tateng Katin-dig, and Nolan Shaheed.

What about your collabo-rations with Theo Sanders?, I asked.

“I’m enriched by my col-laborations with Theo. He is quite serious about his dedica-tion to the jazz tradition in the way he composes his music. To me, he is one of the most ‘tasteful’ improvisers on the piano and a great accompanist as well…the ‘merger’ Monk and Parker tunes were “Straight No Chaser” and “Billie’s Bounce” and like “Moanin,” they’re both fave jam pieces. I came up with Pinoy words for “Straight”…ganyan ba talaga? Ganyan nga ba ang buhay? Masalimuot [ang] mga problema, nakakalito! Hirap maintindihan..nakakahilo, nakakabato! Ingat lang pare ko, huwag kang magpapatalo sa ikot ng mundo, ganyan ang buhay!

And for “Billie’s”..kailan mo pa kaya uumpisahan, kailan ba, kailan pa? Huwag mo nang ipagpaliban! Puro bukas na lang, ay naku puro bukas na lang pag lagi kang ganyan walang pupuntahan kailan man, tandaan! (kung baga po, yung ‘manyana’ habit), ” Mon continued.

More than a record labelAlong with Mon, composer-

singer Cathy Segal-Garcia, cre-ated the record label, Human Connection.

But it has become more than that. It is also a collabora-

Mon David AJPress photo by Prosy Abarquez - Delacruz

Continued on Page 4Continued on Page 4

Photo courtesy of Transcendent

4The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - September 30, 2015

entertainmentThe violation of a womanMOONLIGHTING

by MYLAH DE LEON

IT was my first police beat assignment.

We felt that we had no right to do what we were doing.

The killing of a fellow human being was repulsive and hid-eous -- like performing some iniquitous farce. These were the thoughts flashing in my mind.

The boundaries of this nar-rative (from that one moment in May, years back to this day) are necessarily arbitrary -- like an artificial grid of days, weeks, months, years imposed on the

long and true arc of the lives of men who violated women.

The death chamber sud-denly was brimming with blank faces. We are all arranged at the edges of the room, neatly divided into 10’s.

At the center, the electric chair exerted a certain centrip-etal force amid the dry heat of the room.

We intently watched then Prisons Superintendent Gen. Vicente Raval, launch into the standard exposition, telling the grieving family what they should and should not do.

We marveled the way he handled the grieving families, with that perfect touch of patri-archal gravity. By what right was all that done? How could such a shocking routine be allowed?

It was like a performance, a spectacle, but didn’t have a trace of the so called “instruc-tions spectacle,” Ivan Turgenev thought .

And of capital punishment: could it be justified?

On the surface, the execu-tion resembled a nightmare. But digging deeper only saw the perverse eloquence of the whole thing. It was nothing but the unending inner city comedy

of crime and punishment. Head tilted slightly, hands

folded together at the waist, the priest expressed his most heartfelt sorrow in a slow, mea-sured tone.

He asked us to pray the Holy Rosary. Relatives of the condemned men looked around for any signs of a phone call from Malacañang. They were in utter discomfort of a lifetime.

Attempts at conversation spelled out words that were thick and incoherent.

“Bring in the condemned man!”

The rites commenced with General Raval’s glum voice that slightly shook, though conduct-ed at no emotional cost.

Yet, the effect was that of a .357 Magnum Smith and Wes-son barrel in a sea of silence.

The condemned man was escorted into the death cham-ber by two attendants.

He stepped on a rectangle adobe block covered with wet rags that dripped with water as his feet touched them.

Three feet away from him, I stood, shaking like a leaf. Standing beside the prison physician didn’t help cool my frazzled nerves, like the rest of my colleagues.

To my right was foreign

affairs star reporter, the suave and dashing Romy Mapile. To my left was feisty police reporter, Ruther Batiguas.

When another wet circular headdress that looked like a bishop’s cap was placed on the condemned’s shaven head, he looked at me and gave me a warm smile.

Then in a slight, endearing stutter, kicked in by last-min-ute stress and anxiety of a man facing death, he looked straight into my eyes and jested: “O, bagay ba?”

I almost expired! Before I could blink, I knew the electric lever was switched on because the rosary he wore on his neck suddenly sparked and glowed into a hundred little sparkles.

As his body jerked forward, the acrid smell of burnt flesh assailed my nostrils. I fainted!

Ruther Batiguas carried me out of the room in disgrace, before my yelping and heckling colleagues and a sea wave of humanity!

In time, the tragedy of the four boys’ execution was consigned into the bowels of the Penitentiary’s record drawers.

They became nothing but 3” by 4” index cards, filed with a thousand others. They will mean nothing and only their

offenses will be remembered -- nothing of what they did right.

That they had families and were human.

That they could have been good kids with good parental supervision.

That they were raised in an atmosphere conducive to character-building and sterling behavior.

What benefit, however small, could we have derived from that depraved day (it was like a circus) and the hideous-ness of it all?

Would my male colleagues go back into the bosom of their work, hating vice more than before?

What about me? What did I get from it?

Apart from feeling invol-untary astonishment over an execution and contempt for savages who violated women, what moral purpose can one possibly talk about, after so many refutations were con-firmed by experienced lawgiv-ers?

The fact remains: capital punishment is one of the most urgent questions that humanity needs to solve at the moment.

***E-mail Mylah at moonlightingmdl@

aol.com

In Need of Human Connection...tive space, where positive syner-gies of thoughtful musicians with a purpose converge.

At a benefit show for The American Foundation For Suicide Prevention (which was co-hosted by Bill A. Jones and Martha Taylor LaCroix) on September 19, over 80 folks watched a short video tribute to Zane Musa and his brother, Chance Taylor, who was a re-nowned artist in tap dancing.

Cathy and Mon joined 18 other jazz singers with a three-person band: Steve Rawlins on piano, Tome Bowe on drums with Mark Massey as musical director.

Along with Mary Wilson and Joan Ryan, Mon gave a riveting rendition of “Sack Full of Dreams”. Before doing his number, he spoke a few lines from the poetry of 14-year-old Matthew Stepanek -- a peace-maker and a poet, who passed

‘Transcendent’ looks to break...

“It’s time that society knows we transgender women exist. Oftentimes, we are seen as a fantasy, or just different, not nor-mal,” she said. “With the show, we want viewers to see how transwomen live their life, not any different from anyone else. To see that we are all human and it’s okay to be yourself and to be happy and not let anyone judge you.”

Regarding her new ac-ceptance and journey towards becoming herself, she simply said, “It all comes down to just being yourself and owning who you are, making the most of your lives.”

Nya also talked about her life’s ambition. “To love and be loved,” she says in the pilot epi-sode, “that’s what everybody in life wants, really…and hopefully great shoes.”

away five years ago. You want to pluck out this

special cluster of masterful performers. Outside, three sets of fans stopped to congratulate Mon.

Cathy sang her own com-position, “What Are We Gonna Do?”

One verse particularly resonated with me: “When life starts to decline, and throws us a curve/And makes us go blind…/Got to find the right door to open our hearts, and help us stay kind!”

The music video, “I Need You to Survive” featured the “We Care” Community Choir. Nolan Shaheed engineered the sounds, while conducted by HB Barnum (currently on tour with Aretha Franklin), directed by Marc Saltarelli and Instrumental Track created by Richard Turner, Jr.

This writer got a preview of the music video, “I Need You

To Survive” -- a song extend-ing a message hope to those contemplating suicide.

The video featured the We Care Community Choir. It was created by Richard Turner, Jr., conducted by HB Barnum and directed by Marc Saltarelli with sound engineering provided by Nolan Shaheed.

It was a touching evening. The audience was teary-eyed when Becky Musa, mother of Zane and Chance, spoke about her sons, who took their own lives.

“I miss them very badly, they were gone way too soon [but I am] glad people know what they have done,” she said.

Mon reminds us how life is so fragile and that life should be lived. Human Connection, with its first CD, All I Ask, has stirred souls and hopefully, would heal the wounded hearts of those who have tragically lost a loved one from suicide.

From Page 3

From Page 3

5The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - September 30, 2015

6 The Asian Journal MDWK MAGAZINE - September 30, 2015

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CANOGA PARK, CA 91304 (818) 857-3400

N VERMONT LA627 N. VERMONT AVE.

LOS ANGELES, CA 90004 (323) 671-1020

CORPORATE OFFICE20819 CURRIER ROAD,

WALNUT, CA 91789 (909) 594-8080

PANORAMA CITY8340 VAN NUYS BLVD. UNIT A ,

PANORAMA CITY, CA 91402 (818) 895-2423

S VERMONT LA229 S. VERMONT AVE.

LOS ANGELES, CA 90004 (213) 674-2980

CERRITOS11481 SOUTH ST.

CERRITOS, CA 90703 (562) 809-8889

WEST COVINA1512 E. AMAR ROAD

WEST COVINA, CA 91792 (626) 964-4858

Presyong Suki!

$199/lb

WAS$2.99

SAVINGS33%

Pork Chop Skin On

Presyong Suki!

WAS$0.99

SAVINGS49%

2lbs for

$1Chicken Leg Quarter

WAS

$1.99SAVINGS

50%Pike

Mackerel 99c/lb

WAS

$1.99SAVINGS

50%Roundscad 99c/lb

WAS

$4.90SAVINGS

19%Large White Shrimp H/O

$399/lb

Banana Regular

$12lbsfor

WAS

$0.79SAVINGS

37%

Brown Onions

$14lbsfor

WAS

$0.50SAVINGS

50%

Cilantro

$15pcsfor

WAS

$0.69SAVINGS

71%

BittermelonWAS

$2.69SAVINGS

63%

/lb99c

Red Globe Grapes

WAS

$1.49SAVINGS

34%

/lb99c

PatolaWAS

$1.29SAVINGS

47%

/lb69c

White Onions

WAS

$0.79SAVINGS

58%

3lbsfor99c

Baby BananaWAS

$0.99SAVINGS

30%

/lb69c

$16.99

IP Jasmine Rice 25 lbs

WAS$20.99

SAVINGS19%

$17.99

3 Kings Brown Jasmine Rice 20lbs

WAS$18.99

SAVINGS5%

Hereford Super Chunky Corned Beef 12oz

WAS$5.99SAVINGS42%

2for

$7 Made in BRAZIL

Bristol Chicken Luncheon Meat 12oz

WAS$2.39SAVINGS37%

2for

$3

C&H Pure Cane Sugar 4lbs

WAS$3.99SAVINGS37%

2for

$5

$2.99

Manco Pride Corned Beef 12oz (Trapezoid)

WAS$5.59SAVINGS47%

$2.99

Ox & Palm Luncheon Loaf 12oz

WAS$3.49SAVINGS14%

$2.99

Nuri/Mabuti Sardines 90g

WAS$3.79SAVINGS21%

99 c

555 Tuna Flakes Asstd Flavors 4.9oz

WAS$1.29SAVINGS23%

99 c

Datu PutiVinegar 1 L

WAS$1.49SAVINGS33%

99 c

Chaudoc Coconut Milk 14oz

WAS$1.29SAVINGS23%

99 c

San Miguel Gold Label Chocolait 250ml

WAS$1.19SAVINGS17%

99 c

Lydia’s Lechon Sauce 330g

WAS$1.39SAVINGS29%

99 c

IP Chicharon Asstd Flavors 2.5oz

WAS$1.29SAVINGS23%

99 c

House Tofu Asstd Textures 14oz

WAS$1.49SAVINGS34%

$8.99

Nescafe Classico Dark Roast 7oz

WAS$9.99SAVINGS10%

$14.99

Milo Powder in Can 1.5kg

WAS$16.99

SAVINGS12%

$18.99

Nido Powder in Can 1.6kg

WAS$21.99

SAVINGS14%

$1.99

Del Monte Fruit Cocktail 30oz

WAS$3.59SAVINGS45%

$4.99

IP Sweet Rice 5lbs

WAS$5.79SAVINGS14%

99 c

BinBin Rice Cracker 3.73oz

WAS$1.09SAVINGS

9%

99 c

Lipa Fresh Buko Juice 520ml

WAS$1.29SAVINGS23%

99 c

7-Up Soda Asstd Flavors 2L

WAS$1.89SAVINGS48%

Valid at Island Pacific West Covina, Cerritos, Panorama, Canoga Park, N. Vermont Los Angeles, S. Vermont Los Angeles, Oxnard. Thursday to Wednesday Oct 1-7

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