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DATELINEUSAfrom the AJPress NEWS TEAM AcroSS ASS ASS MEricMEricME AricAric

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Binay: Presidential dream dates back to childhoodBinay: Presidential dream dates back to childhoodBinay: Presidential dream

Asian immigrants likely to overtake Hispanics in US population

by Ares GutierrezManilaTimes.net

Waze: Manila has worst traffic on Earth

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WORLD RECORD. The Philippines is now the holder of the Guinness World Record for the largest coin mosaic. Guinness World Records judge Jack Brockbank confirmed on Wednesday that Western Union Philippines created the world’s largest coin mosaic measuring 252.78 square meters. “I now confirm that here in the Philippines, Western Union have managed to construct a coin mosaic measuring a grand total of 252.78,” Brockbank said, adding that this broke the previous record of 156 square meters in the US. Inquirer.net photo

Eligible CA drivers to get amnesty for traffic tickets

by Allyson escobArAJPress

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Marcos seeks Duterte’s ‘counsel’DAVAo CItY—A day after mayor

rodrigo Duterte met vice presidential aspirant sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, another rumored VP wannabe—sen. ferdinand marcos Jr—was in town to seek the mayor’s “wise counsel.”

Duterte and marcos met behind closed doors in a hotel on Wednes-day, sept. 30.

the agenda? Politics.“obviously, we talked about poli-

tics,” marcos told reporters who wait-ed until the meeting was over around

by Jefry M. efry M. efry tupAupAup sManilaTimes.net

CAlIfornIA is offering partial financial amIA is offering partial financial amIA -nesty for some drivers with unpaid traffic tickets under a limited state amnesty program.

Announced this week, the program -- autho-rized by senate Bill 85, and promoted by CA Gov-ernor Jerry Brown’s administration -- will allow motorists with outstanding tickets to pay them off at a reduced amount. the fee will be either 50 to 80 percent of the full citation amount, depending on the driver’s income, and will apply to tickets originally due on or before Jan. 1, 2013, officials said.

All assessed penalties will be waived, and pay-ments can be made in installments, the sacra-mento Bee reported. the program also contains provisions that will allow license reinstatement for drivers who lost their license after failing to pay fines or appear in court.

“take a broader look at effective public access to California’s courts, including traffic proceed-

US general vows to immediately defend PH sovereignty

by yuJi Vincent GonzAles Inquirer.net

VICe President Jejomar Binay on thursday, oct. 1 said his dream to become the country’s next top leader dates back to his childhood days.

“Batang-bata pa ako naiisip ko na iyan, minsan minsan. Sa katotohanan, talagang nangangarap akong maging Pangulo ng bansa,” Binay said in an interview with Cnn Philippines.

Binay said his dream of becoming president was boosted when he was elected class officer in school, and as member of the student government in college.

“Kasi in the first place, Kasi in the first place, Kasi sa classroom pa lang, I was always a class officer. pa lang, I was always a class officer. pa lang

In college, I was a member of the UP student Council, elected. Gusto ko tala-gang maglingkod sa pamahalaan. After all, I suppose you read it in profiles in college, one of the best professions is working in government kasi it gives you an opportunity to be of service [to] the people.” he said.

Binay, who once called the vice presi-dency as a “spare tire,” said his position can be a stepping stone to the presi-dency “if you’ve done something good in that position.”

“At least pinalad ako doon sa aking pangarap na ako ay hindi maging spare tire dahil sa pinagkatiwalaan din na-man ako ni Pangulong Aquino na ako ay mangasiwa sa pabahay,” he said.mangasiwa sa pabahay,” he said.mangasiwa sa pabahay

EMBATTLED. Despite a decline in approval ratings, Vice President Jejomar Binay still has eyes set on presidency in next year’s election. If he would be elected president in 2016, Binay said he would spend his first 100 days in office “uplifting the life of the Filipino people” by addressing unemployment and lowering income tax.

Inquirer.net photo

by Aby Aby lexis roMero Philstar.com

mAnIlA — A United states military official on thursday, oct. 1 vowed to come to the aid of the Philippines “with-in a matter of hours” in the event that the sovereignty of its southeast Asian ally is challenged.

Brig. Gen. Paul Kennedy, chief of the Us 3rd marine expeditionary Brigade, not-ed that the two countries has had close defense ties in the last 64 years since sign-

WAWAW ze—the GPs-based navigation ap-plication that tracks traffic flow in key cit-ies worldwide—just validated what every motorist and commuter in manila know and bear each day.

metro manila has the worst traffic on earth on a city level, followed by rio de rio de rJaneiro and sao Paulo in Brazil, and Ja-karta in Indonesia.

the netherlands, slovakia, sweden and Czech republic reported an easy and sat-isfying driving experience, as well as the United states and france.

the results were reflected in Waze’s latest Global Driver satisfaction Index that it posted on its website on thursday, oct. 1.

Answers to the Global Driver satisfac-tion Index were collated from 50 million Waze users in 32 countries and 167 met-

ropolitan areas.the report said roads in the Philippines

are the worst to drive on because of fre-quency and severity of traffic jams, poor road infrastructure, among other reasons.

the Philippines got 0.4 in a 10-point grading system with 10 marked as “satis-fying” and 1 as “miserable.”

manila got the distinction of having topped the list of cities with the “worst traffic on earth.”

Indonesia, however, had eight cities listed in Waze’s “horror roll.”

the average commuting time in manila has been estimated at 45.5 minutes, mak-ing it the longest commute time in most major cities all over the world.

the Philippines also scored low in the road Quality Index, and the socio-eco-nomic Index, which is based on access to cars and impact of gas prices.

not all was bad for the Philippines,

Results of the study by Waze showed that on a city level, Metro Manila has the worst traffic on Earth, followed by Bandung and Guatamela.

however.the country scored a 9.3 in Waze’s

safety Index, which means the Philippines has the safest roads based on number of accidents, road hazards and weather.

the Philippines also got the high-est rank on the Drivers services Index based on access to gas stations and easy parking.

Authorities still on search for missing Daly City Fil-Am

the Daly City police are still search-ing for a filipino-American male who went missing last sunday, september 27.

Christian mayrena, 35, was sup-posed to meet his parents for dinner last sunday at their residence in Daly City, but never arrived. An audio/video engineer at facebook in menlo Park, his family thought that he was late be-cause he had to work overtime.

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

US Marine Brig.Gen. Paul Kennedy (center) Commanding General of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, Col. Nathaniel Casem of the Philippine Marines and Philippine Marine Maj.Gen. Alexander Balutan, Naval Director General, link arms following the opening ceremony of the joint US-Philippines amphibious landing exercise dubbed PHIBLEX 2015 at the Philippine Marine barracks at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City on Thursday, Oct. 1.

midnight.When asked separately, Duterte

also said their meeting was all about politics.

“We talked about politics and chances of every candidate in the coming elections,” he added.

Duterte said marcos asked for his help.

“he asked for some advice on what he should do. he was asking for my help,” according to the mayor.

marcos also admitted seeking Duterte’s enlightenment on his po-litical direction.

“I came here to ask for the may-

or’s advice,” he told reporters. “I just needed to talk to somebody whose advice is genuine.”

Duterte’s supporters have been clamoring for him to run for Presi-dent. marcos was among the names being floated as his possible running mate.

on tuesday, sept. 29 Duterte met with Cayetano over dinner.

the mayor later said Cayetano will surely “wipe out” all other vice presi-dential aspirants.

obviously, Cayetano wanted Duterte to be his partner, saying the mayor is

ing their mutual Defense treaty.

“our mutual security has been upheld to the close working relation-ship that we have forged in that time,” Kennedy said during the opening of this year’s Philippine Am-phibious landing exercise (PhIBleX) in fort Bonifa-cio.

“I would tell you that if anybody would challenge the sovereignty of this country, their best friends

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Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Bongbong Marcos

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From the Front Page

Marcos seeks Duterte’s...PAGE A1

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surely “worth the wait.”The Duterte-Marcos tandem,

however, was not discussed on Wednesday night.

“We discussed the tandem long time ago. It was not discussed to-day,” Marcos said. “The filing of candidacy is coming, and I need to make a decision. I have al-

ready sought his political advice before and this is a continuation of that.”

That he will run for Vice Presi-dent is something that he still has to decide on.

“Well, I will announce that very soon,” Marcos said.

Duterte, meanwhile, said he will get in touch with Marcos

once he finally comes up with a decision.

“I promised Senator Marcos to get in touch with him in the com-ing days. We are about to cross the Rubicon [to take a decisive step],” he added, apparently re-ferring to the October 16 dead-line for the filing of certificates of candidacy.

percent of all immigrants.The nearly 130-page docu-

ment--entitled “Modern Immi-gration Wave Brings 59 Million to US, Driving Population Growth and Change Through 2065”--provides “nonpartisan analysis that explores trends and projects the future,” and comes 50 years after the 1965 Immigration 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 reunit-ing immigrant families and pro-viding necessary employees.

Since the act’s passage, about

Asian immigrants likely to overtake Hispanics...

If he would be elected presi-dent in 2016, Binay said he would spend his first 100 days in office “uplifting the life of the Filipino people” by addressing unemployment and lowering in-come tax.

“There are many changes that

Binay: Presidential dream dates back...can be done. For example, I am fully supportive, although it’s not fully supported by the adminis-tration and even by the admin-istration candidate for president, of lowering the income tax. That will increase money for the peo-ple for them to spend, among oth-ers. We will find a way to reduce

the cost of prices, specifically for basic commodities like rice,” the vice president said.

Binay announced his bid for the presidency under the United Nationalist Alliance and declared himself as opposition leader after he resigned from the Cabinet of President Benigno Aquino III.

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within this region would re-spond within a matter of hours and generally I assure you that that is not a hollow promise,” he added.

The Philippines is now em-broiled in a territorial dispute with China, which is claiming almost 90 percent of the po-tentially oil- and gas-rich South

US general vows to immediately defend...China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philip-pines have overlapping claims in the area, where more than $5-trillion worth of trade passes through annually.

The Philippines has ques-tioned what it described as China’s exaggerated territorial claim before an international arbitral tribunal but the Chinese

government refused to answer the complaint.

The US has vowed to remain neutral on the dispute but has repeatedly called on China to adhere to the rule of law.

A total of 748 Philippine Marine troopers and 860 US Marines will participate in the PHIBLEX drills to be held from October 1 to 9. This year’s drills constitute the 32nd iteration of the bilateral exercise.

Trainings will be conducted in Ternate, Cavite, Crow Val-ley, Tarlac, San Antonio, Zam-bales and Palawan to enhance the interoperability of the two forces and their readiness to provide assistance during ca-lamities.

Boat raid drills will be held at the Arrecife Island in Sof-ronio Espanola, Palawan while mechanized assault exercises will be conducted at the Naval Education Training Center in Zambales. Live fire exercise will also be conducted in Crow Valley.

Maj. Gen. Alexander Balutan, commander of the Philippine Marine Ready Force, said the combined trainings would en-able the military to improve its services to the public.

“In training we are not only investing in individual marine, but we are also investing in the future of our country. To me, honing your skills is not only a crucial requisite to rendering better service to the people, but also a reward to one’s self as it forms you into a better man,” Balutan said.

“Sense of pride should make you to be at your best in your field of work because training is not far from doing our wares, the actual operational environ-ment,” he added.

Kennedy said the drills would enable them to learn new les-sons that they can apply to the increasingly complex security environment.

“The Philippine Marine Corps and US Marine Corps are abso-lutely rock solid partners as we train in security cooperation within the region,” the US mili-tary official said.

“These lessons are becom-ing more and more acute and remind us of the seriousness of the business that we have at hand,” he added.

“From 8pm to about 9:30pm, we texted and called him but there was no reply,” said Lucy Mayrena, Christian’s mother. “We assumed that he was just working overtime.”

Mrs. Mayrena said that she and her husband, Cristobal, went home instead. “Our daughter-in-law called at 1am and said my son was still wasn’t home and she was really worried because she hasn’t heard from him.”

Christian’s last known activ-ity was on Sunday around 5pm when he left work. It is said that he may have visited one of the

Authorities still on search for...Bay Area casinos.

His friends and family have also checked hospitals, police departments and casinos in the San Francisco, Peninsula, South Bay and East Bay areas.

At present, there are no leads on where Christian could be and the police are asking the public’s help in locating him.

Christian is described as 5-foot-3 inches, 130 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes. He drives a metallic blue 2000 Lexus RX 300 with license plate 4JDX557.

Any information on Chris-tian’s whereabouts should be

Christian Mayrena

forwarded to the police at (650) 991-8119 or the tip line at (650) 873-AIMS and refer to case #15008381.

51 percent of immigrants have come to the US from Latin Amer-ica, and a quarter of new immi-grants have come from Asia.

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

Of the current largest immi-grant groups, Hispanics made up 4 percent of the total U.S. popula-tion in 1965. Today, they make up 18 percent, and by 2065, that fig-ure is projected to be 24 percent. Asians, meanwhile, were less

than 1 percent of the total popu-lation 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 natural-ization rates in the country. While only 47 percent of all immigrants in the country are naturalized, the number for Asian immigrants is considerably higher, at 59 per-cent.

Breaking it down by Asian sub-groups, data found that Vietnam-ese and Taiwanese immigrants have the highest naturalization

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Asian immigrants likely to overtake Hispanics...rates at 76 percent and 74 per-cent, respectively. Data reveals 59 percent of Koreans, 51 percent of Chinese, 47 percent of Indians, 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, ex-plained. “It became more difficult to cross the border and to demo-graphic 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 immigrants, the study predicts. Asians will later outnumber Hispanics to make up 38 percent of immigrants.

“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 Poli-cy Institute.

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

PAGE A1 ings and the impact of manda-tory and discretionary fines, fees and penalties on court users,” CA Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said in May to the state’s Judicial Council, which is in charge of making policies in courts.

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) had received 4.73 million California license suspension actions from courts, according to report data from this past April. In that time, just under 82,000 licenses were re-instated.

California has come under recent criticism for its stiff traf-fic fines, including add-on fees and assessments that can triple and even quadruple base fines for minor infractions. Minori-ties and civil rights groups have advocated that the traffic fines disproportionately affect ethnic groups and the poor, and the in-ability to pay a ticket fine can put lower-income drivers at risk of unemployment.

“We think it is going to have a significant impact for folks who have been pushed to the curb,” said Mike Herald, a legislative advocate for the Western Center

Eligible CA drivers to get amnesty for...on Law & Poverty, who support-ed the program as a solid first step. “They can get out from un-der this cloud, get their driver’s license back immediately. They’ll be able to buy auto insurance again. Employers will hire peo-ple who don’t have a suspended license.”

The driver’s amnesty was con-sidered by lawmakers earlier this year, when civil rights and legal aid groups pointed out that over the past eight years roughly 4.2 million Californians had lost their licenses because they could not afford crippling traffic fees, said LAist. Today, there are 25 million licensed drivers in the state.

Many of the huge fees tacked on to traffic fines were added during an earlier budget crisis to help pay for the court system and other programs, according to the Los Angeles Times. For example, base fines of $100 sud-denly jumped to $500, and if the driver missed the payment dead-line they would then owe $815--much more than many could af-ford to pay in time.

The amnesty will cover tickets for most moving violations, such as speeding, red light violations,

and failure to stop at a stop sign. It also covers some non-traf-fic infractions such as loitering, trespassing, and littering.

However, drivers with parking tickets, a DUI, a conviction for reckless driving, or more recent traffic fines are out of luck and not eligible.

The program still costs $50 to participate, charged by courts, and the DMV will charge $55 to reinstate a lost driver’s license.

A previous state amnesty pro-gram in 2012 netted $12.3 million over six months, SacBee report-ed. Court officials and civil rights advocates say the new program has similar elements that should get more results; however, there are not yet estimates on how many drivers will take advantage of the new program.

A bill by Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Los Angeles), SB 405, now sitting on the governor’s desk, would also guarantee that mo-torists can fight their tickets in court before being required to pay their fines.

The amnesty program goes into effect on Thursday, Oct. 1 and will run through to March 31, 2017.

Junipero Serra statue vandalized days after canonizationby Allyson EscobAr

AJPress

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 Genocide” 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 criti-cized for his “harsh treatment” of Native Americans. While support-ers view him as a faithful apostle who brought Catholicism to the

state, opponents believe he was a Spanish conquistador who op-pressed native Indian populations, 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 customs 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 ac-tions on this sacred property, and that they seek reconciliation,” a mission representative wrote on the Carmel Mission’s Facebook page. “Let us remember that we live in a loving community, and let us not be discouraged 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 sitting in the National Statuary Hall Col-lection in Washington with a stat-ue of Sally Ride, an astronaut and educator with a less controversial legacy.

Those who opposed the canon-ization argue that Serra did not up-hold the dignity of the indigenous populations living at the mission sites.

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

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.”

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Dateline PhiliPPinesDuterte eyes Cayetano for VP

by Rosette Adel Philstar.com

Bayan: Too early to get Aquino off the hook over DAP

MANILA—Davao City Mayor Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte wants Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as his running mate if he decides to run for president in the 2016 polls.

Duterte said he and Cayeta-no briefly discussed the possi-bility of forming a tandem for 2016 during their private din-ner on Tuesday, Sept. 29, the same day after the senator de-clared his vice presidential bid in Davao City.

The mayor clarified that the decision is not yet finalized since he is still deciding if he will run for president.

“Si Alan? Of course. He is a lawyer. He’s very articulate, marunong,” Duterte said when asked if Cayetano has a poten-tial to be the country’s next vice president.

“We were just making some projections. We also talked about team-ups and tandems, but noth-

ing definite. Hanggang ngayon, sabi ko, hindi pa naman ako kan-didato,” he said.

Duterte said they are similar in their “good grasp of the practical solutions for [the country’s] prob-lems,” including poverty and the need to improve the economy through adequate infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Cayetano was thankful for Duterte’s support in his vice presidential bid.

Cayetano said he is willing to wait for the final decision of Duterte.

“A good partner is worth wait-ing for,” he said.

Cayetano from the Nacio-nalista Party formally an-nounced his vice presidential bid in Davao City. He met with Duterte after his declaration, accompanied by his sister Sen. Pia Cayetano.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano had a private meeting with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte after his vice presidential bid announcement. Photo from the office of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano

WHILe welcoming the Om-budsman’s order to probe Bud-get Secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad over the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), a militant group on Thursday, Oct. 1 maintained that President Be-nigno Aquino III should be held liable for the controversial sav-ings-impounding mechanism, portions of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

Bayan secretary-general Re-nato Reyes said Aquino was “principally accountable” for DAP, which was regarded the President’s pork barrel, as he was the one who approved the release of funds.

“It is only right that DBM Sec-retary Abad and his undersecre-tary Mario Relampagos face the investigation for their role in the illegal DAP. However the biggest problem is that the Ombudsman field investigators have already absolved President Aquino from any liability,” Reyes said in a statement.

“Aquino is principally account-able for DAP since he signed the

by Yuji Vincent GonzAles Inquirer.net

DAP memos releasing P144 bil-lion for various pork barrel proj-ects. How can he not be liable now?” he added.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales on Wednesday ordered the investigation for technical malversation of Abad, who was said to be the brains behind DAP, along with Budget Undersecre-tary Mario Relampagos, who is currently facing graft charges over the pork barrel scam. The or-der came after Morales approved the fact-finding probe of the Om-budsman field investigation office which found Abad and Relampa-gos liable over DAP.

It was noticeable, however, that Morales did not order a probe on Aquino, who appointed her to of-fice in 2012.

Reyes said the Ombudsman should investigate Aquino’s sup-posed role in the DAP, noting that Abad and Relampagos may use him as an excuse to get away with the allegations.

“Wouldn’t Abad and Relampa-gos use as their defense the fact that the Ombudsman already cleared Aquino and that they were thus merely carrying out law-ful orders from the president?” Reyes asked.

“The Abad probe may turn out to be a sham if Aquino’s key role in the DAP is not pursued. The case should not be limited simply to malversation,” he said.

The DAP first became controver-sial in September 2013 when Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” estrada disclosed in a privilege speech that senator judges were bribed P50 million in DAP to convict then Chief Justice Renato Corona. Practices under DAP were declared unconstitu-tional by the Supreme Court in its July 2014 ruling, which was modi-fied in February 2015.

“The Ombudsman must look into how billions were given to lawmakers who supported the Corona impeachment trial. Aqui-no and Abad were involved in the corruption of public officials during the impeachment. It is too early to get Aquino off the hook,” Reyes added.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Department of Budget and Management welcomed the Om-budman’s probe but noted that the inquiry was “not a matter whether individuals had stolen from public coffers.” Malacanang, meanwhile, called the investigation as an “op-portunity” to clarify legal issues surrounding the DAP.

Grace Poe: DNA sample didn’t come from Marcos kinby MAilA AGeR

Inquirer.net

SeNATOR Grace Poe made it clear on Thursday, Oct. 1 that the DNA sample that she took to iden-tify her biological parents did not come from the Marcos family.

Poe made this clarification when asked anew during an inter-view in Cebu about the urban leg-end that she was an illegitimate child of the late dictator, Ferdi-nand Marcos, and former actress Rosemarie Sonora.

Sonora is the sister of the sen-ator’s adoptive mother, veteran actress Susan Roces.

“Matagal na pong kwentuhan iyan na sinasabi ay ganun nga, wala naman kaming dahilan para paniwalaan iyan. In fact noong nagpa-DNA ako, mayroong isang lumapit na parang may posibili-dad doon pero hindi dito sa Pami-lya Marcos…” Poe said.

“Lumabas ang aking pinsan, sinabi niya na nasasaktan siya na ang kanyang nanay ay nahahalo dito sa kwentong ito, hindi ko din naman ginusto iyan, naiintin-dihan ko na masakit nga. Wala akong dahilan para isipin na iyan ay totoo dahil nga sa mga kwento na rin ng aking mga magulang at mga kakilala,” she said.

The cousin being referred to by Poe is Sonora’s daughter, actress Sheryl Cruz, who publicly op-posed her presidential bid.

Poe pointed out that even Mar-cos’ son and namesake, Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., also refused to undergo a DNA test simply because he wants to be a part of this “urban legend.”

“Sabi niya ayaw daw niya kasi sabi niya he wants to be a part of an urban legend so hindi naman sa dahil, parang we’re making lie to it, pero wala ngang dahilan para isipin iyon na chismis lang talaga noon,” she further said.

Drilon: Robredo is Roxas running mateMANILA—Senate Presi-

dent and Liberal Party stalwart Franklin Drilon said Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo will be the party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2016 elec-tions.

In an interview on the morn-ing show Umagang Kay Ganda, Drilon said it is most likely that Robredo, the widow of the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, will be Mar Roxas’s runningmate.

“Malamang. Sabihin na lang natin na si Congresswoman Leni na ang kandidato natin sa

pagkabise presidente,” Drilon replied when asked if the con-gresswoman will be LP’s vice presidential bet.

As of press time, Robredo has yet to confirm if she has for-mally accepted the offer of the administration party to partner with Roxas in the national elec-tions next year.

In her earlier statements, Ro-bredo has been reluctant of ac-cepting the party’s offer as her daughters have been apprehen-sive of the idea of their mother running for the land’s second top post. (Philstar.com)

Leni Robredo is likely to run alongside Mar Roxas under the banner of the Liberal Party. She is seen in this July 2015 file photo at the State of the Nation Address of President Aquino. Philstar.com photo by AJ Bolando

RIDE FOR PROSTATE CANCER. Bikers dressed in suits ride their bikes and scooters during an international awareness campaign for prostate cancer participated by 79 countries around the world on Sunday, Sept. 27. The event, called The Distinguished Gentlemen’s Ride is aimed to raise $3 million this year to assist in finding a cure for a disease that kills 1300 men a day worldwide. Inquirer.net photo by Marianne Bermudez

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ManilaTimes.net photo

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 conges-tion problem is now more than an an-noyance in our lives, there is open discussion of my favorite topic: how to govern the metro area. We cannot go on allowing 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 seriously. It is the right strategy to take in conjunction with our disaster preparedness 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 ma-jor calamities.

Green City is a 9,450-hectare me-tropolis to rise within the Clark Free-port Zone whose development was re-cently won by the Filinvest Group. It is expected to be the first smart, disaster-resilient 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 prepare for the eventuality of a big earthquake in Metro Manila’s West Val-

ley Fault. “When the Big One strikes, delivery of government services and operations of businesses suffer the lon-gest because you will have to face is-sues of health or personnel shortage, supply chain problems, public order, and a host of other challenges,” Cas-sanova 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 be-tween economic growth and urbaniza-tion. 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.

* * *Boo Chanco’s e-mail address is bchanco@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco

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

Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand have issued travel advisories to their citizens. If not concluded at the soonest time possible, more travel adviso-ries against the Philippines are to be expected, and its consequences to the tourism industry may be exacerbated.

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!* * *

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

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

Gel SantoS-ReloS

The Fil-Am Perspective

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Ai-Ai de las Alas proves her naysayers wrong

How Eggslut’s Alvin Cailan got Los Angeles to eat eggs all day An AsiAn JournAl ExclusivE

By Christina M. Oriel AJPress

Alvin Cailan Photos courtesy of Alvin Cailan and Eggslut

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 Oregon 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 Manhattan 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 a 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 stumbled 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 sandwiches, 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 largest market in the country, how do you make waves? Having a name like Eggslut threw people off. Immediately people were intrigued 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 initially parked in front of Intelligentsia 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 translate. 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 coffee. 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 baguette. 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, caramelized onions and sriracha mayo in a warm brioche bun), which was composed from separate elements already present in the kitchen.

The popularity and crowding near the Silver Lake coffee 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 making 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” morning 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 Gourmet 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

partners Johnny Lee and Nathan Asamoto, former chef of Men Oh, Ramen Champ was opened in Chinatown 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 Tokyo. 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 because 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 because 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 restaurants 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 absence of other ramen competitors 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 conceptualized 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 considerations 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 Manhattan Beach Post, who taught him how to open and run a restaurant.

“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 going 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 culinary school end up being waiters 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.

restaurants in New York would either be soaring successes 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 little 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 morning encounter, Eggslut’s Twitter went from 70 to 2,000 followers, all thanks to Reichl’s blog post, “The Most Decadent 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 transitioned 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 immediately.

“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 Eggslut 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, because

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 uncomplicated like an egg sandwich would magnetize a horde of curious foodies. Is it for the name Eggslut itself? For the coolness factor and the Instagram? Scrambled eggs with sriracha mayo? A seared wagyu tri-tip steak and eggs wedged in a warm brioche bun?

Every minute — from waiting in line to placing the order to taking the first bite — is part of the entire Eggslut experience.

“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 marketing 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 popular 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 connotation 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 location opened, Cailan has since dipped into other ventures.

Cailan frequented Men Oh in Little Tokyo and other restaurants across the city in pursuit of the perfect ramen bowl, which led to studying broth, noodles and the ramen-ya concept. Along with

The “Slut,” a coddled egg dish

AI-AI de las Alas’ transfer to GMA 7 earlier this year was met with mixed reactions, with some critics saying that her move wasn’t good for her career. But with the surprising success of Sunday PinaSaya, the new weekly variety show she’s currently part of, the comedienne said she was glad that she was proving her naysayers wrong.

“I’m actually quite thankful to my detractors because they inspire me to work harder. You can’t put a strong woman down,” Ai-Ai told the Inquirer at a press conference. “I always do my best to be a good person and I never stopped praying. I believe this is

Jericho Rosales not in a rush to have baby with Kim Jones

MANILA— Jericho Rosales is in no rush to have a baby with wife Kim Jones.

The couple was married last year, and later became busy with their respective careers.

“‘Yan ang reason bakit hindi pa kami ngkaka-baby,” he said referring to their busy schedules. “For now I just want to give Kim the best that I can give and for me that’s to support her career.”

Meanwhile, the Kapamilya actor is happy with how his career is going at the moment, but

this doesn’t stop him from discovering new things to try.

He believes that doing new things from time to time helps him become a better actor and person.

“I challenge myself,” he said. “They say na there’s this natural ability in you na kumbaga kung ‘yon ang gagamitin mo you can be successful. But if you try to do something na hindi ka sanay or not good at, you actually become

better at it.” (Philstar.com)

by allan POliCarPiO Inquirer.net

God’s grace.”Sunday noontime programs

were traditionally focused on music and dance. Sunday PinaSaya, however, veered from the formula, and instead offered live comedy skits and games—something different for the said time slot.

And the reception so far has been generally encouraging. So encouraging, in fact, that its counterpart on ABS-CBN, the long-running ASAP, has started introducing similarly-wired sketches.

Institution“We knew that we’re

competing against an institution, but I try not to worry about it too much. Our goal is to make people happy, and I think you can’t go wrong

with that,” said Ai-Ai, who’s joined in the show by Marian Rivera and Eat Bulaga’s Jose Manalo, Wally Bayola and Alden Richards.

“It’s a blessing to have this show; it’s well-planned and carefully pieced together. And its good showing is due to a lot of factors—timing being the most crucial,” she pointed out.

Meanwhile, aside from Sunday PinaSaya, the actress likewise shares hosting duties with Joey de Leon and Lolit Solis in CelebriTV, an entertainment-comedy magazine show, which replaced “Startalk.” It premiered on Sept. 19.

“I bring in the laughs, of course. I do some fun challenges with guest celebs, too,” Ai-Ai said.

AI-AI de las Alas describes new show as a “blessing.”

Jericho Rosales

OCTOBER 2-8, 2015 3www.asianjournal.com

SEAFOOD CITY FOOD SERVICE AD

FPFC

october 2-8, 2015 4www.asianjournal.com Jericho Rosales & Maja Salvador

Live Concert Tour in OctoberIn a unique and very special performance that you

could only see in Pechanga resort & casino theater in temecula, california, famed actor and singer Jericho rosales and Maja Salvador, will have a Live concert tour on october 31, 2015 at 8pm.

Pechanga resort & casino is well-known for hosting the best and the brightest Filipino entertainers and performers such as international singer Gary Valenciano, Megastar Sharon cuneta, the singer/actress and tony Award winner Lea Salonga, popular comedian and actor Vice Ganda, winner of Star Power Search 2011 Angeline Quintos, international actress and top endorser Anne curtis, and Pop Star Princess Sarah Geronimo—who all gave wholesome entertainment to the delight of the crowd.

Aside from fine dining, relaxation and entertainment, Pechanga resort & casino wish to provide the ultimate experience especially, to Filipino-American patrons. thus, Gary V, with 31 years of solid international exposure in the field of singing and dancing will ‘wow’ the crowd in this year’s opening extravaganza.

Hailed and raised in Quezon city, Philippines, rosales gained notoriety in school campuses and is a well-known actor in Destined Hearts (2009), Dahil sa Pag-ibig (2012) and Baler (2008).

An eldest brother of the upcoming actor, Jeremiah, his band album was launced in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in March 2006. As front lead singer of the pop-rock bnd, Jeans, rosales signed up a contract with eMI Malaysia with the assistance of his Malaysian friend, Kish ram.

rosales’ band members include Dan Serenado- guitar, Jude Manota- bass, and Aaron Ace Manio- drums.

Under his famous album are Loose Fit in year 2005. rosales personally wrote 14 songs from the band’s debut album. rosales also wrote You’re Beautiful for his girlfriend Heart evangelista. He signe dup for Manila Genesis entertainment management after leaving AbS-cbn.

rosales is also a member of the group, “the Hunks” along with known actors as Piolo Pascual, Diether ocampo, carlo Agassi, and bernard Palanca.

Photography is one of rosales’ favorite hobby. He rose to stardom in showbiz when he won in the ‘Mr. Pogi’ contest at Eat Bulaga (1979) later in the 90’s. His discovery from Eat Bulaga led his career to network giant, AbS-cbn.

He became successful as an actor when he earned Achievement in Acting in Breakaway (2012), Guam International Film Festival in year 2013.

Meanwhile, Maja Salvador came form a family of actors. She is a singer, dancer, model and producer. From the Salvador family, Maja is a cousin of Jobelle and Philip Salvador-- at present she is under the management of AbS-cbn’s Star Magic.

Dubbed as “Dance Princess of the Philippines”—Maja produced and acted in her own movie titled Thelma, where she won the Gawad Urian Award at the Film Academy of the Philippines Awards as best actress.

Salvador started acting in 2003 tV series It Might be You along with John Lloyd cruz and bea Alonzo. She was also a cast as one of the lead character of the Spirits and she also did several episodes of Maalaala Mo Kaya.

In 2013, Salvador signed a recording contract for

Ivory Music & Video. the album Believe became famous in June 2014, and was certified as Gold record for selling 7,500 copies in the country.

Also in 2013, Salvador joined the campaign of PetA to save the captivity of ‘Mali’ and bring the elephant back to Manila Zoo and to be transferred at boon Lott’s elephant Sanctuary to get much needed care and nourishment.

Witness this one-of-a-kind duo with Jericho rosales and Maja Salvador in a live concert brought to you by Pechanga resort & casino.

time is running out. buy your tickets now—from $85, $75, $65 and $50. tickets are available at the Pechanga box office or online at www.Pechanga.com/tickets. room and show packages are available. to purchase wheelchair seating, please call the box office at 1-877-711-2946.

Service fees & ticket exceptionsAll tickets are subject to a $5 Service Fee. no

reFUnDS. no eXcHAnGeS. no eXcePtIonS.ticket limit is 6 tickets per Performer, per person, per

credit card, per household.Shows in the Pechanga theater offer a comfortable

and intimate concert experience. With 1,200 seats in its theater, each show features state-of-the-art and acoustically perfected sound. enjoying favorite artists at Pechanga versus other venues proves effortless with free valet and self-parking for guests, complimentary casino/resort shuttles, gourmet and casual dining options on site, plus comfortable chairs and an up-close view from every theater seat.

Pechanga Resort & CasinoPechanga resort & casino offers one of the largest

and most expansive resort/casino experience anywhere in the country. rated a Four Diamond property by AAA since 2002, Pechanga resort & casino provides an unparalleled getaway, whether for the day or for an extended luxury stay. offering more than 3,000 of the hottest slots, table games, world-class entertainment, 517 hotel rooms, dining, spa and championship golf at Journey at Pechanga, Pechanga resort & casino features a destination that meets and exceeds the needs of its guests and the community. Pechanga resort & casino is owned and operated by the Pechanga band of Luiseño Indians. For more information, call toll free 1-877-711-2946 or visit www.Pechanga.com. Follow Pechanga resort & casino on Facebook.com/Pechanga and on twitter @Pechangacasino.

(Advertising Supplement)

tHe Lbc Foundation, in cooperation with Project Pearls, aims to move love this christmas through its project boX A SMILe. the Lbc Foundation is the corporate Social responsibility arm of Lbc express. together with Project PeArLS, a non-profit organization, whose vision of seeking to protect and provide the basic human rights of the poorest of the poor children in the Philippines, boX A SMILe will be launched on october 1, 2015.

box A Smile is a project that

aims to deliver a Happy christmas to children in poverty in the Philippines. Lbc customers from north America who sends a box via sea or air from october 1 to november 30, 2015 may elect to participate in the program, where a portion of their transaction fees will be donated to box A Smile. the funds raised will be used to give christmas gifts to beneficiary children at a gifting event (christmas party) organized by Project Pearls. Lbc Foundation is targeting to collate 3,000

christmas Gift boxes. come December 2015, the

distribution of christmas Gift boxes to children aged 4-14yo in underprivileged areas of Helping Land, tondo, Manila, brgy. batia, bocaue, bulacan, Zambales will be held.

With this, we encourage your participation in bringing smiles to children in need. Visit your nearest Lbc branch or call 1800-338-5424 for more information on how you can help.

(Advertising Supplement)

Help us BOX A SMILE for 3,000 kids this Christmas

Maja Salvador and Jericho Rosales

EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT

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EMPLOYMENT

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october 2-8, 2015 5www.asianjournal.com

october 2-8, 2015 6www.asianjournal.com

PHILADELPHIA—Comcast today announced several significant enhancements and milestones for Internet Essentials, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive high-speed Internet adoption program. The company said it plans to double the service’s download Internet speed, offer subscribers a Wi-Fi router for no additional cost, and conduct several pilot programs for low-income senior citizens. The announcements reaffirm Comcast’s commitment to help close the digital divide for low-income families and bring the transformative power of the Internet into more American homes.

Since the program’s inception, Comcast has made 25 key enhancements to Internet Essentials, and this is the third time in four years Comcast has increased speeds for customers. The current speed is doubling to up to 10 Mbps downstream, which is enough to power multiple devices simultaneously. In addition, by offering free Wi-Fi routers, customers will be able to connect any Internet-enabled device, including tablets and smartphones, which could help save money on monthly wireless bills.

“We have made significant progress toward closing the digital divide for low-income parents and children across the country. In less than four years, Internet Essentials has connected more than 500,000 families, or more than 2 million low-income Americans, to the power of the Internet at home,” said David L. Cohen, Comcast Corporation Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer. “With the increase in the program’s Internet speeds, the addition of Wi-Fi and a streamlined auto-enrollment process, more families will have

even easier access to the Internet and its life-changing resources for education, employment, healthcare, communication, and entertainment.”

The pilot program for low-income seniors is designed to better understand the unique challenges of helping them cross the digital divide and learn how to use the Internet. According to Pew Research Center, just 47 percent, or less than half, of seniors (aged 65 and older) have high-speed Internet at home. When it comes to income level, only 25 percent of seniors with household incomes below $30,000 have home broadband, compared to 82 percent of seniors with household incomes at or above $75,000.

The first pilot program will take place in Palm Beach County, Florida, where Cohen was joined by City of West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio, Palm Beach County School District Superintendent Robert Avossa, and Urban League of Palm Beach County President and CEO Patrick J. Franklin to make today’s announcements.

“Senior citizens can be an afterthought when it comes to addressing digital literacy and use of the Internet,” said Franklin. “However, the Internet has a tremendous power to help change their lives for the better by tearing down the walls that geography may have put between them and the ones they love. It can also help restore a sense of community and inclusion, bonds that can weaken as we grow older.”

To receive the faster Internet speed, customers simply need to reboot their cable modems. Existing customers who would like a Wi-Fi router just need to call the dedicated call center and either request to have one shipped to them for free, or they can schedule

a professional installation, also for no additional cost. New customers will have the option to receive a Wi-Fi router when they sign up.

Internet Essentials Investments

Through Internet Essentials, Comcast has invested more than $240 million in cash and in-kind support to help fund digital literacy and readiness training and education, reaching nearly 3.2 million people through national and local nonprofit community partners. Through the end of June 2015, Comcast has:

• Dedicated more than $1 million in grants to create Internet Essentials Learning Zones, where networks of nonprofit partners are working together to enhance public Internet access and increase family-focused digital literacy training in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Fresno, Miami, and Seattle, among others.

• Provided more than 41,000 subsidized computers at less than $150 each.

• Distributed for free nearly 46 million Internet Essentials program materials.

• Broadcast more than 7 million public service announcements, valued at more than $90 million.

• Welcomed more than 3.5 million visitors to the Internet Essentials websites in English and Spanish and its Online Learning Center.

• Fielded more than 3.2 million phone calls to our Internet Essentials call center.

• Offered Internet Essentials to nearly 48,000 schools and more than 5,000 school districts, in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

• Partnered with 9,000 of community-based organizations, government agencies, and federal, state, and local elected officials to spread the word.

Comcast announces fifth back-to-school kickoff for Internet Essentials

More than 2 million low-income Americans, from 500,000 families, have now crossed the digital divide at home

Company doubles internet speed, offers Wi-Fi routersfor no additional cost, and announces pilot program

for low-income senior citizens

Monette

AdevA MAglAyA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

(Part 1 of 3)HERE’S a thought. How about

playing tourist in your own native land?

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

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 consumers 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 cram the tourist experience into a 2 to 3 week time frame and there is only one chance for a local 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 Philippine colonial past. It shows the eclectic blending of many cultures forged over hundreds of years. Vigan shows aspects we would never see just by reading 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 narrow, colonial street you can actually walk on or

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

keep your ears peeled to listen at sundown to the soothing clip clop of horse-drawn calesas for hire to tourists at 150 Php/hour or more, mixed with the annoyingly grating sound of the ubiquitous tricycles. The authentic remnants of Spanish architecture on Calle Crisologo, a short strip of narrow, cobblestone road, allow us to get a glimpse of what life must have been like several hundred 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 eying strangers curiously wondering about us just as we wonder about them. At the nice, neat bed and breakfast inn we stayed in called Grandpa’s Inn, named for the doctor who owned it sometime 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 pleasant 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 accommodations.

It takes serious money and pigheaded determination to undertake preservation projects on a huge scale. In time, the ancestral homes that line Calle Crisologo will need to be preserved, 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 National Museum. But more needs to get done. There is a certain sense of urgency in seeing just such a place — before the passage 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 conditions with the country constantly grappling with its social, economic and political woes while searching for its soul in waging a fight to the death with endemic corruption from the highest to the lowest rungs of government, preserving history, art and culture 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 history, if we don’t take the effort today to provide for their preservation, 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)

* * *Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@asianjournalinc.com

ErniE D. DElfin

The Metamorphosis Gawad Kalinga-Rotary:

Not only building houses but building people too

(Part 2 of 2)GK’s main program is

building up people, never a dole out nor charity. Its record and performance for over ten years is phenomenal. It has become a major social agent of change in the Philippines. About 5 years ago, GK opened its Enchanted Farms in Angat, Bulacan and also created a model for Social Entrepreneurship primarily in agri-businesses, considering that the Philippines is still primarily an agricultural country. Majority of Filipinos still work as farmers, an industry that made millions of them unable to progress due to meager and unpredictable income aggravated by increasing population to feed, clothe and shelter. It is illogical that Filipinos still go hungry and must import its rice from other countries considering that God has given the Philippines abundant land with fertile soil and rich natural resources!

Enchanted Farms is a social experiment and incubator for various social enterprises especially agri-businesses. Its “University of Social Entrepreneurship“ headquartered in its almost 50-hectare campus has attracted many students and social tourists as far as Europe and America. When our “Lakbay-Aral” group from Pangasinan was there last July, students from elite colleges in Manila were also there. The orientation was done by Meloto with his staff and a few OFWs (Overseas “FRENCH” workers) who are interns in this “university without walls.” It is a revolutionary strategy and social irony having the WASPs (White Anglo Saxon People) as the “workers” and the brown Filipino the as “bosses.” Nevertheless, it is a very conducive environment where the rich and the poor congregate and learn from each other. Sooner or later some become partners of a business where capital and labor become a healthy marriage.

These agri-business cycle starts from the seedbeds to the transplanting of the seedlings to fertile grounds, watching them grow till harvest time. The harvest becomes the raw materials of dried, pickled or bottled finished products, ready for the market or sold directly

to the ultimate consumers, a great improvement to the old concept of farm to market. This innovation of “farm to the kitchen” allows the farmers to earn more. If this social innovation is duplicated in every town in the Philippines, the “poor” farmers will have bigger shares in the profits that will cumulatively result into a more progressive country. Then and only then would the Filipinos need not leave (as OFWs) just to live!

For what it has done, Gawad Kalinga has been recognized not only in the Philippines, like being a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee in 2006 but also globally as the Skoll Awardee for Social Entrepreneurship in 2012. Meloto is now a widely sought speaker especially in America and Europe as his vision of empowering the poor by actually working with them has caught global fire. It is the same philosophy being espoused by Pope Francis who is also making radical changes in dealing with the poor and powerless of the world.

* * * Thousands of Rotarians,

including this writer, have been involved with GK for many years. The last couple of years, for instance, our Global Kalinga e-Rotary Club (GKeRC) that I founded in 2011 has helped in some ways the completion of the GK Villasis Namnama (Hope) Village I, where I was honored and privileged to give the symbolic keys to several houses last July to the poor but deserving families. Dozens of Rotarians joined, led by our Quezon City District Governor Dr. Reynaldo David (D3780) and his classmate from Tarlac District Governor Mai Ocampo (D3790). As it was a joint GK-and Rotary event, our own DG Dr. David also inducted two new members of our GKeRotary -- Peter Montilla (he and his wife Soledad founded the GK Villasis Namnama Village) and the Mayor of Laoac, Pangasinan, Silverio “Boying”Alarcio.

Inspired by this rare and moving event, our newly inducted Rotarian Mayor Boying surprised many people as he was able to fast tract the

groundbreaking of GK Laoac Namnama (Hope) Village II two weeks later in Barangay Anis, Laoac, Pangasinan, where dozens of Rotarians from our sister club of Rotary Club of Urdaneta City and Cong. Kimi Cojuangco gracing the occasion.

As most GK Villages are funded by private individuals and their friends, the GK E-Rotary Club and the Urdaneta City Rotary Club are now spearheading an innovative fundraising by selling raffle tickets to win a brand new “Angel” House and Lot” in Urdaneta, that is deeply discounted by the developer, Architect Rolando Sabado, who is also the incumbent president of the Rotary Club of Urdaneta, as the Grand Prize PLUS dozens of consolation prizes to be drawn sometime in 2016.

The plan is to print tickets and sell them to our friends and relatives and business associates inside and outside the Philippines. The “donation” may be “tax deductible” depending where the buyer is. The grand prize may also be taxable. The Rotary Executive Committee as of this writing is discussing the number of tickets to print and sell: 1,000 tickets at $100=P4,500 or 2,000 tickets for $50=P2,250 or 3,400 at $30=P,1350. Stay tuned!

We are all praying that anyone who would like to donate/buy tickets or to help us raise some funds or donate 1 house for $3,000.00 to please contact me at: ernie.gkerc@gamil.com. You can also visit our website for more information at www.gkerc.org

In behalf of the future beneficiaries, and the Rotarians and the Municipality of Laoac officials, I thank anyone and everyone who can help us, in anyway to make this GK Laoac Hope Village # 2 a reality in 2016 or as soon as possible.

Maraming Salamat. Thanks a million! God bless us all!

* * * Food for thought: “It is true

that money cannot buy happiness, but it is certainly a very good down payment!” – This columnist

* * *Email: ernie.delfin@gmail.com Visit: www.gkerc.org

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Philippine Heritage Institute International Presents Tribute 2015The 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.

OctOber 3

Fil-Am History Month Films & “Talk Story” Time 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.

Kultura: A Filipino American Food & Arts Festival 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.

OctOber 4

Fil-Am History Month Kick-OffThe 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.

october 2-8, 2015 7www.asianjournal.com

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october 2-8, 2015 8www.asianjournal.com