AT least 34 people were killed and more than 230 were wounded Tuesday, March 22, in explosions claimed by the Islamic State at an airport and metro station in Brussels, Belgium.

Three attacks went off Tuesday morning, with twin blasts at the Brussels airport at around 8am and one at the Maelbeek met-ro station near European Union (EU) head-quarters at around 9am. As of press time,

14 people were killed at the airport and 20 at the metro station.

A third bomb at the airport was neutral-ized, said Florence Muls, a spokeswoman for the Brussels Airport, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“What we feared has happened,” Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel told report-ers, according to the Los Angeles Times. “In this time of tragedy, this black moment for our country, I appeal to everyone to re-main calm but also to show solidarity.”

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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

The Fil ip ino AmericAn communiTy newspAper

w w w. a s i a n . c o mVolume 15 - No. 13 • 3 Sections – 20 Pages MARCH 25-31, 2016

1001 Bayhill Drive, Suite 200, San Bruno, CA 94066 • Tel: (650) 616-4150 • Fax: (650) 616-4152 • www.asianjournal.com Also published in LOS ANGELES, ORANGE COUNTY/INLAND EMPIRE, LAS VEGAS, NEw YORk/NEw JERSEY

DATELINEUSAFroM ThE AJPrESS NEWS TEAM ACroSS AMEriCA

FACE-OFF. Men in Moriones masks reenact the chase and arrest of the Roman soldier Longinus through the streets of Marinduque in what has become the annual Moriones (masks) festival during Holy Week. According to legend, Longinus converted to Christianity when blood from the side of the crucified Christ splashed on his blind eye and restored his sight. Inquirer.net photo

LoNG BEACh, Calif. – Supporters, friends, and immediate family gathered in front of the Long Beach Police headquarters on Thurs-day, March 17 for a press conference regard-ing the death of Mharloun Saycon, a Filipino-American who was shot by Long Beach police last December inside Looff’s Lite-A-Line Ca-sino Game of Skill.

“We really can’t believe that this happened. We always just watch it on the news, like wow another person shot by the police. It’s hard…and the reality is, we can’t avoid this. It was a big loss for us. he was a good, smart kid,”

Family of mentally disabled Fil-Am killed by Long Beach police files claims

ThE Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) outreach director for Democratic candidate hillary Clinton has left the campaign.

Lisa Changadveja, who was first appointed outreach director last August, is moving to Colorado to take a position with the Demo-cratic Party, Clinton campaign spokeswoman Xochitl hinojosa told NBC News.

“The campaign is expected to announce a new director of AAPI outreach very soon,” hi-nojosa added.

Changadveja, who first joined Clinton’s

AAPI director leaves Clinton campaign

ThE Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on Tuesday, March 22, slapped mon-ey-laundering charges against two business-men linked to the controversial transfer of the $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh Bank to the rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (rCBC).

In a nine-page complaint filed at the Depart-ment of Justice, the AMLC accused Kam Sin

Wong, aka Kim Wong, and Weikang Xu of laundering “hacked” or stolen funds from New York that ended up in local casinos.

Wong has been tagged as the mastermind of the money-laundering scheme. he flew out of the country when the controversy broke out.

on the other hand, Xu is said to be a junket operator who allegedly owned the bank ac-counts where the funds ended up.

The two businessmen have been tagged as the main players who facilitated the illegal

Anti-Money Laundering Council files raps vs businessmen

MANILA — The Philippine Embassy in Brussels advised Filipinos in Belgium, on Tuesday, March 22, to heed advisories of local authorities following the explosions at the Brussels Airport and the Maalbeek metro station.

In an advisory, the embassy urged mem-bers of the Filipino community in Belgium to stay vigilant and exercise caution in line with the current Alert Level 4 that has been declared by the Belgian authorities.

As the Embassy monitored the situation in Brussels, Philippine Ambassador to Bel-gium Victoria Bataclan advised the Filipi-nos to avoid visiting public and crowded places like malls and recreation centers. She also advised the Filipino community to keep calm and monitor news for updates

themselves.“Stay where you are if you do not neces-

sarily need to travel to and from Belgium, and spread caution around,” Ambassador Bataclan said in a statement.

The Embassy of the Philippines in Brus-sels expressed its condolences to the fami-lies of the victims in the explosions.

“The Brussels Airport has also set up a hotline for families and friends of pas-sengers, which can be reached at +32 27537300,” the embassy said.

The Philippine embassy released contact details for those seeking information about Filipino nationals affected by these events: its duty phone number +32 488609177, Ambassador Bataclan’s mobile phone num-ber +32 471309430, landline numbers +32 23403377 or 93, its Facebook page, and email addresses brusselspe@gmail.com andconsular.brusselspe@gmail.com. n

Pinoys in Belgium told: Avoid public, crowded areas for now

PH embassy tells Filipinos to always heed alerts after blasts SACrAMENTo — The Gold-

en State’s poverty statistics are grim: Two in five people live just over the federal poverty level (FPL), and the state has the highest child poverty rate in the nation.

But this year, for the first time, California’s working poor will get to keep more of their earnings in their pockets thanks to the California Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). But people with low incomes – less than $13,870 a year – must be sure to file their taxes in order to get their money back.

600,000 families eligibleAround 600,000 families in

California are eligible for the state EITC. Some 12 percent are Asian Americans or Pa-cific Islanders, 30 percent are Latino, 12 percent are Black, and more than 15,000 individu-als are Native American. The majority of those eligible are single women who are working

Earn less than $13,870? California rewards low-income tax filers

Asian Inc. tax preparer Crystal Huang helping a client prepare her 2015 tax return

SEN. GrACE Poe and Davao City Mayor rodrigo Duterte are statistically tied at No. 1 in what appears to be a very close con-test among the four leading pres-idential candidates, according to a Pulse Asia survey conducted in the second week of March.

According to the pre-electoral poll, commissioned by ABS-CBN television and released Tuesday, March 22, Poe was the choice of 26 percent while Duterte was fa-vored by 25 percent.

Three percentage points sepa-rated Duterte and Vice President

Duterte ties Poe at No. 1 in latest Pulse surveyJejomar Binay who was in third place with 22 percent while Lib-eral Party standard-bearer Mar roxas obtained 20 percent. only 3 percent chose Sen. Miriam De-fensor-Santiago.

“The May 2016 presidential election is shaping up to be a very tight race involving four contenders,” Pulse Asia said.

“I expect the figures to move but I don’t know how significant. They are changing places and with the [presidential] debates, I expect [the numbers] to move

part-time jobs.Signed into law by Gov. Jer-

ry Brown last year, the state’s EITC program is expected to cost the state $380 million. California is the 25th state, plus the District of Columbia, with such a program. The tax credit is modeled on the federal EITC program, which has been around since 1975.

California Budget and Pol-icy Center (CBPC) Communi-cations Director Steven Bliss called the state program “an important tool for helping move the lowest earners to-ward economic security.”

Some of those targeted for the program, he said, “have earnings so low that they may not even file state income tax-es.”

To qualify for the California’s EITC a person must earn no more than $13,870 a year. on average those who apply for the credit will receive $900 back from the state. Families with three or more children could

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Senator Grace Poe Mayor Rodrigo Duterte uPAGE A3

by Niña P. CallejaInquirer.net

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by joel M. Sy egCo aNd KriStyN NiKa M. lazo

ManilaTimes.net

by Viji SuNdaraMNewAmericaMedia

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ISIS-claimed attacks in Brussels kill at least 34, wound over 230

by agNeS CoNStaNteAJPress

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MARCH 25-31, 2016 • NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150A�

From the Front Page

PEACE PACT. Local candidates, policemen and soldiers sign a peace covenant at Plaza Miranda in Manila. Photo by Rene H. Dilan / Manilatimes.net

transfer of the funds in conniv-ance with their local bank con-tacts.

The AMLC complaint stemmed from testimonies of witnesses who appeared before the Senate blue ribbon committee that also investigated the scam.

Xu was said to have received $30.5 million from withdrawals he made between February 5 and 13 this year.

Wong, president and general manager of Eastern Hawaii Lei-sure Co. Ltd., was also accused of amassing P1 billion ($21.6 mil-lion) through several withdrawals he made from his personal and corporate accounts on February 10 and 11 this year.

During the hearings, it was claimed that Wong introduced RCBC branch manager Maia Santos-Deguito to individuals who opened bogus bank ac-counts where the stolen money was wired.

The AMLC earlier filed money-laundering charges against De-guito at the Justice department.

Deguito was summoned to an-swer charges during preliminary investigation set on April 12 and 19.

Sen. Sergio Osmena III claimed that Wong appears to have mas-terminded the operation and that Deguito may not be the “most guilty” and thus, could be con-sidered a credible witness to in-dict the other suspects.

Osmeña said Deguito told senators that Wong asked her to open the bank accounts where the $81 million was wired, with the instruction to use the services of foreign exchange remittance company Philrem Services Inc.

Wong reportedly gave Deguito the information sheets and the P$2,500 to open five dollar ac-counts.

Only four of the accounts, however, were used when the stolen money was wired to the Philippines.

The fifth account, under the name Picache, was not used, ac-cording to Deguito.

The addresses given by the four account owners turned out

to be fictitious.Normal transactionThe AMLC admitted that it was

clueless about the transfer of the $81 million.

Julia Abad, executive director of the AMLC, said the country learned of the money laundering only when the governor of the Bangladesh Bank called Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr. on Febru-ary 11.

“There’s no way we would have known [without the Ban-gladesh Bank notice],” she told reporters.

Abad said that when the $81 million was deposited in the RCBC Jupiter Branch, the trans-action was automatically record-ed in the AMLC’s database.

It was not looked into, how-ever, because the amount is con-sidered “normal” given the “oth-er bigger transactions reported to the AMLC” everyday.

The AMLC started its initial in-vestigation and called the RCBC Jupiter Branch to gather details

Anti-Money Laundering Council files raps…PAGE A1 t

uPAGE A4In response to the attacks, Bel-

gium raised its terror alert to the highest level. Flights in and out of Brussels Airport are canceled until further notice, the entire city’s transport system has been shut down, as well as internation-al train travel into the country.

Brussels police have issued a wanted notice for a man pic-tured in CCTV footage who was seen pushing a luggage trolley in the airport, along with two other suspects. The three suspected participants in the attack are be-lieved to have died in the explo-sions, according to BBC.

Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw has called the three blasts in Brussels “ter-rorist attacks,” according to the Associated Press.

Multiple Americans were in-jured in the explosions, including three Mormon missionaries. A US service member and his fam-ily may have also been injured, though they have not been iden-

tified by the US European com-mand, the LA Times reported.

“I think this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my career,” said local firefighter Pierre Meys, who described seeing “war injuries,” according to BBC.

At the Maelbeek station, the explosion hit the second carriage of a three-carriage train while it was departing the platform.

“The metro was leaving Mael-beek station when there was a really loud explosion,” Alex-andre Brans, 32, told the As-sociated Press. “It was panic everywhere. There were a lot of people in the metro.”

US President Barack Obama, who is in Cuba as America works toward normalizing relations with the communist country, urged international unity in the battle against terror.

“We will do whatever is nec-essary to support our friend and ally Belgium in bringing to peace those who are responsible,” he said, according to CNN.’

In the United States, airports and transit systems nationwide were placed on heightened alert due to concerns about potential copycat attacks, the LA Times re-ported. Among these airports in-clude those in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Miami and Philadelphia.

In a joint statement, 28 EU leaders mourned the victims of the attack.

“It was an attack on our open democratic society,” they said.

Belgium will observe three days of mourning in response to the attacks, Interior Minister Jan Jambon announced.

“This latest attack only strength-ens our resolve to defend the Eu-ropean values and tolerance from the attacks of the intolerant. We will be united and firm in the fight against hatred, violent extremism and terrorism,” the EU leaders said in the statement.

Information contained in this report is accurate as of press time. n

ISIS-claimed attacks in Brussels kill…PAGE A1 t

said his father, Khanly Saycon. “We came home, found a

paper on the door—there was a coroner’s investigation. It was our worst nightmare come true: my son is not coming home.”

Mharloun Saycon, was born in the Philippines and came to the US in 1985. In his early 20s, he suffered from a mental disability, which developed shortly after he graduated from Santa Monica College. He was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia and was taking medication for mental im-balances.

“It affected our family hard,” said Saycon’s younger brother, Khanly Saycon II. “Growing up, Mharloun was the good one. When I started going down the wrong path in high school, he showed me the way. He protect-ed me.”

At around 10:00 pm on De-cember 14, 2015, Saycon was seated at the front of Looff’s Lite-A-Line gaming arcade, report-edly holding a three-inch-blade pocketknife and playing with it, witnesses said. He was a regular at the gaming casino, known and described by management as

Family of mentally disabled Fil-Am killed by…

Filipino Attorney Joe Sayas, lawyer for the Saycon family, at a press conference on Thursday, March 17 in front of the Long Beach Police Headquarters. The Saycon family is taking legal action for the death of Mharloun Saycon, a Filipino-American who was shot by Long Beach police last December inside Looff’s Lite-A-Line Casino Game of Skill. AJPress photos by Ding Carreon

“friendly, quiet, unassuming.” Earlier in the evening, Say-

con had been asked by a Looff’s employee to put away his knife, which he had been scratching on a table. He complied and was sit-ting down “peacefully,” accord-ing to reports.

The incident escalated when law enforcement arrived, as re-quested by Looff’s employees, to help escort Saycon—who was described as “agitated,” “not himself,” and “out of it”—from the premises and assist him se-curing mental health treatment.

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(650) 616-4150 • http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • MARCH 25-31, 2016 A�Dateline USa

ENVOY SMELLS COVER-UP. Bangladesh Ambassador to the Philippines John Gomes (left) listens to testimonies of bank officials during a Senate inquiry into the laundering of stolen money from the Bangladesh Central Bank. The envoy said he suspects a cover-up among bank officials. Photo by Cesar Dancel / Manilatimes.net

get back more than $2,500.“Every community has people

who live in deep poverty,” said state Assembly Member Toni At-kins, D-San Diego, speaking on a panel with other state officials in Sacramento, March 9. “The state’s poorest communities will benefit from this.”

Asian community gapEven though California is do-

ing outreach around the new program, not everyone knows about it, especially in the Asian community, said Crystal Huang. She wears the hats of tax pre-parer and housing counselor at Asian, Inc., in San Francisco.

San Francisco resident Hou (who would only share her last name) was one of them. The Chi-nese immigrant, 40, has been raising her five-year-old son alone since her husband died two years ago, leaving her with very few resources. She pulls in about $5,000 a year from her three part-time jobs and strug-gles to put rice on the table.

She came to Asian Inc. to get her taxes filed for free and found,

to her surprise, that she could get back $1,300 from the state’s EITC program, plus another $1,500 from the federal EITC, plus an additional $250 from San Fran-cisco’s Working Families Credit – a little over $3,000 in all.

Rick Kim, economic develop-ment services manager with Ko-reatown Youth and Community Center in Los Angeles, which provides free tax help for low-income people among other ser-vices, said it’s too early to know how many people will apply for the new state program. Many of his clients, he said, work in very low-paid, high-stress jobs, such as in the garment industry or su-permarkets.

He noted that the CalEITC could motivate more people who fall below the federal filing threshold to file returns because they could qualify for the ben-efits.

“For a family making around $10,000 or $12,000, a benefit of $500-$800 is significant,” he said.

Outreach to ImmigrantsCalEITC4Me.org, a coalition of

community-based organizations, is conducting outreach to neigh-borhoods with the highest num-ber of eligible families.

Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries is one of them. It is working with the Southeast Asian population in Fresno, many of whom are Hmong and Laotian.

“We are making sure the com-munity has in-language materi-als and helping people get free tax assistance,” said Executive Director Zachary Darrah.

Earn less than $13,870? California rewards…

given how the people perceive their performance,” Pulse Asia research director Ana Tabunda said.

Senators Bongbong Marcos (25 percent) and Chiz Escudero (24 percent) were also neck and neck in the race for the vice pres-idency.

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Ro-bredo was in third place with 20 percent, followed by Sena-tors Alan Peter Cayetano (13 percent), Antonio Trillanes IV (6 percent), and Gringo Honasan (5 percent).

SC ruling on PoeThe survey was conducted

from March 8 to 13, following the March 8 ruling of the Supreme Court allowing Poe to run for the country’s highest post. Voting 9 to 6, the high court reversed the Commission on Elections deci-sion disqualifying Poe for mis-representing the facts of her citi-zenship and residency.

Apart from the debates, Tabun-da said the shifting of alliances could also be a factor, citing the development in Cebu province where One Cebu, a political party of the Garcias, announced on Monday that it was withdrawing support for Binay’s United Na-tionalist Alliance (UNA).

‘Enlightening’The Poe camp said the Pulse

Asia survey was “enlightening” as it showed that the disqualifi-cation case mattered to less than 10 percent of voters.

Cebu Rep. Joseph Ace Dura-no, campaign manager of Poe’s Team Galing at Puso, said they are not disappointed that Poe’s numbers did not get a positive lift from the Supreme Court decision allowing her to run.

“We received a briefing from Pulse Asia regarding the ratings of Senator Grace that same after-noon the SC decision came out (March 8). The survey revealed that [of the respondents] who didn’t make Senator Grace their first choice for President, only 8 percent cited the DQ case as their reason,” Durano said in a text message.

Durano said the top reason why Poe was not the survey re-spondent’s first choice was their lack of information on Poe’s pro-grams to address poverty and corruption.

Still tiedEven as their candidate landed

in third place, the Binay camp said the presidential race re-mained to be a tight one.

Binay’s campaign spokesper-son Rico Quicho said the survey showed that Binay and three of his rivals were statistically tied “if you look at the margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percent.”

“The challenge for us is to step up our visits to the provinces and reach out to more people,” Quicho said, adding how elated they were at the way people con-

tinue to welcome Binay in his campaign sorties.

First choiceThe survey covered 4,000 re-

spondents who are registered voters 18 years old and above and used a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.5 percentage points.

Five percent of those surveyed said they don’t know, refused to answer, were undecided and have no candidate for President.

Six percent said they don’t know, refused to answer or have no alternate candidate for Vice President.

Pulse Asia asked the respon-dents, “If the coming 2016 elec-tions were held today, whom would you vote for as President of the Philippines?”

The top choices of respondents from Metro Manila were Poe (30 percent), Duterte (29 percent) and Binay (23 percent).

With 34 percent, Poe scored the highest voter preference in Luzon outside Metro Manila while Roxas, with 36 percent, led in the Visayas.

Duterte was most favored in Mindanao (46 percent) and among Class ABC (35 percent).

Poe and Duterte score almost the same voter preferences among Class D respondents, 26 percent and 25, respectively.

Among Class E, four candi-dates virtually had the same voter preferences—Poe (27 percent), Binay (25 percent), Duterte (23 percent), and Roxas (21 per-cent).

Second choiceThe respondents were also

asked, “If your chosen candidate does not pursue his/her candi-dacy for whatever reason, whom among the remaining people would you vote for as President of the Philippines if the 2016 elections were today?”

Poe was the top second choice of voters with 30 percent, fol-lowed by Binay with 19 percent, Roxas with 14 percent, Duterte with 13 percent, Santiago with 7 percent. For 16 percent of the re-spondents, they either said they don’t know, refused to answer or have no alternate candidate.

Among those whose first choice was Poe, 27 percent picked Binay as their alternate while 25 percent said they would support Roxas if Poe ends up not running in the coming elections.

Poe was the second choice for President of 45 percent of Bi-nay’s original supporters. Simi-larly, 38 percent of those whose first choice was Roxas said they would support Poe in case the former interior secretary does not pursue his candidacy.

Poe was also the alternative candidate of 34 percent of San-tiago’s original supporters and 33 percent of those whose first choice was Duterte. (Inquirer Re-search with reports from Marlon Ramos, Gil C. Cabacungan and Christine Avendaño)

Duterte ties Poe at…PAGE A1 t

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“Even though Mharloun was never violent or threatening, [the employees] requested him to be escorted. When police ar-rived, he was seated quietly out of reach from those in the casino, but police immediately escalated the situation,” said the Saycon family’s lawyer, Attorney Joe Sayas. “First, they hit him with a Taser. The they attacked him with a baton. And then, although Mharloun was not fighting back, they fired a gun and shot him, multiple times.”

According to the lawyer, Mharloun Saycon was shot eight times in the chest, arm, and ab-domen. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“This was brute violence, and use of vicious force by law enforcement, “ said the family’s representative, Attorney Dan Stormer from civil rights firm Hadsell, Stormer, & Renick, LLP. “Mharloun was killed without any provocation, any actions on his part, in a malicious, despi-cable fashion.”

The Saycon family has filed a notice of tort claim against the Long Beach Police Department through their attorneys, and has begun the months-long process of filing a $20 million civil law-suit.

“This is another day of sad-ness. We make a demand for justice for Mharloun and his soul. We want the District At-torney to prosecute and charge these thugs, and stop covering it up. We demand compensation,” Stormer said. “What this county needs is an investigation into the

brutal killings.” According to Stormer, rough-

ly one-third to one-half of victims shot by police are mentally ill.

“There was never a moment’s hesitation where they tried to fig-ure out what to do that resulted in brutal violence,” Stormer added. “We have attempted to get the 9-1-1 call, which is often used to show someone is a problem or a threat, but the [Long Beach Police] Department refuses to release it. They are hiding the facts. They have not even inter-viewed the witnesses who saw this murder nearly 3 months ago. Their reason is that they ‘antici-pate litigation”.”

Despite Thursday’s press con-ference being held in front of its headquarters, the Long Beach Police Department was not pres-ent nor did they provide com-ment.

“This scenario could have been avoided in so many dif-ferent ways,” added Saycon’s brother, Khanly. “No family should ever have to go through what we have. We want changes in how the police treat the men-tally ill.”

Saycon’s mother, Anna Luz Saycon, emotionally pleaded for the violence to stop, and for proper justice for her late son, whom she described as “kind, gentle, and obedient.”

“Every day he picked me up at the bus stop, and we spent time together,” she said, through tears. “He lived at home and he took care of me. He was a won-derful son. He didn’t deserve this.”

Although Saycon suffered

from a severe disability, he lived a healthy and normal life-style and worked at Pepperdine University, managing their sporting facility. His family said he was able to get regular treatment for his schizophrenia, and was very active, visiting a R.O.A.D.S. rehab/mental health center in Compton, California, several times a week, playing sports including baseball and basketball, cooking, and draw-ing cartoons.

Family representative Atty. Joe Sayas commented, “This is a heartbreaking loss. When [police] came, with their guns drawn, they did not attempt to find out what’s going on. The level of force was clearly exces-sive. Mharloun, a quiet and unas-suming fellow, may have exhib-ited signs of mental illness but he was not violent or responsive. The biter irony is that Mharloun had every reason to believe that the police would help him, as he had been assisted in seeking care by police in the past. Now the Saycon family has lost a son, a brother, and an uncle.”

“[This incident] happened to a Filipino parent. The community should take a stand, knowing that it can happen to everyone, to every race,” Sayas continued. “We all should stand as Ameri-cans, stop the killings, stop this abusive exercise of power. Police officers should be more vigilant and better trained, should try to engage the mentally disabled, and find out how this can be stopped. Human lives are pre-cious. Stop the violence.”

Family of mentally disabled Fil-Am killed by…PAGE A2 t

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MARCH 25-31, 2016 • NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150A� Dateline USa

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Phil-ippine officials huddled with US legislators March 15-16 to mus-ter Congressional support for key Philippine advocacies such as military aid, Filipino WWII veter-ans and opposing China’s claims in the West Philippine/South China Sea.

Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose L. Cui-sia, Jr. and Acting Secretary of Justice Emmanuel L. Caparas on 15 March led the Philippine delegation in separate meetings

Philippine Defense Undersecretary Pio Batino (left), Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., Rep. Randy Forbes Executive Director of the Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement Eduardo V. Oban, Jr., and Undersecretary Emmanuel T. Bautista. Contributed photos

PH officials lobby in D.C. for military aid, Filvets, W. PH Seawith Senator Bob Corker (GOP-Tenn) and Senator Ben Cardin (Dem-Maryland), Chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), respectively.

The Philippine officials noted the SFRC’s instrumental role in sustaining US interest in the Asia-Pacific region and in giv-ing substance to the Asia pivot policy.

“We recognize the consider-able impact that the Committee’s initiatives has had on increasing

US foreign military financing (FMF) to the Philippines and in ensuring that the United States continues to be engaged in our region,” said Cuisia.

Senator Corker observed the importance of raising military in view of China’s behavior.

On the other hand, Sena-tor Cardin reiterated that while the US maintains its neutrality with regard to the South China Sea dispute, his country takes a strong position against provoca-tive actions. He also expressed his firm belief in the rule of law and recognized the leadership of the Philippines in developing a regional Code of Conduct.

Representative Randy Forbes (GOP-Virginia), a senior mem-ber of the House Armed Services Committee and a member of the US-Philippines Friendship Cau-cus, largely echoed the views of his colleagues in the Senate.

Forbes recently scored China’s recent actions in the South China Sea and reaffirmed the impor-tance of the alliance between the US and the Philippines to the

SAN FRANCISCO – The Green-lining Institute and a coalition of diverse groups representing electric vehicle service provid-ers, environmentalists, electric vehicle drivers, automakers, community choice aggregators, and labor unions joined with Pacific Gas and Electric last Monday, March 21, to submit a proposed settlement to the Cali-fornia Public Utilities Commis-sion for a three-year pilot pro-gram to accelerate deployment of electric vehicle charging stations. Advocates expect the program to boost EV adoption in low-income communities and communities of color by making charging facilities accessible in these communities.

“With this settlement, PG&E becomes a national leader in in-creasing access to EV charging in low-income communities and communities of color, the com-munities that most need the clean air and cost savings from electric cars,” said Joel Espino, Environ-mental Equity Legal Counsel at the Greenlining Institute. “We

PG&E, diverse coalition propose huge boost in EV charging stations in underserved communities

Settlement proposal will increase access to clean transport in low-income communitiescommend PG&E’s commitment to making clean electric cars a re-ality for Californians of all income levels. This will add to progress already made by policies like the Charge Ahead California Initia-tive in making clean transporta-tion available to all, regardless of income or ZIP code.”

Key elements of the settlement, which still must be approved by the CPUC, include:

• The pilot program will tar-get a deployment of 7,500 level 2 charging ports and 100 DC fast-charging ports.

• Charging stations will be

deployed at multi-unit dwellings, workplaces, and destination loca-tions such as shopping centers.

• The total budget is not to ex-ceed $160M and will ensure that the cost to a typical residential customer is less than the $2.75 per year cost approved in Janu-ary in the San Diego Gas & Elec-tric EV charging infrastructure pilot program.

• PG&E will set aside $5 mil-lion for equity programs aimed at complementing Charge Ahead California Initiative (SB 1275, De León) programs and further increasing access to EVs in low-

campaign team in 2007 during her first presidential bid, broke the news in an email first dated March 18, according to Reuters.

The resignation comes two months after the Clinton cam-paign formed an AAPI leadership council, comprised of more than 150 elected officials and commu-nity leaders, who are tasked to organize support in AAPI com-munities.

Members of the AAPI leader-ship council include Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA.), Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), and Democratic Representative Gregorio Sablan from the North-ern Mariana Islands.

Both Democrats and Republi-cans have made great efforts in this year’s presidential race to court AAPI voters, who are nota-bly the least active participants in past elections. The electorate is expected to double by 2040, ris-ing to 12.2 million, according to a report last year from the UCLA Center for the Study of Inequality and Asian Pacific American Insti-tute for Congressional Studies.

“AAPI voters could play a key role in upcoming primaries and

AAPI director leaves Clinton…caucuses in states with sizeable AAPI communities, including Washington, New York and Cali-fornia. Asian Americans make up 5.4 percent of the U.S. popula-tion,” according to the US Cen-sus.

“Clinton’s track record of con-sistent flip-flops on the issues, and support of failed Democrat policies that continue to hurt AAPI communities are a clear indication Clinton is the wrong choice for AAPI voters across the country,” said Ninio Fetalvo, AAPI press secretary for the Re-publican National Committee (RNC).

Clinton targets Trump on Is-rael

Continuing on the campaign trail, Clinton spoke at the Ameri-can Israel Public Affairs Commit-tee (AIPAC) on Monday, March 21, where she challenged Re-publican front-runner and real estate billionaire Donald Trump, without explicitly naming him.

“The next president will sit down at that desk and start making decisions that will affect both the lives and livelihoods of every American and the security of our friends around the world.

So we have to get this right,” Clinton told a large crowd at the AIPAC, held at the Verizon Center in Washington. “Candi-dates for president who think the United States can outsource Middle East security to dicta-tors or that America no longer has vital national interests at stake in this region are danger-ously wrong.”

Trump’s impending speech at the conference was called a source of controversy, largely due to the businessman’s rheto-ric singling out immigrants, and calling for a ban on Muslims en-tering the States, the Washington Post reported.

“Yes, we need steady hands, not a president who says he’s neutral on Monday, pro-Israel on Tuesday, and who knows what on Wednesday, because every-thing’s negotiable,” she added, saying that one of her first acts as president would be to invite the Israeli prime minister to the White House.

“Some things aren’t nego-tiable. And anyone who doesn’t understand that has no business being our president.”

Trump’s specific views on foreign policy have sparked na-tionwide debate. In the past, he has asserted he was the “most pro-Israel candidate,” but also said he would enter negotiations between Israel and Palestinians, framing himself as “somewhat neutral” in hopes of reaching a peaceful deal, reported the Los Angeles Times.

Clinton was the only Democrat candidate who spoke at AIPAC on Monday, but shared the stage with all three Republican candi-dates--Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, and Ohio Gov. John Ka-sich.

Although it invited several big political figures to the event, the AIPAC did not endorse any one candidate.

“Let us never be neutral or si-lent in the face of bigotry,” Clin-ton said, finishing her speech as a campaign platform. “If you see bigotry, oppose it. If you see violence, condemn it. If you see a bully, stand up to him….Togeth-er let us defend the shared values that already make America and Israel great.” (Allyson Escobar / AJPress)

maintenance of peace and pros-perity in the region.

“China’s behavior in the Asia-Pacific has undermined regional stability and unnecessarily an-tagonized the Philippines and other partners in the region. The United States has an obligation under its decades-old security treaty with the Philippines to re-sist acts of aggression against our ally,” a portion of Forbes’ statement read.

Forbes expressed the opinion that the United States needs to be more present in the South China Sea and that joint patrols would be “hugely important, helpful and useful.”

The Philippines’ campaign to combat trafficking in persons was likewise discussed with the Senators.

The meetings with the US law-makers also aimed to shore up greater support for a bill seeking to award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the more than 260,000 Filipino veterans of World War II.

The bill entitled “Filipino Vet-

erans of World War II Congres-sional Gold Medal Act of 2015,” was introduced in the House (HR 2737) and the Senate (S1555) in June 2015. Cardin and Forbes are among the bill’s co-sponsors.

The bill includes a historical account of the dedicated service

of Filipino and Filipino American servicemen and service women during World War II and rec-ognizes them for their courage, bravery, and valor as they served under the command of the Unit-ed States Armed Forces of the Far East. n

PAGE A1 t

after the agency was alerted by Bangladesh.

But RCBC submitted a transac-tion report only on February 12.

“We conducted initial investi-gation, and they submitted a sus-picious transaction report.

The suspicious transaction report will trigger the investiga-tion. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to discover,” Abad said.

When asked why the AMLC took long in filing the petition to freeze the concerned accounts — only doing so on February 29 — the AMLC executive director said

the AMLC did fast data gathering, verifications and investigation but the number of weekends and holi-days hampered the process.

She noted that thousands of bank transactions enter their da-tabase each day but the agency only has 28 personnel looking at these transactions and only nine of them are financial analysts.

Abad said the agency will ask Congress to amend the Anti-Money Laundering Act so that casinos and real-estate brokers can be covered by the law.

She pointed to the need to strengthen supervisory powers

of the BSP and to lift the bank secrecy law.

Abad said the Philippines is one of two countries that do not cover casinos in their anti-money laundering laws.

“The Philippines is [also] only 1 of 3 countries in the en-tire world where tax authorities cannot access bank transactions [Switzerland and Lebanon be-ing the other two], and remain only one of two countries in the world where tax evasion is not a predicate crime to money laun-dering,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said. n

Anti-Money Laundering Council files raps…PAGE A2 t

A report from the Ruderman Foundation noted that disability is “the missing word in media coverage of police violence.”

“We are doing this for the jus-tice of all people who have bee shot by any law enforcement, especially those who are men-tally disabled, to prevent [police] from violating everyone’s civil

Family of mentally disabled…PAGE A3 t rights,” added Khanly Saycon,

Sr. “We need change to the po-lice force, especially with how to deal with the mentally disabled. This should not ever happen again. We want to see justice, for my son Mharloun and all of the mentally disabled, who don’t deserve to die just because they are confused.” (Allyson Escobar/AJPress)

He noted that not speaking English limits many immigrants’ employment and educational opportunities. That aside, many immigrants have a “general mistrust” of government, and it takes some persuasion by orga-nizations, such as his to convince them otherwise.

“For folks who are living in poverty, [the extra money] is a game-changer for them,” Dar-rah said. “That goes a long way

Earn less than $13,870?…toward paying bills, paying for housing costs, paying for educa-tion, perhaps a mode of trans-portation—there are a lot of uses for those funds for families living in poverty, as many families are here in Fresno.”

San Francisco’s Hou, who speaks very little English, has de-cided to invest the tax credit dol-lars she will get back in her son’s education.

For more information, go to caleitc4me.org. n

PAGE A3 t

income communities and com-munities of color.

• PG&E will deploy at least 15 percent of its charging sta-tions in the most disadvantaged communities in PG&E’s service territory. In addition, the com-pany agrees to a stretch goal of deploying an additional five percent of charging stations in the most disadvantaged com-munities in its territory or other areas with a high concentration of low-income CARE (California Alternate Rates for Energy Program) customers. (The Greenlining Institute)

(650) 616-4150 • http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • mARCh 25-31, 2016 A�

Dateline PhiliPPines

MANILA—Fifty-four percent, or more than half of the population, said that the quality of their lives remained unchanged during the tenure of President Aquino, a mo-bile survey conducted by the So-cial Weather Stations (SWS) and TV5 Bilang Pilipino showed.

The survey, conducted on March 16, showed that more than half of the 766 respondents said their lives remained the same.

Meanwhile, 36 percent said their quality of life became better as compared with the administra-tion of President Arroyo, while six percent said it got worse. Four percent answered they do not know.

The survey had a sampling er-ror margin of plus or minus four percent.

The same survey showed a “neutral” satisfaction rate on the government’s response in the af-termath of Super Typhoon Yolan-da in November 2013.

Eleven percent of the respon-dents said they were very satis-

54% of Pinoys say quality of life unchanged under Aquino – poll

by Janvic Mateo Philstar.com

fied, while 31 percent were some-what satisfied.

Twenty percent were undecid-ed, while 17 percent and 20 per-cent were somewhat dissatisfied and very dissatisfied, respectively.

“This gives a net satisfaction score of four percent (the differ-ence of 41 percent satisfied and 37 percent dissatisfied), classified by SWS as neutral,” said the sur-

vey firm.The SWS-Bilang Pilipino is a pi-

oneering project to rapidly survey opinions from a random national sample of voters, deliberately equipped with mobile phones.

A sample of 1,200 validated voters was invited to be a part of the panel of respondents, who re-ceived the questions through mo-bile phones.

The survey, conducted on March 16, showed that more than half of the 766 respondents said their lives remained the same.

LENT IN PH. Rosaries are left by devotees at the Philippine Center of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina in Quezon City. during the Lenten season, on Sunday, March 20. Inquirer.ne photo by Raffy Lerma

by Dona Z. PaZZibuganInquirer.net

Santiago joins presidential debate via tweetsSHE MAY have been absent

from the second presidential de-bate on Sunday, March 20, but presidential candidate Sen. Mir-iam Defensor-Santiago managed to make her views heard loud and clear.

The senator, who said she was undergoing a new cancer treat-ment, joined the televised presi-dential debate on Sunday through the social networking site Twitter, where she has 2.4 million follow-ers.

During the debate, Santiago’s staff posted tweets about her stand on the issues asked of the other four presidential candidates on stage: Vice President Jejomar Binay, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Sen. Grace Poe, and for-mer Interior Secretary Mar Roxas.

Santiago’s tweets received hun-dreds of likes and retweets, with her stand on divorce getting the most reaction: 3,617 likes and 3,163 retweets.

“The overwhelming social me-

dia reaction to staff tweets about the senator’s positions on key is-sues last night is testament to the effectivity and responsiveness of (her) program of government,” the senator’s media liaison officer, Arveen Patria, said.

“Senator Santiago was not at the debate, but she answered the questions she would have been asked,” Patria continued, add-ing that the senator’s program of government was available on her website. Santiago earlier an-nounced that she would skip the second televised debate on March 20 at the University of the Philip-pines Cebu, because she would undergo a clinical trial for a “new, unnamed anticancer pill.”

While none of the other four candidates supported divorce, Santiago’s staff said she supported it on two grounds: “attempt on the life of a spouse by the other, and adultery or concubinage.”

When Duterte and Poe raised their hands in favor of the death penalty, Santiago’s staff tweeted that the senator was “open to the

death penalty for drug traffickers. She also maintains that the justice system should be improved.”

While Binay, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Duterte tangled over criminality and police supervision of local executives, Santiago’s staff said the senator “wants a leaner, better equipped police force.”

When the debate touched on climate change, her staff tweeted about Santiago’s plans to create “a new department to focus on disas-ter risk reduction, management and recovery.”

Like the other candidates who promised to support a proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) law, Santiago also vowed to certify the bill as urgent, her staff tweeted, adding that the senator had “in-terpellated on and introduced amendments to the FOI bill at the Senate to improve it.”

After the debate, Santiago her-self posted the last tweet: “Thank you very much to my volunteers who watched the (debates) in Cebu. Hugs and kisses!”

CA rejects Junjun Binay’s plea to stop suspensionby tarra QuisMunDo

Inquirer.net

MANILA—The Court of Appeals (CA) has junked a petition from ousted Makati City Mayor Junjun Binay for the court to stop his sus-pension, ruling that the case was already moot due to the Ombuds-man’s decision dismissing Binay.

In a decision released on Tuesday, March 22, the appel-late court’s former Sixth Division also dismissed for lack of merit Binay’s bid to hold his father’s po-litical rival, presidential candidate Mar Roxas and several others in contempt for enforcing the Om-budsman’s first suspension order against him on the same day that he secured a temporary restrain-ing order (TRO) from the appellate court.

Binay, who has been frequently seen on the campaign trail sup-porting the presidential bid of his father, Vice President Jejomar Bi-nay, was first ordered suspended a year ago while under investigation for his role in the alleged overpric-ing of the P2.3-billion Makati City Hall Building II. He was forced to step down on July 1, 2015, when

he failed to get a TRO from a sepa-rate appellate court division to stop a second suspension order from the Ombudsman, this time while under investigation for alleged bid-rigging in the construction of the 10-story Makati Science High School building.

The Ombudsman eventually dismissed Binay in October, find-ing him liable for grave miscon-duct and serious dishonesty for his involvement in the City Hall build-ing II project. He was banned from ever holding public office.

In the ruling penned by Associ-ate Justice Jose Reyes Jr., the ap-pellate court said that in view of the Ombudsman’s Oct. 9, 2015, decision finding Binay adminis-tratively liable and imposing on him the penalty of dismissal, it found Binay’s petition question-ing the March 10, 2015 preventive suspension of the Ombudsman “already moot and academic. Its dismissal based on mootness is therefore in order.”

The court also dismissed for lack of merit Binay’s contempt bid against Roxas as the then interior secretary, former Justice Secretary

Leila de Lima, Ombudsman Con-chita Carpio Morales, Makati City Mayor Romulo Peña and several police officers for defying the TRO that the appellate court had issued against his suspension.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine National Police had enforced Binay’s first suspension in March 2015, installing Peña as acting mayor a few hours before the Court of Appeals issued a TRO in Binay’s favor.

De Lima at the time issued a le-gal opinion that the TRO no longer had any effect as Binay’s suspen-sion was already enforced when it was handed down.

The appellate court found none of the respondents liable for con-tempt. It said the DILG was merely performing a “ministerial duty” in enforcing Binay’s suspension. Peña was also spared, as the court ruled that his commitment to his duties as acting city mayor was “not contemptuous.”

The CA also ruled that De Lima was not at fault for issuing a legal opinion in favor of the suspension order.

march 25-31, 2016 • NOrcaL aSIaN JOUrNaL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150A�

hacking of the central bank’s ac-counts.

A huge $81 million — the big-gest ever such heist according to the Guinness Book of Records — was stolen from a poor coun-try’s central bank and vanished through the Philippine’s finan-cial system. And no head will roll for this international shame?

Indeed, anyone responsible for the AMLC should resign in shame, as the body has come infamous not for its success in confiscating the ill-gotten wealth of global and local drug lords, ter-rorists, and jueteng lords, but for three and only three things:

(1) Its collaboration with Aqui-no to remove former Chief Jus-tice Renato Corona by leaking and then outrightly disclosing his peso and dollar bank accounts;

(2) Its apparent collaboration with Aquino in the demolition job against presidential candidate Jejomar Binay, with a reporter of the Philippine Daily Inquirer hav-ing in her possession a confiden-tial AMLC report, and recently;

(3) Its failure to detect and stop the transfer of $81 million in sto-len money from the Bangladesh central bank in New York to a Philippine bank, and to the hack-ers’ accomplices here.

First, when all of the impeach-ment charges against Chief Jus-tice Corona had appeared to be baseless, AMLC appeared to en-ter the fray and help Aquino. The

amounts in the bank accounts of Corona and his wife were leaked to a newspaper columnist and in a blog, and to Liberal Party stal-wart Jorge Banal, who hilariously claimed he found it at his gate. An Aquino fanatic, the Ateneo School of Government’s Harvey Keh tried to make Corona’s bank accounts part of the trial’s records by delivering data on these – to Enrile’s office. The former Mar-tial Law administrator proved to have a better moral compass than Keh by refusing to even open the envelope containing it.

When those tactics didn’t work, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales asked the AMLC Executive Director Vicente Aqui-no to provide her with data on Corona’s dollar accounts. Aquino obeyed her without question, even if there is a specific law cat-egorically banning these from being disclosed for any purpose, except upon written approval by the holder of the bank account.

We don’t even know if Aquino asked, as he is required to, the three members of the AMLC for authority to do so. What I know is that when I tried to get in touch with Tetangco to ask why he had allowed such wanton violation of the law, I was told that he was out of town, and that a deputy BSP governor represented him in the AMLC.

Worse, as I have written sev-eral times, Morales distorted

the AMLC’s data in such a way that she added up all transac-tions – i.e., a $100 deposit and a $100 withdrawal was counted as Corona’s having a $200 balances. She then screamed to the world that the Chief Justice was hiding $10 million in his secret dollar ac-counts (the reality was that it was less than $1 million.)

AMLC raised a lynch mobThat was nothing more but a

black-propaganda stunt intend-ed to raise such a furor that a lynch mob was unstoppable, and the Senate – except for three with integrity and wisdom – kicked the Chief Justice out of the Court, the first time ever this occurred in our history.

Did the AMLC undertake an investigation into such serious breach of bank confidentially? Did the AMLC bother to correct Morales’ distortion of the re-port given her? It didn’t, which bolsters my view that from the start, the AMLC was part of the conspiracy to attack the Supreme Court.

Second, last year and then just last week, Philippine Daily Inquirer used as banner stories the articles filed by the same re-porter (Nancy Carvajal) who cited a single document, the “AMLC report,” to allege that vice presi-dential candidate Binay had “billions” of pesos in his bank accounts and used several people

LAST DECEMBER 8, Pope Francis opened the Holy Door of Mercy of the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, in-augurating the Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Mercy is defined as getting the grace that we do not even deserve, including God’s compassionate forgiveness of our sins, liberating us from condemna-tion so that we could start life all over again.

This, to me, sums up the true meaning of Easter, God’s passion and death — the mercy of God so we may be with Him in His resurrection.

Let me share with you how Pope Francis talked about this in his homily, so we may reflect on what Mercy means to us in our own lives, and how we are called to show mercy to others in return:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,In a few moments I will have the joy of opening the

Holy Door of Mercy. We carry out this act, so simple yet so highly symbolic, in the light of the word of God which we have just heard. That word highlights the primacy of grace. Again and again these readings make us think of the words by which the angel Ga-briel told an astonished young girl of the mystery which was about to enfold her: “Hail, full of grace” (Lk 1:28).

The Virgin Mary was called to rejoice above all be-cause of what the Lord accomplished in her. God’s grace enfolded her and made her worthy of becom-ing the Mother of Christ. When Gabriel entered her home, even the most profound and impenetrable of

mysteries became for her a cause for joy, faith and abandonment to the message revealed to her. The fullness of grace can transform the human heart and enable it to do something so great as to change the course of human history.

The feast of the Immaculate Conception expresses the gran-deur of God’s love. Not only does he forgive sin, but in Mary he even averts the original sin present in every man and woman who comes into this world. This is the love of God which precedes, anticipates and saves. The beginning of the history of sin in the Garden of Eden yields to a plan of saving love. The words of Genesis reflect our own daily ex-perience: we are constantly tempted to disobedience, a disobedience expressed in wanting to go about our lives without regard for God’s will. This is the enmity which keeps striking at people’s lives, setting them in opposition to God’s plan.

Yet the history of sin can only be understood in the light of God’s love and forgiveness. Were sin the only thing that mattered, we would be the most desperate of creatures. But the promised triumph of Christ’s love enfolds everything in the Father’s mer-cy. The word of God which we have just heard leaves no doubt about this. The Immaculate Virgin stands before us as a privileged witness of this promise and

its fulfillment.This Extraordinary Holy Year

is itself a gift of grace. To pass through the Holy Door means to rediscover the infinite mercy of the Father who welcomes every-one and goes out personally to encounter each of them. This will be a year in which we grow ever more convinced of God’s mercy.

How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgment be-fore we speak of their being forgiven by his mercy (cf. Saint Augustine, De Praedestinatione Sanctorum, 12, 24)!

But that is the truth. We have to put mercy before judgment, and in any event God’s judgment will al-ways be in the light of his mercy. In passing through the Holy Door, then, may we feel that we ourselves are part of this mystery of love. Let us set aside all fear and dread, for these do not befit men and women who are loved. Instead, let us experience the joy of encountering that grace which transforms all things.

Today, as we pass through the Holy Door, we also want to remember another door, which 50 years ago the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council opened to the world. This anniversary cannot be remembered only for the legacy of the Council’s documents, which

testify to a great advance in faith. Before all else, the Council was an encounter. A genuine encoun-ter between the church and the men and women of our time. An encounter marked by the power of the Spirit, who impelled the church to emerge from the shoals which for years had kept her self-enclosed so as to set out once again, with enthusiasm, on her mis-sionary journey.

It was the resumption of a journey of encounter-ing people where they live: in their cities and homes, in their workplaces. Wherever there are people, the church is called to reach out to them and to bring the joy of the Gospel. After these decades, we again take up this missionary drive with the same power and en-thusiasm. The Jubilee challenges us to this openness, and demands that we not neglect the spirit which emerged from Vatican II, the spirit of the Samaritan, as Blessed Paul VI expressed it at the conclusion of the Council.

May our passing through the Holy Door today commit us to making our own the mercy of the Good Samaritan.

—Pope Francis’ Homily During the Inauguration of the Jubilee of Mercy, Dec. 8, 2015.

* * *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

OpiniOn Features

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Holy Week message

Observing Holy Week in the Jubilee Year of Mercy: What does this mean to Christians?

Philstar.com photo

Editorial

Gel SantoS-ReloS

The Fil-Am Perspective

AMLC COUNCIL, EXECUTIVES SHOULD RESIGN

PAGE A7

In his sermon, Tagle encouraged Filipino faith-fuls—who were clutching olive branches and braid-ed palm fronds—during Palm Sunday to forego their dependence on money, forsake violence and be merciful to neighbors and enemies.

“How can we learn from Jesus’ mercy and compassion in a world without mercy and compassion?” Tagle asked. “This Holy Week, let us learn from Jesus Christ how we can bring back mercy and compassion to our world.”

The days making up this week hold a deep mean-ing to Filipino Catholics. Lent season comes to an end during the last week of Jesus’ life—traditionally called Holy Week. During this week, the important events of His finals days on Earth are revisited.

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ hold a fundamental place in the lives of most Fili-pino Catholics. It is central, not as an abstract belief, but rather as a medium of experience and tradition that provides continuity in life, a structure in the community, and principled purpose for existence.

These are the same lessons Manila Archbishop Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle shared to Catholics.

“Jesus was hurt but he chose to be silent and not to seek vengeance...He even begged God to forgive those who hurt him. Let us put our faith in God [so] we will have peace of mind and we will learn to love our enemies,” Tagle said.

Remembering these events is more than a history lesson. To many devout Catholics, the Holy Week is a chance to reenact the significant moments of Jesus Christ’s life. Pi-noy Catholics reflect on the suffer-ing, death, and resurrection of Jesus

Christ through prayers.Some pray for good health and fortune, while oth-

ers wish for deliverance. Some ask for a miracle, a few want to give thanks. Regardless of one’s desire behind his or her reflections, this week is all about attesting one’s faith.

Aside from prayers and sacrifices, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said this Holy Week could be more meaningful if Filipinos perform acts of charity.

“If you want to truly make a good Holy Week love much. Love more. Give to the poor. Visit the jail. Vis-

“THE world today no longer counts on God. We count on money, arms, private armies, intimidation and connection, and if we continue to do these, it is very easy to lose mercy [for] our neighbors,” said Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle as he celebrated a Mass at the Manila Cathedral on Sunday, March 20.

it hospital wards. “This pilgrimage to the poor will add to the holiness of our times,” Villegas said.

The archbishop added that what makes these days holy is not self-inflicted pain, not publicized pi-ous devotion, and not daydreaming meditation.

“What makes this week holy is the immeasurable, unequaled love that Christ poured into these days,”

he said.The life and times of Jesus Christ leave us with a

great example to emulate. We are called to live like saints, not to make a mark in the world through suf-fering or death—but to appeal similar honest lives. Saintly people live life the best way they can, to sim-ply make a difference. (AJPress)

RiGobeRto tiGlao

CommentaryAMLC debased under Aquino

SET up in 2001 during Presi-dent Gloria Arroyo’s term, it is only under President Benigno Aquino that the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC) along with its secretariat has been debased into a political weapon. The council has also failed to justify its raison d’être as proven by the fact that we have become the preferred site for a quick money launder-ing operations, the world’s dirty-money haven, as the Agence France-Presse put it.

Unfortunately, Aquino’s inept-ness seems to have rubbed off on the AMLC Chairman Amando Tetangco, first appointed as gov-ernor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas by Arroyo in 2005, and reappointed by the incumbent President.

It is high time that Tetangco, who seems to see himself as some financial pope above the fray that the press and even the Senate can talk only to his subor-dinates, together with the AMLC executive secretary Julia Abad, accepted responsibility for the agency’s debasement and use-lessness. They should resign, to show to the world that they are made of high moral fiber as the Bangladesh Bank governor did, to accept accountability for the

Faith bautiSta and JeFF nino lim

Community Voice

President should secureSupreme Court that is diverse

Justice Jacqueline Nguyen and Sri Srinivasan, also highly quali-fied and noncontroversial from the D.C. Court of Appeals.

We raise the question of ignoring Asian Americans in the context of both Asian American judges being highly qualified immigrants and being relatively noncontroversial. Further, nomination of an Asian American jurist would be consis-tent with both President Obama’s call for more diversity and the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s call for more diversity, including ending the Harvard/Yale law school mo-nopoly at the Supreme Court.

We are particularly mystified given that Mr. Garland is one of the oldest candidates nominated for the Supreme Court since Richard Nixon’s day and President Obama has the opportunity to win over the Asian American vote over the long term whether or not an Asian American candidate is confirmed. In contrast, both Jacqueline Nguy-en and Sri Srinivasan are under 50, as was Justice Scalia when he was successfully nominated by Presi-dent Reagan (President Obama’s nominee is 63, which is a little too old to provide an enduring legacy. This is particularly so since a num-ber of Americans believe that a mechanism should be put in place for mandatory or strongly encour-aged retirement from the U.S. Su-preme Court after the age of 75.)

Since the President’s nomina-

PAGE A7

PRESIDENT Obama, as is his right, has nominated to the US Supreme Court another white man from Harvard, Merrick Garland.

Yet Mr. Garland is highly un-likely to ever be confirmed given the Republican leadership’s unani-mous position that no Presidential nominee will be confirmed while President Obama remains in of-fice.

The question raised by Califor-nia’s more than six million Asian Americans and the nation’s twenty million Asian Americans is why did the President forgo an opportunity to win over our nation’s 130 mil-lion minorities and those who did not graduate from Harvard Law School?

As the President and Congress know well, in our nation’s more than 225-year history, no Asian American has ever been nominated for or served at the U.S. Supreme Court. However, an increasingly large pool of highly qualified, non-controversial Asian American ju-rists are available to be nominated. This includes California’s highly qualified Ninth Circuit Appellate

(650) 616-4150 • http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • mARCh 25-31, 2016 A�Dateline PhiliPPines

as dummies. That it was a hatchet job was obvious in that Carvajal merely repeated the same article she wrote last year, she herself admitting that she was citing the same document. However, the AMLC after that had reported to the Court that after its investiga-tions, it found only P1.7 million in Binay’s account.

This is so outrageous, really. The AMLC’s reports on individu-al bank holdings are probably the most secret kind of documents in the country since these are the only such documents that a law (the AML Law of 2001, as amend-ed) severely penalizes a person for disclosing such information. In fact, the law even specifically lists who would be made respon-sible for “malicious reporting… relative to money laundering:”

“In the case of a breach of con-fidentiality that is published or reported by media, the respon-sible reporter, writer, president, publisher, manager and editor-in-chief shall be liable under this Act. (Sec. 9d).” Prescribed penal-ties involve imprisonment from six months to four years.In fact, not even those who are the sub-ject of AMLC investigations are given copies of its reports.

And what does the AMLC do with such blatant use of AMLC data, which really could have been tampered with as nobody else except the Inquirer reporter (apart from the Court) has access to?

It doesn’t even warn the Inquir-er that its article citing an AMLC report is illegal. It doesn’t even investigate the breach in confi-dentiality.

Worse, the AMLC revealed its political partisanship when it issued a press statement that didn’t say it will investigate the breach in confidentiality but instead taunted Binay “The AMLC will continue to discharge its legal mandate without fear or favor.”

$81 million entered, vanishedAnd third, the AMLC has been

AMLC debased...PAGE A6

bank secrecy laws are too strict. “Once money enters a deposit account, you can’t see it any-more,” he said in a TV interview. This is our AMLC chairman? Then how could a columnist, a congressman, the Ombudsman get the bank balances and even details of the transactions of the Chief Justice? How could one reporter have an AMLC confi-dential report making allegations about the Vice President’s bank accounts?

Tetangco may have been an ex-cellent central bank governor, but he thinks it is beyond him since he is the Philippine version of Alan Greenspan, to run what is really an anti-crime unit which the AMLC is, so that he has dele-gated almost all the work there to subordinates who may not have the moral fiber that he has. If he can’t supervise the AMLC, and the law requires him to chair it, he should accept the reality and resign as BSP governor, and let somebody who can really su-pervise that crucial anti-crime agency, one who would insulate it from politics.

Or maybe the law should be amended so that the council is led full-time by somebody who would be on the same rank as the

three incumbent members of the AMLC, the heads of the BSP, the SEC and the Insurance Commis-sion. How could such sensitive post as the AMLC chairman be a part-time job? The likelihood is for him to delegate all of his work eventually to really unqualified people.

Because of the AMLC’s incom-petence, we’ve received another blow to our image. The talk out-side is that Filipinos hacked the computers of the Bangladesh central bank, and squirrelled away the money through their banks in Manila. But the Sri Lankans in their case caught the thieves. Filipinos stealing from the Bangladeshi? How shameful is that?

I had been wondering why the senators investigating the is-sue are treating the AMLC with kid gloves, that they didn’t even require its head to testify in such an important hearing, and didn’t even grill its executive secretary over to ask her the body moved so slowly, which gave time for the thieves to vanish with their loot. A Senate staffer offered a reason: “They’re terrified that the AMLC might get back at them, and peek into their bank accounts.” (ManilaTimes.net)

embarrassingly caught napping as $81 million in stolen money entered the country, put in dor-mant accounts, and withdrawn to equally dubious accounts.

Do you know, dear reader, that the AMLC’s is authorized to investigate a transaction amounting to just P500,000, with its computer systems de-signed to alert its staff to such amount of transactions? Yet $81 million entered a single bank—in a single branch, in a single day—equivalent to P4 billion, deposited to dormant accounts, and then withdrawn, yet the AMLC didn’t notice it. I don’t think even P1 billion had ever entered a bank’s branch ever.

It had to take a person-to-per-son call from the Bangladesh Bank governor to BSP Gov. Tet-angco, the AMLC chairman, to alert him that such a huge stolen amount was entering the Philip-pine banking system.

Yet the AMLC started to work on the Bangladesh Bank gover-nor’s alert on Feb. 3, according to its executive director, Julia Abad in her testimony in the Senate. It issued the freeze order a week later on Feb. 11. The criminals obviously had the time to with-draw the proceeds, and these have vanished into thin air.

Contrast that to Sri Lanka’s successful interception of the $21 million from the same heist that entered its banking system. Sri Lanka has more efficient regula-tory bodies than ours?Aargh.

Tetangco made two flimsy ex-cuses why his AMLC had been inept in stopping the $81 million from vanishing.

One is that the loophole in the anti-money laundering law is that casinos are not included in the categories of institutions under the central bank’s mandate. This is a very lame excuse, as it was quite obvious in this heist that half of the $81 million was trans-ferred not to the criminal’s casino accounts but to their personal accounts. Some P20 million was even withdrawn in cash.

Second, Tetangco says that our

WHAT BANK SECRECY LAWS? AMLC Chairman Tetangco says bank secrecy laws are too strict. Then how could Keh, Banal and Ombudsman Morales have so easily obtained Corona’s bank data for the impeachment trial in 2012, and how could reporter Carvajal have., as she claims, an AMLC preliminary report on a presidential candidate?

PAGE A6

tion of Mr. Garland will be futile, perhaps the President should consider an option that will en-courage Mr. Garland to withdraw and provide the President the op-tion of nominating our first Asian American to the Supreme Court.

President should secure...This is a viable option since some nominees have withdrawn in the past when facing strong hurdles to confirmation.

The advantage to the Presi-dent includes the potential to convert what will be 50 million Asian Americans by 2050 to the

Democratic Party. Although Asian Americans now strongly tilt to the Democratic Party in national elec-tions, this was not the case under President Reagan. Therefore, a reinvigorated Republican Party whose Presidential candidate sup-ports immigrants could evenly split the Asian American vote including securing a majority of Asian Amer-

ican business leaders. Although the authors of this ar-

ticle have different political views, one generally supporting the Re-publican Party and the other sup-porting the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate, we both concur that the Asian American vote, given its growing size, edu-cational attainment and wealth ac-

cumulation should not tilt toward any major party. As other minori-ties have learned, we are often far more influential when our votes are up for grabs in both national and local elections. For example, the general absence of viable Re-publican candidates, particularly on a statewide level, has meant that minorities in California are disproportionately ignored since their votes are far too predictable.

As of the writing of this Op-Ed, we are endeavoring to meet with the President on this matter. The meeting will include a broad range of Asian American leaders from

both parties. However, we are not unduly optimistic given that the President rejected our mid-Feb-ruary request to meet with him in D.C. during a time when we met with Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, the Chairs of the FDIC and FTC, and the Director of CFPB on income and wealth inequality.

***Faith Bautista is the President & CEO

National Asian American Coalition and an immigrant

***Jeff Nino Lim is the owner of 15 Island Pacific

Supermarkets and Chair of National Asian American Coalition and an immigrant

march 25-31, 2016 • NOrcaL aSIaN JOUrNaL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150A�

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COMMUNITYJ o u r n a l

Atty. RobeRt Reeves ben LovemAnAnd nAncy e. miLLeR

Your ImmigrationSolution

USCIS recently announced that it expects the expanded pro-visional waiver program to be open for business within the first part of 2016. Seeing as March is already upon us, it would seem the provisional waiver expan-sion could be here any day now. Before the expanded waiver program could go into effect, USCIS was required to publish proposed new regulations and allow time for public comment. At last announcement, USCIS was completing review of public comments and anticipated pub-lishing the final rule shortly.

With the new rule and program expansion right around the cor-ner, now is a good time to take a look at the provisional waiver program and how the expansion of the program may be able to benefit you or your family. Im-portantly, the program expan-sion will open up the waiver to many applicants who previously could not qualify.

The provisional waiver is a rela-tively recent and much welcomed program for those subject to the 10-year bar for being unlawfully present in the United States for a year or more. The bar is in-voked when one leaves the US so it affects those who are unable to adjust their status (meaning complete their immigration pro-cess in the US) Typical applicants include persons who entered the US to serve as crew members aboard a ship or airplane, persons who entered with fiancé visas but never married their fiancé peti-tioner, and persons who entered without papers.

For those eligible, it provides the opportunity to apply for a waiver before departing the US to consular process for their green card. Thus, the immigrant can remain with their family pending a decision on their waiv-er. Once the waiver is approved, the intending immigrant leaves the United States with the con-

USCIS reveals provisional waiver expansion coming soon

fidence and relief that they will only be gone a short time and will be able to return as a lawful permanent resident.

This process is a welcome con-trast from the regular waiver pro-cess which requires applicants to depart the US and then apply for a waiver. Under that process, the person may be outside the US for at least six months while waiting for a decision on their waiver, which, of course, they hope will be favorable. That uncertainty has caused many people to forgo applying to legalize their status. The pain of being separated from their family for a long period of time and the possibility of denial was too great a risk. However, the provisional waiver process eliminates most of the uncertain-ty by allowing for pre-approval prior to departure from the US

Originally, the provisional waiver only benefitted those who had petitions filed by by a US cit-izen spouse or child. However, the expansion to the provisional waiver program will open it to another large group of poten-tial applicants. The new open the program to all applicants eligible for immigrant visa pro-cessing. Thus, under the new regulation, all persons with an approved petition and available visa, regardless of visa category, will be eligible to participate in the provisional waiver program, if otherwise eligible. This means that those who have overstayed their authorized period of stay and have a visa petition filed on their behalf by a parent, sibling, or employer may be eligible to apply for the provisional waiver.

Of course, obtaining a provi-sional waiver still requires es-tablishing extreme hardship to a ‘qualifying relative’ which means a US citizen or lawful permanent resident spouse or parent. Here too, there are some positive de-velopments. On October 7, 2015 USCIS disseminated a draft poli-

cy memorandum which, if made effective, will significantly im-pact the way the agency makes decisions on applications for ‘extreme hardship’ waivers. The new policy would impact all types of waiver applications, including provisional waivers for unlaw-ful presence.The new policy will provide clarification and uniform instruction to USCIS officers as to the standard that should be used to decide what factors “strongly suggest and support a finding of ‘extreme hardship’”. Some of the factors identified include sub-stantial displacement of care of applicant’s children, Travel Warn-ings against travel to country of residence, active military duty of qualifying relative, and prior grant of asylum or refugee status. Up until now, USCIS adjudicating officers have been inconsistent in the weight or significance they gave to these and other factors. With the new policy guidelines in effect, those whose provisional waivers were denied and who chose to remain in the United States and wait for better times, should consider reapplying. This could be that time for them.

If you or a loved one may ben-efit from the coming expansion to the provisional waiver pro-gram, you should contact an ex-perienced immigration attorney to discuss your situation.

***Atty. Reeves has represented clients in numerous landmark immigration cases that have set new policies regarding INS action and immigrants’ rights. His offices are located in Pasadena, Irvine, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Makati City. Telephone: (800) 795-8009 E-mail: immigration@rreeves.com Website: www.rreeves.com.

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

MANILA — The Philippines is the most fundamentally sound economy in the Asian region, a top bank economist.

Frederic Neumann, manag-ing director and co-head of Asian Economic Research of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank-

ing Corp. (HSBC), said Sunday, March 20.

“And the more important thing, so far, is that the present growth comes with a very low debt-to-GDP ratio,” he said, adding the rest of Asia is entering a period of critical debt saturation.

India and Indonesia are the other Asian economies that mea-sures closest to the Philippines in

terms of low debt-to-GDP ratio, he added.

The positive outlook towards the Philippine economy prompt-ed HSBC to revise upward the gross domestic growth (GDP) forecast to 5.9 percent this year from an earlier 5.7 percent and 5.8 percent in 2017.

“We increased our 2016 out-

MANILA — The country’s out-standing external debt slipped for the third straight year in 2015 due to the continued strengthen-ing of the dollar as well as higher investments in Philippine debt papers, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Mon-day, March 21.

BSP Governor Amando Tet-angco Jr. said external debt amounted to $77.47 billion last year, $200 million lower com-pared with $77.67 billion in 2014.

This was the third straight year the country’s external debt

Foreign debt shrinks to $77.5 BStronger dollar, higher investments in Philippine papers

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said external debt amounted to $77.47 billion last year, $200 million lower compared with $77.67 billion in 2014. Philstar.com/File Photo

by Lawrence agcaoiLiPhilstar.com

declined from $79.95 billion in 2012 to $78.49 billion in 2013 and to $77.67 billion in 2014.

Tetangco traced the improve-ment in the country’s external debt level to the $1.8 billion in-crease in investments largely by banks in Philippine debt papers.

The BSP chief also cited the $456 million negative revaluation adjustments due to the strength-ening of the greenback last year in view of the gradual recovery of the US economy and expecta-tions of the interest rate liftoff by the US Federal Reserve.

“A stronger dollar results in lower debt figure expressed in US dollar terms,” he said.

by Ted TorresPhilstar.com

uPAGE CJ3

uPAGE CJ2

MARCH 25-31, 2016 • NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150CJ� Community Journal

The CTVFiles

Atty. LiLLi B. BAcuLiMonetteAdevA MAglAyA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

THE practice of deferred grat-ification is a painful one. And who wants pain? It means let-ting go of the perceived whim-sical, multiple yet tiny pleasures of the moment over a length of time in order to be in a financial position to afford the more sig-nificant purchases in one’s life.

It involves avoiding spending money on trivialities in order to save and accumulate substantial sums for the really important things in life — like being able to afford to have more time to do the things one likes to do: study, travel, paint, dance, write and a host of other things that one would have liked to do if there was time enough. In the mun-dane world, it means quite sim-ply, to be able to afford to buy what he believes to be important to his life, whatever these may be.

Deferring gratification in-volves discipline, patience and sacrifice and having to make do with what one has and forgoing the things one wants right at that moment. Our natural tendency is to get the things that we want right at this moment to satisfy a whim or placate that impatient part of ourselves — even if we have to go into debt to do it.

Most trailblazing, first genera-tion immigrants who have had to start from scratch and have had to make do during the early part of their immigrant lives, do not have a problem with sacrifice. It is part of who they are and what has made them strong and resil-

The art of deferring gratification“In the world of ordinary, earned money, it is not what you make that counts, it is what you get to keep.”

ient in the face of adversity. The supreme irony is that pa-

tience as a virtue is not some-thing that is automatically, ge-netically passed down to young people. We all have a natural aversion for pain and sacri-fice yet this feeling is strongest among the young ones in an af-fluent society.

Teaching a person to save and not spend all the money that he has in one fell swoop in consum-able, useless, mere image-build-ing items is done best at a very young age. Parents who suc-ceed in teaching their children to save even small amounts of money will have laid one of the basic foundations of building character in a young person.

The way to save money has al-ways been to pay one’s self first and accumulate small amounts prodigiously over a length of time. In the world of ordinary, earned money, it is not what you make that counts, it is what you get to keep.

Out of any amount earned, won or received, and before buying anything, a minimum of 10% is taken out and is socked away in a savings account that should earn interest. In some cultures, parents teach their children to put away 20% or more of whatever money their children receive. This account is maintained and added to on

a regular basis and kept until it reaches a critical mass and can then be placed in safe fi-nancial instruments for longer terms that can earn compound interest. This practice teaches patience and a healthy respect for saving money over time and keeps a run-away consumer frame of mind in check.

Be warned that at certain points, young people will be tempted to spend it all on one big purchase that they feel is some-thing that they need or they may feel like giving it all away on a worthy cause. It is their money after all and they should be able to do so. Their decision to spend it all after they have taken the time and the effort to save it can provide them one valuable learning experience about how to make judgment calls when it comes to money.

The idea is to start them think-ing and developing the disci-pline of paying one’s self first with any amount of money they earn or receive as a gift. They will begin to regard small bits of money as tiny droplets that in time can form a pond or a lake that is ready to be tapped when a really important need arises.

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

However, the $2 billion net availments as debt drawdowns exceeded payments as well as previous periods’ audit adjust-ments negated the impact of higher investments and a stron-ger US dollar.

External debt refers to all types of borrowings by Philippine resi-dents from non-residents. More than 65 percent of the country’s external debt is denominated in US dollar, while 11.7 percent of total debt is denominated in Jap-anese yen.

About 11.8 percent of the ex-ternal debt is US dollar-denomi-

nated multi-currency loans from the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) while 11 percent are denominated in 17 other currencies including the peso with 6.6 percent, the special drawing rights of the Internation-al Monetary Fund (IMF) with 2.2 percent, and the euro with 1.5 percent.

The country’s external debt at end-2015 was 2.5 percent higher compared to the end-September level of $75.6 billion. The increase was attributed to net availments amounting to $1.8 billion by pri-vate banks and corporations to finance various projects arising

from positive sentiment.Data from the central bank

showed the country’s gross inter-national reserves (GIR) amounted to $80.7 billion last year, enough to cover 5.3 times the country’s short-term debt under the origi-nal maturity concept.

“Key external debt indicators remained at comfortable levels at the close of the year,” Tet-angco said.

The debt service ratio contin-ued to improve to 5.3 percent in end December from 5.6 percent in September and from 6.3 per-cent in December 2014 due to a

Foreign debt shrinks to…

uPAGE CJ4

PAGE CJ1 t

ON March 11, 2016, the US De-partment of Homeland Security re-leased its final rule enhancing the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program for F-1 international stu-dents in science, technology, engi-neering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The new STEM-OPT exten-sion is a 24-month period of tem-porary training that directly relates to the student’s program of study in an approved STEM field. Previ-ously, STEM-OPT extensions were only allowed for 17 months. The 17-month OPT extension will stay in effect until May 9, 2016. The new 24-month extension will take effect on May 10, 2016.

What is Optional Practical Train-ing? Optional Practical Training (OPT) is temporary employment that is directly related to an F-1 student’s major area of study. Under prior rules, an F-1 student could be authorized to receive up to a total of 12 months of practical training either pre- or post-com-pletion of his/her studies.

STEM-OPT. F-1 students who

New regulations extend OPT extension for STEM

receive science, technology, engineering, and mathemat-ics (STEM) degrees included on the STEM designated degree program list, are employed by employers enrolled in E-verify, and who have received an initial grant of post-completion OPT related to such degree, may ap-ply for extension. As per the new regulations to take effect on May 10, 2016, STEM-OPT extensions are now up to 24 months.

STEM-eligible degrees. To be el-igible for the extended OPT exten-sion, a student must have received a degree included in the STEM designated degree program list. This list sets forth eligible courses of study according to the Classifi-cation of Instructional Programs (CIP) codes developed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Na-tional Center for Education Statis-tics. The list the following courses of study: computer science appli-cations, biological and biomedical sciences, actuarial science, mathe-matics and statistics, engineering, military technologies, engineering technologies, physical sciences, science technologies, medical sci-entist.

To be eligible for an OPT ex-tension, the student must cur-rently be in an approved post-completion OPT period based on a designated STEM degree. Thus, for example, a student with an undergraduate degree in a designated STEM field, but currently in OPT based on a sub-sequent MBA degree, would not be eligible for an OPT extension.

It is important to be well-informed and to know your options, but the wrong advice or information can hurt you. Consult a licensed and experienced immigration attorney to help you navigate through the evolving immigration laws.

* * *Atty. Lilli Berbano Baculi is an associate attorney with Chua Tinsay & Vega, A Professional Legal Corporation (CTV) - a full service law firm with offices in San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento and Philippines. The information presented in this article is for general information only and is not, nor intended to be, formal legal advice nor the formation of an attorney-client relationship. Call or e-mail CTV for an in-person or phone consultation to discuss your particular situation and/or how their services may be retained at (619) 955-6277; (415) 495-8088; (916) 449-3923; lbaculi@ctvattys.com. For general information visit www.chuatinsayvega.com.

(650) 616-4150 • http://www.asianjournal.com NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL • MARCH 25-31, 2016 CJ�Community Journal

Atty. MichAelGurfinkel, eSQ

ImmigrationCorner

ernie D. Delfin

The Metamorphosis

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

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Eagle Rock High School Monthly Open House Tours laureate Open House Tours, from 8-10am during the spring semester on Friday, April

1. Eagle Rock Junior/Senior High School serves students in grades 7-12, and was the first school in the LAUSD to be authorized to offer the prestigious International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (grades 7-10) and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (grades 11-12), a project-based program for concept and content-based learn-ing to promote global mindedness and service to others. The IB Open House is open to all interested students, and will include an introductory presentation in the ERHS library, followed by campus tours, classroom visits, and a short question-and-answer period. To register for the Open Houses, please visit www.erhs.la, and click on the “IB Open House Registration” link. Please email Mylene Keipp mylene.keipp@lausd.net for more informa-tion. We look forward to your visit!

APRIL 1

Prisoners of War Day at the Filipino Veterans Education CenterAll WWII veterans and families, please join us as we commemorate the historic 74than-

niversary of Prisoners of War Day and the Fall of Bataan, the Day of Valor, on Saturday, April 9th. In the spirit of reconciliation, friendship and international cooperation, let us leave the past behind us as we move forward with joined hands to attain peace for all mankind. The formal Commemoration and remembrance ceremony will start at 2:00pm in the Filipino Veterans Education Center, at the War Memorial Performing Arts Veterans Building (401 Van Ness Ave. San Francisco, CA 94102). This event is open to the public. Please RSVP RudyAsercion@gmail.com; naffaasf@gmail.com. Tel: 415 564 6262.

APRIL 9

FREE Citizenship Workshop in Los AngelesOn Saturday, March 26, Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles will help local

green card holders take the first step towards becoming citizens through a free event as part of the New Americans Campaign. This workshop will provide lawful permanent resi-dents with free naturalization application assistance by professional and trained volunteers. Legal counsel by probono attorneys and legal experts will be available. Services are avail-able in English, Chinese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese and Spanish.

WHAT: Free Citizenship Workshop WHERE: Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, 1145 Wilshire Blvd., Los

Angeles, CA 90017WHEN: Saturday, March 26, 2016 at 9:00 am RSVP: Registration for this workshop is required. For more information and to register,

call 888-349-9695

MARCH 26

An Evening with Jose Antonio VargasFilipino American, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker Jose Antonio Var-

gas will be speaking at Pasadena City College (1570 E. Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA) on Monday, March 28, from 6 to 8 pm in Sexson Auditorium at the Pasadena City College. Vargas’ work centers on advocating for undocumented immigrants, and in June 2011, through The New York Times Magazine, he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, Vargas appeared on the cover of TIME maga-zine worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants as part of a follow-up cover story he wrote. Now, he is the head of Define American, a non-profit media and culture organiza-tion that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration and citizenship in America. We excited to bring this speaker to campus and we hope that you will join us. Doors open at 5pm. This event is open to the public and tickets are FREE, so please feel free to share with your networks! Tickets are available at http://joseavargas-mar28.eventbrite.com/

MARCH 28

Chino Hills Multicultural FestivalInspired by last year’s successful celebration of the community’s diversity, the Rotary

Club of Greater Chino Hills Foundation will host its second Multicultural Festival on Satur-day, April 23, from 3 to 9 pm, at the Chino Hills Community Center (14250 Peyton Drive, Chino Hills, CA 91709). Admission is free. There will be food booths, live entertainment, music, dance and performances by an array of participants. Sponsorship and advertisement packages are available for non-profit organizations to fundraise, and for businesses inter-ested in market their products and services. For more information, contact rotary.chino-hills@gmail.com or visit www.chinohillsrotaryclub.org. Contact: Ted Alvarez (909) 456-0359, tedalvarez@verizon.net; Tessie Lightholder (909) 576-4152,tessielightholder@gmail.com, or Ginny Mondonedo (951) 212-4624, vmondonedo55@gmail.com.

APRIL 23

A MOTHER’S AND HER ATTORNEY’S PERSISTENCE RESULT IN HER DAUGHTERS FINALLY BEING ISSUED CSPA VISAS BASED ON “EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES”— ON A BRAND NEW EPISODE OF “CITIZEN PINOY!” Lolita (left) left her two daughters in the Philippines to seek a better life in the US, with the dream that she would eventually have them join her. However, her previous attorney missed the one year “sought to acquire” filing deadline for CSPA eligibility, resulting in the Embassy refusing to issue their immigrant visas. Leading US immigration attorney Michael J. Gurfinkel (right) was her beacon of hope, as he did not give up in trying to convince the Embassy that the daughters should be entitled to visas, despite missing the one-year deadline. Find out how Atty. Michael J. Gurfinkel was able to prove extraordinary circumstances, have the two “aged-out” daughters be issued visas, and reunite this family on a brand-new episode of “Citizen Pinoy” – on Sunday, March 27 6:15pm (PST) on TFC.

SOME people, with only lim-ited knowledge or understand-ing of immigration laws, try to strategize and handle their im-migration case on their own. They follow the advice of friends or relatives, or listen to gossip or rumors they hear on the streets or at parties. But they may not be aware of all the critical facts or laws, or recent developments.

Partial or incomplete informa-tion about immigration laws and benefits can have devastating ef-fects, resulting in denials, depor-tation, or many additional years of separation from your family.

A woman came to my office for assistance for her daughter, who aged out. She followed the wrong advice. But had she gone to an attorney at the outset, her child would have been in the US years ago.

In this woman’s case, she was petitioned by her mother, right after the mother had natural-ized. But the mother could have filed a petition for her, as a sin-gle adult child of a green card holder parent (F-2B) years ear-lier, which would have included the woman’s daughter, who was still under 21. Instead, the fam-ily thought it would be “faster” for the mother to hold off for at least 5 years to become a US cit-izen, and then file the petition.

Would you perform surgery on yourself, or would you let a doctor do it?That is wrong!

By waiting until the mother naturalized, and only then filing a petition, they wasted at least five years. Also, a petition by a US citizen takes much longer than a petition by an immigrant parent. So, by the time the priority date became current, the child had al-ready aged out.

Now, the woman wanted to know if her daughter was eligible under the Child Status Protection Act (CSPA), under her mother’s original petition. After doing the mathematical computation, the daughter was considered mathematically over 21 and not CSPA eligible. The mother will now need to file a new petition for her daughter, which could take another 10 years before the daughter can finally immigrate to the US. Had they obtained proper legal advice from an attorney at the outset, both this woman and her daughter could have been in the US years ago! Instead, by rely-ing on partial information, the daughter now must wait again for decades to immigrate.

My point is that people think, “What’s so difficult about peti-tioning a family member? I can just do it on my own, because it is simple and straightforward.” Just as some people may say, “Why should I have to hire a

surgeon? It’s easy. I can do it myself.” But there could be com-plications. And in immigration, there may be faster ways to bring family members to the US, which a person may not be fully aware of. Instead, they rely on partial information, which, as you can see from the above example, can have devastating effects. That is why you should consult with an attorney, who can evaluate your situation, to make sure you are going the fastest, most direct route, to accomplish your immi-gration goal.

* * *Michael J. Gurfinkel is licensed, and an

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

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

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

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

LOLITA went through two pre-vious lawyers, hoping to have her two aged-out daughters join her in the US under the Child Sta-tus Protection Act (CSPA). Each time, her dreams were shattered, and the daughters were left dev-astated – as the Embassy said they were not eligible, because years ago, they missed the one year deadline to “seek to acquire” a visa. The other attorneys gave up, and said there was nothing more that could be done.

New hope for family who missed CSPA’s one year ‘Sought to Acquire’ filing deadline on ‘Citizen Pinoy’

When Lolita finally consulted with the Law Offices of Michael J. Gurfinkel, he immediately re-quested the Embassy to recon-sider, based on “extraordinary circumstances,” since it was the previous attorneys who missed the one-year filing deadline, not Lolita. However, the Embassy declined to recognize an attorney missing the CSPA filing deadline as an extraordinary circumstance. But Atty Gurfinkel never gave up. His persistence and multiple

requests for reconsideration re-sulted in a major policy shift that qualified Lolita’s case under “ex-traordinary circumstances.”

A mother who never lost hope and an attorney who never gave up resulted in visa issuance and much-awaited reunion with Lolita and her daughters, on a brand-new episode of “Citizen Pinoy”–on Sunday, March 27 at 6:15pm PST/EST (9:15 pm EST thru select Cable/Satellite providers).

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(Part 2 of 2)LAST January, two District

Governors-elect from the Philip-pines (Quezon City D3780 and Northern Luzon D3790) Atty. Dwight Ramos and Raul Peralta, with their lovely spouses visited our young and tender GK e-Ro-tary Club here in Orange County, after their mandatory week long Governors’ training in San Di-ego. That first visit and couple meetings before they flew back home germinated the seed for further collaboration on projects that will benefit the poor. Anoth-er ambitious project is a business mentoring project tentatively called “Entrepreneurial Devel-opment for Socioeconomic Ad-vancement” (“EDSA,” a different kind of revolution) that will train, coach, mentor, guide young men and women and hopefully can also provide some financial capi-tal to the best viable business plans that will be submitted to the sponsors.

Preliminary work: meeting, discussing the project and do-ing the necessary needs assess-ments in the project areas, has started to be able to complete the a formal application for a Global Grant from the Rotary Foundation by this summer. We need local “partners” in the proj-

GK-Rotary-LGU collaboration for the common good

ect areas (Pangasinan, La Union, Quezon City and/or Bulacan) like colleges or universities that al-ready have the facilities and lo-gistics for training students and scholars to be sent by the district rotary clubs as their “scholars. To make it a competitive, com-prehensive and successful proj-ect, we are also seeking more local Rotary Clubs in the Philip-pines as well as Rotary Clubs in North America to provide some the financial “seed money” to be matched by District Funds and the Rotary Foundation Matching funds. We are hoping that this Entrepreneurial Development and Mentoring project will in-spire and empower many people and will have some measurable impact to the communities where the projects are implemented

As this is a pilot for our GK eRotary Club, we are invest-ing time and energy to meet like-kind- organizations like the Farm Village University in GK’s Enchanted Farms in Bulacan to explore potential collaboration for a win-win relationship, with the beneficiaries as the primary focus. With initial discussions with Gawad Kalinga founder, Tony Meloto, while he was in Los Angeles, he was inviting this writer to visit him and to meet the young entrepreneurs who are based and already engaged in small to medium sized social enterprises in the Enchanted

Farms of Bulacan. We are hope-ful that GK and our E-Rotary Club will have a good match for this entrepreneurial project aimed in creating more entrepreneurs and self-employed people among the lower economic strata of Philippine society.

We also plan to explore pos-sible “partial eclipsing” and sup-port from GO Negosyo NGO, that has created successful en-trepreneurs the last several de-cades. Any GO Negosyo leaders out there who would like to help us help the poor is very much welcome to collaborate with us in our mission to help create more entrepreneurs in the Philippines. The needs for a massive wave of entrepreneurs in the Philippines are great, to stem the tide or stop the massive export of our OFWs to other countries, doing menial jobs or dirty tasks as domestic helpers that their employers/bosses do not want to do. Too much to do, so little time!

Any reader interested to sup-port us, either in the Philippines or in the Rotary world, especially in the USA or Canada is most welcome.

Please contact me, ASAP. Thank you and May all of you have a blessed Lenten Season and Easter Week, soon!

* * *Email me at ernie.gkerc@gmail.com Websites: www.gkerc.com / www.rotary.org

look slightly due to the anticipat-ed positive influence of election spending,” he said.

But there are challenges inter-nally that the Philippines must address to keep a strong growth momentum, he said.

“The next administrations must increase infrastructure spending at a much faster pace,” Neumann said.

Infrastructure spending should focus on building more world-class airports, more railways, reduce congestions in ports and

PH most fundamentally sound economy…roads, make electricity more dependable, and to ensure suf-ficient water supply.

The Philippines must attract more foreign direct investments (FDI), as it would add more capi-tal, more know-how, and com-petitive pressure to the domestic business market.

FDIs rose from $1.07 billion in 2010 to $6 billion in 2014. Com-paratively, Indonesia reported $13.8 billion in 2010 to $ 21 bil-lion in 2013.

Newman explained the manu-facturing sector should produce

consumer products that can replace their imported coun-terparts. It could also employ a large number of Filipinos than any other sector in the economy.

The agriculture sector is also another sector that should in-crease its contribution to the economy. It produces consumer goods that could replace import-ed counterparts thus avoiding the need for debt.

“The Philippines would be a victim of its own success unless it can overcome the different road-blocks,” Neumann added. n

PAGE CJ1 t

THE Community Ambassador Program for Seniors (CAPS) is a nationally recognized award-winning City of Fremont pro-gram that trains volunteers to as-sist older adults in locating local resources and services that can help improve their independence and quality of life.

The program is now offer-ing a new training course to become a Community Ambas-sador. As an Ambassador, you will be briefed on topics such

Volunteer with Fremont’s Community Ambassador Program for Seniors!

as healthy aging, transporta-tion options, social security benefits, health benefits, hous-ing options, end of life care, and more. You will have the flexibility to volunteer at your convenience and can choose when and how much you’d like to participate.

For more information on the CAPS Program or to register, visit the CAPS Website or contact Asha Chandra, CAPS Program Manager, by Email or call (510)

574-2055.If you’re interested, make sure

to register as soon as possible as space is limited! The registra-tion deadline is Friday, April 22, 2016.

Training dates are on Wednes-day, April 27 and Thursday, April 28, 2016 (must attend both dates)from 9am to 4pm. Loca-tion of training will be at the City of Fremont Administration Train-ing Room, 3300 Capitol Avenue, Building B, Fremont. n

MARCH 25-31, 2016 • NORCAL ASIAN JOURNAL http://www.asianjournal.com • (650) 616-4150CJ�

larger decline in payments.About 80.5 percent of the

country’s outstanding external debt consisted of medium- and long-term accounts set to mature in over a year. The weighted av-erage maturity of these accounts stood at 16.5 years.

“This means that foreign ex-change requirements for debt payments are well spread out and, thus, more manageable,” he added.

On the other hand, short-term external debt comprised 19.5 percent of the country’s total ex-ternal borrowings. n

Foreign debt shrinks to…PAGE CJ2 t

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — The City of Redwood City announced Friday, March 18, the receipt of an Award of Excellence from the California Park & Recreation So-ciety (CPRS) for its Community Health & Wellness - PE+ Elemen-tary Physical Education Program. The award was presented at the 68th Annual California Park & Recreation Society Conference Expo, held in Long Beach on March 11, 2016.

“We are honored to receive this award on behalf of our resi-dents,” said Melissa Stevenson Diaz, city manager of Redwood City. “The CPRS awards program is the highest recognition a City can receive to recognize excel-lence in community health and wellness. I want to thank the staff and partners involved for making this program a success within our community.”

The PE+ program was de-signed to help fill the basic need for physical education in local Redwood City schools suffering from budget cuts. Their role is

City of Redwood City program recognized of top honor focused on community health and wellness

to help students in K-5th grade meet the California Physical Fit-ness Standards and build healthy school communities. The PE+ program is funded by the Healthy Schools Initiative through the Sequoia Health Care District, Redwood City Parks, Recreation, and Community Services Depart-ment, the Redwood City School District, and the Peninsula Com-munity Center.

The California Park & Recre-ation Society presented awards in 5 categories:

• Creating Community Award of Excellence

• Excellence in Design - Park Planning

• Excellence in Design - Fa-cility Design & Communications Award of Excellence

• Professional & ServiceCPRS Executive Director

Stephanie Stephens states, “These agencies represent the finest in initiatives addressing community issues, recreation programming, park planning, facility design, and marketing

and communications in Califor-nia. Park and recreation agen-cies throughout the state provide families, individuals, and groups access to the serenity and inspira-tion of nature; spaces and places for play and exercise; opportuni-ties for directed and self-directed recreation; positive alternatives for youth to reduce crime and mischief; and activities that facili-tate social connections, human development, therapy, the arts, and lifelong learning. CPRS and our award sponsors, RJM Design Group, Inc., Little Tikes Commer-cial Play Systems and SVA Archi-tects, and, are proud to recognize excellence in park and facility de-sign, community initiatives, rec-reation programs, and marketing and communications.”

For more details on the City of Redwood City’s PE+ Program, visit: http://redwoodcity.org/de-partments/parks-recreation-and-community-services/fitness/pe

For more information about the City of Redwood City, visit: http://www.redwoodcity.org. n

THANK you Fremont residents for feeding your green organics cart each week with food scraps and yard waste. Now you can feed the plants in your garden with quality compost that was made from your yard trimmings and food scraps. Pick up two free bags of compost on Sun-day, April 3, from 8am to 12:00 noon or while supplies last at the Fremont Recycling and Transfer Station located at 41149 Boyce Rd. The event will be held rain or shine. Avoid the lines by arriv-ing after 9:30am.

Bring your current Republic Services garbage bill to show that your household participates in the City’s curbside organics pro-gram. Carefully follow the signs and watch for the traffic controls that will direct you to the loading area where crews will place the compost into your vehicle. If your neighbor or a family member is unable to attend, you may bring their Republic Services bill and

Compost giveaway in Fremont

pick up their compost for them.Compost Giveaway is brought

to you by the City of Fremont, in partnership with Republic Ser-

vices and the Fremont Recycling and Transfer Station. For more information, contact Republic Services at (510) 657-3500. n

People & Events

DO your part to help Daly City! The city invites all residents to a free Earth Day 2016 event at the City Hall on Saturday, April 16, from 10am to 2pm.

Daly City Earth Day event 2016The event will feature free ser-

vices such as document shred-ding, electronic waste drop-off (e-waste), bulky item drop-off for reuse, compost giveaway

and info on a variety of ways to reduce energy use, divert waste from the landfill, and more!

More details will be provided in coming weeks, including in-structions on what type of bulky items and e-waste will be ac-cepted.

Please RSVP if you plan to at-tend at http://dalycityearthday.eventbrite.com. Your RSVP will help plan the right amount of trucks and dumpsters.

For more info, contact Daly City Sustainability Coordinator, Stephen Stolte, at (650) 991-8126 or sstolte@dalycity.org. n

SAN BRUNO, CA – On March 16, officers from the San Bruno Police Department joined forces with Capuchino High School Ad-ministration, the California Office of Traffic Safety, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in an ef-fort to deter students from driv-ing while impaired.

The program that students par-ticipated in is called “U-DETER”, an acronym for “Underage DUI Education Through Exposure to Repercussions”. On March 16th, approximately 1,200 Capuchino High School students partici-pated in this program. U-DETER focuses on providing students with a better understanding of the scope of the DUI problem in our country, and educates them about DUI laws and the real-world consequences of a DUI arrest.

Through a multimedia presen-tation delivered by police, stu-dents learned that in the United States alone, impaired driving is responsible for the death of over 10,000 people every year, over 4,500 of which are in their age group. They also learned that more than 1.5 million people per year are arrested for DUI, over 450,000 of which are in their age group. Students learned the truth about DUI laws, how they differ when you’re underage, and some

High school students experience U-DETER Programof the aggressive tactics being used by police to get impaired drivers off the street.

Thanks to MADD, students were also able to view a totaled vehicle from a real DUI crash that occurred locally and claimed the life of an innocent young mother. This display included a detailed description of the crash and of the many lives that were damaged by the impaired driver that caused it. During their lunch break, students were invited to attempt field sobriety tests while wearing goggles that simulate varying levels of impairment. Many students also experienced simulated arrests and had de-

tailed discussions about what happens after an arrest for DUI.

Finally, students were in-vited to participate in a police ride-along program that will put them in a patrol car with an of-ficer that is specifically working DUI enforcement. This will give them the chance to see DUI en-forcement in real-world scenari-os, where real people go to jail, providing a true “exposure to re-percussions”. So far, more than thirty students have requested participation in the ride-along portion of the program and they will be scheduled to ride with officers over the next couple of months. n

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Friday, March 25, 2016

Photo by Gerry Edra

SF2 cover storyThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - March 25, 2016

by Christina M. Oriel / aJPress

Among the many talents that Filipinos display on the global

stage, dancing is one of them. The latest source of Filipino pride is 7-year-old John Philip Bughaw, better known as ‘Balang.’

Hailing from Bacoor, Cavite, Balang has won over millions of Internet users across the globe with viral videos of himself en-thusiastically dancing along to pop hits. His energetic moves even caught the attention of El-len DeGeneres, who has invited him to appear on her talk-vari-ety three times now.

With no formal training, Balang started dancing at 4 years old, emulating motions picked up from videos or by simply just moving along to the background music heard on TV shows.

“Natuto akong sumayaw sa pamamagitan ng panonood ng mga videos (I taught myself how to dance by watching videos),” Balang shared during a recent interview with the Asian Journal, adding that art-ists Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Meghan Trainor, among others, have inspired him to dance.

But it wasn’t until he was 6 years old when his dancing gar-nered international attention.

Danica Doma, a neigh-bor and close family friend, started uploading videos of Balang dancing on YouTube and Facebook. The first video posted that gained popularity was a dance cover to Meghan Trainor’s “All About that Bass.”

“Nag like and share yung video. Doon na ako sumikat (The video was liked and shared. There, I got famous),” Balang said.

Doma explained that fame wasn’t the intention, as the videos were initially meant to be shared among family and close friends. “It was supposed to be for fun. We didn’t expect that his videos would go viral,” she said.

She has since become Balang’s interpreter, and ac-companies him during his vari-ous appearances and trips.

Balang’s subsequent video was for “Bang Bang” (by Jes-sie J, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande), which caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres,

who played a clip on her show. After that video was posted,

a producer from the show contacted Doma about bring-ing Balang to the US for an appearance.

“The producer and I kept on talking…and we were told we were going to be on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show.’ They gave us money for the visas, then we went to the US Embassy for the interview. The next day was the release of our visas,” Doma said.

Balang, accompanied by Doma as his interpreter, made his US debut in May 2015 on DeGeneres’s show.

“A couple of months ago I showed you this video of a young boy dancing ‘Bang Bang’ in the Philippines. I said ‘bring him to me’ and I’m happy to say he has been brought,” De-Generes said during her intro-duction of the Filipino dancer, who was then 6 years old.

During the interview, Balang made the crowd laugh, joking about how there is a lot of chocolate in the United States. He also shared his aspirations to become a Zumba instructor to “help everyone be healthy.”

Clad in a beige fedora, red collared shirt and black and white suspenders, Balang wowed the audience with a live dance performance of “Bang Bang.” The video, which has been uploaded to show’s YouTube channel, has over 5 million views as of this writing. After the performance, Balang was gifted with lots of sweets, including a chocolate fountain.

In late 2015, DeGeneres invited Balang again to perform a dance to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” and have a dance off with the show’s resident DJ tWitch to Silento’s “Watch Me (Whip / Nae Nae).”

Being in the spotlight, he said, is exciting because he gets to help his family financial-ly and entertain people around the world.

“Masaya, po, kasi, nagka-kapera kami. Natutuwa din mga tao (It is fun because we are getting money. Also, people are amused),” he said.

Earlier this year, Doma up-loaded a video of Balang danc-ing to Justin Bieber’s hit “Sor-ry” on Facebook, accumulating

Photos by Danica Doma

Balang at the taping of Telemundo’s “¡Qué Noche! con Angelica y Raul!

Photo by Gerry Edra

Dancing his way to fameHow John Philip ‘Balang’ Bughaw became an Internet sensation

over 28 million views. Bieber himself re-posted a link of the video on his Twitter account, writing that Balang “kills it.”

Balang returned to DeGe-neres’s show for the third time to dance to “Sorry” in Febru-ary.

Ditching the outfit preppy combination from the two previous appearances, Balang wore a sleeveless tiger print top, a look he said was inspired by Bieber.

After the three appearances on the talk-variety show, Balang shared that he was gifted an iPad, chocolates, art materials and a stationary bike, which he uses a few times a week to

work out. Balang was back in the US

in early March — along with Doma and his mother Mary Jane — to tape an appearance on “¡Qué Noche! con Angelica y Raul,” a variety and entertain-ment show with Angelica Vale and Raul Gonzalez on Telemun-do. The episode, which was filmed at the network’s studios in Miramar, Florida, is slated to air this July.

Balang and his mother Mary Jane both remarked how he received special, red carpet treatment during the taping, and that they were both picked up in a limousine.

“Balang is a very rare talent

YOU can still spend the Catholic holidays in a productive and meaningful way even at the comfort of your own homes by watching these films that are not only religious in nature, but also teach values and give inspiration to those who badly need it.

Sit back, relax and reflect with these must-watch films that Inquirer.net would like to sug-gest to you. Rest assured, these classics will nourish your mind and soul during this important religious observance that will cap the Lenten season.

1. “God’s Not Dead” (2014)This 2014 Christian drama-

comedy film revolves around the story of devout Christian student Josh played by Shane Harper who is on a mission to prove the existence of God to his college philosophy professor Mr. Jeffrey Radisson. An atheist, Radisson asks his students to sign a decla-ration saying that God is God to pass his class, but Josh refuses to do so and stands by his belief.

The rest of the film will focus on Josh’s series of debates with Radisson to prove God’s

existence that will also reveal the professor’s background.

2. “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1973)

This 1973 musical drama film deals with Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus Christ which led to the latter’s crucifixion. Based on the rock opera of the same name, the performance of Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson earned them nominations for the Golden Globe Awards in 1974.

3. “The Passion of the Christ” (2004)

Sit back, relax and reflect: Recommended movies for Holy Week

“God’s Not Dead” (2014) “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1973)Continued on Page SF4

Photow from Facebook.com/JPLBalang

that is why he is a phenomenal Internet sensation,” Vic Perez, Balang’s international manager, told the Asian Journal. “This dance prodigy kid will soon be the next Filipino pride glob-ally.”

Balang is the newest talent under Perez’s LA-based enter-tainment company, V Enter-tainment, which has several projects lined up for him this year.

“We’re planning to have

a record for him here [in the United States]. The title is ‘Big Bang Bounce’ and it’ll have its own dance like ‘Gangnam Style,’” Perez said. “By June it should be out.”

Balang will also be involved with Operation Smile — an in-ternational charity that provides children with cleft lip and palate repair surgeries — as a goodwill ambassador.

Now that he’s visited the United States several times and is continuing to build his dancing career, Balang said he hopes to visit and perform in London and one day meet his idols Bieber, Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj.

But even with the fame, he isn’t backing down on his dreams to become a police of-ficer and Zumba instructor.

“Gawain yung gusto mo para magiging masaya din kayo at pamilya mo. Patulo magaaral at mag matapos na maaral, sundin ang iyong mga pangarap (Do what you like so you and your family can be happy. Continue to study and after you finish your education, follow your dreams),” Balang said.

and lakes with paddle boating. If you have time, check out Guangzhou Xiangjiang Safari Park, the largest animal park in Asia with more than 400 species of wild animals including more than 70 white tigers.

Of course, you won’t want to leave Guangzhou without trying Cantonese food, especially the dim sum which ranks the best in the whole country.

International long haul flights, no doubt, could be very exhausting. A relaxing city tour in Guangzhou is an excellent way to break that long journey to your final destination, as personally experienced by travel agents who participated in the Fam Tour jointly organized by GTT International/Majestic Vacations and China Southern Airlines last November 6 to 13, 2015 headed by GTT International Regional Director Eliza Chung and Flora Wang, China Southern Airlines’ Director, Sales Development Division Southwestern Region and Purificacion Molintas, PDOT-San Francisco Tourism Attache. The fam tour was held in cooperation with the Philippine Department of Tourism as part of continuing education of travel agents on Philippine tourism products.

Of course, for Filipinos a trip to the Philippines would seem incomplete without visiting

Boracay, Palawan, Cebu and other popular tourist destinations in the country, which are among the highlights of various Fam Tours held last year.

Boracay, which is consistently rated as one of the top beach destinations in the world is high on everyone’s list. The same could be said about Palawan which boasts of the Puerto Princesa Underground River, named as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature, Coron and El Nido – both of which are attracting local and foreign tourists alike all year round.

So, for your next trip to Asia, you may want to try flying China Southern Airlines. You will not only get a real value for your money, you will also have the chance of exploring Guangzhou before heading to the Philippines and enjoying our own amazing tourist destinations.

***Manny V. Ilagan is a Tourism Specialist

with over 23 years experience in the tourism and travel industry. He provides travel consultancy services to some of the biggest wholesalers and tour operators in the country as well as to some airline companies. He is the former Tourism Director-OIC of the Philippine Department of Tourism-Los Angeles, where he worked for over two decades. As a writer, he has written numerous articles about travel and tourism which have been published in various Filipino-American newspapers in Los Angeles.

SF3featuresThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE – March 25, 2016

China Southern Airlines: Another viable option of flying to the Philippines

ONE of the most precious traits of the Filipinos is our close family ties. Compared to other cultures Filipinos keep their relationship with their families intact. That being said, for us Filipinos who are residing overseas “vacation” generally means taking a trip back to the Philippines to visit and spend sometime with our families and friends.

Naturally a trip way across the other side of the globe could be expensive especially during holidays when we all wish to be with our families. Fortunately there

are several options available to Filipinos flying to the Philippines or to any points in Asia. One of them is China Southern Airlines, which flies to Manila with a stopover at Guangzhou, China.

China Southern Airlines is Asia’s largest airline in fleet size and passengers carried. It is therefore a surprise to know that many Filipino travelers have not flown or traveled via China Southern Airlines, which offers one of the lowest fares going to Asia if you travel at the right time, day or month.

For its LAX-Guangzhou flights the airline utilizes its new Airbus 380 aircraft which passengers will find very efficient, with comfortable economy seats. China Southern Airlines A380’s eight exclusive “Platinum” Privates Suites offer the finest in customer service amenities like a motor-driven seat that is fully adjustable to any preset position and a 33 inches wide and 80 inches long full flat beds. Its SFO-Guangzhou flights meanwhile uses the Boeing 787s, and from New York, it’s the Boeing 777s.

In addition, China Southern Airlines has one of the shortest layovers, with only about 1 hours and 30 minutes. If you are a US passport holder you are granted a visa free stay of up to 72 hours when taking an international transfer via Guangzhou. Plus China Southern Airlines passengers with layover between 8 to 48 hours may now be offered complimentary hotel accommodation – which could reach up to five-star standard.

The next question is: What do you do if you are stuck in Guangzhou for a long layover? Don’t despair. You will not run out of things to see and do in Guangzhou if you want to explore the city using the 72-hour free visa program.

One option is to take the one and a half hour evening cruise on the Pearl River. This cruise comes with a private hotel transfer plus a knowledgeable private guide to point out all the highlights to you. This cruise takes you beneath the striking Guangzhou and Haizhu bridges, pass the glittering landmarks like the Zhuhai Square, the Aiqun Mansion, once considered China’s highest building, the North Gate Square of Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall and the amazing architecture on Shamian Island. The cruise will also take you to White Goose Pool, also known as “Night Moon Over the Goose Pool”, one of Guangzhou’s top attractions. You’ll also see Xinghai Concert Hall, Guangdong Art Museum and Guangdong Overseas Chinese Museum on Ersha Island.

Back on solid ground you may want to see the Canton Towers, which at one point was the largest in the world, and still dominates Guangzhou’s modern skyline at over 2,000 feet. It is home to the world’s highest and largest outdoor observatory.

You may also visit Yuexiu Park. There’s so much history here. However, this park is so big that you can spend at entire day just exploring it on its own. There are old city walls, unique sculptures China Southern Airlines’ Airbus 380 aircraft that flies the LAX-Guangzhou route.

CZ A380 First Class CZ A380 Platinum Private Suite

CZ A380 Business Class CZ A380 Economy Class

Participants to the joint DOT-GTT-China Southern Airlines Fam Tour to Guangzhou and the Philippines held November 2015.

SF4 celebrityworldThe Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - March 25, 2016

celebrity worldBy Ferdie Villar

Miss Universe 2015Pia Wurtzbach now dating

‘hottest doctor alive’REIGNING Miss Universe Pia

Alonzo Wurtzbach is no longer a member of “Team Sawi,” as the Filipina beauty queen is appar-ently dating Mikhail “Doc Mike” Varshavski, who was named the “Hottest Doctor Alive” by People magazine in 2015.

Initially, the two met last month and the 26-year-old Filipino-German beauty diffused rumors that they are romanti-cally involved. In fact, during an earlier Facebook Live session, Pia told her fans that she was not dating anyone.

“No, there’s no specific someone in my life,” she said and then added, while hold-ing onto her sash, “This is the specific someone. This is the priority.”

However, a fan was able to get an earlier screen grab of Pia’s relationship status on her Facebook account from “Single” to “In A Relationship with

Mikhail Varshavski.” (The status update has since been deleted).

Still, a series of intimate selfies was by the couple was posted on Twitter and Insta-gram, as well as snaps that were uploaded on Snapchat. Finally, the New York-based doctor admitted to a Hollywood-based celebrity website over the week-end that he is, indeed, dating Pia.

“I am dating Pia,” he told Wonderwall. “It’s a fairly new re-lationship but I’m really excited to see where it can go!”

Although our Miss Universe tried to keep mum about what’s going on with her personal life, she at last gave in during an interview with Mario Lopez on “Extra.”

Pia, together with Miss USA 2015 Olivia Jordan, were asked by the host about their love life.

With a little prodding about whether there is a “Mr. Uni-

verse” in her life, Pia simply said, “I’m dating.”

***The Divine Diva Zsa Zsa

Padilla is back into acting via ABS-CBN’s newest teleserye, “The Story of Us,” with Xian Lim and Kim Chiu. The singer/actress plays Kim’s estranged mother, who left her family to find a bet-ter life in New York.

Xian and Kim, one of the hottest love teams in the Philip-pines today, were also thrilled to be back, after the latter’s hiatus from TV for a year.

“The Story of Us” is a story of two people destined for each other, but fate and life situa-tions forced them to be apart. In the series, their love will be tested through distance, trials and differences. It is also a cinematographer’s dream, as part of the series was filmed on the beautiful island of El Nido, Palawan and in New York.

Divine Diva Zsa Zsa Padilla is back on the boob tube via ABS-CBN’s newest teleserye, “The Story of Us,” with Kim Chiu and Xian Lim.

Reigning Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach and “Hottest Doctor Alive” Mikhail Varshavski have both admitted that they are dat-ing. (Photo from Instagram @doctor.mike)

Our condolences to celebrity siblings Janice and Gelli de Belen, for the passing of their mother Cynthia Susan de Belen, who died last Saturday, March 19 due to organ failure. Shown in photo are Janice and Gelli with Mrs. de Belen when she was in the hospital. (Photo from Instagram @super_janice)

In a series of Instagram posts last week, TV host and actress Kris Aquino said she is leaving ABS-CBN, her home network for almost 20 years, to focus on her health, family and businesses.

Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards — popularly known as the Aldub — continue to be the phenomenal love team to beat as they achieved another rare feat: being in the Guinness World Record list for “The most used hashtag (#AlDubEBTamangPanahon),” with over 40 million uses.

Comedian Michael V remains a loyal Kapuso as he recently renewed his contract with GMA 7. At present, Michael is part of the longest-running gag show “Bubble Gang,” family-oriented sitcom “Pepito Manaloto,” and is now the host of the musical competition, “Lip Sync Battle Philippines.”

Xian Lim and Kim Chiu, one of the most sought-after love teams in the Philippines today, star in ABS-CBN’s newest teleserye, “The Story of Us,” which was shot in the beautiful island of El Nido, Palawan.

DURING her heyday, Donna Cruz was local showbiz’s original Multimedia Star, making her mark in music as well as other forms of media.

Looking back now, Donna realizes what a big risk she took, giving up her career just when it was peaking.“Ang dali ko siyang na-give up,” she reflects.

Donna was only 21 years old when she married Dr. Yong Larrazabal and gave up her career for a new life as a wife and mother. Following her marriage, Donna moved to Cebu (where her husband is from) and settled there, leaving Manila and her showbiz life behind. Her mother Yollie admits that she shed tears over Donna’s decision, although it turned out to be the right one. Says Donna: “It was a big risk (that I took), pero no regrets. Sobrang blessed ako.”

Donna is now a mother of

Although she has chosen to focus on her music, Donna Cruz is not closing her doors to other opportunities that might come along.

Donna Cruz is back... but not totallyby Boy ABundA

Philstar.com

doing a teleserye, with its shoot-ing schedule, might pose a bit of a problem, but otherwise Donna is excited to be back and return to where it all began.

three. Her kids Belle, 16; Sean, 13; and Gio, 8 all support her showbiz comeback, even if they were too young to remember their mother during her prime as a singer-actress. Donna has officially returned to singing with the release of a new album.

Donna says her return to the scene though, is not really what one would call a full comeback. “It’s only for singing muna, kasi ‘yon naman ang first love ko talaga,” she says, adding that she’s glad Star Music waited until she was really ready. “If I really missed something ever since I got married, it’s singing and the feeling that people like listening to my songs and my singing. It’s one of my greatest joys in life. Singing is my first love and I will always go back to it.”

A lot has changed about the business since she first entered it in the ’90s, but Donna’s not worried about competition or adjusting to the new scenario. In

fact, she’s pleasantly surprised that people still remember her music and that some of the young artists today — like Janella Salvador, who did her own version of Donna’s original hit, “Kapag Tumibok ang Puso” for her own album — are still singing her songs.

Star Music audio content head Jonathan Manalo says they really waited for Donna to become available for this project. “We have what we refer to as ‘legacy artists,’ ‘yung mga nakapag-iwan talaga ng tatak sa industry. Lani (Misalucha) was the first. After her album, nag-iisip kami kung sino pa ang pwede, and that’s when we thought of Donna.”

Although she has chosen to focus on her music for now, Don-na is not closing her doors to other opportunities that might come along. “May mga offers,” she confirms. The only concern is that since she is based in Cebu,

Cesar Montano came to the defense of his son Diego Loyzaga whom he said was a victim too in the recent alleged mauling incident in Taguig City. Instagram photo by Cesar Montano

CESAR Montano defends son Diego Loyzaga from the people bashing him after he was tagged in an alleged maul-ing incident in Taguig.

“Yes, Diego was in the area where the commotion took place but definitely not part of it,” said Montano in a statement he sent to Ginger Conejero, published in ABS-CBN News. “He was a victim, too. He got injured and he has a medical certificate to prove it.”

On Monday, March 21, the Lopez brothers claimed that Loyzaga’s group mauled one of them, Paolo, after a “heated argument.”

This claim was already denied by the Kapamilya actor and said that he didn’t instruct anyone to hit anybody.

Cesar said his son was involved in a “small version of what we used to call back in the day, a rumble.”

“The moment it ignited, sa sobrang gulo at dami ng tao hindi mo na alam kung sino ang kakampi mo at sino kalaban mo,” he added.

Montano also relayed what his son said happened on the night of March 13 outside a club in Taguig City.

He said his son told him that that he had a “misun-derstanding” with one of the Lopezes, but they were able to settle the issue “like real gentlemen.”

Until few hours later “this commotion broke out where [a] Lopez brother apparently got beaten up. Sa sobrang dami ng tao, you cannot name names except for the actor himself, my son Diego,” Cesar said.

He then continued saying, “the truth of the matter is, from the time this rumble took off, Diego, my son, was a few meters away from where Lopez was being beaten up. Simul-taneously, Diego was trying to protect himself from being hit by flying fists coming from dif-ferent directions.”

He also noted that his son was looking for a “safe place” since his nose got punched which is why Diego’s face was covered with blood.

“At the end of the day, they need somebody to point their finger at and get all the blames and my poor son was the most qualified because that night he was the only personality you can name and no one else,” he concluded. (Philstar.com)

Cesar Montano on son Diego Loyzaga: He’s a victim too

This highly successful religious film depicts the final 12 hours of Jesus Christ’s life starting with the agony in the garden of Gethse-mane, based on the accounts on the New Testament, particularly the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Directed by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Ca-viezel as Jesus, the movie was nominated for three Oscars at the 77th Academy Awards and was dubbed as the highest grossing religious film of all time despite mixed reviews from critics due

Sit back, relax and reflect...From Page SF2 to its very visual and sometimes

violent scenes.4. “The Bucketlist” (2007)This American comedy-drama

film follows the journey of two men played by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman with ter-minal lung cancer who went on a road trip after they escaped from the hospital they were confined in. The two, who are total strang-ers, become friends and list the things they want to do before they die.

5. “The Pursuit of Happy-ness” (2006)

This biographical drama film based on a memoir tells the story of a homeless salesman and single father played by Will Smith, who has to endure a lot of difficulties, aside from having no place to go, to give his only son a better life.

6. “Pay It Forward” (2000)This novel-based film title

was the name of the charitable program devised by seventh-grader Trevor McKinney as part of his assignment given by his social studies teacher Eugene Simonet. Eyeing to make the world a better place to live in, the goodwill movement did not only affect the life of his mother but

also hundreds of people as his movement turned into a social phenomenon.

7. “Magnifico” (2003)This highly acclaimed Fili-

pino film revolves around a boy named Magnifico who is from a poor family and community. He touches the lives of the people around him with one little act of kindness at a time. Directed by Maryo J. Delos Reyes, this movie won the Famas Best Picture and Best Child Actor for Jiro Manio. Upon learning that his sick grandmother was dying of stom-ach cancer, Magnifico devotes his time in preparing a proper funeral for her. (Inquirer.net)

features SF5The Asian Journal SF MAGAZINE - March 25, 2016

A clean and green Plaza Binalonanby Paulo alcazaren

Philstar.com

FroM last week’s trip down to Cagayan de oro in Mindanao to visit Gaston Park, we head back to Luzon for the ninth in our series on Philippine plazas. We visit a town in Pangasinan whose origin traces itself back to where farmers used to take their packed food (balon or baon) to enjoy a midday break in the fields just outside modern-day Urdaneta City.

I was traveling north on business and decided to take a road trip with a few associates to as many towns in our weekday jaunt as we could. The object was to do a quick documentation of these towns’ and cities’ plazas. I’ll feature the other plazas of Pangasinan and Pampanga in the following weeks, but we start with the expansive and well-main-tained plaza of Binalonan.

The town’s origin was as a land grant to a Spanish official named Don Salvador. The story goes that he ordered workers to construct a simple fence along his entire property, a project of no small size. Don Salvador’s men would bring their food and eat under shady camachile trees near the center of the property as it was breezy there.

Don Salvador eventually of-fered his land for tilling and, when asked how to find it, answered, “It is the place where people bring their balon to eat.” Binalonan in Ilocano means “a place where people bring and eat their baon (or balon).”

The more formal history of the place indicates that the town was established as a settlement of Ilocano immigrants who worked as herdsmen and laborers in the early 1800s. records state that a Fr. Julian Izaga set the original site of Binalonan in the barrio of San Felipe. It was later moved to the barrio of Santa Catalina, where the good father con-structed a church and a convent. Initially made of light construction materials, the church complex was rebuilt several times after an earthquake in 1882 and the Filipino-American war.

The town grew and estab-lished itself as a key municipal-ity in rice production for the province. The town today boasts a population of close to 60,000. Its proximity to Urdaneta City has

contributed to its growth. Man-goes augment its main produce of rice. The town also hosts an airfield for civil aviation and a college related to it, the WCC Aeronautical and Technological College.

In 1968 Binalonan was awarded “The Most Beautiful and Cleanest Town in the Philip-pines” by Malacañang Palace. Since then it has garnered several citations, as “Most Beautiful Plaza and Parks,” “outstanding Com-munity Development Model” and “Urban Model Community,” among others.

From Urdaneta City one enters the town off the main highway via McKinley Street. The town’s streets are wide and the streetscape noticeably clean and green. Less than a kilometer in, you will hit the town center, a large four-and-a-half-hectare oasis of green. This greenery is made distinctive because of a forest of mature acacia trees. The majestic canopies remind me of UP Diliman. The town’s website claims they are a century or so in age.

The Binalonan city hall complex is inset from the main street about 80 meters and is ac-cessed by a wide driveway, which culminates in a grand fountain. on both sides of the driveway are manicured lawns. When we stopped to take pictures, we saw two horses grazing on the lawn.

The city hall structure itself appears to be a ’60s-era struc-ture, a two-story affair, which would benefit from a more imposing façade. It gets lost in proportion to the open space in front of it. Unlike other town plazas, Binalonan’s is less defined by structures along the perimeter than by the trees which frame

and are contained in the space. It might be more appropriate to call the complex a park, as the plaza component is embedded within the green.

The locals call the center of this greenery the Binalonan rock Garden. The park and the church complex behind is accessed by a tree-lined “mystic pathway.” The entrance to this pathway holds the 1968 marker that declares the town the most beautiful and cleanest in the country.

An odd portal structure was built over this entry, probably in the 1970s, and houses one of the municipal offices above. More re-cently, on both sides of the path-way, the town has added more small but modern structures, housing a Community E-Center and a Techno-Hub. The rest of the area contains a gymnasium, a large concrete tree house and other elements providing a good variety of facilities to the public.

The Sto. Niño parish church at the rear appears also to be a post-war reconstruction or renovation. It sits comfortably in a complex of about a hectare and is accessible from three sides. We noticed several small buildings under construction around the area, but nonetheless the perva-sive shade and structure of the acacia canopies seem to smooth out all these separate elements and the space seems to be very popular and well used by the townspeople.

I give this plaza a 7.5 out of 10. The town has done a good job of keeping its generous area of green conserved, clean, and well maintained.

More Philippine plazas next week as we rediscover public space and its importance to our increasingly urban lives.

Binalonan plaza’s wide expanse is as expansive as the Central Plains around it. Philstar.com photo

AFTEr having visited real, Quezon, Boracay and Bohol dur-ing my month-long vacation in the Philippines, I came to a conclusion that I am certain my friends (who came with me) would likewise agree: My three-night stay at “Eskaya” in Panglao, Bohol is by far the best one ever.

Adding the fact that my recent vacation to the Philip-pines was indeed the most memorable and the one where, I admit, I enjoyed the most. Like any Balikbayan-Bakasyonista, my itinerary surely includes beaches. After all, we have one – if not the most– beautiful beaches in the world. one of my beach destina-tions is “Eskaya.” I didn’t have a clue where and how famous the resort was until I saw it for myself. An invite stay at the resort was arranged by – and thanks to – my friends reuben and Janet Nep-ales, who are friends with Phoebe and richard Lim Sr.,, owners of Eskaya. I met them at the Golden Globe Awards 2 years ago

When I told my friends that I am invited to this heavenly sanctuary, it literally sent them into vacay-mode overdrive! (It was later brought to my attention that Eskaya is the most luxurious resort in the Philippines, not only in Bohol).

So off we went; six of us (Lenit, Payat, Joel, Ero, oning and I). My friends kept telling me great things about the resort. It just dawned on me that the mere mention of its name would really cause anyone to pack up and go. Apparently, the resort bears such an esteemed reputation.

The entire place is just oozing with romantic ambiance and zen-like sceneries. Everything – from the sceneries, powdery sand beach front, top-notch facilities to the roofed villas, the food, the lush mountains and crystal-clear beach – is perfect.

According to one of the articles written about the resort, “After making an initial P200-mil-lion investment in 2007, richard Lim Sr., who first made a fortune in salt and cement richard Lim Sr and his wife, Phoebe opened Eskaya’s first phase in 2009 consisting of 15 Filipino-inspired villas with semi-outdoor bath-

Bohol’s most luxurious resort,‘Eskaya’: Asanctuary like no other

rooms designed by [renowned] architect Bobby Mañosa. Three of the couple’s four sons—ralph, richard Jr. and rex—have since joined the family enterprise.

Eskaya’s Architect, Francisco “Bobby” Manosa designed the famed Amanpulo resort in Pala-wan, and is famous for using the nipa hut or bahay kubo as inspira-tion for his designs.

My eyes feasted over the scenic beach that boasts of pow-dery sand stretching up to five kilometers. It’s the best resort I’ve ever been to, bar none. We were ushered to our room which I be-lieve is called the “Balai Datu,” or the Presidential suite. It is actually the largest villa. It has 6 spacious rooms and a view of the infin-ity pool. Most of the villas have their own private pool, outdoor showers and whirlpool tubs, and a stunning view. By the way, the bathroom itself is already a treat! Even the complimentary toilet-ries are ‘branded’ (and I meant, Bulgari- branded).

They also have the Handuraw Spa situated atop a hill overlook-ing the vast Bohol Sea, which offers traditional Filipino and Asian spa treatments. During our stay we were welcome to use all of these amenities, including the swim-up bar, mini library and sport facilities such as the golf cart, mountain bike, kayak and other water sports gears.

My favorite of all is the dining experience. All meals are included and guests can choose to dine under the stars by the poolside, or at the beachfront with a romantic bonfire, and the smell of food grills wafting through the air and mixing with the sea breeze,

or simply enjoy the warm ambi-ance of Lantawan restaurant. The guests are also serenaded with wonderful music as they dine.

We had the pleasure of dining with the owner, richard Lim Sr. on our first night. He was gracious enough to accommodate my request for a short interview. He said he wants Eskaya to redeem Bohol’s place in being a top tourist destination, after its slight decline in tourism caused by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in 2013. He spoke of plans to expand in order to appeal to their high-end clientele.

As of writing, the plans for expansion includes construction of 9 more villas from the 15 that they have. They plan to have 24 villas and 60 more deluxe rooms. There are also plans to put up resorts in Palawan, Tagaytay and other areas outside of Bohol where tourism is currently on the upswing

Well, I bet they would need the expansion especially this summer. I can go on and on about how beautiful Eskaya is but there’s only one way to find out. And like me, expect to be mesmerized by this sanctuary that is just incomparably magnificent.

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

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

Richard and Phoebe Lim of Eskaya Resort

By Monet Lu