Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #49

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER VOL. 2 NO. 49

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

WHAT’S INSIDE

Hold on for rough ride

RAFFY LERMA

Given the contentious reforms made last year, the Conservative cup could be considered half full, not half empty. Complacency, however, is not an option. (On page 19)

NO MONKEY BUSINESS. President Cory Aquino’s three daughters, (from left) Viel Aquino-Dee, Pink Aquino-Abellada, and Ballsy Aquino-Cruz, receive a glass sculpture of a monkey made by artist Angelita Pontiveros Salcedo. The late President, who was born in the Year of the Monkey, would have been 80 years old last January 25.

No haggling over reef fine–Abaya

BY TJ BURGONIO PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

THE PENALTY for the damage caused to the Tubbataha Reefs by a US Navy minesweeper is non-negotiable, Transportation Secretary Joseph E.A. Abaya said yesterday.

But to be able to conduct a thorough investigation, the Philippine government should have access to the commanding officer and crew of the USS Guardian which has been stuck in the marine park since Jan. 17, Abaya said.

“Well, there are laws in place. I don’t think this is subject to tawaran (haggling) or negotiation. I heard of the figure of $300 [fine] per square meter. If that is really engraved in the law then there’s no room for negotiation whether this is high or low,” he told reporters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Abaya said he had yet to look into whether there would be a need to impose an additional fine for the damage left by the minesweeper on the worldrenowned reefs pending its extrication.

On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, President Aquino told reporters the US

early With

Navy would be held liable and be made to pay for the damage.

The 63-meter, 1,300-ton ship, part of the US naval fleet stationed in Japan, docked at the former American naval base in Subic Bay on Jan. 12 for routine refueling, resupply and rest and recreation.

Palawan stop It was scheduled to make a brief stop at Puerto Princesa City before heading off to its next port of call in India when it grazed the reef and got stuck 128 kilometers off Palawan 11 days ago.

The US Navy said a faulty navigational map or possible errors in the USS Guardian’s navigational system had

Filipino in Crisis: Joan Duzon Battling cancer can make one question what is truly important in their lives. For Joan Duzon it is a short and simple answer: her son and his future.

(On page 26)

Can reality compete?

Whether Beyonce actually sang at last week's presidential inauguration - the jury's still out, and she's kept silent - is, on the surface, the textbook teapot tempest. (On page 31)

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News-Phils The Philippine story: ‘Sick man of Asia’ now transforming, revitalized, dynamic

BY DORIS C. DUMLAO Philippine Daily Inquirer DAVOS—President Aquino has pitched to the international investor community the Philippine story of transformation from being a “sick man of Asia” into one dynamic country bucking a global economic downturn.

“What we offer you today is a Philippines where change has set in. That, perhaps, is the single most compelling reason to come in and invest in our country,” Aquino said in a roundtable meeting with global business executives at the World Economic Forum.

The President invited investors to participate in three rapidly growing sectors in the country—agriculture, tourism and infrastructure.

“Those who have already bet on the Philippines have not been disappointed; they have seen the sincerity of our commitment to restoring integrity and leveling the playing field.

“This is a commitment we intend to keep with all who want to conduct honest, fair business in the Philippines,” he said in the business forum organized

by Credit Suisse.

Mr. Aquino told prospective investors he couldn’t promise a completely riskfree environment, noting that any worthwhile endeavor was not without its risks.

Nevertheless, he said the “sick man of Asia is now revitalized, more dynamic than it ever was in its history, marching toward equitable progress.”

Contrasting his administration from that of his predecessor’s, when he said decisions were based on political factors—mainly, on the desire to stay in power—he said the government was now earnestly refocusing efforts toward leveling the playing field, minimizing regulatory risks and investing in people.

He said the government was empowering the Filipino through health, education and conditional cash transfer programs that would aid their transition from being below subsistence living toward gainful employment.

“We already know that, given the right environment, the Filipino is able to thrive; how many of you have ridden cruise ships or stayed in hotels manned by Filipinos? How many have been awed by the creativity, loyalty and professionalism of our workers in the business process outsourcing industry?”

PH full of optimism “In a world increasingly dominated by uncertainty and pessimism, is it not refreshing to witness a country full of optimism, experiencing positive, meaningful change and inviting everyone in to ride its momentum?”

The President again referred to his administration’s thrust of eliminating corruption as a means to drastically reduce poverty and open opportunities for both the Filipino people and business, thereby allowing the Philippines to achieve inclusive growth.

On efforts to level the playing field, the President said that when contracts are no longer awarded arbitrarily, and when the rule of law applies to all, a sense of justice and fairness naturally takes over. “Among investors, in particular, this instills confidence: That the Philippines is worth the price of admission,” he said.

In the first three quarters of 2012, the domestic economy has grown by an average of 6.5 percent, much faster than the 4.9-percent trend growth during the nine-year MacapagalArroyo administration. The stock market has trebled in the last four years to record highs.

“These are truly exciting times for our country. We are realizing the longuntapped potential of our country and we are here to invite you to join us,” he said.

3 priority areas On the priority areas for investment, Mr. Aquino said tourism and agriculture were crucial because they play into the key strengths of our country—an abundance of natural resources—and because they tend to spur growth all over the archipelago, not merely in urbanized areas.

Since he came into office, he said the government had been working towards rice self-sufficiency by going back to the basics and helping our farmers through improved irrigation systems and a genuine certified seeds program.

“As we focus on the basic needs of our farmers, we have not lost sight of the value of innovation, and of moving up the value chain,” Aquino said.

“For example, coco coir and coco water used to be considered as waste.

Today, they are the reasons behind the revitalization of our coconut industry,” he said.

In 2009, Aquino said the Philippines exported a total of 483,862 liters of cocowater.

By 2011, this has increased exponentially to more than 16.7 million liters of cocowater.

“Coco coir fiber, transformed into geotextile materials, has among others, been found effective in erosion control,” he said.

The Department of Publics Works and Highways (DPWH) is already using this technology in their projects, and investments into the coco coir industry reached P293.75 million pesos or around $7.34 million in 2012.

On tourism, the President mentioned the Department of Tourism’s “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign and noted favorable tourism reviews from publications like Conde Nast Traveller, the New York Times, and Travel + Leisure Magazine.

In 2012, he said there were 4.3 million tourists that visited the country, a little short of the 4.6 million target which he said was a consequence of some political tension in the region, referring to the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China.

“In spite of this, though, China’s Oriental Morning Post named my country the ‘Best Tourist Destination’ in its annual World Travel - Special Trips awards, and the Shanghai Morning Post identified the Philippines as the “Most Romantic Destination” in the world—an award surely inspired by the magnificent sunsets over our numerous white sand beaches, or the pristine, secluded coves dotting our many islands,” he said.

The hotels that have been sprouting up around the Philippines in the past

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 2

two years are proof positive of the tourism boom, Aquino said, noting that an additional 1,599 rooms have been built in Boracay. “So, whether you want to come to the Philippines for business or for leisure, we will gladly accommodate you,” he said.

Infrastructure Infrastructure is also seen as a prority in attracting investments. The President acknowledged that this was the key to further growth and development in tourism and agriculture, among other sectors.

“For example, a lack of paved roads or even adequate transportation hubs redounds to longer traveling time: imagine how much the quality of produce will suffer in two to three days of road travel, or even the difficulty that tourists will have in reaching the more far- flung parts of my country,” he said.

Aquino cited the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report which showed that the Philippines was lagging behind Southeast Asian neighbors in terms of quality infrastructure, including the quality of roads. “This presents an opportunity, because we are committed to closing this gap and increasing our competitiveness,” he said.

Last year, Aquino said disbursements for infrastructure reached $4.9 billion and another $5.7 billion is allotted for this in 2013.

“Part of this allotment will go to the complete paving of our national road network by 2016. Since 2010, our DPWH has already completed 28 percent, or 2,006 kilometers, of the 7,256 kilometers of national arterial and secondary roads that needed paving,” he said.

National connectivity The President added that the country was seeking to boost connectivity all around our country through the following: train systems in Metro Manila; expressways that cut across the National Capital Region and reduce travel time drastically; the construction improvement of both domestic and international airports, as well as the exploration of a new nautical highway that could cut travel time between Luzon to Mindanao, from three days to 15 hours.

“We are exploring opportunities for the private sector to join us in these endeavors, and we hope that you will consider partnering with us in the future, towards our mutual benefit,” Aquino said. ■

News-Phils

3 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

...from page 1

caused it to stray into a protected marine area.

US officials have apologized for the accident and the damage it has caused to the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site in the Sulu Sea. Two ships from Singapore are due to arrive this week or the next to extricate the grounded ship from the reef.

This early, Abaya stressed the need for Philippine investigators’ free access to the commanding officer and crew of the grounded ship to get a full picture of what happened.

“So we are conducting our investigation. It has been done since Day 1 and, necessarily, to have a thorough and complete investigation is we should have access to the duty personnel, the duty officer, and even the commanding officer to at least get a chance to hear them out on what actually happened so we could complete the picture of what transpired,” he said.

But this has to be coordinated

through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Abaya said.

‘Essential ingredient’ “I have mentioned again to Secretary (Albert) del Rosario that that is an essential ingredient of the investigation,” he said.

Abaya reiterated that the government would insist on vetting the US Navy’s operation to salvage the ship.

“The least we would want is a scenario where they go about their way without us knowing about it. The President has strictly instructed us that any salvage plan should be vetted by the Philippine side and should be approved by the Philippine side,” he said.

So far, the general feedback from environmental groups in the area was that the US Navy has been “transparent,” he said.

“Of course, not all information, if they consider it confidential, is readily shared. But at least for public consumption and for planning purposes, our counterparts from the American side have been cooperating,” he said. ■

Pinoy death toll in Algeria hostage rescue rises to 8

BY JEROME ANING With a report from AFP Philippine Daily Inquirer THE TOTAL number of Filipinos confirmed killed in last week’s siege

by Islamic militants of a remote natural gas plant in Algeria has risen to eight, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

DFA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez told reporters that Philippine embassy representatives in Algiers had viewed the remains of those who died in the incident and identified the eighth Filipino fatality.

The eighth Filipino fatality is a male, said Hernandez, without naming the victim. “His body was positively identified by our team in Algeria. We still have one unaccounted for,” he added.

The Philippine government has said 12 other Filipino workers survived the 72-hour hostage drama in the north African desert, including four still recovering from their wounds at an Algiers hospital.

Hernandez said the embassy team would go to other hospitals and morgues to look for one more Filipino worker who has remained unaccounted for.

He declined to identify the fatalities, citing their families' request.

“We have already informed the next of kin but they asked that the names not be disclosed. They requested that we respect their bereavement,” he said.

Hernandez also could not say how soon the remains would be repatriated, adding that there were lots of factors involved, including how soon the Algerian authorities would release the bodies of the victims.

Islamic militants attacked the Tigantourine natural gas facility in Amenas, Algeria, on Jan. 16 and took nearly 600 people hostage, about 100 of them foreigners. Algerian government forces raided the facility three days later, but 38 foreign hostages were killed. ■

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BY NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer FORMER government chief negotiator now Supreme Court Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said the “harder work” in the peace process will be left to the military officers and men on the ground as they deal directly with the communities in transition from war to peace.

In his lecture at the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP) where most of those in the audience were officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Leonen said: “It depends on the commandership to be able to maintain the peace and therefore, usher in progress. The work is not really ours, the work is yours. We have just done the easier part of it.”

“I pity the division commanders, the brigade commanders, and the battalion commanders. You know why? Because all the conflicts have to be understood by those commanders. They are the ones who will see the real ramifications of all these conflicts layered one upon the other in order to resolve a particular problem,” he said.

Blueprint for peace Leonen is largely credited for the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB), the blueprint to

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 4

Hard work in peace process left to the military, says Leonen

a comprehensive peace pact with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which was signed by the government and the MILF in October last year.

UP professor Miriam CoronelFerrer, former deputy negotiator, was appointed to take Leonen’s place after the latter was given a seat in the high court.

The government and MILF panels were wrapping up their 35th session in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

An INQUIRER source said CoronelFerrer and Mohagher Iqbal, who leads the rebel panel, have signed a joint statement, a positive development after

L L A C

the last formal talks ended in an impasse over who would lead a Transition Authority.

The panels also have to complete the four annexes of the Framework Agreement that would make up a comprehensive peace agreement.

These annexes cover wealth sharing, power sharing, normalization and the transition roadmap.

“The work that will be left behind by negotiators is not the work of OPAPP (Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process). I think we had the easy job. The work will be left to you and by you...I mean, because you are going to take the reins of the leadership of the Armed Forces of Philippines after you graduate from here and become generals,” Leonen said.

Leonen declined to talk about the Framework Agreement itself.

But he shared with the audience some of his experiences and observations when he worked as the chief government negotiator.

Misty-eyed Leonen recalled how the usually stoic Iqbal and the rest of the MILF negotiating team were misty-eyed when President Aquino announced that there was already a Framework Agreement, because it was the first time that a President of the Philippines “had said ‘Bangsamoro’ which gave them an identity and made them visible around the world.”

Leonen also recalled how the last point in the Framework Agreement could not be finalized because of a disagreement on the use of prepositions.

“The government panel wanted to use ‘in’ while the MILF wanted ‘of.’ Mr. Iqbal and I consulted our respective principals, President Aquino and Murad Ebrahim. The President suggested why don’t we use ‘for.’ I told the MILF panel and they agreed.

“So we can say that it was our commander in chief who put in the last word in the Framework Agreement. But I won’t tell you which part of the agreement it was because it is a matter of security,” Leonen said, smiling. ■

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‘Simpler,’ more detailed SALNS for all gov’t workers

BY CHRISTIAN V. ESGUERRA Philippine Daily Inquirer ALL GOVERNMENT workers, from the President to administrative aides, are now required to file a statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) based on “simpler” but more detailed forms intended “to maximize the SALN’s potential as a transparency and accountability tool,” Civil Service Commission (CSC) Chair Francisco Duque III said.

“Although we can expect that (many) would still hedge and look for reasons to prevent the implementation of these recent developments on public disclosure, we assure the public that we will continue to assert our best in improving the SALN form until we get the right format and formula to maximize its potential as a transparency as well as an accountability tool,” Duque said in a press conference.

‘True, detailed, sworn’ In a resolution dated Jan. 24, the CSC promulgated a set of guidelines requiring all government workers to “declare and submit annually a true, detailed and sworn” SALN. The new rules will cover SALNs for 2012, the year the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, convicted and ousted former Chief Justice Renato Corona for failing to declare some $2.4 million in bank deposits, and P80.7 million in alleged commingled accounts.

The deadline for the filing of 2012 SALNs is April 30 this year.

Duque said the new form will cover all government officials and employees, including Mr. Aquino.

12-page guidelines But making the SALNs available to the public will still depend on individual agencies such as the Office of the President, the Supreme Court and both chambers of Congress, he added.

Drawing lessons from the Corona impeachment trial, Duque noted that the SALN form submitted by the former Chief Justice “had a lot of gaps,” which prompted the CSC “to

put together a technical working group to address (these) gaps.”

The 12-page guidelines made it clear that “cash on hand and in bank, as well as stocks and the like, denominated in foreign currency shall be converted into the corresponding Philippine currency equivalent.”

The conversion rate will be based on the “rate of exchange prevailing as of Dec. 31 of the preceding calendar year.”

Corona’s dollar deposits became a major battleground during the fourmonth impeachment trial, with his lawyers insisting that he was covered by the “absolute” confidentiality provision of the Foreign Currency Deposit Act. Prosecutors disagreed and so did the majority of the senatorjudges.

Commingled assets The new CSC rules also clarified the declaration of “commingled” assets, another major issue during the Corona trial.

“In the case of properties which are co-owned with other individuals, the declarant shall disclose the proportionate amount of his share in the property,” according to the guidelines.

This means that if a government employee co-owns a house, say, with his five other siblings, he has to declare so in the SALN and mention the amount of his ownership in the asset’s total value, CSC Commissioner Robert Martinez explained.

In the case of bank deposits commingled, say, with one’s children, the declarant has to state the exact

amount of his share in the total deposit, including interests or profits earned from the total amount, Martinez added.

Also required under the declaration of real properties are the “description, kind, location, year and mode of acquisition, assessed value, fair market value, acquisition cost of land, building, etc. including improvements thereon.” The assessed value and fair market value will be based on the tax declaration.

Donation or inheritance “In the case of properties received gratuitously, e.g. donation or inheritance, no acquisition cost shall be declared,” according to the guidelines. “However, the fair market value and the assessed value of said properties as found in the tax declaration must be declared.”

The guidelines included the manner of filing in the case of “spouses

who are both public officers and employees,” which can be done “jointly or separately.”

A joint filing would mean that “all real and personal properties shall be declared including their respective paraphernal and capital property, if there are any.” “Paraphernal” refers to properties brought by the wife into the marriage, while “capital” property refers to those owned by the husband.

Under Resolution No. 1300174, the head of a government office shall issue a “compliance order” for the filing of SALNs among officials and employees who are given a “nonextendable period of 30 days” to file their SALNs, or complete or correct information on the document.

A first offense carries a suspension of up to six months as penalty, while a second offense will be considered grounds for dismissal. ■

P-noy has until March 29 to fill 2 Comelec vacancies

BY MICHAEL UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer PRESIDENT Aquino has until March 29 to fill up two vacancies in the Commission on Elections (Comelec)— though the election campaign season would already be in full swing by then.

But Malacañang appears to be in no rush to name the successors of two commissioners set to retire next week: Commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Armando Velasco, both members of the Comelec’s 1st Division who will retire on Feb. 2 after completing a nonrenewable seven-year term.

The President was well aware of the ramifications of the vacancies on the work of the poll body during the May election, whose campaign period will officially start on Feb. 13, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte told a Palace briefing.

She said the President is not really pressed for time to appoint the two new commissioners as the constitutional ban on appointments will only start on March 29 and end on May 13.

“Let’s give the President enough time because he wants to make sure that those he would be appointing to Comelec are fit to assume the mandate and duties left by the (retired) commissioners,” she said.

Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. has urged the President to immediately appoint successors to Sarmiento and Velasco so the new appointees could be properly briefed on the preparations for the May elections.

Naming the replacements before their retirement day of the two commissioners would really help the poll body, which is now swamped with work because of the upcoming elections, he said.

Concurrence needed But even if Mr. Aquino were to do as Brillantes wants, the new appointees cannot immediately assume office because their appointments would need the concurrence of the congressional Commission on Appointments.

The President could conceivably fill up the vacancies after Feb. 9, when Congress is already in recess.

Under the Constitution, the President can issue an “ad interim” appointment, which is made while Congress is not in session, and that the appointee can immediately assume office.

Valte said she wouldn’t know if the Palace was already drawing up a short list of nominees.

“We will ask those concerned if they have prepared a short list already,” she said. ■

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News-Phils Enrile: I don’t look old but...

BY NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer MY GOD! I’m too old for that.

Jessica “Gigi” Reyes is Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s trusted hand, his eyes and ears but not his girlfriend.

In an early morning talk show, Enrile addressed what Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano insinuated in a privilege speech was the unusual influence that Reyes, as chief of staff of the Senate President, had in the upper chamber.

“I leave my things to her and nothing will happen.

I have poor (eye) sight because I am suffering from macular degen-eration and because of the details that come into my office, she is the one doing the reading for me,” Enrile said in the TV program “Unang Hirit.”

“So, if they are implying that she is my girlfriend, well, I am too old for that. My God!” he told interviewer Winnie Monsod.

Enrile, who is turning 89 on Valentine’s Day, said that while he did not look old, he was no longer as sprightly as when he was young, especially “from the waist down.”

“Mr. Senator, are you willing to be tested for erectile dysfunction?” Monsod pressed.

“Yes, yes. I’m too old for that, Winnie,” Enrile said.

Enrile denied Cayetano’s allegation that Reyes, 50, who joined his law firm after finishing law at the University of the Philippines and passing the bar in 1988, was acting like one of the senators during their caucuses.

More denials “That is not true. You know, whenever our staff is required [in a caucus], we ask permission. The secretary general is there, the staff of the secgen would be there, I request my COS because she knows the details of everything that goes in my office,” Enrile said.

“She is my administrative officer. I could not possibly know these details because I am dealing with the major problems of the Senate, the needs of the senators and the political side of the Senate and the major decisions that have to be made in the Senate.”

Asked if Reyes was the only outsider allowed in the caucuses, Enrile said: “No. There are many persons there. Even the security guards of the Senate are there, even the waiters.”

“Even those who serve coffee. When I request my legal officer of the Senate, the COS of anybody or the secretary general, my COS, I seek the permission

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 6

of the others. But unfortunately, these people come very late in caucuses,” Enrile said.

It was the second time in 15 years that Enrile publicly denied having an affair with Reyes. In January 1998, he issued the same denial to the INQUIRER amid wildly publicized rumors that he was separating from his wife Cristina.

‘Nothing wrong’ Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the chair of the Senate committee on accounts, said he did not find anything wrong with Reyes signing checks and issuing handwritten instructions on behalf of Enrile, if this was authorized by the Senate President.

Lacson’s committee deals with all matters relating to the auditing and adjustment of all accounts chargeable against the funds for the expenses and activities of the Senate.

“If it was really her who made those handwritten instructions, it would seem there was an overstepping of power except, of course, if she was authorized by her principal,” Lacson told reporters.

“Like the executive secretary, for example, by the authority of the President, he can sign or he can even jot down some handwritten instructions to Cabinet members and other heads of agencies,” he added.

Lacson said Reyes was not the only nonsenator present during the senators’ caucuses.

“Even.... the other Reyes, Emma [the Senate secretary], is also there. There are instances when senators need materials and resource persons because we don’t know all the issues.

They have all the documents and other details so we have to consult them,” Lacson said. “[Gigi Reyes] is usually there but not all the time,” Lacson said. ■

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Palace confident of strong case vs China before UN tribunal taken the dispute to arbitration, it’s also telling China that the Philippines wants a rules-based system to resolve the dispute.

“Again, going to the courts means strengthening … the [rule] of law, and we think that it would be good for everybody who has an interest in the South China China to watch and to participate in this. So we encourage China to participate in this process,” he said.

BY DORIS C. DUMLAO Philippine Daily Inquirer ZURICH—The Philippines is confident it has a strong case in the international arbitration for the resolution of its territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“What this says to the world is that the Philippines believes that when all is said and done, law and reason will prevail over brute force,” Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang said in a briefing for Filipino journalists before heading to Davos for the World Economc Forum (WEF) annual meetings.

“We are taking this to the international [tribunal for resolution]. It is a testament to our belief, our faith that we are countries that [conduct ourselves] with reason and through the rule of law rather than through brute force,” he said.

He said Philippine officials had long been talking about taking the dispute to the United Nations for arbitration and had finally taken that step.

‘We’ll make case’ “We’re confident that we will make the case … and that we will win this case on its merits,” Carandang said.

By going to the UN arbitral tribunal, Carandang said the Philippines was giving China a “chance” to “prove to the world” that it can participate in a legal process for an orderly resolution of the dispute.

Asked about China’s deciding to ignore the Philippine action, Carandang said: “We’ll … cross [the] bridge when we get there. But as signatories to Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), there should be no reason why they [won’t participate].”

Backlash As to whether the Philippines was prepared for a potential backlash from China, now the second largest economy in the world next to the United States, Carandang said that while the Philippines had

Philippine territory Whether or not the Philippines gets support from other countries, Carandang said the international community would want to know what it’s doing.

“And, I think, at the end of the day, this is going to be a legal argument so, it’s more important that we make the right arguments for the arbitration committee than it is to get, say, political support.

But certainly, the international community seems to support our position, particularly with regard to [Panatag] Shoal and Reed Bank, which have

COA says MOOE not a discretionary fund

BY CYNTHIA D. BALANA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE COMMISSION on Audit (COA) said that the maintenance and other operating expenses ( MOOE) allocation was not a discretionary fund and could not be used for purposes not specified under the General Appropriations Act ( GAA).

COA Chair Grace PulidoTan issued this statement in reply to a letter from Sen. Miriam DefensorSantiago dated Jan. 10, questioning Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s use and realignment of the Senate savings as additional MOOE. Section 63 of the GAA provides that the MOOE appropriation in the Senate may only be used for general administration and support, legislative services and operational requirements of 35 congressional commissions and oversight committees listed in the GAA, Tan said.

“Per type of expenditure, the MOOE is specified in the GAA to be used for traveling, communication, repairs and maintenance, transportation and delivery, supplies and materials, rents, utility, training and scholarship, extraordinary and miscellaneous, taxes insurance premium and other fees, professional services, printing and binding, advertising, representation, subscription, and membership duties and contribution,” Tan explained.

Santiago questioned Enrile’s release in two tranches of a total of P2.22 million each to 18 senators in November and December last year. Santiago, along with Senators Alan Peter and his sister Pia Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes IV, did not get the same amount. The four senators received P600,000 each in November but not the P1.6 million given to each of the other 18 senators in December last year.

“Should not COA enumerate what savings are valid, so as to prevent heads of offices from fusing to incur necessary expenses in order to produce savings

long been considered territories belonging to the Philippines,” he said.

Carandang said there’s no head count of states supportive of the Philippine position. But he said all countries that say they support freedom of navigation in the West Philippine Sea effectively support a rules-based system in resolving the dispute.

“We’re not saying that you have to say that Scarborough (Shoal) and Recto Bank are ours, although certainly, they are ours, and if any country wants to agree with us, we welcome them. But what we’re saying is, and what many countries have said is that they would like to see a rules-based mechanism for resolving these issues. So it’s not as if, you come in here, you occupy something and then you push everybody around. Everybody wants to see these disputes resolved in an orderly, peaceful, and legal manner. And anyone who says that, is basically supporting the position of the Philippines,” he said. ■

that will be distributed among themselves at year’s end?” Santiago asked Tan. “If an office always claims to have savings at yearend, should not the COA resident auditor be duty-bound to recommend that the next year’s appropriations for the next item be reduced?” she further asked.

Santiago said COA must enumerate which purposes are valid to prevent abuse of the savings.

Tan said Section 53 of the GAA provides that the President, the Senate President, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court Chief Justice, the heads of constitutional commissions enjoying fiscal autonomy, and the Ombudsman are authorized to augment any item in the GAA from the savings in other items of their respective appropriations.

‘Savings’ defined “Savings” is defined by Congress itself as referring to a “portion or balance of any appropriation in the GAA free from any obligation or encumbrance which are still available after the completion or final discontinuance of the work, activity, or purpose for which the appropriation is authorized,” she said.

“Considering that the law itself allows augmentation from savings and realignment of appropriations, we do not inquire into whether savings are deliberately being generated for such purposes,” Tan said.

She stressed that COA’s duty was to examine, audit and validate whether the augmentation was in fact sourced from savings; whether the requirements of law and applicable rules and regulations had been complied with in making the augmentation; and whether such additional MOOE went to the purpose specified in the GAA. On the validity of additional MOOE at yearend, Tan said the GAA did not specify when the Senate President can or should exercise the authority “to augment any item in the GAA... from any savings in other items of the Senate’s appropriations” nor did it prescribe amounts or formula. ■

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Cayetano to Enrile: Reveal how P600M in MOOE turned savings, realigned

BY NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer SENATE Minority Leader Alan Peter called on Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to reveal how he liquidated the P250,000-per-senator cash gifts that he gave each senator last Christmas and how much of the almost P600 million in Senate funds for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) were turned into savings and realigned for other purposes.

Cayetano said that as an alternative to Enrile’s producing the documents, he would file a resolution for a parallel audit in the Commission on Audit (COA), private audit under the COA or an independent people’s audit.

He claimed that Senators Francis Pangilinan and Panfilo Lacson favored his proposal. Cayetano said he was preparing to file a resolution calling for an audit of the Senate’s finances to be jointly conducted by the COA and a private group.

Cayetano, who figured in a nasty verbal exchange with Enrile on the Senate floor last Wednesday over the latter’s unequal distribution of millions of pesos in Senate savings to the senators, pressed on with his demand that Enrile open the Senate books to an independent audit.

Enrile reportedly gave 18 senators P1.6 million each last December, later explained as MOOE funds, but

raised the hackles of four senators— Miriam Defensor- Santiago, Pia Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes IV and Cayetano— who reportedly received only P250,000.

Enrile open to audit Enrile has repeatedly said that he is open to an audit, even by private auditing firms, but that such a process has to be authorized by the whole Senate.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, a close ally of Enrile, said he was for a joint audit by the COA and a private institution, but especially a COA audit.

“I favor the COA audit as the commission is constitutionally mandated to audit government funds. I am open to it for the sake of transparency,” he said.

Documents are available Lawyer Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, Enrile’s resigned chief of staff, explained that the documents covering the almost P600 million MOOE can be accessed by parties other than those in the Office of the Senate President.

“The amount of almost P600 million actually represents the MOOE of the entire Senate Secretariat and, contrary to the allegations, all expenses charged to that account are covered by supporting documents and vouchers which are available for all in the Senate to see,” she said.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 8

Cayetano claimed that only a certification was required of the Senate leadership on how the MOOE funds were spent and not actual receipts.

Less than forthcoming Cayetano said he was reiterating his demand for an audit because Enrile has not been forthcoming with the documents.

“I don’t want to affect the health of Senate President Enrile but if I had the opportunity to reiterate my questions I will because he’s not answering them,” he said.

“For instance, I asked him how he liquidated the P250,000 cash gift. It’s not enough for him to say that they are senators and it’s up to them how they intend to use it. What if it’s used to buy a watch or to dine out?” he said.

He recalled that during the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, Enrile had stated that the Corona Supreme Court should have specified how the high tribunal spent its funds.

No kidding “Why is there a double standard? If it involves an ordinary public official, the one involved is detained and penalized.

Why is it that if it involves them, no one is raising the issue?” he said.

Enrile has said that Senators Franklin Drilon and Edgardo Angara “kidded” him last December about the usual practice of making a part of the Senate’s savings available for the senators.

He said the P250,000 cash gift he gave were public funds and the senators should know it was to be spent for a public purpose.

But Cayetano said Enrile was trying to confuse the issue.

“The usual practice is the MOOE not the P250,000. Even if you look at the statement of [Reyes, Enrile’s resigned chief of staff]. What she said was, ‘They all received it in 2008, 2009, 2010.’ That’s the P1.6 million not the P250,000,” Cayetano said.

“There was no P250,000 in the past.

If there was, no one knew about it. This is the first time that when I asked for the vouchers, there are still none,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, an Enrile ally, said that there was indeed a customary practice

of distributing to senators a certain amount from the Senate leader’s savings.

“That’s how I remember how it was. Perhaps [Cayetano] wasn’t given something before because he’s in the minority or for whatever reason,” Sotto said.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the chair of the Senate committee on accounts, said he didn’t receive the P250,000 last December.

“I wasn’t given that. I already checked and rechecked with my finance officer,” he said.

‘I know a lot of things’ At the same news conference, Cayetano denied having insinuated that Enrile and his resigned chief of staff were in a romantic relationship in his privilege speech last Wednesday.

“I didn’t mean that they are together.

I meant that I know a lot of things about [the Senate President] and that I know a lot of things about Attorney Gigi,” he said.

Enrile said that if Cayetano was insinuating that he and Reyes were lovers, he was too old to engage in that sort of thing.

Reyes, in a statement, asked that Enrile’s family and hers “be spared from the hurt brought about by malicious insinuations and imputations regarding my personal relationship with the Senate President—just to whet the appetite for gossip.”

Lifestyle check urged Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) founding chair Dante Jimenez called for a lifestyle check on all senators, as well as Enrile’s chief of staff.

“All of them involved in the scandal must undergo a lifestyle check. Senators must stop their personal attacks and instead start the investigation and reforms in handling the taxpayers’ money,” Jimenez said in a phone interview.

He also urged the senators who received the cash gift to return the money to the National Treasury for reallocation, as the VACC has stated in its complaint at the Senate ethics committee. ■

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Customs goes hi tech; brokers (and fixers) need not come

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer BROKERS and other port stakeholders need not personally transact business with Bureau of Customs personnel now that the BOC electronic monitoring system—which is capable of checking the status of shipments—is operational at the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port (MICP).

This was announced by Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, who said the system would also be activated shortly at other major ports nationwide.

In a statement, Biazon called the system a “step further in the computerization program of the Bureau of Customs, assuring the integrity, security and smoother flow of work in the processing of entry documents.”

Biazon instructed district collectors to “provide a kiosk for brokers and other stakeholders where they could check the status of their entries, especially if a particular entry number is not displayed on the monitor.”

The BOC chief noted that “overcrowding and disorderly conduct during transactions had long been among the problems at the major ports where hundreds of people elbow their way to have their shipments promptly attended to, at times resulting in much delay when papers get misplaced or lost.”

Ease of access Elenita Abaño, chief of the MICP’s container control division, said “brokers can now easily check or access the status of their shipments.”

“There’s no need for them to transact business with BOC personnel in person,” the former head of the BOC public information office told the INQUIRER. For security reasons and to maintain order at the ports, brokers and other stakeholders are now “prohibited from entering the bureau’s Formal Entry Division to follow up on their shipments,” said Biazon.

He said that “eradicating red tape, cutting the number of steps in the process and reducing the opportunities for human intervention to the barest minimum are among our objectives in line with our vision to make the BOC worldclass and a customs administration that Filipinos can be proud of and one they can trust.”

Biazon stressed anew the need for reforms in the Department of Finance-attached agency.

Last month, he lamented that the bureau continued to be plagued by “recurring problems of computer network slowdown and downtime,” adversely affecting agency operations.

But he expressed confidence the situation would improve this year with the setting up of the bureau’s Integrated Philippine Computer system, or IPCS. The BOC has allocated P500 million from its 2013 budget for the program which would overhaul the agency’s IT network.

In a text message, Biazon said the project’s terms of reference were “being finalized.”

“We are targeting awarding the contract sometime in the first quarter of 2013. The program budget will cover, among other things, the upgrade of the current customs clearance system, the petroleum inventory system and the online X-ray inspection system,” he said. ■

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UNA to launch campaign in vote-rich Cebu

BY CHRISTIAN V. ESGUERRA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE UNITED Nationalist Alliance’s (UNA) journey to the 2013 senatorial election will officially begin at the “doorstep” of an embattled political rally.

UNA senatorial candidates are planning to jumpstart their campaign on Feb. 12 with a massive proclamation rally in Cebu province where the governor, Gwendolyn Garcia, is still resisting a suspension order issued by President Aquino.

Mr. Aquino is leading the campaign for the senatorial aspirants belonging to the Liberal PartyNacionalista Party-Nationalist People’s Coalition alliance. The administration slate’s proclamation rally is tentatively set in Manila.

“Governor Garcia, for whatever reason, is perceived as being harassed so she needs all the moral support she can get that’s why we are holding the proclamation rally at her doorstep,” former Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri, an UNA candidate, told the INQUIRER by phone.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, one of the three senior UNA leaders, personally picked Cebu “to show support for UNA candidates there,” said Zubiri.

“The message is that we are supporting our local candidates,” he added.

But the Garcia family is no ordinary ally. They control the vote-rich province of Cebu, which was credited with delivering the crucial margin of victory to then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2004.

Cebu registered a voting population of more than two million people during the 2010 elections.

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9 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Vote rich Cebu

The other proposed venue for the proclamation rally is Tondo, Manila, a known bailiwick of former President Joseph Estrada. Zubiri said the plan now is to hold another big campaign sortie in the city on March 29, the start of the campaign period for local candidates.

The sortie will also kick off the mayoral bid of Estrada in Manila where he will square off with incumbent Mayor Alfredo Lim, his former interior secretary.

By Zubiri’s reckoning, Cebu was also a strategic choice for UNA. He said its candidates had been “perceived as weak” in the Visayas during past elections, a fact that has been confirmed by the Estrada- Binay ticket in the 2010 presidential election.

Zubiri said the Cebu affair could include multiple campaign sorties in neighboring provinces such as Bohol and Negros.

Of UNA’s 12 candidates, Zubiri probably is closest to Cebu in terms of ethnic connections. He is from Bukidnon down south and he speaks Cebuano. “In that sense, I think the Cebu sortie would help me,” he said.

UNA candidates held a “preelection sortie” in Laguna. They met with local officials led by Gov. ER Ejercito, Estrada’s nephew. ■

2 firms win contracts to deliver voting machines, other poll gear

BY JOCELYN R. UY Philippine Daily Inquirer TWO FREIGHT and cargo forwarding firms have won the P1.4 billion contracts for the deployment of the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) voting

machines and other election paraphernalia in the May 13 elections.

Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the contracts were awarded to Air21 and the joint ventures 2Go Express and 2Go Logistics, whose combined bid amount was P800 million less than than the P2.2 billion approved budget for the contract.

Brillantes said Air21 will take care of the “deployment and reverse deployment” of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, the ballot papers and ballot boxes for Luzon, Mindanao and Metro Manila while 2Go will handle such tasks for Visayas.

“These firms won and their total bid amount for the entire country is P1.4 billion. So we are saving about P800 million,” he said. ■

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News-Phils Senate war in gutter, turns personal, ugly

BY NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE SQUABBLE over the purported “Christmas bonus” turned ugly—the third of the Senate’s remaining nine days of sessions—after Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano brought up in a privilege speech Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s personal grudge against him and the unusual clout Enrile’s chief of staff wields in the chamber.

Not to be outdone, Enrile waved on the floor a document that supposedly showed a P37million debt Cayetano’s father, the late former Sen. Rene Cayetano, incurred while a partner in the Ponce EnrileCayetano Law firm that the Senate President said he had put up so the elder Cayetano could feed his family.

“We all know how you run the Senate. Or more accurately, how you and Ma’am Gigi run the Senate,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano said Enrile’s chief of staff, lawyer Jessica “Gigi” Reyes, would be in the senators’ caucuses and even join the discussion as if she were one of them. He added that during the Senate presidency of his party mate, Sen. Manuel Villar, he could go directly to Villar.

“But under your administration, I have to go through Gigi or her brother who’s a political officer,” Cayetano said.

Cayetano also presented a document handwritten by Reyes giving instructions for the release of additional MOOE to all senators except him and Senators Pia Cayetano, his sister, Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Antonio Trillanes IV. “I will not go down to the gutter,” Enrile said after telling the Senate of the late Cayetano’s debt as he prepared to answer Cayetano’s questions on how the Senate funds were being used, especially the P250,000 Enrile distributed as cash gifts to all senators in December.

“You already did, Mr. President. You already went to the gutter. Your chief of staff has already gone to the gutter,” came Cayetano’s response.

Enrile and Cayetano continued their verbal assault against each other even after Sen. Franklin Drilon moved to suspend the session in a vain attempt to ease the tension.

It took a few more exchanges before Senate Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada managed to bang the gavel to suspend the proceedings. Enrile started to speak on the microphone and had to be restrained by Estrada, imploring him to stop, saying, “Manong, manong,” while raising his hand.

Enrile’s blood pressure was reported to have shot up and he had to be attended to by the Senate medical staff in the lounge. After a lengthy break, Enrile returned to the session hall to answer Cayetano on the issue of funds disbursements.

“We have had this practice that during Christmas time the head of the office takes out from his available savings something that will augment the resources of the senators because it’s Christmas time and there are many pressures on them,” Enrile said.

‘Money of the people’ Enrile, visibly calmer, said he distributed the P250,000 to all senators using checks drawn from the Office of the Senate President, so that the auditor could trace where they came from.

“This was not my money. It was not cash that I gave to the senators. I issued the check to the individual senators... and they know that this is a public fund,” Enrile said. “I know they are well-meaning, knowledgeable gentlemen and ladies. They must know that this is the money of the people that must be used for a public purpose. I do not have to tell them or educate them about this,” Enrile added.

Enrile said he called it a gift because Drilon and Sen. Edgardo Angara “kidded” him before the Christmas break about the practice of making available savings of his office to augment the resources of senators.

“The auditor can chase the source of this money....

Now, I own the responsibility for all of this,” Enrile said.

Enrile said he welcomed an independent audit proposed

by Cayetano but added that such a proceeding would be up to the entire Senate.

‘I never called you names’ Cayetano took the floor to reiterate his call for an audit by a private firm of the Senate’s finances, particularly its use of almost P1.5 billion in maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) and the P250,000 in cash gifts distributed to all senators before the Christmas break.

Cayetano started off by taking issue with Enrile and Reyes.

The 50-year-old Reyes went on radio to accuse Cayetano of hypocrisy for branding the P250,000-per-senator cash gift as illegal when, she said, he always received such releases in previous years and had yet to return the check his office received in December.

The interview with dzMM took place after Enrile delivered a privilege speech where he moved to declare the Senate presidency vacant to get a new vote of confidence from his colleagues amid the controversy over the MOOE. “Ako po madalas ninyong apihin (you always oppressed me) Mr. Senate President Enrile but I have never been rude to you. I always treated you with respect. I always explained to you after a heated debate that we just have differences in beliefs and views and I never called you names,” Cayetano said.

“I always called you Uncle Johnny or Manong Johnny.”

Cayetano then went on to cite the influence of Enrile’s chief of staff over the Senate affairs.

Close to GMA Cayetano also claimed Enrile tried to prevent him from becoming a member of the Commission on Appointments and the office of the minority leader was disallowed from using one of the rooms in the Senate building.

“There were also committee chairmanships promised when we discussed them that were given to others. I didn’t complain. I just took it,” Cayetano said.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 10

“Let’s call a spade a spade. Why are you personally upset with me? It’s because you and Attorney Gigi are close to the former President GMA (Gloria MacapagalArroyo) and the First Gentleman.”

Cayetano said the group was upset with him as a member of the House who frequently took the floor to criticize the Arroyo administration. He added that Reyes’ best friend was a relative of Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano’s political foe in local politics.

“Hypocrites, cowards, without a sense of gratitude. My God! That’s what I often hear from you, from your chief of staff,” Cayetano said.

A hundred truths for every lie “We received a lot of insults. I am tempted to answer back. I’m also tempted to talk that way. Why am I tempted? Because for every lie that you told about me, I have a hundred truths about you and Ma’am Gigi,” he added.

Cayetano said that when he was the chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee, many told him he could earn millions of pesos by just filing a resolution for the investigation of certain businesses. He said he never did so.

Cayetano also said that his wife Lani, the mayor of Taguig City, has yet to spend a single centavo from the P5-million intelligence fund of the city. He indicated that it would be easy to steal from the fund because it wasn’t subject to liquidation upon audit.

He also said he lost more than a billion pesos in priority development assistance funds during the Arroyo administration.

“Then for P1.6 million, Ma’am Gigi would portray me as one greedy for money,” Cayetano said.

Standing by Reyes Following the break, Enrile apologized for “the fracas that happened.”

“I was just trying to answer personal assaults against my person. But I will not deal with those matters anymore.

Let it stay on the record and let the Divine Spirit determine whose truth is correct, where lies the truth,” Enrile said.

Enrile, who is turning 89 on Valentine’s Day, also stood by Reyes’ actions, particularly her handwritten instructions on the MOOE, saying she was acting on his instructions.

Cayetano said that while senators harassed persons being investigated for corruption scandals to reveal the money trail, the same did not hold true on the disposition of Senate funds.

“Why is there a double standard when it involves the money of the Senate or the funds under the Office of the Senate President and we don’t want this opened?”

Cayetano said.

“Let’s answer the issue directly,” Cayetano added.

Cayetano said this was the reason why he was pressing for an independent audit of the Senate funds by a private firm.

Reyes, in her interview, also said that Cayetano had lobbied for the creation of an oversight committee on the Bases Conversion and Development Authority which would have, like other oversight committees, millions of pesos at its disposal. ■

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Psy allows Pinoy pols to campaign ‘Gangnam Style’

BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer ACROSS the country, Filipinos will hear more of “Gangnam Style,” the phenomenal hit of Korean rapper PSY, with the start of the election campaign for the midterm elections.

The song that has garnered more than 1 billion hits on YouTube is emerging as the favorite campaign song of candidates.

At least two candidates, former President Joseph Estrada, who is running for mayor of Manila, and former senator Ernesto Maceda, who is hoping to return to the Senate, are planning to use it in their sorties.

Representatives Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna and Joseph Victor Ejercito of San Juan City, senatorial candidates, said that PSY’s decision to put aside his rights to the global hit song and video had made it easier for candidates from senators to governors and mayors to use it in their campaign.

“It’s a no brainer that we will have ‘ Gangnam elections,’ especially since the songwriter has waived his copyright to his song and allowed the public to use it as it wishes and this includes the candidates,” said Casiño.

The Bayan Muna party-list lawmaker noted that Gangnam Style would probably eclipse previous campaign anthems as “Spaghetti Song” of the Sex Bomb Girls and “Mr. Suave” of the band Parokya Ni Edgar.

Catchy “Gangnam Style is catchy, upbeat and memorable.

It is what a campaign song should be,” Casiño said.

But Ejercito said he “decided to look for another song in order to have my own mark” because PSY’s song was open to everybody.

MCA Records head Ricky Ilacad, who owns the rights to PSY’s “Gangnam Style”, said in a text

message: “We have not allowed use FOC (free of charge).” He did not elaborate.

The Department of Health used Gangnam Style as its song for its antifirecracker campaign last month.

“A campaign song is a powerful tool in any campaign. It’s the last-song syndrome and it stays with you even after you’ve heard it,” said Ejercito.

He noted that rights to foreign songs would cost an average of $30,000 each.

Ejercito’s camp has come up with a jingle, “Call Him JV,” a parody of the hit song “Call Me Maybe” of Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen. Casiño is still reviewing samples made by his supporters.

E s t r a d a ’ s spokesperson, Margaux Salcedo, said the former President was maintaining his “Jeep Ni Erap” campaign theme, which he used in the 1998 elections, but he had already approved the use of PSY’s song as one of his jingles in his run for Manila mayor.

“He was given a CD mix of “Gangnam Style” as a campaign jingle and he liked it.

I’m not sure if he will dance Gangnam on stage although I know that Manong Ernie has already danced to it. We’ll see,” said Salcedo in a phone interview.

The INQUIRER asked several senatorial candidates about their campaign song but only two replied as of press time.

Sen. Francis Escudero said he would use “Pagbabago” of Quest, while Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano would settle for Don Mclean’s 1970s “American Pie.” Sen. Gregorio Honasan II said he had yet to make up his mind on a campaign jingle although his daughter, singer-songwriter Kai, might come up with one for him.

The campaign for senatorial candidates and those taking part in the party-list election begins on Feb. 12 and ends on May 11.

For those running for a seat in the House of Representatives, and candidates for governor, mayor and other local elective posts, the campaign starts on March 29 and ends on May 11. ■

Bill on compensation for human rights victims awaits ratification

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE FINAL version of the compensation bill for victims of human rights violations during the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos is now awaiting ratification, after the bicameral conference committee ironed out the last of the contentious provisions in the measure.

The panel agreed that there would be a “conclusive presumption” that over 9,000 plaintiffs in a Hawaii class action suit against the Marcoses are human rights victims entitled to compensation, according to Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares.

At the same time, the bicameral panel scrapped the earlier proposal that 80 percent of the compensation fund be set aside for the Hawaii claimants and the remaining 20 percent be given to all other claimants who did not join the case, according to Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III. Instead, the P10 billion compensation fund would be made equally available to all claimants, with the amount they receive depending on the kind of abuse they suffered. The amount would be determined by a board that would use a point system, with higher points given to those who suffered graver abuses.

Several lawmakers earlier questioned the 80-20 ratio, saying it was unfair to give such a big part of the fund to the Hawaii claimants when thousands of other victims may have opted out of the case, and that it could be constitutionally infirm for violating the equal protection clause.

The “conclusive presumption” clause was a contentious point in previous bicameral meetings.

The Senate version only stated that there would be a “disputable presumption” that the Hawaii claimants are martial law victims, meaning that their claims could be challenged. The House version batted for conclusive presumption.

Victims’ groups also insisted on the conclusive presumption, saying that if this would not be the case, they may have to again endure the painful and rigorous process of proving their rights were violated during martial law.

Colmenares said the automatic recognition of Hawaii claimants as martial law victims was just proper and would be a recognition of their long fight to hold the Marcoses accountable. ■ Please see related story on page 46.

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Finally, DOJ takes notice of poet-activist’s plea

BY CHRISTINE AVENDAÑO AND JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer JUSTICE Secretary Leila de Lima ordered the “immediate disposition” of a petition for review filed by detained poetactivist Ericson Acosta, who is currently confined at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) in Quezon City.

Acosta had sought a meeting with De Lima, complaining in a letter that he was arrested 23 months ago in Samar without a warrant and was tortured, while his petition for a review of his case has been pending at the justice department for several months.

De Lima, in a response texted to the INQUIRER, said she would not be able to meet with Acosta.

“I am not sure if I can accommodate (his) request for a meeting,” she said in a text message.

But De Lima said she had “already directed the immediate disposition of his petition for review.”

Acosta, 40, was arrested by the military in San Jorge, Samar, on suspicion of membership in the rebel New People’s Army. He was charged with illegal possession of explosives. Acosta claimed he only carried a laptop and was doing volunteer research work for a local peasant group. He has been detained at the Calbayog subprovincial jail.

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) protested the way Acosta, whowas recently granted a medical furlough, was being handcuffed to his bed at the hospital, among other “overkill security measures.”

Contractors using fake bonds–DPWH

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer AN UNDISCLOSED number of contractors and suppliers have been using fake bidding and performance bonds as well as bogus credit lines from banks to get contracts for millions, if not billions, of pesos in government infrastructure projects, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).

The DPWH learned about the irregular practice from a local “bankers’ group,” Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson said last weekend.

In a statement, Singson said he had gathered reports from the bankers’ group that bid and performance bonds issued by some construction companies

and suppliers were fake because they were not backed by the banks which supposedly issued them.

Singson did not identify the contractors and suppliers but stressed that caution should be exercised in accepting surety bonds for contracts covering infrastructure projects since these amounts are supposed to guarantee the satisfactory completion of DPWH projects.

“The authenticity of a bond, which is a written guaranty from a third party— usually a bank or an insurance company— must be checked with the bank itself or the Insurance Commission,” he said.

The DPWH head noted the need to post a bond as “good faith money” that would qualify a contractor to bid for a project contract.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 12

The NUPL, Acosta’s counsel, also deplored the stationing of what it described as “Rambotype guards” at the NKTI and called visitor restrictions “exaggerated and unreasonable.”

“It is cruel, it is degrading and it is even inhuman.

This is another clear and shameless proof that the poor and powerless are treated differently from the rich and influential,” NUPL secretary general Edre Olalia said in a text message sent to the INQUIRER. The NUPL said high-profile detainees such as former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, former elections Chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office ex-Chair Manuel Morato, among others were treated leniently when they were hospitalized despite the fact that the charges they were facing were “far greater, serious and well-grounded” compared to Acosta.

According to the Free Ericson Acosta Coalition, a multisectoral group supporting the detainee, 10 fully armed personnel from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) were stationed at Acosta’s hospital room not only to guard him but to see to it that he is handcuffed to his bed at all times.

The BJMP has also banned Acosta’s visitors, including family members and paralegal consultants, from using their mobile phones whenever they are visiting him.

Acosta’s supporters said there was no need for overkill security measures as his visitors were mostly family members, artists and cultural workers.

A Samar court granted Acosta’s motion for a medical checkup last week after a medical team from the Public Attorney’s Office confirmed he was suffering from nephritis, a condition characterized by blood in the urine (hematuria), lower back pains, high fever and painful urination (dysuria). ■

“When the contract is awarded to the winning bidder, a performance bond will then be required as security for the contract’s completion,” he said.

Under Article 8, Section 27 of Republic Act No. 9184, or the Act providing for the Modernization, Standardization and Regulation of the Procurement Activities of the Government, “all bids shall be accompanied by a bid security, which shall serve as a guarantee that after receipt of the Notice of Award, the winning bidder shall enter into a contract with the procuring entity within the stipulated time and furnish the required performance security.”

In the event a contractor goes bankrupt or if the contractor fails to complete the project based on the plans and specifications cited in the DPWH

contract, the government is guaranteed compensation for the monetary loss or liquidated damages equivalent to the performance bond.

According to Singson, the DPWH will also be more strict in verifying the credit lines of contractors and suppliers.

He directed the agency’s regional directors to “encourage contractors to avail themselves of the various loan programs of state-run financial institutions such as the Lank Bank and the Development Bank of the Philippines, to boost their financial capability to handle infrastructure projects.”

Some of the banks also offer equipment financing and leasing programs, which would make contractors highly capable of completing their projects on time, Singson said. ■

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13 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

News-Phils

Comelec favors Aga on citizenship issue

BY JOCELYN R. UY Philippine Daily Inquirer ACTOR Aga Muhlach said nothing could keep him from running for a congressional seat after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) junked a petition seeking his disqualification from the May 13 elections for supposedly dropping his Filipino citizenship.

Muhlach appeared at the Comelec in Intramuros, Manila, to receive a copy of the favorable decision rendered by the commission’s First Division.

“I am the happiest because there’s nothing that could prevent me from running now,” Muhlach, accompanied by his lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, told reporters in an interview.

Muhlach, a member of the ruling Liberal Party, is running against one of the Fuentabellas, an influential political clan in the fourth district of Camarines Sur. Muhlach and wife, Charlene Gonzales, filed their applications for registration as voters of San Jose on March 19 last year, which the Election Registration Board (ERB) subsequently approved.

The Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping the Camarines Sur Regional Trial Court from implementing its December ruling that directed the

ERB to remove the couple from San Jose’s list of voters on the ground that they were not local residents. The TRO is good for 60 days.

In the Comelec decision, it unanimously ruled that the actor was a natural-born Filipino citizen and, therefore, may enjoy full civil and political rights, including the right to seek public office.

The disqualification case stemmed from a complaint filed by Gilmar Pacamarra, a voter from Camarines Sur, who alleged that Muhlach made “false material representations” when he indicated in his certificate of candidacy that he was a Filipino citizen when he had supposedly acquired Spanish citizenship.

In his reply, Muhlach said he never took an oath of allegiance to the Spanish government nor did he ever apply for naturalization as a Spanish citizen. Muhlach’s father is reportedly a Spanish citizen.

The Comelec’s First Division, composed of Commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Christian Robert Lim and Armando Velasco, upheld the actor, ruling that the petitioner failed to show evidence that Muhlach had “expressly renounced” his Philippine citizenship or has subscribed an oath of allegiance to another country.

“It does not see how any of the petitioner’s allegations prove that Muhlach voluntarily or without reservation abandoned his Philippine citizenship. There is nothing in the submissions of Pacamara that show an express renunciation of Philippine citizenship on the part of Muhlach,” stated the decision.

Muhlach welcomed the Comelec decision, hoping that his rivals would stop trying to prevent him from running.

“What I am asking my rivals is to stop preventing something good from happening in our district. I have good intentions for our people.

I want to help make their lives better. But then again, that’s politics and I am ready for what will happen next,” he said. ■

Bring back CO2 testing for cars, DOTC urged

BY DAXIM L. LUCAS Philippine Daily Inquirer THE recently signed National Plan on Climate Change of Mr. Aquino also mandates the pursuit of environmentally sustainable transport measures, including vehicle emission controls and standards setting, the environmental watchdog ANI Kalikasan said in a press statement.

Carbon dioxide is recognized worldwide as the top air pollutant with no less than the Kyoto Protocol underscoring CO2 from motor vehicles as one of the main causes of global warming and climate change.

The Philippines is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol.

In a statement, ANI Kalikasan reiterated its call to Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya to consider the issues of air pollution and climate change and their implications before implementing the department order.

ANI Kalikasan president Macario Evangelista said the DOTC had regressed in its effort to achieve better

air quality from its 2005 standard when it required the testing of four gases, namely, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and oxygen.

The new DOTC order has reverted to testing three gases, dropping carbon dioxide, instead of moving up to six gases to include nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide in accordance with international standards.

In fact, Evangelista said, the provisions of the order do not reflect the recent technological and policy developments already recognized and being implemented by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the lead agency in the implementation of the Clean Air Act. Evangelista urged the new Transportation and Communications secretary, Joseph Emilio Abaya, to withdraw, or at least hold in abeyance, the implementation of the order pending further review, public hearings and technical studies by the DENR and private sector stakeholders. ■

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FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 14

High court dismisses bid to ban political dynasties The court threw out Biraogo’s main petition on Nov. 13, 2012, but the latter filed a motion for reconsideration, which was dismissed on Jan. 8. The Jan. 8 decision was released by the Supreme Court public information office only last Friday.

In his motion for reconsideration, Biraogo argued that the Supreme Court “is not devoid of power to provide a remedy where Congress deliberately fails to enact legislation explicitly guaranteed by the Constitution.”

Biraogo cited the 1997 case of Manila Prince Hotel v Government Service Insurance System wherein the high court upheld the bid of a Filipino corporation against that of a foreign corporation in the acquisition of shares in the firm that owned the hotel.

In that case, Biraogo said, the Supreme Court cited Section 10, Article XII of the Constitution which states that “in the grant of rights, privileges and concessions covering national economy and patrimony, the State shall give preference to qualified Filipinos.”

However, the court said Biraogo’s act of citing the Manila Prince Hotel case was “misplaced,” adding

that Section 10, Article XII, also known as the “Filipino First Policy” was self-executory. “[Section 10, Article XII] is a mandatory, positive command which is complete in itself and which needs no further guidelines or implementing laws for its enforcement, and that, from its very words, does not require any legislation to put it in operation,” the justices ruled.

In October last year, Biraogo filed a 26-page petition for mandamus, asking the high court to order the Comelec to enforce the constitutional ban on political dynasties in the coming national and local polls.

Biraogo had lamented how dynasties still dominated the country’s political landscape, adding that the current batch of candidates was the “best testament to that political and constitutional mockery.”

“The refusal of the government, the Congress in particular, to fulfill the constitutional prohibition against political dynasties has been a continuing insult to the Filipino people. Something must be done about this anomaly,” Biraogo said. ■

Fine banks that take in dirty money too–Joker

The senator noted that banks are supposed to follow a “know your client” policy that requires its officers and employees to know the background of their depositors.

He said the rule becomes more necessary “if very big amounts being deposited are not commensurate to the financial standing of a depositor.”

“We cannot make it easy for a money launderer to hide his loot,” he said.

Arroyo lamented that the AMLC would rather look the other way when it explains that banks also have to adhere to a rule that protects their depositors.

Arroyo noted that banks in the US found accepting dirty money are first made to explain why they accepted the deposit. Then they are meted out penalties for repeated infractions.

Arroyo e-mailed to the INQUIRER a list showing the fines meted out to banks in the US that accepted dirty money. These include HSBC which paid $1.9 billion (P75 billion); Chartered Bank, $667 million (P26 billion); ING, $619 million (P24 billion); Credit Suisse, $536 million (P21 billion); ABN AMRO, $500 million (P20 billion); Lloyds, $350 million (P14 billion), and Barclays, $298 million (P12 billion).

Arroyo recalled that the AMLC recently announced it had collected P3.1 million—about P250,000 a year— in penalties from local banks in the last 12 years.

“You can imagine that for the past three years the total of penalties paid by American banks was $190 billion. That translates to P7.8 trillion. So why should the AMLC protect our banks,” ■

BY JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer THE CONSTITUTION’S provision against political dynasties is not self-executing and must have an enabling law passed by Congress to back it up, according to the Supreme Court.

The high tribunal reiterated this requirement as it denied with finality the petition of businessman Louis Biraogo to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to ban members of political dynasties from running in the May elections. “[I]t is evident from the plain wording of the provision against political dynasties, particularly Section 26, Article II of the 1987 Constitution, which reads: ‘the State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be provided by law,’ that it is not self-executing but is simply a statement of a general principle which further requires a law passed

by Congress to define and give effect thereto,” the high court en banc ruled.

BY CATHY YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer UNLESS Philippine laws penalize a bank that accepts cash deposits of questionable origin, it would be useless to approve amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Law (Amla), a senator has pointed out.

Sen. Joker Arroyo said he would insist on a provision in the second bill of Amla amendments to include severe penalties for banks that take in dirty money deposits, saying that money laundering could not take place without the banks’ acquiescence in the crime to hide illegally acquired wealth.

Arroyo said banks in the United States had been meted out stiff penalties for accepting dirty money deposits.

The Philippine government should take its cue and do the same, otherwise, Arroyo said, amendments to the Amla would just be regarded as a pallid attempt to placate the global-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) which monitors terrorist financing and money laundering around the world.

The FATF had warned that the Philippines would be included in its blacklist unless it amended and put more teeth into its current Amla.

Inclusion in the blacklist would make it more difficult for Filipinos to remit or receive funds from overseas. Arroyo said that at present, the Anti-Money

Laundering Council (AMLC) freezes the deposits of an individual suspected of laundering cash through banks.

“How about the bank that accepted the money?

That is crucial. The AMLC says the bank should not be penalized, only the owner of the dirty money. But laundering would not have taken place if the bank did not accept the money in the first place,” Arroyo said.

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News-Phils Nothing wrong with P-noy, Senate bet wants ‘pork’ scrapped Binay campaigning–Comelec

15 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Photo courtesy of Balita.ph

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY JOCELYN R. UY Philippine Daily Inquirer THERE’S nothing wrong with President Aquino or Vice President Jejomar Binay appearing in political ads endorsing, and raising the arms of, candidates for the May 13 elections.

As the country’s two highest officials, Mr. Aquino and Binay are actually exempted from the constitutional ban imposed on public servants against participating in campaigns or endorsing candidates, among other partisan political activities, the Commission on Elections said. The exemption also extends to Cabinet secretaries.

It was earlier reported that the President was likely to appear in campaign advertisements of candidates of the ruling Liberal Party coalition.

Binay has already been seen appearing in several advertisements and provincial sojourns of the rival United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

“The ban imposed by the Constitution on public servants is not absolute...there is an exemption. The President can campaign because his position is political. So such position is not covered by prohibition,” said commissioner Rene Sarmiento.

The clarification was made as the Comelec came out with a flurry of resolutions outlining the do’s and

dont’s during the campaign period for the May 13 elections, as well as rules for political campaigning in the mass media and on cyberspace.

Sarmiento cited the constitutional provision which states that “no officer or employee in the civil service shall engage, directly or indirectly, in any electioneering or partisan campaign.”

But he said jurisprudence, particularly the Supreme Court ruling on Santos v Yatco in the 1960s, has granted an exemption to several government officials, particular those occupying positions considered as “political.”

These positions include those of the President, Vice President, Cabinet secretaries and other elected national and local officials.

Cabinet secretaries are exempted because they are considered the “alter ego” of the President, said Sarmiento.

But barangay officials are not covered by the exemption, he stressed.

In reality, however, it has become a common practice among national and local candidates to ask the endorsement of barangay officials to ensure their victory in the elections, Sarmiento said.

“The law says barangay officials must be nonpartisan. But in reality, that doesn’t happen so that is one thing that we will still have to talk about in the Comelec...what we can do about these barangay officials being used by candidates,” he said. ■

AMID the Senate squabble over the unequal distribution of monetary benefits, senatorial candidate JC de los Reyes said he intends to introduce “thriftiness” into the legislature by abolishing the pork barrel whose use he described as “immoral.”

That would be one of the first things he would do if he is elected, De los Reyes of the Ang Kapatiran Party told a public forum conducted by the GMA show Unang Hirit.

De los Reyes took the same stance when he ran unsuccessfully for president in 2010.

Two other senatorial candidates, Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay and partylist representative Teddy Casiño (Bayan Muna), said they would also favor the abolition of the pork barrel, which they had received in the past but which has lately been withheld from them.

But another candidate, Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino, a cousin of President Aquino, said he would want the pork barrel retained as it can be used for good endeavors.

Senators get P200 million a year in pork barrel funds—officially called the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF)—which they can allocate for any project they fancy. House members or district representatives have access to P70 million in PDAF a year for the same purpose. Apart from pork, lawmakers also receive funds for operating expenses, as well as other allowances and honoraria on top of their monthly salaries.

Senators recently found themselves being ranged against one another after it was disclosed that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had released additional funds for maintenance and other operating expenses, taken from the Senate’s

savings, but gave all senators, save for four members, an additional P1.6 million. The four, who got only P250,000, protested the disparity.

De los Reyes said the practice of distributing pork barrel takes money away from more pressing projects, with lawmakers tending to spend on programs that would boost their political stock.

“It’s left to the discretion of legislators who are politically motivated to put the money in projects that would make them popular. That’s the problem, it’s an immoral system,” he said.

He said the money should go to priority projects that respond to the real needs of the real poor, not to undertakings favored by lawmakers.

Magsaysay said that if she had her way, the legislature would not be given pork barrel.

“The job of the legislative branch is to make laws, amend laws, repeal laws,” she said. The disbursement of the pork barrel is more of an executive function and should be exclusive to it so that lawmakers would not be confused about their real duties, she said.

“Some people run as congressmen or senators because of the PDAF. So they have a wrong set of priorities as to what are their roles. They already think that if you’re a congressman or senator, your primary role is to undertake projects,” she said.

Magsaysay has complained that the pork barrel for her district has been withheld since the Aquino administration took over, and believes the move was political because she was an ally of former President Gloria Arroyo.

Casiño said a legislator who is performing well would not need any pork barrel.

“It’s about time that congressmen and senators focus on their jobs as policymakers rather than as project implementors,” he said. ■

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Opinion

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 16

THERE’S THE RUB

Challenged

BY CONRADO DE QUIROS Philippine Daily Inquirer AFTER MIRIAM Defensor-Santiago comes Alan Peter Cayetano.

Like Miriam, he says Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s gifts last Christmas were unlawful, engineered by Enrile’s, well, her official designation is chief of staff, her unofficial one is the woman in his life, Gigi Reyes. She has become so powerful, Cayetano says, she might as well be a senator, or indeed a supra one, being the alter ego of the Senate President who signs millions of pesos in disbursements in his name.

Like Miriam, he says Enrile has a beef with him because he has stood for principle where Enrile has stood for villainy. In Miriam’s case, it was because Enrile was a martial law custodian whereas she was one of those who fought against it. In Cayetano’s case, it was because Enrile was a Gloria Arroyo stalwart whereas he was one of those who fought against her. “Let’s call a spade a spade. Why are you personally upset with me?

It’s because you and Attorney Gigi are close to the former President and First Gentleman.”

Like Miriam, Cayetano has met with reprisal for his tirade. Enrile promptly got personal with him too. At the Senate floor, he waved a document that showed a P37-million unpaid debt Cayetano’s father, Rene, had apparently incurred as a partner in Enrile’s law firm. Enrile said he had personally authorized that loan so Rene could feed his family, with all its suggestions of profound ingratitude.

Like Miriam, Cayetano has been called a bears him the greatest enmity. How has that hypocrite for even hinting that Enrile’s gifts did enmity been expressed? By Enrile, or his chief not come up smelling of roses. It was Ping Lacson of staff—he denies the romantic link but he also who expressly called Miriam that, asking why she denies having said his ambush was fake—giving found nothing wrong with the gifts in the past. It him less than the others. is Reyes who implicitly called Cayetano that, for Outside looking in, this isn’t really a quarrel over the same reason. “It’s illegal? Why does he accept principle, this is a quarrel over money. The girian such gifts every year?” isn’t over katiwalian, All this makes you it is over hatian. True This isn’t really a quarrel over enough, you have to wonder at the future of principle, this is a quarrel over money. wonder how the public two things.

The girian isn’t over katiwalian, it is will react the next time The first is the future over hatian. of the Senate to conduct the Senate hauls in hearings on corruption. someone for questioning, Lacson points this out and concludes that it is or worse impeaching. That public is bound to end dismal. “Our wellbeing, whether as institution up sniggering and saying, “Physician, heal thyself.” or as individual senators, largely depends on Far more importantly, all this makes you wonder public perception, our image.” That image has about the future of P-Noy’s campaign against been badly tarnished by the trading of charges of corruption. unethical conduct between Enrile and Santiago At the very least, it’s not easy running after and Cayetano. Where lies now the Senate’s people—Arroyo is first in line—having a Senate moral ascendancy to investigate corruption? caught in the pit of disguised corruption. Enrile’s Last time around, I said the problem with gifts may be justified legally, but they may Miriam’s complaint against Enrile, an exceedingly not be justified morally. Miriam is right: Why valid and vital one, which is the notorious role should you give the senators “supplemental he played during martial law, was that it owed budget” at the end of the year when their work to money, or division of spoils. What triggered is done? Enrile doesn’t make things better by her broadside was Enrile giving her less than trying to be cute and saying those gifts were just the others. The same is true of Cayetano, which “lambing” to the senators. Why doesn’t he show makes him just as vulnerable. His complaint about the same lambing to the taxpayers? Why doesn’t Enrile, an exceedingly valid and vital one, which he show the same cariño to the street children is the notorious role he played during Arroyo’s who brave the poisonous fumes and descend on regime, also owes to money, or division of spoils. vehicles to badger their occupants for a few coins That is suggested by his pointing out that Enrile particularly on Christmas?

Far more than that, lest we forget, most of the senators involved in this fracas were part of the coalition that government helped form in order to push along the impeachment of Renato Corona. It did not include Miriam (along with Joker Arroyo and Bongbong Marcos) who eventually voted not guilty.

Impeaching Corona was the first step in clearing the way for the prosecution of Arroyo, a truly potentially huge step toward stifling corruption.

Arguably, government had to be pragmatic too and make unholy alliances to accomplish its ends. The question now is just how unholy it was.

That coalition did get to convict Corona. But it also produced the unholy effect of making Enrile once again one of the most powerful men in the country.

How powerful you see in Miriam’s and Cayetano’s revelations of another conjugal dictatorship. Indeed how powerful you see in P-Noy being compelled to attend Enrile’s book launching—justifiable too legally but not morally. Outside looking in, or downside looking up, it suggested giving blessings to hiding the past, mangling the past, denying the past.

Miriam and Cayetano are right: Enrile was a custodian of martial law, Enrile was a pillar of Arroyo’s rule, two of the nastiest things ever to have happened to this country. But he has been exalted while those who fought martial law have been humbled. He has been rewarded while those who fought Arroyo’s rule have been punished. And now we have turned him into a pillar in the fight against corruption. Can anything be battier?

And we call Miriam mentally challenged. ■

AT LARGE

What the money means

BY RINA JIMENEZ-DAVID Philippine Daily Inquirer IF MONEY is paid out for it, does it mean it really happened? That seems to be the current thinking, especially in this age of deniers and revisionists, with people believing that if you deny or doubt something often enough, the public will start questioning even their own memories or the historical record.

For many human rights victims of martial law, the soon-to-be-passed legislation requiring compensation for the abuses they suffered may come too late. Some have already died, while others have since moved on. For many others, the mental torture and trauma they suffered will continue to haunt them long after their share of the P10-billion loot confiscated by the government has been used up.

Still, a number of them could use the money.

Some need financial support for their health problems, many of them traceable to the torture they endured and the hard life they led. Many others could put the money to good use by supporting the education of family members, or providing them with such basic comforts as housing, a source of income, and insurance against catastrophe.

But more than providing material compensation for victims of martial law, what the prospective law does, says the former detainees’ organization Selda, is to finally establish in

the historical record that, indeed, human rights I’m just hoping the effort doesn’t end up in violations took place under the sponsorship of the the same mess created by the “war damages” Marcos government. “More than the monetary or reparations claims filed against the Japanese compensation,” says Selda, “the bill represents government shortly after World War II. In those the only formal, written document that martial years, a cottage industry of fake and falsified law violated the human rights of Filipinos and claims and bogus claimants blossomed and, if we that there were courageous people who fought recall right, some so-called “collaborators” of the the dictatorship.”

Japanese military even managed to get elected to No more room for office.

Marcos relatives, such as Already, there have For many human rights victims of Rep. Imelda Marcos or been reports of falsified martial law, the soon-to-be-passed Sen. Bongbong Marcos, claims among the martial legislation requiring compensation to assert that martial law law victims, with the for the abuses they suffered may under Marcos’ rule was identities of some usurped come too late. benevolent and progressive. by the undeserving.

No more room for hawks in I hope everyone the military and government to insist that martial involved in managing and disbursing the funds law “saved” the Philippines from a communist keep in mind that the millions represent not just insurgency (indeed, recruitment to the ranks of the compensation but is actually “blood money,” New People’s Army surged during the martial law amassed at the cost of many lives lost, futures period). compromised, and a generation lost.

And as Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello declares: *** “Finally, after over two decades after the fall of The bill, which goes through the final the dictatorship, we will have a law that puts the bicameral conference meeting today, is the last responsibility for human rights abuses square on of a raft of bills championed by Albay Rep. Edcel the shoulder of Marcos and provides justice for Lagman who is bowing out of legislation, if not all those who suffered under his reign.” politics, at the end of this, his third term. *** The bearish, fatherly Lagman, whose hair was While the number of possible beneficiaries of still black when he started filing bills upholding the law still remains in dispute, an estimated 16,000 the rights of students, workers and women, as a individuals have been identified, some 10,000 website avers, has racked up an impressive array being the plaintiffs in a Hawaii class suit against of legislation. the Marcoses and 6,000 more documented by the He is most famous for sponsoring in the Commission on Human Rights. Even so, CHR House (and shepherding through it for more Chair Etta Rosales is encouraging other claimants than a decade) the newly-passed Reproductive to come out and be recognized, subject to screening. Health Law (his Senate counterpart is Sen. Pia

Cayetano). But he can also boast of being the sponsor of such laws as the “desaparecidos” (disappeared) law, which identifies as a crime the act of making criminal suspects “disappear” (through summary executions) while under custody; the law criminalizing the use of torture by agents of the State; and now this law on compensation for human rights victims of the martial law regime.

In recognition of his steadfast work on the RH Law, Lagman will be named today an “Eminent Person” of the Forum on Family Planning, an honorific post created by the Forum for individuals who have proven to be outstanding supporters of reproductive health and rights in the country. *** But more than recognitions or awards, I think what sustained Lagman through this dark night of struggle—including his loyalty to former President Gloria Arroyo who ultimately betrayed him—was knowing what his legislative work was rooted in.

And that is his own painful family history, with one brother wrongfully picked up, tortured and killed by the military at the outset of martial law, and another brother (labor and urban poor leader Popoy) gunned down on what is believed to be the orders of the communist leadership.

He may be best known for the battle he led for the passage of the RH bill, but I bet it is the human rights legislation that most warms the heart of “Cong Edcel,” representing a personal vindication and compensation for his own family’s long dark night of struggle and grief. ■

17 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Opinion

PUBLIC LIVES

Revisiting Japan

BY RANDY DAVID Philippine Daily Inquirer OSAKA—AT the baggage carousel of the relatively new and solidly built Kansai International Airport, everyone around me was busy on their mobile phones even as they kept an eye on the fast-moving bags. I was surprised to see a preponderance of iPhones: I’d say, four out of five. It is easy to understand why the austere lines of Apple’s best-selling product would appeal to the Japanese. The iPhone is perhaps to technology what the haiku is to poetry. And so, it puzzles me why the Japanese did not invent anything close to it.

Japan was, until the 1990s, the world’s leader in the manufacture of electric appliances and electronic gadgets. Now it cannot even compete with Samsung. Thirty years ago, Japan’s problem was how to spend its astounding wealth. So huge was its trade surplus that, in the late 1980s, the Japanese government started a campaign urging its citizens to “make friends with imports.”

Today, its problem is what to do to stimulate a lethargic economy that had sorely lagged behind in technological innovation.

But, if Japan is in some kind of crisis, one would hardly see it. Here, the buses and the trains continue to run on time. The infrastructure bears no sign of neglect. The Japanese are formidable builders; the Kansai International Airport, completely built on a manmade island, withstood the devastating 1995 earthquake

in Kobe just 20 miles away with not a single rich prefectures would host a global symposium glass window broken. But the dynamism that on nearly any topic. a visitor quickly senses in the metropolitan I flew in last Thursday on a special invitation centers of China, Singapore, South Korea and, by Osaka University. One of its popular increasingly, of Southeast Asia, appears to have professors, Mamoru Tsuda, who pioneered a left this place. unique program that trains interpreters for court These impressions are no doubt superficial and police proceedings involving foreigners, is but they seem validated by the available data. formally retiring. Having supervised his graduate Growth rate has been thesis when he was a young minimal over the past student at the University of decade, and the tax collection Japan was, until the 1990s, the the Philippines in the early cannot even pay for half of world’s leader in the manufacture 1970s, I have been asked what government spends of electric appliances and to speak on my perceptions every year. Consequently, electronic gadgets. Now it cannot of Japan and the Japanese government has had to even compete with Samsung. before Professor Tsuda cover its ballooning annual delivers his own retirement deficits with borrowings. lecture at a symposium in his The government debt stands honor. at $14.6 trillion, the equivalent of 230 percent of But, “Rico,” as we prefer to call him in the the country’s annual GDP. More than 25 percent Philippines, is hardly the kind of person who of the national budget goes into the servicing of would retire from teaching. So crucial is his this debt. Japan’s crisis is not as visible as that expertise in intercultural communication to of the Eurozone economies mainly because the the complexities of the global age that he will government has been able to tap the savings of likely expand his academic reach rather than its own people. And, the interest on government quit teaching. As the world becomes one global bonds has been kept very low. Observers say system, the languages that humanity speaks need this precarious arrangement cannot be sustained to be bridged even more. And there are very few indefinitely.

Japanese scholars like Rico Tsuda who not only My last visit to this beautiful country was understand translation theory but also continue more than 10 years ago. Somehow, the real to refine it in the field of actual practice. estate and stock market crash that rocked Japan This is as much a problem for Japan as it is in the 1990s also greatly dampened the country’s for the Philippines where it is wrongly assumed eagerness and capacity to host international that everybody can understand English. The few conferences. Gone are the days when any of the times I have attended a court hearing, I remember

cringing whenever a lawyer tried to render in English what a witness said in the native language. The injustice done to both languages tends to produce a greater injustice to persons.

The fatal misunderstandings that can arise do not stem solely from differences in language.

Japan knows this only too well. Despite its technological modernity, it has remained in many ways a closed society where foreigners are likely to stick out and attract attention no matter how hard they may try to blend in. But the Japanese language, as many aspiring Filipino nurses who wish to work in this country will attest, remains a most formidable barrier. At breakfast on my first day at the hotel, I stood totally lost before the forbidding coffee machine that offered four types of coffee and two types of hot cocoa drinks.

That’s what it said in English. But I could not tell which of the buttons to be pressed, all labeled in Japanese, would give me the coffee I wanted.

Back in my room, I tried to connect to the Internet. The instructions said: “Broadband access available in all rooms. It is not possible to connect, your personal computer. (By the setting.) Please call the reception desk, when there is an obscure point.” Oh dear, I muttered.

The second sentence flatly negates the promise of the first. Thankfully, the moment I switched on my Japanese-made Sony Vaio, it automatically searched for available Wi-Fi signals and found four. All I needed was the password, which the smiling front desk man wordlessly supplied to me on a tiny strip of paper. *** public.lives@gmail.com

AS I SEE IT

V Literary Quarterly and a book of literary gems?

BY NEAL H. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer THE VARSITARIAN, student publication of the University of Sto. Tomas, threw a big 85th anniversary bash for staff alumni at the Sofitel Hotel last Saturday night, capped by a beautiful fireworks display beside Manila Bay. The V has the right to be proud of itself for having survived 85 years of trials and tribulations, including a world war and an enemy occupation, martial law and two revolutions. It is now not only older than most campus publications in the country, and V alumni now occupy important positions in print, radio, television and advertising. Three of them are now National Artists—two for Literature (F. Sionil Jose and Bienvenido Lumbera) and one for Art (J. Elizalde Navarro).

True to the tradition of the press, the V was courageous and always sought and stuck to the truth, even risking punishment by lampooning the UST administration. But I think among all campus papers, the V excelled in the literary field. It used to have a separate magazine for literary works. It had literary contests every year for short stories, essays, poetry and plays, which later became the Rector’s Literary Awards, and still later the Gawad Ustetika, which added a “Pilipino” category in the short story, essay, and poetry writing contests.

When I was the V’s literary editor, I launched the Varsitarian Literary Quarterly, which published fiction, poetry, essays and literary criticism by professors, students and alumni.

NVM Gonzalez’s “Children of the Ash-Covered entries to the V Literary Contests was published.

Loam” was first published there. The story was Why not a more permanent book? later published as a book. Unfortunately, the I confess I am biased for the V because I was Varsitarian Literary Quarterly was discontinued once its literary editor and because I was able after I graduated. I think it should be revived. to finish college with the help of the V. I wrote There is now no outlet for the literary output of a piece on that for the special edition of the V, Filipino writers, except one or two magazines—I which is called “Amihan,” for the anniversary can’t even remember which ones. celebration—and I am repeating here some of Yet the V and UST are sitting on a treasure what I wrote there. trove of literary gems.

Yes, the V helped me The UST Press publishes finish a journalism course The V was courageous and always books by professors (Litt. B) at UST. Without sought and stuck to the truth, even and alumni, mostly on it, I probably would have risking punishment by lampooning dropped out, as I would not academic and scientific the UST administration. subjects. Why doesn’t it have been able to afford the publish a book of these expense. I was a working literary gems? student—although I had no As part of the anniversary celebrations of regular job yet. I supported myself by freelancing both the V and UST (85 years for the V and 400 for national magazines. years for UST), I propose that they publish a As a high school student at St. James Academy book titled, “The Best of the Varsitarian.” It will in Malabon, run by the Maryknoll Sisters, I be an anthology of the winners in the annual V started writing short stories and poetry. My Literary Contests, the Rector’s Literary Awards, literature teacher, Sr. Stephen Marie, encouraged and the Gawad Ustetika. The Palanca Memorial me to write. She was the one who encouraged me Awards publishes the winners in its annual to take up journalism at UST. literary contests, why not UST and the V? Many While still in St. James, I wrote a short story of the winners in the V Literary Contests have on the Hukbalahap rebellion then raging in blossomed into the nation’s leading literary Central Luzon. It was about a farmer whom the lights. (Witness the two National Artists for Huks tried to recruit. The farmer refused; he just Literature—Jose and Lumbera. A third National wanted to be left alone to cultivate his small farm Artist for Literature, NVM Gonzalez, was also to support his family. The Huks finally shot him a professor on the short story craft in Philets, in the back while he was plowing his field. The UST.) final paragraphs described how he felt, what I understand the V Literary Magazine was went through his mind as blood and life ebbed revived, briefly, and a literary folio of winning out of him.

I submitted it to the Philippines Free Press while I was still in high school, but I was already a freshman at the UST Faculty of Philosophy and Letters when it was published. For that story, I was paid by the Free Press the handsome amount of P50.

The amount of P50 is almost nothing today (it can hardly pay for one hamburger sandwich at a fast-food chain) but at that time, in the mid1950s, it was a huge amount. Consider this for comparison: At that time, outstanding painters like Carlos V. Francisco and Vicente Manansala were paid only P50 for painting covers for This Week, Sunday Magazine of the Manila Chronicle. When I interviewed Fernando Amorsolo at his house on España Extension, Quezon City, he was selling several of his small oil landscape studies for only P50 each, but I could not afford to buy even one.

All three painters are now National Artists and their paintings are now worth hundreds of thousands of pesos.

Anyway, when the V announced its literary contests, I submitted my short story titled “To Work in Peace,” and it won second prize. I won, if memory serves me right, P100.

Encouraged by that win, I submitted three entries to the V literary contests the next year: two short stories and one essay. All of them won—first prizes for one short story and the essay, and a third prize for the other short story. I won a total of P550 in prize money!

It was like winning a minor prize at the lotto today.

(To be continued)

News-Phils Civil society group says PH lags in MDG

BY CHRISTIAN V. ESGUERRA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE ECONOMIC growth trumpeted by the Aquino administration has failed to translate into “inclusive development,” leading instead to “rising inequality,” according to a civil society group.

The group Social Watch Philippines (SWP), led by former national treasurer Leonor Briones, presented at the House of Representatives its study showing that the country was still “lagging behind significantly” in three key areas of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

The group identified these as the goals to “achieve universal primary education,” “improve maternal health,” and “combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases,” all by 2015, the deadline set for all eight MDGs at a United Nations summit in 2000.

“The Philippines is in a worse poverty situation in 2010 than when it started on the MDGs in 2000,” the SWP declared in its 67page report. “Not much has changed for the poor in 10 years of MDG,” added the report titled “Breaking Through to Sustainability.”

The SWP study is backed by the UN Democracy Fund, which supports independent projects that strengthen the voice of civil society, promote human rights, and encourage the participation of all groups in democratic processes.

In the report, the SWP concluded the Aquino administration had yet to “break with business as usual” to help ensure sustainable growth for the country.

“It would seem that the President in his first three years has been doing things right to correct the ‘evils’ of the past and improve public service,” it said. “But he has yet to make a real dent on existing

IMF sees 6% PH growth

BY MICHELLE V. REMO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised its 2013 growth forecast for the Philippines, citing robust consumer spending and rising domestic investments.

The IMF also said that an increase in public spending, aided by an improvement in the government’s fiscal standing, would help in boosting the country’s economy this year.

The IMF now expects the Philippines to grow by 6 percent this year—better than the 4.8 percent it announced last October.

Still, the forecast is below the estimated 6.5 percent growth registered in 2012.

For 2014, the IMF expects the Philippine economy to grow by 5.5 percent.

Rachel Van Elkan, head of the IMF mission to the Philippines, said in a press conference that the Philippines’

power structures that brought us to this poverty/inequality situation in the first place.”

“Its so-called inclusive growth is not inclusive development,” it said.

“I’m not saying let’s stop chasing growth. But look at growth as a means to happiness, our collective happiness as a nation,” added SWP coconvenor Isagani Serrano, who wrote the report.

“A nation cannot be happy with three of 10 Filipinos feeling very, very hurt and unhappy.

We cannot go on like that. At some point, that situation will boil over and that will create more problems for the country.”

The group took the Aquino administration to task for what it called “policy-action gap,” which it attributed to the government not spending “enough for the MDGs or (saying) something and (doing) another.”

The group said there were inherent flaws in the poverty strategies themselves which promoted a “kind of growth that reduces poverty on one end and reproduces it on the other and increases inequality in the process.”

Briones also warned that the government’s conditional cash transfer (CCT) program might be used to help administration candidates win in the coming May elections.

“It’s very clear: any taxi driver can tell you that there is a correlation during election time between CCT and the chances of winning,” she argued while the presenting the SWPreport.

In his response after the presentation, Director Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic Development Authority clarified that the “bulk” of the CCT budget had been distributed in 2011 and 2012 “and these were not election years.”

“The spending then cannot be associated with the election,” he said. ■

performance last year was remarkable.

She said the country was able to shrug off the problems now upsetting the global economy.

Van Elkan also believes that the Philippines will continue to be resilient, fending off global shocks.

“This growth resilience and more favorable outlook is both a testament to the Philippines’ improved macroeconomic fundamentals [and] policy reforms,” she said.

The IMF took note of the reforms in governance, saying that these complemented efforts to keep the economy healthy.

“The focus on good governance has buoyed confidence and is supportive of more inclusive growth,” Elkan said.

On inflation, the IMF expects the rate of rise in consumer prices to settle at the lower end of the government’s target range of 3 to 5 percent over the short term.

Also, the balance of payments “is forecast to stay in the surplus,” Van Elkan said. ■

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 18

Finally, P-noy signs ‘kasambahay’ bill into law

BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer AFTER close to two months of waiting, President Aquino has finally enacted into law the “kasambahay bill” setting a fixed monthly pay of up to P2,500 and more social benefits for close to two million domestic workers.

“We are pleased to confirm that President Aquino signed Republic Act 10361 or An Act Instituting Policies for the Protection and Welfare of Domestic Workers last Jan. 18,” said Undersecretary Abigail Valte, deputy presidential spokesperson.

Over the last few weeks, some senators and lawmakers have aired the call for the President to sign the measure into law which the Senate and House of Representatives ratified in late November.

The law pegs the minimum wage of domestic workers in Metro Manila at P2,500, in chartered cities and firstclass municipalities at P2,000 and other municipalities at P1,500.

The law says that this should be paid in cash directly to the worker once a month, and not by promissory notes, vouchers, coupons, tokens, tickets or chits.

It entitles the worker to a 13th month pay.

After a year of service, a worker is entitled to an incentive leave of five days with pay.

But after a month of service, the worker shall be covered by the Social Security System, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp., and the Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG, and shall be entitled to all the benefits.

The employer will shoulder the premium payments or contributions.

But if the worker is paid P5,000 and above a month, the worker will pay the proportionate share in the premium payments or contributions. ■

19 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Hold on for rough ride as Commons returns amidst looming economic turbulence

BY BRUCE CHEADLE THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - Almost exactly one year ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed a well-heeled audience in Davos, Switzerland, where he delivered what amounted to an ambitious throne speech.

Harper's vision for Canada's economic restructuring included toppling regulatory hurdles to fasttrack major resource projects, revamping government incentives for research and development, pension and immigration reforms and new trade agreements abroad.

As parliamentarians enter 2013, with the Commons returning Monday following a six-week break, much of Harper's agenda from Davos appears complete or on track - if not yet bearing fruit.

And that's the danger for a Conservative government that is three months shy of the midpoint of its fouryear majority mandate: Maintaining focus and momentum amidst another anticipated storm of global economic turbulence. ``The longer-term restructuring - that was what a lot of last year's budget was about,'' Peter Van Loan, the Conservative House leader, said in an interview Sunday. ``We have successfully gone about that. Then there's the continual ongoing fine-tuning we have to follow, and also responding to the overall economic environment we're in.''

The bad news is that a faltering housing sector in most parts of the country, flat commodity prices, continuing European economic woes and urgent First Nations demands for a greater cut of Canada's resource action make for a spring loaded with pitfalls.

On the upside, a new poll suggests the Conservatives weathered their year of controversial economic restructuring and are in a position to capitalize should those changes begin to pay dividends.

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey found that respondents are virtually evenly split on their satisfaction level with the government.

The telephone poll of 1,000 respondents suggests 50 per cent are somewhat or very satisfied with the Conservatives' performance, while 47 per cent are somewhat or very dissatisfied. ``Even though Canadians are almost equally divided in their assessment of the federal government, you are hard pressed to say they are having a polarizing effect on the country,'' Harris-Decima chairman Allan Gregg said in a release.

The poll, which is considered accurate within 3.1 per cent 19 times in 20, found roughly the same 50-50 satisfaction split across age, income and gender groupings.

Given the contentious reforms made last year - including boosting the age for receiving Old Age Security to 67 from 65 starting in 2023, and dramatic cuts to environmental protections and the Navigable Waters Act - the Conservative cup could be considered half full, not half empty.

Complacency, however, is not an option.

The native Idle No More movement will stage another protest march Monday to Parliament Hill, a visible reminder of Harper's promise to address long-standing First Nations' grievances.

The Conservatives' emphasis on northern resource development should give a new economic urgency to aboriginal treaty resolutions, but seriously tackling the historic quagmire will tax the government's attention.

A free trade deal with the European Union, one of Harper's Davos commitments, is said to be imminent.

The devil will be in the details, and if

increased costs for prescription drugs are part of the equation - the result of tougher patent protections - expect plenty of noise from cash-strapped provinces.

Partisan fireworks can also be anticipated over the replacement of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. With Kevin Page's eventful, five-year term about to conclude, the government appears to be in little hurry to appoint a successor.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told Global TV on Sunday that he'd like to see the PBO's mandate ``better defined'' - which will be widely interpreted as ``curtailed.'' ``Every time there has been a disagreement between Kevin Page and Jim Flaherty and the Conservative government, it's Kevin Page who has been telling Canadians the truth,'' NDP Leader Tom Mulcair told Global.

There's also the steady drip of the ongoing robocalls investigation by the elections watchdog.

The government will try to get ahead of the curve with Elections Act legislation to address the tracking and registration of automated phone calls during campaigns.

And the Conservatives will continue their old standby, criminal justice changes designed to make them look tough on crime while goading the opposition. New rules for handling convicts found not criminally responsible will target the mentally ill.

By mid April the Liberals will have a new leader - odds-makers favour the clear front-runner, Justin Trudeau - which will finally fill out the dance card for the 2015 election and allow prospective voters to start making real comparisons of the available options.

That's why Harper is expected to do a cabinet makeover before next autumn, promoting some of his younger, brighter talent. Parliament's spring sitting, therefore, is the last testing ground for cabinet hopefuls and hangers-on alike. ■

NEWS BRIEFS CRTC releases draft of wireless conduct code CONSUMERS are asking for clear language in their cellphone contracts and want to be able to put a cap on extra fees, says a draft of a national wireless code. Thousands of Canadians contributed their ideas to the first draft of the national wireless code, which was released Monday by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Moody’s downgrades long-term ratings of six Canadian banks TORONTO - Most of Canada’s biggest banks have been downgraded by Moody’s Investor Services, one of the world’s major credit rating agencies. Moody’s says it took the step because of concerns over the banks’ exposure to heavily indebted consumers and elevated housing prices.

One per cent earn a tenth of national income OTTAWA - The recession and subsequent weak recovery appears to have taken a bite out of Canada’s top income earners - but they are still doing better than the rest and many suspect the setback is temporary. Statistics Canada reported Monday that the top one per cent of the country’s 25.5 million tax filers earned at least $201,400 in 2010, accounting for 10.6 per cent of the nation’s total income - down from 12.1 percent peak in 2006.

Mining company sends 16 Chinese workers home VANCOUVER - Sixteen temporary employees at a controversial coal mine in northern B.C. are returning to China because of the company’s concerns about ongoing litigation and its associated costs and disruptions. HD Mining announced on Monday evening that it has also decided not to bring any more workers to the proposed Murray River coal project near Tumbler Ridge, B.C., until it has ``reliable certainty’’ on the project.

Canada News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 20

Vancouver housing: 2nd worst in the world, based on affordability

ACCORDING to Demographia, British Columbia - which ranks second to the last on the list, next only to Hong Kong – lacks affordable housing due to its' “urban containment regulation.”

This refers to city laws such as “smart growth” or “densification”; policies which severely limit the land that may be used for housing developments, thereby upping the costs of land and housing.

The research organization used the “Median Mutiple” to measure affordability, a method which multiplies the median cost of the house in a particular market by its median household income.

Vancouver's had a median multiple of 9.5, which indicates that the median house price was about 9.5 times more than the city's median household income. This rating has earned the city a spot in the "Severely Unaffordable" range.

The figure, however, is down from a rating of 10.6 in Demographia's survey conducted in 2011.

Hong Kong scored a median multiple of 13.5, while Sydney, Australia scored 8.3.

Toronto's median multiple went up to 5.9 from 5.1, thereby landing it in the "severely unaffordable" category as well. ■

Work in some capacity will be retirement reality for many: BMO study

BY LUANN LASALLE THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL - Retirement for most Canadians won't mean just sitting back and taking it easy, according to a new study by BMO Financial Group, which found that 81 per cent of those surveyed plan on doing some kind of work in their golden years. ``The top reason was the need for additional income,'' said BMO's Marlena Pospiech. ``It may reflect the fact that people are realizing that they haven't saved as aggressively as they should have,'' said Pospiech, senior manager, BMO Wealth Planning Group.

People are living longer, there are fewer employer-sponsored pension plans and many Canadians will be working longer before collecting government pensions, Pospiech said from Toronto.

And this is starting to get people thinking about their retirement income, she added.

Beginning in 2023, the federal government will gradually shift the age of eligibility for old age security and guaranteed income supplement payments from 65 to 67.

Pospiech said past studies indicate that people generally haven't been maximizing their RRSP contributions.

This year's deadline for contributions to Registered Retirement Savings Plan is March 1. ``So for people who are looking forward to retirement, I think the message has been sent loud and clear that they've got to save personally.''

The online study by market research firm Pollara surveyed 1,000 Canadians 18 years of age and over between Jan. 17 and Jan. 22.

Besides extra income, respondents also said they would work in retirement to stay sharp and as ``enjoyable hobby,'' according to the study released Tuesday.

Two in five Canadians were also likely to start their own business in retirement, the survey said. ``We see that more often, according to our survey, with that being the case with men,'' Pospiech said, noting it's a new trend to be an entrepreneur in retirement.

It's a desire for people to be ``their own boss'' and it's a new beginning, she said.

Almost half of Canadians surveyed said they would use a portion of their retirement savings to fund their business, the survey said.

That indicates a high degree of optimism and it would indicate that at least some retirees planning to start a business have that ``extra cushion'' or cash flow if they are going to fund it with their retirement savings, she said. ■

World News

21 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

BY JULIE PACE AND ERICA WERNER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON - The White House and a bipartisan group of senators will launch separate efforts next week to jumpstart negotiations to overhaul the immigration system, an issue that has languished in Washington for years.

Obama will start his second-term immigration push during a trip to Las Vegas on Tuesday. The Senate working group is aiming to outline its proposals at about the same time, according to a Senate aide.

There is emerging consensus on several key components, notably the need for a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million illegal immigrants already in the United States. The White House and Senate Democrats favour addressing immigration through a broad package of legislation, while some Republicans lawmakers prefer to tackle the issue through several separate bills.

The proposals will mark the start of what's sure to be a contentious and emotional campaign in the wake of 2012 election results that saw Latino voters turn out in large numbers to re-elect Obama - a signal to some Republican leaders that the party needed to change its posture on immigration.

The aim of the Senate group is to draft an immigration bill by March and pass legislation in the Senate by August, said the aide, who requested anonymity in order to discuss private deliberations.

The Republican-controlled House would also need to pass the legislation

White House, senators starting push on immigration; path to citizenship for illegal immigrants before it went to the White House for the president's signature.

For Obama, a successful push on immigration reform would be a promise kept to the Latino community after he disappointed many by failing to act on the issue in his first term, and it could be central to his legacy. The president met with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at the White House Friday to discuss his upcoming proposals.

Obama has pledged to tackle immigration reform during his second term. ``Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country,'' the president said in his second inaugural speech this week.

Administration officials say Obama's immigration push will be a continuation of the principles he outlined during his first four years in office. The basis for the president's plan is expected to be his 2011 immigration reform ``blueprint,'' which calls for a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, increased border security, mandatory penalties for businesses that employ unauthorized immigrants and improvements to the legal immigration system.

For Republicans, tackling immigration reform could be a way to broaden their appeal among Latino voters who are increasingly key to presidential elections. Latino voters accounted for 10 per cent of the electorate in November, and 71 per cent backed Obama over the 27 per cent who voted for Romney.

Details of the Senate proposals remain unclear, but the principles are expected to address a process toward legalizing the status of unauthorized immigrants already in the country; border security; verification measures for employers hiring workers and ways for more temporary workers to be admitted into the country.

Several of the senators negotiating the immigration principles are veterans

of the comprehensive immigration reform effort under then-President George W.Bush. That process collapsed in 2007 when it came up well-short of the needed votes in the Senate.

Some Republicans still lament that result as a missed opportunity for the party that could have set it on a different path to reach more Latino voters.

An open question for the Senate group has been whether Obama would release an actual bill or just his own principles. Republicans in the group tend to believe that a bill handed down by the White House could seriously complicate the process, spooking the Republicans by coming off as a purely political move, since a White Housewritten bill would have little chance of actually passing. â–

Religion comes to Davos economic forum, as troubled world faces uncertain year

BY DAN PERRY AND RACHEL ZOLL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DAVOS, Switzerland - Who created Davos, and why does it exist?

Questions about God and religion were rife at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss resort of Davos this year - providing a philosophical break from the more temporal concerns that tend to dominate the annual gathering of business and political leaders. ``Religion is more relevant now than ever,'' asserted Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, a leader of the Russian Jewish community.

Studies around the world show conflicting trends: while Christianity and Islam are showing steady growth in developing countries, the number of people who identify with no religion is on the rise in the richer world.

Goldschmidt quickly found himself in a deep debate with Arizona State University theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss that reflected age-old tensions over religion, science and reason.

Why believe in explanations that lack evidence, and obsess about a book written by ancients who

``didn't know about the revolution of the Earth around the sun,'' Krauss asked.

Narkis Alon, a youthful Israeli social activist on the same panel, countered that the religious instinct in essence required no particular proof. ``For me religion is the connection to something higher,'' she said.

Sister Carol Keehan, head of the Catholic Health Association, a group representing more than 600 hospitals around the United States, noted that people all over the world have a need to believe in a higher power.

An analysis of more than 2,000 polls, census and other data by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that 84 per cent of the world's 6.9 billion people identified with a religion as of 2010.

Christians were the largest group with 2.2 billion, followed by Muslims with 1.6 billion.

However, the study also found about one-in-six, or 1.1 billion people, have no religious affiliation, making them the third-largest group after Christians and Muslims. The unaffiliated mostly live in Asia, with a majority in China, where the government controls official churches.

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Model codes are as follows, 2013 Sentra (C4LG13 AA00), 2013 Rogue (W6RG13 AA00), 2012 Xterra (8CLG72 AE00), 2012 Versa Sedan (B4RG52 AA00), 2012 Versa Hatchback (B5SG12 AE00), 2012 Frontier (2CLG72 AE00), 2012 Maxima (U4SG12 AA00), 2013 Juke (N5RT53 AA00), 2012 Quest (V6PG12 AA00), 2013 Murano (L6RG13 AA00). All posted sale prices are for cash and can not be combined with Nissan’s low interest finance rates.

Gas card offer only applies to posted special prices and can not be combined with any further discounts. Gas card offer is for in stock vehicles only. All prices are plus $499 documentation fee and all applicable taxes. Vehicles displayed in the ad may be different option packages than special prices. Vehicle may be subject to dealer locate. Gas card only applies to vehicles purchase or leased between Jan.11th to Jan.20th.

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FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 22

23 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Immigration

New visa program launched to woo start up businesses, entrepreneurs to Canada

THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO - A new program designed to lure start-up companies and entrepreneurs to Canada will launch in April.

The start-up visa will be limited to those who already have the backing of a venture capital firm in Canada.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says it's aimed at enticing

the best and brightest minds around the world to start new businesses in Canada.

The government will grant a maximum of 2,750 visas a year for each of the five years of the pilot program.

But Kenney says he only expects to see a few hundred people come through the program in the first year as companies figure out how it works.

The program is billed as the first of its kind because it offers applicants permanent residency, as opposed to programs in other countries which only offer temporary status.

The new visa seeks to replaces two older immigration programs aimed at would-be business owners.

The investor program and entrepreneur program were put on hold after the government decided they weren't luring enough real business to Canada.

But some caught up in a backlog of applications under those old programs are now suing the government, demanding their applications be processed. ■

Deportation cancelled for Saskatoon woman and disabled daughter THE CANADIAN PRESS SASKATOON - The deportation to Romania of a woman and her disabled daughter is not going ahead.

Eniko Reka Kincses of Saskatoon says a deportation hearing that was to be held Tuesday was cancelled.

Kincses and her teenage daughter have lived in the Saskatchewan city since they came to Canada in 2009 to live with the woman’s sister.

The girl has cerebral palsy but does not need any special medication or treatment.

The two were to be escorted to their home country on Wednesday.

Kincses had said she was told her daughter had the potential to be a drain on health and social services.

The woman’s lawyer, Haidah Amirzadeh, said she received a call from the federal immigration minister’s council 30 minutes before the hearing was to begin. She said she was told that the deportation had been cancelled. ``There was a lot of communication back and forth in the province and the federal department. We have received strong support from (Saskatchewan’s) minister of economy and minister of health in relation to this specific application,’’ said Amirzadeh. ``We are hoping now that they (can) process the permanent residence application.’’

Kincses worked at a care home in Saskatoon until her visa expired. It was then that her file was flagged.

Kincses had suggested that because she is a single mother, federal immigration authorities were concerned they would have to pay for her daughter Boglarka’s care should Kincses be injured or die.

But the small family has four sponsors in Canada - three of them are the woman’s siblings. They are responsible for taking care of any financial needs that come up.

Kincses is planning to stay in Saskatoon and have her own care home, which would allow her to look after her daughter at the same time.

Amirzadeh doesn’t know how long the application approval might take, but the lawyer is hoping to have an answer within a month. ``When the application is approved, she will be a permanent resident and she will be eligible to work. That’s the goal.’’

She said her client is ecstatic. ``She was telling me this morning she was seeing herself as homeless,’’ said Amirzadeh.

Kincses had said that if she and her daughter were sent back, they would have nowhere to go because her family still in Romania disowned her when she did not give up her disabled child. ``This never came in my mind when I came over with a handicap child. I am willing to work. I don’t want to ask for any welfare. Just give me the chance to work.’’ ■

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Canada: Seen and Scenes

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 24

IFUGAO ASSOCIATIO N INDUCTION - Photo shows Philippine Consul Gener al Junever Mahilum-W est (exteme right) inducting into offi ce the new officers of the Ifugao Association of Canada, Inc. at the Korean Cultur al and Educational Center, Les lie, Toronto, Ontario on December 22, 2012. Sworn into offi ce include: Imie Belan ger, Fred Tomas, Beth Dulnuan, board of advisers; Ern ie Puguon, president: Fay Hangd aan, vice president; Jes sie Tuldague, SRO; Vangie Dulinayan , event coordinator, Alli son Fullos, treasurer, Marjorie Ga we, secretary; Roger Pg uon, auditor; and Karen Dumondon, youth coordinator. -- Din do Orbeso, St. Jamestown News Service

st l for the Don Valley Ea OR - MPP Joe Danie Arlene h wit FORUM AT MAGREG er eth tog to pho o, is shown in Riding in Toronto, Ontari unity Association the Bicol Canada Comm of ry reta sec z, rtire Ma Cgregor Community Ma the at m munity foru Inc, (BCCA) after a com o, Canada. - Photo tari On nue East, Toronto, Centre at Lawrence Ave Manny Papa estown News Service,

by Ariel Ramos - St. Jam

Meet Ate Lennie David (in red), who started the Charismatic Movement at IC Delta 20 years ago on the occasion of the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, January 25. The Holy Mass was concelebrated, with Cardinal of Toronto, His Eminence, Thomas Cardinal Collins as the main celebrant, in honor of the movement’s 20th year. Ate Lennie remains active in the movement, and is an inspiration to the Filipinos and the entire community for her humility and prayerful life.

Her leadership inspires.

DIAMOND JUBILEE AWARDEE - Photo shows Ms. Evelyn Pagkalinawan (middle), a well-known Filipino community leader in Toronto was a recipient of a Diamond Jubilee Medal at the Queens Park Legislative Bldg. on January 25, 2013.

Also in photo include Dustin Pagkalinawan, her son; and Suzy SJ Llanera, immediate past president of the Camarines Association Ontario - Canada (CNAC-O). - Manny Papa, St. Jamestown News Service

Photo shows (from left to right) Jimmy Lupang o, Mila Lipango, Cecile Guille rmo, and Raymond Gu illermo, one of the families that con tinuously support variou s Filipino events in Toronto, Ontari o. - Dindo Orbeso, St. Jamestown News service

Canada: Seen and Scenes

25 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

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My Story Worker in Crisis: Maria Teresita Ambas

BY JAY AR DECENELLA PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER RACIAL DISCRIMINATION is a sad reality that overseas Filipino workers (OFW) are facing in foreign lands where they hope to find greener pastures. It is the same in Canada. In hopes of minimizing the stigma of being looked down as second class citizens, Filipinos in Canada are pumping out every sweat and penny to get to that coveted citizenship. Maria Teresita Ambas hopes that her citizenship will soon come, but she is not sure whether that can erase the scars left by her bitter experience.

While seeking help from labour groups, Maria, who is from British Columbia, stumbled upon the Facebook Page of the PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER and shared her dilemma.

“I badly need legal advice because of the harassment, discrimination and abuse of authority in my workplace,” Maria told the INQUIRER. But the prospect of taking on a legal battle against her current employer, a retirement place, is causing her so much worries.

“I called the Labor and Employment office and they want me to resign first…

She then went on to relate, “The discrimination is in terms of vacation and sick leaves [being taken away], number of work hours [assigned to us],” and the unequal treatment afforded to them and other foreign workers. She revealed that in one instance, her employer had stamped out her three workdays, leaving only two days of work every week, allegedly on accounts that she had already reached more than the allowed number of sick leaves which ostensibly took its toll on the retirement facility. This, even though Maria presented genuine notes from the physician.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 26

“I could remember that the rest of the staff can [go on a] sick leave even without providing a doctor’s note, but I had only one sick leave that she even did not pay despite the note that I provided,” Maria recalled.

Maria has been in Canada for 6 years now after leaving her job as a teacher in the Philippines. Despite her experience, she still clings to the hope that someday she will be treated fairly.

She is seriously thinking of filing a case but she is not even sure she wants to do that. Her lawyer tells her she has slim chances of winning her case. ■

Filipino in Crisis: Joan Duzon so I could file my case,” she said, adding that the deep attachment that she has already developed with the residents in the place is making it more difficult for her to abandon her job.

What adds insult to injury is the lack of resources with which she could tap legal assistance from a labor lawyer. “[I’m] still exploring kung saan ako pupunta…dahil hindi biro ang makakalaban ko kung sakali (I am still exploring as to where I could go because the people I would take to court are formidable foes),” she told the INQUIRER.

BY ISABELLE DOCTO Battling cancer can make one question what is truly important in their lives. For Joan Duzon it is a short and simple answer: her son and his future.

“Mawala man ako dito sa mundo…yun lang at least kahit na bata pa siya, pag laki nya yung may naiwan ako sa kanya (Even if I leave this world and my child... when he grows up, I would have left something for him),” said Duzon.

Duzon, 39, was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer on January 6. She came to Canada as a Filipino caregiver about five years ago and has already applied for immigrant status. She received an open permit and petitioned her son, Tristan Jan, age 12. But her predicament has left her out of work and struggling to support Tristan in the Philippines.

As a single mother, her journey to Canada was solely for the possibility of a better future for Tristan.

“Ginagawa ko lahat para sa ka nya… yung dream ko na makasama ko sya, yun lang yung dream ko (I do everything for him... Being with my son is my only dream),” expressed Duzon.

Amidst the misfortune, her friends were by her side, keeping her spirits high, but also bringing her cause out to the community.

Rubi Fortaleza-Land, Duzon’s close friend, has been by her side since the first CT scan.

“When I learned about it, I was shocked considering how health conscious and how clean she is,” said Fortaleza-Land. “Of all people, bakit sya? (Why her?)”

Fortaleza-Land has taken the position of open arms and logical brain, helping Duzon by inquiring about permanent residence status, organizing all of her other papers, accompanying her to the doctors, and also reaching out to the Philippine Consulate for aid.

“Joan, she’s taking lots of medicine, and with the intense pain that is going through right now, sometimes wala na syang presence of mind (sometimes, of course, she does not have presence of mind),” said Fortaleza-Land. “So I have the gift of time in accompanying her to the doctor and reaching out to some people here in Vancouver that will be able to help her.”

Duzon is grateful to all of the people that have helped her so far and their immediate response to her unfortunate situation.

“Malaking pasalamat, very quick yung response nila… wala pang two weeks na pumunta kami sa [Philippine Consulate] meron nang tumulong (I am so thankful, their response was very quick. It has not even been 2 weeks since we went to the consulate, and yet we already had pledges of help),” said Duzon.

As Duzon’s friend, Fortaleza-Land asks for the Filipino community’s support in helping Duzon fulfil her dream for her son.

“Ang hinihiling ko sa community is if they could open their hearts, and through their generosity we’ll be able to help Joan to answer that question kung papano na yung anak nya ngayon (My only request for the community is for them to open their hearts because through their generosity we will be able to help give Joan peace of mind and she will no longer need to agonize about her son and his future),” said Fortaleza-Land.

Duzon also asks for help saying, “Sana matulungan nila ako para sa anak ko, yun lang talaga ang main concern ko (I hope they can help me - it's for my son, that's my main concern).”

Gaining perspective from her tough circumstance, she has this advice to give to everyone in the community.

“Trabaho nandyan lang, pero health iisa lang yan (Work will always be there, but there is only one health).”

People who would like to provide financial aid to Duzon can send their donations directly to her account: Account name: Joan B. Duzon Name of Bank : CIBC (Fraser Branch) Account No.: 54-84588 Branch Transit No.: 00810

27 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Bundling baby: How much do little kids need to wear in Canada's cold winters?

BY HELEN BRANSWELL THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO - It's a question all new parents - or parents new to our climate - ask at some point or another as Canadian winters descend: How much bundling do you need to do to protect babies and little children from the cold?

With the kinds of low temperatures that have been recorded lately in many parts of the country, it's critical to know how many layers little kids need to wear when they go outside. It is also crucial to understand when it's best to keep babies and toddlers indoors. ``I would say that all parents wonder about that when they're sending their children off to school or child care,'' says Dr. Alyson Shaw, a pediatrician at the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa and a member of the Canadian Pediatric Society's public education advisory committee.

There are rules of thumb, but the interpretation of them will depend on the parent, on the child, and on the day.

In general, groups like the Canadian Pediatric Society recommend that parents put one more layer on a child than they themselves need to stay warm.

So on a day when Mum is wearing just a winter coat over her clothing, a baby ought to wear its outfit plus a sweater and a snow suit. If Dad needs an additional layer under his winter coat, then a toddler may need two - or it may be time to think about whether outdoor activity is wise.

The pediatric society suggests that when temperatures (including wind chill) hit the -25 C mark, children should not be allowed to play outdoors. At that point, skin freezes quickly.

Frostbite is a concern with babies and little children and they need to be covered up as much as possible against the cold, experts say. ``So that means wearing a warm snowsuit, dressing in several warm layers that can be put on or taken off easily,'' says Shaw. ``A hat that covers the ears, because the ears can be prone to frostbite. Mittens generally keep hands warmer than gloves because the baby or child can bunch their fingers together for extra warmth. And having warm waterproof boots is important as well.''

Older children can tell you if they are cold, but how can you tell with a baby or a toddler who cannot yet speak? ``A good measure is if your child's hands and feet are warm, then they're warm enough,'' Shaw says.

Boots should be roomy enough that if a child is wearing an extra pair of socks for warmth he or she can still wiggle their toes. That's important for good circulation, she says.

Scarves aren't recommended for little children; they pose a strangulation risk. Neck warmers are a better option. Likewise, snowsuits shouldn't have drawstrings and mittens shouldn't be attached by strings. Use Velcro, clips or snaps instead.

Too little clothing is dangerous, but too much has its problems as well.

Julia Commisso suggests she has to find the fine balance with her 10-month-old son Andrew, her first child. ``Dressing him is an issue, just because he's a very warm body,'' says Commisso, a graphic designer in Toronto. ``I find that he's such a warm body that I tend to overdress him.... When I start to disrobe him, he's just all sweaty and hot.''

Overheating should be avoided, experts say, because kids who are sweating in their outdoor gear can then get a chill.

Babies in strollers should be in dressed in the appropriate number of layers and should then have a blanket over top, says Myrna Mann, a public health nurse with Saskatoon Health Region public health services.

But parents and caregivers need to be careful to ensure that all these layers aren't blocking babies' airways. When you are outside with infants and small children they should

be checked often to make sure they are warm enough and nothing is covering their mouths or noses, she says.

Skin should be checked for the telltale signs of frostbite, says Shaw. Red and swollen patches of skin are the early signs; patches of white, numb skin are a signal the frostbite is more progressed.

Children with frostbite should be brought into a warm environment immediately and put into dry and warm clothing, or wrapped in a blanket, Shaw says.

Avoid rubbing or massaging the injured skin. It's better to allow it to warm slowly, she says.

Another issue parents and caregivers need to be careful about relates to the tricky combination of car seats and snowsuits.

Some organizations recommend babies and little children not be dressed in snowsuits when they are strapped into car seats, because the bulky outerwear impedes the ability to fit the child into the seat snugly. ``There's a risk if the snow suit is overly large that the car seat buckles won't be tight enough and the baby could actually come out of the car seat,'' Shaw says. ``It's better, if it's cold, to put the baby in the car seat and then cover them over with a blanket that's tucked in around them after they're securely buckled in. And not to put anything under their body or behind their body that would impeded the ability of the car seat buckles to work they way they're supposed to.''

But the safety expert group Parachute doesn't take this approach. The group says it's OK to put children in snowsuits into car seats, as long as the child is buckled in tightly.

Parachute is a new group that amalgamates several safety groups including Safe Kids Canada, a national injury prevention program formerly run by Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.

Pam Fuselli, Parachute's vice-president for government and stakeholder relations, says the key is to readjust straps every time a child is buckled in.

The amount of outerwear a child is wearing can change from one day to the next with temperature fluctuations, Fuselli says, and it's important to make sure straps and buckles are snug with each use. ``If you change your child's attire, readjust those straps so that the tightness is maintained,'' she says.

Straps shouldn't just rest on the snowsuit, but should be tightened to the child in it - and that can be a challenge for parents, Fuselli admits. ``They can't get them tight enough. Or they think they're tight enough, but the down or whatever is in the coat compresses, (and) you've got more room there. So the message is for parents: Make sure that it is tight, regardless of what the child has on.'' â–

News at your fingertips. www.canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE CANADIAN

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO CANADIAN NEWSPAPER

Lifestyle

BY STEPHANIE LEVITZ THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - It's frequently high on the list of dos and don'ts when using social media: no one cares what you had for lunch.

Unless, perhaps, you're the prime minister.

The people with their thumbs on the keyboard when it comes to Stephen Harper's Twitter account used the first day of Parliament's winter sitting Monday to provide an intimate look at how Harper spends his day.

The posts include a short video of Harper's limo ride to work, complete with Canadian flags mounted on the hood; photos of breakfast with his cat Stanley by his side; and lunch at his desk that included fruit and a Diet Coke.

He even took requests, high-fiving fellow Conservative MP Michelle Rempel in the hall after she publicly hoped for such an encounter via her own Twitter account.

Monday's behind-the-scenes look at Harper's workday grind is the latest

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 28

His cat, his lunch and a high five: Harper's day chronicled on Twitter

Prime Minister Stephen Harper with his family

move by staff members to bolster and reshape the prime minister's presence on social media.

They refused to comment Monday on what's behind a recent shift in his Twitter tone, but digital public affairs analyst Mark Blevis suggested that it could be about the next election. ``It's clear the point is to help make the PM seem more like a 'man of the

people' and to prime him as a relatable politician leading up to 2015,'' Blevis said. ``Still, every little effort could contribute to success, particularly given (that) the centre and left are still rebuilding and Harper will have to compete against more adept online folks.''

Monday's effort in particular was prompted by the common question of what a day in Harper's life is like, said spokeswoman Julie Vaux. ``So we thought we'd use social media to show people what it's like as we start this parliamentary session,'' Vaux said.

All the posts on the micro-blogging site carried the hashtag ``#dayinthelife,'' a not-so-subtle nod to a song by the Beatles, known to be among Harper's favourite bands.

Harper's day also included a call to Ontario-premier designate Kathleen Wynne, although the video clip contained no audio.

Basketball, running still favorite Filipino sports YEAR 2014 can’t come soon enough for football fans, but they will have to take the backseat for now as 2013 is still the year for running.

“It’s the World Cup next year, and we’re looking forward to that. But for Adidas Philippines, 2013 is the year of running. It’s our main focus this year,” said George Youssef, country head of Adidas Philippines, at the recent opening of the brand’s new concept store in Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

Youssef said basketball continues to have the biggest share in Adidas’ business here at 30 percent, with running at 25 percent.

“It doesn’t mean running is catching up because basketball is still growing,” he noted. “But if you compare it to other categories, running is increasing much faster.”

Perfect location While Adidas’ entry into BGC, a popular enclave for run enthusiasts and venue for weekend races and fun runs, is overdue, it seems to have found just the perfect location: The new boutique is at Two Parkade on 30th Street and 7th Avenue, right across Track 30th, a popular mini running oval. At the store

patrimonio designs ltd / Shutterstock.com

BY CHECHE V. MORAL Philippine Daily Inquirer

opening, mingling and shopping with guests were the area’s regular night-time runners.

Running’s popularity in the country has grown exponentially in recent years, with weekend races and fun runs scheduled nearly every weekend not just in the metropolis but now also in major provincial cities.

With this has come the demand for a greater variety of running gear, not just technology-wise but also

Whatever the motives behind Monday's flurry of tweets, they provided a rare glimpse of a politician whose daily schedule is usually a closely guarded secret, especially on days when he has no public events planned.

Social media has forced a bit of a sea change, however. Photos of Harper with athletes and at restaurants now routinely circulate via his Twitter account and other social-media platforms.

Harper's online presence began to display a marked shift in tone about four months ago, when messages with a decidedly personal, playful bent began to appear among the news-release headlines and official statements.

Among them, a reply to Justin Bieber's decision to meet Harper clad in overalls and a baseball cap. ``In fairness to (at)justinbieber, I told him I would be wearing my overalls too,'' read a message from the account just after Harper met the pop sensation in November.

The message was re-tweeted nearly 10,000 times. ■

fashion-wise: It’s no longer just about what makes you zoom, but also about what makes you look good on the track. Specialty stores have sprouted in BGC alone, and brands like Adidas are heeding the call for high-tech and trendy gear.

“We’re committed to bringing more running offerings, for different age groups and at different price categories, whether they’re professional runners or those who only need shoes for training,” Youssef said. AdiZero, Adidas’ lightweight running shoes, now comes in new colorways.

“As you can see, we’re introducing a very colorful collection. In the past we only had very safe colors.”

Basketball, however, remains the core of Adidas’ business here, where the sport’s popularity is “unlike any other,” said the executive, who was based in Dubai before getting posted here four months ago.

Youssef declined to give a name pending confirmation from the headquarters, but he promised basketball fans that Adidas will be bringing in the brand’s celebrity endorsers to the Philippines this year. “You will know who in a couple of months,” he said.

The BGC boutique is the first of three concept stores Adidas is opening in 2013. It offers shoes and apparel for basketball, running, training, football, and its lifestyle line called Originals. ■

News at your fingertips. www.canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE CANADIAN

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO CANADIAN NEWSPAPER

29 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Lifestyle

Inner grace in the works of Remy Boquiren

BY LITO B. ZULUETA Philippine Daily Inquirer THERE’S an inner glow in the women of Remy Boquiren, as if a mysterious fire like that which radiates from a gemstone has been placed at the heart of the figures, highly idealized and unabashedly romantic, as only a woman of the old school could render them. Boquiren calls them “that radiant, luminous effect,” an inner light that she situates at the chest and core of the figures.

The hidden beam frames the benign, beatific demeanor of Boquiren’s women, allowing them to transcend their workaday world where they sell fruits or flowers, weave baskets, and generally labor.

Not that her women hate labor. In fact, Boquiren painstakingly shows the details of their work. Like the women-vendors of Anita Magsaysay-Ho, whom she holds in high regard, her figures are dainty but strong figures in the flux of everyday life, busy and hard at work. But their inner grace lifts them above the hurly-burly of life. They embody Hemmingway’s “grace under pressure.”

Of course, it helps that Boquiren’s women are garbed in very colorful and intricate indigenous weaves and folk attires, her famous signature. But even the costumes would look drab without the mystic glow.

The hidden-treasure quality of the folk figures will again be on exhibit in “Hiyas ng Lahi” (Treasures of Heritage), which photographer and friend Mandy Navasero is helping mount at the LRI Art Pavilion in Makati starting Jan. 24.

Retrospective The exhibit will consist of mostly new works in acrylic and in Boquiren’s favorite medium, soft pastel. Because the space is bigger than she expected, she has asked some collectors to loan for the exhibit previous works, including one showing a woman in native attire hunched over the Bible, the only work in her ouevre that prefigured her becoming a born-again Christian.

Because the exhibit consists of new and old works, it has been called a “semiretrospective,” since, coincidentally, this year will mark Boquiren’s 39th year as a full-time artist.

Perhaps the inner light has what sustained Remedios F. Boquiren Concepcion, 74, in all these nearly 40 years of artmaking.

Even before widowhood, she had been using her maiden name as a professional painter. Possessed with the usual “housewife” skills, she has balanced home-making and art, rising early in the morning to do her daily prayers, tend to her garden and clean up the house (she lives in Marikina); then working in her studio the whole afternoon. Sometimes she would stay late at night and even up to early morning if there was a commission or an exhibition to finish.

She’s not a recluse, however. She

congregates with artist-friends from her University of Santo Tomas (UST) days and from the Wednesday Art Group, consisting of artists who reside east of Manila: Cris Cruz, Ben Infante, Roland Santos, Nic Masangkay, Vic Bachoco, Lisa Villasino.

The Wednesday group meets at the Pan de Americano in Marikina where members hold sketching sessions. But this summer Boquiren has requested that the group hold its meetings at SM Marikina because of the expected terrible heat. The mall management will allot a space for the artists; in turn they will give art workshops and clinics to kids at the daycare center.

In August, she will host for the group its traditional Langka Festival, an annual gettogether in which Art Wednesday members feast on succulent slivers of langka that have been harvested from her garden, while sketching as they sit atop giant jackfruits.

That Boquiren enjoys her life and career should owe to her decision to hew close to art, her passion since childhood.

Growing up in Surigao City in Mindanao, she said she took to drawing and painting early on. Finishing high school, she said she was afforded only two college courses meant for women during her time—Education and Commerce. She said she was terrible in the latter and pleaded with her parents to send her to art school. They reluctantly agreed and sent her to Manila to study at UST. At the then College of Architecture and Fine Arts of UST, she finished BS Fine Arts in Advertising. Her mentors consisted of the first and second generations of modernists: Victorio Edades (who handled art history); Galo Ocampo (composition); Diosdado Lorenzo (drawing from life); Virgina Ty (free-hand drawing); and J. Elizalde Navarro (layout). Sculptor

“FRESH Harvest”, a rare Boquiren work showing amale figure

Napoleon Abueva taught for a semester at UST and Boquiren became a member of his class.

Boquiren’s classmates included Eduardo Castrillo, Edgar Doctor, Ivi AvellanaCosio, Lydia Velasco-Cruz and Danny Dalena. She and Dalena were staffers at the campus publication, The Varsitarian, where she became its first woman art editor.

Boquiren remembered that their strictest mentor was the Italian-trained Lorenzo, who never gave a grade higher than 90, and who would give such ridiculously low grades as 14 and 18. Worse, he would sadistically announce the low grades in class, reducing especially the female students to tears. But he would give Boquiren and Velasco grades in the vicinity of the high ’80s.

After college Boquiren worked for the old design firm of Arturo Luz. She then joined the new fine arts school of the University of the East (UE), whose inaugural dean was Pablo Victoria. Her students included Fernando Sena, Red Mansueto and Sym Mendoza.

Since she was made to handle the class in costume design, Boquiren did studies and sketches of indigenous weaves and native attires. Her researches would later serve her well when she became a full-time painter.

Although her mentorship was contributing to the flowering of Philippine art, she said teaching was gruelling, sapping her of whatever energy was left that she could devote to art. As a result, she didn’t create a single painting during her 10 years of teaching.

Resigning from UE, Boquiren returned to painting and held her first solo exhibit in 1974 in—of all places!—a rural bank in Surigao City. The results were very promising enough for her to mount another exhibit the following year—at the ABC Gallery of Larry Cruz in Harrison Plaza.

Her guests included Jullie Yap-Daza, Christian Espiritu and Imelda Marcos, who snapped nine of the 23 paintings on display.

Boquiren continued her researches on native weaves and attires, studying and sketching the authentic indigenous costumes worn by mannequins in the lobby and other areas of the old Manila Metropolitan Theater.

Today, Boquiren’s women-figures are distinguished by their colorful and punctiliously detailed costumes from various Filipino tribes—T’boli, Bilaan, Subanon, Matigsalug, Ayta—as well as their hardy spirit but dainty beauty, qualities that Remy Boquiren, ever the tenacious but gracious lady, herself personifies.

Boquiren’s “Hiyas ng Lahi” will run at the LRI Art Pavilion (2/F, LRI Design Plaza, Bel Air II, Nicanor Garcia Street [formerly Reposo], Makati), Jan. 24-27.

From Jan. 28-Feb. 4, the works will hang at the Mandy Navasero Studio cum gallery at Suite 329, LRI Design Plaza. Call 8963208 or 0915-5430482.

Entertainment

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 30

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31 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Lifestyle

Love actually, not virtually: finding romance in unlikely places isn't lost in the ether

BY LEANNE ITALIE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - Nicole Buergers and Brenden Macaluso are both 32. They struck up a conversation about hipster eyewear over free beer and cheap eats at a Houston hangout one Sunday afternoon and Macaluso recalls the evening ending this way: Nicole: ``So how do we do this?''

Brenden: ``You give me your number, I call you and we go out and have fun.''

Yep, random love is alive and well in Houston. In this age of online dating, virtual flirting and location-based hookup by app, these two are firm believers in three-dimensional serendipity nearly a year after their first encounter.

Even better, Macaluso realized before pursuing Buergers further that the two attended the same large suburban high school and had been in a couple of English classes together. ``Like many young people in the 21st century I had taken a stab at Internet dating,'' said Macaluso, an industrial designer who also restores vintage motorcycles. ``For me this was a complete failure. My experiences had always resulted in awkward dates.''

That, he said, left a simple formula for finding love: meeting in person, and

``when you least expect it, not when you're trying to.''

Mechanized dating remains a huge business worth a billion or more worldwide, but several others like Macaluso in living-online generations said they, too, found their happiness the old-fashioned way. In other facets of life they remain avid users of digital tools and social networks, which is where the AP caught up with them, including 28-yearold Patrick Murphy in Medway, Mass., southwest of Boston.

Murphy, the general manager of a junk removal business, found a girlfriend online and the two eventually moved in together.

The relationship soured about three years later and he returned from a weekend away to find she had disappeared all his stuff.

With little money, no furniture and a whopping case of the blues, Murphy's coworkers alerted him to a tags-on leather couch somebody didn't want. After he picked it up, word came through the office that a local teen club was in search of a sofa, so he decided to donate it instead.

Enter Caroline Cooke, the club worker who took possession of said couch. ``I wasn't looking for love,'' said Murphy of their unlikely meeting in late 2008. ``I was just looking to make it through each day.

We've been together ever since.''

Has virtual life and the promise of dating algorithms left some singles closed off to such on-the-ground happenstance? ``The way we met, we tell everyone and they think it's crazy,'' Murphy offers.

Never married, an internet marketer and without a boyfriend for years, Buergers considered herself a prime candidate for online dating before she bumped into Macaluso. ``I just felt really uneasy about the online dating thing,'' she said. ``It's not that it has a stigma for me or anything, but just personally, I couldn't put myself out there like that.''

Others lent assurances that shopping carts still collide, friends of friends still meet at weddings and passengers on planes still strike up conversations that land them happiness.

For Barbara Ward, 55, it was the law.

She married her real estate attorney in Portland, Maine, after consulting him in 2004 about a tricky condo development at an historic inn she had purchased. ``Neither Ron or I had been looking for love, or even a date,'' she said. ``We never did finish those documents.''

As a dating concierge, Thomas Edwards dreams of love 24/7, but he never thought he'd find it for himself with a fellow expert in the industry, especially one who works primarily online while he works mostly offline.

Edwards, 27, is The Professional Wingman, a real-life ``Hitch'' who charges up to $20,000 for dating makeovers. He offers everything from confidence-boosting trips to bars for instruction on how to talk to women to lifestyle overhauls, wardrobe and all. ``But I'd never done online dating,'' he said.

Laurie Davis, 31, is an online dating hound, with a new book out from Simon & Schuster, ``Love (at) First Click: The Ultimate Guide to Online Dating.'' She put up her first profile at 19 and helps people with, among other things, taking just the right photo and hitting just the right tone in their dating bios.

The two fell for each other after she spotted his Twitter avatar during a cruise of the hashtag ``dating'' and struck up a conversation in 140 characters.

Turns out they grew up 20 minutes apart in the Boston area. The two plan to marry next year. ``Everything really just escalated,'' Davis said. ``Needless to say I never needed to help him with his profile.''

--On the 'Net: http://www.theprofessionalwingman.com/ http://www.eflirtexpert.com/ --Follow Leanne Italie on Twitter at http:twitter.com/litalie

32 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Question of whether Beyonce lip synced national anthem raises another: Can reality compete?

PITTSBURGH - The breathtaking model on your magazine cover: Of course she's not that thin and unblemished. That reality show you never miss? You're shocked shocked that its real-life drama isn't 100 per cent unscripted. And that diva who may or may not have mouthed the words to the national anthem to her own prerecorded voice? Yeah, well, so what? It was a big moment, and she wanted to sound her best.

In America these days, in countless tiny ways, much of what we see and experience isn't exactly what it seems. We know it, too.

And often we don't care, because what we're getting just seems to ``pop'' more than its garden-variety, without-the-special-sauce counterpart.

Whether Beyonce actually sang at last week's presidential inauguration the jury's still out, and she's kept silent - is, on the surface, the textbook teapot tempest. Dig deeper, though, and the conversation - or lack of it - reveals something important about society at this moment. The big question is no longer whether reality matters. That ship sailed long ago. More to the point is this: Can reality compete? ``It's as if the fakery has become satisfactory,'' says Jonathan Vankin, cowriter of ``Forever Dusty,'' a musical that takes events from the life of the late soul singer Dusty Springfield and - carefully dramatizes them. ``I think almost everyone knows that we're constantly being fed unreality. And yet there seems to be very little curiosity about figuring out what's really going on,'' says Vankin, who has also written extensively about how real historical events are represented in fictional settings.

Many, including some of Beyonce's fans and friends, consider the inauguration debate ridiculous because, after all, even if she was lip-syncing she was doing it to her own powerful voice. Fair enough.

That ignores, however, two aspects of live performance.

First is what some consider an implicit contract between a performer and a

s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

BY TED ANTHONY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

live audience - the expectation that the audience deserves a performance that's in the moment and that might, just might, even be affected by the presence of the crowd. If none of that happens, then why not stay home, skip the hassle and listen to your iPod? And second, the version of Beyonce's voice that might be recorded in a studio - with potential help from digital enhancement and ``sweetening'' - could be quite different from the one produced live on a windy, wintry January day. ``Reality is complicated, messy, and uncertain. We want it to be shrinkwrapped and labeled clearly,'' says Mark Carnes, general editor of ``Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies'' and a historian at Barnard College. ``We prefer the crisp clarity of sound bites and slogans to the blaring cacophony of the world around us.''

It's hardly just music. These examples of artifice in miniature pop up everywhere in American culture - so much so that we hardly even notice it.

We take it for granted that our Cheetos and Doritos are bright orange - because that's the colour that says ``really cheesy'' to us. We purchase Yankee Candles called

``Home Sweet Home'' that evoke ``a heartwarming blend of cinnamon, baking spices and a hint of freshly poured tea'' even if we have no intention of doing any baking or brewing whatsoever. We buy ``movie theatre butter'' popcorn that has nothing to do with either movie theatres or butter.

Fundraisers sending out bulk mail now commonly use envelopes shaped like personal greeting cards and do their utmost to make the address look like it's handwritten expressly to you, sometimes even adding ``personal notes'' that are ``written'' diagonally across the back.

And at Walt Disney World, ground zero of artifice, you can go for a ``Caribbean'' vacation or a visit to ``Morocco'' without ever encountering the inconvenient realities of the actual locations such as, say, upset stomachs and poor people.

And digital photo retouching: The tools of artifice, once accessible only to professionals, have gone democratic.

Now manipulators by the millions can use something called a ``clone tool'' to erase blemishes, unwanted features and entire people. With the tap of a smartphone touchscreen, you can make an image taken seconds ago look like a ``vintage'' snapshot from a 1972 Polaroid or a 19th-century tintype. A few years back, HP even came out with a camera that had a ``slimming feature,'' allowing you to choose just how much girth you wanted to remove for Facebook or the family album.

But it is in entertainment - a realm custom built for artifice - that this notion plays out most broadly.

Consider Mike Daisey, the performer who blends journalism and monologue into a compelling hybrid that he used last year in a show about uncovering Apple's business practices in China. Trouble was, when he took it to ``This American Life'' and the national airwaves, some of his ``research'' in China didn't hold up to scrutiny. Some things he described hadn't happened; others had happened, but not as he recounted them. Did he have a responsibility to tell the truth, or was his a dramatic performance with understandable artistic license? ``I'm not going to say that I didn't take a few shortcuts in my passion to be heard,'' Daisey said on a ``This American Life'' follow-up about his rearranging of the facts.

Even the sordid saga of Lance Armstrong, which might seem to share

little with the inaugural singing question, can teach us something. Sure, the main issues are that he doped, cheated and intimidated those who would have exposed him. But he, too, offered a not-quite-real public performance that, when you pull back the curtain, broke an implicit contract with his audience.

In a nation already disgusted by media bias - a September Gallup poll showed 60 per cent of Americans have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news accurately and fairly - does this stuff that dances at the edges have any effect in the long run? It's a difficult thing to measure, but just consider: If little things in life aren't what they seem, how well does that bode for our society? ``Maybe, just maybe, we're all a little tired of being tricked, be it great trickery or be it small trickery,'' says Virginia Lee Blood, a musician and singer in Nashville, Tenn.

More than that, though, are we setting up unrealistic expectations about the world, piece by tiny piece? How could that boring slice of real cheese be any good if it's not bright orange and doesn't ``pop'' with artificial Cheetos flavour?

How can you be satisfied with your romantic partner when every smidgen of media in the checkout line hands you ridiculously unattainable images of human perfection? And how can you persuade a young girl who wants to grow up to sing like Beyonce that, yes, with practice and hard work she might belt out the national anthem at the inauguration or sing in a Super Bowl halftime show one day - if such performances turn out to be not entirely what they seem?

Even Kurt Cobain, whose music was welcomed by many as a burst of showbusiness authenticity, struggled with the issue. In his 1994 suicide note he weighed in once more, this time about pretending to be enthusiastic on stage. ``The worst crime I can think of,'' Cobain wrote, ``would be to rip people off by faking it.''

Of course, his band Nirvana also produced, much more famously, six words that encapsulated the era in which we live - and give us what is perhaps the ultimate verdict on this issue. ``Here we are now,'' he sang. ``Entertain us.'' â– --EDITOR'S NOTE - Ted Anthony writes about American culture for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/anthonyted

33 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Entertainment

Angelica Panganiban desires Piolo Pascual MANILA, Philippines— In a report from INQUIRER Bandera on Wednesday, actress Angelica Panganiban candidly expresses her desire for ultimate heartthrob Piolo Pascual.

Veteran entertainment scribe Reggee Bonoan wrote in her column: Kung walang John Lloyd Cruz sa buhay ngayon ni Angelica Panganiban ay iisipin naming may ‘something’ sa pagitan nila ni Piolo Pascual dahil wala silang ginawa sa buong presscon ng ‘Apoy sa Dagat’ kahapon kundi maglandian (If there’s no John Lloyd Cruz now in Angelica Panganiban’s life, we would think there’s ‘something’ going on between her and Piolo Pascual. At the press conference yesterday of ‘Apoy sa Dagat’ they did nothing but flirt with each other).”

“Apoy sa Dagat” is a new TV drama series being promoted by their home network, ABS-CBN. Bonoan added that during the presscon, Pascual was always whispering something to Panganiban.

The latter defended Piolo, saying “he’s like my conscience, always whispering (words of wisdom) to my ears.”

Panganiban added that they’ve become very close to a point that Pascual would tell her when he would fart. Pascual said:

We were preparing in the set, I’d tell her, I’m about to fart and she’d tell me, ‘wow we’re so close’.

Panganiban would reply: “Have some manners, Papa P, even with my own dyowa (boyfriend John Lloyd Cruz), I haven’t heard him break wind or smell his fart.” Papa P is Pascual’s more popular show-biz nickname.

Pascual explained his closeness with Panganiban:

“I’ve known Angelica for the longest time and she has no hang-ups in life. Through the years, we’ve built our trust, our mutual respect for each other.

We’re very much comfortable with each other. I like her humor.”

When we were doing ‘Every Breath You Take,’ she brings out the funny side of me, who is the shy-type side if there are many people around. But if Angelica is with me, nagiging walanghiya ako (I show no shame).”

“Every Breath You Take” is a film they starred in a couple of years ago under ABS-CBN’s sister company, Star Cinema.

Panganiban added that every time she has love scene with Pascual, she can’t help but have malice, to the extent of doing those scenes as realistic as possible.

This was Pascual’s reaction: “It’s something personal for us. Yes I admit, I have malice too when it comes to [doing steamy scenes] with her. But that’s just between the two of us. We’re keeping it to ourselves.”

Bandera columnist added that Panganiban even told soap opera directors FM Reyes and Nick Olante that it’s alright with her if they give her difficult scenes—cry, crawl on the floor—provided that she will have a kissing scene with Pascual at the end of the day.

John Lloyd Cruz’s reaction on this issue was not included on the report. ■

Heart Evangelista has a serious relationship with Sen. Escudero WEDDING BELLS are far from the story, but Heart Evangelista’s relationship with Senator Chiz Escudero is ‘very serious’.

In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Evangelista said: I used to have a deadline for myself. I now refuse to feel pressured by it.

If it (marriage) comes, I’ll embrace it. I don’t have expectations. That’s what makes [this relationship] better than my past ones. I’m just enjoying the moment.

He’s not so different from the rest of us.

The two have been dating for eight months now.

The 27-year-old actress describes Escudero: He is humble, not flashy and… isn’t too keen on buying expensive stuff for himself. When he caught me shopping one time, he asked, ‘Don’t you feel bad when you spend too much on something?’ I said, ‘Sometimes.’

Known to have parents who are very vocal about her past relationships, Evangelista is just thankful now that her parents have learned to keep their opinions private.

Good influence I understand them—they will always want the best The star of GMA’s upcoming teleserye, for me but sometimes they can be very idealistic.

“Forever” adds that Escudero is a good influence They’ve been quiet since the time of Daniel. to her.

I think differently now because of him. He is Past experiences all about being simple. He also teaches me how “My past experiences have taught me to to handle different situations. I can be tactless become stronger, more independent and more sometimes, so he tells me to be careful not to appreciative of the people around me and of everything I have.” she says. hurt other people’s feelings.

She added: 2012 was great I think it was a He has never made me feel that he’s a senator.

time for great changes in my life. I now feel very contented. My New Year’s resolutions are actually to develop myself more, to be healthier, to be more appreciative of things and to help more people.

She stars in “Forever,” which premiered on Monday on GMA 7’s Telebabad block. It features Geoff Eigenmann, Isabel Oli, Gian Magdangal, Marc Abaya and Gloria Romero. GMA’s newest offering is directed by Jun Lana. ■

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For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

Entertainment

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 34

How Jose and Wally get to learn from every ‘ Juan’ Bianca’s gift of love not for everyone

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer COMEDIANS Jose Manalo and Wally Bayola admitted that hosting the popular segment “Juan for All, All for Juan” in the game show “Eat Bulaga” has exposed them to harsh realities “Juan for All, All for Juan: Bayanihan of d’ Pipol,” currently the most popular segment in the noontime Kapuso program, brings Jose, Wally and Paolo Ballesteros to different barangays in Metro Manila, where they hand out food and cash prizes.

Through the segment, Jose has seen possibly the worst living conditions.

“We’ve been to a house with a ceiling that was so low, it felt like we were in a box. We sat on the floor the whole segment; it was painful on my back,” he recalled. “There were houses where the stench was unbearable. We couldn’t express our discomfort; the homeowners would be offended.”

Wally recalled going to a house whose only entrance was a public washroom. “Comedy talaga ’yon.

However, we never looked down on these people or pitied them. Seeing their situation really made us feel more thankful for our own individual homes.”

He said he felt honored whenever people shared their stories with him.

“They tell me how hard they try to make do with the little money that they earn. I admire them for their resilience.

Some people I know would have given up.”

Jose was sure he was picked to cohost the segment because, growing up, he knew what it was like to live on the street. “At first, I would teach Wally and Paolo how to react to people in certain situations. I said if they

behaved like cel eb ri t i es , t h e i r audience w o u l d not feel comfortable.

If you are sincerely grateful that they welcomed you into their homes, they’ll feel more at ease around you.”

I t ’ s also prudent to dress simply and accordingly, Jose said. “I just wear a T-shirt and shorts. I’m more effective that way— when people think of me as their equal. I’ve also learned patience and tolerance. Sometimes people shout insults at us; I just ignore them.”

Despite being separated from his wife and kids, Jose said he had nothing more to wish for. “I’m okay kung ano lang ang dumating sa buhay ko. I just accept the situation I’m in and quietly try to find a solution to my problems. I know that they all come to make me strong. I keep the faith that, whatever happens, maaayos ang lahat.”

Both Jose and Wally consider veteran comedian and TV host Vic Sotto as big brother and mentor. “He never tires of giving me advice. I guess Bossing (Vic’s nickname) knows me very well—or he would have given up on me a long time ago. He understands me. He knows how hard I work to secure my future.”

Jose added: “Bossing is very approachable. He sometimes gives us bonuses, but I refuse to accept. I always tell him, ‘You took care of me when I was at my lowest point. You don’t have to give me more than I work for.”

Wally said he always goes to Vic for answers to “personal questions, or career issues.” He added: “Bossing’s weakness is good food. He always asks me to cook something for him.”

The Jose and Wally tandem is the hottest in the biz today. Wally insisted that there was never any professional jealousy between them. “We’ve been friends for a very long time. I have so much respect for Jose if only because he joined this business way ahead of me. I regularly ask him for pointers.”■

“TO ME, love is a gift,” said actress Bianca King, who recently broke up with boyfriend Dennis Trillo.

Bianca, however, clarified she was willing to give love only to people who want her to be with them.

“My heart beats only for those who are grateful for my existence,” she stressed in an exclusive interview with the INQUIRER. “If you see that they give you love, like the fans for example, you want to give back.”

Asked how she was holding up after her failed one-year relationship with the Dennis, Bianca didn’t mince words: “I’m doing just fine.”

Dennis first admitted to “laying low” from their relationship last December.

He confessed to not seeing Bianca for three weeks.

Despite the breakup, Bianca said she has maintained a positive outlook. “I’ve been a better person in 2012 than I was in my entire life,” she declared. “I tried to share what I could with the people around me—love, friendship, even monetary blessings.”

She went on: “As a daughter, I’m not the type to self-praise, but my dad kept saying I’m his hero. To my mom, I’m the biggest blessing.”

The 27-year-old actress shouldered most of the expenses for her Canadian father’s recent quadruple bypass operation. She also took care of him when he suffered an aneurysm in 2011, as well

as the recent treatment of “something like skin cancer.” Bianca recently flew to Canada to join her family.

While she’s a relatively good girl, Bianca said she also has a naughty streak. “I’m the type of girl who likes to have fun. I’m not a kill-joy. I’m game for anything.”

She recalled accepting a “very random” invitation from “Sosy Problems” costar Solenn Heussaff to see Paris. “That was naughty. We were supposed to be shooting the film but we had a couple of days blocked off...to go to Paris.”

Bianca, who appears regularly in the GMA7 Sunday variety show “Party Pilipinas,” said the naughtiest thing she has done so far was “to enter show business” because she was forced to drop out of school for two years .

“Mymom kept asking me to go back to school until she got tired of it,” she recalled. “I surprised her one day when I said, ‘Mom, I’m enrolled again.’’ ■

35 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Entertainment

Just add a groom

‘Metro Manila’ wins at Sundance

me,” she said, but only half in jest, it seemed.

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer IT WAS beguiling and befuddling at the same time.

In stream-of-consciousness style, Rufa Mae Quinto talked rather openly about previous affairs that went pfft.

From out of nowhere, she candidly remarked in Filipino: “Maybe my past relationships didn’t work because some of my ex-boyfriends spoke in English and I didn’t. We didn’t understand each other. It was a simple case of miscommunication.”

The only English speaker she was most famously involved with was Filipino-American basketball player Rudy Hatfield. They were a couple for seven years.

After Hatfield, she got linked to singer Erik Santos and then to “Bubble Gang” castmate Boy2 Quizon. Between Erik and Boy2, she was supposedly set to marry a certain nonshow-biz guy that remained nameless until now.

“I keep talking about marriage, but no one is coming forward to marry

Divorce law Turning to serious matters, she said (intriguingly) that she was hoping a divorce law would soon be passed in the country, “to lessen complications and make everything legal.”

She has no qualms about signing a prenuptial agreement. “I have no interest in the wealth of my future husband. In all modesty, I also have to protect myself.”

No, she didn’t think it was ironic that she was asked to endorse the Weddings & Debuts bridal fair, set at Megatrade Halls 1, 2 and 3 of SMMegamall from Feb. 15 to 17.

She has become quite an expert in planning weddings; she helped fix Momoy Palaboy comedian Roadfil Macasero’s goththemed ceremony to Farah Lopez.

Rufa Mae has picked the fashion designers and makeup artists that she would work with in her future wedding. She has likewise chosen the venue— “somewhere cool like Tagaytay or Baguio.”

She quipped: “The only thing lacking is the groom.”

New projects In any case, she has no time to fret about affairs of the heart since she is busy with two movies after her TV5 fantasy series “Enchanted Garden” concluded its run last month.

She is paired with BrazilianJapanese model Fabio Ide in indie filmmaker Adolfo Alix Jr.’s romantic-comedy “Ride to Love,” which follows different couples who meet and fall in love in the MRT station.

Also in the works is her solo movie, which she dubbed her “relaunch”—“Miriam: Ang Huling Henya”—director Marlon Rivera’s followup to “Ang Babae sa Septic Tank.” ■

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer BRITISH filmmaker Sean Ellis’ “Metro Manila” won the Audience Award in the World Cinema-Dramatic section of the Sundance Film Festival, which officially closes today in Park City, Utah.

“Metro Manila” was shot entirely in the Philippines and features a cast of Filipinos.

The news was relayed to the INQUIRER by Filipino actor John Arcilla, who attended the event with costars Jake Macapagal, JM Rodriguez and Ana Abad Santos.

Ellis, an Oscar and Bafta (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) — nominated short filmmaker, invited the cast and crew onstage when he accepted the trophy.

“I’m so glad this film connected with everyone,” said Ellis in his acceptance speech.

Abad Santos told the INQUIRER the triumph was “unexpected.”

“It’s amazing. All our screenings were packed and tickets were sold out,” said Arcilla.

The stars said they were “overwhelmed. We didn’t think it could happen. We were chosen by the people.”

Founded by Robert Redford, the annual festival aims to nurture independent filmmakers who might otherwise be eclipsed by the major studios while Hollywood uses it to scout new talent.

This year’s event presented 119 feature films from 32 countries, including 51 first-timers.

“Fruitvale,” a film about a notorious United States police shooting of an unarmed black man, won top prize at the festival on Saturday, while movies from Russia and South Korea were among non-US honorees.

The movie by first-time director Ryan Coogler won the US Drama Grand Jury award, as well as the US Drama Audience Award.

In non-US categories, the Grand Jury Prize for a Foreign Drama went to “Jiseul” by South Korea’s Muel O, while Cambodian Kalyanee Mam’s “A River Changes Course” took the Grand Jury Prize for a Foreign Documentary.

The makers of a film about Russia’s Pussy Riot feminist rock group, which took a Special Jury Prize, used their acceptance speech to hail the cause and rally support for its three members jailed in Moscow last year.

“Fruitvale” — named after the San Francisco Bay-area neighborhood where the action takes place—tells the real-life story of Oscar Grant, shot dead by police in the early hours of New Year’s Day 2009.

The film’s costars include Octavia Spencer, who won Best Supporting Actress Oscar last year for her role in the civil rights drama “The Help.”

The Grand Jury Prize for a US Documentary went to “Blood Brother,” an American’s work on behalf of an AIDS-afflicted community in India. It also took the Audience Award for US Documentary. ■

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Family

Judge Not

BY FELICHI PANGILINAN-BUIZON I REMEMBER those times when I used to drive down EDSA and each time I would see an unwashed car, I would find myself steering my car away from it. With head shaking, I would make a face and a negative comment, “Ano ba naman yan? Time to visit the carwash!”

That was how I used to react. What changed all that?

I heard a story of a man whose wife became gravely ill. He shifted his focus from his many responsibilities to the personal care and recovery of his wife.

One of the things that he could no longer attend to was washing the car.

Immediately, I felt ashamed at how I easily misjudged u n t i d y vehicles on the road. I was led to ask forgiveness for my judgmental spirit. Today, instead of frowning u p o n unwashed cars, I say a quick prayer to bless the vehicle owner.

How easy it is at times for us to judge by what we hear and decide by what we see. But as followers of Christ, we are strongly warned against it. “Judge not and you shall not be judged; condemn not and you shall not be condemned; forgive, and you shall be forgiven.” (Luke 6:37) It is not our place to judge others.

This is God’s role, the Righteous Judge. Only He sees the big picture and is privy to the whole story. No motive is hidden from Him. Often, we only see in part but the Lord knows all, sees all.

When we act as though we know the motives and intentions of others, we act like God and invite other sins, such as slander and gossip.

For instance, there is a creditor and a borrower. The creditor finds out about

or sees the borrower wearing a new pair of rubber shoes. I have heard creditors remark, “Why didn’t he just use the money to pay me what he owes?” At times, it is not even the creditor who reacts but those in the know. When we judge, we are actually giving others permission to judge us. It has been said that when we point a finger at others, the rest are actually pointing towards us.

Accusing can also lead to cursing, “Hope he trips while using those shoes.” As if that is not enough, they will even let others know about it. Oh dear! That is just how sin works.

It multiplies and intensifies.

What if the borrower won the shoes in a raffle or what if it was a gift?

The Lord, who came not to condemn but to save, disapproves of our judging and condemning others.

He knows how our hearts are prone that is why He commanded us against it. Not to restrict us but to protect us. The Lord knows that judging and condemning others are bitter roots that can consume us, give place to more sin and destroy us. He does not only warn us against it but showed us the wiser response: set free and forgive.

Let us remember the example of our Lord Jesus who cried, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. “ And to think we have not even admitted our sins, Jesus made a way to settle our account with Him. Perhaps you are feeling the weight of a judgmental or critical spirit and it is about time to let go. Time to cast this care to the Lord and abide. Pour out your confusion and hurt to Him and entrust your situation completely.

Embrace Jesus’ way. Set free and forgive. ■

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 36

...from page 21

The debate at Davos reflected a widening gulf within and among nations between the deeply devout and those who identify with no faith.

The conflicts can be seen in recent lawsuits in Italy over displaying crucifixes in public schools and another in the U.K. where a marriage counsellor cited his religious beliefs when refusing to work with a same-sex couple.

Both cases reached the European Court of Human Rights.

In the United States, Americans with no religion are becoming as important a constituency to the Democratic Party as religious conservatives are to the Republican Party. The ``nones,'' who overwhelmingly support abortion rights and gay marriage, comprise about a quarter of voters who are registered as Democrats or lean toward the party.

Roman Catholic and other religious conservatives have found themselves on the losing side of culture war battles that a few decades ago they could have won. Gay marriage has been legalized in Belgium, Spain, Canada, Portugal, Argentina and other countries.

Standouts remain, not least in Russia, where 20 gay rights campaigners and militant Orthodox Christian activists were arrested Friday in Moscow near the Russian Duma as it overwhelmingly backed a bill that would ban ``homosexual propaganda.''

In Israel, there is a protracted culture war between secular and ultra-Orthodox Israelis, especially in Jerusalem.

Within religions, clergy are facing a crisis of authority caused in part by the Internet. Rank-and-file believers are as likely to turn to Google for information about faith as they are to seek guidance from recognized scholars.

The issue has been especially vexing in the fight against Islamic extremism. Muslim religious edicts, or fatwas, have proliferated across the Internet, along with YouTube video lectures, where dangerous teachings are presented as mainstream religious thought.

In response, many religious groups have been beefing up their online presence, holding lectures and worship services on Facebook and other platforms that include live chats with pastors, study of scriptures and virtual baptisms conducted via Skype.

Meanwhile, religious freedom is an increasingly important consideration in international policy making.

In a study tracking freedom of religion worldwide over three years, Pew found that three-quarters of the world's population live in countries with tight government restrictions on religious expression.

In Pakistan, Islamist groups have pushed through laws that marginalized Christians and other religious minorities. In Egypt, where the Coptic Christian minority has persistently faced discrimination, violence has flared more frequently between Christians and Muslims following the Arab Spring uprisings. Radical Islamists are behind deadly violence in Mali, Nigeria, the Philippines and elsewhere.

At several of the Davos meetings, speakers debated the consequences of the rise of political Islam across the Middle East as a result of the Arab Spring. Is there something in Islam that is antithetical to liberal values?

Definitely not, insisted former Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa and Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu; these are distortions of Islam.

Mohammed Ashmawey, head of an Islamic charity, argued that faith-based charities were behind much of the health care system in his native Egypt.

He drew support from Rabbi David Saperstein, a Reform Jewish leader from the United States, who acknowledged that religion was a force for bad as well as good.

On balance though, he said it was ``immensely positive.''

Sania Nishtar, a Pakistani health care activist, almost jumped out of her seat. ``The interplay of religion and politics is very exploitative,'' she said.

She argued that religion was behind the absence of family planning in much of the developing world and that clerical objections were raised against even vaccinations.

Like much of the discussions at Davos, this one yielded mostly an agreement to disagree.

Krauss, a militant secularist, said he was open to tweaking his views.

If the stars realigned in the night sky to spell out the words ``I am here,'' Krauss said he would reassess.

--AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll reported from New York.

--Follow Dan Perry at www.twitter. com/perry-dan

37 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Dining

Great food has a history: Culinary historian blogs on 'Downton Abbey' food

BY LOIS ABRAHAM THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO - A fascination with history and the epicurean delights shown on ``Downton Abbey'' has inspired a Canadian fan to create a blog about the food on the wildly successful British television drama.

With an average of 3,000 visits a day to her ``Downton Abbey Cooks'' blog, more than 7,600 followers on Twitter and about 1,700 likes on Facebook, Pamela Foster was further encouraged to put together ``Abbey Cooks Entertain,'' a cookbook based on the cuisine served in grand country houses in Britain in the early 20th century. ``As more and more people asked me about what should you serve with this, how can I entertain my friends doing that, I started saying, 'Well, I could do that. Anyone can put a cookbook together.' ``It was a lot more work than I thought it would be,'' admitted Foster, who has a history degree and works in corporate marketing.

Calling her project a ``labour of love,'' the avid home cook finally stopped when she had compiled and tested 220 recipes, delving into period cookbooks and newspaper archives as well as using treasured family recipes. ``I found it inspiring to have so many people so enthused about the show that it drove me on,'' Foster said from her home in Burlington, Ont. Her husband, Donald, whom she affectionately calls ``Lord D'' in her blog and cookbook, introduced her to the period drama about the Crawley family and their servants. ``My husband loves the fact that there's decorum and there's manners and there's a time and place for everything and everyone has a certain way of behaving that we often don't see,'' said Foster, who is also the curator of the official Downton Abbey UK ``Eat, Drink & Be Merry'' Pinterest page, which has more than 8,800 followers.

But she was particularly fascinated with the importance of food during the Edwardian period in which the show begins. Although Edward VII reigned in England from 1901 to 1910 after the

death of his mother, Queen Victoria, the era is sometimes extended to include the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and even the First World War, which ended in 1918. ``After a thousand years of accumulated wealth, Edward VII came along and he was a gluttonous, cavorting playboy and he sort of dictated this whole idea of excess and food became so important because it was a way to show off your wealth,'' explained Foster. ``The better food and the better parties that you had, the better time and the more power you had and the more influence over your peers. That for me

was the peak and as things happened land taxes and death taxes and the drop of agriculture and George (V) coming in and taxing the rich - it became a period of adjustment.''

At the era's height, grand meals with many courses emerged from the kitchens of country homes, including French dishes, which the king admired. ``Even though the Crawley sisters are lovely and beautiful and very thin, that wasn't really the typical shape of women in that period. ... Mrs. Patmore is likely more the norm,'' Foster said, referring to the cook played by Lesley Nicol who reigns over the kitchens in ``Downton Abbey,'' the real-life

Highclere Castle, home of the Earl and Countess of Carnarvon. ``I wanted to update (the food) and bring it forward and make it more relevant.''

She has given the recipes of the period a healthy makeover.

So along with the delectable crumpets, custard tarts, watercress sandwiches and poached salmon with mousseline sauce consumed upstairs and the hearty soups, cornish pasties and hotpot eaten by the servants downstairs, the book also includes guilt-free carrot and Victoria sponge cakes and low-fat pumpkin and banana bread.

Foster started researching healthier food when her father had his first heart attack 15 years ago and had to change his eating habits. ``I started making healthier choices,'' the 50-year-old said. ``I took up more of a disciplined running and exercise regime and started finding ways to cut the fat and sugars and the bad chemicals out of what I was eating and that's what I'd like to pass on to readers.''

She has peppered the book with bits of food history and lore from the show, such as the fact that roast squab ``holds a place of honour as the seventh course in first class on the last meal served on Titanic.'' One of the more memorable dishes served on ``Downton Abbey'' is Raspberry Meringue Pudding. In Season 1 Mrs. Patmore had to concede that her failing eyesight is an issue after she mistakenly sprinkles salt instead of sugar on her prized dessert.

There are sections on afternoon tea and its etiquette (the milk goes in after the tea and the spoon goes behind the cup) and holiday entertaining throughout the year.

Foster laments that so many culinary skills used by the workers in those grand homes have been lost and hopes to inspire people to get back into the kitchen and have some fun through her lively book and blog. ``Pretend you're having a 'Downton Abbey' party or an afternoon tea or cocktails and really embrace cooking.

If that's one way to get people into the kitchen, then by all means let's go for it.'' â–

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Outdoor

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 38

Trade show in Utah sets latest gear and fashion trends for outdoor lifestyle: Wool hot again

SALT LAKE CITY - Wool instead of synthetic fleece, carbon skis and a spoon-shaped sleeping bag are among the hottest products at the world's largest expo for outdoor equipment and apparel, where vendors are vying for a share of the $289 billion Americans spend every year on outdoor gear, travel and services.

The Outdoor Retailer Winter Market show that runs through Saturday is a merchandise bazaar for a lifestyle of outdoor adventure. Bringing together 1,000 of the world's manufacturers and distributors, it is a showcase for the latest gear and fashions before they hit the mainstream.

One hardware company, Salt Lake City-based Black Diamond, put models on stage late Thursday for its inaugural 24-piece line of jackets and stretch-woven pants. It plans to jump into wool a year from now.

Wool was rubbed out by fleece decades ago, but many exhibitors said it's back without the itch, still warm and quick to dry and it doesn't

theadventurepost.com

BY PAUL FOY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

hold body odours, a big drawback of the real deal. Wool has had millions of fleece. years to figure itself out.'' ``Natural fibers is where it's at,'' said Skousen founded Everest Designs Matt Skousen, of Everest Designs. ``It's with his Nepalese wife, Choti Sherpa.

They hire workers in Nepal to stitch beanies from New Zealand wool, run the company out of Missoula, Mont., and were hoping for a sales boost at a trade show also crowded with Merino wool sweaters, undergarments and socks.

Shoppers aren't allowed inside the expo and no cash sales are conducted.

Instead, the four-day show brings together retailers making orders for next year's inventory. Suppliers range from industry giants like Patagonia and Mountain Hardwear to perhaps the smallest player, a former Army Ranger hawking ``Combat FlipFlops'' from his duffel bag.

Matthew Griffin, who calls himself a micro-manufacturer, didn't have a booth of his own.

New products range from sunglasses with magnetic pop-out lenses to a thermo-electric camp stove that does double duty boiling water and charging electronic devices.

Another company showed off a line of sleeping bags with a roomy hourglass shape for camper comfort. ``Nobody sleeps like a mummy,'' said Kate Ketschek of New Hampshire-based NEMO Equipment Inc., which is receiving industry attention for its extra-wide Spoon Series of sleeping bags, an alternative to mummy and rectangular bags.

She called it a ``completely new category'' of sleeping bags, made for side sleepers.

The jam-packed expo underscores a thriving corner of the economy.

Outdoor-gear sales grew 5 per cent annually throughout recent years of recession, analysts said.

The show favours Utah, a place of rugged mountains and canyons and a cottage industry for innovators like DPS, a maker of expensive carbon-fiber skis that recently shifted production from China to safeguard and refine its technology.

Stephen Drake was an English major from New York in 2005 when he launched DPS with $100,000, a trip to China and a design for a featherweight carbon ski. ``Man, we were in over our head,'' said Drake, 36, who teamed up with an engineer. ``It's almost ridiculous what we tried to do with so little money, building carbon skis with new technology.'' DPS now handcrafts several thousand pairs a year for retail prices up to $1,300 from a factory in Ogden.

That's too much for a ski, said Mark Wariakois, founder of Voile, which sells a hybrid-carbon model for $600 adopted by backcountry professionals in the Rocky Mountains. Voile laminates 3,000 skis and snowboards a year at a factory in a Salt Lake City suburb. ``Everybody is trying to figure out how we make these big skis'' for that price, said Wariakois. ``We make all of our own tools. That's probably the biggest secret to our success.''

Attendance is up 40 per cent since 2006, with more than 20,000 flocking to Winter Market, said Nielsen Expo Outdoor Group, the organizer. A twin show in August brings out a larger crowd and is dominated by equipment for water sports.

Nielsen announced Tuesday it was keeping the shows in Salt Lake City through August 2016. The decision suspended a political standoff that had the Outdoor Industry Association threatening to leave over Gov. Gary Herbert's policies. Herbert, a Republican, unveiled a 59-page ``vision'' for outdoor recreation in the state, which calls for the creation of a state office devoted to the $5.8 billion economic sector.

The Outdoor Retailer show has taken place in Utah since 1996 and pours $40 million annually into the local economy. â–

Business

39 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

BY DORIS C. DUMLAO Philippine Daily Inquirer DAVOS—President Aquino sees the Philippines, which used to be the world’s biggest importer of rice, attaining full self-sufficiency and even turning into an exporter before the year is over.

That assumes that the country will enjoy good weather this year, Aquino said Thursday night in a private session tackling anti-corruption initiatives at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum here.

“From importing almost two and a half million metric tons of rice in 2010, now, if the weather permits, we are looking at full rice self-sufficiency— and even the possibility of exporting it—by the end of this year,” the President said.

The long-time quest for rice selfsufficiency was mentioned by the President in the context of reforms pursued by his administration in the operations of the National Food Authority, the government agency tasked to ensure rice selfsufficiency.

Aquino said his predecessor had allowed the NFA’s debt to balloon to

PH may start exporting rice this year

$4.4 billion from $300 million over the course of the former president’s nine-year term, insisting on importing more rice than was needed to feed the people.

“So you had a staggering amount of debt, and rice that no one would eat, rotting in warehouses that the government, of course, had to pay rent for. Any sane and reasonable person would not have done this, but it was done, and that was the reality we had to deal with. This insanity was justified by convincing our people that wewere not capable of feeding

ourselves through tilling our own land, hence the necessity of importing rice,” he said.

Since his administration assumed office, Aquino said more funds were plowed into irrigation, arterial roads, research into higheryielding varieties and other technologies, making the goal of self-sufficiency viable.

In a research on the Philippine rice situation last year by Asian Development Bank consultants, it was noted that the Philippines continued to grapple with significant food insecurity. “Years of preoccupation

Visa sees high growth in PH card market

BY MICHELLE V. REMO Philippine Daily Inquirer VISA is bullish about business prospects in the Philippines, saying it expects growth in the number of Filipinos owning credit, debit and prepaid cards to grow at double-digit rates in 2013.

As the Philippine population nears 100 million and as the domestic economy enjoys a robust growth, Visa said the market for plastic money was likewise increasing.

“We are optimistic on all products—credit, debit and prepaid cards. There is really a shift from cash to cards as more and more people want the efficiency of card payments,” Iain Jamieson, Visa country manager for the Philippines, said in a briefing.

By the end of 2012, Jamieson said credit, debit and prepaid cars of Visa each had 2.5 million holders in the Philippines.

He said one of the factors seen fueling growth in the number of Visa cardholders in the Philippines was the growing online-purchase transactions, which are more commonly done using plastic money.

Results of a survey recently conducted by Visa showed that the number of Filipinos who purchased goods online grew sharply to 71 percent of cardholders by the end of 2012 from only 35 percent the year before.

Visa expects more holders of credit, debit and prepaid cards to engage in online transactions this year and sees more people securing plastic money to be able to purchase goods online.

The global payments technology provider likewise expects growth in the number of card holders and card use to be driven by product innovation and partnerships with more merchants and institutions.

Recently, Visa partnered with Western Union to tap overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their families. With the partnership, recipients of remittances coursed through Western Union now have the option of getting their money through their cards.

The Philippines is the second country after the United States where Visa has signed a partnership with Western Union.

with rice self-sufficiency and rice supply and price stabilization have not made a dent on the problem,” the research said.

Some of the food insecurity stemmed from rice supply issues and high domestic prices. Some of these might not be apparent in recent years but the research said current trade policies did not augur well for long-term supply and price stability.

The ADB research dated January 2012 noted that in the early 1990s, the government was importing too little and consumers generally paid high prices for rice. In 1995, it said the government imported too late, initially restricting imports but only to see domestic prices spike up, consumers getting alarmed and the government eventually scrambling to restore stability in the market.

“Thereafter, the government has imported aggressively and domestic prices have moved considerably closer to international prices in the last three years. But the supply stability achieved had cost too much, bloating the NFA’s losses and borrowings and drawing attention to the fact that the strategy is unsustainable,” the research said. ■

Jamieson also said that technologically enhanced Visa cards would be issued this year. One version of the cards allows holders to simply tap the cards against point of sales equipment of merchants for easier payment transactions.

Another version has the “pay wave” technology, which allows holders to simply wave the cards against a machine to make a payment transaction.

Such cards are ideal for motorists as they pay road toll.

Visa likewise is working on further developing its partnerships with banks. For instance, Jamieson said, the stateowned Development Bank of the Philippines has shifted from issuing automated teller machines (ATM) cards to debit cards.

Scott Salmon, Visa’s regional head for prepaid products, said the company would also work on more partnerships to tap the growth potential for Visa prepaid cards. Such cards are seen ideal for beneficiaries of remittances who may want to use cards instead of cash in making purchases.

“In the Philippines, there is a good understanding of how prepaid works. There is much more receptiveness for prepaid cards here and so we are very optimistic [about the growth of prepaid users in the country this year],” Salmon said. ■

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Sports

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 40

Fox Sports targets more local content Aside from ESPN, which is the flagship sports channel, ESPN HD will also be renamed to Fox Sports Plus, while ESPN News will now be named Fox Sports News.

The renaming of the channels, Turcuato said, will also mark the start of programming that will cater to

BY MARC ANTHONY REYES Philippine Daily Inquirer GOLDEN Boy Promotions has offered Nonito Donaire Jr.’s promoter Bob Arum $3 million for the right to stage the superfight pitting unbeaten Mexican champion Abner Mares against the Filipino boxing star.

The offer was made by GBP CEO Richard Schaefer to Top Rank, which promotes Donaire’s fights. Top Rank’s big boss Arum had earlier asked his rival outfit to name its price to earn the right to run the show itself.

Schaefer told Boxingscene.com that Arum was “lowballing” Mares’ manager Frank Espinoza in their negotiations for the fight, which could generate huge pay-per-view demands owing to the pulling power of two of the world’s best super bantamweights.

“I think both fighters—Abner Mares and Nonito Donaire—deserve to make the most money in this fight,” Schaefer said. “I’m willing to put up an offer, to Bob Arum, to provide the services of Donaire. I am willing to offer them $3 million.”

GBP boss Oscar De La Hoya, in a rejoinder on Twitter, said: “Let’s see what excuse Bob Arum will come up with now. I’m sure Nonito will agree that $3 million is a lot of moolah.”

Donaire reportedly earned $1 million from his last fight against Jorge Arce. Even if he splits the cash with TopRank, the WBO champ could earn his biggest paycheck to date.

Arum was earlier quoted by the same website as saying, “Let him (Schaefer) come to me with a sum of money. What do they want? I’m happy to pay it.

Don’t you think I know that’s a fight people want to see.”

Arum had earlier said that he must run the show because Donaire is the bigger fighter. ■

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer SPORTS media giant Fox Sports will take over the name of ESPN on cable television late this month, marking one of the many changes that will mark the presence of one of the world’s leading sports media brands in the Philippines.

The launch of Fox Sports on Jan. 28 in the Philippines came after its mother company News Corp.’s acquisition of the ESPN partnership in ESPN Star Sports last year, said Fox Channel territory head Jude Turcuato.

Filipino viewers.

“Its just a different package but the same channel,” said Turcuato during a recent media briefing at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza.

But Turcuato bared plans of a more localized approach to programming starting with the San Miguel Beermen in Asean Basketball League.

“We want to have more local presence in the channel to make it relevant to the Philippine market,” said Turcuato. “I’m confident that it will be a better viewing experience with Fox’s experience and access to technology.” ■

Weiss may begin Azkals’ preparations

azkalsfootballteam.com

theadventurepost.com

Foxsports.com website

$3M bid for Mares-Donaire clash

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer WITH a deal with coach Michael Weiss nearing completion, the Philippine Football Federation can now focus on preparations for the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers in March.

As soon as Weiss is on board, the Azkals will have two months to prepare for the Group E qualifiers on March 22 to 26 at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

“I think the main issues have been resolved,” said Azkals manager Palami in the PSA Forum at Shakey’s Malate.

“The basic terms have been agreed and we look forward to the preparations for the Challenge Cup.” The PFF offered Weiss a six-month extension, which federation general secretary Ed Gastanes said was a collective decision involving him, PFF president Nonong Araneta and Palami.

“The decision was made ... based not only the success but the problems that we had,” said Gastanes.

A three-day camp is set from Jan. 28 to 31 for the Azkals, who are flying to Yangon for a friendly with Myanmar on Feb. 6.

Palami said Fil-Spanish striker Javier Patino Lachica will be part of the pool for the Challenge Cup as soon as he gets his passport.

Patino, who traces his roots in Cebu and plays for Cordoba in the Spanish second division, is expected to fly in this week to process the requirements needed to get a passport.

In the Challenge Cup, the Azkals will face Brunei, Cambodia and Turkmenistan with the top team in the group earning a spot in the main tournament in the Maldives next year.

Gastanes hinted that Weiss could stay longer if he steers the country to the Challenge Cup main tournament next year. ■

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44 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

The Tagaytay Experience

BY KATHERINE MARFAL-TEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer

IF YOU don’t have enough time for a long travel due to busy schedules at work or at school, but want to pamper yourself, try visiting the city of Tagaytay, a first class city in the province of Cavite, known for its breezy climate.

Only 55 km away from Manila via the Aguinaldo Highway, and an hour and 15 minutes drive from Manila via the South Superhighway or through the Coastal Road, you are sure to have a your hands full with delectable activities and would be completely recharged when you go back to the Metro.

Sights Taal Volcano, the most recognizable icon of Tagaytay, is often described as a volcano within an island within a lake. The world's smallest volcano is accessible to tourists - through a boat ride across the Taal Lake to the volcano, and on horseback to the summit.

Experience the breathtaking view of the volcano resting in the middle of a calm, blue lake as you visit the Tagaytay Ridge.

If you want to experience the equivalent of roughing it and you have a blanket and packed lunch (or merienda) in tow, you may want to visit Picnic Grove, a picnic place that has seen generations of families walk its expansive lawns. It has the most picturesque views: the majestic Laguna de Bay to the east and a spectacular view of Taal Lake and Volcano to the South. There's also horseback riding, a mini park and gazebos.

After eating your lunch or merienda, you can also visit the Palace in the Sky, which is famous for being the unfinished presidential guest house of former president Ferdinand Marcos. It was originally built for the state visit of the then US President Ronald Reagan and Mrs. Nancy Reagan.

Paradizoo, a theme park, patterned after the Subic’s Zoobic Safari, is an amusing way for kids and adults to be closer with animals. Children can ride on ponies and feed some of the farm animals, while adults can pamper themselves through the “Infinity Pool of Positivism”, which looks over the entire farm and the sunken flower garden.

Pasalubong, resto, adventure Pasalubong and gifts are a must. Bags, coin purses, accessories and house displays are just some of the “pasalubongs” you can bring home to your loved ones. Their prices range from 25 pesos to 150 pesos (50 cents to $3). Delicious native “pasalubongs” include fresh pineapple, buco tart, Pink sister’s angel cookies, Good Shepherd Convent Ube Jam and

steamed peanuts. "Rowenas", a food store/restaurant which serve bite size pies (tarts!), is one of the mustvisit new places.

If you are a coffee aficionado, you must try Coffee Alamid. It is available in Bag 'O Beans. It is the most expensive coffee in Tagaytay, which became globally famous when it was featured in the international show “Oprah”. When roasted, it produces a sweet and a chocolatey aroma. It comes from the sweetest coffee cherries of the Philippine forest that are ingested and pooped out by civet cats (yes, I did say the "p" word).

Tagaytay also boasts of several noteworthy food establishments. There's La Esquina at Splendido, a fine dining and mediterranean place, said to be a surefire substitute to Antonio’s Fine Dining Restaurant, Café Verbenna or Tagaytay Highlands.

The restaurant serves the famous Spanish cuisine of Chef Ed’s Quimson and Heny Sison’s special desserts, which makes for a totally refreshing dining experience.

For the adventurous, one can go zip-lining at Tagaytay Ridge and fly 300 feet off the ground over trees. You can also enjoy the breathtaking view of Taal Lake while on a cable car, with rates from $5 to $10 per ride (souvenir photo included). ■

Best Spas 1. Nurture Spa 2. Sanctuario Spa at Canyon Woods 3. Tagaytay Highlands Spa and Lodge 4. Discovery Country Suites Luxury Spa 5. Ylang Ylang Spa at Taal Vista Lodge Hotels and Rates 1. One Tagaytay Place Hotel Suites - $80 - $200 2. Tagaytay Haven Hotel - $50 3. Lee Boutique Hotel - $60 - $150 4. Nurture Spa Tagaytay- $60 - $200 5. Mc Mountain Home Apartelle - $50 - $60 6. View Park Hotel - $59 7. Days Hotel Tagaytay- $100 - $140 Restaurants 1. Fire Lake Grill Tagaytay 2. Cafe Lupe Grill and Restaurant Tagaytay 3. Breakfast at Antonio's Tagaytay 4. Restaurant Verbena Tagaytay 5. Mile Hi Diner Tagaytay 6. Mushroomburger Tagaytay 7. Antonio's Garden Restaurant Tagaytay 8. Taj of Tagaytay 9. Amoroma Tagaytay 10. Sanctuario Tagaytay

Travel

45 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Sneh Duggal | Canadian Embassy Photo

Canada's jewel on Pennsylvania Ave. becoming hot ticket in U.S. capital

Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

The view of US President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration from the Canadian Embassy on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have been guests.

BY LEE-ANNE GOODMAN THE CANADIAN PRESS WASHINGTON - Newt Gingrich had hoped to be the man taking the oath of office on inauguration day last week.

Instead, the former Republican presidential hopeful was at the Canadian Embassy, watching U.S. President Barack Obama's swearing-in from 501 Pennsylvania Ave.'s expansive sixth-floor patio as he and his wife, Callista, mingled with VIPs, nibbled on canapes and posed for photos with Mounties.

The Gingriches were among 1,500 party-goers including senators, intelligence officials and even the State Department's climate change envoy - who amassed at the embassy, just a stone's throw from the Capitol building, to enjoy the type of Canada-infused celebration that's becoming hotly sought after in the American capital.

A glitzy reception for ``Argo,'' the critically acclaimed film on the Iran hostage crisis, was held at the embassy in October.

Ambassador Gary Doer welcomed director Ben Affleck to the embassy as well as the actor's wife, Jennifer Garner, and fellow actors Bryan Cranston and John Goodman. Gen. David Petraeus was also at the party, held just a month before he was forced to resign as director of the CIA amid a sex scandal.

Earlier this month, a U.S. senator celebrated her upcoming swearing-in at the swank building, an event thought to be a first for the embassy.

Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar's invitation to her party, attended by several fellow senators and former vice president Walter Mondale, asked guests to ``spice up their attire with a dash of Minnesota or its friendly neighbour to the north.''

And next month, the National Governors Association is hosting a reception at the embassy, with at least 30 governors expected to attend.

Doer says it's little wonder the embassy is such a hot ticket. ``It's located in such a great spot ... when you look out the sixth floor of this building, it's the best view in town, it really is,'' he said in a recent interview.

He credits those in the 1970s who had the foresight to seize upon the location as a new home for Canada's embassy when its digs on so-called Embassy Row, miles from Capitol Hill, had grown too cramped. ``Those who are here today stand on the shoulders of those whose idea was to build it,'' Doer said.

Once the home of a Ford dealership and a public library, Canadian officials took advantage of a push by U.S. federal officials to revitalize a run-down Pennsylvania Avenue in the early 1970s and bought the space for $5 million.

The embassy was completed in 1989, a sleek, contemporary building designed by B.C. architect Arthur Erickson.

With its famous echoing rotunda and brilliant rows of Canadian flags blowing in the breeze, the embassy has become a familiar Capitol Hill landmark. It's also a bargain for U.S. power brokers looking for a sweet spot to hold a party.

The embassy has partners on major events, so the majority of the bill is picked up by those partners, not the government of Canada.

RIM, TD Bank and the Canadian American Business Council, for example, were among the key partners for last week's inauguration party.

The embassy can't charge a fee for use of the space; it can only charge for costs associated with receptions or events - food, drink and entertainment, for example.

That makes it a relatively cheap place to hold a soiree in an otherwise wildly expensive city.

And with Doer at the helm of the embassy, movers and shakers are sitting up and taking notice of the

jewel on Pennsylvania Avenue. Since he arrived in D.C. in November 2009, Doer's staff has been going the extra mile on congressional outreach.

Last week, for example, they sent Capitol Hill lawmakers a video of the former Manitoba premier congratulating them on their electoral successes while reminding them of Canada's friendship and significance. ``You can always count on Canada,'' a smiling Doer said in the video.

Embassy staff say Canada was the only embassy to send a video message; others have simply sent letters. They add that Doer's video greeting has been a hit on Capitol Hill.

In the weeks and months to come, the embassy is intent on focusing more on social media to reach out to Capitol Hill staffers and business leaders.

The Connect2Canada Twitter feed was a major component at last week's inauguration party, for example, as embassy staffers retweeted the dispatches of party-goers who used the hashtag #Viewfrom501. Those tweets were also showcased on a Jumbotron in the building's courtyard as the inauguration festivities played out.

Next month, the embassy is also launching a new website - InnovationScan - that's aimed at putting Canadian companies in touch with U.S. investors and business partners.

The embassy will also continue to open its doors for an array of political and business events in the year ahead, all of them primarily aimed at forging deeper bonds between the U.S. and Canada. ``We're using the embassy not to just say how great Canada is, but to demonstrate how well we work together,'' Doer said. ``More people will participate in those sorts of events than just having something narrow. We don't want to be a one-trick pony; we want to use the embassy in a broader way.'' â–

Canada

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1, 2013 46

Investigation on Marcoses ill-gotten wealth continues

Al Ramones & Domie Quiazon

Imelda Marcos, her daughter and a son are all still involved in Philippine politics

Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos in 1979

BY KATHERINE MARFAL-TEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer WEALTH, popularity and power best describe the Marcos clan.

For more than 20 years, the late Ferdinand Marcos ruled as the president of the Philippines, and without a doubt, he has made a big mark on the country’s history - and it does not seem that his end is near, even after his exile in 1986 and his death in 1989.

Because Marcos' wife and his brood are in still power.

His wife, Imelda, is a congresswoman.

His daughter Imee, is a provincial governor while son BongBong is a senator, who is also planning to run as President in the 2016 elections.

On the whereabouts of his ill-gotten wealth, specifically of his pricey art collections, nothing is clear. Of course having members of his family in power makes it even more difficult to find the missing pieces of the legendary Marcos wealth.

Ill-gotten wealth Kate McGeown of BBC Philippines reported that “in 2003, the Supreme Court had found all but $320,000 of the Marcos assets to be the result of ill-gotten wealth.”

She quoted Andres Bautista, the head of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), saying, “This is a job we took an oath to do, and we want to do it well.”

Finding the missing pieces of wealth of the Marcoses was indeed a battle for Bautista due to so many reasons. The first is the not-so-good reputation of the commission as some of its previous members have been accused of corruption.

The second is the lack of support from the public. Other deterrents include the slow judicial system in the country and the more obvious reason - the Marcoses being back in power.

Based on the reports of McGeown, the head of the commission is ready to face the entire rumble to avoid the “stumble”.

Investigation continues Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said that in the event that the PCGG is abolished, the Department of Justice will assume its role.

Lacierda, however, cleared that nothing is final yet on the proposed winding down of PCGG's functions, including the transfer of the prosecution of the cases to the DOJ and the transfer of the sequestered assets to the Department of Finance.

In a press briefing, Lacierda said, "With the pursuit of the ill-gotten wealth cases - assuming that Congress would abolish the PCGG - the ill-gotten wealth cases will be transferred to the Department of Justice so the mandate to recover the illgotten wealth cases will continue. These cases are still pending. If the office is abolished by Congress, it does not mean the ill-gotten wealth cases will die. It has to be pursued."

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Joker Arroyo opined that the records compiled by and the work of the PCGG should now be passed on to DOJ. The Marcoses were said to have collected paintings by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Rembrandt, Rafael and Michelangelo; palatial homes in the US and the Philippines; silver tableware, gold necklaces, diamond tiaras – literally, all the famous collections the world has to offer.

When Ferdinand Marcos was ousted from his position via the “People Power" revolution in 1986, the clan’s wealth was estimated at about $10bn (£6.2bn). The late former President Corazon Aquino then set up the PCGG as the special commission to recover these funds for the government treasury.

Yet, after 25 years, only $4bn has been accounted for. So the big question is: What happened to the rest of the Marcos collection? Where did it go? Who are responsible for its alleged loss?

Where is it?

This issue was tackled again late last year when Vilma Bautista, Mrs. Marcos'

former aide, was charged for illegally selling a Monet painting. It was also found that Bautista still holds three famous artworks.

McGeown reported that the bigger revelation came “as the commission found that all four were on a list of 146 paintings once owned by the Marcoses.”

It is true that the shoes and clothes of the former First Lady are of huge historic interest, but the truth is - it does not carry big monetary value.

Thus, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) had made a move to concentrate on the more expensive items, like the ruby and diamond tiara locked in the vault of the Swiss central bank, costing more than $8m.

Bautista revealed that more than 300 missing paintings are still unaccounted for.

“We really don't know where they are.

They could be anywhere,” Bautista said.

Robert Sison, Mrs. Marcos' lawyer, on the defense of his client, said that the Marcos’ wealth was being "confiscated" rather than recovered by the commission.

He added that there was no legal basis of taking the assets of the Marcos'.

He explained, "The Philippine government has no right to question why Mrs. Marcos had this art. Ferdinand Marcos was a gold trader before he became president, and he made his money then."

Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero said that the quest for the Marcos’ illgotten wealth should be concluded.

In a separate interview, DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima said that the hunt for the supposed ill-gotten wealth of the Marcos' will not be over with the abolition of the PCGG. But De Lima also admitted that PCGG's closure should have been done long ago. She said, "The mindset of PNoy (President Aquino) really was that PCGG should not last any longer because nature of its mandate is limited and therefore it cannot exist forever."

She added, "If there is residual duty the PCGG has left to perform and which will be turned over to a competent agency - and if it's the DOJ - we can assume it."

There were reports coming out that Bautista has proposed to abolish the PCGG because of the towering expenses, making the hunt for the illgotten wealth of the Marcoses even more difficult. ■ With reports from BBC Philippines and Manila Bulletin

Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer Editor Melissa Remulla-Briones editor@canadianinquirer.net Associate Editors Maria Ramona Ledesma Frances Grace H. Quiddaoen Correspondents Lizette Lofranco Aba Gigi Astudillo Jay Decenella Angie Duarte Dr. Rizaldy Ferrer Stella Reyes Katherine Marfal Heidi Ng Graphic Designer Victoria Yong Illustration Danvic C. Briones Photographers Solon Licas Ryan Ferrer Angelo Siglos Art Viray Operations and Marketing Head Laarni de Paula 1-888-668-6059 laarni.liwanag@canadianinquirer.net Sales Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Managing Editor Maita de Jesus Junior Art Director Kimberly Claire Bernardo Graphic Artists Reggie Goloy Maud Villanueva Editorial Assistant Phoebe Casin Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva Jr. Associate Publisher Millicent Agoncillo Project Coordinator Lychelle Ang In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition

PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER is located at Suite 400 North Tower 5811 Cooney Road, Richmond B.C. Canada Tel No. 778-383-6090 / 778-383-3203 / (604) 279-8787 ext. 1722.

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