Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #46

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER VOL. 1 NO. 46

JANUARY 11, 2013

WHAT’S INSIDE

B.C. CareCards to be replaced

NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Most B.C. residents will get their new high-tech BC Service Cards replacing the old CareCard when they renew their driver’s licences. (On page 19)

NEW RECORD CLOSE. It’s a celebratory mood on the first day trading day of 2013 as the stock market marked a record close after the good news from the United States reported the bridging of the so-called “fiscal cliff”.

Slays fire up debate on gun ban

BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer

TO CURB gun crimes, President Aquino should cancel all permits to carry firearms and stop issuing new ones until Congress can enact stricter gun controls, the Gunless Society said.

But Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop, a former police official, opposed gun prohibition, saying responsible citizens must not be deprived of their right to arm themselves for protection, given the police’s inability to protect all the country’s citizens.

Acop disagrees with proposals for a total gun ban, which came after the death of 7-year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella, who was hit by celebratory gunfire in Caloocan City on New Year’s Eve, and the shooting rampage of Ronald Bae in Kawit town, Cavite province, on Friday, leaving eight people, including two children, dead and 12 others wounded.

Gunless Society founder Nandy Pacheco said it was about time the government stopped debating whether to adopt a total gun ban, and took concrete steps by canceling all permits to carry.

“The issue has been debated for more than 20 years. This dilly-dallying is a waste of time,” Pacheco said in a phone interview.

“The President should cancel all permits to carry, and stop their issuance in view of what’s happening,” Pacheco said.

The Roman Catholic Church has joined calls for stricter gun

controls and supported proposals for a total ban on firearms.

Pacheco, who has waged a campaign for a total gun ban for more than 20 years, said the cancellation of permits to carry was the next best thing to a total prohibition.

Prevent killings “What we’re trying to do is prevent killings of individuals. The truth about gun is it’s not made to prolong life but to kill. The government must be hard on guns,” he said.

Permits to carry should be canceled until a total gun ban is enacted, Pacheco said.

But eventually President Aquino has to certify as urgent gun-control measures in the House of Representatives, mainly the proposed Citizen’s Protection Act of 2010 filed by prolife groups and signed by 86 Catholic bishops, and its counterpart More on page 3

Alberta driver sentenced to 6 1/2 years for killing Filipino workers With Josephine Tamondong was her friends Anthony Castillon, Joey Mangonon, Josefina Velarde, and Eden Biazon. Only Tamondong survived the crash. (On page 20)

Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Candice Macalino A hint of theatre, a touch of business, a dollop of culinary goodness (On page 23)

PHILIPPINE CANADIAN

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO CANADIAN NEWSPAPER

News at your Fingertips

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up to date Philippine and Canadian news!

1

2

Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE™

Samsung Galaxy S III™

Visit Our Locations: BURNABY Crystal Mall . Metropolis at Metrotown . Cornerstone at SFU RICHMOND Aberdeen Centre . Parker Place SURREY Central City Shopping Centre VANCOUVER Hudson . UBC Pharmacy NORTH VANCOUVER West Esplanade

Samsung Note II™

December 31st

text messages and exclude international, roaming, alerts, premium text messages and messages sent with an instant messaging application. Roaming messages include international GSM, CDMA and U.S. CDMA messages. Received messages include domestic, international, roaming and service-related messages from Bell and exclude premium, alerts or dial-up messages. Out of bundle charges may apply. Data usage charges apply for select CDMA smartphones to send and receive picture and video messages. (2) Supports personal email accounts and HTML & WAP browsing and tethering. Outlook synchronization, corporate email integration and other corporate-type solutions not available. Samsung Galaxy Note II , Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE and Samsung Galaxy SIII are trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., used in Canada under licence.

3 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

...from page 1 measure in the Senate, Pacheco said.

“We’re appealing to him; we’re begging him for heaven’s sake, the time for action has come,” Pacheco said.

“The President should consolidate these [bills] into one, and certify it as urgent,” he said.

Presidential study Proposals for a total gun ban are now being studied by the President, a gun enthusiast, his deputy spokesperson, Abigail Valte, said on radio.

But Acop, vice chair of the House committee on public order and safety, said in an interview with the Inquirer that he preferred stricter firearm regulations fully enforced.

Acop said that, having served on the police force, he knew the capabilities and limitations of the Philippine National Police.

Law enforcers have to much tasks to do and they cannot be everywhere at the same time so the citizens must be given the chance to defend themselves by being allowed firearms, Acop said.

“That’s why I don’t agree with the total gun ban. We must take into consideration the capabilities of law enforcement

News-Phils agencies to protect the life and property of every Filipino,” he said.

“It would be good if [we could put] a policeman in every nook and corner [of the country]. Unless we reach this situation, I can’t agree [to a total ban].”

The PNP, he said, has yet to achieve the ideal ratio of one policeman to every 500 citizens.

Aside from enforcing the law, he said, the police is also involved in the regulatory job of other governmental agencies.

Bae’s arsenal Bae, the Cavite killer, owned an AK47 assault rifle, an M-16 rifle rebuilt by Elisco, and a Sig Sauer .45 cal. pistol, with licenses issued by the PNP Firearms and Explosives Office.

The licenses were issued during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which declared an amnesty for all holders of loose firearms, according to Chief Supt. Raul Petrasanta, FEO chief.

“It appears that Bae was able to register his firearms with no questions asked,” Petrasanta said.

He said the 1911 .45 cal. pistol Bae used in his shooting rampage was unlicensed. ■

MerryMulach | Flickr.com

Aga, Charlene hale Comelec to court

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer ACTOR Aga Muhlach and celebrity wife Charlene Gonzalez are asking the Court of Appeals to stop the election registration board of San Jose, Camarines Sur, from excluding them from the list of voters in their barangay.

The celebrity couple on Wednesday questioned the Dec. 21, 2012 decision of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of San Jose that affirmed the Oct. 25 decision of the Municipal Circuit Trial Court (MCTC) of San Jose, granting a petition for their exclusion from the list of voters.

In their 50-page petition, the couple said the RTC committed grave abuse of discretion in refusing their registration as voters when they had been residents of San Juan, San Jose, Camarines Sur from Feb. 17, 2012, or one year and three months before the May 2013 elections, “which is more than the constitutionally mandated six months immediately preceding the election requirement.”

The couple had applied for registration as voters of San Jose on March 19, 2012, and were registered as voters by the election registration board on Sept. 28, 2012, of precinct No. 10-A of Barangay San Juan, San Jose in Camarines Sur. “The Constitution and Republic Act No. 8189 law are very clear in their respective provisions that the six-month residency requirement shall be reckoned prior to the immediately preceding election and surely not prior to the date of registration as arbitrarily and whimsically ruled by the respondent lower courts. Even on this score alone, this petition should be immediately granted,” the petitioners said, through their lawyers that included Romulo Macalintal.

They added Muhlach’s exclusion from the list of voters would adversely affect his candidacy as congressman of the fourth district of Camarines Sur, and “cause confusion among the voters if the Commission on Elections does not include his name in the official ballots.”■

News-Phils

Palace welcomes anti-RH suit

BY TJ BURGONIO AND PHILIP C. TUBEZA With reports from Cathy Yamsuan, Christian V. Esguerra and Leila B. Salaverria Philippine Daily Inquirer MALACAÑANG welcomed the suit filed in the Supreme Court against the new responsible health (RH) law, but belittled the arguments raised by the petitioners.

Secretary Edwin Lacierda, presidential spokesperson, said it was “good” that lawyercouple James and Lovely Ann Imbong filed a case because “now the government through the Office of Solicitor General will be prepared to defend the RH law.”

In a press briefing, Lacierda said the petitioners did not raise any new issues that had not been brought up and answered during the congressional debates.

“The contention that was raised by Mr. James Imbong is not something new, it had already been raised during the debates,” he said.

Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said it was the right of the Imbongs to question Republic Act No. 10354—the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law— but “whether they would succeed was another matter.”

“They have to overcome the strong constitutional (as already cogently argued by eminent constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas), jurisprudential, equity and practical (both local and international experience) foundations upon which the much delayed

responsible parenthood policy stands,” said Abad in a text message.

The RH law mandates the state to provide reproductive health services, including access to contraceptives and information on family planning, to couples that ask for it, and ageappropriate sex education to schoolchildren.

Arguing that this was unconstitutional, the Imbongs petitioned the high court to stop the government from enforcing the law.

Negating PH aspirations In their petition for certiorari and prohibition, the Imbongs said the law introduced policies that “negate and frustrate the foundational ideals and aspirations of the sovereign Filipino.”

The law is to take effect on Jan. 17, or 15 days after its publication in a periodical of general circulation. It was quietly signed into law by President Aquino on Dec. 21, apparently to avoid stoking the passions that had surrounded it since its inception, especially on the part of the local Catholic Church.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said it supported the Imbongs’ petition although it did not have a direct hand in its filing.

Petition was lay initiative Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the CBCP-Episcopal Commission On Family and Life, said the petition was a lay initiative and was not orchestrated by the bishops who had been blocking passage of an RH law for 14 years.

L L A C

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 4

He said the fact that James Imbong was the son of CBCP legal counsel Jo Imbong was “only incidental.” Jo Imbong is a “collaborating counsel” in the case.

“We are glad the ordinary Catholic faithful are taking the initiative to further the discussion on the RH bill. Its enactment into law would not end our opposition to it,” Castro said.

The law’s principal author in the House of Representatives rushed to its defense.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman belittled the petition filed by the Imbongs, saying it was “premature because it seeks to prevent the implementation of a law which is not yet in effect.”

“Now the government through the Office of the Solicitor General will be prepared to defend the RH law.”

“(It) is completely constitutional and will surmount any attack or test on its constitutionality,” Lagman said in a statement.

‘Flawed and fallacious’ Lagman also said that questioning the RH law based on the state guarantee of equal protection for the “life of the mother and the life of the unborn was flawed and fallacious.”

“The Constitution mandates the protection

of the life of the unborn from conception. In other words, no less than the Constitution acknowledges that life begins when conception sets in, and it is upon conception that there is an ‘unborn’ which is entitled to protection,” he said.

Another coauthor said the challenge to the RH law gave its proponents one more opportunity to further explain its merits to the people, including its critics.

“I see no legal infirmity or illegality in any of its provisions,” Akbayan partylist Rep. Kaka Bag-ao, a lawyer, said in a phone interview. “If they want to question it, this is a good opportunity to explain it more to them.”

Senators both for and against the RH law also welcomed the Supreme Court case.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, one of the main proponents of the RH bill in the upper chamber, noted the measure survived intense scrutiny during heated debates in the Senate.

Subject to intense scrutiny “The controversies and divisiveness attached to the measure while undergoing the legislative processes involved in lawmaking added more interest and caution before it was finally approved in both houses of Congress,” he said in a text message.

Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto, who opposed the measure, said he believed the Supreme Court would intensely scrutinize the law but his concern was still that it was imposed on Filipinos by foreign powers to influence or regulate the Philippine population.

“That’s why even if my amendments were accepted, I still voted against it,” he said. ■

PUSONG PINOY

S E N I P P I L I H

P

as low as

6

¢

No Hidden Charges.

No connection fees.

Online statement with call details.

Guaranteed clear quality.

/min

*Long distance call to the Philippines 6 cents per minute for the first 30 minutes every month. 11 cents for landline and 13.5 cents for mobile per minute, thereafter.

Tickets are limited in supply and first come first serve. Additional terms and conditions will apply, visit www.philindependence-van.ca/ for more details.

Call now: 1-888-980-8380 Or Visit us at: timestelecom.ca/Six-Sense

News-Phils

5 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

Ex-soldier person of interest in Nicole’s killing

A FORMER soldier who is now a barangay official in Caloocan City was almost tagged a suspect in the killing of 7year-old Stephanie Nicole Ella in celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve. But ballistic tests on the 1911 pistol of Juan Agos, a former soldier, showed that the .45 cal. bullet that killed Nicole was not fired from that gun.

Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri said Agos voluntarily surrendered and admitted to firing a .45 cal. pistol on New Year’s Eve. But the chief of the Philippine National Police, Director General Alan Purisima, said police found Agos in a house-to-house “visitation” with gun owners in Malaria, Caloocan City.

Echiverri said Agos is now a barangay justice in Barangay 185 in Malaria, where Nicole and her family lived.

Agos, reportedly a former intelligence officer in the Presidential Security Group and now Barangay 185 justice, admitted to police investigators that he and four companions took turns firing his 1911 pistol during celebrations on New Year’s Eve. But Caloocan police said last night that ballistic tests showed Agos’ 1911 pistol was not the gun from which the bullet that killed Nicole was fired.

Superintendent Jackie Candelario, Caloocan police spokesperson, said the ballistic signature from Agos’ gun did not match the ballistic signature on the bullet that killed Nicole.

Candelario said Agos’ pistol was registered, making the ballistic test quick for the investigators.

Candelario said that charges of illegal firearms discharge were being readied against Agos and his companions.

But Caloocan police said they were confident that they could identify the owner of the gun.

Candelario said investigators were filtering information from residents of Barangays 180, 185 and 186 to catalog registered firearms owned by people who lived in those areas.

Candelario said residents turned over six slugs, apparently .45 ACP bullets, they found in those places.

The death of 7-year-old Nicole from celebratory gunfire on New Year’s Eve sparked calls for stricter gun control, with Malacañang pressing the police to find the man who fired the bullet that killed the little girl.

An outpouring of sympathy followed Nicole’s death on Wednesday, with the office of President Aquino, himself a keen sports

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLA FAMILY

BY NATHAN R. MELICAN AND MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer

CLASSMATES’ PROTEST Nicole Ella dances the hours away before New Year’s Eve. By midnight, a stray bullet had snuffed out the life of the little girl who loved Barbie. At right, pupils of Tala Elementary School march to Nicole’s house.

shooter, issuing a statement condemning her “senseless death.”

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters that the Philippine National Police had been ordered to identify and locate the man who fired that shot and caused the death of Nicole.

Lacierda said investigators had recovered empty bullet cases in the Caloocan City area where Nicole’s family lived.

“We’re in the process of identifying who owned the gun that killed Stephanie Nicole,” Lacierda said.

50 meters away Nicole was watching fireworks with her family outside their house on New Year’s Eve when a bullet, apparently fired from celebratory gunfire, struck her in the head.

She died at East Avenue Medical Center in Quezon City on Wednesday afternoon after fighting for her life for two days.

Police said the bullet that killed Nicole was fired from a gun just 50 meters from where she stood.

Chief Insp. Joseph Palmero, chief of the PNP Crime Laboratory’s medicolegal division, said Nicole’s wound indicated that the gun was fired in the air, possibly at an angle of 90 degrees.

“But we have to coordinate with the police investigators to determine the position of the victim’s body when she fell unconscious,” Palmero said.

“We need to check where she was facing to determine where the bullet could have come from,” he said.

Palmero said the bullet hit Nicole on the top of her head, slicing through the left side of her brain and coming to rest just beneath the skin of her left cheek.

It was a thorough hit that Palmero described as “very fatal.”

Sobering tragedy “This tragedy is a sobering reminder of how a reprehensible act from a thoughtless individual can rob our people, particularly our children,

of their futures,” Lacierda said.

“For such a promising life to be lost in such a senseless way puts the burden on all of us to make certain that this tragedy is not repeated,” he added.

Lacierda said the government would launch a fresh campaign against loose firearms.

Nicole was the second young victim to die from gunfire on New Year’s Eve. In Mandaluyong City, 4-year-old Ranjilo Nemer died from a spray of buckshots fired from a homemade shotgun.

The shotgun wielder, Emmanuel Janabon, did not try to escape. He surrendered when police arrived to arrest him.

Janabon said he had been drinking and was out to avenge himself on someone who had beaten him up. He said he accidentally tamped the shotgun, firing the shell.

Four buckshots struck the boy in the head and body. He died within minutes of arrival at Mandaluyong City Medical Center.

Police said they would bring criminal charges against Janabon.

Tighter gun control Vice President Jejomar Binay called for tighter gun control while Sen. Lito Lapid urged the revival of a year-old proposal that would penalize people who indiscriminately fire guns.

Binay issued a statement decrying the lack of enforcement of the country’s gun laws.

“We have enough laws to penalize but the problem has always been in the enforcement of the laws, especially those on loose firearms,” Binay said. “That is the challenge of the [Philippine National Police] and other law enforcement agencies.”

Binay said Nicole’s death should not be allowed to become just another statistic.

“The law must be enforced to the letter,” he said.

According to Lapid, a former action movie hero, current gun laws do not penalize shooting a firearm without a human target.

The Revised Penal Code, he said, prescribes a minimum penalty of six months

in prison for illegal firearms discharge.

Celebratory gunfire is a form of illegal firearms discharge but is not described in the Revised Penal Code.

Lapid said his proposal, filed on Jan. 31 last year, would amend the Revised Penal Code to penalize discharging firearms without lawful authority, which would include celebratory gunfire.

The penalty would be six years’ imprisonment. If the shooter is a law enforcer, the penalty is 12 years to 20 years in prison. If somebody is hit and dies, the penalty would be life imprisonment.

“If my proposal is enacted, gun owners would think hard before discharging their firearms in the air because they would face a long time in prison,” Lapid said.

Irresponsible gun owners take advantage of the noise of fireworks on New Year’s Eve to discharge their firearms.

New firecracker law But the death of Nicole could lead to legislation that would curb, if not completely prohibit, the use of firecrackers on New Year’s Eve. Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chair of the public order committee, said that he would call a public hearing that would look into legislation and local ordinances involving firecracker use and regulation.

Firecracker injuries during the Christmas and New Year holidays had reached 789, according to the Department of Health.

PNP Director General Alan Purisima condoled with Nicole’s family and promised to personally monitor developments in the search for the manwho fired the bullet that killed the girl.

Purisima also asked the public to help the police identify the people behind the celebratory gunfire that injured other people and killed Nicole.

“Let us now turn Nicole’s death to encourage the public to join us in the pursuit of the perpetrators... and ensure safe and peaceful celebrations in the future. This will be our collective tribute to her,” Purisima said.

He said people who want to provide information may text the PNP hotline 117 and 0917-8475757.

Two cops, one soldier Purisima said two policemen and a soldier were among the 18 people who were arrested for discharging firearms on Dec. 16.

“These two policemen may be dismissed from the service as they now face the precharge evaluation. We are now finishing the summary hearing and we will come up with the decision soon,” he said. ■

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

News-Phils

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 6

Hunt for Marcos ‘loot’ to continue

BY TJ BURGONIO AND NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer

DOJ to take over Lacierda said Bautista recognized the fact that “at some point, all the cases will be transferred to the Department of Justice, and I’m sure the DOJ will be more than prepared to handle the cases.”

But the Office of the President would have to first study Bautista’s recommendation, he said.

Lacierda also said it would be up to Congress to determine whether the time is right for legislation to abolish the PCGG.

Stephen Bures / Shutterstock.com

EVEN as people continue to debate the issue of abolishing the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), Malacañang said the agency that was created to recover the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos had to be abolished eventually.

But it would be up to Congress to determine the appropriate time for it, said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda.

Going by President Corazon Aquino’s Executive Order No. 1 which created the commission, the PCGG was “never meant to be a permanent institution,” Lacierda said.

“Why? Because at a certain point, all cases will be filed, all cases will be decided,” he said.

PCGG Chair Andres Bautista ignited a minor controversy when he announced on New Year’s Day that he had recommended to President Aquino that the government wind down the PCGG’s operations, which some quarters interpreted as giving up on the recovery of the Marcos ill-gotten loot and the prosecution of the dictator’s family and his cronies.

LIFE AFTER PCGG

“There’s a transition process and the ill-gotten wealth cases will continue,” he said.

Lacierda stressed that the government would continue to pursue the ill-gotten wealth cases against the Marcos family and associates even if the PCGG is abolished.

“The cases which are now pending before the various courts are going to continue. The party in interest is the Republic of the Philippines and, therefore, even if assuming any recommendation will be acted favorably by the President—and I’m saying this only as an assumption—the cases will still continue,” he said.

Further study He said the President had ordered a further study of Bautista’s recommendation, which he made in 2011, to wind down the PCGG’s operations, transfer its work to

the Department of Justice and its assets to the Department of Finance.

He said he had no knowledge of the Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s disclosure that the President was inclined to abolish the PCGG. “The (Office of the President) is still studying that recommendation. There are a number of details that need to be vetted,” he said.

Lawyer Frank Chavez, who was Solicitor General when the first Aquino administration began its pursuit of the Marcos illgotten wealth, supports the idea of abolishing PCGG but said its work should be transferred to his former office.

“It should be given back to the Office of the Solicitor General,’’ Chavez said in a text message.

He said he had advocated for the abolition of the PCGG 10 years ago.

“But the search and fight for the recovery of the Marcos loot should continue otherwise the fight against corruption would be useless and meaningless,’’ Chavez said.

Crocodiles in the gov’t “All the crocodiles in government should just henceforth be left alone,’’ he said.

Sen. Teofisto Guingona III said the DOJ should form a special unit that will continue the hunt for the ill-gotten Marcos wealth.

If the PCGG cases are transferred to the DOJ, “there should be a special unit that will handle the cases 24/7,” he said.

Guingona, who chairs the blue ribbon committee, the panel on the accountability of public officers, said he would make sure that “government won’t just abandon pending cases to the prejudice of the party litigants.” ■ With a report from Christine Avendaño

Call Home Wherever, Whenever.

UNLIMITED Local Calling for landline and mobile. Free PC and iPhone dialer. Your very own caller ID. Voicemail, 88 free minutes to Canada and USA, and more.

The Basic Home Phone

The Only Phone You’ll Ever Need.

*BONUS

FREE 88 Minutes to call Canada and USA

per month

$

59 .90

*Prepayment for 1 year

http://www.timestelecom.ca/BasicHomePhone *Additional terms and conditions will apply. Prices subject to change without notice. Free minutes do not include Philipppines.

SAVINGS OF

$300!

CALL NOW

1.800.264.2176

News-Phils

7 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

Gov’t slams Reds’ move to end truce THE GOVERNMENT peace panel negotiating with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has expressed disappointment over the decision of communist rebels to cut short the ceasefire they earlier declared with state security forces.

In a statement, the panel said it was “unfortunate” that the CPP seemed more “interested in looking for excuses to resume violence than it was to seek peace.”

It branded as “false claim” the communist insurgents’ explanation that they decided to call off the truce with the government after the Aquino administration supposedly failed to act on CPP’s offer to extend the ceasefire until Jan. 15.

The panel said no less than Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Teresita Deles issued a statement last Dec. 20 “affirming the extended ceasefire declaration.”

It added that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police also affirmed the extension of the truce with the CPP-led New People’s Army (NPA).

“This is a false claim as shown by the explicit provision of the press communique issued by the Norwegian facilitator, the statement of Secretary Deles ... and the procedural processes undertaken by the security forces,” the government peace panel said.

It added: “The said announcement was in keeping with the official communication of the (Philippine government) to the Norwegian facilitator sent during the holiday break that reiterated our assurances of the announcement of the extension of the Somo (suspension of military operations) and Sopo (suspension of police operations)...”

The panel also assailed the CPP’s “excuse” that it decided to end the truce so as not to put the NPA rebels “in an unduly disadvantaged position,” noting that the government security forces did not conduct any offensive actions against communist insurgents since the government declared a ceasefire.

It said this was “a clear manifestation of our commitment to honor the ceasefire agreement.”

Despite the CPP’s decision to terminate the truce, the panel said the Aquino administration would still honor the ceasefire agreement it had with the National Democratic Front, the CPP’s political arm, from Dec. 20, 2012, until Jan. 15.

“Our security forces will maintain its unilateral declaration of Somo and Sopo, despite the CPP’s termination, and will stand ready to defend and protect our people,” the panel stressed. ■

Sonny M. Day

BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer

GSIS, SSS release P9B in emergency loans

BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer

DIFFICULTIES arising from natural calamities that hit the country last year prompted some 524,000 members of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) and Social Security System (SSS) to take out a total of P9 billion in emergency loans.

According to the GSIS, 390,000 of its members availed themselves of almost P7 billion, with each taking home P20,000.

At the same time, the SSS said it had disbursed at least P2.3 billion through a loan and pension relief package to about 134,000 members. These members live or work in areas declared in a state of calamity due to destructive typhoons.

The two state-run pension funds have taken steps to ease their members’ access to loans and benefits, such as improvements on recordkeeping and processing of transactions as well as debt relief in terms of deferred payments and lowered interest rates.

In a statement, the GSIS said its upgraded and more reliable database and enhanced capabilities in using computer networks helped provide members with much-needed funds because it was able to process more loan applications.

Increased processing The GSIS said that in the past few weeks, it had processed up to 50,000 applications a day for those affected by Typhoon “Pablo.”

This means an increase of almost thrice in volume from the 17,000 loan applications that the GSIS was able to handle in 2009 in the aftermath of Tropical Storm “Ondoy.”

“We are continuously updating (our) database to reflect the current premium and loan remittances of members, so that more can continuously avail themselves of their benefits and loan privileges such as the emergency loan,” the GSIS said.

Also, the fund for government workers is working with technology vendors and has formed task forces to address the inconsistencies in its members’ records.

With the use of technology such as the wireless, automated processing system—an ATM-like online equipment—the GSIS is able to remit loan proceeds to members’ accounts within three to five days from the filing of the application.

SSS fund releases For its part, SSS president and chief executive Emilio de Quiros Jr. said 108,300 members applied for its salary loan early renewal program (SLERP), which was offered to members in calamity areas. This accounts for at least P2.1 billion in fund releases.

Aside from that, 25,500 retired SSS members applied for the advanced release of three months’ worth of pension. In total, these pensioners received some P180 million in 2012.

The SSS first offered the SLERP and the advance release of pensions in calamity areas early last year in the wake of Tropical Storm “Sendong,” which hit the country in December 2011.

The two schemes were implemented again when the “habagat,” or southwest monsoon, caused big floods in the middle of last year.

The SSS relief package also provides a twopercentage point cut in loan interest rates for members who need funds to repair their homes damaged by Pablo.

De Quiros reminded qualified SSS members that applications for the SLERP will be accepted up to March 31 while those for advance pension should be sent in by Jan. 31.

Applications for interest rate reduction under the SSS direct house repair and improvement loan program may be filed until the end of 2013. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

News-Phils

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 8

Gwen gets to Tourism executive brags: Travelers argue in court out of Naia in 25 minutes flat

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer SUSPENDED Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia did not get the temporary restraining order (TRO) she had been praying for but the Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered oral arguments on her petition next week.

The appellate court’s 12th Division on Wednesday decided to hold in abeyance Garcia’s petition for a TRO on the six-month suspension meted out on her by the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

In a two-page resolution written by Associate Justice Vicente Veloso of the 12th Division, the respondents in the case were ordered to file their comments to Garcia’s petition within 10 days from receipt of the notice.

The oral arguments will be heard on Jan. 10 at 10 a.m. in the Court of Appeal’s session hall.

The respondents in the case include the late Cebu Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr., who filed the suspension case against Garcia, the Office of the President, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

In coming out with its ruling, the appellate court acted on the petition for review with application for TRO/status quo order and writ of preliminary injunction that Garcia filed on Dec. 20.

Since her suspension last month based on Sanchez’s complaint, Garcia has continued to defy the order and has barricaded herself in the Cebu provincial capitol even through the Christmas and New Year holidays.

She said she would only leave the premises if the authorities bodily removed her.

In its resolution, the appellate court noted the respondents’ urgent motions for leave and opposition to the TRO which they filed on Dec. 28, as well as their opposition to the issuance of a TRO and/or status quo ante order.

The resolution was concurred in by Associate Justices Jane Aurora C. Lantion and Eduardo Peralta Jr. ■

IT HAS been branded over and over as one of the world’s worst airports. But Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) has a little known advantage that even top-rated airports in the West don’t offer. And a local tourism official hopes to spread the word around—and abroad.

According to Assistant Tourism Secretary Benito Bengzon Jr., it takes only 25 minutes for passengers arriving at Naia to complete the airport process—from disembarkation to clearing immigration and customs to getting a cab or meeting welcomers outside the airport.

That advantage, if effectively marketed, could attract more tourists to the Philippines.

Preliminary figures show international traffic at Naia reached 14.2 million travelers last year, up 8.78 percent from 13.07 million in 2011.

But the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), Naia’s operator, has yet to analyze the figures to separate tourist arrivals from returning migrant workers and visiting overseas Filipinos.

“The advantage of Naia is that in about three to four minutes, from the time the plane touches down, it is already at the bridge or tube … taxi time is shorter at Naia compared with bigger international airports abroad,” Bengzon told reporters before Christmas.

“You try to check your watch when you travel to a large airport. Taxiing after landing really takes time and sometimes you have to go through a bus gate so you will still have to be shuttled to the terminal,” he said.

Joint effort Bengzon attributed the faster process at Naia, which many travelers may have taken for granted, to the improved system at the immigration section.

“This is a joint effort of various agencies … so even if our airport is old and small, there are still advantages … and I hope you can spread the word around,” Bengzon said.

But flights arriving or leaving on time are another thing.

According to Bengzon, however, travelers can expect more punctual flights at Naia within the year, especially after the installation of

Novackboy

Kasmni | Flickr.com

BY JOCELYN R. UY AND JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer

night landing equipment in 14 major domestic airports across the country.

Last year, the travel guide Frommer’s ranked Naia as the second worst airport in the world, behind New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport.

Naia, particularly its Terminal 1, used to be the world’s worst airport.

That ranking was based on surveys of travelers, whose complaints included “safety concerns, lack of comfortable seats, rude staff, hostile security, poor facilities, no or few services to pass the time” and “bribery.”

Last month, the Department of Budget and Management said it released P933.8 million for the acquisition of night landing equipment for the airports of Tuguegarao, San Jose in Mindoro, Busuanga, Naga, Legazpi, Roxas, Tagbilaran, Dumaguete, Dipolog, Pagadian, Ozamis, Cotabato, Butuan and Surigao.

The airports will be equipped for air traffic services, airfield lighting, communications and power supply, among other things.

The improvements will allow flights to land and depart after sunset and before sunrise, easing the congestion at Naia, Bengzon said.

With congestion eased and, it is hoped, eliminated, airlines can mount additional flights to Manila, boosting tourist traffic to the Philippines.

Departures, arrivals Preliminary figures from the MIAA showed overseas arrivals and departures at Naia increased by 1.14 million last year.

The MIAA reported that 14,218,374 passengers took international flights at Terminals 1, 2 and 3.

The total traffic represents an increase of 8.78 percent from 13,070,447 for the three terminals in 2011.

Terminal 3, which has yet to be opened for full operation, posted a more than one-third increase in international passenger volume.

The terminal served 2,396,393 international passengers in 2012 compared to 1,738,411 in 2011—an increase of 37.8 percent.

In contrast, international passenger volume at Terminals 1 and 2 rose by only 4.5 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively.

The MIAA has yet to release a detailed analysis of the passenger increase.

The previous year saw several foreign and domestic airlines, mostly operating out of Terminal 3, offering low-cost overseas trips or launching new direct services to Southeast Asian and East Asian destinations.

Cebu Pacific, for instance, launched direct flights to Bangkok, Thailand and Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Tourism promotion The increase in international flights may also be attributed to the government’s aggressive tourism promotion to attract more foreigners and overseas Filipinos to visit the Philippines.

But the international passenger volume also includes the thousands of overseas Filipino workers displaced by the Arab Spring in the Middle East and North Africa or who lost their jobs because of the recession in developed countries. These arrivals are not supposed to be counted as tourists or visitors. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

9 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

News-Phils

Water snake good for gov’t top 3 ‘rats’

BY JOCELYN R. UY Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE CAUTIOUS and the wise water snake will slither through the new year most likely to bring an “intimate and passionate” love life to the country’s bachelor leader if he finds it, according to a feng shui consultant.

The Year of the Water Snake, which officially holds sway from Feb. 10, 2013, to Jan. 30, 2014, also augurs prosperity for the government especially with three of its top officials—President Aquino, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. born under the Year of the Rat. “The Rat is one of the prosperous sign for the Year of the Water Snake... and if you have three Rats under one roof, it’s super lucky,! said Dr. Andy Tan in a phone interview on Sunday.

It will also likely bring good fortune to banking and finance, real estate and property development, and even to sari-sari stores or carinderias (eateries), said Tan. Tan has been practicing for more than 20 years feng shui, an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to use the laws of heaven and earth to help improve one’s life by receiving positive energy (qi).

During the Water Snake’s reign, the country will continue to experience progress and abundance amid the festering fiscal crisis in the United States and financial market meltdown in Europe if good governance is sustained and the public-private partnership (PPP) projects is fully implemented.

“These factors will provide us with a beautiful economic forecast for the new year,” said Tan. An accelerated government spending and a boost in consumer purchasing power will also lift the country’s credit ratings, he added.

Not great for Binay The new year won’t be exactly great for Vice President Jejomar Binay, who was born in the Year of the Horse— the “contrapelo” of the Rat sign in the Chinese zodiac and whose compatibility with the Water Snake is “merely average,” Tan said.

But 2014, which is the Year of the Wood Horse, will be another story for Binay, said Tan. As 2013 progresses, the Rat’s luck will start to wane and this will most likely affect Mr. Aquino’s approval rating, which is expected to gradually slump after the midterm elections in May. But the mysterious and careful Water Snake will allot the President room for

“Based on my personal reading, her health will continue to deteriorate and she will be defeated if the charges will be pursued against her,” said Tan. But she could be spared “out of mercy” due to her health, he added.

a “very exciting and very intimate” romance in the third quarter of its reign—from August to October.

Passionate love If he manages to get hitched in the last quarter, from November to January, he will have a “very passionate” love life, Tan said.

“If he doesn’t get hitched in 2013, it’s not advisable to marry in the next two years because the energy is low,” he said.

“So the best time for him to get married is toward the end of 2013... and if he can marry someone born in the year of the Monkey or Dragon, it will be a jackpot. He will be very happy and everything will be positive,” Tan added.

Tan also said that the brewing coup in the Senate against Enrile could succeed.

Enrile’s hold on the upper chamber will highly depend on the outcome of the May elections, which are expected to become a season of balimbings (turncoats), ahasan (betrayal) and nepotism.

All about popularity According to his forecast, the administration-led Liberal Party will win only at least four seats in the Senate while its rival, the United Nationalist Alliance will score five to six seats.

Unfortunately, the wisdom and careful planning of the Water Snake will have no influence in politics, especially in the coming elections in the absence of “a good basket of candidates,” said Tan. “Like the Snake, the people will supposedly think but the majority of the voters belong to Class E. So there’s not much wisdom [at play]...it’s all name recall and popularity vote,” he said.

There is nothing much to expect from the national elections but he said the local balloting would be hotly contested, noisy and festive “with a little violence but not much bloodshed.”

Low energy for GMA The stars won’t align yet this year for former President Gloria MacapagalArroyo. The Pig, Arroyo’s animal sign, has the lowest energy in the Year of the Water Snake.

Good for households Generally, the new year will be good for Filipinos. Households will experience an increased cash flow, particularly during the election season, which could continue later in the year if the government pushed through with its infrastructure projects.

Big businesses like banking and finance, and real estate and property development will run smoothly in the Year of the Water Snake.

Water refilling For enterprising Filipinos, they can reap good fortune in businesses related to consumer products, haute couture as well as landscape and floral designing.

But plans to invest in a water refilling station should be put on hold. “That’s too much water,” Tan said.

Ordinary entrepreneurs may also want to explore the gaming industry, which is

expected to provide fertile opportunities when it booms this year, he added.

Small sari-sari stores and carinderias are expected to do well this year. “No need for franchising food businesses which is just a waste of money. Go for homemade products, which will make money because the people have money to spend on food and services,” said Tan. Attend happy occasions For those whose animal signs are not compatible with the Water Snake, especially the Pig and the Tiger, they are advised to attend happy occasions like baptism and wedding, and skip funerals and visiting the sick in hospitals for a balanced “yin and yang.”

Those born under these animal signs are also advised to hold on to their cash instead of investing in any business.

But there is good news for these apparently luckless batch. Tan said they could counter their misfortunes not with expensive lucky charms but by what he called “inner charm”—prayers, hard work and perseverance. ■

engLish LAnguAge LeArning

IMPROVE YOUR

engLish Beginner to Advanced classes

START JANUARY 2013 Funding may be available.

APPLY TODAY!

bowvalleycollege.ca/esl

LEARN MORE. EARN MORE. DO MORE.

News-Phils

DBM released P140-M pork for ex-solon via ‘caretaker’

BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE BUDGET department released close to P140 million in pork barrel to the province of Dinagat Islands last month or six months after its representative, fugitive cult leader Ruben Ecleo Jr., was stricken off the congressional roster.

Ecleo was removed from the list of members of the House of Representatives after the Supreme Court affirmed the Sandiganbayan’s guilty verdict on Ecleo for his role in irregularities in several infrastructure projects in San Jose, Surigao del Norte, where he served as mayor from 1991 to 1994.

He was sentenced to 18-31 years in prison and ordered to pay P2.8 million to the government.

Ecleo, a wanted man with a large bounty on his head, was also convicted last April of killing his young wife in 2002. He took over the cult, the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association Inc., founded by his father, after the latter died in 1987.

Data from the official website of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) showed a total of P138.875 million in priority development assistance fund (PDAF), also known as pork barrel, was released between Dec. 4 and Dec. 19 for projects in Dinagat.

The amount includes P78.75 million for a road, bridges, buildings and water projects; P21.175 million for 77 multicabs; and P21.3 in financial assistance for hospital, burial and scholarships.

On top of the purchase of multi-cabs (with a passenger capacity of 12) for six municipalities in Dinagat, the DBM also approved the purchase of two ambulances (total P2.4 million) and six four-wheel drive vehicles (total P9 million).

District’s caretaker Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr. defended the release of Ecleo’s two years’ worth of PDAF, noting that this was facilitated through Akbayan Rep. Kaka Bag-ao.

“The PDAF, as we have always maintained, does not go to the representative of the district but to the constituents. When Representative Ecleo’s name was stricken off the House roster, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. designated Bagao, who is from Dinagat Island, as caretaker of the district.

“She then facilitated the request for projects coming from LGUs (local government units) and national agencies

with offices in the province. So what appears in the records as PDAF allocations for 2011 and 2012 was facilitated through this arrangement,” said Abad, campaign manager of the Liberal Party (LP) in the 2010 elections.

‘Tainted’ Two representatives, one from a party-list group and one from Mindanao who both declined to be named for fear of reprisal from the LP, said the release of pork barrel funds to Dinagat was politically tainted.

They noted that Bag-ao, an administration ally who was one of the House prosecutors in the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, had filed her candidacy for the Dinagat congressional seat in the May midterm elections.

Bag-ao has forged an alliance with Dinagat Vice Gov. Jade Ecleo, a newly minted LP member, to wrest control of the province from the latter’s mother, Dinagat Gov. Glenda Buray Ecleo.

Bag-ao is closely linked to the President’s political affairs adviser and Akbayan president, Ronald Llamas. A P59.505 million in pork barrel was released last year for her projects as Akbayan representative.

In case of a vacancy in a congressional seat, the Commission on Elections holds a special election or the House appoints a caretaker for the district, normally a lawmaker from an adjacent province, according to two representatives.

No special elections In Dinagat Islands’ case, no special election was held and a party-list representative was named caretaker instead of a representative from Surigao province from which Dinagat Islands used to belong until 2006.

“Instead of a special election to elect a new representative as is usually the practice, such as in the case of former Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronald Singson, Dinagat is left without a representative even as the DBM released the district’s pork barrel to a caretaker who happens to be the administration’s candidate in the next elections. Nice,” said the party-list representative, who asked not to be named.

“It is obvious from the purchases made through the pork barrel, from the multi-cabs to multipurpose buildings to financial assistance projects, that these PDAF releases are in aid of election,” the Mindanao lawmaker said.

Sharp contrast The last-minute releases to Dinagat Islands courtesy of Bag-ao contrasted sharply with

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 10

the DBM’s treatment of members of the opposition and rival groups of Akbayan who received zero pork barrel allocations last year.

They were Camarines Sur Rep. Dato Macapagal-Arroyo, Ang Galing Pinoy Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, Iloilo Rep. Augusto Syjuco, Bulacan Rep. Joselito Mendoza, Lanao del Norte Rep. Vicente Belmonte, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Kabataan Rep. Raymond Palatino and Gabriela Representatives Luzviminda Ilagan and Emerenciana de Jesus. ■

Here’s a new year’s resolution that’ll be good for all

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer

LOOKING for a simple and doable new year’s resolution? How about one that lives and grows?

To plant trees may well be the most suitable resolution environmentally minded Filipinos can make in the new year, as it is the “perfect way of giving back what we have extracted from mother earth,” said Environment Secretary Ramon Paje.

“Tree-planting is not only a rewarding experience but also a great step toward improving and protecting our environment,” said Paje in a recent statement.

Planting a tree, he added, could be considered an investment in the future given the “environmental rewards.”

“As an essential part of the ecosystem, trees not only provide homes and food for humans and

wildlife, they also produce much of the earth’s oxygen, help reduce noise and air pollution, and prevent soil erosion,” he said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has its own new year’s resolution, vowing to intensify reforestation efforts through the National Greening Program (NGP).

The program seeks to cover 1.5 million hectares of land with trees through 2016. So far, since its inception in 2011, the DENR has planted seedlings on more than 232,000 hectares all over the country.

“One does not have to be part of the government or an environmental group to make a positive impact on his surroundings,” Paje said.

“Filipinos from all walks of life are encouraged to do their part to sustain the environment by planting trees.”

The official said trees could lessen the impact of global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions, which has been blamed for the extreme weather patterns being experienced worldwide.

“Planting trees not only greens and beautifies [surrounding] areas... it is also one of the ways to offset carbon emissions,” Paje said.

Doing the reverse of humans, trees breathe by “inhaling” carbon dioxide, one of the major causes of the greenhouse effect and climate change, and “exhaling” oxygen which in turn is inhaled by humans and other living organisms, and the cycle goes on.

The NGP, along with the government’s log ban, received a perfect score in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) of the world, the DENR said.

This helped raise the Philippines’ ranking by eight notches from 50th place in 2010 to 42nd in 2012 out of 132 countries surveyed.

The Philippines outranked nations like South Korea (43rd), Australia (48th), United States (49th), Singapore (52nd) and Israel (61st) in the EPI, the DENR said.

The EPI evaluates the sustainability of the environmental programs and policies of countries and is conducted by Yale University, Columbia University, the World Economic Forum and the Joint Research Center of the European Commission. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

11 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

News-Phils

Review of pyrotechnic laws

Regain people’s respect, PNP chief exhorts cops

BY CATHY C. YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer MOVED by reports that children were the main victims, Sen. Gregorio Honasan has called a hearing to review proposed Senate bills as well as existing local ordinances on the use and regulation of firecrackers.

The chair of the Senate public order and dangerous drugs committee, Honasan, said there are at least two bills, one filed by Sen. Manuel Villar and another by Sen. Miriam DefensorSantiago, on the use of firecrackers and fireworks.

Honasan said he wants to examine the ordinances of Davao City and Ormoc City banning firecrackers. Davao City reported a zero injury rate from firecrackers.

“One calls for a total ban while the other designates the use of firecrackers only in designated public areas like what is being done in developed countries,” said the senator who could not recall who filed which bill.

Davao City model A check with the Senate website showed that Villar filed a resolution in 2011 calling on the trade and commerce committee to “conduct an assessment” of the pyrotechnics industry and whether RA 7183, or the law regulating the sale, manufacture, distribution and use of firecrackers and other devices, protects consumers from unsafe and substandard products.

Honasan said the bills were sidelined because senators became busy with more urgent concerns, including the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Honasan said the findings of his committee would be consolidated with the Villar and Santiago bills. He said he might also file a report proposing to overhaul the law on pyrotechnics in response to the latest observations on firecracker use.

A matter of enforcement Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Sen. Panfilo Lacson observed the laws may be in place but implementation by law enforcement agencies was another matter.

“We already have the laws in place but the injuries that result from use cannot be remedied by these laws … It’s a question of law enforcement,” Enrile lamented.

“Threats and warnings are taken for granted because enforcement as a followthrough is lacking, if not absent,” Lacson in a text message.

According to the two senators, legislation could help improve the government’s response to the yearly problem of firecracker injuries.

Enrile said the DOH should be more proactive and directly assist Congress by submitting specific proposals on how to bring down the number of injuries.

Total ban “If (DOH officials) are wise, submit to us their proposal instead of talking. Better do it immediately. File with the proper committee their proposed legislation instead of talking about it,” Enrile suggested.

Otherwise, Enrile would prefer a total ban so there would be no more injuries and violators could be easily identified and prosecuted.

“If so many are getting injured, then shut down the store. Ban it. That’s the essence of government,” he said. ■

THE COUNTRY’S police said he hoped 2013 would bring a better mindset to Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel so the police organization could regain the people’s respect as law enforcers.

In his new year’s message on Jan. 1, PNP Director General Alan Purisima urged the 148,000-member police force to be good examples for the public by carrying out their duties and responsibilities “with honor and competence.”

“A police officer should be the first in showing a good example of public service.

If we don’t, then surely our countrymen will be disappointed,” said Purisima.

Purisima, who replaced retired Director General Nicanor Bartolome on Dec. 18, vowed to continue the reform programs initiated by his predecessors.

“What I want is for policemen to treat our job with dignity and competence. We should bring back honor to the words ’police officer’ and ’law enforcer,’” he said.

BoyPogi

BY CATHY C. YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer

“In this way, we can earn back the admiration of the whole nation for the police.

This may be difficult to do. But I assure you that I will lead you in this endeavor for the interest of the country and the national police,” he said.

He said this could only be done if every police officer were to provide serbisyong makatotohanan (honest service).

He said every policeman should “aspire for excellence in carrying out his duties” and for the police force to “transform itself into a fully professional group of police heroes.”

The PNP chief said he had spelled out his plans for the PNP in his “strategic focus” program called “Code-P: 2013 and Beyond” which he said was consistent with the PNP’s long-term program “PNP Patrol Plan 2030.”

Code-P stands for competence, organizational development, discipline, excellence and professionalism. ■

SALES REPRESENTATIVES (WITH COMMUNITY NEWS CORRESPONDENT DUTIES) Wanted For Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg

NEWSPAPER DELIVERY/DRIVER Wanted for Edmonton and Greater Vancouver Please send your resume to info@canadianinquirer.net

IN-STORE SALES REPRESENTATIVE Wanted for Calgary, Edmonton Vancouver, Toronto Please send your resume to hr@timestelecom.ca

Ramon Asuncion

Senate will pass vital bills, assures Sotto

BY NORMAN BORDADORA AND CATHY YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer THE SENATE leadership intends to make the most out of Congress’ remaining nine session days to pass crucial measures before it goes on a three-month recess ahead of the May midterm elections, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said.

“As many as possible,” Sotto said when asked how many pending bills the Senate intend to pass when it resumes its session on Jan. 21. It will go on a break on Feb. 8 for the campaign period.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has listed the amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (Amla) and the antitrust bill, along with the ratification of the freedom of information (FOI) bill still pending in the House, among the measures that should be approved when Congress resumes its session.

Sotto said the upper chamber would do its best to pass the Amla amendments and the antitrust bill within this period.

Congress won’t have its next session until June 3. But it will adjourn just three days later on June 6.

The third set of Amla amendments is a priority measure of the Aquino administration but questions over the inclusion or noninclusion of specific industries among those required to reveal big-ticket transactions could stall the measure.

The Amla amendments seek to increase the covered transactions and predicate crimes that would merit the monitoring of bank accounts by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

Sen. Joker Arroyo has warned the measure could be used by whoever controls the administration against its political opponents.

He said this was the reason a number of senators were against the measure and why it had yet to make headway in the Senate.

News-Phils Arroyo also wanted banks among the institutions that would be penalized for accepting “dirty money” from launderers and other criminals.

He said it would be illogical to prosecute launderers without sanctioning the banks that accepted their ill-gotten deposits.

Several parties representing jewelers, realtors and other businesses that would be required to reveal their transactions to the government under new Amla rules were also reportedly balking at the idea.

First-quarter passage Congress needs to pass the second round of Amla amendments by the first quarter of this year as required by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global organization that monitors money transfers throughout the world as part of antiterrorism efforts.

The FATF has delayed placing the Philippines in its blacklist of “uncooperative countries” after Congress passed an initial set of amendments and officials assured it that Congress would soon approve the second round of Amla amendments that it required. The country is presently in FATF’s dark grey list.

Senate banks committee chair Sergio Osmeña III said Malacañang may have to flex its muscles and indicate its desire to have the Amla amendments approved to save the Philippines from the blacklist.

“The Palace is always the key to passing controversial bills,” the senator noted.

“We will try [to pass] the antitrust law, the amendments to the [Anti-Money Laundering Act] and some dangerous drugs amendments. [The freedom of information bill] is already finished in the Senate,” Sotto said in a text message. ■

DPWH starts spending budget

The DPWH on a mission.

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DEPARTMENT of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will kick off today, the first working day of the new year, projects funded by its P106.5-billion infrastructure outlay in the 2013 national budget—the biggest chunks of which will go to Muslim Mindanao and northern Luzon.

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 12

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson told a recent gathering of DPWH district engineers in Cebu City that he wanted to get an early start on the infrastructure program to beat the rainy seasons as well as the election ban on construction projects.

“The first working day of January 2013, we will start project implementation, which is earlier than we did last year,” he said.

“Our intention is twofold. First, we want to catch up with the good dry months and complete the small projects before the start of the rainy season and, second, we will be able to start the construction phase of the projects prior to the enforcement of the May 2013 election ban,” he said.

This year, the department “will continue to pursue the full pavement of arterial roads and secondary roads by 2014 and 2016, respectively, as well as the upgrading of bridges to permanent structures before the end of the Aquino administration.

The physical targets are “15,872 kilometers of national arterial roads, 15,370 km of national secondary roads and 7,958 bridges with a total length of 345,978 lineal meters,” said Singson.

For the third year in a row, strife-torn Mindanao will get the biggest slice of the infrastructure budget.

The southern Philippines has an allocation of P27.6 billion for 2013, or 26.09 percent of the total funding.

The other regions will get the following allocations: Metro Manila, P14.6 billion; northern Luzon, P24.1 billion; southern Tagalog, P20.4 billion, and the Visayas, P19.4 billion.

Poorest provinces get funds In the 2013 budget, the five provinces comprising the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), among the poorest in the country, will receive the following allotments: Maguindanao, P962 million; Lanao del Sur, P557 million; Basilan, P431 million; TawiTawi, P370 million, and Sulu, P300 million.

In a DPWH report furnished the INQUIRER, the department said that “the national government has prepared a Stimulus Development Plan for the ARMM, which aims to implement its reform roadmap towards economic recovery and development in the region.”

“Under the plan, the government will fund priority projects promoting basic services, infrastructure and livelihood development. The development of national roads is one of the highlights of the plan,” the report said.

Singson disclosed the Aquino administration had adopted a new tack in budget execution, which is the shift to the one-year validity of all appropriations.”

He said this would force them to work harder to finish the financial spadework and bid out projects before the year.

His target is to bid out projects under P20 million

by Nov. 15; projects worth between P20 million and P50 million by Nov. 30, and the rest within the month of December.”

“Of the total budget, P22.8 billion will be used to preserve the existing road network, and another P26.2 billion to cement 1,175 km of graveltype roads, up by nearly P16 billion compared to the 2012 allocation,” Singson said. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

13 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

News-Phils

Wendell Garcia

Some solons want JPE to stay till May You better watch out in 2013,

BY CATHY YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile’s pronouncement that he was willing to be replaced by a younger colleague only proves he does not intend to “cling to power” as some critics allege, said Sen. Gregorio Honasan.

But Honasan said Enrile’s statement should not be interpreted as “deliberately precipitating” a Senate reorganization before the 2013 elections.

Aquino ally Sen. Sergio Osmeña III suggested they wait until after the 2013 elections to replace Enrile because there remained much to do in the nine days left of the 15th Congress. Enrile himself said the Senate was pressed to approve an antitrust bill and amendments to the AntiMoney Laundering Act. The Senate is also awaiting the version of the freedom of information (FOI) bill that the House of Representatives is expected to approve. Once it does, the two chambers would have to reconcile their versions so an FOI law could be produced before the 15th Congress ends its third and final session.

Osmeña said the choice of Enrile’s replacement should be made after the May elections.

“Now is not the time to change the Senate leadership with only three weeks of the session left until the long break,” he said in a text message.

The buzz was that some administrationlinked senators wanted Enrile out, noting that his positions on several major issues did not represent those of the majority bloc. But with only three weeks of the session remaining, some senators see no compelling reason to replace Enrile, one of the leaders of the opposition United

Nationalist Alliance (UNA) coalition.

Sen. Tito Sotto said talk of Enrile’s exit would usher in the possibility of his own exit as Senate majority leader. Sotto said he actually welcomed the idea since leaving the post “means more time for “my family and myself.”

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III said he was not surprised that Enrile himself broached the possibility of his being replaced.

“I have heard JPE (Enrile’s initials) say privately that come June 2013 he would offer to be replaced as Senate President because he is not getting any younger,” Pimentel said in a text message to the INQUIRER. “Allowing younger blood to take over and... admitting that he himself is not indispensable” deserves a word of “congratulations,” he added.

Sen. Francis Escudero said he said “no compelling issue” to have a change of leadership at this time.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Bong Revilla used the word “mentor” in describing Enrile’s role in their learning process as lawmakers.

Estrada admitted he was overcome by a “sense of loss ( panghihinayang)” at the statement of Enrile, his party mate.

Revilla admitted there were instances when he and Enrile had “differences of opinion” but Enrile “succeeded in transcending party lines, ensuring that the Senate works for the people.”

Honasan noted that Enrile had already been delegating some functions to the younger senators.

For example, Enrile leaves the rostrum within minutes of banging the gavel and opening the session. Estrada as President Pro Tempore presides over the most part of the afternoon plenary sessions although Honasan and Sen. Loren Legarda are also called upon to do so.

Rumors of a coup against the Senate President were fanned recently by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago.

Santiago, who huffed that Enrile had returned her Christmas gift, said her sources had intimated that Enrile may be removed as Senate President in January or February. Estrada and Sotto were also in danger of being removed, she claimed.

“It is illogical for Enrile to remain as Senate President, while campaigning for the opposition. It becomes untenable” she said, noting that Enrile’s UNA was fielding candidates against President Aquino’s Liberal Party-led administration coalition.

Santiago guessed the issue would be resolved before the Senate breaks by the end of February. ■

Biazon warns customs men

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE NEW year will bring a new clampdown at the Bureau of Customs where a number of BOC officials and employees have been making fortunes in connivance with smugglers.

The days of erring bureau personnel are definitely numbered, Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon told the INQUIRER, two days before the start of 2013.

In the new year, “those who continue to engage in illegal activities in connivance with smugglers will be targeted and will face the full force of the law,” Biazon said.

“I intend to surpass our 2012 accomplishments under our Run After the Smugglers (RATS) campaign, just as we surpassed our accomplishments of the previous year,” he said.

In a text message, Biazon expressed confidence bureau personnel would “live up to my expectations that they would outperform themselves not only in the anti-smuggling drive but also in revenue collection and trade facilitation.”

He noted that under RATS, the bureau “has been consistently filing smuggling cases every other week (in the Department of Justice).”

“So far, we haven’t run out of cases to file,” he said, adding: “For the program, I’d like to see more convictions.”

In the last two years, the BOC has filed more than 100 smuggling cases against importers and traders who brought in over

P60-billion worth of goods from various parts of the world.

But only one case so far has resulted in a conviction, Biazon admitted.

“A big problem is the large number of cases pending in the judicial system, which adversely affects the credibility of the RATS program,” he said.

Earlier, Biazon told a news conference the bureau’s job included filing smuggling cases promptly and it was up to the courts to decide them.

“Remember, [getting a] conviction is not the job of the Bureau of Customs but of the courts,” he said.

In the coming year, the BOC will also scrutinize the business records of bureauaccredited importers in order to ferret out not only the smugglers but the fly-by-night and fictitious firms.

In an earlier phone interview, Biazon said “it’s true smuggling is still one of the biggest problems facing the bureau.”

“However, it’s not true that we are not addressing the problem.”

Biazon put the blame mainly on “about 50 percent of customs operations still being manually done, as well as antiquated customs laws.”

He also pointed to the “connivance between corrupt government officials and corrupt businessmen” for the smuggling going on at the country’s major ports.

“This connivance occurs because the operating environment allows it to with human intervention and abuse of discretion being the principal tools,” he said. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

News-Phils

attribution www.change.org

Change.org makes a difference in Zamboanga

BY NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer CHANGE.ORG founder Ben Rattray was struck by one particular petition that appeared on the popular petition website—the one about a collapsed wall beside a school in a remote Zamboanga del Sur town that posed an absolute danger to the pupils.

It was posted by an online group of young people called Checkmyschool.org in October 2012. It gathered nearly 3,000 signatures, enough to send officials of the Department of Education (DepEd) scrambling to inspect what came to be called the “landslide wall” at Otto Lingue National High School.

Sen. Pia Cayetano was sufficiently roused to provide the funds for the repair of the wall. The local government of Pagadian City came out vowing to protect the students.

The ripple effect of the change that every successful petition on Change.org brings is what excites and inspires Rattray, 32, who was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2012 because of how the social media platform that he founded has revolutionized the way people campaign for political or social change.

“In many ways, [the landslide wall] is a very small victory but it is illustrative of what is possible not in one town or city but in two and then in 10 and dozens and hundreds and it starts to facilitate better communication and accountability from everyday citizens and local governments,” Rattray told reporters during a recent visit to Manila.

Petitioning for change is not new to Filipinos. Rattray himself noted that the Philippines has done it collectively not just once but twice through the Edsa People Power Revolutions.

While taking to the streets in protest actions is still the norm in the country, online social activism is quickly spreading among Filipino netizens.

This doesn’t surprise him, said Rattray, considering that the Philippines is reportedly the social media capital of the world.

Change.org in the Philippines started with 27,000 users in April this year and quickly jumped to over 300,000 today, with at least 350 active petitions, said Christine Roque, the campaigner for Change.org Pilipinas.

These include a call to oust Sen. Tito Sotto for alleged acts of plagiarism; a nuclear research specialist asking Ben Rattray the government for the release of their benefits this Christmas; the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) asking Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to transfer Mali, the elephant at Manila Zoo to a sanctuary in Thailand; 14-year-old Jann Ericko Medina’s call for Sen. Edgardo Angara to amend the cybercrime law; a campaign to put up bike lanes in Metro Manila; and a call to President Aquino no less to save the former home in Laguna of national hero Jose Rizal’s mother.

Aside from the “landslide wall” triumph, Change.org Pilipinas can claim victories in the revocation of the hijab (Muslim veil) ban of a Zamboanga City school; performer Sting deciding to transfer the venue of his Manila concert from the SM Mall of Asia to Araneta Coliseum in protest against the cutting of trees in SM Baguio; and the holding of the 2013 Palarong Pambansa in Negros Oriental.

Change.org has released an infographic worldwide that features the “landslide wall” victory alongside that of the parents of murdered American teenager Trayvon Martin and a call for Seventeen Magazine to stop “photo shopping” its models as significant examples of advocacies to be found on the website.

There are many other “small victories” that Change.org has seen worldwide—from India to South Africa to the United States to South America.

All these petitions, according to Rattray, are a “massive number of small movements that begin from the ground up.”

“People don’t see issues as abstract entities at the national level. They see how they impact real people’s lives and build solidarity … [which] cross borders and boundaries that traditionally exist, between rich and poor, north and south and between one country or another,” he said.

Overall, the petitions brought to Change.org, the world’s largest online petition site with 25 million users, are mostly about human rights issues.

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 14

Rattray attributes this to the empowerment that social media platforms like Change.org give people.

“It’s that people don’t feel empowered and when they do feel empowered through social media platforms like Change.org, they engage in ways that you almost never expected. It dramatically increases; every campaign that wins generates more campaigns that generate more wins and ultimately, you have this virtual cycle of civic participation and activity,” he said.

According to Rattray, social media allows the democratization of power, such that people are able to “elevate their existing interest and I think when you feel you can make a difference and you feel empowered, you start to take on more important issues.”

“And the reason people don’t is when they feel they can’t make a difference,” he said.

Change.org also encourages people to “think not just about national politics but daily change,” he said.

“The first thing we recommend people to do is actually start with local, specific, achievable objectives, which is some of the most important,” he said.

Already a user-friendly online site, Change.org uses the vernacular in all the countries in which it is available. In the Philippines, Roque has translated to Filipino the main texts to be found on Change.org.

Rattray, the second of five children, did not have a background in activism before he launched Change.org a few years ago.

He was a Stanford University and London School of Economics graduate whose great dream was to become an investment banker on Wall Street.

Then one day, his younger brother revealed that he was gay and that he had suffered from the trauma of discrimination.

“When he came out as gay, it was sort of a shock for me and for a moment, frankly, of shame,” Rattray said.

He told Time Magazine that he himself had made fun of homosexuals when he was in high school.

“He had personal struggles but didn’t feel empowered to take those personal passions to advance a wider sense of justice that other younger people are suffering from discrimination and bullying because they’re gay,” Rattray said of his brother.

His brother’s experience prompted Rattray to develop Change.org. His introduction to Facebook in 2005 gave him the idea of how potent social media could be.

Today, Rattray’s brother is actively involved in LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender/transsexual) advocacies.

Change.org was by no means an overnight success. It took a while before online activists and the media took notice of the site.

Today, Rattray himself has become the No. 1 endorser of Change.org.

He was named by a US online business magazine as one of the world’s sexiest CEOs and The New York Times has cited him as one of Silicon Valley’s most eligible bachelors. Rattray calls such accolades a “distraction” but accepts them only if they would help his organization. His mother, though, is over the moon about them, he said.

Rattray believes that it is the effect of shaming people, companies or even governments that makes online activism effective and gets the “targets of the complaints” to act on them, or at the very least provide some explanation. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

Opinion

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 16

THERE’S THE RUB

Still, villain

BY CONRADO DE QUIROS Philippine Daily Inquirer IF YOU’RE a parent, you’d know the feeling.

In fact, if you’re someone’s brother or sister, you’d know the feeling. Still in fact, if you’re just a human being you’d know the feeling.

That’s the feeling you get at the death of 7yearold Stephanie Nicole Ella. That is the feeling of shock, horror, sorrow, rage, fury, a sense of disbelief, a sense of senselessness, a questioning of heaven about why such hellish things like this happen. The loss is as incalculable as it is unnecessary. The loss is as unimaginable as it is preventable.

Nicole had been dancing the Gangnam just a few hours before, filled with the laugher and innocence of childhood, looking forward to the joy and abundance of a new year like every one of us. She had gone out of her house in Caloocan with her parents and siblings to watch the fireworks and revel in the thunderous bursts of firecrackers and other sounds of merrymaking.

Then suddenly she fell to the ground, bleeding copiously in the head. She had been hit by a bullet on the top of her head, which ripped off the left side of her brain before exiting through the lower part of her cheek. She was rushed to the hospital where she fought bravely on for 38 hours before succumbing to death.

Can you imagine how her parents must feel?

To be thrown into the pit of despair at the height of euphoric revelry? Can they ever look at any

New Year’s Eve again without feeling bereft and killing is a crime of epic proportions; it deserves desolated? All that loud and noisy explosion, a punishment of epic proportions. But that killer, all that wild and reckless abandon, was meant unwitting as he is, reluctant as he is, is not the to chase away the demons, to greet the new day only criminal, is not the only one deserving of with cheer. But two kids dead from being shot, punishment. Hemerely happened to be the one another critically wounded, scores injured from that hit a target. Many others fired their guns wayward bullets, quite too, and it is only by apart from the hundreds Nicole has become the Philippine the merest luck—one maimed by firecrackers: version of the gang-rape victim in is tempted to say by Providence, except All it did was unleash the India, stoking the country to grief and fury, teeth-gnashing and soul- that you wonder how demons into our midst.

Nicole has become Providence could be searching. so improvident with a the Philippine version of the gang-rape victim in India, stoking the 7-year-old (and 4-year-old)—that they did not country to grief and fury, teeth-gnashing and kill or maim someone too.

The firing of the guns in the air itself is the soul-searching. For good reason: Some crimes, though they be the product of a murder-waiting- crime, the ones who fire the guns in the air to-happen rather than a willfully committed one, themselves are the criminals. Lito Lapid for once are simply monstrously incomprehensible and makes complete sense when he says there ought incomprehensibly monstrous. Like the gang- to be a law on this. And indeed he has filed one rape-and-murder in India, it has stoked as well that goes all the way back to January last year calls for ways to make sure it doesn’t happen calling for stiffer penalties for this. Specifically, again. It will be cold comfort to Nicole’s kin as calling for amending current laws which merely they continue to find a gaping hole in their hearts, slap offenders a maximum prison term of six but you hope at least it will make sure she did not months. His bill proposes six years for those die entirely in vain. found guilty of “illegal discharge,” 12-20 years The police have vowed to find Nicole’s killer where the culprit is a person of authority, and life and run after those who fired guns during New imprisonment if someone dies from it.

Year’s Eve, and government itself has vowed to Harsh? Look at Nicole and see if that’s so. curb or stop the spread of loose firearms. Those Look at her parents and sibling and friends and classmates and see if that’s so. things are imperative, but they are not enough.

You see the problem when someone like PNP True enough, finding Nicole’s killer is nonnegotiable. It is a matter of justice, it is a chief Alan Purisima himself says in the case of matter of restoring balance in the universe. Her two cops who were among 18 people caught

firing guns last New Year’s Eve, “These two policemen may be dismissed from the service .... We are now finishing the summary hearing and will come up with a decision soon.” What the hell else do you need to discuss and process?

The only thing you need to know is whether they fired their guns or not. If they did, fire them, prosecute them, and jail them. As well indeed as the others: Prosecute them and jail them too.

There are not enough jails to house them? Then build more.

It has never been a matter of wit, it has always been a matter of will.

But the problem goes farther, and the solution goes farther. We want to stop this from happening again, let’s stop the proliferation of guns, let’s stop the spread of guns, let’s stop the fetish for guns. The distinction between loose and tight firearms, between unregistered and registered guns, between unlicensed and licensed guns is a thin one. The ones who were spotted firing their guns last New Year’s Eve were not all civilians sporting paltik, they were barangay officials, security guards, cops and soldiers, public officials or their children flashing flashy guns while on a drinking spree. We presume their guns are licensed, registered, tight. It’s not just driving and drinking that don’t mix, it’s having guns and drinking that don’t mix. New Year’s Eve being a license to drink, it has become as well, with the plethora of guns, with the flood of guns, overrunning us, a license to fire, a license to shoot, a license to kill.

Still, the villain is not out there, it is inside us.■

AT LARGE

Two priests

BY RINA JIMENEZ-DAVID Philippine Daily Inquirer IT WAS Fr. James B. Reuter, SJ, who ushered me into the world of reproductive health. It isn’t what you think.

I was a second-year student at the University of Santo Tomas and a newbie reporter at the Varsitarian when our publications director, the late Felix Bautista, summoned me to his office and told me he was assigning me to cover a seminar on natural family planning. The seminar was organized by Father Reuter and among the other participants I remember was the wife of fellow INQUIRER columnist Johnny Mercado.

I don’t remember exactly what family planning method was being discussed but I presume it was an early form of the “Standard Days” method then being developed by the Jesuit-run Georgetown University.

It was my first exposure to Father Reuter although of course I had seen him on TV introducing every episode of “Santa Zita and Mary Rose,” and read of his work, especially on stage. And, I suppose, like every other young woman in his orbit, I was held in thrall by his personality. Even then, he was already whitehaired (well, the little of it that remained), but he was still vigorous, forceful, masculine.

Later, Father Reuter invited me and other student writers to take part in a workshop on writing for radio, and at the end of the workshop he announced that we would be invited to audition for a new radio serial titled “Mister and Misis.”

There was a considerable UST presence up for what was right, most memorably when he among the cast. The lead “misis” role went set up “Radyo Bandido” at a most perilous time to my friend, Sandra Castro Puno, now a vice in the nation’s history when masses were facing president of Nestlé, while her “mister” was a down the armed troops of the dictatorial regime. male classmate of ours. Yours truly was chosen Later that evening, we would hold a minito play the role of “Oryang,” the town busybody, reunion of many of those behind “Mister and who was sometimes the villain and other times Misis,” including Cherry, Bernard, and Sr. an ally of the couple.

Sarah Manipol, Chosen to write and beloved assistant direct the radio drama Father Joaquin Bernas spoke fondly of Father of Father Jim, who was Bernard Canaveral, treated the cast who I just found out now Reuter’s love for embroidering his stories with and production heads the “Family Rosary outlandish anecdotes, but also of his courage crew like her own Crusade.” It was produced children. It brought by long-time Reuter in standing up for what is right. back memories of associate Cherry Aquino. weekends spent in The drama brought us the NOMM office, firmly into the small tight circle around Father in the orbit of a man who has been rightly called Reuter, as we taped in the NOMM studio located “an American by birth, but a Filipino at heart.” in the Jesuit Residence in Sta. Ana. *** *** THEY call him “Erps,” short-cut for “erpat,” THE drama would go on for a few years, but itself slang term for “father,” and the term of by the time I graduated and started working, I address chosen by Fr. Ben Villote. had to bow out and say farewell to “Oryang.”

The story goes that when Church authorities But Father Reuter remained a presence in finally granted permission in 1976 for the small mylife, as I was working with the Archdiocese chapel in Punta, Sta. Ana, to be established as a of Manila’s media office and our paths would separate parish, the people held a grand welcome often cross. ceremony for their first parish priest, complete So it is to Father Reuter that I owe two abiding with bunting and a hired band, with residents passions in my life: the media and reproductive lining the streets to greet him. But when the health and rights. thin, humble figure of Father Ben appeared, “he At the Mass held Friday evening at the quickly waved his hand to stop the band and the Church of the Gesu in Ateneo, Fr. Joaquin noisy commotion of the people. ‘I am not God Bernas, SJ, another columnist for this paper, was nor a prophet to be welcomed this way,’ he said the homilist, speaking fondly of Father Reuter’s with a poker face. Everyone became silent. The love for embroidering his stories with outlandish gay and joyous atmosphere turned mute,” recalls anecdotes, but also of his courage in standing a former parishioner.

Soon after, though, Erps’ unique pastoral and personal vision presented itself, in the process transforming the community and, in many ways, the lives of the people he encountered in Punta.

Recalls Florante Rapi, a youth leader in Punta: “Before 1976, Punta was one of the notorious places in Metro Manila. It was so notorious that no taxi driver would dare come in here even to transport a passenger. Now that image has changed…” *** THAT process of “change” is attributed to the six years Erps spent as pastor in Punta, a process of transformation recounted in the book “The Journey: From BCC to CMY.” Cecile Basabas Ikaguchi, who led the team of the Pre-baptism Formation Ministry and other parishioners in Punta in putting the book together, says the project was born of their desire “to recapture the values” that Erps embodied, shared and instituted in Punta and later in the Center of Migrant Youth.

Now that Erps is confined to a wheelchair and unable to verbally communicate, Cecile says they hope the book will document—complete with anecdotes from parish leaders, parishioners and wards of the Center—the process of creating a Basic Christian Community, of which Punta was a pioneer, and of working with and transforming the “outcasts” of society who are now themselves looking after Erps.

“It was so easy,” recalls Cecile of the entire process of putting the book together. “People were writing from their hearts.” Those wishing to learn more about Father Ben’s apostolate may order the book from Fr. Hermie Garcia at 733-0245/46, or from Cecile’s language academy at 799-7293■

17 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

Opinion

PUBLIC LIVES

Amok

BY RANDY DAVID Philippine Daily Inquirer WHEN 41-year-old Ronald “Bossing” Bae went on a shooting rampage in his neighborhood in Kawit, Cavite, the other day, indiscriminately killing eight and wounding about 11 others, the local media promptly labeled his heinous act as that of an “amok.” “Bigla na lang siyang nagamok,” reporters said, echoing the words of Bae’s stunned neighbors.

Malay in origin, the word “amok” instantly summons images of a man (never a woman) who is so blinded by desperate rage that he charges headlong and kills anybody in his path. Originally used as an adjective, it entered the English language, according to the Arcade Dictionary of Word Origins, by way of the Portuguese noun “amouco,” meaning, a “homicidally crazed Malay.” One can only suppose that to every colonial army that arrived in the Malay world, whose advances were fiercely resisted by the natives, every fighter who rushed into the battlefield despite the odds had to be an “amok”—a dangerous killer in the grip of a trance.

The word’s association with native resistance to foreign incursions survived till the American period, when it was specifically applied to the valiant Moro rebels of Mindanao. Toward the end of Spanish rule, however, the term “juramentado” (from the Spanish juramentar, i.e. to swear or make a pledge) began to be used more often to refer to willful fighters driven by belief. Subsequently, huramentado entered the Filipino language as a reference to any form of righteous rage that takes

a violent turn. (Is it not a strange coincidence that First, I have never heard of an assisted amok. the weapon Bae used to murder his neighbors is The role played by Bae’s house caretaker, John the same .45 caliber M1911 handgun developed Paul Lopez, is, to say the least, absurd. He was expressly for the use of American troops in the seen and photographed reloading the magazine early 1900s against the “frenzied” Moro fighters for Bae’s .45 as his boss kept firing. Was he also of Mindanao?) delirious? Was he doing it under duress? As Bae In Malay culture, and, I suppose, that includes walked out into the street, shooting everyone the substratum of our own psyche, the amok is a in sight, why did he not take the first chance to figure of fascination. He is thought of as someone flee? Lopez went missing later, but the police say who is possessed, and, acting out of character, they have arrested him in another town. Prior to suddenly goes into a frenzied killing spree. In this the shooting, he and Bae were seen drinking the state, he, in effect, is inviting whole day and night. What others to kill him. There were they talking about? are stories of amoks who Second, while Bae The first thought that came to my mind are subdued before they was intoxicated and as I was watching the first television can do further harm. When possibly high on drugs, reports of Ronald Bae’s rampage in his appearance was far they snap out of the trance, Cavite was not of an amok, but of a from frenzied. Like Adam they remember nothing of copycat killer taking his cue from the Lanza, his movements were the violent disposition they assumed or the mayhem Connecticut gunman who shocked calculated and methodical. they caused. Since the midthe world when he walked into the He was reported to have 19th century, this syndrome initially gone to the Sandy Hook elementary school. has been diagnosed as a neighboring house, looking form of psychotic disorder. for his kumpare, Berto. Not The first thought that finding his kumpare home, came to my mind as I was watching the first he vented his frustration on Berto’s three young television reports of Ronald Bae’s rampage in children and shot all of them. Then he started to Cavite was not of an amok, but of a copycat killer kick at the doors of a nearby row of apartments, taking his cue from the Connecticut gunman shooting anybody he found inside, including who shocked the world when he walked into the a pregnant woman doing her laundry and the Sandy Hook elementary school on a wintry day little daughter beside her. “Bossing” then walked last December and killed 26 people, 20 of them down the narrow alley into the market, firing his children. No one in the American media said that gun at will, hitting the brothers Al and Antonio Adam Lanza had “run amuck.” I am not sure either Orio, who were selling taho, and Irene Funelas, that it is appropriate to apply it to Ronald Bae. a fruit vendor. After everyone had scampered to

safety, the local tough guy calmly walked back to his house. This is where the responding police caught up with him and killed him in the ensuing shootout.

Who was Ronaldo “Bossing” Bae? His neighbors say the man was not originally from the area. He owned a big house there but he had not been living there for about two years now. No one could say exactly what his source of income was. He seemed well-connected, and he liked surrounding himself with personal underlings, like John Paul Lopez. He was known to be generous with his money, and some people called him a “Robin Hood.” In 2010, he ran for barangay captain but lost. In whispers, neighbors say they suspected him to be a drug pusher. They feared him, and continued to be remarkably guarded in what they told reporters about him even after the police had shot him dead. Why? Important as it is, I have not addressed here the question of gun control. I agree with urgent proposals to tighten gun ownership, confiscate loose firearms, and impose a total ban on the carrying of firearms by private individuals during the holiday season. But, having said this, I cannot overstress the fact that it is necessary to look into the social context surrounding mass shooting incidents such as the Kawit massacre.

Killing sprees are not common in our society.

But global communication can easily bring these images of criminal deviance into our living rooms. We must make sure that, in whatever part of the world they happen, acts like these are not romanticized or mythicized, but resolutely condemned.■

AS I SEE IT

Stop the proliferation of guns!

BY NEAL H. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer IT IS starting to happen to us.

Mass shootings by crazed gunmen that have become common in the United States are beginning to happen here, too. Last Friday, Jan. 4, a drugcrazed losing candidate for barangay captain in Kawit, Cavite, went on a shooting spree and killed eight people and wounded 12 others. Four of the casualties were children, aged 2 to 7. One died, Michaella Caimol, 7, while her two siblings, Ken Cedric, 3, and KC, 2, were wounded. A fourth girl, Jan Monica de Vera, 3, was also wounded. The gunman, identified as Ronald Baquiran Bae, was killed in a gunfight with policemen.

Only three days earlier, another 7-year-old girl, Stephanie Nicole Ella, was killed by a stray bullet during the New Year’s Eve revelry.

The shooting rampage in Cavite calls to mind the massacre in a grade school in the United States that left 20 children and six adults dead a few weeks earlier. The killer was a crazed 20 year-old who shot himself in the head when responding policemen arrived. There have been many other mass shootings in the United States through the years, some of them also in schools where innocent children were killed. In the Philippines, we have the Maguindanao massacre where 58 people were mowed down.

The trial of the accused in the massacre is going at a snail’s pace, as it does with most cases in Philippine courts.

There is a common denominator in the mass shootings in the United States and the

Philippines: the proliferation of guns and very world,” is no match to the power of the NRPA lax gun control laws. Every time there is a mass lobby. shooting in America, there is a clamor for a The same thing is happening in the Philippines. stricter gun control law, but after the mourning With the mass shooting in the Philippines and and the uproar die down, nothing happens. No the death of Nicole, there is now a clamor for gun control law is enacted. And when the next stricter gun control regulations. Most Filipinos, mass shooting happens, the including Catholic bishops, same cycle is repeated.

Every time there is a mass shooting are calling for a total gun Most Americans and ban. in America, there is a clamor for a top US officials, including This requires legislation.

President Barack Obama, stricter gun control law, but after But how can our Congress want stricter laws to curb the mourning and the uproar die enact a stricter gun control gun violence. But Congress law when most of the does nothing beyond verbal down, nothing happens. legislators themselves have calisthenics. Because the US their own private armies? legislators are afraid of a powerful progun lobby. Indeed, almost every politician here has his own The National Rifle and Pistol Association army of bodyguards. And they all require guns.

(NRPA) is composed of hunters, gun enthusiasts Every election period, the Philippines and gun crazies. It is supported and funded becomes another Wild West with shootings and

by US gun manufacturers. Its main weapon is assassinations every so often even when there is the provision in the Constitution of the “right a “total gun ban.” When will this all end? of every American to bear arms.” This was an Only when there is a real total gun ban. The amendment to the Constitution and this was put alleged “total gun ban” during the election there because the war for American independence period is a farce. There are so many exceptions, against the British colonial rulers was won with foremost of which are the private armies of the help of armed militias. The winning of the politicians. Yes, many shootings, like the American West was also achieved with the help Maguindanao massacre, are caused by politics. of guns. The gun culture is therefore a tradition Then there are the guns owned by ordinary in America. citizens. The police places the number of Although times have changed, the gun culture licensed guns at 1.6 million. Those are only the remains. As a result, thousands of Americans die licensed ones. There is almost the same number every year from gunshot wounds. Despite the of unlicensed guns. The bullet that killed Nicole growing toll, the NRPA has not relented. It still came from one of them. opposes gun controls.

Why this fascination of Filipinos (and Even the president of the United States, Americans) with guns? supposedly the “most powerful person in the In the vicinity of the neighborhood where

Nicole was hit, there are 242 licensed gun owners. And Nicole’s neighborhood is not an affluent one. And those are only the licensed ones. There must also be scores of unlicensed firearms there.

There are two gun control bills that have been rotting for years in the committee chaired by Sen. Gringo Honasan. With the latest shootings and resulting uproar, the senator has bestirred himself but said the present Congress could pass a new gun control law before it adjourns this month.

I do not hold any hope that Congress would be able to pass a law mandating a total gun ban.

How can it, when most members of Congress have, as stated earlier, their own private armies, when President Aquino himself is a gun enthusiast (until now, he has been very quiet on the clamor for a total gun ban), when policemen in the Firearms and Explosives Division of the Philippine National Police act as agents for gun stores? How can we temper the craving for guns when there are periodic gun shows in the shopping malls?

Even if Congress passed a gun control law, the law would be watered down with so many amendments and exceptions that it would be practically useless.

Even the Gunless Society, which has been urging for decades the enactment of a gun control law, has practically given up.

Yet we have to do something now before we become another United States where shootings have become a part of life. It is not difficult to fashion an effective gun control law. Just look at Japan. Japan now has the lowest crime rate in the whole world. ■

News-Phils

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 18

JPE urges antis: Bring RH law to SC

Lagman said the final form of the law was not a watered-down version of the original bill, since only “cosmetic and redundant amendments” from critics were incorporated into the measure.

He said the law’s salient points remained, including the requirement that the state promote universal access to reproductive health services and family planning, including voluntary contraception, and the freedom of information and choice not hampered by coercion. It also requires a massive nationwide information campaign on reproductive health and rights.

BY CATHY YAMSUAN AND LEILA SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile urged the parties still vehemently against the newly signed Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health (RH) Act to appeal to the Supreme Court to uphold a constitutional provision requiring the state to protect the life of a mother and her unborn child from the moment of conception.

A favorable decision means it would be illegal for the government to distribute in health centers and public hospitals all forms of artificial birth control methods that bar a fertilized egg from attaching itself to the mother’s uterus, according to Enrile.

“Anything that affects that life from the moment it comes into being, that would be unconstitutional,” said Enrile in a radio interview.

The Senate President was referring to Section 12 of Article II of the Constitution that provides: “The State recognizes the sanctity of family life and shall protect and strengthen the family as a basic autonomous and social institution.”

The provision adds that the state “shall equally protect the life of the mother and the life of the unborn from conception.”

“Any law can be challenged before the Supreme Court. Not only the RH law but any bill that becomes law like the sin tax measure. It’s possible on any given issue. A taxpayer who will be affected by a provision...can elevate the case before the Supreme Court and challenge its constitutionality,” Enrile said.

Asked if the provision he mentioned would be enough for the Supreme Court to shoot down the RH law, Enrile replied: “Siyempre (Of course). The state cannot go beyond what the Constitution allows...otherwise it would be exercising unbridled power.”

The issue of when life begins—at conception or implantation—was tackled several times in the Senate but was never resolved.

“I told them time and again when we were still debating in plenary that ultimately, it would be the Supreme Court that would serve as the final decider and arbiter of this issue,” Enrile said.

Monumental issue Enrile said he wished the high tribunal would rule immediately on the matter and noted that a decision “would be one of most monumental issues to come before the Supreme Court” as reproductive health has gone beyond being a simple health issue.

“It has become a political and moral issue.

And the divisions it has created have become so deep that it would take time for all these to heal,” he said.

Meanwhile, proponents of the reproductive health law said they were undaunted by the threats to contest the measure in the judicial arena, and believed this was unlikely to stop the measure’s implementation next year.

Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin said that unless the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order, there was no stopping the implementation of the law, not even the continued tirades against the measure coming from certain groups.

Garin also said that a pending legal challenge was no reason to defer the law’s implementation.

“If there is no TRO, that can’t be an excuse [not to implement the law].

Everything went through the proper process,” she said in a phone interview.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, another proponent of the law, had said in an earlier interview that he was confident the measure would defeat all legal challenges because the authors did their homework and made sure that it conformed to the Constitution.

IRR in 60 days The Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Act of 2012, or Republic Act No. 10354, which President Aquino signed quietly on Dec. 21, is expected to take effect 15 days after its publication in at least two newspapers of general circulation.

Within 60 days from the act’s effectivity, the persons and groups tasked to come up with its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) must promulgate these for the effective implementation of the law.

The group tasked to come up with the IRR is to be headed by the health secretary and will include other government agency heads, representatives of local government leagues, nongovernment organizations, faith-based groups, and women’s and young people’s groups.

Asked about the possibility the IRR may be used to water down the law, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said it was a “genuine concern.”

Baguilat, a coauthor of the law, hoped the DOH would take the lead in ensuring that the implementing rules would be “wellcrafted to ensure that the poorest will get free reproductive supplies fast and funding will be given to local government units to fulfill their mandate.”

Meanwhile, in a Twitter post, American philanthropist Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft chair Bill Gates, congratulated President Aquino over the new law.

“Congratulations @noynoyaquino for providing women in the Philippines information about and access to lifesaving contraceptives,” Gates said.

The tweet was posted at 7:16 a.m. on Sunday, Manila time. It was immediately retweeted by National Epidemiology Center head Dr. Enrique Tayag. @noynoyaquino is President Aquino’s Twitter handle.

Gates and her husband chair the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Her Twitter account described her as “dedicated to helping all people lead healthy, productive lives.”. ■

Courts going green with paperless filing

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE NEW Year will usher in a more environmentally conscious Supreme Court which is resorting to a paperless e-filing system.

The high court said its Management Information System Office had set up an e-mail address to receive documents for its e-filing paperless system at efile@sc.judiciary.gov.ph.

Beginning Jan. 1, the high tribunal will implement Administrative Matter (AM) No. 11-9-4 SC, or the Efficient Use of Paper, that would require, among other things, parties to cases before the court to submit simultaneously with their court-bound documents soft or electronic copies of the papers, including annexes (the latter in PDF format), either through e-mail or on compact disc.

The Supreme Court said the e-filing would be voluntary for the first six months of 2013, then becoming compulsory unless the voluntary period is extended.

Under the AM, the high court aims to “maximize the use of every sheet of paper in rulings to be issued by the court and in the pleadings filed by parties.”

The rules would apply to all courts and quasi-judicial bodies under the administrative supervision of the Supreme Court.

The AM issued by Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno outlines how all pleadings, motions and similar papers should be written—in singlespace with one-and-a-half spaces between paragraphs, using an easily readable 14-point font on 8.5 x 13-inch white bond paper.

All documents submitted by each party should have a left margin of 1.5 inches from the edge, an upper margin of 1.2 inches from edge, and right and lower margins one inch from the edge. Each page must be consecutively numbered.

This style will also be required in all decisions, resolutions and orders issued by the courts and quasi-judicial bodies, as well as reports submitted to the courts and transcripts of stenographic notes.

The new rules also specify that parties submitting papers to the Supreme Court should file one original and four copies, and if referred to the en banc they should file 10 additional copies.

For the en banc (entire court) and for divisions, the parties would need to submit only two sets of annexes (one attached to the original and one extra copy). ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

19 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

B.C. CareCards to be replaced by powerful new card, starting in February

BY DIRK MEISSNER THE CANADIAN PRESS VICTORIA - British Columbia is introducing a hightech identification card for everyone from infants to the elderly to replace the old CareCard health system, and add driver’s licences and other government services.

The government says the idea fixes an antiquated system, but privacy critics have their doubts.

Health Minister Margaret MacDiarmid said Monday the BC Services Card will be required by every B.C. resident to obtain medical services, helping clear up what she says is the currently outdated health CardCard system that has issued nine million cards for 4.4 million British Columbians since 1989.

The five-year project has a budget of $150 million and will start next month.

But B.C. privacy advocates voiced concerns about the government’s plan to protect personal information with a card that links itself to vast amounts of data. ``My office is reviewing the BC Services Card,’’ said a statement issued by Elizabeth Denham, B.C.’s information and privacy commissioner.`` ``It is critical that in developing this program, that the sensitive personal information of British Columbians is protected,’’ said the statement.

Denham’s statement said her office is evaluating the system’s security issues and its design, but is still awaiting relevant information from the government.

Vincent Gogolek, B.C. freedom of information and privacy association executive director, said the Liberal government does not have a stellar track record when it comes to introducing high-tech programs.

Last July, former children’s minister Mary McNeil admitted the government’s $182-million Integrated Case Management program to improve information flow in the child welfare system needed repair after a report from the Independent Representative for Children and Youth concluded the database was deeply flawed and put children at risk. ``Is it as secure as the Integrated Case Management system?’’ said Gogolek. ``That’s the last thing they did where they had massive data-sharing, and that blew up as soon as they introduced it.’’

Gogolek also suggested government’s should be wary of plans to link data bases. He said the British government

announced in May 2010 it was scrapping $7 billion in government databases, including an identity card system, in order to reverse what was called an encroachment on civil liberties.

MacDiarmid said the government will do its utmost to ensure privacy and security are protected. ``We are going to take every measure to make sure (it won’t) be compromised,’’ she said. ``One of the things that is very important for people to know is the card itself doesn’t contain, for example, your health record or your driving record or anything else. So, if somebody picks up your card, that information isn’t stored in the card.’’

MacDiarmid said the card contains a chip that once activated can only be accessed through a code known only by the card holder.

The new cards include a photograph and expire every five years, she said.

The card can double as a driver’s licence, but users have the opportunity to request a separate driver’s licence, MacDiarmid said.

She said most residents will get their new BC Service Cards when they renew their driver’s licences, while nondrivers and children will also enrol at locations where driver’s licences are issued.

MacDiarmid said the government is looking to link the card with other government services, which allows card owners to access records and conduct government business online.

CareCards were first introduced in 1989 and have been criticized as fraud-prone, outdated technology. ■

NEWS BRIEFS Federal government behind information hubs

RBC says Canadian real estate market solid

SASKATOON - Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz says the government will phase in 16 information hubs across the country for farmers, fishers and foresters needing advice on growing and selling their products. He says the centres are to provide expertise on such things as newly developed crop strains, strategies to increase yields, marketing and best practices related to food safety. ■ - Jeff Davis.

Canada’s real estate market remains ``relatively solid’’ and should experience a ``soft landing’’ despite the current slowdown and fears of overbuilding in the condominium segment, the country’s leading bankers said Tuesday.

Speaking to a RBC banking conference in Toronto, the country’s top bankers said they don’t expect a dramatic downturn like the one in the United States about five years ago. ■

Canadians warned about US online auto scams

Former beauty queen admits to riot charge

TORONTO - Canadians are being warned about American online auto sale scams after at least five people in this country lost $200,000 in one such apparent ruse. The Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council says those people arranged to buy vehicles from Ambient Auto Centre, which purported to be based in Oklahoma, and wired them money that they have now lost. ■

VANCOUVER - A former beauty queen whose crowning as Miss Congeniality made her one of the highest-profile suspects in Vancouver’s Stanley Cup riot pleaded guilty Monday, as her lawyer suggested her international notoriety has gone far beyond what her case deserves.

Sophie Laboissonniere of Richmond, B.C., who was 20 at the time of the June 2011 riot, was not in court. Instead, her lawyer entered the plea on her behalf. ■

Canada News

A Call for Justice for the Killing of Transgender January Lapuz

KATHERINE MARFAL PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER ON SEPTEMBER 29, just after 10 p.m., the New Westminster Police Department received a call regarding a stabbing victim in the 500 block of 3rd Avenue. The victim was pronounced dead at 5:44 a.m. in a hospital on September 30, 2012.

On October 4, police identified the victim as 26-yearold transgender January Marie Lapuz who hailed from Santiago, Isabela, Philippines and spoke English, Tagalog, and Chinese.

The accused, Charles Jameson “Jamie” Neel, a 20-yearold man was arrested on Dec. 5, 2012. He was charged in connection with the Sept. 30 slaying in New Westminster of January Marie Lapuz, who was found in her home with stab wounds, and who later died in a hospital. Sgt. Jennifer Pound of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said that the accused Neel was charged with second-degree murder. He appeared in New Westminster Provincial Court on January 7, 2013 via videoconference before Judge Daniel Steinberg. The accused returned to court on February 6 for an arraignment hearing. The youthful-looking Neel appeared on a video screen in a corner of the court. He was

clad in red jail fatigues and his head shaven. He spoke only briefly to the judge. Neel has no previous criminal record.

Alex Sangha, Sher Vancouver founder, explained: Lapuz, who was born in the Philippines, was the first transgender person to hold an executive position in Sher Vancouver. It is a support group for South Asian gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Many members of Sher remember her as a bright light in the organization. In many ways, her being involved with Sher opened it up to many people. As Sher’s social coordinator, Lapuz hosted all of its events. She also helped out in its fundraising activities, performed at Bollywood nights and participated in the Pride Parade float. She’s extremely lively. If there’s a scale for extroverts, she will be at the very top of the scale, Lapuz also assisted in the development and in the training for the Sher Vancouver’s Dosti Project (dosti means friendship in several South Asian languages). Her antibullying initiative has addressed bullying, racism, and homophobia since 2009.

She was like the mother of the group. She had so much going against her, and she got through it with her strength. She was very spiritual, very generous and very kind. And she got through her challenges, because she believed in God, and she had the support of the group, and her friends, and the people around her. She had taken some makeup artistry courses and had been considering going back to school.

According to Sher Vancouver Social Coordinator Parveen Khtaria: Her personality is pleasantly over the top. Lapuz also devoted herself to helping others. There’s a lot of other transgender Filipinos in the community. And when they came to Canada, they didn’t know about all of these programs and services that are available to transgender individuals. And she was the one who initially helped their transition - informing them about the doctors that were available and where they could get hormones and support groups, even teaching them on how to do their makeup as a woman. Lapuz was a great dancer and singer, who loved Beyoncé and karaoke. Lapuz would even belt out Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it)” on the SkyTrain.

Sangha called for a need to address safety issues for women and transgender people: To me, it doesn’t matter what choices people make in their life or where they choose to work. Women and all people, especially transgender people and people who are vulnerable, they need to be safe. I think it’s a responsibility of the individual, as well as, of the community and society to provide that safety. You can’t just ignore them.

On January 5, 2013, the Vancouver transgender community and their allies gathered together at the New Westminster City Hall and marched to the New Westminster Provincial Courthouse to call for justice for January Lapuz, and in opposition to the release of Charles Neel thru bail. More than 80 transgender people and their allies attended the January 5 rally in front of city hall and the courthouse. Activists say Lapuz’s killing underscores the need for a greater conversation about the rights of Trangender people.

Transgender woman January Marie Lapuz immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia to escape what has become known as a very transphobic country (Philippines), only to be murdered.

The police is searching for a motive of the killing. ■

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 20

Alberta driver sentenced to 6 1/2 years for killing four foreign workers THE CANADIAN PRESS RED DEER, Alta. - Tears flowed freely in an Alberta courtroom Friday as a man who killed four foreign workers while driving the wrong way on a divided highway was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

Tyler Stevens wept, apologized and offered to help the victims’ families in any way he can - including paying tuition for their children. ``I am so sorry for the pain I have caused all of them,’’ said Stevens, who added that although he is not a religious man, he has been to the site of the crash and has prayed for the victims. ``All that I ask is that the families would give me the chance to be there for them.’’

The 30-year old part-owner of an international oilfield service company earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. After his release from prison, he will also be prohibited from driving for six years.

Stevens, who tested at more than three times the legal limit, admitted to drinking 11 ounces of hard liquor while on prescription drugs last March.

He told court he doesn’t remember the crash, in which his SUV slammed head on into a rental vehicle carrying five friends and co-workers from the Philippines.

Their trip had started as a celebration of sorts. The sole survivor, Josephine Tamondong, had just earned her permanent resident status and wanted to cross the United States border to get her papers stamped.

Anthony Castillon, 35, Joey Mangonon, 35, and Josefina Velarde, 52, worked with Tamondong in housekeeping at the Coast Edmonton Plaza hotel. Eden Biazon, 39, was Tamondong’s roommate and worked for a cleaning service.

None of them had family in Canada and sent earnings home to relatives in the Philippines. Biazon and Velarde were both married, each with one child. Mangonon was married with four children, the youngest a new baby boy he had never met.

Tamondong said she was the first of her friends to get permanent resident status and they all offered to take the border trip with her to celebrate.

Tamondong, along with relatives of friends’ families, wiped away tears as they read victim impact statements to the court.

She described the guilt she feels at having survived the crash, saying that while her physical injuries were serious it’s been the emotional pain that’s been the hardest to bear.

Several of those who gave victim impact statements came from the Philippines to do so. One young man said in his statement that he prays all the time, asking God why his mother had to die.

Members of Stevens’s family also cried in the courtroom, especially after Stevens’ lawyer Ian Savage said his client’s life will never be the same again.

Crown prosecutor Ander Quist said while Stevens is not a murderer, he did kill four human beings in a criminal act that ``goes beyond reckless and it goes beyond stupid.’’ ``He wants to do whatever he can in any small way to repair some of these torn dreams,’’ Quist told reporters outside court.

The divorced father of two had been at a family birthday party prior the crash. He has previously said the last thing he remembered was leaving a bar in Innisfail, Alta.

He drove 24 kilometres the wrong way down the highway, at times swerving wildly, but mostly driving on the shoulder of the road.

Two other motorists, one an off-duty police officer, tried to flash their high-beams to alert oncoming traffic of the danger ahead.

An agreed statement of facts submitted to the judge said Stevens, who had no previous criminal record, refused a breathalyzer test after the crash. But a blood test revealed his high blood alcohol level.

The document said Stevens was taking an antibiotic to treat pain for a cyst in his back. His doctor had never told him not to take it with alcohol but he had blacked out before when he combined the two. ■ (CHUB, The Canadian Press)

Immigration Bureaucrats forced into last minute pitch to save some refugee health benefits

21 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

BY STEPHANIE LEVITZ THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA - Civil servants in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration had to scramble to make the case for preserving some refugee health-care benefits destined for the government’s cost-cutting axe, newly released documents show.

And they were forced into a lastminute pitch to Immigration Minister Jason Kenney to save part of the interim federal health program, despite having argued some eight months earlier that the proposed policy was flawed.

The series of emails and memos released under Access to Information laws seem to contradict Kenney’s assertion in June that benefits for resettled refugees were never meant to be axed.

Up until June 30, 2012, the federal government covered the costs of drugs and medical care - including dentistry and vision care - for refugee claimants until they had been in Canada long enough for provincial coverage to kick in.

But in April, the government announced an end to almost all supplemental health care benefits, slashing coverage in most cases to care only when it was a public health emergency.

The government said the cuts were intended to ensure refugee claimants weren’t getting better benefits than Canadian citizens, but a governmentwide search to save billions in spending also played a role in the decision.

When the program was originally announced, it made no exception for two specific groups of refugees: those brought to Canada by the government (GARs) and those sponsored by private interests (PSRs).

A day before the cuts went into effect, however, those two groups were suddenly exempt from the changes.

At the time, Kenney said governmentassisted and privately sponsored refugees weren’t supposed to have been included in the new rules. Spokeswoman Alexis Pavlich made the same point when asked about the departmental correspondence. ``When it was brought to our attention that the initial published language would not provide coverage for government assisted refugees, this language was clarified before coming into force to ensure that they would be (covered),’’ Pavlich wrote in an email. ``This occurred shortly before final publication.’’

But in a September 2011 email that discusses cuts to the program, bureaucrats make the case that the policy needs to be clear. ``Recognizing that cost-saving is the primary driver of the IFH reforms, a distinction needs to be made between

permanent residents of Canada (GARs/ PSRs) and those who status in Canada remains undetermined,’’ wrote Derek Kunsken, acting director of the resettlement division.

A day earlier, an email circulating a range of options for cuts to the program noted as well the potential pushback against the changes for private refugees. ``In regards to the exclusion of PSR from supplemental benefits, it would be difficult to justify why we are further endangering the ability of marginalized people - chosen for their vulnerability and needs - to settle and become healthy and employable.’’

But about a month before the changes were due to go into effect, officials were left furiously working to build a case for the minister that those two groups ought to maintain their benefits. ``The pending elimination of coverage for supplemental benefits under the IFH program for resettled refugees may significantly reduce the effectiveness of these options in improving refugee outcomes,’’ said a paper circulated by the department five days before the policy went into effect. ``The elimination of supplemental coverage may also have a significant impact on resettled refugees’ health and settlement experience...’’

In drawing up a list of reasons on why the benefits shouldn’t be cut, bureaucrats outlined several, including the increased financial burden for private groups who sponsor them and the possibility Canada wouldn’t be able to meet its international commitments for refugee resettlement.

Another was public pushback. ``Public reaction - contributing to a sense that (Canada is) closed to refugees (undercutting the message of the Minister that he’s tightening the asylum system but reinforcing Canada’s commitment to resettlement,’’ wrote Debra Presse, then the director of refugee resettlement.

As bureaucrats worked to convince Kenney to change his mind, they also tried to figure out what impact the program changes would have. ``We also need to understand what is going to be the medical/health fallout post June 30 for all current IFH

beneficiaries who will no longer receive the medication we are not paying for,’’ wrote Presse. ``It cannot be presumed they will simply find the medication another way.’’

The decision to move ahead with all of the planned cuts caused tempers to flare within the department, the exchanges suggest. ``Sorry if things got a touch heated,’’ Ron Parent, a manager at the refugee resettlement program wrote to Allison Little Fortin, director of the health program, following a telephone call. ``People react emotionally and sometimes that comes across as shooting the messenger, but everyone understands this is a policy decision.’’

It has been estimated the changes will save about $20 million a year. ``It is too early to identify the amount of actual savings because health care providers have up to 6 months from the date of service to submit a claim for reimbursement,’’ Paul Northcott, a spokesman for the department, said in an email.

Doctors who treat refugees say they are beginning to see the impacts of the policy change.

``The biggest disaster has been that there’s been so much miscommunication and mismanagement around these cuts,’’ said Dr. Meb Rashid, who works in refugee health care in Toronto. ``A lot of people don’t understand what they’re covered for and a lot of physicians who have no clue what patients are covered for.’’

He gave the example of a woman who was 37 weeks pregnant who was told she was denied coverage and needed to pay $3,000 for continued care.

But when doctors called immigration officials, they discovered the woman’s file had been classified in error.

That’s only one half of the story, Rashid said.

The other is the shift it appears to be marking in Canada’s approach to refugees overall. ``What’s changing now is there’s a perception that’s been created by leadership in this country that refugees are a drain on the system, they are overwhelming the system, they are cheating the system,’’ Rashid said. ``I just find that very un-Canadian.

That’s not what this country was built upon and I don’t think that’s the reality.’’ ■

Thrive in a professional career with a constantly expanding market.

BECOME A REGULATED IMMIGRATION CONSULTANT *

Program available ONLINE. Apply NOW. Speak with our ADVISER today.

Contact Cairrie Williamson at 1(866) 759-6006 or email cwilliamson@ashtoncollege.com. *Program accredited by the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC)

Ashton College Vancouver, BC | www.AshtonCollege.com

Immigration Migrants Being Defrauded by Human Smuggling Criminals

Minister Kenney at a news conference on human smuggling - Colombo, Sri Lanka

Colombo, Sri Lanka — Anyone relying on human smugglers to try to get into Canada is just “throwing their life savings away, ”Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney said today.

“We are sending a strong message to those who are thinking of using the services of criminal human smugglers to sneak into Canada: Don’t do it. They’ll just take your money but leave you stranded,” said Minister Kenney. “Canada has a generous

and open legal immigration system, but those who try to get into Canada through the back door using human smugglers will not succeed and are wasting their money trying.”

Thanks to very alert policing and intelligence action, recent human smuggling operations were shut down before they could leave port.

Other operations that planned to smuggle Sri Lankans to Canada from Thailand and Indonesia have also been disrupted in the

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 22

status for five years. This means that they will be unable to sponsor family members to come to Canada during that period.

“We will continue to strengthen the integrity of Canada’s generous immigration system, which admits more immigrants per capita than any other country in the world, for those who come to Canada lawfully, including all legitimate refugees,” said Minister Kenney. “We will continue to work to make sure that human smugglers are put out of business.”

Canada continues to have one of the most generous resettlement programs in the world, welcoming approximately one in 10 refugees resettled worldwide through its programs. By 2013, Canada will annually resettle up to 14,500 refugees and other individuals in vulnerable circumstances.

While in Sri Lanka, the Minister also met with officials to reiterate Canada’s concerns about the lack of meaningful post-civil war reconciliation.

“Canada again calls on the government of Sri Lanka to live up to the standard of membership in the Commonwealth and show tangible progress on a process of national political reconciliation and to seriously address allegations of human rights violations by both sides during the civil war,” said Minister Kenney.

“Our Government will continue to stand up against human rights abuses abroad, including with commonwealth member countries.” ■

past two years. To support ongoing efforts, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced $12 million in funding in March 2012 to help fight human smuggling, including support for projects in Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Canadian law enforcement agencies continue to work with their counterparts abroad to identify and prevent human smuggling operations that are targeting Canada. Canada boosted its international efforts to prevent human smuggling after the arrival of two smuggling ships in 2009 and 2010. Since then, no planned smuggling voyages have succeeded in getting to Canada.

Under the new Protecting Canada’s Immigration System Act, which became law in June 2012, law enforcement officials now have better tools to prosecute individuals who organize, engage in, and profit from human smuggling. The Act includes new mandatory minimum penalties, up to a minimum of ten years imprisonment for those convicted of human smuggling.

The Act also introduced mandatory detention of those individuals who arrive as part of a designated human smuggling operation, so that we can be sure we know who they are and that they do not pose a security threat before they are released. And those who arrive as part of a designated irregular arrival are now barred from applying for permanent resident

Government of AlbertA Approved

Are you:  An Internationally Trained Professional wishing to return to your field of work in Canada?  A Canadian Citizen or Permanent resident residing in BC?  A recipient of foreign credentials or designations?  Lacking affordable financial support to cover:  Tuition fees for short-term training  Professional Association Fees  Qualification Assessment  Examination Fees

We can HELP!

We offer a competitive low-interest loan ranging from $1,500 to $15,000! Contact us to learn more about this great opportunity.

heaLth Care aide CertifiCate

4 months...

and you’re done

JOB READY.

health care aide

Apply today.

Start in Nov, Jan, Mar, Apr, June* *Specific intake dates to be confirmed.

#238- 8131 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, BC V6X 1A7 604-232-1100 fcrloaninfo@success.bc.ca www.success.bc.ca/FCRloan Funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Pan-Canadian Innovations Initiative

Call Lila at 403-410-3217 bowvalleycollege.ca/hca LEARN MORE. EARN MORE. DO MORE.

23 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

My Story

Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Candice Macalino

BY ANGIE DUARTE PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER LIFE HAS many avenues and paths (not to mention, more than a few junctions and crossroads) upon which we all travel; some of us journey down a tried and tested way, others explore the road less traveled. Still others traverse a number of busy streets, wanting to take in the fullness of life. At the intersection of passion for performing arts, business, beauty and food, there you will find Candice Macalino. A bit random of a mix, you might say? Not for this dynamic young Filipina-Canadian. Candice is an accomplished thespian, marketing professional at a Canadian cosmetology association, and self-confessed foodiecum-chef and food blogger. And she is determined to take a big bite out of life, savoring every morsel along the way.

A hint of theatre, a touch of business, a dollop of culinary goodness Candice is one of three siblings born in Singapore to parents of Filipino heritage.

Her dad, who hails from the province of Pampanga (a region steeped in culinary traditions), had been offered a job in an architectural firm in Singapore and moved there shortly after marriage. Candice called Singapore “home” until she was nine, at which point fate took the family on a journey to Canada, where her dad accepted another posting in a Vancouverbased design firm.

It was in Canada that Candice was exposed to the field of performing arts, immersing herself in piano, ballet and acting classes; a passion which continued way after her graduation from SFU with a degree in Business Administration majoring in Marketing and Communications. She pursued a parttime career in acting, appearing in movies, TV series and local theatre productions; a stint which lasted a good 5 years.

As a career woman her academic background has proven worthwhile, landing her a job as marketing professional

at Beauty Council, Western Canada’s cosmetology association.

Despite an already seemingly full plate, this go-getter has recently set out on yet another journey. Driven by a passion for life, a zeal for food, and a quest to make her heritage known, she has ventured out on a street of eats. And life has never been yummier.

The days of steamed rice and ice-cold calamansi juice Candice’s love for all things food started at an early age. Like many other girls, she took her inspiration from her mom, who – despite her hectic work schedules – always found the time to whip up a delicious meal for the family.

“My Mom has been and is one of my most revered self-taught cooks. After a long day at the office, she can whip up an amazing meal for a family of 5, from leftovers and whatever is in the fridge and pantry. That takes skills!” Candice says.

No stranger to the kitchen, Candice would watch her mother at work and help out whenever she could. She recalls that in Singapore, she was tasked with “making the rice and the calamansi (a small tropical citrus fruit) juice from scratch.” Candice, with more than a hint of nostalgia, shares that she misses those days “so much!” “ I remember every night having to cut 10-15 mini calamansi fruits in half, squeezing all I could out of them and trying my best to keep the seeds from falling into the pitcher, then adding cold water, maybe too much sugar and lots of ice. My Mom said I was the best at making it but think she just loved having a little helper in her kitchen,” she recollects.

The Chef comes of age Eventually, the calamansi-squeezing little girl grew to adulthood and found herself on Canadian soil, venturing out on her own. No longer tugging at Mommy’s apron strings, Candice now had to fend for herself in the kitchen, and she was determined to do so with culinary flair.

She enrolled in classes at the Cookshop, Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, The Dirty Apron and Northwest Culinary Academy in Vancouver; then in 2009, took a 3-month culinary program in pastry arts at the Institute of Culinary Education in NYC. “I loved it!!!” Candice enthuses, when asked about her formal culinary training.

She adds, however, that apart from the formal lessons, “cooking does come naturally to me, perhaps because I enjoy the process and love entertaining family & friends with home cooked food.”

She also cites her personal favorites in the field; Nigella Lawson, a food writer and journalist from Great Britain, and Ina Garten, an author and host of the Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa, in particular, for their “relaxed and refreshing approach to cooking.”

Food and its “Flip”-side Candice’s love for food has led her down a new road: that of self-discovery. Though born in Singapore and raised in Canada, her Filipino heritage is of great importance to her, and she strives to learn more of it through discovering its delectable side.

She credits her dad’s sister, Auntie Nas, with helping her learn more of the “Flip” (a colloquial term for Filipino) side of food. Of her Auntie Nas, Candice shares that “she is also a self-taught cook who I admire. About a year ago when I visited her in Portland, Oregon, I asked if I could learn how to cook some of her famous Bico Laing and Dinuguan dishes.

I ended up filming it on my iPhone as a way of quickly documenting the process so I could later write out the recipe when I came home. We had so much fun cooking and she was so great on camera that I edited it and posted the videos on YouTube. Her Laing video alone has over 14,600 views!”

Propelled by her desire to learn more about her heritage through food, she started a food blog in 2010, Candice’s Cusina.

This experience has enabled her to get in touch with her “natural affinity for cooking

Filipino food,” which her dad credits to their ka-Pampangan roots. “As I learn more about my heritage, I’m growing to love the Filipino culture and compare it to how Filipinos cook and entertain - friendly, festive, and colourful,” Candice adds.

She would like to return to the Philippines more often, in order to chronicle its exotic destinations and unique culinary dishes, as a way of self-enrichment and promotion of the country, as well. Candice reveals that her dream “is to bring more public awareness of the Philippines through a food lens and working on a Filipino cookbook as well as producing and hosting a food a travel show to give viewers a rare and intimate look at Philippines’ unrivaled flavours, rich history, diverse culture and picturesque sites!”

Furthermore, she aims to use her blog as an avenue of diplomacy and empowerment; raising not only an awareness of Filipino cuisine and culture, but also providing fellow Filipino-Canadians the ability to “cook Filipino food and re-create the memories (of Mom’s cooking) in their own homes.”

Delicious dedication Candice’s dedication to her culinary skills and to discovering her heritage keeps her in pursuit of new paths in the field, eking out trails of new tastes, flavours, colors, and food combinations. “I feel that mastering the art of cooking, like any art form, is virtually impossible, but in a good way.

There is always room to learn and grow because of new ingredient combinations, cultural influences and fusions and cooking techniques. So perpetually travelling, exploring, discovering, learning and tasting new flavours excite and motivate me as a foodie, cook, and blogger,” she says.

Taking her delicious and delectable journey to the level of diplomacy, and doing so with a dedication, determination, and delight. Definitely, Candice Macalino. ■ Candice joins PCI as its resident food writer (please see her article on page 38).

Follow Candice’s food adventiures and learn some of her divine recipes on http:// candicescusina.blogspot.ca

Canada: Seen and Scenes

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 24

LiveLoud Toronto capped off a successful CFC-Youth Year!

GTA, Hamilton, Windsor, to as far as Ottawa and Montreal to praise outside of the Philippines. Attended by 500 youths from all over On December 15, CFC-Youth held a historic first LiveLoud event ity members, especially the youth, to share their God given talents commun inspires and ges s from all over the world. LiveLoud encoura the Lord in music written and composed by CFC-Youth member among the youth. We are young, Christian and happy. We are alive sums it all up - “Liveloud concert was an affirmation that faith is th CFC-You of head g area Saludo, Gelo arts. visual and music in Christ!” Jose Buenavides, head of Liveloud Toronto 2012 organizin message of love. We live out loud in the world that barely hears Toronto 2012, photos by LiveLoud g, Marketin of not afraid to show our faith, we will sing, dance and proclaim His head Arreza, Junnie present. is th calendar, not only in Toronto, but wherever CFC-You committee, sees this as a regular annual event in the CFC-Youth team YCOM Metro CFC Youth Canada,

CONGREGATION OF FJCC Pastor Teck Uy (standing 4th from left 2nd row), head of the congregation of the Friends of Jesus Christ Canada (FJCC) as he introduced the Praise team leaders and Sub-leaders during their worship service of the first Sunday of 2013. - Romy Zetazate, St. Jamestown News Service Service

The Knights of Columbus Prince of Peace Council # 9144, together with the Prince of Peace Choir sang Christmas Carols to the Rockcliffe Seniors Home (Leisure World ) in Scarborough.

This caroling was organized by Joe Angeles, PGK of the Prince of Peace KC # 9144 togeth er with the Prince of Peace Choir of Thelma Antazo. The series of Christ mas song brought a lot of joy to the seniors.

25 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

Canada: Seen and Scenes

25 FRIDAY DECEMBER 07, 2012

The Block Rosary Crusad e of Toronto is composed of over 600 member families in Metro Toronto and the east end to Ottawa and to the north in Newmarket and Stouffville. They propagate and pray the Rosary with the member fam ilies daily.

as lunch with their staff and guests at Tako Sushi Toronto’s Talakayan Radyo Program had their Christm and Bobby : Paeng and Sylvia Nebres of Action Honda, Lorna recently. Photo shows (front row left to right) include Jess Cabrias (Talakayan co, Damas Joe aster Broadc n Vetera , Galvez Achacon. Back row (left to right): Nelson of Escano of managing director and marketing/promotion host/ executive producer), Marco Amoranto and Rosary Romy , Service News town James St. and Alicia Faith Liao. ABS-CBN’s TFC, May Cabrias, Ken Liao, Karen Tan Zetazate

Photo show the Block Ros ary Coordinators during thei r Christmas Party meeting at Congee Town in Scarborough. The y are: seated center: Madeleine Ong (BR Chairperson for 2012, BR Vice Chairperson for 2013), L>R around the table: Angela Field (BR Secretary for 2012, now BR Asst. Secretary for 2013), Jovita Lim, Linda Henderin, Red Erfe , Hon. Marilyn Mogado, Mog i Mogado (BR Secretary for 2013), Litz Lea no (BR Chairperson for 201 3), George R. Poblete, (BR Adviser for 2013), Dolores V. Poblete , (BR Treasurer for 2013), and Tessie de la Cruz,

World News

Magistrate closes hearings, trial in Indian gang rape case that outraged the nation

BY ASHOK SHARMA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW DELHI - An Indian magistrate ruled Monday that the media will not be allowed to attend pre-trial hearings or the trial of the five men accused of raping and killing a young student in the Indian capital, a police official said.

Magistrate Namrita Aggarwal upheld the prosecutor’s request that the media be barred from attending the proceedings, according to police spokesman Rajan Bhagat.

Hundreds of journalists, lawyers from other cases and

curious onlookers had crowded the courtroom where the five were to appear. Outside the courthouse complex, more than a dozen TV satellite trucks jammed the streets, and dozens of reporters - from India, the U.S., Japan and elsewhere - were waiting for news.

The five defendants later appeared before the magistrate, who scheduled another pre-trial hearing on Thursday that is expected to result in the case being sent to a special ``fast-track’’ court. Indian courts are notoriously slow, with some cases dragging on for decades. The trial is expected to begin in the coming days. Indian rape trials are normally

closed to the media.

Authorities have charged the men with murder, rape and other crimes that could bring them the death penalty.

The crime caused nationwide outrage, leading to massive protests.

A sixth suspect, who is 17 years old, is expected to be tried in a juvenile court, where the maximum sentence would be three years in a reform facility.

Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said last week that a DNA test confirmed that the blood of the victim matched blood stains found on the clothes of all the accused.

On Sunday, two of the defendants offered to become ``approvers,’’ or informers against the others, according to reporters present at the hearing. The two were presumably seeking lighter sentences.

The companion of the student recounted in a television interview last week how the pair was attacked for 2 1/2 hours on a New Delhi bus before being thrown on the side of the road, where passersby ignored them and police debated jurisdiction issues before helping them. The student died at a Singapore hospital weeks after the Dec. 16 attack.

Indian law prohibits the disclosure of victims’ identities in rape cases. While neither the companion nor the TV network, Zee News, identified the woman, police opened an investigation into Zee News after the interview was broadcast, saying too many details about the attack had been revealed.

The attack has led to calls for tougher rape laws and reforms of a police culture that often blames rape victims and refuses to file charges against accused attackers. The nation’s top law enforcement official said the country needs to crack down on crimes against women.

Since the Dec. 16 attack, New Delhi has set up five fast-track courts to handle sexual assault cases, which often get bogged down for years. Indian courts are notorious for delays, with millions of cases pending across the country.

On Monday, the chief justice asked courts in Indian states to also set up fast-track courts to try crimes against women. ■

Khan’s death on July 20 was initially ruled a result of natural causes. But a relative’s request for a deeper look resulted in the startling conclusion months later that Kahn was killed with the poison as he was about to collect $425,000 in winnings. ``I don’t think anyone would have a bad eye for him or that he had any enemy,’’ said Ansari, adding that she continues to work at the dry cleaner out of a desire to honour her husband and the businesses he built.

Ansari, 32, moved to the U.S. from India after marrying Khan 12 years ago. She said she hopes the truth will come out and that she has spoken with police detectives about the case.

Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters Tuesday that he had never seen anything like

Khan’s case in his 32 years of policing in New York, New Jersey and now Chicago. ``So, I’m not going to say that I’ve seen everything,’’ McCarthy said.

Authorities plan to exhume Khan’s body in the next few weeks in hopes they might be able to test additional tissue samples and bolster evidence if the case goes to trial. ``It’s always good if and when the case goes to trial to have as much data as possible,’’ said Cook County Medical Examiner Stephen Cina. He added that he did not believe additional testing would change the conclusion that Khan was a homicide victim, saying those comprehensive toxicology results were validated in the lab. ``Based on the investigative information we have now and the (toxicology results), we’re comfortable where we are right now,’’ he said.

Khan and his wife were born in Hyderabad, India, and their story is a typical immigrant’s tale of settling in a new land with big dreams and starting a business. Their 17-year-old daughter, Jasmeen, is a student here. ``Work was his passion,’’ Ansari said, adding that she plans to stay in the U.S. and keep his businesses running. ``I’m just taking care of his hard work,’’ she said. ■

Wife of US lottery winner who was poisoned says his death devastated her

BY JASON KEYSER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO - The wife of an Indian-born lottery winner who was poisoned with cyanide said Tuesday she was devastated by his death and cannot believe her husband could have had enemies.

Shabana Ansari spoke to The Associated Press a day after news emerged that Urooj Khan, 46, died from cyanide poisoning in July. Prosecutors, Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office are investigating Khan’s death as a homicide, but they have not given any details or announced any suspects.

Ansari would not talk about the circumstances of her husband’s death, saying it was too painful to recall. She described Khan as a hard-working and generous man who would send money to orphanages in their native India. ``I was shattered. I can’t believe he’s no longer with me,’’ said the short, soft-spoken Ansari, standing in one of three dry-cleaning businesses her husband started after immigrating to the U.S. from India in 1989.

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 26

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

27 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

DJ Mack and his electronic dance music

BY JAY AR DECENELLA PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER HOURS AFTER uploading his first single track on Youtube, Filipino-Canadian Wesley Mack, or DJ Mack as he is popularly known, could not help but be wowed by the outpouring of accolades from musicians, producers and DJs from around the globe. As of this writing, “Concerto No. 5” hit more than a thousand views in just 48 hours after he had uploaded it on the video sharing web site.

“I think I had mixed emotions at the time. I remember thinking ‘Wow, we have a lot of friends!’”DJ Mack recounted, adding how he felt nervous at the prospect of keeping up with all the lofty expectations toward him.

Music career: from Philippines to Canada Although he has spent most of his life in Toronto, Canada, DJ Mack first took a glimpse of music in the 90’s when he had stumbled upon a boy band of three other FilipinoCanadians in Manila. Much to his desire at the time, working as an artista (celebrity) was foremost in his considerations.

Hoping to achieve this, he did a couple of local shows with some of the Philippines’ biggest names in the music industry like Regine Velasquez and Side A. In 1998, he abandoned his pursuit for local fame and decided to go back to school.

In Canada, where he moved in 1998, DJ Mack met his newfound love – the Fist Pumpers band.

“Our band of four was from Canada. The Fist Pumpers was initially an electronic dance music duo of two producers – Kid Nunez and I,” he said. “Both of us were in that band in 1998.”

DJ Mack said he had come up with the concept of electronic dance music (EDM) last year when he was working as a DJ at some Toronto nightclubs where he saw the direction of this genre.

“Both Kid and I grew up loving house music which is the fundamental of electronic dance music,” he recalled.

“So we decided to start producing original music and finally selected a single track which we felt would introduce us to the EDM world.”

Electronic Dance Music The idea saw the birth of Concerto No. 5, a video concept “that was real” to them, in which music brings people together. The video was accidentally conceptualized back in summer when he was doing his job as a DJ at a wedding, for which he was asked to collaborate with a violinist.

“So I thought it would be interesting to drop some electronic dance music with her (the violinist) and we had a very positive response,” he said.

“Going back to the studio the concept of classical (music) meeting EDM was something I had to do,” he recalled.

That was when DJ Mack and his band came up with their first single track.

“EDM brings all people into one place - hence the modified import crew and the exotic car crew in the (Concerto No. 5) video,” he said of the video’s concept.

“They really are bunch of friends who are just trying to get to the same party/club in the end. One crew is trying to find the location and the other is holding on to the black case with the music file on the USB stick, which is revealed in the final minute of the video.”

DJ Mack continued: “Kid Nunez and I are texted this message via the BarCode reader (which leads scanners to their website www.fistpumpers.ca) and pick up the USB stick which almost gets lost as the two girls get distracted with each other.

“In the end, the Fist Pumpers save the day playing the track Concerto No. 5 at the club and everybody gets to party!”

The video was shot entirely in Toronto, where a “very diverse” group of individuals thrives.

Youtube hits The moment DJ Mack learned of the feat achieved by their video in Youtube was the start of an “exciting week” for them.

“We have been blessed to have such a positive response!” he said. “Even the dislikes on Youtube are appreciated because we know at least they viewed it.”

The Fist Pumpers has only one vision, DJ Mack said – to share their music with world. “[It is] something Kid Nunez and I never got to do in 1998,” he added. “Better late than never!”

The band is hoping to be able to release a full album in 2013.

The Fist Pumpers is currently in talks with recording companies to produce their own album, but DJ Mack said there is no decision yet.

He explained: “The EDM world is a little different then the pop music world which caters directly to the masses.

Technology and digitization of music has changed the way music is distributed. So there has been a lot to think about.

“We have had a lot of interest from other DJs/producers and artists which would like to collaborate with us on singles which would definitely help us branch out to their

respective countries and fan bases. However, one thing that is certain is we will definitely be working hard to ensure we will be able to release a full album this year.”

Why EDM? “I love the music!” DJ Mack spiritedly said.

“Since the early 90’s I was the black sheep of my friends who were all listening to hip hop while I was jamming it out to house dance music,” he recalled. “I do like hip hop and many other genres of music, how could I not!”

“But I truly believe to do well at something, you have to do what you love!” he added.

“It just so happens that today we finally have the technology to bring an affordable studio home and now have the ability to reach the world with our music in a matter of seconds,” he said in relief.

DJ Mack does his recording everywhere.

“Some studio work is required in recording and mastering but when laying down ideas for a track I could be at a local cafe, a bar, an airplane – you name it!”

Inspiration When asked about the inspiration for the band’s dedication to electronic dance music, DJ Mack maintained, “It’s all about the music.”

“For me personally growing up to music has always been a big part of my life – playing piano as kid, singing in a boy band.”

DJ Mack traced his skills in music to his roots. In fact, his grandfather was a music teacher at a university in the Philippines.

“My mother has always said our family has talented musical roots,” he recalled. “It would be my personal dream to prove she is right!”

Aside from electronic dance music, DJ Mack also loves hockey and being a Canadian. He also enjoys watching classical to musical theatre, and loves listening to OPM, current rock, dance, hip hop and reggae.■ Visit the Fist Pumpers web site www.fistpumpers.ca.

Say Mabuhay to Filipino entertainment with Shaw.

Shaw Starter Bundle *

$69.90 Per month for the first six months $94.90 per month regular price

Sign up today and receive: • Personal TV • High Speed 10 • Home Phone Basic • Free Digital Box rental • Free WiFi modem rental

Plus, choose one of the following Filipino Theme Packs at 50% off for the first 6 months.

Filipino 2 Pack

$17* Per month

Filipino 3 Pack

$17* Per month

∆

$25* Per month

To order call 604 565 7445 or visit shaw.ca today.

*Offer subject to change without notice. Price shown does not include tax. Shaw TV service is required for the Filipino Theme Pack. A Digital Box is required to view programming. Channel availability varies by market. Installation fees may apply, not to exceed $29.95. Equipment not purchased by you must be returned to Shaw if any of your services are cancelled. All Shaw services are subject to our Terms of Use located at www.shaw.ca. Other terms and conditions may apply. ∆ Available in select markets.

SHW_Filipino Ad for PCI_10x13.indd 1

12/11/2012 5:27:26 PM

Entertainment

29 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

The Netshow

Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Letterman talks to Oprah about his public feuds and sex scandals

BY DAVID BAUDER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PASADENA, Calif. - Three years after an extortion scandal that led him to bare his infidelities, David Letterman said he sees a psychiatrist once a week to try to be the person that he believed he was.

The late-night talk show host gave an extraordinary interview to Oprah Winfrey in which he talked about his feud with her and Jay Leno, and about his efforts to make amends for his affairs with ``Late Show’’ staff members that became public in 2009. ``For a long time I thought I was a decent guy,’’ Letterman said. ``But yet, thinking I was a decent guy, I was still capable of behaviour that wasn’t coincidental to leading a decent life. That’s what I’m working on. I want to really be the person I believe that I was. I wanna be a good person.’’

The interview aired Sunday on Winfrey’s OWN network and will be repeated Jan. 20. It was recorded in November.

Letterman said his wife, Regina, has forgiven him, and he tries every day to regain her trust. He said he still hasn’t forgiven himself.

Letterman said he went through depression that he described as a sinkhole that he thought he wouldn’t come out of. But with medication, he said, he pulled through and told Winfrey he now has compassion for others who have gone through depression. ``I always thought, ‘Aw, you’re depressed? Go do some push-ups and you’ll feel better,’’’ he said. ``But it’s not that.’’

Details of the affairs emerged after a television producer threatened to unveil them if Letterman didn’t give him money. The producer was later jailed for four months.

Letterman took control of the story in 2009 by coming clean about his affairs on his show before the details came out. He acknowledged before making the announcement that he had other motives. ``In the back of my mind - and this will give you the extent, the breadth and width of what a weasel I could be -

I was thinking, eh, maybe I can make this, maybe I can get a little sympathy out of this deal here,’’ he said.

Winfrey interviewed Letterman for ``Oprah’s Next Chapter’’ at Indiana’s Ball State University, after being interviewed publicly by Letterman before students at the CBS comic’s alma mater. They cleared the air on their own feud, which fueled Letterman’s comedy for years.

Letterman said he believed it began when he called to ask Winfrey to appear on ``Late Show’’ when he was going to do some shows in Chicago and Winfrey would not agree to appear.

Winfrey said she declined because she had been on Letterman’s show before and there were drunk people in the audience who made it uncomfortable. ``I didn’t want to have that experience again,’’ she said. ``That’s really all it was for me.’’

Letterman said he didn’t remember that appearance and was sorry for what Winfrey went through. He took her hand and kissed it. ``I hope we can put this behind us, Oprah,’’ he said. ``Let us do it, David,’’ she said.

Despite Letterman’s often withering comments about his NBC rival Leno, he said they were friends before Leno was picked over Letterman to be ``Tonight’’ show host. Letterman believes they are still friends. ``He is the funniest guy I’ve ever known,’’ Letterman said. ``Just flat out, if you go to see him do his nightclub act, just the funniest, the smartest, a wonderful observationalist and very appealing as a comic. Therefore, the fact that he is also maybe the most insecure person I have ever know ... I could never reconcile that.’’

Letterman said some of the trash-talking between the two is simply the way comics often act toward one another.

Bruce Bobbins, a Leno spokesman, said Monday the NBC comic had no comment on Letterman’s interview. ■

NEWS BRIEFS Justin Bieber hints at possible stint as ‘Saturday Night Live’ host

NEW YORK - The Divine Miss M is returning to Broadway, and not as just a producer.

Bette Midler will star in John Logan’s new play ``I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers’’ in the spring, marking the first time the Grammy, Tony and Golden Globe winner has been on Broadway in 30 years.

The show opens April 24 at a Shubert theatre to be announced later.

Midler will play the legendary Hollywood agent Sue Mengers in the one-character play by Logan, who won a Tony for ``Red’’ and wrote the screenplay for the James Bond movie ``Skyfall.’’

Midler made her Broadway debut in the chorus of ``Fiddler on the Roof’’ and won a Tony in ``Clams on the Half Shell.’’ She last produced the musical ``Priscilla Queen of the Desert.’’ ■ - Mark Kennedy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Debby Wong / Shutterstock.com

Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

Bette Midler to return to a Broadway stage for the first time in 30 years in John Logan play

TORONTO - Justin Bieber could be the next musician to try his hand at comedy on ``Saturday Night Live’’ - or so hints Bieber himself.

The 18-year-old teen-pop superstar from Stratford, Ont., has recently campaigned for the gig on his Twitter account, which has nearly 32.6 million followers.

On Monday, he sent his most direct missive yet on the topic: ``maybe im hosting and performing on SNL...maybe. :)’’ No official announcement has been made by NBC. The venerable skit show will return from a holiday hiatus on Jan. 19 with host Jennifer Lawrence and musical guests the Lumineers, while Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine will host the following week’s show (with music from critically acclaimed rapper Kendrick Lamar).

Aside from Levine, this season of ``SNL’’ already featured a pop star as host when Bruno Mars took centre stage for the Oct. 20 instalment, while last year’s hosts included Mick Jagger and Katy Perry. ■

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

Entertainment

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 30

Gee Canlas welcomes 2013 in new condo

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer TV HOST-ACTRESS Gee Canlas has declared 2013 her “year of independence.”

Gee recently moved to her own condominium unit in Quezon City where she spent last Christmas.

For the holidays, Gee decorated her new dwelling with many Christmas lights. “I want it to look very sweet and romantic,” she said. “I feel proud of myself.”

Past Christmases, she said, were usually “an intimate, special” celebration at her parents’ home in Antipolo.

“It’s actually the New Year’s celebration that’s more chaotic, because the whole Canlas clan is present,” Gee told Living Stars. “My dad would serve bulalo while my mom would make sure we have 12 different kinds of fruits.”

Gee has hosted shows like “Pilipinas Win na Win,” “Music Uplate Live” and “MU Live” for ABS-CBN, and has appeared on series like “Lokomoko High” (TV5) and “I Laugh Sabado” (QTV11).

Gee has also acted in indie films, most recently in Mark Shandii Bacolod’s “Ang Pakiramdam ng Puso Ko Kapag Iniiwan,” where she played the lead role.

She was last seen as a contestant on the reality show “The Amazing Race Philippines” on TV5.

Modern Asian Gee sought the help of her friend, interior designer Eloisa Gomez, to achieve the modern Asian look that she wanted for her new home.

“The deep brown and earth tones make everything feel cozy,” observed Eloisa. “The design of the curtains also gives the room a neo-baroque look. It’s also practical because we used materials that are costeffective.”

“When I asked her what color she wanted, Gee chose red. She said it stands out. It’s bold and represents her character,” Eloisa recalled. “To decorate the whole place with a very limited budget, we went to Divisoria and to Sta. Cruz in Manila to buy materials.”

Eloisa made curtains from fabrics that she bought from the market. She and Gee made the headboard for the latter’s lowplatform bed, using plywood, cloth and foam. The lamps were purchased from Landmark and the ottoman from SM Department Store.

“Some of the pieces here are from Gee’s (Antipolo) house, like the bed and the square shelves. We chose other furniture that would go well with what she already has,” Eloisa said. “The (beige) easy chair came from my own room. I bought it from a deal website. Its color may look plain but its character is in its texture.”

Condo living for Gee has many advantages. “The amenities here are really good. I can go out of my unit and just chill out at the penthouse. I plan to maximize the gym.

It’s so hightech. It’s like I’m enrolled in Fitness First,” she pointed out. “Security here is also tight. You have to ask permission to be let in and out of the lobby door.”

Night of chanting Noranians

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer THE CROWD at the Meralco Theater cheered, clapped and stomped their feet when Nora Aunor was named best actress at the 38th Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) awards ceremony.

It was the result of the excitement triggered by former President Joseph Estrada presenting the award. Estrada jested that he was having a hard time reading the name of the winner, then pretended to put his cue card on the floor. Aunor’s supporters started chanting, “Nora! Nora! Nora!”

Estrada and Aunor had a rift in 2001 when the latter called for the then-beleaguered President’s ouster, and even accused him of beating her in the past.

Aunor told INQUIRER after the awards show that all was well between her and Estrada. The superstar, dressed in white coat and slacks by Avel Bacudio, appeared selfconscious when she met the entertainment press.

She won the award for her role as a Badjao midwife in the Brillante Ma. Mendoza drama “Thy Womb.”

Mendoza won for direction and production design.

The rites started after the 6 p.m. call time. Security was strict—people were allowed entry only after their invitations were stamped.

ID cards for the press were distributed at the building entrance. The 1,000-seat theater was filled to capacity.

There were no reserved seats for media men, so many had to sit on the carpeted floor.

Best supporting actor nominee Baron Geisler (for “El Presidente”) was heard talking and laughing loudly during the show, prompting a woman seated nearby to ask, “Has he been drinking again?”

Geisler repeatedly stepped out to look for his date, who arrived 30 minutes into the program.

Spotted on the red carpet earlier was “The Strangers” lead actor JM de Guzman, who told reporters that his heart was “big, healthy, full of love.”

De Guzman reportedly developed an attitude problem while working on the second season of the ABS-CBN drama series “Angelito: Batang Ama”—which led producers to cut short its airing time.

Bianca King, who recently admitted she had broken up with Dennis Trillo, said she was open to meeting other men. “Love is a gift,” the “Sosy Problem” star told the INQUIRER. “But I will not run after the first guy I will see.” ■

Own space The TV host-actress added: “I like the fact that I have my own space. I have my own world here. If I want to have friends over, I don’t have to worry about my parents and siblings being disturbed by the noise we would make.”

“I want to do more cooking here,” said Gee, who served chili Cajun chicken pasta and pastillas pudding topped with Oreo cookies during this interview. Eloisa brought homemade ginger beer.

“I have a lot of plans for this place. This is only the beginning,” said Gee. “First on my list is to install a quality sound system. I also want to put up a giant frame where I can hang all my accessories—turn it into a huge artwork.” ■

Marian’s list has revenge, skin baring

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer MARIAN Rivera said she has had to reinvent herself for her part as a submissive wife in the GMA 7 drama series “Temptation of Wife.”

“I changed even the way I talk, walk and dress up,” said Marian of her role as Angeline Santos, the submissive wife of Marcel Salcedo (Dennis Trillo). “When I turn into my alter-ego Chantal, I’ll become mataray (imperious). I’ll use a different approach, something more befitting of a woman who wants to exact revenge.”

The actress said she had read the scripts for Weeks 8 and 9 of the drama series. “They’re really very interesting.

When I become Chantal, I’ll be more daring... [I’ll] bare more skin. I’ll be required to exert more effort portraying her.”

She said she found fulfillment in getting good feedback from viewers. “It really means a lot to me that people are pleased with what I’m doing in ‘Temptation of Wife.’”

Exact opposite During a recent visit to the set of “Temptation” in Greenmeadows Quezon City, Marian told the INQUIRER that her personality is the “exact opposite” of that of Dingdong’s mom Angeline, who has the same name as the character she portrays in the drama series.

“Dong’s momis so kind and loving. She’s often quiet.

She is also a very gracious host,” Marian noted. “We’re so different because I’m loud and talkative.”

In the series, Marian has an unfaithful husband and awicked mother-in-law. Things start to take a different turn when she discovers that her husband’s mistress is actually her best friend Heidi (played by Glaiza de Castro).

“It’s difficult to portray a wife whose husband was snatched away from her. I’m just acting the part, but I already feel the pain that a wife goes through. I pray this will not happen to me in the future,” Marian confessed. “I consider myself lucky. I know that Dong is loyal to me.”

Prepared for worst Marian said that while she felt secure with Dingdong, she Continued on page 32

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

31 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

Joanna Ampil to play Grizabella in European tour of ‘Cats’

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer AFTER experiencing not a few white Christmases abroad, singer-actress Joanna Ampil made sure to spend the recent holidays in Manila.

She, however, is set to fly back to London (where she resides) on Jan.8 to catch up on the rehearsals of the European touring production of “Cats”—where she will play the iconic role of Grizabella.

“First performance will be in Edinburgh (Scotland) in February,” she told INQUIRER. “It will be freezing there at that time.”

Entertainment Luckily, she’ll be buried under all the fur that constitutes Grizabella’s costume onstage.

Even so, Ampil is fully aware that she needs to be primed, physically and mentally, for the grueling tour.

Crucial stage “I am keeping fit because once rehearsals start, we will certainly not have time to slow down,” she explained. “I need to maintain my stamina. London in January will also be extremely cold. I wouldn’t want to get sick while I’m still trying to get to know my character.”

The rehearsal period, she admitted, is “the most crucial stage” for her because “the body and mind will have to work overtime.”

Since she’s signed up for seven months, it will be summer in Europe by the time her contract ends.

On top of the fluctuating weather, a slew of sacrifices and challenges is required by the role.

(Since Ampil was in the middle of recording an OPM album under Viva when “Cats” beckoned, she’ll be working longdistance, putting the finishing touches on the CD as well.)

Dancing challenge She’s not easily daunted, though. “Doing a show eight times a week can be monotonous; I need to have other challenges.”

Lea ‘Ragtime’s’ 1st Asian Mother

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer FILIPINO singer-actress Lea Salonga continues to cross racial lines, portraying characters of diverse cultural and social backgrounds in stage productions in the United States.

Salonga, who most recently played a Japanese-American sent to a World War II internment camp in the stage musical “Allegiance,” landed the role of Mother, an upper-class white Protestant woman caught in the turbulence of turn-of-the-century America, in the concert staging of “Ragtime.”

(A “concert staging” is not a full production; the actors merely perform the songs.)

Mother is a pivotal role in the Tonywinning musical based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel.

In the novel’s movie version directed by Milos Forman in 1981, Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen portrayed Mother.

On Broadway, Marin Mazzie played the role in the original production in 1998; Christiane Noll took over in the revival in

2009. They are both Americans.

“They are iconic performers,” Salonga told the INQUIRER. “The challenge is just to not try and sound like anyone else who has done it before.”

Seemed the concert’s director, Stafford Arima, was confident that Salonga could make the role her own.

No audition Arima, who directed Salonga in “Allegiance,”

“We are very lucky to have been born in this generation ... at a time when international productions are open to multiracial casting.”

Toughest part for her is mastering the choreography.

“Dancing is a challenge for me,” Ampil said. “At the same time, I am excited about working with some of the best dancers in the United Kingdom.”

She was thrilled when the musical’s original choreographer, Gillian Lynne, showed up at her audition a few months back. “She’s a legend.”

She recalled that she caught “Cats” on the West End before it closed. “I also have a video of the show with Elaine Paige as Grizabella. I’m a fan of the music, especially ‘The Jellicle Ball.’”

Ampil described Grizabella as “completely different” from her previous roles on the West End stage— Kim in “Miss Saigon,” Mary Magdalene in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Eponine and Fantine in “Les Miserables.”

She explained: “It’s almost similar to how I felt when I landed the role of Fantine.

That was my first mature role. Grizabella is another step up. I’m sure that after a month personally asked the Filipina to sing the role of Mother in the concert to be held at the Avery Fisher Hall of the Lincoln Center in New York on Feb. 18.

“One fine night during our tech period for ‘Allegiance,’ as I was sitting in the darkened theater (the Old Globe in San Diego), Stafford approached me to gauge my interest in singing in a ‘Ragtime’ concert,” Salonga recounted. “Thankfully, I didn’t have to audition.”

Arima then sent her the song “Back to Before” from the musical.

“After I listened to that one song he sent me, I said, ‘Yes,’” she recalled. “It was that simple.”

(Although Salonga knows about the musical, she has yet to watch the movie and the play.) “To be completely honest, I hadn’t heard the music at the time, either,” she said.

“However, it’s one of the favorite scores of friends and colleagues. So it’s something that I need to listen to, if only to appreciate it.”

She is glad that there’s plenty of time before the start of rehearsals for the concert next month.

Salonga refuses to be pressured by the fact that she’d be the first Asian, to tackle a role that was previously reserved for Caucasians.

“I’m not trying to think about it,” she admitted. “I’d like to think that the director

of playing her, I will have made a lot of discoveries.”

She intends to collaborate with the director in creating Grizabella. “I am very dependent on the directors I work with.

Associate director Chrissie Cartwright gave me a lot of pointers when we met during the audition.”

She has also done a little research.

“I plan to read T.S. Elliot’s book,” she said. “But I try not to overfeed myself with information. I need to leave a lot of room for the director’s input. It’s all about teamwork.”

Homecoming “Cats” is a poignant homecoming for Ampil. “London is where it all started for me. It was the first city that gave me the chance to share my music with the world,” she said.

The enormity of the opportunity for a non-Westerner to play Grizabella is not lost on her.

“I feel very privileged. It’s another big responsibility ... to represent the country in the international scene. At the same time, I feel loved because they entrusted such an important role to me,” she pointed out.

The racial divide, at least onstage, has been bridged, Ampil said. “We are very lucky to be born in this generation ... at a time when international productions are open to multiracial casting.” ■ had thought my voice fitted the role, so he asked me. It’s pretty cool.”

Her friends felt the same way.

‘Very special’ gig “I got some really wonderful messages from my friends,” she related. “I’m glad that they’re happy for me. It’s really cool because there’s a racial component to this show. I never thought that I’d ever get cast in this musical in any role... so this one is very special.”

The “Ragtime” concert will likewise be Salonga’s homecoming at the Avery Fisher Hall of the Lincoln Center. “I did an allFilipino Stephen Sondheim concert there in November 2011. It’ll feel like old hat to occupy that space.”

She will also be reunited with fellow Tony winner Tyne Daly and Tony nominee Norm Lewis in the “Ragtime” concert.

“I did a Hollywood Bowl concert with Tyne many years ago and I worked with Norm in ‘Les Miserables’ on Broadway, and in the 25th Anniversary Concert, too,” she said.

According to online reports, Arima who staged the London premiere of “Ragtime,” will gather a chorus of 100 singers from the United States, along with former cast members, in the concert. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

Entertainment

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 32

The perplexing Soliman Cruz

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer ALL the world’s a stage for character actor Soliman Cruz. Or is it?

Social networking sites are abuzz with news that the awarded film, TV and theater actor is suffering from schizophrenia as a result of drug dependence. Witnesses say Cruz is often seen walking along Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City, talking to himself. Another source says Cruz temporarily resides at an art gallery in Singalong, Manila.

Cruz’s story drew widespread interest when it was aired on GMA 7’s “Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho” in mid-December. He was shown being examined and evaluated by psychiatristpsychologist Randy Dellosa, whose “actual diagnosis” was that Cruz had “methamphetamine dependence and also probable schizophrenia.”

The news story got a lot of flak, mostly from Cruz’s friends who posted their thoughts on Facebook.

On her FB page, actress Angelina Kanapi said Dellosa “violated doctorpatient confidentiality” when he agreed to air Cruz’s session with him.

“That psychiatrist should be sued for malpractice,” Kanapi added. “And this network…maybe somebody should drive a stake through [its] heart.” GMA 7 is called the Kapuso network.

Reacting to that post, actress Madeleine Nicolas wrote: “I told Sol (Cruz’s nickname) to be careful about TV interviews…He thanked me for warning him…I am wary about posts on personal stuff on people in FB. When it starts trending, it is picked up by TV. We have to be careful even if we mean well.”

Kanapi said it was possible that Cruz had no idea what he was getting into.

“For all we know, he was expecting help [so viewers would] realize he’s back on track. Actors [like us] need to work.”

Curiously, another awarded actor, Ronnie Lazaro, suspects the whole scenario is one big, elaborate performance for Cruz, his long-time friend.

Lazaro told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone on Friday: “The people who know him are quietly laughing along with him. I know Soliman very well. In the past, we did a lot of performance art on the streets and in some art galleries.

Sol is a really fantastic artist. He knows what he’s doing. ”

Even so, Lazaro said, “I always try to talk Sol into changing his ways. We have what you may call a love-hate relationship. We’ve performed together in many projects. I could never turn my back on him, but right now, I can’t join him. I think he’s actually happy with what’s happening right now.”

Raymond Red, director of “Himpapawid”—for which Cruz won the 2009 Urian Best Supporting Actor award— believes there’s “a deeper reason for what is happening to Sol.” Red and Cruz have been friends for over three decades, since they were classmates at the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA) in Los Baños, Laguna.

“Sol has a strong personality. He’s very passionate about life and his art,” Red told Inquirer. “His whole life is one big performance. While it’s true that he is going through something depressing right now, the people close to him do not consider this as something negative.

This is not at all surprising.”

(Cruz broke up with his wife, actress Roence Santos, a few years back. They have two daughters—Tala and Pintig.)

Red said it was very likely Cruz’s decision to live on the streets. “It’s not like he doesn’t have a choice. He isn’t a palaboy, like he was depicted in the [GMA 7] story. Should he ever need help, all of us, friends of his, would surely come to his rescue. Sol is just like that.”

The indie filmmaker insisted that Cruz wasn’t merely trying to call attention to himself. “He was living his life privately and quietly when people began talking about him in social networking sites. He had done that before. [This particular incident] just got magnified because of TV and the Internet.”

Red’s conclusion: “The bottom line here is that Sol agreed to be interviewed. More than the comments about the program, what’s important was Sol’s views about [his experiences on the streets]. When he said yes to that interview, maybe he failed to consider certain aspects of news reporting.”

In a statement sent to Inquirer, GMA 7 said, “‘Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho’ came across Mr. Soliman Cruz’ story through a post by a follower of the program’s Facebook page…There were discussions about his plight and many wished that help be extended to him.”

This, said the statement signed by Butch S. Raquel, consultant for corporate communications to the network’s chair and CEO, motivated the “KMJS” team to ascertain Cruz’s situation.

In the course of the “KMJS” interview with Cruz, the statement added, “he told us that he wanted to see his psychologistpsychiatrist, Dr. Randy Dellosa. We arranged [the meeting], as he requested.”

Before documenting their conversation, Raquel said, the team sought permission from Cruz and Dellosa, “who both agreed.”

The network continued to facilitate efforts to help Cruz after the story was aired, Raquel pointed out.

Good intentions Filmmaker Siegfried Barros Sanchez is sure that airing Cruz’s story was “wellintentioned.” He says people reacted negatively only because the program aired Dellosa’s diagnosis. “The doctor implied that Sol was a drug addict and had gone crazy. Bagsak na nga sinisipa pa (he’s down and still gets kicked around),” said Sanchez, who worked with Cruz in three films —“Lasponggols,” “Ang Mga Kidnaper ni Ronnie Lazaro” and “Huling Biyahe.”

For Cruz’s colleague, actor Pen Medina, people working in the media are “always on the lookout for controversy —it’s part of their job. Whether or not the story was good depends on the message that it tried to convey. Was it about drugs and its ill effects? Did the viewers learn from it? Was Sol under the influence when interviewed?”

Medina, who admitted that he didn’t catch the show, raised the issue of whether Cruz signed a waiver or written consent.

“We all have to consider this first before we react,” the actor said. “Another question is whether or not the story was made to appear controversial.”

Sanchez said he started noticing changes

in Cruz’s behavior while they worked on “Huling Biyahe” (2012). The director recounted: “The crew got scared of Sol because they would see him talking to himself. Sol said he was hearing voices in his head. What was puzzling to me was that when the camera started rolling, Sol was OK—he knew his lines well. A schizo can’t just snap back to his normal self.”

In the final analysis, the director added, “Only Sol can help himself. All of us have become addicted to something or gone crazy at some point. I guess Sol is just braver than most of us because he chooses to acknowledge these emotions. It’s hard to understand what goes on in the minds of artists.”

Sanchez recalled a story he heard from filmmaker Jon Red, Cruz’s former classmate in PHSA: “For his thesis, Sol acted like a crazy person for a whole school year. Sol was so convincing, that people refused to talk to him.”

His present situation is simply Cruz’s way of coping with depression, Sanchez is convinced. “It’s really his daughters that Sol is worried about. Whenever he comes upon some money, he spends an entire day with them.”

In any case, Medina stressed, Cruz needs to be rehabilitated. “He should change his attitude toward life if he wants to recover.”

He echoed Lazaro’s thought: “For all we know, he’s enjoying this—kanya-kanyang trip lang ’yan.”

“It’s not Sol’s intention to attract attention to himself,” Sanchez reiterated.

“I think this is a stage play with Sol as writer, director and actor. It’s the best play of his life, because all of us, his audience, are attentively watching, wondering what will happen next.”

Raymond Lee, indie screenwriter and producer said, with a tinge of reverence: “We just worked with Sol on the shoot of ‘Juana C. The Movie.’ He was [always] on time and terrific in his scenes. He wasn’t crazy, just crazy good.” ■ Continued from page 30.. was emotionally prepared in case they don’t end up together. “I fear it. If it happens, I know it’s our destiny, and there’s a reason for it.”

The series is a remake of a 2008 Korean hit drama series. It also features Ayen Munji-Laurel and Rafael Rosell as main characters. Dominic Zapata is at the helm.

As a reward for working hard the past year, Marian said she hopes to buy a new van. However, she said this plan could change if she pushes through with her intention to coproduce an action-comedy film with Ai-Ai de las Alas. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

33 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

Lifestyle First Person Account

Polar Brrr (Bear) Swim--- what a brrrave way to start a new year!

It was definitely a “brrr” moment to the point that I couldn’t feel my toes and other “parts” of my body. Although it was freezing I felt overjoyed by the fact that at least I have tried something or challenged myself to be out of my comfort zone.

My pin, which can be collected after the swim, reminds me that I did a “brrrave” thing.

I will definitely do it again next year and I challenge each one of you to try it as well.

Here are some interesting facts and tips before trying this annual “Polar Bear Swim”:

Paul Lumandas, Rich Abarquez and Ryan Ferrer

BY RICH ABARQUEZ ENGLISH BAY, VANCOUVER - January 1, 2013 marked my first time “swimming” or should I say

Hundreds plunge into icy waters for New Year’s charity Polar Bear Dip

BY LINDA NGUYEN THE CANADIAN PRESS OAKVILLE, Ont. - Hundreds of hardy Canadians welcomed the new year Tuesday with a splash into icy waters at Polar Bear Dip events across the country.

About 800 participants at this year’s largest charity gathering, the Courage Polar Bear Dip, stripped down to their skivvies or donned outlandish costumes before jumping into Lake Ontario in Oakville, Ont. According to organizers, the event, held just west of Toronto at Coronation Park, first began in 1995 and has since raised a total of $1,060,000 for the charity World Vision Canada.

This year, more than $120,000 will be donated to fund water projects Rwanda.

While waiting for the dip to begin, event co-founder Trent Courage says the tradition of doing a New Year Day’s dip started with his mother Gaye who ``forced’’ him and his brother into the lake 28 years ago because she heard of a

“dipping” (along with my buddies Ryan Ferrer and Paul Lumandas); but it was the 93rd for one the largest and oldest Polar Bear Swim Clubs in the world. similar Scandinavian practice.

Since then, the family has continued on the tradition, with him bringing his own young sons each year to join in on the fun with hundreds of others. ``It was basically just something to do on New Year’s Day to basically start the year afresh, cleanse the soul, sort to speak,’’ said Courage, donning a bathrobe on the beach trying to stay warm.

The Oakville resident says the event not only brings together families and adrenaline junkies - it also draws those who come dressed in costume.

Over the years, organizers have seen dippers dressed in wedding gowns, tuxedos and geisha outfits. This year was no exception, a man dressed as Baby New Year equipped with a diaper, sash and top hat and a trio of Smurf characters could be spotted in the crowd.

Courage says participants are drawn by the camaraderie of the event, but also that it’s all for a good cause. ``You run in. It’s exhilarating. You

Fast Facts: -started in 1920 -founded by Peter Pantages -generally takes place at 2:30pm (English Bay) -always on the first day of each new year -the Peter Pantages Memorial 100 yard swim is one of the highlights

event, I suggest to wear less when “swimming” or “dipping”. It gets even colder after the swim so having layers of clothes dripping add to the brrrr! Wear costumes before and after the swim and wear less during the swim.

-a friend suggested to be at the venue way ahead of the scheduled registration time (12:30-2:30) to “climatize” your body.

-wear sandals or slippers (flip-flops) when swimming or dipping -make sure to bring thick towels, even blankets, to cover your “freezing” body -don’t forget to bring extra pair of underwear and set of clothes (you can imagine my experience, since I forgot these items) -make sure to invite all your friends and family members to either swim with you or to bring hot beverages for you and to cheer you on -have fun! ■

Tips: -although wearing costumes is one of the traditions and highlights of the

Rich Abarquez is a first time polar bear swimmer, teacher, host, entertainer

hyperventilate, your feet start to hurt to be honest with you but when you get changed, you start to feel amazing,’’ he said. ``No matter what, it’s always very cold.’’

Cathy Sewell screamed with hundreds of others as she charged into frigid Lake Ontario.

On Tuesday, Environment Canada reported temperatures going down to -6 C, with a wind chill of -11.

The 48-year-old Milton, Ont., woman says she had been wanting to do the dip for years and is happy to now be able to cross it off her bucket list. ``I can’t believe I did it. It’s very cold but I did it,’’ said Sewell, shivering underneath a towel following the event. ``I went down (in the water) just to the thighs and I did a dip. I’m very happy. It’s great.’’

The lively event featured live music, prize draws and celebrity guests.

Local emergency crews were also on standby in the water and on the beach as a precaution.

In Vancouver, thousands of swimmers gathered on the beach at English Bay, where the afternoon sun penetrated the grey overcast sky.

Organizers pegged the outside temperature at 6 C, with the water temperature around 7 C. Sean Healy, director of aquatic ser vices for the City of Vancouver, said as many as 2,000 people participate in the event every year, with 18,000 spectators watching.

Jason Aviss, 44, of Langley, B.C., wore a spandex-like tuxedo, and said this was his second plunge and described it as a ``cleansing thing.’’

He said the tuxedo allowed him to go formal.

Stacy Leech, 41, of Lillooet, B.C., said the swim wasn’t his first but was the first for him in Vancouver after moving to the city to take a job.

Leech said he couldn’t wait for the official start and went in early.

Similar events were held across Canada, in several cities including Toronto and Winnipeg. ■

Lifestyle Things That Made Us Go “Hm???”

The Most Bizarre Health Studies of 2012

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 34

ANGIE DUARTE | PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER Scientific studies are constantly revolutionizing the face of medicine the world over, providing valuable information, paving the way for medical breakthroughs and cures, enabling us to live healthier lives.

But some health studies conducted in 2012 left us wondering “What the...?” Here are the top mind-bogglers, as listed by various health and news sites: 1. BEER CAN PREVENT THE COMMON COLD IN ADULTS, FLU IN CHILDREN The Sapporo brewery in Japan conducted a study that showed beer may help beat a virus that cause the common cold in adults, and flu, bronchitis and pneumonia in children.

Beer, which contains a compound called humulone, which was found to be beneficial in the fighting these ailments.

But in order to activate the various fighting-properties of humulone, one would have to reach certain levels of the compound by consuming 30, 12-ounce cans of beer. Not an advisable amount at all for either children or adults.

In fact, the consumption of alcohol by children could prove toxic and have very dangerous side-effects to brain formation and overall development.

4. FACEBOOK LINKED TO INCREASED STRESS LEVELS Beware, Facebook addicts everywhere. A study released this year by scientists at the University of Edinburgh Business School in Scotland shows that the more friends you have on Facebook, the higher your stress levels may be.

The study, which surveyed over 300 people with an average age of 21 showed that the stress factors arose from potential disapproval from certain users of FB (such as colleagues, employers, parents) over particular actions and activities the users maybe involved with, for instance, smoking, drinking, flirting, and partying. These behaviours were once considered acceptable, when the Facebook community was comprised primarily of college students accustomed to the party life.

The study did not mention the relation between the length of time spent on Facebook to the levels of stress experienced.

7. MAGIC MUSHROOMS AS A CURE FOR DEPRESSION Psilocybin, the main component that puts the “magic” in the mushrooms has been shown to affect the brain in ways that simulate anti-depressant drugs.

This was revealed by two small studies conducted

by Professor David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacology researcher at Imperial College London in January 2012.

“We’re not saying go out there and eat magic mushrooms.

But...this drug has such a fundamental impact on the brain that it’s got to be meaningful - it’s got to be telling us something about how the brain works,” Professor Nutt said.

Alice must have been one happy girl in Wonderland, in that case.

10. HOW YOU SIT AND STAND MAY REVEAL YOUR MORTALITY A Brazilian research study published in December 2012 suggests that how well a person can rise from the floor without support may predict his or her chances of dying an early death.

“It is well known that aerobic fitness is strongly related to survival, but our study also shows that maintaining high levels of body flexibility, muscle strength, power-to-body weight ratio and co-ordination are not only good for performing daily activities but have a favorable influence on life expectancy,” Dr. Claudio Gil Araujo, a professor at the Universidade Gama Filho in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said.

The simple test, which was conducted on more than 2,000 women between the ages of 51-80, required participants to get up from sitting barefoot on a flatsurfaced floor to a standing position with the least assistance possible. Points were knocked off for every action used for assistance to get into a standing position (for instance, a hand placed on the floor, or on a thigh for support), and points were also knocked off for those who were wobbly as they stood.

Researchers then followed the participants for 6 years after the study, finding that those who scored below 8 were twice as likely to die than those who scored 8 or higher.

2. WOMEN WITH CATS AS PETS MAY BE AT GREATER RISK OF SUICIDE

Although this may seem an especially far-fetched finding which gives the phrase “crazy cat-lady” new meaning, scientists justified their study, saying that women with cats were 1.5 times more likely to commit suicide due to the effects of “Toxoplasma gondii”, a parasite found in the feces of some cats. In a study conducted on newborns of 46,000 women who may have been potentially infected with the parasite during pregnancy, it was discovered that more than 500 women in the study attempted suicide at some point after childbirth.

Furthermore, the risk for suicide was higher in women whose babies showed higher levels of antibodies to the parasite, thereby indicating a higher level of infection in their mothers during pregnancy.

“We can’t say with certainty that T. gondii caused the women to try to kill themselves, but we did find a predictive association between the infection and suicide attempts later in life that warrants additional studies,” study author Dr. Teodor T. Postolache, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said.

5. DRINKING LARGE AMOUNTS OF RED WINE CAN KEEP SENIORS STEADY ON THEIR FEET Copious amounts of red wine may leave most staggering on their feet. But based on a a study presented at the American Chemical Society national meeting in 2012, a compound in red wine called reservatrol can actually help senior citizens achieve better balance.

In addition to the effect on motor-skills, researchers said that the compound also has anti-aging properties.

The downside, however, is that a senior would have to consume 700 bottles of red wine to get sufficient amounts of reservatrol to deliver the benefits. Hic! 8. IF THE SHOE FITS...

Although you may not be able to judge a book by its cover, you may be able to gauge a person’s key demographic and personality information by his or her shoes.

In a study conducted by psychology professors from the Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, it was discovered that people can judge a person’s sex, age, agreeableness and income by taking a peek at his or her footwear.

Interestingly, study participants could also accurately spot how clingy people were just by taking a quick look at their shoes.

The results, which were published in the Journal of Research and Personality’s August issue, showed that the subjects- 63 college students - chose a person’s correct demographic characteristics at a 90 percent rate after being shown over 200 photos of their classmates’ shoes.

It may be wise, however, to judge someone’s walk of life solely on the shoes they wear. Pun definitely intended.

11. SUFFERING SLEEP APNOEA? LEARN THE DIDGERIDOO! Sleep apnoea, a disorder affecting large numbers of people can cause daytime fatigue, snoring and interrupted sleep patterns. The condition, which in severe cases can be life-threatening, involves the sudden cessation of respiration while sufferers are in bed, preventing them from breathing for short periods of time and interrupting restful sleep. In an unexpected outcome, Swiss researchers discovered that playing the indigenous Australian wind instrument the didgeridoo may dramatically improve the condition and the quality of life of those who suffer from sleep apnoea. Participants in the sample group were asked to play the instrument every day for four months, and the data showed that the circular breathing techniques needed to play the didgeridoo translated to a significant reduction in daytime sleepiness and overall sleep disturbances.

3. EUNUCHS HAVE LONGER LIFESPANS THAN “TRUE” MALES A ground-breaking genealogical study of eunuchs of the Korean Chosun dynasty published in the Sept issue of Current Biology showed that men who were castrated lived almost 20 years longer than other men of the same time periods.

“Our study supports the idea that male sex hormones decrease the lifespan of men,” wrote the researchers, led by Kyung-Jin Min of Inha University.

Despite these results, however, it is highly unlikely that men would be willing to go through the process in order to reap the benefits.

6. THE EYES ARE THE WINDOWS TO SEXUAL ORIENTATION If you can get close enough to a person to stare into their eyes and watch their pupils dilate without invading their sense of safety and personal space, then you may just have a chance to determine their sexual orientation.

325 subjects (160 women and 165 men) of the study were made to watch erotic videos, as researchers at Cornell University used a specialized infrared lens to measure changes in pupil size. The results predominantly showed that people’s eye changed when seeing an image of a certain gender, corresponding with their stated sexual orientation.

The subjects, who were open about their sexual orientation, were first asked to rate their sexuality on a 7-point scale from “exclusively straight” to “bisexual” to “elusively gay/lesbian.” Then they were shown photos and videos designed to either elicit a sexual response or not. Their pupils dilated in accordance with their sexual orientation, as they viewed the sexual videos and photos.

Results, however, seemed more definitive with the male subjects than with the women, raising doubts about the study’s accuracy.

9. “I DO” LEADS TO “I DRINK” AMONG WOMEN A study published by Live Science showed that marriage may drive a woman to drink, not because she’s unhappy but because she’s influenced by her husband’s alcohol consumption.

The same study also showed, however, that it would be best for a successful marriage for married men to adjust to their wives’ lesser alcohol consumption than the other way around. Authors of the study wrote: “Men who fail to converge with their wives’ drinking habits in marriage may set a trajectory towards divorce and continued heavy drinking, while men who converge with their wives’ lesser drinking habits may set trajectories towards lower overall consumption and sustained marriage.”

12. SMOKING SAVES KNEES FROM ARTHRITIS???

This is a big mindboggler! A review of 48 studies involving half a million people showed evidence that guys who smoked for decades needed less knee surgery.

So should you light up that cancer stick to keep your knees healthy? NO. Researchers say that the “protective effect of smoking . . . is likely to be false.” In other words, it’s most likely a statistical fluke, perhaps because the smokers died before their knees gave way.

35 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

Lifestyle

Fitness 2012: Yes, you can Zumba–but not while you’re on Cohen

BY ANNE A. JAMBORA Philippine Daily Inquirer IT WAS THE YEAR that saw people strutting, shaking, spinning and shimmying their way to slimmer bodies and healthier lifestyle.

Zumba ruled the fitness scene in 2012.

The calorie-burning, Latin-inspired dance fitness exercise introduced in the country two years ago became an even bigger hit this year, going beyond the gyms and straight into company-sponsored workout programs and even into the homes of many Filipinos.

A close runner-up is last year’s biggest thing—running. Major races still pack an average of 10,000-13,000 runners, while minor events get an average of 3,0005,000. Barefoot running is slowly picking up and might see a significant growth in about five or more years.

About to make history, though, is ultramarathoner Cesar Guarin, 56, who is set to be the first Filipino to run around

its “graduates” each year, to a rather outrageoussounding fad called Paleolithic Diet that believes modern man should eat food consumed by cavemen during the Stone Age. Those whowere into cleansing tried the Monotrophic Diet (one food type a meal) to cleanse their guts or opted for another expensive program of cleaning the liver via Metabolic Detoxification.

the world by 2017 by covering a total of 42,000 km in 47 countries.

“Eat a princely breakfast, a kingly lunch and a meager supper.” Fad diets also took an interesting turn this year, from the exclusive (read: expensive) and highly restrictive Cohen Diet that parades

Hello flats, goodbye mullet skirts The rise of more comfortable footwear and smaller bags was a significant fashion highlight of 2012

BY CHECHE V. MORAL Philippine Daily Inquirer WE knew the era of the vertiginous platform heel was nearing its demise when Victoria Beckham was photographed wearing—gasp! —flats!

We never thought we would see the day, but Posh, who teetered in sky-high heels even in pregnancy, was recently seen schlepping in Los Angeles with her brood, uncharacteristically shod in a pointy pair of buckled flats.

The British fashion designer and pop icon is in step with the times, naturally.

In 2012, we saw the rise of relatively more comfortable footwear in the form of wedge trainers, popularized by the French designer Isabel Marant. Marc Jacobs had his coveted version, and high street quickly caught on.

Fashionistas also took to the comfy soles of slip-ons—“smoking slippers,” they’re also called.

Trend-setters like fashion editor Carine Roitfeld pointed to a new direction: singlesole heels, the old pointy pumps of yore—minus the platforms. No McQueen armadillo heels here, thank you very much. And with the pointy footwear silhouette also came cap toes, in heels and flats.

Toughened up Designers also went crazy with spikes and rock studs in 2012, with serious deadly weapon-like metals in everything, from shoes to collars to shoulder pads to bags to jewelry. Studs and spikes toughened up an outfit that would otherwise have been too pretty and sweet.

Oversized bags also took a backseat to envelope clutches. Of the more substantial totes, the most visible on fashionistas’ arms was perhaps the Celine Luggage in its varied permutations and color combinations.

This bag was so hot, the alleged “Birkin scammer,” which we wrote about here in late June, reportedly had a dozen of this style, in a variety of exotic skins and color combinations.

Speaking of bags, 2012 was also the year the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama peppered Louis Vuitton’s enviable luxury retail empire with her signature dots in a successful collaboration with creative director Marc Jacobs.

Apart from studs and spikes, one accessory trend we saw the past year was the Peter Pan collar-slash-bib necklace.

Not everyone warmed to the redux of the peplum, but it was one of the most visible trends of 2012. They were seen on celebrities, pop tarts, even girls who were not yet born when peplums last made a major appearance—in the 1980s.

If there’s a 2012 trend that will perhaps haunt those who were ever photographed in one, that’s the mullet skirt. The mullet style extended to formal eveningwear. But it’s the streetwear that quickly wore out its welcome—it was seen on practically every young girl out there, the mullet skirt and its cousin, the sheer maxi skirt.

And these were some of 2012’s hottest trends, some of which we will look back on with fondness, others with dread. ■

World-class athletes The annual Philippine Hobie Cat Challenge finally hosted a race that attracted worldclass athletes for the first time. Held in El Nido, Palawan, the event saw world champions flocking to the country to join the race because it offered a unique route, sailing between islands and rock formations instead of the usual triangle race course.

Stott Pilates, yoga, Redcord, ViPR (Vitality, Performance and Reconditioning), kettlebells, Barre3, Plana Forma and CrossFit Training became the preferred alternatives to regular workouts for fitness buffs who wanted to avoid overcrowded gyms.

Fitness buffs willing to part with a large chunk of their paycheck, that is. A type of suspension training that is more accessible,

however, is TRX, now offered in almost all mega-gyms.

As gamification—instant feedback, akin to video games incorporated in otherwise mundane activities to make them more exciting (think badges, points, leaderboards in apps like Four-square)— took over many businesses in the US, the fitness industry quickly adapted to the trend. Running apps like RunKeeper, Map My Run and Nike+ and website Smashrun motivated people to go the extra mile.

Other noteworthy fitness gamification apps include HundredPushups, Fitocracy, Fleetly, Zombie, Run! and Gym Pack.

The days of CFLs (compact fluorescent lamps), said to emit mercury vapors when lighted, is not yet over—not for this country, anyway—but Filipinos are beginning to look for alternatives. Energy-saving LED lighting systems, while still pricier than CFLs, are now the way to go for many environmentand health-conscious Filipinos.

Senior citizens are now in good hands with the Grandma and Grandpa Club of St. Luke’s Medical Center at Bonifacio Global City, The Fort. Simple activities such as origami-making, dancing, photo tray and flower arrangement have led to health improvements, even in patients afflicted with dementia. ■

Youth

Youth Style Trend 2013: Thrifting

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 36

Continue. Stop. Start.

BY FELICHI PANGILINAN-BUIZON

BY ISABELLE DOCTO FLORAL, CAMOUFLAGE, bold prints, lace, and 90’s grunge; these are some of the forecasted fashion trends for youth in 2013. You can easily find shelves of these reoccurring styles in commercial stores at the closest mall. But with hollow wallets plaguing most teens, the emerging trend is to turn old into new by shopping at their local thrift stores.

“There’s something called a fashion life cycle and usually it reoccurs every 20 years,” explained Adele Tetangco, who has 8 years of experience with marketing in the fashion industry.

This shows why trends from past eras always seem to reappear in the wardrobe of teens and where the concept of “thrifting” can come in handy. Many of these recycled styles are sure to be hidden on racks at your local thrift stores for a fraction of the price that you might get it at retail stores such as H&M, American Eagle, or Forever 21.

“A lot of us have a budget, and we can’t always buy new things,” expressed 17-yearold Katrina Dumay. “You can find what was in the mall for less at a thrift store.”

The Salvation Army, Value Village, and SHARE are examples of second hand stores filled with donated finds. You can also go to smaller consignment stores found in places like New Westminster or Main Street.

People may cringe at the thought of buying clothes that were already worn by someone else, but there are many positive reasons as to why “thrifting” is popular among teens.

“Thrifting is like treasuring hunting,” said Dumay. “It requires creativity and persistence.”

Shopping at thrift stores gives teens the freedom to buy clothes that may look outdated on the hanger, but can easily be customized by edgy studs or combined with new clothes. “It is a smart way to dress because you can buy something from a vintage or thrift store and you can make it into your own style,” said Paolo Lopez, aspiring Filipino fashion designer who attends Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, England.

Walking into a musky smelling Value Village or Salvation Army with endless rows of clothes can be daunting. The first thing is to keep an open mind and to get innovative; sometimes the article of clothing may look dismal on the hanger, but can look amazing after a few customizations.

The second important aspect of thrifting is to try everything on and Tetangco advises that “if it doesn’t fit, don’t buy it.”

This is where bringing a trusted friend who knows your style can help out by being a pair of fresh eyes when helping you choose pieces that look best on you.

It seems that shopping at thrift stores is becoming more mainstream, but just like other styles, it is a trend that has survived through generations of adolescents.

“I think [thrifting] always has been popular because when I was a teenager I still thrifted… so I think it’s always been there,” said Tetangco.

It is certain that this thrifty trend will continue to be potent among youth for many years to come. ■

I PERCEIVE the holidays as a welcome pause to life. It is a much needed break from the usual routine, strategically timed at the last quarter of the year to give each one an opportunity to look back, reflect and perhaps, refocus. New York Times best-selling author, Sarah Ban Breathnach writes, “Only when the clamor of the outside world is silenced will you be able to hear the deeper vibration. Listen carefully.”

Are we ready to listen---carefully?

Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” I believe when Socrates said “life” he meant one’s own life. Nowadays, it seems fashionable to scrutinize the lives of others. I must confess that I, too, would find fault in others, only to realize as I point a finger, three other fingers point back to me. This brings me back to the reality that I have faults that need changing but, I have hope. Transformation is not impossible when we entrust our hearts to the One who made it. Didn’t He promise in the book of Philippians that the work He has begun in us, He has every intention of completing?

His part is to complete, our part is to listen carefully and respond His way.

In our home church, after we accomplish a task or activity, we immediately have an evaluation to measure our progress. We focus on 3 key questions: What do we continue doing? What do we stop doing?

And what do we start doing? Through these questions we are able to recall the blessings, the smart ideas as well as the mistakes and shortcomings better left behind. Answering these questions help identify the areas we need to focus and improve on. We adjust, if necessary, to

assure growth. The very same questions can also be applied to inspire personal growth.

As we begin a new year, my reflections move towards key relationships: with God, my spouse and family. In prayer, I ask for wisdom as I attempt to answer the 3 key questions. I pray, “Lord, search my heart.

What should I keep doing; stop doing and start doing?” I marvel at how the Holy Spirit passionately and creatively leads me into the truth about myself. What has worked for me in 2012 that I can continue in 2013? What has allowed me to grow in intimacy with Jesus? What has made me a better helpmate to my husband? What connecting ideas with kids brought great results? And so forth and so on.

As I reflect on what to stop and leave behind, I am led to the prayer in Psalm 139: 23-24. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” This is one of those prayers, when heartfelt, gets answered immediately. It is my time to agree with God as He reveals my faults and confess--a time to know forgiveness and to start anew. Change has begun.

As a year-ender activity, we decided to ask each family member, “What is one thing that you would want to keep doing, stop doing and start doing?” Keep exercising, stop eating the fat in pork, start managing time well, were some of the commitments I heard. What stuck, though, was the reply of our youngest. Our 6 year old simplified the secret to sustainable and positive change, “I know, I know! Keep praying. Stop worrying and start believing!” ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

37 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

Personal Finance

Your 2013 Financial Check-up

BY LAARNI LIWANAG-DE PAULA Helping Families Meet their Financial Independence (1st of a series) “Financial independence is not a dream, it is a priority”.

New Year is that time of the year when we make our New Year’s Resolution.

Be it personal, career or finance, we set our goals and strive to accomplish and carry out those goals. But do we really implement them in our lives?

We may, for a short one or two months.

Most often, we don’t and we say, there is another year to start all over again.

Procrastination is our big stumbling block.

Why are we here in Canada, far from our family? One would say, to seek for greener pastures and be financially independent. Are we accomplishing this in our years of hard work in Canada? For most of us, a big NO is the answer. The reason, we do not make enough money to support our expenses. And another reason (for those making more than enough) inflation is eating up our savings.

Picture this - you are sick, you go to your doctor. Once a year you undergo your physical check up.

You have dental problems; you go to your dentist. Similarly, once a year, you see your dentist for prophylaxis.

The annual check-ups are preventive.

Your doctor or your dentist will diagnose your problem, if any, and give you prescription and medical advice. Thanks to the medical system in Canada, everything is free (at least, the medical expenses). Lucky you if you have extended medical benefit from the company you are working for. But if you have a financial problem, where do you go, what do you do? The government will not give you money just like that.

Be prepared in the eventuality.

Revisit your financial situation regularly to generate cash flow. In accounting parlance, this is budgeting.

In finance, this is understanding how money works.

Understanding how money works is the key to your financial independence. If we fail, it is because we fail to plan. Know the Basics of How Money Works and take control of your future.

The Rule of 72 – The Power of Compounding Interest The Rule of 72 basically means that it is the number of years it takes to double your money. In investing, the key factor, aside from money, is the rate of return. Simply illustrated, at 2% rate of return, your $1,000 will double every 36 years. In an average lifespan today, your $1000 will double only but once in your lifetime.

Interestingly, if you get 12% rate of return in an open investment, your money will double every 6 years, hence at age 65, assuming you started saving at age 29, your $1,000 will be $64,000. Starting to invest at an early age will redound to financial independence early in life.

Investments are meant to be long term to be able to generate income.

Understanding the Real Rate of Return and the Effect of Taxes and Inflation The real rate of return is measured by the effect of inflation rate. With a rate of return of 3% and inflation rate of 3%, the real rate of return will be zero. Understandably, with an inflation rate of 3%, one should get at least 5% rate of return to beat the inflation rate.

Taxes are another factor we should understand and which we cannot

avoid paying. We are taxed when we buy our food and daily living expenses, we pay tax when we invest, and pay more taxes when we die.

Financial check up questionnaires you may want to ask yourself are Do I have enough cash flow?

Create a spreadsheet showing your all sources of income and all your expenses. If this is negative, then you should take action, either you cut down on your expenses or get other sources of income to make it into positive number.

Do I have an emergency fund?

You should set aside 3 – 6 months income to help you cope with emergencies and unexpected expenses. If you lose your job and did not receive a severance pay, are you able to pay your monthly expenses with your cash on hand.

A line of credit is not considered an emergency fund.

Am I managing my debt properly?

Do you have good debt, that is money borrowed to invest in assets that are appreciating and are tax deductible, or do you have bad debt, that is the credit card debt used to buy depreciating consumer items.

Try paying your credit card the full

amount when they are due or pay more than the minimum to reduce your debt sooner.

What is my net worth?

This is difference between your assets and liabilities.

You can increase your net worth by either increasing your assets or reducing your liabilities. Regularly updating your net worth can help keep you on track to meet your financial goals.

How did my investments perform last year and this year?

Review your portfolio, sit down with your advisor.

Am I and my family protected?

In case of loss of income due to health or disability, will your family survive? Is there proper insurance in place to cover for loss income?

Insurance is often neglected but very important.

Is my estate planning in place?

Do you have a will? When you die without a will, the courts decide how your assets are divided. And did you know that life insurance products eliminate probate fees?

This is because death benefits are paid directly to the named beneficiary/ies. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

Dining Bicol Laing with Taro Leaves and Coconut Milk

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 38

BY CANDICE MACALINO CANDICE CUSINA WE VISITED my Auntie Nas’ place in Portland, Oregon where she shared her secrets of making one of her many signature Filipino dishes, Laing. This dish is originally from the Bicol region, where my Aunt grew up, and is also where coconut milk is prominently in the local cuisine. Laing is an appetizing spicy

vegetable dish with taro leaves that are slowly cooked in coconut milk seasoned with onions, garlic, ginger, fermented shrimp paste and chili.

I learned that the taro plant is native to Southeast Asia and is primarily grown as a root or a leaf vegetable. In laing, the leaf of the taro plant is the main ingredient. My

Aunt told me that the taro plant is actually inedible when raw and even considered toxic. But she quickly reassured me that taro leaves that have been dried under the sun and have been cooked are completely safe to eat. Phew!

Auntie Nas shared with us an important tip: rarely stir the taro

leaves while cooking! This allows the leaves to gently absorb the coconut milk like thirsty little sponges to create that creaminess in the dish, all the while not causing that infamous itchy sensation in the throat. My goodness, but not to worry, this delectable dish is worth it!

Did you know: In Filipino, taro is called gabi and fermented shrimp paste is, bagoong.

INGREDIENTS: 1 can (400 ml) coconut milk 1 can (400 ml) coconut cream 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 onion, diced 2 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced 2 tbsp shrimp fry 1 package of dried taro leaves 300 grams fresh whole shrimp 2 whole jalapeno peppers 1/4 cup green onions, chopped

Did you know: For those who don’t have access to fresh taro leaves, you can easily find shredded dried taro leaves in stores that specialize in Asian foods. Plus, they are extremely affordable.

1. In a deep pot, add the coconut milk, garlic, onions, ginger and shrimp fry. Let the coconut milk along with the other ingredient cook gently in a slow simmer for 15 minutes.

2. Add the whole shrimp to the coconut milk mixture, stir to cook.

3. Slowly add all the dried shredded taro leaves. Do not stir the leaves and

cover your pot with lid to let the leaves absorb the coconut milk.

4. Once the leaves have absorbed the coconut milk, add the coconut cream to the top of the mixture and cover the pot with lid. Again, do not stir the leaves and let simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Add the jalapeno peppers and green onions and simmer for another

30 minutes. Now it’s ready and laing is best served hot with plain white rice.

Masarup!!!

Try this: Substitute whole shrimp with chopped pork belly.

--Access Candice’s video via http://candicescusina.blogspot.ca/ search?q=laing

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

Business

39 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

PSE index continues record-breaking climb At 40.77:$1, peso closes at its strongest level in nearly 5 years

BY DORIS C. DUMLAO AND MICHELLE V. REMO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE LOCAL stock index continued its record-breaking climb as it went past the 5,900 level, buoyed by the upbeat sentiment of global markets that welcomed budget developments in the United States.

Also, the peso strengthened to its highest level in nearly five years as improved

outlook on the global economy and favorable sentiment on the Philippines raised investors’ appetite for assets in emerging markets.

The local currency closed at 40.77 against the US dollar, up by 9 centavos from the previous day’s finish of 40.86:$1.

The last time the peso closed stronger than that was on March 5, 2008, when it settled at 40.76 against the greenback.

The peso also hit an intraday high of 40.76:$1, while the lowest recorded was 40.825.

Volume of trade amounted to $983.7 million—up from the previous day’s $931.8 million.

At the Philippine Stock Exchange, the main-share index surged by 73.06 points, or 1.25 percent, to close at a new high of 5,934.05. A new intra-day peak of 5,960.74 was also reached.

Investors snapped up shares of PLDT, AC, BDO, SMIC and Megaworld.

Although PLDT rose at a faster pace, SM Investments kept its bragging rights as the most valuable stock in the bourse, with

Net foreign buying surges Capital raised via PSE in 2012 up by 103.8%

BY DORIS C. DUMLAO AND MICHELLE V. REMO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE LOCAL stock market attracted P109.98 billion in net foreign buying last year, nearly double the P56.52 billion a year ago, as the Philippine economy outperformed expectations despite global economic uncertainties.

The Philippine Stock Exchange also reported that capital raised through the stock market reached a new high of P219.07 billion in 2012. This was 103.8 percent higher than the amount raised last year through initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, stock rights offering and private placements.

“The stock market’s performance in 2012 re-wrote the record books in a big way, as seen in the new highs we’ve experienced across almost all market indicators.

Investor confidence in Philippines Inc. is also at an-all-time high, and this can only serve to strengthen our market as we tackle new challenges and opportunities in 2013,” PSE president Hans Sicat said in a statement.

Five companies conducted their initial public offerings in 2012, raising a total of P23.99 billion from the market while two

firms listed by way of introduction. In the meantime, capital proceeds from private placements, stock rights offerings and follow-on offerings amounted to P50.38 billion, P52.07 billion and P92.64 billion, respectively.

The total value turnover last year also registered a new high for the exchange at P1.77 trillion, 24.5 percent higher than the year-ago level. The increase coincided with the extension of the PSE trading hours up to 3:30 p.m.

The combined market capitalization of listed issues in the PSE at the end of the year reached P10.93 trillion, up by 25.7 percent from year-ago level.

At the end of 2012, the PSEi set records 38 times and posted an annual growth of 33 percent. In Asia, the PSEi ranked the second best performer behind Thailand’s SET Index at the close of last year, followed by the benchmark indices of India, Japan and Hong Kong. The PSEi was the region’s best performer in 2011.

In terms of sectoral indices, the financial index was the best performer in 2012 with its 57.5-percent rise. This was followed by the property index (up 55.6 percent), holding firms index (up 47 percent), industrial index (up 25.5 percent), and

a market capitalization of P560 billion.

PLDT ended Thursday with a market cap of P553.10 billion.

There were 121 advancers against 47 decliners while 43 stocks were unchanged.

“Events in Washington have played out pretty much exactly as we expected, with Congress compromising on a deal at the very last minute. The deal focused on the revenue side and did not address spending or, most importantly, the debt ceiling. This means there is much to do in the New Year,” said BofA Merrill Lynch in a commentary.

“The [fiscal] cliff is behind us, but now ‘three gorges’ — the sequester, the debt ceiling, and the continuing resolution for the 2013 budget—all lie ahead,” it said.

The US budget deal, messy and protracted as it was, may have provided an immediate boost for financial markets, but it may spell over the long term for some Asian assets that are coming off a stellar 2012.

Investors may start to shift some money out of overpriced or crowded Asian investments in favor of the United States on the view that the fiscal deal has allowed the US to avoid a recession while it boosts the prospects for American stocks. services index (up 6.7 percent). Only the mining and oil index declined (down by 17.4 percent) last year.

“What’s most encouraging amidst the record-breaking numbers is that there’s still room to keep growing.

The government continues to steer the economy to promising levels of sustained growth. For our part, the PSE has lined up several initiatives in the coming months to take advantage of the favorable business environment,” Sicat said.

“Hopefully, this is just the beginning of a positive transformational phase that will lift the capital market to the next stage of competitiveness. It’s definitely an exciting time right now for the Philippines,” Sicat said. ■

In search of rare metals, PH leaves no stone unturned

BY BY RIZA T. OLCHONDRA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE PHILIPPINES is leaving no stone unturned in its quest for rare earth elements or REE—a major component of electronic products.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said the government had earmarked an initial budget for REE development work, with the exploration phase to begin sometime in the next three months.

“In the short term, US risk premium will come down now that a deal has been struck and might trigger some reversal of flows from Asia back to the US,” said Hong Hao of Bank of Communication International Securities.

Analysts do not expect a major reversal of funds, but more of a subtle shift as some money managers rebalance their portfolios by taking profits on Asian positions and moving those funds into prospective bets in the United States.

The S&P 500 fell 1 percent from September through December last year in the buildup to the presidential election and the so-called fiscal cliff. At the same time, Asian markets rallied. Japan’s Nikkei rose 17.2 percent and the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan index went up by 5.6 percent.

Southeast Asian markets such as Thailand and the Philippines were top performers last year, but a flood of funds has pushed valuations to levels that look less appealing now on a relative basis.

“There are a lot of great companies in Asean. But as a market, the region is looking pretty fairly valued,” said Bill Maldonado, who oversees about $80 billion as chief investment officer in Asia-Pacific for HSBC Global Asset Management. ■ With a report from Reuters.

“The budget of P500,000 is just for fieldwork this year,” MGB director Leo Jasareno said in a phone interview.

Additional resources would be allocated when an agreement has been signed with a technical partner. Presently, the Philippines is considering partnering with China.

The MGB has already found potential areas to explore, and these areas are also close to copper-gold mines. Palawan and Mindanao have been identified as the best places to start, but authorities have yet to determine if there are enough resources in those areas for commercial production, MGB said.

Last year, the country’s plan to produce REEs stalled after Beijing reneged on earlier commitments to help Manila despite several “reminders” by the MGB. This came amid a dispute between Manila and Beijing over the Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. Before the dispute, Manila and Beijing were set to sign a deal to jointly explore for rare earth elements.

Producing rare earth elements became a serious consideration for many countries last year when China decided to cap exports. At the time, the Chinese Commerce Ministry announced an initial cut of 27 percent in its exports quota for 2012, reportedly as part of a crackdown on illegal mining of rare earth oxides.

China controls 97 percent of REE supply globally and has been reducing its export quota to secure greater control over pricing, thus leading to a surge in prices over the past two years, according to observers. ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

Sports

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 40

Stoyan Vassev

Keen on fighting Donaire, Rigondeaux OKS drug test

BY MARC ANTHONY REYES Philippine Daily Inquirer

GUILLERMO Rigondeaux, the Cuban former Olympic champion, has agreed to a precondition of possible foe Nonito Donaire Jr. to submit himself to tests in order to rule out the use of

performance-enhancing drugs.

However, Rigondeaux (11-0-0 with eight knockouts) is reportedly only willing to undergo an Olympic-style doping test, which is not as accurate as the one Donaire subscribes to under the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.

In a boxingscene.com report written

by Ryan Maquinana, Rigondeaux’s manager Gary Hyde said they don’t have any problem with random drug testing if and when the Cuban and Donaire agree to a super bantamweight unification bout.

With his projected high-stakes fight with WBC 122-pound champ Abner Mares of Mexico still unclear because of conflicts involving their promoters, Donaire could end up battling Rigondeaux.

Donaire—the WBO king who has just been adjudged the 2012 Fighter of the Year by ESPN and RingTV.com.— earlier balked at the idea of fighting the 32-year-old Rigondeaux.

The Filipino later said he would ask Rigondeaux to undergo drug testing if they meet in the ring this year.

“I would like to do that (random testing), especially now that people are asking for it,” Donaire told boxingscene. com’s Dennis D’Source Guillermo.

“Random is good, so we can help clean boxing’s reputation. If they want me to ... fight them, then I have to request them to fight fair. It’s an even trade.”

Rigondeaux, who earned legendary status in the amateur ranks with a reported 600 fights under his belt, is said to have hired the services of Angel Heredia, the controversial strength and conditioning coach of Juan Manuel Marquez who had been linked in the past to banned substances.

Donaire’s nutritionist Victor Conte said Olympic-style doping doesn’t have as much CIR (carbon isotope ratio) to isolate and measure banned synthetic testosterone.

Incidentally, Conte himself had been convicted of supplying performanceenhancing drugs to athletes.

To make up for his past indiscretions, Conte told American sportswriters he would help clean boxing of banned substances.■

Azkals shun friendly with crack Hungary Archers tap Bacolod HS hotshot

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer

ADMITTEDLY not at the level to be competitive against a top caliber side from Europe, the Philippines begged off from facing formidable Hungary in a friendly that was supposed to be played in Dubai in February.

National team manager Dan Palami revealed that there was indeed an invitation from Dubaibased promoters for the Azkals to play against the Hungarians on the next international friendly date on Feb. 6.

“It’s flattering and a great opportunity to get an offer to play against a strong European team, but we’re not at their level yet,” said

Palami, pointing out that Hungary is positioned more than a 100 places higher than the Azkals at No. 32 in the world rankings.

“It could be counterproductive for the camp that we will be holding in the Middle East. We want to build cohesion and gain confidence and it might be difficult to do that if we face Hungary,” said Palami.

The Azkals are still in search for an opponent on the friendly date as part of their camp in the Middle East in preparation for the AFC Challenge Cup Qualifiers.

Azerbaijan was also a possible foe for the Azkals in a friendly, but the European country opted to face Liechtenstein instead. ■

LOOKING to improve on its finish in Season 75 of the UAAP, La Salle began bolstering its roster by securing the services of Bacolod high school sensation Kib Montalbo starting next season.

Fleet-footed and athletic, the 16yearold Montalbo was also being pursued

by Ateneo before he committed to play for La Salle, which reached the Final 4 last year only to be ousted by the Eagles.

Montalbo, a senior at St. John’s Institute in Bacolod City, was presented as the Green Archers’ newest recruit Sunday in the presence of La Salle basketball patron Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., team manager Terry Capistrano and coach Gee Abanilla.

Social networking site Twitter was abuzz when UAAP Rookie of the Year and La Salle forward Jeron Teng posted a photo of him giving Montalbo a La Salle jacket in Cojuangco’s presence.

Montalbo has been on the wish list of several schools since making the

SKT Digital

Azkalsfootballteam.com

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer

Top 10 of the Junior NBA Philippines selection two years ago. He was also being eyed by former Ateneo coach Norman Black to join the Blue Eagles.

Cojuangco played a key role in the talks to lure the player to the Taft Avenue-based school.

The 5-foot-10Montalbo led SJI to two Negros Occidental private schools league titles and once scored 51 points in a game.

Montalbo welcomed the challenge of playing for La Salle and expressed confidence he can contribute to its cause.

“There’s a lot of pressure but I think I can handle it,” Montalbo told the INQUIRER Sunday night. “I still need to improve, but I’m hoping I can make an impact at La Salle.” ■

News at your fingertips.

www.canadianinquirer.net

For your daily dose of the most current and up-to-date news

2BU

TORONTO

1-888-668-6059

1-888-668-6059

1-888-668-6059

1-888-668-6059

W I N N I P E G & S A S K AT O O N

1-888-668-6059

1-888-668-6059

1-888-668-6059

EDMONTON & CALGARY

1-888-668-6059

W oul dn t i t be gr ea t to a l wa ys ha ve thi s much peace of mi nd?

VA N C O U V E R

You can! B y creating your plan ahead of time, you will protect your wonderful spouse and children from uncertainty and stress. T hen you can all rest easy knowing the details are taken care of.

Funeral expenses have increased in cost exponentially over the past 20 years. A no frills service and cremation or burial can cost thousands! B ut today s seniors want something special, a personalized service that their family will appreciate one that celebrates life and will ease the grief during a time of loss.

W ith C anada P urple Shield, you can preplan your services and pay for it over time at a rate you choose. W e also have W orldwide Travel A ssistance P lan coverage that protects you while traveling anywhere in the world! O ur plans allow you to lock in current prices while saving your family from making hard decisions under pressure.

W hy worry? A ct now to plan with C anada P urple Shield. W e ve served C anadians since 1927, and we look forward to serving you.

F uneral ex pens es c an c reate a tremendous burden. B y planning now with C anada P urple S hield, you c an: • • • •

P rotec t agains t inflation Have plans that inc reas e in value B e protec ted while traveling C hoos e low premium rates that fit your budget • Have immediate c as h ex ac tly when you need it mos t

Would’t it be great to always W oul dn t i t be have this much peace of mind? gr ea t to a l wa ys can! By creating your plan ahead ha ve thi s much B esYou t of all: of time, you will protect your wonderful • No medic al required peace mi nd? and children fromof uncertainty • Pspouse lans are available to age 90

• P urplestress.

S hield isThan ac c epted funeral and youbycan all rest easy direc tors worldwide knowing the details care of.

Youare can!taken B y creating your plan ahead of time, you will protect your wonderful spouse and children from uncertainty and stress. T hen you can all rest easy knowing the details are taken care of.

C a ll (8 8 8 ) 5 7 9 - 2 2 3 3 for more infor ma tion Funeral expenses have increased in cost exponentially over the past 20 years. A

frills and cremation or burial A ll of this (and muc h more! ) provided by A s s urant no L ife ofservice C anada, the oldes t and larges t funeral ins uranc e c ompanycan incost thethousands! world. B ut today s seniors

F uneral ex pens es c an c reate a tremendous burden. B y planning now with C anada P urple S hield, you c an:

want something special, a personalized All of this (and much more!) provided by Assurant of Canada, the oldest and • P rotec t againsLife t inflation service that their family will appreciate

In Vancouver, Call Tel No. 604-551-3360 largest funeral insurance company in the world. one that celebrates life and will ease the grief during a time of loss.

W ith C anada P urple Shield, you can preplan your services and pay for it over time at a rate you choose. W e also have W orldwide Travel A ssistance P lan coverage that protects you while traveling anywhere in the world! O ur plans allow you to lock in current prices while saving your family from making hard decisions under pressure.

• Have plans that inc reas e in value • B e protec ted while traveling • C hoos e low premium rates that fit your budget • Have immediate c as h ex ac tly when you need it mos t

B es t of all: • No medic al required • P lans are available to age 90 • P urple S hield is ac c epted by funeral direc tors worldwide

W hy worry? A ct now to plan with C anada P urple Shield. W e ve served C anadians since 1927, and we look forward to serving you.

C a ll (8 8 8 ) 5 7 9 - 2 2 3 3 for more infor ma tion A ll of this (and muc h more! ) provided by A s s urant L ife of C anada, the oldes t and larges t funeral ins uranc e c ompany in the world.

In Vancouver, Call Tel No. 604-551-3360

HIRING FULL TIME BINDERY WORKERS

PLACE YOUR BIZCARD 1-888-668-6059 Email: sales@canadianinquirer.net

Do you want to learn how to make exquisitely handcrafted books & boxes?

Are you a detailed person?

Are you good with your hands?

No bindery experience? We will train you!

Email your resume to info@irisbook.com

PLACE YOUR BIZCARD 1-888-668-6059 Email: sales@canadianinquirer.net

www.irisbook.com

Burnaby : Walk from Production Way Station / Parking

ROOM FOR RENT IN QUIET QUEENSBOROUGH AREA WALKING DISTANCE TO WALMART $400.00 /MONTH CALL 604-551-3360 TO VIEW AVAILABLE BY JANUARY 1, 2013

PLACE YOUR BIZCARD 1-888-668-6059 Email: sales@canadianinquirer.net

44 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

A Train Worth Waiting For

Benjamin Gagnon

New route takes in Québec’s beautiful Charlevoix

BY SUZANNE MORPHET COURTESY OF THE CANADIAN TOURISM COMMISSION

FOR TRAIN buffs, Canada is tops. We’ve got the Rocky Mountaineer, the Polar Bear Express, the Agawa Canyon choo choo – and now – the train of le Massif de Charlevoix.

It’s ‘All Aboard!’ for this new train that departs Québec City for La Malbaie in the Charlevoix region of Québec.

This train has been worth the wait. For much

of the 140 km route, it runs alongside the St. Lawrence River, a river so big locals refer to it as ‘la mer’. On the other side of the track are the Laurentian Mountains, beautiful at any time of year and particularly so in the fall as maple trees turn red and orange.

The train itself is an attraction. The six railcars dating from the 1950s have been stripped down and fully refurbished in a contemporary style.

Each one carries 68 passengers. A multi-media presentation reveals the region’s history and

culture as the natural scenery unfolds outside.

The train leaves Québec City each morning and returns each evening.

The journey is a gastronomic adventure as well. The executive chef of the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu hotel in La Malbaie, JeanMichel Breton, is in charge of creating gourmet meals. The region is well known for its abundant agricultural produce, locally made cheeses, hand-crafted ales and creative chefs, so be prepared for some amazing food.

Once at La Malbaie, you’ll want to wander through the historic Fairmont hotel or stay the night. It was originally built by the Canada Steamship Lines in 1899 and re-built in 1928 after a fire. It symbolizes the glory days of Charlevoix when well-heeled tourists arrived by steamship or train. (Yes, there were other trains before this one.)

In winter, the new train stops at the base of Le Massif for skiers to get off, and at the company’s new hotel complex in Baie-Saint-Paul.

The train, as well as the ski resort and the new hotel complex, are all the brainchild of Daniel Gauthier. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because he co-founded Cirque du Soleil, Canada’s famed artistic entertainment company that started in Baie-Saint-Paul.

If you know anything about Cirque du Soleil, you’ll know not to underestimate Gauthier – or his former business partner, Guy Laliberté – who has also invested in this project. If they can reinvent the circus, imagine what they are doing with a train. ■

Experience the magic of winter at southern Alberta’s provincial parks EDMONTON... Start the New Year off with fun activities for the whole family at a southern Alberta provincial park or recreation area. There are many superb crosscountry ski trails throughout southern Alberta, including Chinook Provincial Recreation Area, Syncline Provincial Recreation Area and Beauvais Lake Provincial Park.

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, near Medicine Hat, boasts more than 15 kilometres of groomed and track set cross-country ski trails. The Spring Creek cross-country ski trails on the plateau south of Elkwater offer an excellent variety for both beginner and novice skiers. The Spruce Coulee trails east of Elkwater are excellent trails for all levels of cross-country skiers.

The park’s visitor centre also has a variety of equipment available for rent, including pulks (enclosed toboggans with harnesses), ski attachments for chariot strollers, kick sleds, toboggans, geo-caching GPS units and snowshoes.

Suggested route maps are available at the visitor centre.

Ski or snowshoe in/out accommodation rentals are now available at two backcountry huts, located approximately five kilometres from the parking area at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. The facilities sleep between eight to ten people and have a living/dining room and a fully stocked kitchen area. Winter coziness is provided by a wood burning stove. Call 403-893-3833 for more information and to book your vacation.

On January 12 and March 10, join Gregg Campbell, a level 3 Canadian Association of Nordic Ski Instructor and a former national team member, for an afternoon of skate skiing at Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. Classes for children run from 10 a.m. to noon at the Cypress Hills Learning Centre. Adult classes are from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Cross-country ski clinics are free and open to skiers at every skill level.

Join us on February 23 for the first annual Cypress Hills Loppet. This fun cross-country ski race will have an eight kilometre family loop and a 22 kilometre open event. Contact the Cypress Hills visitor information centre at 403-893-3833 for more details.

Winter camping is a wonderful adventure for the whole family. Sites are available at Chain Lakes Provincial Park; Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park - Elkwater, Lakeview and Spruce Coulee; Dinosaur Provincial Park; Kinbrook Island Provincial Park; and Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park on a first-come, first-served basis. You can also reserve a campsite at Dinosaur Provincial Park by calling 403-378-4344 or at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park by calling 403-6472364, extension 229.

For more information on winter activities visit AlbertaParks.ca. ■

Travel

45 FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013

CAMIGUIN ISLAND

KATHERINE MARFAL PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER THE ISLAND-PROVINCE of Camiguin is in the northern tip of Mindanao. It is 90 kilometers north of the City of Cagayan de Oro and bounded to the north by Bohol Sea, to the west by Macajalar Bay, to the southeast by Gingoog Bay and to the east by Butuan Bay.

Camiguin is the 2nd smallest province in the Philippines, next to Batanes in terms of land area and population.

It has a land area of 29,187 hectares and a total population of 74,232. It is composed of five towns, namely, Mambajao – the capital town, Mahinog, Guinsiliban, Sagay and Catarman. The island has seven volcanoes, including the still-active Mount Hibok-Hibok.

The Camiguin culture is a mixture of both Boholano and Cebuano culture.

The island of Camiguin has three colleges, plus a complete secondary and elementary education -both in private and public.

Camiguin’s volcanic soil is fertile for planting various crops. Its natural resources include sulfur deposits, geothermal energy, agricultural lands and fishing grounds.

Since Camiguin is a volcanic island, most of its beaches are black. But if you like to see white beaches, you could take a short boat trip to White Island or to Mantigue Island, where best white beaches can be found. White Island is accessed from Agoho, which is about 5 km (3.1 mi) west of the town of Mambajao, while Mantigue Island can be reached from Mahinog, which

is about 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) south of Mambajao. White Island is pure white sand, with no trees to give visitors shade. When you go to Camiguin, never ever miss a trip to White Island. Better to go there early in the morning, when the sun is not hot and the waves are calm. Some parts of the island disappear in the afternoon.

It has also waterfalls and springs.

Katibawasan Falls is located 5 km (3.1 mi) southeast of Mambajao, cascades 250 ft (76 m) down to a pool surrounded by orchids and ferns. Tuasan Falls is located 6 km (3.7 mi) northeast of Catarman. It has also very spectacular dive sites where turtles, Manta Rays and Reef Sharks can be seen.

To reach Camiguin Island, visitors can fly in to Lumbia Airport in Cagayan de Oro City. From the airport, a jeepney and bus ride takes visitors to the port of Balingoan, Misamis Oriental in about two hours. Ferries from Balingoan has have two destinations in Camiguin- the Guinsiliban port which takes 45 minutes, and to Benoni port which takes about an hour, but has more scheduled trips.

A daily catamaran plies the Cagayan de Oro-Camiguin route continuing to Tagbilaran City and vice versa. ■

RANDOM RUMINATIONS ON CAMIGUIN

BY ALMAN DAVE O. QUIBOQUIBO Visitors coming into Camiguin are often burdened by a heavy baggage of expectations. The province is often thought to hew closely to the stereotype of a picturesque island paradise: kilometers of fine white sand beaches fringed by tall, leaning coconut trees, swaying in the breeze that’s constantly blowing from the sea. But one will not find a lot of that in Camiguin. Much of the coast is rocky, and while there are a lot of coconut trees near the shore, there are few places ideal for worshipping the sun. Which is not to say that Camiguin has no attractions of its own, rather that white beaches, as we have conceived them, are not the only beautiful creations in the country.

If sun and sea are necessary on your itinerary, however, there is an abundance of that at White Island and Mantigue Island. The first is a strip of sand and crushed coral near the northwestern tip of Camiguin. It isn’t even an island but a sandbar, its shape dictated by the movements of the sea, and there is not a single tree to provide shade, or anything where one may hang a hammock. Local entrepreneurs have set-up makeshift stalls selling anything from beer to grilled fish, but this has ultimately made the island unfriendly to photography. On a good day, however, one might be able to view the southern end of White Island, with Mts. Hibuk-hibuk and Old Vulcan in the background.

There is a marine sanctuary just off the white beach surrounding Mantigue Island, which makes it ideal for snorkeling. A small community of fisherfolk live on the small island, drying seaweeds in the sun. There is no electricity as yet, and anyone wanting to stay more than a day is best advised to bring supplies in. Leaving Camiguin from its port, the island of volcanoes refuses to dwindle into a dot in the distance. In the same way, it is difficult to erase from memory, because although it doesn’t have many of the ingredients of the traditional recipe for paradise, it serves a full course of choices that is at best gourmet, if not, exotic. ■ (http://ialman.livejournal.com/tag/camiguin)

ration t s i g e R d Limite AP Apply AS

Guaranteed Transfer to BCIT Transportation Course without IELTS and TOEFL

（Automotive Service Technician）

（Aircraft Maintenance Engineer）

We only accept international students as trainees, semester is 26 weeks long.

Successful graduates are guaranteed entry into the corresponding BCIT program.

1885 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1Y5 Tel : 604-879-8686 Fax: 604-874-8686 Email : info@dorsetcollege.bc.ca Website: www.dorsetcollege.bc.ca

Canada

FRIDAY JANUARY 11, 2013 46

Sergei Bachlakov / Shutterstock.com

What about those who are already here?

The Canadian immigrant’s dilemma: how to win against many odds.

BY MELISSA REMULLA-BRIONES PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER IMMIGRATION - one that is attractive and aggressive, with young immigrants as the target - still figure prominently in the growth plan of the government of Canada.

However, a frequent thorn on its side is the seemingly apparent failure of the program to utilize and maximize the potential of immigrants that are already here and present - most of them professionals (doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, with MAs and PhDs appended to their names ) - who are underemployed or unemployed, often struggling, often despairing, many of them cultivating plans of going back to their home countries.

Professional immigrants For Filipino-Canadians, the vulnerable immigrants needing their care, help and assistance are the temporary foreign workers (TFW) and the caregivers.

However, another class seem to be on the rise to be yet another vulnerable member of its growing population - the professional immigrants.

The government knows of them and statistics of their unemployment (a high 14 percent) have reached the higher ups.

Sad tales of professional immigrants in fact figure prominently in several of the Honourable Jason Kenney’s, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, speeches. In one such speech, Minister Kenney said: “I remember just a few months ago, I was in Vancouver at a Persian community event, where I met a woman immigrant from Iran who was a radiologist, and her husband was a paediatric surgeon. She told me that she had been in Canada for three years, struggling to try to get her license so she could practice medicine here. And she said after three years, she was no further ahead. She actually broke down in tears in front of me to say that she had depleted the family’s savings, they didn’t feel like

there was any point in staying, and that she was thinking now, she said: “As much as I hate the government of Iran because of its extremism, I feel I may have to go back there so I can work again as a physician to generate an income to put my son through UBC, so that he can realize his dream to become a medical doctor who discovers the cure to cancer.” I’ve heard so many tragic stories like that.

A few years ago, I met a Syrian woman who was an obstetrician. She had worked delivering babies, thousands of babies, in her home country for many years. She came to Canada, originally to BC and then Alberta, and for five years, she had been cleaning hotel rooms. I can think of the Algerian immigrant who I met in Montreal, an engineer, who was working in a corner store, feeling like the promise of Canada was just an impossibility for him to achieve.

Friends, this is a country of opportunity, but for too many, we have failed to really give people that real opportunity. And that is why we must pursue an agenda, in my view, of transformational change in our approach to immigration and integration.”

PCI interview After his speech before the Burnaby Board of Trade in November 2012, Minister Kenney was pressed by the Philippine Canadian Inquirer about this issue. He was asked in particular about the obstetrician (which he again mentioned during his speech).

What about them?

“For those people [professional immigrants], we’ve been trying to provide help in terms of working with the licensing bodies to simplify the credential recognition process. That’s particularly difficult, though, for doctors. Because they have very limited number of residencies available and that’s a question of provincial healthcare funding. We have also just launched a micro-credit loan [program] to pay for skills upgrade so people who

don’t have savings and can’t get credit but need to take additional courses or pay for their certification exams can now get up to $10,000 that we’re supporting through non-profit organizations, and of course we’re supporting mentorship programs.

We’re supporting training programs so that foreign trained physicians can at least get trained up to work as paramedics in Canada while they wait for decision on their licensure. We’re doing all of these things but ultimately what we can do at the federal level is to stop the absurdity of inviting people here who are not going to be able to get their credentials recognized - it ‘s not fair to them and it’s not fair to Canada,” Minister Kenney replied.

The issue continues to hound Minister Kenney, who was very recently asked about it by the Canadian Immigrant: But what about the people who are already here, who are either underemployed or struggling to find a job in their field? Mr. Kenney answered that they are “working with provinces and their professional regulatory bodies to speed up and streamline the process for credential recognition”, providing micro-credit loans, but that because of the pervasive unemployment problem among immigrants, the current government also “oppose[s] much higher levels of immigration”.

A comment left on said publication’s website summed up the general sentiment among professional immigrants on the issue: “Is anything going to change for people like me as an Orthopaedic Surgeon, with 5 sub specialties, 10 years In Canada and still, working as a Nurse assistant? … Not only me, there are thousands of people in my exact situation… Is very sad what is happening in Canada. In my case, they lied to me, yes in Immigration Canada they said “we need a lot of doctors!” here I’m still waiting. We are doing it wrong.” - E.G. Are we doing it wrong?

It is no secret that immigrants have pushed the ethos of several nations higher by several notches (some to superpower status) - with their bright, eager and fertile minds - sharing one mission of making their adoptive nation great.

If Canadian professional immigrants - highly educated, highly motivated, brilliant, trained - were just given a second look and a fighting chance by the government, by the employers, by credential recognition and professional regulation bodies, even the sliver of one (in the form of more “surmountable” requirements/ barriers), this can be in Canada’s future too. ■

The Philippine Canadian Inquirer welcomes your views and opinions. Please e-mail the editor at editor@canadianinquirer.net.Thank you.

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 Dominador Masakayan (604) 355-0692 masakayan@ il.com 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.

• Email us at : info@canadianinquirer.net or inquirerinc@gmail.com

Member:

The first to go

nationwide IN PRINT

We are Now Going

DAILY on the web

everywhere, anywhere News at your fingertips daily

www.canadianinquirer.net

PHILIPPINE CANADIAN

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO CANADIAN NEWSPAPER

Visit Our Locations: BURNABY

Crystal Mall 1213 - 4500 Kingsway Metropolis at Metrotown #GK1 - 4800 Kingsway

1

Cornerstone at SFU 8962 University High St.

RICHMOND Aberdeen Centre 1230 - 4151 Hazelbridge Way

2

Parker Place 1430-4380 No. 3 Road

SURREY Central City Shopping Centre #5 3000 Central City, 10153 King George Hwy

VANCOUVER Hudson #K1-678 Dunsmuir St. UBC Pharmacy 5754 University Boulevard

Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE™

Samsung Galaxy S III™

NORTH VANCOUVER West Esplanade #2 - 180 West Esplanade

Samsung Note II™

Find Us Online:

Offer ends November 21, 2012. Available with compatible devices within network coverage areas available from Bell Mobility; see bell.ca/coverage. Long distance and roaming charges (including foreign taxes) may apply. Paper bill charge ($2/mo.) applies unless you register for e-bill and cancel your paper bill. Other monthly fees, e.g., 911 (Sask: $0.62, New Brunswick: $0.53, Nova Scotia: $0.43, P.E.I. : $0.50, Quebec: $0.40), and one-time device activation ($35) fee applies. Fees may apply for applications, features, content and roaming when outside your local area. Upon early termination, price adjustments apply; see your Service Agreement for details. Subject to change without notice. Taxes extra. Other conditions apply. (1) Sent messages include domestic text messages and exclude international, roaming, alerts, premium text messages and messages sent with an instant messaging application. Roaming messages include international GSM, CDMA and U.S. CDMA messages. Received messages include domestic, international, roaming and service-related messages from Bell and exclude premium, alerts or dial-up messages. Out of bundle charges may apply. Data usage charges apply for select CDMA smartphones to send and receive picture and video messages. (2) Supports personal email accounts and HTML & WAP browsing and tethering. Outlook synchronization, corporate email integration and other corporate-type solutions not available. Samsung Galaxy Note II , Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE and Samsung Galaxy SIII are trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., used in Canada under licence.