Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #57

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER VOL. 3 NO. 57

MARCH 29, 2013

WHAT’S INSIDE

Cost of Canadian immigration rising The cost of coming to Canada—and becoming a Canadian—is set to rise, suggests the federal budget.

Fee hikes may well be on the horizon to cover the cost of processing hundreds of thousands of visa and citizen applications each year. (On page 19)

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who had an exclusive interview with Philippine Canadian Inquirer regarding the 2013 federal budget (story on page 46), announces that, since 2008, the backlog of permanent resident applications has been reduced by about forty percent, paving the way for a faster and more effective immigration system in 2013 and beyond – Mississauga, Ontario.

Be humble and young at heart, Pope urges

BY LITO B. ZULUETA Philippine Daily Inquirer VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis, celebrating his first Palm Sunday as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, called for personal conversion to check greed and social iniquity “that hit the weakest” and the poor.

Starting off the Holy Week—the Catholic Church’s most important religious observance—the Pope celebrated Mass on St. Peter’s Square to commemorate Jesus Christ’s entry to Jerusalem, where he was received “by humble people, simple folk.”

Holy Week marks the suffering, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

Following through what appears to be the theme of his papacy, as shown by his adoption of a name based on St. Francis of Assisi, the Pope said that Christ was “not surrounded by symbols of power” but by wounds and suffering.

“Let us look around: How many wounds are inflicted upon humanity by evil; wars, violence, economic conflicts that hit the weakest; greed for money which no one can bring with him?” he said.

In his homily, Francis encouraged people to be humble and young at heart.

Recalling the triumphant welcome into Jerusalem, Francis said Jesus “awakened so many hopes in the heart, above all among humble, simple, poor, forgotten people, those who don’t matter in the eyes of the world.”

Francis told an off-the-cuff story from his childhood in Argentina. “My grandmother used to say, ‘children, burial shrouds don’t have pockets,’” he said, in a variation of “you can’t take it with you.”

Francis said Christian joy “isn’t born from possessing a lot of things but from having met” Jesus. That

same joy should keep people young, he said.

“From 7 to 70, the heart doesn’t age” if one is inspired by Christian joy, said the 76-year-old Pontiff.

The Pope called for “joy and hope.” He said: “Do not be men and women of sadness. A Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement!”

“Ours is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having encountered Jesus,” he said.

World Youth Day The Pope also announced he would be going to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in July to attend the World Youth Day, a jamboree of the Catholic youth.

Held every two years, the jamboree was started by John Paul II and continued by Benedict XVI,

Good news in the U.S.; not so good in H.K. The U.S. is on the brink of finalizing a law that would put 11 million illegal immigrants on the path to citizenship.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, a top court ruled against two Filipino domestic helpers in a case that affected tens of thousands of foreign maids. (On page 21)

Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Josie Tecson Every family has its artists, and Josie fills the role among the Tecsons. Nicknamed “JT” to her loved ones, this Fil-Canadian is at the helm of her own line of designer jewelry—a venture well on the path to success. (On page 26)

PCI celebrates Fashion Week across Canada PCI charts the runways from Vancouver to Toronto to West Canada and more. Take a peek at the collections, the designers, and the styles that turned heads this season. (On page 28)

More on page 3

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who renounced the papacy because of old age, leading to a papal conclave that elected Argentinian Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope Francis on March 13.

Telling young people to carry the cross of Christ across all nations, the Pope said: “I, too, am setting out on a journey with you, from today, in the footsteps of Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI. We are already close to the next stage of this great pilgrimage of Christ’s Cross. I look forward joyfully to next July in Rio de Janeiro. I will see you in that great city in Brazil.”

The announcement was met by wild applause from some 100,000 people, many of them from the Pope’s home continent of South America.

The Pope urged the young people to prepare spiritually for World Youth Day “so that our gathering in Rio may be a sign of faith for the whole world.”

“Young people must tell the world that it is good to follow Jesus,” he said, “that it is good to love Jesus and that it is good to go out to the … world and follow Jesus.”

News-Phils When they entered the chapel to pray, Benedict tried to direct Francis to the papal kneeler in the front, but Francis refused.

Taking Benedict’s hands and drawing him near, Francis said, “No, we are brothers.” The two used a longer kneeler in the pews and prayed side-by-side, the papal kneeler facing the altar left vacant.

Madonna of Humility It was a gesture that, 10 days into Francis’ papacy, is becoming routine: a shunning of the trappings of the papacy in favor of a collegial and simple style that harks back to his Jesuit roots and ministry in the slums of Buenos Aires.

Francis also brought a gift for Benedict, an icon of the Madonna.

“They told me it’s the Madonna of Humility,” Francis told Benedict. “Let me say one thing: When they told me that, I immediately thought of you, at the many marvelous examples of humility and gentleness that you gave us during your pontificate.”

The Vatican downplayed the remarkable reunion Moving embrace in keeping with Benedict’s desire to stay out of the Before the Mass, the Pope blessed the olive and palm spotlight so as not to interfere with his successor’s branches brought by the crowd that traditionally papacy. There was no live coverage by Vatican signify Palm Sunday. television, and only a short video and still photos At the end of Communion, some people thought were released after the meeting. the Pope would already end the Mass and cheered, “Viva Il Papa!”

Enormous speculation Francis looked at the cheering crowd with All of which led to speculation about what these two disapproval since he still had to lead the traditional men in white might have said to one another. That Angelus before concluding. Vatican ushers hushed the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was that section of the crowd. second only to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in the 2005 After the Mass, the Pope gave in to the wishes of the conclave that elected Ratzinger Pope—considered crowd and went around the square in his popemobile, then to be the “anti-Ratzinger” candidate—only acknowledging the cheers, blessing the crowd and added to the popular imagination about what two kissing babies and the sick. men with such radically different styles, backgrounds On Saturday, Francis met with Benedict and they and priorities might have chatted about over lunch. gave each other a “moving embrace,” according to Perhaps during their primo, or pasta course, they Fr. Frederick Lombardi, director of the Holy See discussed the big issues facing the Church: the rise of Press Office.

The meeting was held at Castel de Gandolfo, the papal summer residence, were Benedict is staying SC: Power co-op must pay while his retirement quarters in the Vatican are being

BY JEROME ANING prepared.

“It was a moment of great communion in the Philippine Daily Inquirer Church,” Lombardi said. “The spiritual union of these two people is truly a great gift and a promise of THE SUPREME Court awarded P150,000 in damages to a couple in Naga City who claimed to have been serenity for the Church.” harassed by the local electric cooperative for seven Benedict, 85, has been living at the papal retreat in years over the unpaid bills of their former tenant worth Castel Gandolfo since he stepped down on Feb. 28 around P11,000. and became the first Pope to resign in 600 years.

In a decision dated March 6 and penned by Chief From the moment he was elected, Francis, 76, Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, the Supreme Court First made clear he would go visit him, refusing in a way Division granted the 20-year quest of spouses Reno to let Benedict remain “hidden from the world” as he and Lourdes Gonzales and their son Rey to stop the had intended.

Camarines Sur II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Casureco) Wearing a white quilted jacket over his white from making them accountable for their ex-tenants’ cassock to guard against the spring chill, Benedict delinquent account. greeted Francis on the helipad of the Castel Gandolfo Citing “severe sufferings inflicted on the petitioners gardens. They embraced and clasped hands.

by Casureco,” the Supreme Court affirmed the award And in a series of gestures that followed, Benedict of P150,000 in moral damages, exemplary damages made clear that he considered Francis to be the Pope, and attorneys’ fees to the Gonzaleses by a Naga while Francis made clear he considered his predecessor judge. The high court also added P3,000 as temperate damages. to be very much a revered brother and equal.

The other division members—Justices Teresita Traveling from the helipad to the palazzo, Benedict gave Francis the seat on the righthand side of the car, Leonardo-de Castro, Lucas Bersamin, Martin Villarama the traditional place of the Pope, while Benedict sat Jr. and Bienvenido Reyes—concurred. on the left.

secularism in the world, the drop in priestly vocations in Europe, the competition that the Catholic Church faces in Latin America and Africa from evangelical Pentecostal movements.

During their secondo, or second course of meat or fish, they may have discussed more pressing issues about Francis’ new job: Benedict left a host of unfinished business on Francis’ plate, including the outcome of a top-secret investigation into the leaks of papal documents last year that exposed corruption and mismanagement in the Vatican administration.

Dealing with 2 Popes Benedict’s resignation—and his choices about his future—have raised the not-insignificant question of how the Catholic Church will deal with the novel situation of having one reigning and one retired Pope living side-by-side.

Before Benedict announced his decision to be known as “emeritus Pope” and “Your Holiness,” one of the Vatican’s leading canon lawyers, the Jesuit Rev. Gianfranco Ghirlanda, penned an article suggesting that such a title would be inappropriate for Benedict since in renouncing the papacy he had “lost all the power of primacy” conferred on him by his election.

The Vatican had originally said Benedict would likely be known as “emeritus bishop of Rome” precisely to avoid confusion with the new Pope.

But Benedict went ahead with the title and chose to keep wearing the white cassock of the papacy, albeit without the sash and cape worn by Francis, leading to questions about both his own influence on the future Pontiff and whether Catholics more favorable to his traditional style might try to undermine his successor’s authority and agenda by keeping their allegiance to the old Pope.

The historic meeting of Francis and Benedict had been highly anticipated since no situation has obtained in recent history of two Popes coexisting The last Pope to resign was Celestine IX in 1294. ■

damages for harassment The high court chided Casureco for “irresponsibly” failing to update its records from 1992 to 1999, despite the execution of the compromise agreement and the constant reminder by the Gonzaleses to make the appropriate rectification.

“We further note that Casureco offered no valid explanation for such flagrant omission. Hence, this Court maintains the original grant [of damages] in order to exact better service from utility companies,” the justices added.

The Gonzaleses were owners of an apartment unit in Naga whose tenants reneged on their obligation to pay their electric bills for the second semester of 1992.

After the disconnection of the electricity, the tenants left and the Gonzaleses sought a dialog with Casureco to restore the power supply.

“To teach Casureco a lesson and to prevent such wanton, fraudulent, reckless, oppressive andmalevolent acts from happening to other hapless consumers,” the regional trial court ordered the power firm to pay the Gonzaleses the following: P5,000 in actual damages; P50,000, moral damages; P50,000, exemplary damages; P50,000, attorneys fees, and P2,860.65, cost of suit. ■

News-Phils

Tagle: End cycle of sin, injustice Photo by Noel Celis, AFP, Getty Image

time under Roman rule.

“But when they realized that he was carrying a spiritual message, they mocked him and had him crucified,” Quilatan added.

BY PHILIP C. TUBEZA Philippine Daily Inquirer REPAY evil with kindness.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle made this call yesterday as millions of Filipino Catholics flocked to churches to mark Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week.

In his homily at San Fernando de Dilao parish in Paco, Manila, the cardinal urged the faithful to put an end to the “cycle of sin and injustice” in society by repaying evil works with acts of kindness.

“Evil will spread if we answer it with another devilish action. To put an end to evil, we must be like Jesus. Repay it with kindness and avoid acts that will harm others,” Tagle said.

“Let us accompany Jesus in his

journey to Jerusalem. Let us accompany him in our daily lives by doing acts of kindness and helping others,” he added.

Like other priests in Catholic parishes across the country, Tagle also blessed the palm fronds that the faithful took with them to Mass.

Catholics bring along palm fronds to church during Palm Sunday to commemorate the Bible story of Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem.

According to the Gospels, people laid their garments in the path of Jesus and waived palm fronds as he entered the holy city riding a donkey.

“They were welcoming him because they thought he was going to be a military or political messiah who will bring out them out of Roman bondage,” said Church historian Fr. Emil Quilatan, OAR, noting that the Jews were at the

L L CA

Learn from Jesus In the Philippines, many Catholics believe that the palm fronds blessed during Palm Sunday are effective in warding off evil, fires and even lightning. The faithful place them on or above the main door of their houses or in their altars to keep their homes and family safe.

Keeping to his Lenten theme of “journeying with Jesus,” Tagle urged Catholics to learn by Jesus’ example.

“Let us not join him by just taking home our palm fronds. More than anything, to remember Jesus is to embrace him in his fullness, including his death,” Tagle said.

“You know what, someone even wrote to me asking for prayers so that her husband would meet with an accident.

She was trying to make me an accomplice in asking God so that her husband would have an accident,” he said.

“Maybe her husband did something evil but if that is repaid with evil, how will it end?” Tagle added.

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Surrender to God Tagle said society bore the marks of many evil deeds, noting that even during Holy Week, vacationers are reminded to lock their homes when leaving to prevent burglaries.

“What do we hear on the radio during Holy Week? We are reminded to keep our homes safe if we go to Mass or if we go out of town.

Imagine that, it’s Holy Week and we are warned against burglaries,” he said.

Tagle also noted that Catholics were celebrating Holy Week this year while the universal Church was marking the “Year of Faith” proclaimed by former Pope Benedict XVI. He said this should remind the faithful to “surrender their lives” to God, like what Jesus did before he died on the cross.

“We want to control our lives but even when Jesus was still young and until his last breath, (He was saying), ‘Father, in your hands I commend my spirit.’ We need that,” Tagle said.

“If we leave in the hands of God our lives and do his will, maybe a new life will spring forth from us. As we begin Holy Week, let us be like Jesus. Let us praise him and follow his example,” the cardinal said. ■

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P-noy shifts P20B to war on poverty

BY GIL CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer IT SOUNDS like funding for a drinking session but it is what the latest government antipoverty program is called.

The program, dubbed BottomsUp-Budget (BUB), will set aside P20 billion for projects to be identified by mayors of the country’s poorest provinces as part of the Aquino administration’s efforts to lift more families from poverty.

The amount is lower than the P24.1 billion in Priority Development Assistance Fund, or pork barrel, given to representatives (P20.1 billion) and senators (P4 billion) last year.

Budget Secretary FlorencioAbad Jr. said President Aquino had instructed agencies, like the Department of Education, Department of Health, and Department of Environment and Natural Resources, offering social services to re-channel part of their funds to BUB starting next year.

The projects to be funded are preschools, health centers, water supplies, reforestation and flood mitigation.

Decided from ground “The big difference (from other antipoverty programs) will be the process: Instead of projects being dictated from the top, this time around they will be decided from the ground, by local government units working closely with their communities. So there will be no duplication,” said Abad in a text message.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said that only provinces granted a “seal

of good housekeeping” would have access to the funds, with their allocations dependent on their antipoverty targets.

Salceda is the head of the Bicol regional development council, one of the first councils to prepare for a BUB project.

Action team He said the program would be mapped out by a local poverty reduction action team to be composed mostly of civil society organizations and chaired by Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II. The governor said BUB would give incentives to local government units (LGUs) so they could mobilize their grassroots knowledge and resources in coming up with the best solutions to eradicate poverty in their areas.

Salceda said civil society groups and LGUs would take part in the decision-making to ensure local ownership of the projects. For example, he said, the National Irrigation Administration would implement a project but the LGU would identify the site.

In the case of classrooms, the Department of Education would build them but an LGU would determine where these were needed most in a province.

In his budget message to Congress last year, President Aquino announced that the BUB would be pilot tested in 609 of the country’s poorest communities. The communities were asked to submit Local Poverty Reduction Actions Plans for approval.

Fourth piece Salceda said BUB would be the

and Kalusugang Pangkalahatan (Health for All) of the Department of Health and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (P105 billion), according to Salceda.

The DSWD’s cash transfer program targets 3.8 million households this year, up from 2.3 million households last year.

Salceda noted that these programs would reduce families’ out-of-pocket costs in education, food and health to help them maximize their meager income and savings. ■

‘Hot’ rice seized by BOC to feed disaster victims

BY JERRY ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE BUREAU of Customs (BOC) has turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) some 94,000 50-kilogram bags of smuggled Vietnamese rice the BOC seized in mid-July at the Subic Freeport in Zambales.

This was disclosed to the INQUIRER by Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, who said the “hot rice,” estimated to be worth over P110 million, will most likely be used by the DSWD in its humanitarian programs following natural calamities.

In a text message, the former Muntinlupa City legislator also said the BOC had sold for P487 million the 420,000 bags of Indian white rice it had seized in August at the Subic port. He did not identify the buyer of the smuggled rice.

Biazon called the shipment the bureau’s “biggest smuggled rice haul.”

In a statement issued earlier, he said there was “clearly a grand design to illegally slip the 420,000 bags of imported white rice into the country as not only was the importation undocumented, its consignees also tried to make it appear that it was a transshipment originally bound for Indonesia.”

Biazon said the cargo ship Vinalines Mighty sailed into the Subic port on April 4, carrying the shipment for its consignee, Metro Eastern Trading Corp., which failed

Photo by Carlina Teteris

Photo by Noel Celis, Getty Images

fourth piece of the administration’s antipoverty programs meant to lighten the common people’s daily subsistence in the short term and mop up poverty in the long term.

The first three programs and their budgets are the K to 12 of the Department of Education (P150 billion); Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or conditional cash transfer program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (P72 billion),

to produce the required documents for rice importation, such as the allocation and import permits from the National Food Authority.

Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim, head of the BOC intelligence office, said reports indicated that the vessel carrying the Indian rice had been in Subic Bay for at least a month before it unloaded the shipment at the free port.

Reports reaching the BOC said the real consignee of the rice shipment was an India-based firm, Amira Foods International DMCC, and that the shipment was originally intended for Jakarta, Indonesia.

Biazon said the bureau was preparing to auction off another 94,000 bags of Vietnamese rice confiscated in midSeptember at the Port of Legazpi in Albay.

The hot rice, said to be worth at least P112 million, arrived on board the cargo ship Minh Tuan 68. ■

7 FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2013

News-Phils

BY PAOLO G. MONTECILLO Philippine Daily Inquirer

Toll firms told to submit road expansion plans

TRAFFIC conditions at three major toll roads north and south of Metro Manila could turn from bad to worse if no major road expansion efforts were to be completed by 2018.

Toll Regulator Board (TRB) chair Edmundo Reyes Jr. said signs of traffic buildup have started to emerge at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), South Luzon Expressway (SLEx), and Cavite-Manila Expressway (Cavitex), prompting the need for new lanes and toll booths, among others.

“If we don’t do anything, by 2018, certain stretches of NLEx and SLEx will be like Edsa (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue),” Reyes said.

He said the TRB has ordered the operators of NLEx, SCTEx, and Cavitex to submit their proposed expansion plans to the agency this year.

“They still have room to expand, but if they just widen the roads, there will be bottlenecks at the tollgates,” he said.

While average traffic at the three toll roads are still within acceptable levels, congestion has been building up during peak hours, he said.

Reyes attributed the worsening traffic situation to rapid urbanization and the country’s growing economy, which has fueled higher car sales.

Gov’t workers receive P832M in bonuses

BY RONNEL W. DOMINGO Philippine Daily Inquirer

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images

THE DEPARTMENT of Budget and Management (DBM) has released P832 million for the performancebased bonuses (PBB) of some 18,000 government employees.

Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad said in a statement the bonus had been made available to 18,195 workers in 26 government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs), three state colleges and universities (SUCs), and five Malacañang offices.

“We commend all agencies and GOCCs that successfully complied with their requirements, and whose employees were among the first to receive their PBB,” Abad said.

Of those whose PBB has been released, the biggest groups in terms of the number of recipients are the Social Security System (4,524 employees), Development Bank of the Philippines (2,386), Government Service Insurance System (2,345), Manila International Airport Authority (1,158) and the Office of the President (1,081).

The smallest groups were Philippine Sugar Corp. or PSC (five), Landbank Countryside Development Corp. (nine), Film Development Council of the Philippines (15), PNOC-Renewables Corp. PNOC-RC (16) and Masaganang Sakahan Inc. (17).

In terms of the average payout, the biggest amounts went to employees of

PNOC-RC (P90,000 each), Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (P89,754), PSC (P80,976), Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.

(P72,883), and National Development Co. (P68,961).

“I enjoin other agencies and departments to complete their submissions to the DBM,” Abad said.

“This will allow us to facilitate the release of their PBBs and, ultimately, ensure that their employees receive the bonuses due them.”

The PBB is one of the components of the administration’s performance-based incentive system (PBIS), which recognizes and rewards exemplary performance in government.

Under the PBIS, qualified agencies that submitted all compliance reports on time would be assessed, provided that they meet at least 90 percent of their targets for the year.

Agencies are also required to fulfill all the good governance conditions set by the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Harmonization of the National Government Performance Monitoring, Information and Reporting Systems.

Abad said departments and agencies that were qualified for the PBB needed to establish grievance mechanisms that would allow them to respond to their employees’ feedback.

“Because the PBB is a new initiative, we have much to learn about implementing it with greater efficiency,” he said. ■

Photo by Julian Abram Wainwright/Bloomberg, Getty/Images

TRB exec expects traffic jams to reach critical mass by ’18

The Chamber of Auto Manufacturers in the Philippines Inc. (Campi) this month reported that car sales last January and February rose by 42 percent year-on-year.

“It’s very subjective, volume changes with time of day,” Reyes said, describing the ebb and flow of traffic on the major toll roads. “We look at peak and rush hours, as well

as averages. There is an international standard and a Department of Public Works and Highways standard [that have to be followed].”

The agency predicted that traffic congestion could reach critical mass by 2018 given the buildup of traffic volume over the past years.

“We assume an average 2-percent traffic volume increase every year,” Reyes said.

He said concessionaires would be allowed to recover the cost of the expansion projects through toll collections.

There are currently six separate applications for fee adjustments at privately run toll roads pending with the TRB. If all were to be approved, fees for motorists at the NLEx, SLEx, Cavitex, the Metro Manila Skyway, the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (Star) toll would go up.

The TRB is currently reviewing the applications, some of which have been pending for more than a year, Reyes said. He assured motorists that no increase in toll would be implemented before the Holy Week. ■

News-Phils IS PRESIDENT Aquino listening to advice from a Malaysian sultan in dealing with the Sabah crisis?

The daughter of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III wanted an answer to that question from Malacañang.

She got it, plus flak for her family’s Sabah adventure that had already cost 72 lives.

Princess Jacel Kiram told a news conference that Mr. Aquino was heeding the advice of Sultan Ibrahim Ismail of the sultanate of Johor, Malaysia, on the Sabah crisis.

Princess Jacel also criticized the President for “lawyering for the Malaysians” and for his supposed statements that “only favored the interests of Malaysia.”

“Who is Sultan Ibrahim?” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda asked during a press briefing in Malacañang.

Lacierda said it was the first time for him to hear the name of Sultan Ibrahim.

“The Kirams are raising innuendos left and right, pointing to everyone but themselves,” he said.

“How does one expect this government to support adventurism and an armed approach to an issue that has . . . festered since the 19th century?” Lacierda asked.

‘Foolhardy adventurism’ “In their zeal to press for their proprietary claim, they have resorted to arms, and now that their foolhardy adventurism has cost precious lives, they lay the blame on everyone except themselves,” he said.

Citing “Malacañang sources,” Jacel said Ismail and his late father, Sultan Mahmud Iskandar, stayed with the President and his family in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1970s.

Abraham Idjirani, the sultanate’s spokesperson and secretary general, said Mr. Aquino’s father, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., who underwent heart surgery in Boston, was a close friend of Ismail’s father.

“They (the President and Ismail) knew each other way back,” Jacel said.

“Who is (Ismail)... to you? Is he the person responsible why the President wouldn't listen to any advice from any of his political counsels?” she said, reading from a prepared statement.

“Mr. President, was he the same person who lived with you in Boston when your father was there? What does he have to do with your act regarding this issue?” she asked.

P-Noy’s consultant Asked by reporters to explain the matter, Jacel said Ismail “is the consultant. He gives advice to the President.”

Idjirani also urged the President to temporarily stop joining the campaign rallies of his administration’s senatorial candidates and handle the problems of Filipinos being deported from Sabah.

“We appeal to the President to at least sit down and for a while postpone [campaigning] and do [as] Indonesian President (Susilo Bambang) Yudhoyono

[is doing for] 8,000 reportedly harassed [Indonesians] in Sabah,” Idjirani said.

“We appeal to the President to take a stand on the deportees now being shipped from Sabah without being taken care [of by our government],” Idjirani said.

Photo by Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images

BY MARLON RAMOS AND MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer

Saycon appeared at the NBI headquarters to “explain the threat” against the Kirams.

He said five Malaysians headed by Ng arrived in the country to assassinate him and the Kirams.

Saycon told reporters he would ask the NBI to investigate after Malacañang dismissed the threat without ordering an

Padaca asked to inhibit from own election case

Photo by Joel Nito/AFP/Getty Images

Kirams: P-noy only heeds advice of Malaysian sultan

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 8

The motion filed by Dy argues that Padaca, an accountant and polio victim, "cannot sit in the Division where her own election protest is pending."

BY PHILIP C. TUBEZA Philippine Daily Inquirer

A protestor rallies in front of the Embassy of Malaysia, criticizing the President.

Mahathir ally Jacel said the President’s closeness to Ismail, who she claimed was an ally of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, could also explain why Mr. Aquino’s statements and actions were “proMalaysia.” “(Ismail) could be the link. The sultan of Johor is so close to him,” Jacel said.

“I’m really dismayed about the way our President decides and for his statements that are very pro-Malaysian.”

Of the leaders of the 13 Malaysian states, the sultan of Johor is considered among the most powerful, she said.

When told about Jacel’s claims involving the sultan of Johor, Lacierda said Malacañang did not have to comment on every accusation from its critics.

“She should answer this first: She should explain why she came out with a picture purportedly showing Malaysian casualties (in the fighting in Sabah), but they turned out to be Thai casualties,” Lacierda said.

“She’s now [telling] a new tall tale.”

Lacierda noted that the Kirams come up with “new names” as the Sabah crisis continues.

‘Tall tale’ Jacel also told the news conference that a lawyer who supposedly knew of the alleged plan to kill her father and his supporters went to the National Bureau of Investigation to file an affidavit about the purported assassination plot hatched by a Malaysian military officer.

Lacierda dismissed the story about the alleged plot as possibly “another tall tale coming from the Kiram family.”

Jacel said lawyer Mario Lozada met with Sunny Ng, a colonel in the Malaysian Army, at Genting Palace restaurant in the Resorts World casino complex in Pasay City.

She said the meeting was arranged by Malaysian businessman Kenneth Lee, whowas connected with a Malaysian firm where Lozada worked as a legal consultant.

“They intimated to (Lozada) that they are here to assassinate the sultan and his friends (including his adviser Pastor Saycon),” Jacel said.

investigation.

Jacel said the NBI and military officials had committed to look into the supposed plot to assassinate Sultan Jamalul, members of his family and their followers.

“Malaysia is emboldened to act radically because of the (President’s) pro-Malaysian statements,” she said.

Idjirani disclosed the alleged plot, saying that Ng hired three “NPA (New People’s Army) recruits” to carry out the mission.

‘Validate it’ Lacierda said the Kirams should “validate the story” by naming names.

“That’s a story that came from them. What can you expect us to say?” he said.

Lacierda later forwarded to reporters a text message from National Security Adviser Cesar Garcia that described the probability of the supposed assassination plot as “very low.”

“Verification made by the intelligence community has yielded negative results so far. A check conducted on the alleged presence of certain named individuals in certain hotels also came up with negative results,” Garcia said.

“Verification is still going on but offhand, the intelligence community is giving this report a very low probability,” he said.

Sabah deal?

For his part, Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) chair Nur Misuari said the government was not keen on pursuing the Kirams’ claim to Sabah because of Malaysia’s involvement in the peace talks between the Aquino administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Misuari told reporters last week that when Malaysia offered to help facilitate the peace negotiations, Sabah was at the center of the discussion.

In exchange for brokering a peace deal with the MILF, Misuari said, Malaysia asked the Philippines to drop its claim to Sabah.

“That’s the biggest issue because they (Malaysia) are earning a lot of money from there. The MILF deal was put together to give Sabah to Kuala Lumpur,” he said. ■

ISABELA Gov. Faustino Dy III asked election commissioner Grace Padaca to inhibit herself from participating in the Commission on Elections (Comelec) deliberations on the election protest she filed against Dy in 2010.

In an eight-page motion filed by his lawyer Ma. Bernadette Sardillo, Dy said Padaca should recuse herself from the deliberations of the Comelec Second Division on the election protest since she had opposed its dismissal.

President Aquino recently appointed Sardillo to the Comelec but she later declined the appointment. Reports said Padaca opposed Sardillo’s nomination, an allegation that the commissioner denied.

“To avoid any appearance of impropriety and remove any cloud of bias, Commissioner Padaca must inhibit herself from the instant election protest,” Sardillo said.

“Clearly, Commissioner Padaca cannot sit in the division where her own election protest is pending. This is a case of conflict on interest,” she added.

Sardillo noted that Padaca vigorously opposed the motion filed by Dy to consider the election protest as abandoned or withdrawn. She added that Dy’s motion was filed five months ago but it has yet to be acted upon by the Comelec.

“Commisisoner Padaca hinged her arguments on the allegation and categorical statement that ‘if at the end of the electoral protest, Dy is found to have cheated, he needs to step down,’” Sardillo said.

“Clearly, Commissioner Padaca, also a member of this Honorable Commission, Second Division, firmly believes that she is still the rightful winner of the last May 10, 2010 gubernatorial elections in the province of Isabela,” she added.

When reached for comment, Padaca said the Comelec en banc had already ordered the transfer of the records of her election protest’s records to the Comelec First Division.

“I’ve already signed with the word ‘inhibit’ an en banc order to transfer records to First Division. I did that earlier than their motion for inhibition which my office received,” Padaca said.

When asked if she was trying to get back at Padaca, Sardillo laughed and noted that Padaca herself has denied lobbying Malacañang to oppose her appointment to the Comelec.

“I’m just doing my job as a lawyer for my client,” Sardillo said. ■

9 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer

News-Phils Ateneo grads dominate bar exams; only 949 make it

Photo from admu.edu.ph

IGNATIUS Michael D. Ingles, 29, the bar exams, said the Supreme Court was on his way to hear Mass when he in a special en banc meeting decided learned that he did not only pass the to lower the passing grade from 75 to tough bar exams but also, to his shock, 70 percent. Among the passers was the son of Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes topped them.

Sereno.

“I don’t think Vi l l a r a m a anyone in his noted that the right mind will original passing expect to top the rate for the bar,” Ingles said 2012 bar exams a few hours afwas just 6.76 ter the Supreme percent or 361 Court announced examinees. He the exams’ resaid the high sults. court lowered For the third the passing straight year, grade because Ateneo de Manila the passing University domipercentage for nated the bar exlabor and social ams, with six of legislation, those who made criminal law it to the Top 10 and remedial coming from its law turned out Ateneo Law School salutatorian Ignatius Michael law school.

D. Ingles, 29, topped the 2012 bar exams, said the to be low.

Four of the Supreme Court.

“The court, other topnotchers following history, and in the spirit of were from the University of the the Lenten season was quite liberal,” Philippines (UP) and one was from Villarama said at a news conference at Aquinas University.

Ingles, who graduated salutatorian, the Supreme Court.

The announcement of the results garnered a score of 85.64 percent, followed by fellow Atenean Catherine of the bar exams came sooner than Beatrice O. King Kay, a valedictorian, the previous practice, with Villarama making the announcement before who got 84.72 percent.

Others who made it to the Top noon.

Unlike in the past when examinees 10 were April Carmela B. Lacson trooped to the Supreme Court building (UP, 84.48 percent); Xavier Jesus D. in Manila to look for their names on the Romualdo (Ateneo, 84.10 percent); Maria Graciela D. Base and Jose list of passers, only a number showed Maria Angel P. Machuca, (UP and up.

Ateneo, 83.99 percent); Patrick Henry D. Salazar (UP, 83.71 percent); Ralph Early bird Karlo B. Barcelona (Aquinas, 83.43 Among the early birds was Charlene percent); Marvyn S. Llamas (Ateneo, Mae C. Calingasan who was No. 181 83.29 percent), Carlo Martin C. Li on the list of passers. Calingasan, who (Ateneo, 83.27 percent) and Francis is from San Beda College, teared up Paolo P. Tiopanco (UP, 83.25 percent). when she found out she passed what she described as “very difficult” exams.

Villarama said Senior Associate Lowest number of passers Justice Antonio Carpio presided over Only 949 (17.76 percent) of the 5,343 the en banc meeting that deliberated examinees passed this year’s bar exams, the lowest number of passers on the 2012 bar exam results. Sereno inhibited from the meeting because her in the last 13 years.

There were more bar passers in 2011, son, John Lorenzo, was an examinee.

Villarama said last year’s bar exams with 1,913 (31.95 percent) of the 5,987 were tough given the low number of examinees making it. passers.

The second lowest number of bar passers in the past 13 years was in 2002 when only 917 (19.68 percent) of Confusing “The multiple choice questions ( the 4,659 examinees made it.

MCQs) done us all in, so to speak,” he said, acknowledging that he himself Passing rate lowered to 70 Associate Justice Martin Villarama Jr., found the 675 MCQs to be “confusing who chaired the 2012 committee on or appearing all correct” and that this

“brought down the percentage of passers.”

He said the examinees did well in the essay portion, with the passing percentage being “doubly higher” than the MCQs’.

For the 2013 bar exams, to be chaired

by Associate Justice Arturo Brion, the Supreme Court en banc has approved that 20 percent will be made up of MCQs and the rest, essay, according to Villarama.

Ingles said the mix of MCQs and essay made the exams tougher. “It was really tiring and time-pressured,” he said in a phone patch interview with reporters.

CPA, too For her part, 26-year-old King Kay told the INQUIRER that the questions in the exams were “quite unexpected” and that the essay was long and comprehensive.

King Kay, who works at the Romulo Mabanta, Buenaventura, Sayco and De los Angeles law office, said she was at home when she heard the good news.

Having worked late the previous day, she decided to stay at home to await the news. She said family and friends congratulated her when they found out she took the second spot.

King Kay, a certified public accountant, said she was “super happy” for her friend, Ingles, who took the top spot.

“It’s destiny,” she said of Ingles’ landing the top spot in the bar exams.

Sports law practice Ingles, who used to play football for Ateneo, acknowledged that the last two Atenean topnotchers in the bar exams— 2010’s Caesario Antonio “Ari” Singzon Jr. and 2011’s Raoul Angelo Atadero had been his close friends since high school.

“When Ari topped the exam (in 2010), we pressured Anj. And when Anj topped it (the next year), they then pressured me,” he said.

“I am very happy the top bar passers are Ateneans and are my friends. We said to each other, ‘we were able to do a three-peat,”’ he said.

Ingles, who is married and works in the Salvador and Perez law office, hopes to specialize in corporate law and wants to establish a sports law practice. ■

News-Phils ‘Sabah raps terroristic’

BY MARLON RAMOS AND MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer

Access to detainees Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told reporters that the President had directed Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario to retain lawyers for the eight Filipinos’ defense in Sabah.

Raul Hernandez, DFA spokespokesperson, said the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur had reiterated to the Malaysian government the Philippine request to be allowed access to the Filipinos detained in Sabah.

Hernandez said the request included access to the eight Filipinos charged in connection with the Sabah crisis.

In straitjackets The eight Filipinos, seven of whom were

Photo by Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images

MALAYSIA’S filing of terrorism and waging war charges against eight Filipinos is “illegal,” the sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo said.

Abraham Idjirani, spokesperson for the sultanate, told reporters that Malaysia’s move was tantamount to “usurpation” of the powers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III. Idjirani said the sultanate would file a complaint in the International Court of Justice against the Malaysian officials responsible for the filing of charges against the eight Filipinos.

“We condemn this terroristic act of Malaysia because they do not own Sabah. They are only occupants. In fact, Malaysia is still paying rent to the sultanate of Sulu,” Idjirani said.

“We are concerned that eight fellow Filipinos are now being accused of an offense that carries a penalty of death.

That’s illegal because Sabah belongs to the sultanate of Sulu,” he added.

President Aquino said that he had directed the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to retain lawyers to defend the Filipinos in the Sabah court.

The government plans to prosecute the followers of Sultan Jamalul for causing the Sabah crisis when they return to the Philippines.

Mr. Aquino said, however, that he had an “obligation” to ensure that the eight Filipinos got due process in Malaysia.

“It’s automatic for us to provide legal assistance to any of our countrymen facing charges (in other countries) regardless of whether we believe or not in their cause,” Mr. Aquino told reporters in Naga City.

Mr. Aquino was in Naga to proclaim the Liberal Party candidates for local offices in Camarines Sur. He said the DFA and the Department of Justice (DOJ) were focused on the Sabah crisis.

Sulu sultan says charges against his followers illegal

Self-proclaimed Sultan of Sulu Jamalul Kiram III

in straitjackets, kept silent as they were arraigned at the High Court in Tawau town, Sabah, on charges of launching terroristic acts and waging war against Malaysian King Abdul Halim.

A Sabah radio station reported that the suspects entered no plea as the charges were read to them in Bajau and Tausug by an interpreter in the court of Judge P. Ravinthran.

The radio station said the eight were not represented by lawyers during the proceedings.

“They were placed under tight security throughout the proceedings and seven of them were in straitjackets,” a reporter for the station said.

Arrested under Malaysia’s preventive security laws, the eight, whose ages ranged from 17 to 66, were charged in a temporary Magistrate’s Court in Lahad Datu district.

They face life imprisonment for terrorism and the death penalty for waging war against Malaysia’s king on conviction.

Told that President Aquino had ordered the DFA to retain lawyers to help the eight Filipinos, Idjirani said: “Well and good. That’s a welcome development.”

He added: “I thank the President for doing that. I actually expect him to do that. At least now he showed that he’s a true Filipino.”

Third-party probe Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago suggested that a third party acceptable to both the Philippines and Malaysia conduct a fact-finding investigation of the circumstances that led to the filing of charges against the eight Filipinos.

Santiago, a former chair of the Senate committee on foreign relations who has been elected to serve on the International Criminal Court in The Hague, said determining whether the Filipinos engaged in terrorism “should

not be left to the Malaysian authorities alone precisely because we’re engaged in a dispute.”

She said that if Malaysia proceeded by itself, it could be charged with “bias of justice.”

“It cannot be impartial justice if you heard only one side,” she said.

“We need a third-party inquiry and fact-finding first so that we can determine whether the complaint of terrorism has justifiable ground under international law,” Santiago said.

She said the third-party investigation could be headed by “someone whom both parties can trust . . . somebody with the gravitas of former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew or a former president or former prime minister from Southeast Asia who has retired with the respect of the Southeast Asian community.”

Sabah legal help Malaysian Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, who was present at the charging of the eight Filipinos, had asked the Bar Council of Malaysia to extend legal assistance to the accused.

But the bar president, Christopher Leong, said that peninsula lawyers were not licensed to practice in Sabah so the council would ask the Sabah Law Association (SLA) to provide legal assistance to the eight Filipinos.

In a statement issued, the SLA said it had not been asked to extend legal assistance to the accused.

But the association said that despite its limited resources it would provide legal advice and representation to the eight as well as other Filipinos detained in connection with the Sabah crisis.

Others detained The eight, whose names were not released by the court, were among the first batch of the 107 people arrested under preventive security

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 10

laws and detained following attacks on Malaysian security forces by a group of armed men led by Jamalul’s brother Agbimuddin Kiram.

Agbimuddin’s 200-odd group crossed the Sulu Sea and landed in Sabah on Feb. 9, seizing the coastal village of Tanduo to stake the Sulu sultanate’s ancestral claim to eastern Malaysian state.

The Sulu group’s presence was discovered on Feb. 12, sparking a standoff with Malaysian security forces that lasted for 17 days and erupted into violence on March 1.

Agbimuddin’s fighters were routed but managed to regroup in a tight corner of Tanduo.

Air strikes and artillery barrages from the Malaysian military on March 5 forced the group to break up into small units, which have been skirmishing with pursuing security forces in Tanduo, Tawau, Semporna and Tanjung Batu.

Casualties Sixty-three members of Agbimuddin’s group, eight Malaysian policemen and two soldiers have been killed in the fighting.

The 63rd casualty from Agbimuddin’s group was killed in a clash with military troops in Tanjung Batu.

Sabah Police Commissioner Hamza Taib said a Malaysian soldier was wounded in the fire fight with Agbimuddin’s men.

Malaysian military chief Zulkifeli Zin said a woman, believed to be aged 40, was arrested following the clash with the Sulu group in Tanjung Batu.

The arrest of the woman brought to 108 the number of people arrested and detained in connection with the intrusion of Agbimuddin’s group into Sabah.

Bodies buried Zulkifeli said that so far Malaysian authorities had recovered the bodies of 30 of Agbimuddin’s slain men.

He said 29 of the bodies would be temporarily buried because of the failure of the Philippine government to claim them.

With the large number of the Sulu sultan’s followers killed or captured, the Malaysian security forces believe the mopping up operations to end the intrusion are ending soon, Zulkifeli said.

Agbimuddin has not been captured.

Zulkifeli said military intelligence had confirmed that the leader of the Sulu group managed to slip out of Sabah on March 11 and was hiding on one of the small islands in southern Philippines.

Philippine authorities, however, deny that Agbimuddin has been able to reenter the country. ■

11 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

News-Phils

James files HDO versus Bimby; au revoir, Paris

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DRAMA between television host Kris Aquino and her former husband, basketball star James Yap, has turned even nastier.

Yap is now seeking to stop his 5-year-old son Bimby from leaving the country with his mother on March 23.

Yap’s lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, said she filed the other day an “urgent” petition for a hold-departure order (HDO) on Bimby after they learned he was set to leave tomorrow with Aquino for Paris, France.

Kapunan filed the HDO in Branch 144 of the Makati Regional Trial Court, the same court that granted Aquino’s request for a temporary protection order (TPO) against her ex-husband for alleged domestic violence.

In a phone interview, Kapunan said it was “usual” in cases of visitation and custody rights that an HDO be given by the court to protect the rights of a parent.

She said that before the latest episode in which Aquino sought and was given a TPO against Yap, the couple had agreed on the visitation rights of her client which was granted, along with the annulment of their marriage, by another branch of the Makati Regional Trial Court last year.

Yap was allowed to visit his son every Wednesday and Friday.

“You cannot take the child out of the jurisdiction of the court,” Kapunan said.

Against TPO She said that Yap would oppose the 30- day TPO granted to Aquino who had also asked the court to make it permanent.

Under the TPO, Yap was ordered to stay away from Aquino, Bimby and any household member, keep a distance of at least 100 meters and to stay away from her residence, school, place of employment or any place frequented by her and her son.

Kapunan said the TPO that Aquino sought “has the effect of nullifying the other judgment of a coequal court” in this case the court that granted last year Aquino and Yap’s annulment as well as their compromise agreement on Yap’s visitation rights.

“Imagine the bad precedent if that is allowed,” Kapunan said, noting that the TPO requiring Yap to keep a distance of 100 meters from them was impossible “in a place like Manila.”

Yap hurt by allegation Interviewed over Radyo Inquirer, Kapunan said her client was hurt by Aquino’s allegation that Yap forced himself on the TV host in her condominium unit last December.

“If she felt she was violated on Dec. 3, why did she wait three months to complain?” Kapunan said.

Aquino could have also alerted her personal security and household help, Yap’s lawyer said.

She said the TV host made up the allegation “to get a TPO.” Kapunan said the allegation of Aquino’s lawyer, former Solicitor General Frank Chavez, that Yap had abandoned his parental authority over Bimby due to his infrequent visits to him was not true.

Yap’s lawyer said that whenever her client was up for a visit to his son, he would learn that his boy would be out of town or out of the country with his mother.

Whenever Aquino and her son were in the country, Aquino would schedule tutorials for Bimby on Yap’s visitation days, Kapunan said.

“So it is not his fault,” the lawyer said of her client.

Adoption gambit Asked what could have triggered Aquino seeking a protection order against Yap, Kapunan said her client thought it had to do with his ex- wife’s bid last month to have him sign a consent form for her to adopt Bimby.

She said the annulment of the marriage of Aquino and Yap on the ground that the female minister who officiated the marriage lacked the authority to do so, rendered Bimby an illegitimate child.

Aquino as Bimby’s surname “We cautioned the camp of Kris to advise her, what mother would want her child to be illegitimate?

But her answer is ‘ she did not want the name of Yap,”’ she said, adding that Aquino wanted Bimby to have Cojuangco- Aquino as his last name.

Aquino wanted to adopt her son now that he is of school age “because in law, any adopted child has the same rights of a legitimate child,” Kapunan said.

Aquino had asked for Yap’s consent to adopt their child because she could not adopt him without the consent of his biological parents, the lawyer said.

Kapunan said Aquino had told Yap that they could jointly adopt Bimby but this could not happen because they are not married to each other anymore.

She said Yap declined to sign the form when he learned that to do so meant he would also give up his visitation and parental rights.

“If you allow adoption, you relinquished all of your rights,” Kapunan said. “It’s like you’re saying ‘I’m no longer the father of Bimby.”’

Trigger So, it was this incident Yap thought had triggered his former wife’s hostility toward him. Aquino texted him after he declined to sign the adoption papers that he could no longer visit her home, Kapunan said. In addition, Bimby’s “yaya” did not pick up Yap’s calls.

Kapunan said they wrote Aquino if Yap could visit Bimby outside her residence. So on March 8, Yap was able to see his son for 10 minutes in the lobby of Aquino’s condominium building.

“This is not James vs Kris,” Kapunan said, adding that her client was just fighting for his right over Bimby as his father.

Baseless For his part, Chavez told the INQUIRER they would mull over the weekend whether they would file a manifestation on the HDO being sought by Yap as it was “baseless” and would not prosper in court.

For one, Chavez said the HDO petition violated the three- day rule on filing of motions. The HDO petition was served the other day and Yap’s camp wanted a hearing tomorrow.

Then the former solicitor general said there was the fact that the judge was on leave and had set the hearing on the TPO on April 8 and 10 when they were requesting a hearing at the earliest on Saturday.

Chavez said an HDO was issued only for criminal cases but not for Aquino’s case, a civil one.

“A HDO is issued only in criminal case where the person is considered a flight risk and will leave the country without coming back,” he said in a phone interview.

‘Oxymoron’ But if the purpose of Yap’s petition was for the interest and welfare of the child, Chavez said it was then “an oxymoron.”

“The child wants to go to Disneyland Paris but the father does not want him to go,” he said.

Chavez added that Yap was the respondent in the TPO case and he was ordered by the court to stay away from Bimby for 30 days.

“This is baseless,” he said of the HDO. “They can always dream because there is no law against dreaming.” ■

Cecilia Lai

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News-Phils

US invites PH to Tubbataha probe

BY NIKKO DIZON AND JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer

Photo by Jeff Hunter

He noted that there had been 11 accidents at the reef, including two involving Philippine ships between 2011 and 2013, before the USS Guardian THE UNITED States government has invited ran aground in Tubbataha.

Philippine officials to Japan for a briefing on the investigation into the grounding of the USS Years to repair reef Guardian in Tubbataha Reef, a World Heritage “When it’s over, we will assess the damage with site, in January. the Philippine government and see how it can be “The Philippine Navy and the Coast Guard have repaired. We know honestly that it will take years been invited to to repair that come to Japan part of the reef,” to also partake Thomas said. and be briefed The dismanon the (ongotling of the USS ing) investiGuardian congation,” said tinued with the Lt. Col. Jason cutting and reChamness, moval of a numDeputy Chief ber of “small of the Jusmagcompartments Philippines. below the main Chamness deck,” accordsaid the invesing to the Philtigation into ippine Coast the grounding Guard (PCG). of the vessel Citing a report had “gotten from the PCGfar enough” to led Task Force allow the US Tubbataha to conduct a in Palawan, preliminary Coast Guard The Tubbataha Reef is located in the Sulu Sea southeast of Palawan. The US minesweeper has briefing for the spokesperson been stuck in the World Heritage Site since January 17. 4,000 square meters of coral have been destroyed.

Philippine ofLt. Commander ficials.

Armand Balilo, also chief of its public affairs “We are coordinating (the briefing) and they’ll office, said “the salvage operation progressed with probably go back a couple more times as the works mainly below the main deck.” investigation continues,” Chamness said.

The international salvage team contracted by the Asked if the investigation had given US US Navy to remove the ship from the reef also “cut authorities an idea of how the grounding of the US and opened a portion of the main deck to get access Navy minesweeper happened, US Ambassador to to the ship’s hull,” Balilo said.

Manila Harry Thomas said: “The investigation is ongoing. Its clear intention is to find out Weather good for cutting what happened. We will share the details with In a text message to the INQUIRER, Balilo said the President Aquino and Philippine government team continued “cutting and securing pipelines and investigators.” other pipes connected to different compartments Thomas also apologized again for the incident, below the main deck.” which destroyed an estimated 4,000 square meters The task force, headed by Commodore Enrico of coral in the reef.

Efren Evangelista, also chief of the PCG Palawan Thomas said the US government was “spending district, reported to Coast Guard headquarters in lots of funds” to remove the ship from the reef and Manila that the “weather has been very favorable was intent on finding solutions to avoid a similar to continue the salvage operation,” noting that incident happening again, such as conducting “wind speeds [were] 11 to 16 knots [with] waves symposia and conferences. of 0.3 to 1.2 meters in the Tubbataha area.” ■

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 12

Issue of COA report is old –Echiverri

BY CYNTHIA D. BALANA Philippine Daily Inquirer CALOOCAN City Mayor Enrico “Recom” Echiverri denied accusations that he had entered into contracts without authority from the city council as alleged by the Commission on Audit (COA) in its 2011 report.

Echiverri told the INQUIRER that all approved city developmental projects were authorized by city council ordinances and resolutions in accordance with the Local Government Code.

He said the 2011 COA audit report was an “old report” and the concerns raised there had been fully addressed by the city and rendered “moot and academic” by subsequent developments.

“My political opponents are running out of issues to throw at me that they are now using old and dated sources that will not stand under careful scrutiny and investigation,” he said.

Echiverri also said the headline of the INQUIRER story, which carried the audit report about the projects being illegal, was misleading.

The mayor said the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) would not have awarded the Caloocan City government a Seal of Good Housekeeping two years in a row—2011 and 2012—if it had adverse findings or reports from the COA. “The late DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo would have disqualified Caloocan from receiving the award since a clean report from COA is one of the criteria set by the DILG,” he said.

According to the mayor, the P89.911 million under question, which was used for local development projects under the 2011 annual appropriations, was approved by the city council under City Ordinance No. 0468.

“The specific details of the projects were discussed during the budget deliberations,” he said.

“The minutes of the deliberations of the city council will attest to the fact that the specific projects were presented and evaluated by the council before approval.”

In fact, the city council passed a subsequent resolution, Resolution No. 1985, which clarified, confirmed and ratified all contracts entered into by the city of Caloocan, he said.

“The minutes of the city council budget deliberations and the subsequent resolution of the city council reiterating its approval of the specific projects and programs has placed this matter to rest. The media is just being played here and being herded into a wild goose chase,” Echiverri said. ■

News at your fingertips. www.canadianinquirer.net

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

BY EMMIE G. VELARDE, ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Philippine Daily Inquirer IT WAS a case of … déjà vu: Kris Aquino on nationwide television, tearfully but lucidly telling her side of a headline-grabbing spat with a man who had shared her home long enough for them to have a child.

Last night as in late 2003, the broadcast was well mounted, the interview, conducted with dispatch and precision, filled with personal details.

And behind Kris both times, solid and unassailable family support.

Less than 10 years ago, it was her mother, former President Corazon C. Aquino. On “Radyo Patrol” last night with political commentator Ted Failon, the TV personality was accompanied by her three elder sisters Ballsy, Pinky and Viel.

On prime time news programs, Kris estranged husband James Yap said she had threatened to do this exactly: Make sure no one believed anything he could possibly say about the incident simply by shedding tears on-cam.

But for everyone on the verge of accusing her of merely drumming up interest in her and her television shows, Kris had the ultimate surprise: She resigned from all three shows—saying, while sobbing, but still emphatically, that James Jr. or “Bimby,” 5, came first.

The TV host has a daily morning lifestyle/talk show, “Kris TV,” and the weekly reality talent search.

Failon managed to sneak in what he acknowledged as widespread public sentiment, that the whole thing was “just drama.” His interviewee, just a little indignant, replied, “You know my family, we do not do drama.”

Just believe my son Reminded that some people were not exactly disposed to take her side, Kris said, looking straight into the camera, “You don’t have to believe me; just believe my son.”

It was no joke, how the situation was affecting James Jr., Kris said, adding it was bad enough that part of what rightfully belonged to her older son Josh (with actor Philip Salvador) had gone into the settlement that Yap received when their marriage was annulled.

She vowed that nothing of the sort would ever happen again.

Was she leaving show business for good? Failon asked. At this point, Kris demurred and said something to the effect that “forever” was too big a word.

Failon ended the interview by asking Ballsy what she wished for Kris. All

News-Phils

Once more with feeling: Kris to quit show biz that the elder sister requested “those who love Kris” was for them to “pray for her and Bimby, because of everything they’re going through.”

Within minutes—maybe one of the interviews was taped—Kris and her sisters were seen on rival channel GMA 7 with Jessica Soho on the news program “24 Oras” and then, when they ran out of time, on Soho’s GMA News TV show, “State of the Nation.”

Kris cried again as she defended herself against Yap’s previous statements, and cried some more as she professed her love for James Jr. who, she said was the one most affected by the situation.

“If we were ordinary people,” she said, “people would not feast on us this way. This is not about money. This is about staying strong for my children through this storm.”

Big sister Ballsy again defended Kris against Yap’s accusation that she was brainwashing their son. “I was witness to the times when Kris stopped Bimby from saying that he hated his father.”

In a phone interview with INQUIRER, Lorna Kapunan, Yap’s lawyer, called for an end to all the mud-slinging.

“The country has more pressing problems. A domestic dispute should be between the estranged couple and should not be discussed in media.”

Lawyer to ask for gag order She pointed out that she is precisely appearing in court to ask for a gag order today.

“Let’s respect the privacy of the family and let James and Kris (Aquino) thresh out their problems on their own, especially since a child is caught in the middle,” she said.

As for Aquino’s announcement that she would quit show biz, Kapunan said: “Since the mother has decided to prioritize the best interest of her child, I am certain she would also understand how a father feels, when he is deprived of the chance to see his child.”

She would rather that her client keep mum on the entire scandal, but since the news had already hit the front page of the INQUIRER, she had to call an impromptu presscon that same day.

“James asked me what he should tell the press. I told him that he should just tell the truth,” Kapunan said, adding that her client was standing by everything he said about Aquino earlier.

Photo by Joel Nito/AFP/Getty Images

13 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Kris Aquino, TV host, actress, product endorser; daughter of departed former president Cory Aquino and sister to the incumbent President, Noynoy Aquino.

Simple but not stupid In that press interview, Yap said Aquino had bragged that her brother still had three years as President and that all her past boyfriends’ careers were ruined.

“Hemay be simple, but he is not stupid so as to expose himself … by telling lies,” Kapunan said. He is not that creative… to make up those statements.”

She took exception with the “money” issue raised by Aquino.

“James is not bleeding Kris for money . . . he is only asking for what is

due him, half of the conjugal property (One Roxas Place),” she explained.

He even refused a share from her inheritance, she said. “It’s not true that he wants Josh’s money. That is false.”

She remarked: “James was the ‘Kris Aquino’ of the basketball world when they got married in 2005.” He was a top earner in sports, Kapunan said, and also made significant contributions to the conjugal earnings.

Domestic matter private She couldn’t also understand why Aquino is being portrayed as an underdog when she had initiated this latest case. “She was the one who brought this upon her family.”

Still, Kapunan thinks it’s best for the parties not to discuss details in public so Yap and Aquino can decide what’s best for their son.

“I don’t want to fan the flames. I don’t want to engage in a pissing match with (Aquino’s lawyer) Frank Chavez,” she said. “Things are being blown out of proportion. This domestic matter should remain private—especially since Filipinos are being shot in Sabah and a UP student had to commit suicide because of unpaid tuition. Again, I say, our nation has bigger problems.”■

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Not license to belittle anyone In an interview with the INQUIRER the other day, the actress’ mother, Cecile Ongpauco, demanded an apology from the senator for allegedly being disrespectful and arrogant and for “manipulating” her daughter into “going against the family.”

Ongpauco also claimed that Escudero had “seduced” her daughter into thinking that he would become President by 2016 and described him as a “Jekyll-and-Hyde personality” and an opportunist. She said the senator should “leave my daughter alone.”

Evangelista is the youngest of the Ongpaucos’ six children.

Talking with reporters, Escudero said a newspaper columnist—referring to the INQUIRER’s Ramon Tulfo, who broke the news of the Ongpaucos’ supposedly low opinion of Escudero

Famous actress, singer, model, and TV personality Heart Evangelista, age 28, revealed in the media June 2012 that she was dating the senator, 15 years her senior.

and their opposition to the love affair— was correct in saying that he was way below the Ongpaucos’ financial and social stature.

“There is no doubt that her parents are far richer and more moneyed than mine. Her parents might be correct that I cannot afford to sustain the lifestyle they gave her. But whatever I have is enough for me,” Escudero said.

“But no matter how much money they have, it is not a license to belittle anyone or pour scorn on my character because my family is also affected.”

For children’s sake Escudero said he had to speak publicly on the matter because his twins from a previous marriage were already aware of public issues involving their father.

He said he also wanted to spare his mother, who has yet to get over the death of his father, Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero, and who was being portrayed as having failed to raise her son properly.

“I try hard to understand Heart’s parents but what they are doing to me and their daughter is not right,” Escudero said. “I am also a parent and I love my children but I won’t involve or hurt others for the sake of my love for my children. And if I have differences with my children, I won’t make it public, hold a press conference, and drag in other people.”

Escudero apologized for coming out to express his side after Evangelista’s parents attacked him in media interviews.

“This is too much and I hope it ends soon so that no one else would be hurt or get dragged into this. I pray that we get through this challenge in our relationship,” said Escudero, who refused to take any questions after making his five-minute statement.

Escudero said this would be the last time he would address this issue in public.

Escudero’s speech during the Team PNoy rally was brief. He stayed only a few minutes on the stage with the other candidates and spent a few minutes exchanging notes with actor Aga Muhlach, the Liberal Party’s candidate for Camarines Sur representative.

The senator slipped out hurriedly even before President Aquino joined the candidates.

Escudero’s friend, senatorial candidate Grace Poe, disputed Ongpauco’s harsh views about Escudero.

“I have not known him to be disrespectful, especially to parents.

He is respectful and very caring,”

Poe told reporters. “He is just my age and yet he stood up as my kuya (elder brother) when I lost my dad (the late actor Fernando Poe Jr.) and he is very close to mymom(actress Susan Roces).”

Visit to Robredo In his speech, Escudero only acknowledged that he was “at the center of a controversy” but did not talk about it. Instead, he asked the party’s local candidates for their support despite the controversies he now faced.

About 40 Liberal Party candidates from all over Camarines Sur gathered at the gym for Mr. Aquino’s official proclamation of local party candidates.

Among the Team PNoy senatorial candidates who came with the President were Poe, Koko Pimentel, Ramon Magsaysay, Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros, Cynthia Villar and Jamby Madrigal.

During his visit, the President squeezed in a brief stop at the grave of late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo at Eternal Gardens cemetery, had lunch and led the groundbreaking of a museum for Robredo.

Robredo’s widow, Leni, is the Liberal Party’s congressional candidate for the third district of Camarines Sur and was among those who attended the proclamation rally. ■

DOH issues stem cell guidelines

Photo by Steve Gschmeissner

NAGA CITY—They want us to break up.

This, according to Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero, is the only reason the parents of his girlfriend, Heart Evangelista, have publicly lashed out at him in the middle of his reelection campaign.

“I have not shown or done anything bad against Heart and her parents. They know that. There is only one reason for everything they are doing and saying, everything they will do and will say— they want to break us up, they want us to separate,” Escudero said in Filipino.

Speaking in a press conference at the Naga City gymnasium before an afternoon sortie of Team PNoy, Escudero said that more than the elections, he was concerned about Evangelista, who he said had taken her parents’ media barrage against their relationship “very badly” because she really cared for them.

“Before these things happened, my relationship with Heart was fun and smooth with no worries. She was good, smart, cheerful and very nice to chat with,” Escudero said. “This has a big effect on her. We cannot blame her for feeling hurt and sad.”

“But Heart is already at the right age [28 years old] and no one can dictate on what she can and cannot do, what she can say and cannot say. She has her own mind and judgment,” the senator said.

“I hope we respect whatever she decides. I love her but it is clear that what we are going through is tough.

I’m also hurt but I hope they won’t use it in the elections. But if they do, I just hope they only hit me and not her.”

Chiz: Heart’s parents want us to break up

Facebook photo

BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 14

Pictured: a ‘pluripotent’ stem cell. Stem cells can divide and differentiate into specialized cells: think of them as blank canvases, or clay, which can be manipulated into forming new cells, and even new organs, given more advances in the field.

BY PHILIP C. TUBEZA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) released the implementing rules and regulations that will cover stem cell and cell-based therapy to prevent abuses and dubious practices.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona said the regulations contained in DOH Administrative Order 2013-0012 aimed to ensure that human stem cell and cellbased therapies in the country would be safe and effective for their intended use.

“Our efforts at regulating the practice of stem cell therapy in this country are aimed at safeguarding the welfare

of our patients and the general public by making safe, effective and ethical stem cell modalities and practices are within emerging international and global standards considering the very complex nature of this therapy,” Ona said.

He said the rules restrict the use of genetically altered stem cells and tissues of human adults and the umbilical cord, fat-derived human stem cells and live animal stem cells.

They also prohibit the creation of human embryos and their derivatives, the use of aborted human fetal stem cells and their derivatives, and plant parts labeled as stem cells for human treatment and research, Ona said.

To stop the spread of communicable diseases, the rules would ensure a minimum quality of service and staff qualification in health facilities that offer stem cell therapy, he added.

Ona said the guidelines also classify which stem cell preparations and therapies would be registered and allowed with certain restrictions. ■

News-Phils

15 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Photo by Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images

It’s official: Summer here, says Pagasa

BY JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE Philippine Daily Inquirer YOU MAY have felt the profuse sweating and the oily sheen over your brow the past weeks and presumed summer has arrived. It just did.

The weather bureau officially declared summer, warning of sizzling temperatures that could go beyond 35 degrees Celsius come May. Advising the public against leaving home without protection from the searing heat, Ricky Fabregas, forecaster at the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical

Services Administration (Pagasa), said it would be better if people reserved going out only for important errands.

Pagasa said that the amihan (northeast monsoon) had ended and that the easterlies, moist and warm winds from the Pacific Ocean moving from east to west in the lower latitudes of the equator, were in effect.

Fabregas said the end of the amihan was the bureau’s primary indicator of the onset of summer.

Pagasa Administrator Nathaniel Servando said in a weather outlook bulletin for March that during the month, near normal rainfall conditions

were likely in most areas of the country except Central Luzon.

“Slightly warmer-than-average air temperatures will be felt in most parts of the country, except for some areas in Luzon which will likely experience near average air temperatures,” Servando said.

The average air temperature in the country is 33 degrees Celsius.

The bulletin added that the expected temperature range in the lowlands of Luzon was from 21 degrees to 35 degrees, and from 13 degrees to 26 degrees in mountainous areas.

In the Visayas, Pagasa expects temperatures at 23 degrees to as high as 34 degrees.

In Mindanao, the expected air temperature range is 23 degrees to 35 degrees in the lowlands and 18 degrees to 32 degrees in mountainous areas.

Servando told the INQUIRER that although Pagasa expected temperature to soar to 35 degrees, it could turn out to be much hotter in the succeeding months.

He said that the public should brace themselves for scorching weather during the Holy Week.

In its 5 p.m. announcement of the end the northeast monsoon, the weather bureau said, “The establishment of the ridge of the Pacific high pressure area that extended over Luzon has

shifted the wind direction to easterly and southeasterly and the gradual increase of observed daily temperature recorded in most parts of the country signifies the recession of the northeast monsoon.”

The agency added, “Conditions will be mostly sunny associated with warm and humid air in most parts of the country aside from isolated rain showers and thunderstorms particularly over the eastern section of the Visayas and Mindanao.”

It concluded, “However there are times that strong easterly winds will prevail over the eastern section of the Visayas and Mindanao with moderate to rough coastal waters.”

Fabregas advised people not to leave their homes without drinking water for hydration and to bring umbrellas or protective gear to block the sun. He also advised the public to wear brightly colored shirts made of light fabric.

“Better yet, if you have no business to be out, stay home,” he said.

He said that based on the agency’s records, the hottest temperature recorded in the country was in Tuguegarao at Cagayan province at 42.2 degrees on May 11, 1969. In Metro Manila, the warmest temperature was 38.5 degrees on May 14, 1987.

Fabregas said temperatures may rise above 35 degrees by May. ■

Self-sufficiency doesn’t mean we won’t import rice, says Alcala

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DEPARTMENT of Agriculture (DA) said the concept of rice self-sufficiency should not be equated with the zero importation of rice, as it announced its target of self-sufficiency this year.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala said the government’s planned rice importation of 187,000 metric tons this year as a buffer stock was only “for the lean months,” and should not be interpreted as not being able to meet the government’s rice selfsufficiency target.

“This year, all our efforts are geared toward increasing our 2012 palay production of about 18 million metric tons by two million more, to achieve our goal in the Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP),” he said.

“The FSSP defines self-sufficiency as the country’s ability to meet its national food requirements, while maintaining a buffer stock to be used in times of need.

We are working to meet our per capita consumption of about 115 kilograms per person per year, given our population of about 99 million Filipinos,” Alcala said.

He said the government had drastically reduced its rice imports from a high of 2.4 million metric tons in 2010 to 860,000 MT in 2011 and 500,000 MT last year.

Efforts gaining ground “This means our efforts toward self-sufficiency and reducing rice imports are gaining ground,” Alcala said. “Of course, all our targets would have to be dependent on weather conditions, especially since climate change is upon us and weather and climate play an indispensable role in rice farming,” he said.

Since rice production in the country is generally conducted in the dry season and the wet season, he said only 40 percent of total production is harvested in the dry season, and the rest is harvested during the wet season, which ends in November or December.

“Our performance in the wet season is recorded only in the first few months of the following year. In between the dry and wet seasons, we have a gap in production and it is during these times that we need the buffer stock, since this is also the time typhoons periodically visit the country,” he explained.

This year, the volume of rice importation would serve as a buffer stock, in case the country is not able to produce enough rice because of extreme weather conditions between the dry and wet seasons, he said.

Agreements “I have always clarified that once we achieve rice selfsufficiency by the end of 2013, we may not be

able to do away with provisions of our international agreements that require us to allow rice from other countries to enter our borders, like those under the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Association of South East Asian Nations,” Alcala said.

The Philippines is bound, under the WTO, to allow 350,000 MT of rice into the country as our minimum access volume or MAV. The 187,000 MT we are importing this year is within our MAV, and is covered by a 40 percent inquota tariff which is our quantitative restriction, he said.

“In the same manner, we are already preparing to balance the situation this early by targeting exports of premium quality and organic rice, which comparatively fetch higher prices in the international market than ordinary rice entering our country,” Alcala said. ■

Opinion

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 16

THERE’S THE RUB

Heart of terror

BY CONRADO DE QUIROS Philippine Daily Inquirer THE PHILIPPINE government, says Abraham Idjirani, should rail against Malaysia’s act of haling eight of his boss Jamalul Kiram’s followers to court for terrorism and muster all its resources to come to their aid. At least that’s what he said earlier. His boss would later disown the accused—not unlike Simon before he became Peter—saying they were not his men. In fact, they were not Filipinos but Malaysians.

“We condemn this terroristic act of Malaysia,” Idjirani said at first. “In the first place, these (accused) Filipinos, if indeed they were involved, were just defending their rights.... Sabah belongs to the sultanate and the Filipino people and Malaysia is just the administrator. They are only occupants.... We are concerned that eight fellow Filipinos are now being accused of an offense that carries a penalty of death. That’s illegal. It is usurpation of powers of the Sultan of Sulu.”

They will, said Idjirani, go all the way to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to assert this.

I agree completely, government should do everything in its power to stay the hand of death hovering above the heads of the eight. Which it has already set about doing, on the assumption that they are Filipinos. But without condemning Malaysia’s response to the perpetrators, without threatening various acts of reprisal, if not war, over it. Rising only to protest Malaysia’s arguable excess, or plain savagery, in putting down the incursion, a campaign that has extended

to pretty much every Filipino in Sabah. Indeed, had to be proven by law and diplomacy. Not by a campaign that has unleashed Malaysia’s latent outright seizure. Not by brazen occupation. Not prejudice, if not downright hostility, against by Jabidah, not by this raid.

In fact, there’s no small irony in the Kirams Filipinos in the rest of that country.

I agree completely, government should move wanting to bring Malaysia’s apparent oppression of heaven and earth to save the souls, preferably their followers to the ICJ on the ground that they were while still tethered to their bodies, of the just “defending their rights,” Sabah being theirs. The ICJ ruled on that premise accused in Sabah. But only in the same way ages ago: Sabah does not Jovito Salonga’s 1962 statement belong to anyone except that government moved asserting the Philippines’claim to Sabah, the people of Sabah. And heaven and earth to save whichdefenders of Kiram kept quoting, the people of Sabah, after the Filipino drug mules was clear on the point: That claim had to declaring in China from being themselves be proven by law and diplomacy. independent, joined hanged. Jojo Binay, the Malaysia in 1963—quite second highest official of this country, was himself dispatched to the freely, as determined first by a British commission Middle Kingdom to plead for their lives. It did and, after that was rejected by the Philippines and not help of course, the mules were executed Indonesia, then by a UN Mission composed of anyway. But the effort was there. You cannot Argentina, Brazil, Ceylon, Czechoslovakia, Ghana, of course condemn or threaten war against a Pakistan, Japan and Jordan. country that takes drug-pushing literally deathly The ICJ ruled on that point at that point: seriously. Neither can you condemn or threaten “Historic title, no matter how persuasively war against a country that takes invasion equally claimed on the basis of old legal instruments literally deathly seriously. and exercises of authority, cannot... prevail Idjirani of course says they weren’t attempting in law over the rights of non-self-governing to seize Sabah, they were attempting to reclaim people to claim independence and establish their it: Sabah belongs to them. Well, repeating it till sovereignty through the exercise of bona fide kingdom come won’t make it so. Saying it till self-determination.” hell freezes over won’t make hell freeze over.

Same question: What the hell are you telling the That is precisely the point that needs to be people of Sabah by insisting that Sabah belongs to the proven. Even Jovito Salonga’s 1962 statement Sultan of Sulu, that they have no business claiming asserting the Philippines’ claim to Sabah, which independence, sovereignty or self-determination defenders of Kiram’s horrendous misadventure because they are, and will always be, subjects of a keep quoting, was clear on the point: That claim character straight from the Arabian Nights?

But what takes the cake is Idjirani, and the Kirams, suddenly discovering that their followers who roistered this mess in Sabah, leaving the real Filipinos there who were quietly going about their business before the Kirams and their followers did what they did to reap the whirlwind, are Filipinos too and are entitled to their government’s support and help. What takes the cake is their attempting to conscript this country into remonstrating or condemning everyone except themselves for the horror they themselves have unleashed.

What, they’re Filipinos too but they’d rather not inform us about, or ask our permission for, the batty thing they were about to embark on? Or if not us as a whole at least government, which is the official representative of the rest of us, in whose name they now claim to have done what they did? They’re Filipinos too, but they couldn’t care less what happens to their countrymen in Sabah and other parts of Malaysia, many of whom do not have papers, whom they’ve just subjected to a reign of terror by what they’ve done? They’re Filipinos too but they don’t particularly mind exposing the country to the scorn of the world—“bizarre” is how the Kirams’ incursion into Sabah is universally called— reinforced by some groups and individuals calling on the country to unite behind them?

You want to see terrorism, you don’t have to look far, you don’t have to look deep. Just look at the people who wreaked this, just look at what they’ve wrought.

That is the heart of terror. ■

AT LARGE

Celebrity meltdowns

BY RINA JIMENEZ-DAVID Philippine Daily Inquirer A MEDIA scholar once tried to analyze the public’s lasting fascination with celebrities. Most people, he said, live largely uneventful lives and find entertainment, if not thrill, from following those individuals who live in the constant glare of media attention. Many times the glare is literal: chased by paparazzi down the street or as they emerge from trendy restaurants or stride down the red carpet blinded with electronic flashes and hounded by impertinent questions.

These days, with every cell phone also a camera, the hunt is even more relentless, with ordinary people transformed into celebrity poachers, ever ready to record a celebrity’s every misstep or spat, bad hair day or inappropriate behavior—uploaded into social media and sent caroming around the world.

We reserve the greatest fascination, however, for celebrity meltdowns. We revel and dissect every misfortune that befalls the hapless famous person who finds him/herself in a crisis. It hardly matters what caused the celebrity’s downfall—a crime, a nervous breakdown, marital woes or misbehavior—all that matters is that ordinary folk are given the chance to tsk-tsk and pat themselves on the back for living smaller lives.

There is a moral to these stories. Celebrities may be more beautiful, more moneyed, more famous, more talented. But their every move and mistake is writ large simply because their lives and personas are bigger. We all make mistakes

player who stands over six feet tall, towering over and err on the side of folly. But we have the his petite ex-wife. luxury of stumbling in anonymity. Good thing we Any woman confronted by male physical are not celebrities; at least when we fall, we can power can tell you that proximity alone can feel pick ourselves up with hardly anybody noticing. like a threat, even if no words are said or force is A celebrity is hounded until he or she melts into applied. Overreaction? I can sympathize. ignominy, or by some miracle achieves a rare But I guess both Kris and James can second act. acknowledge that the one getting hurt the most *** in this back-and-forth THE dispute between between them is the boy. actress/TV host Kris Because every cell phone has Perhaps a little distance a camera, ordinary people are Aquino and star basketball and quiet—both physical player James Yap may be transformed into celebrity poachers, and emotional—are what summed up as a “he said/ ever ready to record a celebrity’s Bimby needs most at this she said” story. Except every misstep or spat, bad hair day or time. It was welcome news that there is a third party inappropriate behavior—uploaded to me when Kris announced involved: their son Bimby. into social media and sent caroming on TV that she and Bimby And even then, both father around the world. are undergoing counseling. and mother have no qualms As for abandoning her taking turns reporting and career, I don’t know if that would best serve her interpreting the five-year-old’s utterances and present emotional state, or the financial future of motives. her sons.

There is one point, though, that I feel must be But the best way we can help this sundered explored further. And that is Yap’s contention that family is really to leave them alone, which is why what triggered Bimby’s initial outburst and Kris’ this is the last word I have to say on the matter. lashing out was nothing but a joke. As Yap tells it, An accident on the road may draw our attention, he was trying to get the boy to kiss him goodbye but sometimes the most polite and kindest reaction but when Bimby refused, he went to Kris’ side and would simply be to look away. jokingly threatened: “Okay, if you don’t want to *** kiss me, then I’ll just kiss your Mama.”

ANY parent can tell you that the one sure way From Yap’s point of view, both Bimby and to push your child toward an action—or person— Kris “overreacted,” with Kris protesting that she you don’t approve of is to show the child your was getting hurt as Yap’s hand grasped her arm, displeasure. while Bimby ran crying and rushing to his mother.

Nothing can provoke your son or daughter into This certainly sounds like a scene from a until rushing into the arms of an inappropriate love you consider that Yap is a professional basketball

object faster than your disapproval. It’s a story as old as time. The more the parents sound off on how much they dislike a suitor or a girlfriend, the more attractive that suitor or girlfriend becomes.

More so when you make your disapproval public, during election season when the offending character happens to be running for national office.

So good luck, Mr. and Mrs. Ongpauco, in prying your daughter Heart from the side of Chiz Escudero. You have stated your reasons for disliking the senator, whose marriage has been (civilly) annulled, and Mrs. Ongpauco has even employed emotional blackmail in chiding Heart for causing her father’s failing health.

But one undisputed fact is that Heart, an actress who earns her own not-inconsiderable income, is all of 28 years old, even if, as her parents claim, she remains immature and incapable of making sound decisions. If I were Heart, that contention alone would be enough to drive me rushing pellmell out of the parental orbit. Nothing can provoke hasty, heedless decisions faster than a parent’s low opinion of your maturity and ability to decide for yourself.

For all we know (and we really know very little), the senator may in fact be all that Heart’s parents paint him to be. But the matter of his disrespect, his boastfulness, his “using” Heart, is something he and she must settle between themselves.

As a parent, I have bit my tongue more times than I care to remember. And it isn’t because I don’t love my children or care about their welfare.

It’s because I know winning a debate now will matter little if I drive my child away, perhaps forever. ■

17 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Opinion

PUBLIC LIVES

Meditation on lament

BY RANDY DAVID Philippine Daily Inquirer SOMEONE’S DEATH is always a cause for sorrow and grieving—especially when it is unexpected and unjust. Such is the instant impact of University of the Philippines student Kristel Tejada’s death on all of us who have links with UP. Lament is our first response. We shake our heads in utter disbelief, and, even as we try to pin the blame for this tragedy on particular individuals, we silently seek expiation for our own guilt. We cannot be blameless when one of our promising students is forced to drop out because she cannot pay her student loan. That is how I see the flurry of efforts to repair and compensate for a system whose built-in wickedness has victimized this young student.

We should not underestimate the power of lament. “The face of the earth,” says the writer Elias Canetti, “has been changed by the religions of lament and, in Christianity, they have attained a kind of universal validity.” In this season of Lent, one is encouraged to interpret Kristel’s sacrificial death as a reenactment of the ancient script of redemptive passion. Someone precious has to die so that the lives of others who survive may be better. The dead one thus becomes the savior of the living. This is the essence of Christianity.

But, grief is fleeting. We must ask, says Canetti, what it is about some forms of lament that crystallizes and endures over time, and eventually

changes the way we live. Four things seem to spell of pursuit it offers us as participants. “Men lived as pursuers,” Canetti tells us, “and as such, in their the difference.

First, the mourners have a strong wish for own fashion, they continue to live…. Most of their hero to remain alive or to continue to be them perhaps do not divine that, while they feed their bodies, they also feed the a living presence in their own personal lives. This In this season of Lent, one is darkness within themselves. is the whole meaning of encouraged to interpret Kristel’s But their guilt and fear grow resurrection.

Someone’s sacrificial death as a reenactment ceaselessly, and, without death sparks a light in the of the ancient script of redemptive knowing it, they long for hearts of the living, and this passion. Someone precious has to deliverance.”

Deliverance is sought, is passed on to others who die so that the lives of others who strangely enough, not then become part of an ever survive may be better. from restitution, but from growing community. identification with suffering.

Second, the act of mourning is opened up to take in pilgrims and As soon as it takes on a religious form, the quest for believers from everywhere. “It begins with the deliverance does not result in a call for the simple few faithful who stand beneath the cross; they are end to all predation, because, under the system, the the kernel of the lament. At the first Whitsuntide predators include us. It culminates rather in a call to there were possibly 600 Christians; at the time of align oneself with suffering. Why this is so is perhaps the Emperor Constantine about 10 million.” This the whole mystery of religion. I can only suppose this happens because no line is prematurely drawn that is what separates religion from revolution. Canetti’s serves to exclude the many who want to be part of irony is sharp in this regard: “Thus it appears that religions of lament will continue to be indispensable the grieving. There is room for everyone.

Third, this death is unlike any other—it comes to the psychic economy of men for as long as they to represent the condition of all the helpless and remain unable to renounce pack killing.”

“Pack killing”—the organized foray for the forsaken. It drives us to reflect on the way we ourselves have often unknowingly fed “on the survival that preys upon the inability of the torment of weaker creatures.” The lament thus weak to protect themselves—takes many forms progresses into a reflexivity that makes us ponder in modern society. Its basic logic is eloquently our own personal accountability for the way things depicted in the recent film “The Hunger Games,” are. We are prompted to reflect on the system in where everyone is forced to be a hunter if she which we find ourselves and on the endless games does not want to end up being the prey. The more

structured and anonymous the game is, the less heavily it weighs upon our conscience.

The few times we gain some insight into its intrinsically brutal nature, our attention tends to be riveted to the reform of the system. But, what the system has done to the person in each of us, the way it has numbed and dehumanized us, largely escapes notice. By permitting us to identify with the sufferings of others, religions of lament induce us to discern and atone for our own personal failings.

It is interesting that one of the responses triggered

by Kristel Tejada’s death has taken the form of a move by some legislators who are UP alumni to draw from their pork barrel allocations in order to build a fund for student scholarships. This laudable initiative is pregnant with irony. It uses a mechanism that is better known for its gross abuses to gather financial resources to benefit UP students. As such it bears all the marks of privilege. It privileges UP over other state universities and colleges. It allots to tertiary education scarce resources that could be put to better use in basic education. I don’t wish to sound critical of what is basically a generous act, but again, are we not playing predatory games here?

What moral right do UP alumni in government have to prioritize UP’s needs over those of other schools?

I think what makes religion, in a sense, more exacting than politics is that it requires insight into oneself as a precondition for speaking out on a lot of things. *** public.lives@gmail.com

AS I SEE IT

Bam Aquino was a collaborator of GMA

BY NEAL CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer TODAY IS the beginning of Holy Week, so we should all admit our sins and repent. Nowhere are they more needed than in the case of politicians seeking election this May. No doubt they all pray to God to make them win. Hence, they should be humble and honest and admit that they have sinned, and ask God for forgiveness and promise not to sin again. The senatorial candidate who needs to do this the most is Bam (Bum?) Aquino.

Responding to the challenge of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) that he own up to his ties with former President Gloria Arroyo, Bum replied that he was proud of the work he did under the Arroyo administration. If I were his cousin President Aquino, I would give this Bum a whack on the head.

It seems that Bum has not been reading the newspapers since 2010. If he had, then he should know that President Aquino considers the term of his predecessor—and Bum’s former boss—the worst years in the country’s history. Now comes this upstart Bum claiming he was proud of his time working for a president against whom his cousin moved heaven and earth to put her behind bars.

Bum was appointed by Arroyo as chair of the National Youth Commission (NYC) in 2001. My understanding is that the head of the NYC serves for a term of three years, subject to another three-year extension. Bum says he did not finish his term, but in all likelihood he was referring to his second term.

For someone who is an Aquino—which he emphasizes in his TV commercials to cling to

the goodwill created by Ninoy, Cory and now Then there was the Big One: Proclamation 1017 P-Noy—and who is touted as a candidate who will issued, ironically, on the day we were commemorating walk the “daang matuwid” in the Senate if elected Edsa 1. The first victim was President Cory Aquino (Heaven help us if that happens!), it defies logic herself. There was a commemoration at the corner that he accepted his term extension in spite of what of Ayala Avenue and Paseo de Roxas, at Ninoy’s was happening to the country in 2005. statue, but thousands of policemen blocked her way.

For Bum’s edification, the Philippines in Nonetheless, the police lines were broken. And in 2005, was teetering on the brink of political case Bum needs to be reminded, the administration upheaval. Allegations of widespread cheating that he says he was proud to have worked for also during the 2004 presidential elections (where closed down a newspaper and warned media about Bum’s father, Paul, served as Arroyo’s campaign reporting critical stories against her administration. manager) were confirmed Eventually, these measures in the public mind by a Responding to UNA's challenge that he were declared unconstitutional recorded conversation own up to his ties with former President by the Supreme Court. between Arroyo and then Gloria Arroyo, Bum replied that he But apparently, Bum saw Commission on Elections was proud of the work he did under no reason to leave the Commissioner Virgilio the Arroyo administration. If I were his administration and the Garcillano. The so-called president whom his cousin, cousin President Aquino, I would give now the sitting President, “Hello Garci” scandal caused the mass exodus this Bum a whack on the head. criticizes to the hilt.

UNA says what Bum of Arroyo’s Cabinet members and ranking government officials. did shows “hypocrisy and opportunism in the Bum, however, decided to stay. core of Team PNoy.” We agree! *** What followed were strong-arm tactics meant The contest for the top senatorial spot is very to intimidate protesters. Protest actions, staged mostly by youth groups (which Bum was supposed hot. At present, the contenders for the No. 1 spot to represent as NYC head), were dispersed, often are Senators Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero and violently, as Arroyo adopted a tougher policy.

Alan Peter Cayetano, reelectionists all.

When Congress decided to probe the Hello Among the three, only Alan Peter has not Garci scandal, the administration issued Executive positioned himself as a contender for a higher national Order 464, effectively gagging government, position. Chiz did so in 2010. Loren tried twice for police and military officials from testifying in the the vice presidency but lost. Some observers think investigation and all other probes on irregularities that 2016 may be Alan Peter’s coming-out party. He has the most to gain by winning the top spot in the involving administration officials.

2013 elections. And maybe also the most to lose.

The prognosis is that Alan Peter will keep the third spot but may never be able to wrest the lead from Loren and Chiz. Alan Peter may have already exhausted whatever influence media exposure may have on getting people to prefer a candidate over other aspirants.

Chiz’s situation appears to be in sharp contrast to Alan Peter’s.

Chiz may have been served golden media opportunities by the raging controversy over his relationship with actress Heart Evangelista. This is free media exposure worth maybe hundreds of millions of pesos in expensive airtime.

Alan Peter does not have the same opportunity. His battles are not of the romantic kind. He is waging a war against older men: Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes.

Recently, he reopened his war against Brillantes in connection with the Comelec’s rule putting a cap on political commercials in broadcast media. He joined the network giants in the suit against the Comelec, which is now pending before the Supreme Court.

Brillantes explains that the cap is intended to level the playing field among rich and poor candidates. Alan Peter says he does not agree with this rule because it will not achieve that goal. However, he does not explain why he thinks so. Why not indeed?

Maybe the ban runs counter to Alan Peter’s strategy to wrest the lead from Loren and Chiz: Buy more airtime for Alan Peter’s commercials. ■

News-Phils

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 18

Church hails SC ruling on RH: God is on our side

BY PHILIP C. TUBEZA Philippine Daily Inquirer PRAISE the Lord.

Catholic bishops welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court to suspend for 120 days the implementation of the controversial reproductive health (RH) law in order to hear 10 Church-backed petitions contesting its constitutionality.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said newly installed Pope Francis would be “very happy” with the tribunal’s order, pointing out that the former archbishop of Buenos Aires was against the distribution of free contraceptives in Argentina.

“That’s exactly the same as the RH law,” Bastes said. “I hope that in the end, that law will be abolished.

I’m happy. To the lay people, let us continue our campaign against the RH law, particularly in the coming elections in May.” Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te told reporters the tribunal voted 10-5 to issue the fourmonth freeze order against the law, which requires government health centers to hand out free condoms and schools to teach sex education.

Te did not comment on the merits of the case, saying only the court in an en banc session had issued the suspension to allow opponents of the law time to present their oral arguments on June 18.

The 10 who voted for the freeze—and a status quo ante—were Justices Martin Villarama, Teresita de Castro, Jose Perez, Diosdado Peralta, Presbitero Velasco, Bienvenido Reyes, Arturo Brion, Lucas Bersamin, Roberto Abad and Jose Mendoza.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and Justices Mariano del Castillo, Estela Perlas-Bernabe and Marvic Leonen dissented.

“Praise the Lord. God is on our side. Our struggle against the RH law is correct,” Digos Bishop Guillermo Afable told Church-run Radio Veritas.

Palace reaction Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Malacañang would respect the court’s resolution.

“We are confident that the government will be able to defend the merits of the responsible parenthood law,” Lacierda said in a text message.

Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang said the court’s move could affect the country’s efforts to comply with the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

“This law was supposed to bring down maternal mortality. Ultimately, it will bring down levels of poverty in combination with other programs that we have,” he said.

“If we were able to wait for 14 years, then we are willing to wait some more but we hope it won’t be that long again because these are for our women,” Health Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag said, referring to the period the population control bill had languished in Congress.

President Aquino’s intervention led to the passage of the long-pending bill late last year. Mr. Aquino signed the measure into law without fanfare last December amid a determined effort by the Church to contest it every step of the way.

The Department of Health had earlier planned to begin implementation of the law on Easter Sunday, but Tayag said that even if the court did not intervene the program could not be launched because the rules and regulations to carry it out had not been hammered out.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, principal author of the RH law, said in a statement he believed that the court would eventually uphold the measure, pointing out that it did not “defile” the right to life enshrined in the Constitution.

“The RH law does not legalize abortion. In fact, it acknowledges that abortion is illegal and punishable and is not a family planning option or method,” he said.

“The accusation that the RH law is offensive to religious freedom is a patent aberration. The act is replete with provisions upholding freedom of religion and respecting religious convictions. The guarantee of freedom of informed choice is an assurance that no one would be compelled to violate the tenets of his religion or defy his religious convictions against his free will and own discernment of his faith,” Lagman said.

More mothers dying Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin, coauthor of the law, warned: “Every day of delay means more mothers dying everyday, more children being orphaned, and many Filipino families being deprived of their choice to have a better quality of life.”

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said he was disappointed. “Why wait until June for oral arguments to be heard

when this has been one of the most debated laws in history of Congress?

It could have been timed to hit pro-RH legislators in our (midterm election) campaign,” Baguilat said.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan said in a text message: “That’s good. The Supreme Court is showing signs of life.”

Sen. Tito Sotto, who mounted a spirited opposition to the law when it was being debated in the Senate, said that the court “knows what is best for the country.”

“Let them decide,” he said, reiterating his contention in three privilege speeches that the RH law “is against our pro-life Constitution.”

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada described the court order as a “temporary victory for the Church and the anti-RH group.”

Sen. Francis Escudero said that while he disagreed with the ruling, “we should follow and respect it.”

‘The Lord is moving’ Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez thanked God that the RH law was stopped, pointing out that the government had planned to fully implement it starting on Easter Sunday.

“The hand of the Lord is moving in the hearts of Supreme Court justices,” he said.

Fr. Melvin Castro, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines' Episcopal Commission on Family and Life, urged the faithful to be vigilant, saying the court order was just a “temporary victory.”

“This just means that we should be more active against the RH law,” Castro said. “This is also a challenge to voters to elect candidates who support life and the family. The high court heard our prayers that any law that is questionable based on our Constitution should not be implemented.”

“This is a victory for the truth. We thank God for inspiring the justices to vote against the RH Law,” Fr. Amadeo Alvero, spokesperson of the archdiocese of Palo, said in a text message. “This has been our prayer that people may realize the evil of RH Law. It has been heard. And we are praying and hoping that it be soon declared as illegal,” he added. ■

News at your fingertips. www.canadianinquirer.net

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

19 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

BY STEPHANIE LEVITZ The Canadian Press

Cost of coming to Canada, and becoming a Canadian citizen, likely to rise

OTTAWA—The cost of coming to Canada—and becoming a Canadian citizen—is set to rise.

Thursday's federal budget suggests the government is eyeing fee hikes to cover the ballooning cost of processing hundreds of thousands of visa and citizenship applications each year.

The Conservative government is seeking to shift more of those costs onto the businesses who want to bring in temporary foreign workers, as well as to those applying for citizenship.

At the same time, it will be spending more money on both those programs to speed up processing times, with $42 million allocated for the temporary resident program and $44 million for citizenship over two years.

A backlog in processing citizenship applications, as well as a shortage of citizenship judges and new counter-fraud measures, have created lengthy delays of months or years for people to receive their coveted Canadian status.

“For many newcomers, becoming a Canadian citizen is a significant step, creating a stronger bond to the economic and social fabric of Canada,” the budget document says.

As of September 30, 2012, there were 319,517 applications for citizenship waiting to be processed, according to recent statistics from the Citizenship and Immigration Department.

But the department had previously received only enough funding to process about 160,000 applications a year. Those applying for citizenship currently pay about $200, but the department has said it costs several times more to actually complete the files.

Meanwhile, Human Resources and Skills Development is spending about $35.5 million a

year to process applications from employers to bring in temporary foreign workers, and currently no fee is charged either to the company or the worker, the department said in a recent briefing.

“The government will also propose to introduce user fees for employers applying for temporary foreign workers through the labour market opinion process so that these costs are no longer absorbed by taxpayers,” a budget document says.

The temporary foreign worker program has been growing faster than the permanent economic residency stream for the last five years.

In 2012, there were more than 213,000 foreign workers in Canada, compared with over 160,000 immigrants who arrived under the federal skilled worker program.

The rapid growth of the program has raised concerns that Canadian companies are filling job vacancies with cheaper workers from overseas rather than actively finding Canadians to fill the jobs.

Much of the focus of the budget is on reversing that trend, with millions being allocated for training and job creation programs.

At the same time, the government is continuing to overhaul the temporary foreign worker program.

in B.C. surrounding a mining firm allowed to bring in foreign labour after insisting that a requirement to speak Mandarin meant it couldn't find Canadians to fill their jobs.

The budget says that's no longer going to be an excuse, proposing an amendment to current regulations that “restrict the identification of non-official languages as job requirements when hiring through the temporary foreign worker process.”

The budget also says employers will have to advertise longer and farther to find Canadians to fill jobs before looking overseas.

The $42 million for the temporary resident program will also be spent The changes were prompted in on processing more visas for students part by a continuing controversy and tourists. ■

NEWS BRIEFS Canada should diversify trade: WTO candidate OTTAWA—A leading candidate for the World Trade Organization's top job says Canada needs to diversify its trade reach, especially in the fastgrowing Asian economies. Mari Pangestu, Indonesia's tourism minister and a candidate to replace outgoing Pascal Lamy later this summer, said in an interview that Canada has too many eggs in the U.S. basket, but also it's efforts to diversify are too narrowly focused.

Companies benefit with female board members: Study TORONTO—Women who sit on corporate boards are more likely to ``rock the boat'' and be more open to new ideas than their male counterparts— skills that often translate into better decisions and financial success for the company, according to a new study. The survey, recently published in the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, found that of the 624 board directors polled in Canada, women were more likely to use ``co-operation, collaboration and consensus building'' when dealing with complex decisions.

New Brunswick officials issue STD warning FREDERICTON—New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health is encouraging people who have unprotected sex with those they don't know to get tested for sexually transmitted infections. The statement from Dr. Eilish Cleary comes after someone in New Brunswick recently tested positive for HIV. Giant pandas in Canada get welcome from prime minister TORONTO—Two giant pandas on loan to Canada from China have arrived in Toronto. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his wife Laureen and Chinese ambassador Zhang Junsai were among those on hand Monday to welcome the pair.

Canada

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 20

Government launches ad campaign aimed at combating marriage fraud

BY DIANA MEHTA The Canadian Press OTTAWA—The government is warning prospective lovebirds to protect themselves against marriage fraud before tying the knot.

The Department of Citizenship and Immigration has launched an ad campaign aimed at informing Canadians and newcomers on how to avoid becoming victims of immigration fraud involving so-called “marriages of convenience.”

The campaign launched on Wednesday—which includes a video featuring real victims of marriage fraud—is part of Fraud Prevention Month, which focuses on a particular immigration issue each year.

Last year's campaign focused on informing Canadians about unauthorized immigration consultants.

The Conservative government moved last October requiring some immigrant spouses to live with their sponsor for two years or risk losing their permanent resident status.

The rule only applies to those who have been married less than two years and have no children together at the time of their immigration application.

Four short videos were posted on the Citizenship and Immigration website and YouTube channel on Wednesday.

“Many Canadians marry people from other countries, but sometimes marriage is a scam to jump the immigration line,” one of the videos intoned.

“Marriage fraud, it could cost you more than a broken heart. Don't be a victim,” said another.

In the longest video, which runs for just over five minutes, victims of marriage fraud share accounts of their spouses using them as tickets into the country.

“I have heard stories from victims across the country that have been left emotionally and financially devastated because of immigration fraud,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said in a statement.

“Canada's doors are open to the vast majority of newcomers who are hard-working and follow the rules, but Canadians have no tolerance for anyone who tries to jump the immigration line to gain entry to Canada or acquire permanent residency or citizenship through fraudulent means.”

Ottawa's new rules on marriage fraud were developed over two years of consultations during which the government heard concerns from dozens of groups that victims of domestic violence could be unfairly penalized.

In implementing the new rules, the government said the conditional permanent resident status for sponsored spouses will be waived in cases where

there is evidence of abuse or neglect, or where the Canadian spouse dies.

Nonetheless, the government has still been criticized by groups like the Canadian Council for Refugees who say the new rules could allow an abusive sponsoring partner to use the threat of deportation to manipulate their spouse.

The new rules are complaint-based, meaning it's up to those caught up in fraudulent marriages to report possible violations to the Canada Border Services Agency.

Immigration officers are also trained to detect marriages of convenience while going through immigration applications.

In January, the CBSA charged seven people in the Toronto area in connection with a “marriage of convenience” scheme.

The agency had said the accused acted as go-betweens who arranged for Canadian citizens to marry and sponsor Chinese nationals.

A four-year investigation revealed the marriages were bogus and done to let the in-name-only spouses gain entry status in Canada for a fee of $30,000 to $35,000 dollars each. ■

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World News

21 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Obama tells Congress to take up debate on immigration bill next month so he can sign ASAP

Top Hong Kong court rules unanimously to deny permanent residency bid by foreign maids

HONG KONG—Hong Kong’s top court ruled against two Filipino domestic helpers seeking permanent residency Monday, the final decision in a case that affects tens of thousands of other foreign maids in the southern Chinese financial hub.

In a unanimous ruling, the Court of Final Appeal sided with the government’s position that tight restrictions on domestic helpers mean they don’t have the same status as other foreign residents, who can apply to settle permanently after seven years.

Lawyers for the two had argued that an immigration provision barring domestic workers from permanent residency was unconstitutional.

In the ruling, Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma wrote that foreign domestic helpers “are told from the outset that admission is not for the purposes of settlement and that dependents cannot be brought to reside in Hong Kong.”

The decision means Evangeline Banao Vallejos and Daniel Domingo cannot apply for permanent residence even though Vallejos has worked in Hong Kong since 1986 and Domingo since 1985. Neither appeared at court.

“We are very disappointed,” said Mark Daly, a lawyer for the pair.

He said Vallejos was speechless after learning about the decision.

“While we respect the judgment, we disagree with it,” Daly said.

He added that the ruling is “not a good reflection of the values we should be teaching youngsters and people in our society.”

The case has split the city, home to nearly 300,000 maids from Southeast Asian countries. The vast majority are from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Some argue that barring maids from applying for residency amounts to ethnic discrimination. But other groups have raised fears that the case would result in a massive influx of maids’ family members arriving in Hong Kong, straining the densely populated city’s social services, health and education systems. Supporters of the maids, who earn at least $500 a month and get room and board, say those fears are overblown.

Members of an activist group briefly chanted “We are workers, not slaves” and others slogans on the courthouse’s front steps after the ruling was released.

“Today is a very sad day for migrant workers in Hong Kong,” said Eman Villanueva, secretarygeneral of United Filipinos in Hong Kong. “With the court’s ruling today, it gave its judicial seal to unfair treatment and the social exclusion of foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong is a former British colony that has been a special administrative region of China since 1997 and permanent residency is the closest thing it has to citizenship.

Along with the foreign maids, Hong Kong is also home to tens of thousands of expatriates working in professions like banking, accounting or teaching.

They can apply after seven years for permanent residence, which allows them to vote and work without needing a visa.

Government figures cited by a lower court in this case said an estimated 117,000 foreign maids had been in Hong Kong for that length of time as of 2010.

The decision also means the court doesn’t need to grant a controversial government request for Beijing to reinterpret residency rights outlined in the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law. The request had raised fears about Beijing interfering in Hong Kong, which prides itself on having a strong rule of law with a separate legal system from mainland China and under the Basic Law is granted a high degree of autonomy until 2047. _________ Online: Hong Kong legal judgments: http:// legalref.judiciary.gov.hk Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/ chanman

BY JULIE PACE The Associated Press WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama challenged Congress Monday to “finish the job” of finalizing legislation aimed at overhauling the nation’s immigration system.

With members of the House and Senate away on spring break, Obama made his most substantive remarks on the difficult issue in more than a month, saying he expects lawmakers to take up debate on a quickly and that he hopes to sign it into law as soon as possible.

“We’ve known for years that our immigration system is broken,” the president said at a citizenship ceremony at the White House. “After avoiding the problem for years, the time has come to fix it once and for all.”

The president spoke at a ceremony for 28 people from more than two dozen countries, including Afghanistan, China and Mexico. Thirteen of the new citizens are active duty service members in the U.S. military. The oath of allegiance was administered by Homeland Security Photo by Mark Wilson, Getty Images

BY KELVIN CHAN The Associated Press

Secretary Janet Napolitano.

While Obama has hosted citizenship ceremonies in previous years, Monday’s event was laced with politics, given the ongoing debate over immigration reform on Capitol Hill. A bipartisan group of eight senators is close to finishing draft work on a bill that would dramatically reshape the U.S. immigration and employment landscape, putting 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship.

The measure also would allow tens of thousands of new high- and lowskilled workers into the country.

The president applauded the congressional effort so far, but pressed lawmakers to wrap up their discussions quickly.

“We’ve got a lot of white papers and studies,” Obama said. “We’ve just got to, at this point, work up the political courage to do what’s required.”

Immigration shot to the forefront of Obama’s domestic agenda following the November election. Hispanics made up 10 per cent of the electorate and overwhelmingly backed Obama, in part because of the tough stance on immigration that Republicans took during the campaign.

The election results spurred Republicans to tackle immigration reform for the first time since 2007 in an effort to increase the party’s appeal to Hispanics and keep the GOP competitive in national elections.

Obama and the bipartisan Senate group are in lockstep on the key principles of a potential immigration bill, including a pathway to citizenship, strengthening the legal immigration system, and cracking down on businesses that employ illegal immigrants. The White House has largely backed the Senate process, but says it has its own immigration bill ready if the debate on Capitol Hill stalls.

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter. com/jpaceDC

Immigration

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 22

British Royal wonders if Philippines is “half-empty”

BY BOLET AREVALO

PANGARAP : SO, OUR JOURNEY BEGINS So, Did You Ever Really Dream of Going Abroad?

NO, MIGRATING was not a dream for me.

I told a friend shortly before I left for Canada that, as a child I do not remember having dreamed for myself.

It felt like I came to where I am and became who I am simply by sheer design of an Unseen Hand. Or that, it was probably how my life had been laid out for me from the time I was born into this world. By contrast, I had an in-law whose obsession was to go abroad and she did everything she could to attain that, which she eventually did.

In high school, as class valedictorian, they had me for one final interview in the school paper and naturally, I was asked what my dream was, much like the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I should say, my answer was so un-valedictorian. I had no serious answer because at that time, I had no

More on page 45

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer "THE PHILIPPINES MUST BE half empty—you're all here running the NHS (National Health Service)," quipped United Kingdom's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, on a recent trip to the Luton and Dunstable Hospital where he unveiled a new cardiac center.

The UK news source BBC reported that the 91-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth was speaking with a Filipina nurse he met during a visit to Luton, and made the remark in reference to the high number of Filipinos employed as health workers abroad.

The quip was not the only one made during the visit, which—according to a hospital spokesperson—was “highly motivational,” on the overall.

But the hospital did clarify that its administration has not recently conducted a recruiting campaign in the Philippines.

The BBC report noted that statistics from the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council show that 16,184 out of UK's 670,000 nurses are from the Philippines.

Data from the Philippines’ Commission on Filipinos Overseas shows that as of 2011, a total of 10.46 million Filipinos are in 217 foreign countries and territories. This indicates

a 10.7 percent increase from 9.45 million in 2010.

This number represents more than a 25.4 percent of the country's 41.94 million workforce, according to data from the Philippines’ Labor department.

Meanwhile, some reports have called The Duke of Edinburgh’s comment a "racist remark." BBC was quick to point out that the Duke is "well known for his outspoken and sometimes controversial comments."

BBC called to mind some of the more eyebrow-raising remarks Prince

Philip has made: During a 1986 visit to China, he remarked to a group of British students: “If you stay here much longer, you'll all be slitty-eyed.”

On a trip to the Cayman Islands in 1994, he asked a native: “Aren't most of you descended from pirates?”

In 1998, when conversing with a student who had been trekking in Papua New Guinea, Prince Philip said: “You managed not to get eaten, then?”

Definitely a touch of royal tonguein-cheek for us all. ■ (Source: Yahoo!

Philippines News)

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Immigration

23 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Do you know who can represent you regarding the use of Authorized Third Party Representative?

BY ROSALIE SULIT Philippine Canadian Inquirer IT WAS JUNE 30, 2011, WHEN Bill C-35 came into force. This bill is an Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), where it is an offence for anyone other than an authorized representative to represent or advise a client on an immigration matter for a fee or other compensation at any stage of an immigration application or proceeding.

What does it mean? It means that anyone who provides immigration advice for compensation must be an authorized representative, as identified in section 91 IRPA. There are two types of representatives: individuals who receive some form of compensation for their services, and individuals who provide such services for free. These individuals that don’t charge or work “pro-bono” are typically family members, friends, and non-governmental and religious organizations. Representatives who work for a fee for advising or representing a client in an immigration application or proceeding must be registered to one of the regulatory bodies. These bodies include the Canadian provincial/territorial law societies, who regulate lawyers and (in some cases) paralegals, the Chamber des notaries du Quebec, and the Immigration Consultant Regulatory Council of Canada (ICCRC).

With Bill C-35 in force, a representative who receives fees and other forms of compensation MUST be registered with one of the abovementioned regulatory bodies.

The Act shall impose penalties of two (2) years imprisonment and/or up to $100,000 in fines for Q: There are many things I need to do when I first arrive in Canada. Which things should I do first?

A: Whatever you decide to do in Canada, whether you intend to work or stay at home and care for your children, there are three things that you need to do as soon as possible: 1. Get your basic documents such as Social Insurance Number (SIN) and Driver's License or an Identification Card.

2. Register for Medical Services Plan (MSP) and get medical insurance.

3. Find a Settlement Services Agency close to where you live.

People need an SIN in order to work as well as to benefit from the various government services and programs. Institutions such as banks or credit card companies may ask for your SIN, but it is usually OPTIONAL. Make sure you do not give away your SIN as this is one source of fraud and identity theft. Service Canada will give you more instructions about the privacy and safety of your SIN. If you have an existing Driver’s License from your country of origin, you can only use this for a limited time. This is only allowed for 90 days, after which you will need to apply for a Canadian Driver's

to their clients, even if these services occur prior to the submission of the application. These services would also include providing advice or representation in making applications for the Labour Market Opinions (LMO) or Arranged Employment Offers (AEO) to the HRSDC, as these applications are involved in immigration.

Live-in caregivers’ agents or nanny agencies – they provide advice or representation related to the submission of temporary foreign worker applications, such as filling out forms or representing the applicant in their dealings with the CIC. They MUST be authorized representatives as these activities are directly related to the immigration application which will be submitted. Nanny agents are not allowed to submit an LMO application on behalf of their clients.

Should you witness any illegal activities, you can report fake/illegal consultants to the CIC at 1-888-502-9060 or to the Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC) by email at info@iccrc-crci.ca; toll free telephone number: 1-877-836-7543. ■ ___________ Rosalie Sulit is a full member of Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council (ICCRC).

You can reach her at 905 -5651908. If you have any immigration-related issues or questions, please feel free to send an email at info@procareimmigration.com or to book an appointment for consultation.

unauthorized persons receiving compensation. Because of these changes, the regulations mandate that the CIC, the CBSA (Canadian Border and Security Agency), and the IRB (Immigration Refugee Board) deal only with members of one of the regulatory bodies.

With the advent of Bill C-35, many stakeholders, such as agencies that deal in education, travel, employment and recruitment, baby-sitting, and adoptions have received limited functions that are permitted under this new law.

The following are the responsibilities allowed for each stakeholder: Education agents in Canada – can provide students with administrative services, can direct students to the CCI website to find information on immigration programs and immigration application forms; can provide translation services.

Education agents abroad – can assist their foreign students to find schools and admission in Canada, but they are not allowed to provide immigration advise or representation to their clients.

Immigration Consultancy Inc. Employment agents/recruiters – they are often engaged by companies seeking to fill job vacancies.

Immigration Services: Under the regulations, an agent or recruiter who acts Spousal/ Family Sponsorship on behalf of a company to scout or interview job Work, Student and Visitor’s Permit Federal Skilled Worker Program applicants, make offers of employment, and review PR Determination /Appeals Provincial Nominee Program job applications is not required to be an authorized tel: 905.565.1908 representative. However, employment agents and cell: 416.908.7349 recruiters must be authorized representatives if Email: info@procareimmigration.com www.procareimmigration.com they provide immigration advice or representation

Partnership between SUCCESS and Philippine Canadian Inquirer License at ICBC in order to drive. A job, learning about your community, Driver's License also serves as a form of choosing the right school for your children, identification. If you do not drive a vehicle establishing friendships, and learning to and have no intention of learning how speak English or other languages. Services to drive, a Canadian Identification Card provided by these agencies are free of would be very helpful in day-to-day life. charge and available to all permanent It helps to confirm your place of residence, resident card holders, caregivers, protected validates your cheques or credit cards, persons, naturalized citizens, refugee establishes your identity when travelling, claimants, applicants who have been issued as well as your age, when purchasing a Letter of Confirmation by Citizenship alcoholic beverages.

Immigration Canada, and more.

The Medical Services Plan or MSP is a health insurance plan that subsidizes the Q: Does socialized medical care mean medical expenses of permanent residents, that I have to wait for a long time before immigrants and citizens. However, since I can get medical assistance? you will not be covered by the MSP during the first three months after arrival, you A: Although everyone needs to set an will need to buy private medical insurance appointment before seeing a medical for that period of time. Your Settlement professional, there are Drop-in Clinics Officer can help you apply for MSP. that accept those without appointments as Settlement agencies help new arrivals well. In cases of emergency, patients are adjust to their new environment and attended to as soon as they arrive at the circumstances.

Various agencies can provide you PHILIPPINE CANADIAN with information about a number of things, such as finding a place to stay and helping you get a CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO CANADIAN NEWSPAPER Follow Us on

http://www.canadianinquirer.net/

hospital or medical facility. Other nonemergency medical cases are attended to as soon as the patient has consulted with the medical doctor. When necessary, the consulting doctor refers the patient to a specialist. When a patient is referred to a specialist the attending doctor communicates with the specialist so that an appointment may be arranged for the patient. Most medical consultations are covered by the Medical Services Plan (MSP). Extended health benefits such as physiotherapy, acupuncture and dental care are covered by private insurance companies. Some union contracts also provide these extended health benefits for the employees.

To summarize, wait time to get medical assistance will depend on the seriousness of your health concern.

This information was provided by S.U.C.C.E.S.S. in partnership with Philippine Canadian Inquirer. For more information on the above topic, please contact manilyn.corpus@success.bc.ca or call 604.468.6000 to speak with a Settlement Officer. ■

Canada: Seen and Scenes

Senator Tobias Enverga Jr.(standing at the rostrum) spoke before the special assembly convened by the Canada Region of the Knights of Rizal at the Kalayaan Cultural Community Centre in Mississauga, Ontario on March 17 and attended by several members of the Filipino community in Toronto and nearby places. Shown with him at the presidential table, from left, are Knights of Rizal Lapulapu Cana, George Poblete, Consul General Junever Mahilum-West, Mrs. Rosemer Enverga, and Sonny Lauzon. The senator is also shown in inset photo on top with Consul General Mahilum-West as they field questions from the audience after his speech.

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 24

Canadian Medical Mission Society (CMMS) 2013 MISSION TO MINDANAO The 8-month long planning for the Canadian Medical Mission Society's (CMMS) 2013 community outreach endeavor culminated in a successful completion of a two-week medicalaudiology-dental-surgical mission to General Santos City, South Cotabato and Sarangani provinces in Mindanao, Philippines.

The CMMS mission team left Vancouver on February 09, 2013 carrying with them surgical and dental equipment, supplies, medications and the enthusiasm of helping the poor people in Mindanao who are faced with critical health concerns.

Inquiries about CMMS and its advocacies can be directed to Dr. Dan Vargas, at drvargas777@yahoo.com, Edward Teodoro, at edward.teodoro@yahoo.com or Evelyn Mayuga at hervyn88@gmail.com.

Senator Tobias Enverga Jr.(standing at the rostrum) spoke before the special assembly convened by the Canada Region of the Knights of Rizal at the Kalayaan Cultural Community Centre in Mississauga, Ontario on March 17 and attended by several members of the Filipino community in Toronto and nearby places. Shown with him at the presidential table, from left, are Knights of Rizal Lapulapu Cana, George Poblete, Consul General Junever Mahilum-West, Mrs. Rosemer Enverga, and Sonny Lauzon. The senator is also shown in inset photo on top with Consul General Mahilum-West as they field questions from the audience after his speech.

The poem "An Ode to a Motherland Lost," written by Ellen Taleon for the Independence Day celebration in University of Tsukuba, Japan last 2011 and presented again during the 2nd Literary Festival of Writers International Network Canada.

Babette Santos receiving her Distinguished Artist award from Mable Elmore, Filipino MLA of Vancouver.

25 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Canada: Seen and Scenes

The Knights of Rizal had their symposium entitled, "Meet Senator Tobias Enverga, Jr." at the Kalayaan Cultural Community Center (KCCC) in Mississauga on March 17. During the event, the Senator presented the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal to concert singer, Eleanor Calbes.

Mable Elmore, first Filipino MLA of Vancouver-Kensington District in British Columbia and Ashok Bhargava, highly esteemed president of WIN handing the award to Ellen Taleon.

Writers International Network Canada or WIN held its 2nd Annual Literary Festival and Dr. Asha Bhagrava Memorial Award on March 23, 2013 at the Richmond Cultural Center, Vancouver, British Columbia.

My Story

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 26

Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Josie Tecson Philippine Canadian Inquirer Josie’s grandparents, relocating all of them to North America. By 1977, the entire Tecson clan was living in British Columbia.

“They’re a very supportive family,” says JT. “For my graduation year at Capilano College, my classmates and I held an art exhibit to fund our graduation trip to New York. I arrived late to the gallery only to find that all my paintings had already sold. My classmates told me that my entire family bought my whole collection! If you don't call that family support, I don't know what is,” laughs the artist.

The family “To this day, whenever I go home to visit my aunts and Josie’s parents moved to Vancouver from Manila when uncles, I still see my paintings hanging on their walls. It's she was little. “They sacrificed everything, and have a reminder of how fortunate I am to have been brought up dedicated their lives in trying to give their daughters the in a family that loves and supports one another.” best opportunity in order for them to have a successful An education life,” says JT. Her father was an electronics technician “Education is important in achieving anything. It is the and her mother was an elementary school teacher. Both key to your future,” JT emphasizes. Like a sponge, she had a university education, but found it difficult to find absorbed everything from marketing and advertising, preemployment in their chosen field. Their education and press production and publishing, business development, work experience weren't qualified in Canada: such was product branding, and even art history. As a graphic the way of things back then. Her father worked three designer by trade, she has always explored the art of jobs in the beginning, while her mother took care of print and design, but with social media on the up-rise, them. she has integrated these essential components and has “My family—the Linsangans on my mother’s side and applied it to her business in order to keep it up with the the Tecsons on my father’s side—is a huge part of who I ever-changing world of technology. With education and am,” shares JT. Josie’s father was the last of his siblings knowledge, as well as continued skill developments, she to emigrate—“a huge decision,” according to the artist- utilizes these important tools in order to facilitate her entrepreneur: “but both felt it was necessary in order to business venture. have a better life for them and their two girls”—herself, at But before the jump to jewelry—right after two, and sister Roshill, four. graduating from Capilano College, in fact—Josie “My aunt,TitaAuring (who is one of my biggest supporters), was given the amazing opportunity and was hired was the first to arrive in Canada,” says JT of her family’s on to be the marketing director of a major Canadian origin story. A nurse, her tita was the one who “sponsored” fashion apparel company, in which the head office was her brothers and their families one by one, including located in Montreal. She had always wanted to venture out east and if it wasn’t NYC, Toronto or Montreal was an equally great opportunity that would allow her to stay close to home.

“It was surreal and exciting,” JT shares, Are you an immigrant living in “but extremely difficult to leave my family, Vancouver or Burnaby? especially coming straight from home and Looking for training and a job? not knowing what the world was like beyond Vancouver.”

After Montreal, she decided to move to Looking for local Work Experience (paid or volunteer)?

Toronto (where she presently resides), and Have not received EI in past 3 years? moved on to pre-press publishing, heading the print for a number of magazines in Canada.

Although working for major corporations, Josie felt that there was still a missing piece in is the program for you! her career, which didn’t allow her to reach the 604-254-0244 Vancouver creative potential she desperately craved.

She decided to take a “leap of faith” and 604-438-8214 Burnaby leave her nine-to-five job. “It was now or JobOptionsBC@mosaicbc.com never,” she says. After leaving the corporate world, she worked evening shifts in the service industry in order to focus on the development Apply for April 2013 session! of her business during the day.

Funding provided through the Canada-British EVERY FAMILY has its own artist—that one gifted child who can play a musical instrument, whether it be the violin or piano; the hip cousin who draws amazing comic illustrations or paints on canvas; the relative who can write poetry like Plath. And then you have the strong silent type, resilient and artistically gifted. Creativity just comes naturally to them in any way, shape or form.

Among the Tecson family, this was Josie.

“I was always known as the niece that was ‘the creative artist,’” says JT. Her parents took notice of this unique gift and helped her, from a young age, by entering her into various art workshops to nurture her creativity. Because of her parents’ encouragement, Josie went on to graduate from Capilano College in North Vancouver with a diploma in Graphic Design and Illustration, as well as an Animation diploma from George Brown College in Toronto.

To date: Josie’s set off on her own path, a true free spirit.

She’s at the helm of her own line of design, an endeavor well on the path to success, by all accounts.

Job Options BC

NOW

Columbia Labour Market Agreement

The start of a dream “I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to

do creatively, but I knew I just wanted to work with my hands,” she says. “With a background in art, I started painting on glass and was selling the pieces at local fairs. Jewelry designing started when I added beads to my glass pieces, which eventually evolved to the start of custom bridal in the beginning.” She started collaborating with bridal boutiques in working with client referrals. With a peak interest in jewelry designing, Josie finally discovered her niche and started her research in developing this craft by reading books, asking questions, and studying the design process with continuous practice. Without any formal training, she started developing her own unique style with the execution of signature pieces, which eventually developed into her jewelry line, called JOSIE TECSON, the brand. In 2006, she officially launched her online boutique, www.josietecson.com.

Toronto, considered the fashion capital of Canada, helped with her media exposure, but she’s very thankful for the support that her family and friends have given her throughout the years. She continues to be part of Fashion Week in Toronto—participating in media gift bags and working with public figures, who wear her signature designs. She piqued the interest of the fashion industry and has gained the favor of A-list celebrities who wear her pieces on the red carpet, in music videos, and in high-profile appearances. She has accessorized fashion shows in collaboration with Canadian and American designers, has been featured in several magazines, and does ongoing exclusive interviews for TV and radio.

Josie’s big break came when The Knowles Family’s brand management team directly approached her to accessorize Beyonce’s clothing line—called ‘Dereon’ for the Canadian launch. In the summer of 2007, Josie Tecson’s jewelry pieces outfitted the Dereon fashion line as an ensemble on the fashion runway, which was held in Toronto.

The success of the collaboration with Beyonce spearheaded media attention to another level. To date, JT has accessorized Nelly Furtado, Tara Reid, Elisha Cuthbert, and Vivica Fox, to name a few. She has also created one-of-a-kind pieces for B.C.’s very own Cory Lee (Canadian singer/songwriter and actress) at the MMVAs. To the designer, she owes all her success to her parents for their unconditional love and support throughout the years.

As Josie states, “You don’t get to choose who your parents are, but I’m truly blessed to call Ross and Jill Tecson— Mom and Dad”

More on page 29

28 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Fashion Week

PINOY PROUD MOMENT AT VFW: DESIGNER VEEJAY FLORESCA

BY SOCORROBABES NEWLAND

FYE CANADA!

(Music, Arts and Culture)

BY SOCORRO-BABES NEWLAND Philippine Canadian Inquirer LOOK WHO just came to town for this year’s Vancouver Fashion Week where about 45 emerging and established designers were featured— our very own Veejay Floresca! Well, he could have personally made it to the show had his Canadian visa been given to him in time. But, alas, only his avant-garde collections made it to the runway. And the latter did not disappoint! I personally witnessed how Veejay’s creations were given the nods and standing ovations by some local fashionistas who paid hefty sums just to be in this extraordinary event.

International appeal Vancouver Fashion Week is the second largest fashion week in terms of designers and media partners in North America. For over 12 years, VFW has etched itself as a highly regarded and successful event with over 20,000 guests attending the sixday event. And while it continues to establish international presence through global media coverage like

LiveRunway, Sina.com and Global Television, Filipino “glam” designer Veejay Floresca broke boundaries by taking influences from his foreign studies and travels. He, however, maintains the distinguishing mark of the Filipino via his intricately designed gowns and bridal wear.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design and Merchandising in the Philippines, Veejay flew to London to study bridal wear at Central Saint Martins.

He finished his Masters in Fine Arts, majoring in Fashion Design at the Academy of Arts University in California, USA. Dabbling with elements VFW presented Veejay’s romantic

take on this year’s Fall/Winter 2013 collection and wowed the audience with his contemporary perspective of glamour through fluid lines and svelte silhouettes. His designs are created to fit a woman’s curves whilst exuding youthful energy. He is known to fuse the contemporary and the classic in silhouette and shape. For someone born and raised in a tropical country like the Philippines, this 27-year-old designer’s vantage point of Fall/ Winter collections could not have faltered in style, form and function.

Bravo!

Laurels of success Currently hailed by Philippine fashion magazines as the Next Face of Avant

Garde, Veejay’s prominence started when he became one of the finalists for Project Runway Philippines where he placed 2nd. He has won several accolades including the award for Asian Top Upcoming Fashion Designer of the Year at the Fashion Asia Awards in China. He was recognized as the most inspiring “Young Entrepreneur” of the Year in the Philippines. And from what I have witnessed at the VFW whose greatest achievement was becoming a family breadwinner at the age of 21, there is certainly no other way but further success and prominence for Veejay Floresca. For more info on VJ, visit –www.veejayfloresca.4ormat. com. Follow @veejayfloresca on Twitter. (Photos from vanfashionweek. com.) ■

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29 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

...from page 26 Pretty things “I have always been a visual individual in everything that I do,” says JT, of her process.

“When it comes to design, I see it in my mind first, then head to my studio to create it after.

I usually keep a notepad by my bedside, just

Fashion Week in case I think of things in my sleep, which surprisingly, sometimes happens,” she laughs.

“I continued experimenting with precious stones and metal castings when creating my collection of jewelry pieces. My designs are quite eclectic and because of this, I developed four different lines catering to every unique individual—Bold, Urban, Bohemian, and Elegance.”

Josie’s favorite collection to design is her custom bridal pieces because they cater to every bride’s unique personality. “They’re one-of-a-kind, original pieces,” says JT. Some bridal clients have often asked for custom pieces designed for their pets, whom they wanted to be part of the wedding.

Hence, PRETTY PAW was born and is a division of the JT brand, “designer trends for your four-legged friends” (www.prettypaw.ca).

In actuality, Pretty Paw was also created because of her five-year-old Yorkshire Terrier/Toy Poodle—Asia-Blu, who is also the face of Pretty Paw. She credits her beloved little “fur-child” as the main inspiration for her pet line.

PRETTY PAW was launched in 2008 at “Woofstock”—a Canadian dog festival, which has been covered

by CNN, City TV, and The Toronto Star because of its 300,000 attendees every year.

Pretty Paw has been on Pet Fashion TV— which showcased a runway fashion show of

13th Vancouver Fashion Week, biggest-ever!

VANCOUVER FASHION WEEK held from March 19 to 24 at the Chinese kicked off on March 19 with an opening Cultural Centre. gala runway show In recent interviews, from longtime local Vancouver Fashion boutique, BOBOLI Week founder and proand other designers ducer, Jamal Abdourahat the Four Seasons man, expressed his Hotel in downtown excitement about the Vancouver. line-up of international On its 13th year and designers, amidst the esbiggest-ever season, sential presence of local nearly 60 designers LUVON by Liu Lu showcases elegant, designers. with a distinct play on shapes. from all across Canada colorful pieces In his opinion, the (Photo from VFW Facebook page) and around the world presence of the internashowcased their tional fashion industry is designs on the runaways throughout the important in catching the eye of both the duration of Fashion Week, which was More on page 32

the ‘Petite Elite’ jeweled collars with matching jewelry ensemble for the owners, as well as an exclusive interview with Josie Tecson herself.

Bridal Essentials Magazine, 2012 Fall/Winter Issue has also published signature pieces from the Pretty Paw collection. JT’s pet line started in pet boutiques—and with the launch of Petty Paw’s new “Ruff Neck,” the masculine line this past September—it’s now available in over fifty locations across Canada. This past 2012, JT recently established manufacturing and hopes to be across North America in the near future.

At present, Josie is involved in projects that make a difference. Among them: Pet Trust. Founded in 1986, Pet Trust is Canada’s first charitable organization dedicated to the health and well-being of companion animals.

“Pet Trust funds a wide range of studies that help improve the health of pets all over the world. Some of these studies have improved pain management and the safety of anesthesia; others have helped protect pets and people from infections and advanced cancer diagnosis and treatment. Pet Trust also funds capital improvements, clinical positions and the education of students training to be veterinary specialists.”

Because of this important cause, JT designed a special white pet harness exclusively for Pet Trust. Pretty Paw is a very proud sponsor of Pet Trust and with each purchase of the “lovelive” white harness, part of the proceeds will be donated to Pet Trust’s Pet Cancer Campaign. “Help the pets we love-live longer and healthier lives.”

JT along with Pet Trust is launching the “love-live” harnesses at “The All About Pet Show” at the International Convention Centre, Mississauga, Ontario on March 29th-31st.

Josie’s looking forward to a “bright 2013.”

Her brands, JOSIE TECSON and PRETTY PAW are scheduled for nine trade shows this year, in hopes to expand her business.

She not only wants to grow into a successful company, but to also give back by being part of important causes that make a difference, and especially to inspire Filipino-Canadians in achieving their dreams.

Loving what you do “As a Filipino-Canadian, I still face challenges,” says the designer. “As a female entrepreneur and of ethnic background, I've learned that you will not always get the respect you truly deserve and many doors may not always open right away. It’s a reality one often faces,” says JT, “but you have to face these obstacles and persevere, rise to the challenge, learn from these experiences, and never, ever give up. It not only builds character, but also develops inner strength.

It encourages me to always remember the sacrifices my parents did in order to have the life they’ve always dreamed for me.”

"I would definitely advice FilipinoCanadian youth to follow their dreams and see where it takes them,” she urges, “because you never know . . . ” “You only live once, so live your life to the fullest. Be prepared for sacrifice and expect blood, sweat and tears during this journey. Be strong, positive and never give up because there is no feeling like waking up every morning and loving what you do.” ■

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31 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

The Scene Stealers:

Toronto Fashion Week 2013

BY APRIL SESCON Philippine Canadian Inquirer ELBOWS CLAD IN COUTURE rubbed against each other as fashion elite hobnobbed and followed, with their gaze, the clickety-clack of stilettos plying the course of the catwalk.

Spring’s in the air but it’s fall and winter wear making the rounds—tradition, as it were, in anything labeled “fashion week.”

Toronto’s World MasterCard Fashion Week was held March 18-22 at David Pecaut Square, in a huge, stylish tent with all the accoutrements. The looks that turned heads: grunge, reinvented; the ‘60s; UFOs; dragons. Unlikely, when you see them next to each other, but pique the fancy of the crowd they did. Take a look: Chloé Comme Parris by Chloé and Parris Gordon Come as you are: sisters Chloé and Parris channeled the ‘90s. Grays, browns, and mossy greens made the length of the runway to the score of iconic music by Nirvana and Beck. Thigh-high stockings paired with short skirts, oversized tops, updated army jackets, and trench coats were brought back from the dead and made edgy and cool.

Pink Tartan by Kimberley Newport-Mimran The stylish ‘60s, goes the phrase.

Newport-Mimran made Stepford wives of her models and had them parade a set that would’ve had Betty Draper drooling. Hemlines at knees, boatneck dresses in the iconic ‘60s cut were the staple of the show.

Bold pink, purple, and blue were arrayed among elegant beige and gray, black, and white numbers.

Tanya Taylor Another ‘60s throwback: Taylor’s collection featured knee-length skirts and coats in boxy cuts. Burgundy, black, and white were the palette of choice, with pops of black-and-yellow in leather, vivid blue paired with maroon, and checkered baby blue, light pink, and old rose for that softer touch.

While Newport-Mimran’s kind of ‘60s was Stepford, Taylor’s was chic, edgier and younger: a more contemporary take that should find no trouble crossing

Photos by Edward James, Jason Hargrove, Michael Ho

over to the street.

Jean-Pierre Braganza And now for some fantasy. Dragons meet occult-looking swirls and diagrams in this collection. Deep, dark blue paired with grays, whites, and blacks were the choice of hue. Long, oversized dresses, updated Japanese obis, jumpsuits, and skirts were showcased in three-some layers or more.

Braganza himself designed the textiles and prints.

Steven Tai Bright pops of color and sci-fi made it one of the show-stealers. The oversized coats paired with wide-legged navy slacks made for palatable streetwear with high-fashion edge.

Most memorable was Tai’s blue silicone skirt that looked like the skin of a giant snake on the set of an ‘80s sci-fi flick. There were oversized tops with artist Franco Brambilla’s “Invading the Vintage,” a series of prints described as “cute aliens invading grandpa's postcards, sci-fi movies, and old TV shows.” ■

Fashion Week Western Canada Fashion Week: Meet the designers of Edmonton’s biggest fashion event

BY KATHERINE MARFAL-TEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer ART, DESIGN, FASHION, CULTURE and music—it’s what Western Canada Fashion Week is all about.

It’s the longest-running and most established fashion week in Alberta. Canadian and international designers collaborate with photographers, makeup artists, hair stylists, fashion stylists and models to give everyone a good show. Performances by a whole slew of musicians prove to be one of the highlights of the event.

Meanwhile, artists get the chance to showcase their collections to an eager audience and a pool of potential buyers.

Take a look at the designers whose collections left us in awe: A n g e l i q u e Chmielewski Chmielewski is a Fashion Institute of Technology graduate and has her own studio in New York. She had her first presentation at WCFW in 2008 as part of the Emerging Designer competition.

Now, this Edmonton designer is back home to show what she’s got for Alberta. She’s known for her comfy and wearable creations with a touch of attitude. Check out her designs at angeliquechmielewski.com.

Cherie Howard She’s no ordinary fashion designer. Howard is also a photographer, a hairstylist, a writer of fiction, and a filmmaker. She fuses the dark and the whimsical in the same piece. In Howard’s collections, the ensembles often include cut-outs and experimental pieces. She’s known to showcase modified straitjackets as wearable clothes.

Expect only the exciting in her shows. Check out her website at cheriehoward.com.

Stanley Carroll A veteran designer: Carroll’s been at the forefront of the fashion scene for 25 years. He’s done it all. From Holland to Canada, Carroll has outdone himself in men’s and women’s wear, custom creations, and pop-up boutiques in Canada and in Europe.

Characteristically minimalist, texture, color and symmetry are the nature of his designs. Check out stanleycarroll.com.

Nicole Campre Campre has an array of awards and recognitions to her name.

She was deemed WCFW’s Emerging Designer in the spring of 2012; she won a trip to the Mercedes-Benz Start-Up Finals in Toronto (she was chosen to attend as a wild card); she was granted the creation of her own line (she was a former designer for Loft 82 and Oak + Fort). Campre’s touch is loose, flowing and romantic in delicate, blushing hues. A soft yet structured style characterizes her creations. Visit nicole-campre.com for more information.

Nazila Couture Luxury, color and sparkle: keep your eyes on Nazila Sawhney’s Indian-inspired ensembles. Sawhney’s a University of Alberta science graduate who worked as a financial consultant before she shifted to fashion. In her designs, she uses stunning Indian textiles cobbled together into a stunning contemporary look. She showcases them in her 34th Avenue store in Little India, where she does custom designs for special occasions and Indian weddings.

Her clothes often have hand-embroidered embellishments, crystals, beads, and sequins. You can visit her shop at 9292 34th Avenue, or go to nazilacouture.com for more information.

Isabela Milan She owns a self-named store in Bonnie Doon Mall, and she’s been in the business for 35 long years. For Isabela Milan, fashion is a family tradition that started in 1830. She followed in the footsteps of her predecessors by creating glittering bridal, ball, prom, graduation and quinceanera gowns. She holds traditional

styles and silhouettes that hark back to a time of princes and princesses, chivalry and weather-worn cathedrals. This season will be her fourth on the WCFW runway. To know more about this designer, visit isabelamilan.com.

Trisha Pasnak This designer holds a degree in Classics from the United States.

Trisha Pasnak wanted to become an archeologist, but everything changed when she saw Christian Dior on a runway video. After graduating from the Art Institute of Vancouver, she designed custom clothing in Edmonton, applying her deft hand at cocktail, grad, and bridal wear. She designs casual wear on the side. Bold colors and shapes are her signature. Visit pasnak.com to get a cool view of all her designs.

LUXX (Derek Jagodzinsky) One of the few local designers churning out ready-to-wear. For the past four years, Derek Jagodzinsky, a University of Alberta graduate in Design, has made modern, polished business and cocktail wear. With emphasis on soft jerseys and easy shapes, his offerings are all about comfort and wearability. You can set an appointment at his downtown studio at 10137 104th St., at Thread Hill Boutique at 10725 124th St., and at Phabrik Art + Design at 10055 80th Avenue.

Malorie Urbanovitch Another Fashion Week veteran. Urbanovitch creates simple silhouettes with great attention to detail. She was selected as a finalist in the Mercedes-Benz Start-Up; from then on, she fostered an interest in garments. Today, all of her Fall/Winter pieces are made in factories in Europe, running the gamut from knitwear and wovens to bags and socks. Head on over to malorie. ca for a preview of her collections.

Lisa-Marie Sciroli Form-fitting gowns and classic-edgy business wear: otherwise known as Sciroli’s creations, oft-seen on the runway at Western Canada Fashion Week.

Just recently, she was one of the winners at the Phabrikated competition leading up to Fashion Week, in which designers and artists created gowns from anything but fabric. Her creation was made of tissue paper, including a skirt built from thousands of tissue paper petals. Sciroli is an MC College fashion graduate who creates custom formal wear, including grad dresses and bridal wear. She also does more casual designs, including leather jackets. Visit lisa-marie.ca for more details.

Satrang Last but definitely not the least: Manu Gill debuted her garments at last season’s WCFW. This season, her Satrang clothing line stitch the traditional and the modern together. Her Indian garments are made with flair and a sophisticated edge, designed for today’s confident woman. You can visit Satrang on facebook. com/Satrangdesignerwear. ■

Fashion Week

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 32

Children’s Fashion Goes Big

BY KATHERINE MARFAL-TEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer WOULDN’T IT be cool to see children model party dresses, jackets, sportswear and other clothes for kids?

Two days of exciting showcases of kids’ fashion and style were held March 19-20 in London. It was the first Global Children Fashion Week and parents were filled with proud joy as they watched their tykes take the runway. ...from page 29 buyers and the fashion media.

Abdourahman pointed out that there were “over 700 articles from the media, international and local (last year),” as against only five or six articles in 2009.

This year’s international roster of designers included at least 18 of the world’s creative minds of fashion, from countries such as Beijing and London. A definite leap from last year’s 4 international participants.

Abdourahman shared that they experienced “very low years in 2006, 2007, only two days, only four designers and not even one article. And I refused to quit because I believed in the project so much that quitting was not an option.”

In retrospect, those “tough years”— times that Abdourahman now says have turned out to be “the biggest help we got”—were very possibly the origins of what the event has become today.

They challenged and inspired the determined founder-producer to find

Alexandalexa, an online retailer, sponsored the event. Couple Alex Theophanous and Alexa Till founded the website in 2007.

It has about 850 million regular viewers and users; it sells more than 200 brands—kids’ wear by Stella McCartney, Burberry, Robert Cavalli, Paul Smith, and Junior Gaultier, among many more. They carry educational toys by Lego and infant accessories by Ralph Lauren in their catalogue.

ways to make the show a success, and take if to the next level. Abdourahman recognized that the best way to bring in international media was to bring in international designers.

He thumbed through page after page of high fashion’s glossies, in search of up-and-coming talent in the design world. This would set Vancouver Fashion Week apart, and distinguish it from the runways of Paris, Milan and London, meccas of the design world’s crème-dela-crème.

Abdourahman recounted having scoured for emerging designers “from Berlin to Copenhagen, Oslo to Sao Paulo.” He then invited the winners of several fashion competitions to show their creations in Vancouver; a method which is now paying off, with this year’s designer applicants so numerous some had to be turned away, and with 150 fashion media registered to cover the show.

But Abdourahman is not done yet. He has his sights set on the evolution of “Vancouver into a hot spot

Show dates The first day was held exclusively for the media; the second they opened to the public. The big event featured trends for Autumn/Winter 2013 by internationally known designers. The shows were streamed on a videocast through Alexandalexa, where customers could click-and-buy the clothes on the show. The theme was “playfulness, fun and innovation.” All proceeds went to the Kids Company, a charity for indigent children.

Organizers were overwhelmed by the public’s positive response and by the cooperation of many members of the fashion industry. With its success, they’re geared to make this kids’ affair a yearly thing.

the global market will reach US $156.8 billion by 2015.

This growth, reportedly, is all thanks to rising income levels, changing preferences, brand-related choices, and design and ethical developments. Plus: parents will always want to give the best for their growing children.

That’s one age-old bastion the industry can count on: love. ■

What do you know about Children’s Fashion?

Children’s fashion is BIG business.

In 2011, it was a 6.5 billion-pound industry in the U.K. alone. Global Industry Analyst, Inc. projects that for the next generation of influential designers.”

Among this year’s global names were Beijing’s Liu Lu (LUVON by Liu Lu); Athens- based Lila Nova; originally from South Africa but now London-based Jacob Kimmie.

Featured Canadian designers included Blushing Boutique’s Shelley Klassen and eight students from La Salle College. ■ All set for Fashion Week at the Chinese Cultural Center in Vancouver! (Photo from VFW Facebook page)

Jacob Kimmie's experimental collection highlights edgy, deconstructed shapes, with a contrasting minimalist, purist texture and simplicity. (Photo from VFW Facebook page)

Vancouver Fashion Week founder and producer, Jamal Abdourahman, won't stop until Vancouver becomes "a hot spot for the next generation of influential designers.”

News at your fingertips. www.canadianinquirer.net

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

33 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

A Tale of Two B.C. Champions

BY SOCORRO-BABES NEWLAND AS VAST as its beautiful landscape of wilderness, British Columbia has amassed a wealth of innately talented young Filipino-Canadian artists polishing their crafts. Here is a special feature on B.C.’s two finest music artists who captivated the hearts and admiration not only of their fellow “kababayans” (FilipinoCanadians) but the mainstream audience as well.

In pursuit of grand slam victory ALYSSA GUTIERREZ – this 9th grade wonder from Holy Cross Regional High School was grand champion in the kids’ category in a local community PNT search in 2009; a Valley Voices 2010 Kids Champion; a 2010 PNE Red Robinson Talent Showdown Finalist; and a 2011 B.C. Jr. Talent Search Champion where she delivered a vibrant, more current rendition of Irene Cara’s “Out Her On My Own”. Alyssa was once quoted as saying, “music is a world where lyrics describe stories and melodies represent emotions.”

JERRICA SANTOS – B.C.'s Next Singing Sensation Jerrica is more seasoned when it comes to joining talent competitions. She was the Top 32 Finalist at 2004’s Canadian Idol. She went on to become the 3rd runner up in the women’s category at the 2011 Karaoke World Championship held in Killarney, Ireland, representing Canada. In 2012, Jer-

rica was 1st runner up at the muchcoveted PNE Star Showdown.

Finally, she was the Grand Champion at the 2013 Variety’s Got Talent where she “set the bar pretty high,” according to music manager Bruce Allen, who represents a number of popular Canadian musicians including BachmanTurner Overdrive, Bryan Adams and Michael Bublé. Variety’s is a B.C.-wide talent search where more than 500 contestants joined this year.

Passionate direction Both Jerrica and Alyssa write their own music. Alyssa wants to follow her dream to become a theatre artist. She was chosen to play the lead role of vulnerable “Maria” at the recently staged musical, “Right Here, Write Now” at the River Rock Casino Theatre. Her first time in stage acting, Alyssa mused, “I often wondered how such a role depicting exactly of who I am could land into my lap.” But she “knew it was all God’s [doing].”

Alyssa is aware that in musical theatre, one should go beyond

having a beautiful voice where the song becomes the dialogue. And the dialogue moves the story. So, can she move the audience with her? Absolutely!

After all, this teener is well ahead of her time. She’s not only highly driven to succeed, but has the wicked chops and intuitive acting ability to boot.

Like Alyssa, Jerrica started singing at the age of 16. When she was 18 or 19, she teamed up with some local producers called Get Right Music and together they worked on an all-original debut album called

“Another Era.” Just recently turned 25, Jerrica is just about ready to capture the world with her music. Things are currently in the works for promoting her not only in Canada but in Asia. With Jerrica’s determination, stunning looks and R&B-flavoured vocal versatility, success is surely just around the bend. You may catch her perform on April 11 (showcase hosted by Warren Flandez); April 15 (Fashion Show Fundraiser at the Georgia Hotel); April 30 and May 1 (White Spot Convention); and May 11 (Consul General Cup). ■ Email: babescastronewland@ gmail.com

News at your fingertips. www.canadianinquirer.net

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

Entertainment

Photo by Neilson Barnard

NEW YORK—They’ve both helped make millions at the box office and are two of Hollywood’s most sought after talents, but “The Croods” voice stars Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone say they still get selfconscious hearing themselves on film.

“It’s like hearing your voice back on a voicemail,” said the 24-year-old Stone, who is known for her trademark raspy voice. “I still can’t believe I sound like this.”

“I can’t believe you sound like this either,” joked the 36-year-old Reynolds in the same recent interview. He went on to confess that “everyone feels that way—like there’s some solace in that.

I think everyone feels like that when they hear their own voice. (It sounds) kind of shrill and brutal.”

They’re going to have to get used to it. The animated “Croods” opened Friday on more than 4,000 domestic screens amid predictions it will be the weekend’s No. 1 movie.

The 3-D film, which also stars Nicolas

Cage, takes place in prehistoric times and focuses on the world’s first family, the Croods. Stone is a teen girl named Eep, who longs to leave her cave and see what’s out there. Her father, voiced by Cage, is overly protective. One day they meet a guy named Guy, played by Reynolds. The Croods and Guy venture out together and learn about the world.

This is the first time Reynolds and Stone have done an animated movie, and they hope it rates with some of their own childhood favourites.

Reynolds says he was a fan of the TV show “Thunder Cats” and adds “Smurfs” was pretty good, too. “Not a turn on but a good cartoon nonetheless.”

Stone’s animated faves? “I loved ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland.’“ Online: www.thecroodsmovie.com Alicia Rancilio covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her online at www.twitter.com/aliciar ■

Leno bites the hand that feeds him: keeps barbs at NBC coming after dinner with executives

BY LYNN ELBER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES—Jay Leno is keeping up a comedy assault on his NBC bosses even after being treated to a make-nice dinner.

During his monologue Friday, the ``Tonight Show'' host asked his Burbank studio audience if they'd heard about his ``alleged feud'' with NBC. Leno started taking on-air potshots at the network this month amid reports that the network plans to replace him at ``Tonight'' with Jimmy Fallon.

According to a NBC transcript from Friday's taping, Leno said that he had dinner Thursday with a ``bunch of NBC executives'' who offered to make things up to him: He and his wife are going on an allexpenses paid Carnival Cruise, he joked.

In February, passengers endured five nightmarish days on a crippled Carnival Cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico.

In another wisecrack, Leno cited news reports of a Canadian man who had a knife pulled from his back after three years.

Sniped Leno: ``He must have worked at NBC, too.''

NBC confirmed this week it's creating a new studio for Fallon in New York, where he hosts ``Late Night.'' But the network did not comment on a report that the digs at its Rockefeller Plaza headquarters may become home to a transplanted, Fallonhosted ``Tonight.''

This isn't the first time the ``Tonight'' stage has been used for a workplace dispute. In 2010, when Conan O'Brien briefly took over as ``Tonight'' host and Leno was moved to prime-time at NBC, the two traded on-air barbs.

Although late-night hosts are known for needling their network bosses, the timing of Leno's latest jabs seemed to make NBC's executives particularly uncomfortable and they asked him to stop. They don't want a repeat of the publicly messy turnover of just three years ago.

The 62-year-old Leno's current contract expires next year. For NBC, the 38-yearold Fallon represents a bid to launch a nextgeneration host for ``Tonight''—although Leno has kept the show No. 1 in the ratings despite a challenge from Jimmy Kimmel's ABC show, which was moved back an hour to compete with it. ``You know the whole legend of St. Patrick, right? St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland—and then they came to the United States and became NBC executives,'' Leno joked on Monday's show.

On Tuesday, he played off a news report about a Serbian woman with a rare brain condition that causes her to see the world upside down: ``Isn't that crazy? It's unbelievable. She sees everything upside down. In fact, she thinks NBC is at the top of the ratings.'' ■

Ellen DeGeneres and Aussie wife Portia de Rossi take to Sydney stage for Down Under filming

Photo by Graham Denholm

BY ALICIA RANCILIO The Associated Press

NEWS BRIEFS

The Associated Press SYDNEY, Australia—Ellen DeGeneres was applauded by a rapturous Aussie audience like a cherished part of the family as she introduced her Australianborn wife, Portia de Rossi, on a Sydney Harbour-side stage on Saturday to begin pre-recording Down Under segments for her popular U.S. TV show.

The Emmy Award-winning talk-show host arrived in Sydney with her mom, Betty DeGeneres, and de Rossi on Friday after a 14-hour flight from Los Angeles for a six-day filming trip to Australia.

“I’m moving here, it’s so beautiful,” DeGeneres told 3,000 admirers, who were clearly delighted to be in the sunbathed Royal Botanic Gardens near the Sydney Opera House for the twohour recording despite the 30-degree Celsius (86-degree Fahrenheit) early afternoon heat.

Guests included Oscar-winning actor and Sydney local Russell Crowe. He presented the 55-year-old host with two kangaroo-hide cattle whips that he said DeGeneres might need to catch “some brumbies”—an Australian term for wild horses—when she visits Australia’s southeast. The pair took turns at whip cracking.

Asked by one emotional fan whether she and her wife would adopt her, DeGeneres replied, tongue-in-cheek: “We were just saying we should adopt someone. It’s so easy for us.”

The show was packed with games involving audience members, including an Australia-themed trivia event in which fans had to take a harbour plunge for a wrong answer.

“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” is in its 10th season. DeGeneres was honoured with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor last year. ■

My Chemical Romance breaks up after more than a decade and says time has come to move on

Photo by Don Arnold

Ryan Reynolds, Emma Stone confess to cringing their own voices in ‘The Croods’

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 34

The Associated Press NEW YORK—The chemistry is over: rock outfit My Chemical Romance has disbanded.

The New Jersey-based band announced early Saturday that ``it has come time for it to end.'' The foursome thanked their fans in a statement and said the experience was ``a true blessing.''

My Chemical Romance's sound

is a mix of alternative, punk rock and pop. Band members released their debut album in 2002 but really made a splash on the music scene in 2004 with the platinum-selling ``Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.''

It featured the top-40 hit ``Helena.''

They followed that with another platinum effort in 2006, ``The Black Parade,'' earning their first top-10 pop hit with the song ``Welcome to the Black Parade.''

The group said they've ``shared the stage with people we admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends.''

Group members included vocalist Gerard Way, bassist Mikey Way and guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero.

Their last album was 2010's ``Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.'' ■

35 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Entertainment

Photo from Evangelista’s Instagram (iamhearte)

Heart Evangelista’s parents to file cases against Sen. Escudero

HEART EVANGELISTA’S love life: it’s a perennial controversy, and it’s nothing new, to the public.

The actress, model, singer, and TV personality made headlines once again when mother and manager Cecile Ongpauco went after her boyfriend on TV. The boyfriend, in this case: Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, 15 years the actress’ senior.

In the past, Heart had lived in with ex-boyfriend Jericho Rosales, a decision her parents expressed their dismay over— in public, of course. It was only when Heart went out with Brazilian model Daniel Matsunaga that her folks kept mum about their daughter’s choice in men.

Mrs. Ongpauco demanded an apology from the senator for being disrespectful, arrogant, and for “manipulating” her daughter into “going against the family.”

A mother’s voice On national television, Cecile Ongpauco is the picture of a dismayed mother pleading for her daughter’s sake.

She said, “my daughter is a ‘victim,’” and followed it with an appeal to Escudero: “leave my daughter alone.”

Mrs. Ongpauco revealed that Heart had moved out of her condominium unit in Makati City. The Ongpaucos have their own unit in the same building.

"We don’t know where she is. We were together almost every day. She would cook breakfast for me and her dad (Rey Ongpauco). We were OK," the mother-manager pined.

The mother and daughter were last seen together in February, during Heart’s contract signing with GMA-7, a leading television network in the Philippines.

Evangelista calls her mother “mommyger,” short for mommy and manager. During the contract signing, Ongpauco had told the media: “Heart is twenty-eight and very capable of making her own decisions . . . she’s a woman now; I’ve had to adjust [to this].”

Concern for Heart In the same TV interview, Ongpauco expressed concern for her daughter, whom she said was “still young and innocent, overprotected as a child.”

Evangelista’s mother confessed, “My daughter does not have a mature mind and still thinks like a young girl. She is easily swayed by people who prey on her insecurities and lack of confidence.”

"My husband decided to come forward and discuss the issue because he can no longer take it,” the mother added. “This is the first time he’s speaking publicly in all the years that Heart has been in show business."

Mr. Ongpauco’s health is suffering from this fight, said his wife. According to Cecile, her husband could hardly eat or sleep because of the situation. She has stated that Heart would be to blame should anything bad happen to her husband.

A bad fit for their daughter Though Escudero’s first marriage to singer Christine Flores was annulled by the court last year, Mrs. Ongpauco pointed out that Escudero could not remarry in church. He couldn’t give their daughter a church wedding, he also had a “personality problem.”

“He projects himself as a wholesome candidate, but we know better. Stop hiding behind Heart’s skirt and using her to shield yourself from very serious questions about your character,” said the mother.

Meet the parents Mrs. Ongpauco accused Escudero of being an “alcoholic.” He was drunk, she said, the first time their daughter brought the senator to their house.

"Heart called her dad very late at night, saying this man wanted to meet us. Rey relented. When Mr. Escudero arrived, he was reeking (of) alcohol. I was shocked to see him slouched on the sofa, his legs spread out. Heart’s dad is very conservative.

He doesn’t even drink. Mr. Escudero asked him what he did for a living, as if it were a job interview."

Her husband, according to Mrs. Ongpauco, was very dismayed about what he saw, and so asked to be excused.

The same “disrespect” was shown in their second meeting.

Mrs. Ongpauco recalled that “he was carrying a bottle of red wine” and, like the first time, “he hardly spoke a respectful word.”

‘Empty promises’ Heart’s mother initiated a statement: “To this day [Escudero] hasn’t formally asked for our daughter’s hand, or discussed how he will support her and his (former) wife at the same time.”

According to the manager, Escudero had made her daughter believe that he was set to become President by 2016—Heart would be his “First Lady.”

Escudero also boasted to Heart, allegedly, that he ran a lucrative law office; that a multinational company was poised to pay the law firm over P200 million a year for their services.

The “mommyger” further stated: "He [claimed] he had the financial backing of a businessman listed among the ten billionaires of the Philippines, but who is under investigation by the Senate."

Other accusations Ongpauco also accused Escudero as an “opportunist.”

Escudero had reportedly “virtually moved into [Heart’s] condo unit using Heart’s Mercedes Benz at will.”

“Heart encourages this behavior from Chiz, as she did with her prior boyfriends,” said Ongpauco. She revealed that her daughter had been diagnosed as a “needy personality,” but that she didn’t want to go to the therapist for treatment.

According to reports, Escudero also “urged” Evangelista to fire her mother as her talent manager.

Cases against Escudero Mrs. Ongpauco stated, “All

these acts indicate that his public persona is far from his real character. My husband and I are in the process of gathering evidence to prove that he is a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality, as suggested by a print columnist.”

The Ongpaucos also wanted to file a libel case against the senator “for claiming that he [was] caught in the middle of a family feud, when [he] is the very source of our family feud. We might also file an additional criminal complaint for incriminating an innocent person.”

The family was likewise poised to file “a civil complaint for damages under the Civil Code for meddling with, or disturbing the private life of another.”

Counter statements In a separate TV interview, Escudero said in Filipino: "It is enough to say at this time that, even though I am slightly involved, as much as possible, I don’t want to meddle in the misunderstandings between parents and their daughter . . . I am not part of showbiz. I don’t combine work with my personal life and I don’t allow anything personal to affect my job."

Meanwhile, the actress herself has held her ground. "Chiz and his family have shown me nothing but goodness and affection,” said Heart. “There is no reason for them to get dragged into this.”

It wasn’t the first time her parents had publicly opposed her relationships, to hear it from the famous personality. She had granted their wish to leave Jericho Rosales—“I wanted them to be happy . . . but now I believe I already have the right to decide how to live my life, who to love and to be with.” (With Reports from the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Cinema News and TV Patrol.) ■

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36 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Lifestyle

World Poetry: Inspire Peace

BY CAROLINE C. NAZARENO A.K.A. CERI NAZ CANADIAN PRESS

“INSPIRE PEACE” is the theme in this year’s World Poetry and International Peace Festival to take place at the University of British Columbia on April 4-30, 2013.

World Poetry Canada and International is founded on respect, honour, support, love, and peace.

Its advocacy: ‘’Bridging the World Together in Peace Through Poetry.” Ariadne Sawyer, 2011’s International Peace Poetry Awardee, founder, host, and president of the World Poetry Reading Series states that, “with this strong foundation, all things are possible.’’

The festival hands out awards each year based on humanitarian and peace efforts to make the world a better place through the arts. Each entry is nominated by one or more individuals. With assistance from community partner Cinevolution, 10 documentary film entries were included in the competition this year. The two winning films will be shown during the Peace Festival.

The winners, as follows:

Film • Sharif Saedi, filmmaker (“Silence”) • Rahmat Haidari , director (“Broken Voices of Poetry”) • Sajia Hussain Azmat , humanitarian and director (“Broken Voices of Poetry”) Photography • M&M, photographer World Poetry Ambassador to Japan: Frederico Gordo

Empowered Poets • Wanda-John Kehewin • Penn Kemp • Oswald Okaitei • Olawuyi Mutiu • Ljubomir Mihajlovski • Ljupce Zahariev • Michael Kwaku Kesse Somuah • Selene Bertelsen • Caroline C. Nazareno (Ceri Naz)

• Yaman Saleh Music, Acting, Art, Visual Art, Photography • Rio Samaya (Pancho and Sal), band • Yoshifumi Sakura, composer • Angelo Moroni, actor • Sattar Saberi , artist • Kwame Agyare Yirenkyi, visual artist • Atia Abawi, journalist

Schedule of events: April 3-30 – Displays and Peace Posters of Sattar Saberi, partner displays, WP displays including books

by Doc PenPen B. Takipsilim, Father of Philippine Visual Poetry, poster of Jaypee Belarmino , Empowered Poet and Artist 2012, M&M, World Poetry Books and featured film posters in the library.

April 4 – Grand Opening and the launch of the World Poetry Peace E- Anthology, with music by Rio Samaya and dance by the Chinese group Jasmine Dancers and an Afghan exclusive film preview.

The WP Peace E- Anthology will be available on www.worldpoetry. ca for one year, a free gift to the world. ■

Bloody Lenten reenactment expected to draw 50,000 spectators

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE FAST-APPROACHING Catholic remembrance of the suffering and death of Christ, recalled throughout “Maleldo” or Holy Week, has small towns all across the province of Pampanga in the Philippines abuzz once more with final preparations for a celebration of a rather gruesome sort. Beams of wood strong and heavy enough to bear a grown man’s weight are fashioned and hammered together to form crosses; large metal and iron nails are sterilized; thorny branches are twisted into crowns; paddles and whips with nails and shards of glass at the ends are meticulously fashioned; and the devout ready themselves spiritually for the task at hand: the reenactment of the passion and crucifixion of Christ.

This “act of love, penance and devotion” is a much-anticipated yearly celebration in towns like

Catholic devotees in the town of San Fernando, Pampanga, re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus and the two thieves on Mt. Golgotha in a yearly event witnessed by thousands of spectators.

San Fernando in Pampanga, where devotees enlist as flagellants, to have their backs paddled and whipped and their scalps pierced with thorns; while

In a horrific and bloody display of devotion, flagellants make their way through the streets of Pampanga - backs bloodied and raw - to the place of the crucifixion ritual.

others play the role leading up to the ultimate act of devotion: crucifixion on the cross, real nails More on page 38

37 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Lifestyle

Above all, good taste –what it takes to be a stylist ‘Not everyone is cut out to be one–even, say, people with impeccable tastes’

BY CHECHE V. MORAL Philippine Daily Inquirer SO WHAT DOES it take to be a fashion stylist?

Noel Manapat says it pays to get some formal training, noting that local fashion schools now offer courses on the subject (he taught fashion styling in courses organized by fashion designers Lulu Tan-Gan and Inno Sotto).

But one must not limit the training to styling, he stresses. The point is to have the “basics.”

Get an internship with a magazine or a stylist, he adds. Real-life application of one’s creative ideas is a must. Manapat, who got into the trade “by accident,” didn’t benefit from the tutelage of a mentor—he was editing a magazine and styling its shoots when Bench hired him to style one of its ads. He studied communication arts and worked for an ad agency after college.

Jenni Epperson, who worked with the Linea Italia Group for seven years before becoming a stylist, says her experience in sales has been invaluable.

“I think if you want to get into this job, you could learn a lot from sales,” she says. “It teaches you what to say to people, and how to say it.”

“The key to this job is love for fashion,” Manapat notes. “But you must also be instinctive, and you must have good reflexes to solve problems.

Resourcefulness is important; you’re practically pulling magic tricks, you’re stretching budgets.

You must have continuous knowledge of trends.”

As the job entails dealing with clients, a good stylist must also be a people person.

“You’re like a psychologist,” he says. “This is a new profession, so there’s no exact definition.

Some stylists go on to become fashion designers or creative directors.”

Manapat has several interns, a group that can grow to 80 people when he’s styling for a big show, a job that, he says, often means “half styling, half managing.” He’s used to handling such a team of varied interests and personalities: they’re delegated according to strengths, including organizational management.

Owing to his advertising background, Manapat sees every project or client as a “brand”: You stand for something, and you achieve that through your look.

Self-taught Liz Uy, a hotel and restaurant management graduate, is also largely self-taught.

Uy rose from editorial assistant to fashion editor of Preview, getting grease on her elbows in the process, so to speak. She did her share of pullouts (fashion-speak for borrowing clothes from retailers and designers for shoots) and groveling before suppliers as she slowly built her network and portfolio.

“The biggest misconception about this job is that the work is easy,” she says. “I have so many

if-you-only-know stories! There’s the stress, the pressure, the egos! Up to this day, I still get scared, no B.S.! I’m always on my toes. I’m still afraid of the creatives since in the end, they still have the final say and I’m just a supplier.”

A good stylist must know his/her client, Uy says.

That means doing one’s research. The stylist’s job is to enhance the personal style of the client, she adds. It’s not enough to know the trends; one must also know how to adapt it to the client.

Uy has six assistants; choosing them was a crucial process, she says.

“One, they must be pleasant-looking because they represent me to the client when I’m not there. I don’t like anyone with a star complex.

The ‘blogger look’ is also a no-no,” she adds, referring to outrageous clothes and shoes. “I’m all for individuality but it’s distracting. I tell them they can go all out when we go to events, but when we’re working, no. Becoming a celebrity can come later. I also insist on no high heels during shoots.

How can I order them to move around if they’re in high heels?”

Number two, Uy adds, she needs her interns to be resourceful. “‘I don’t know’ and ‘ Wala, eh’ doesn’t work for me. I want us brimming with options when we’re working.”

She also demands hard work, passion and, above all, loyalty.

“It hasn’t happened to me, but I’ve heard of interns who move on and they badmouth [their former bosses],” she says.

Abstract, unmeasurable A good knowledge of both fashion history and current trends is beneficial, says Sidney Yap. “Good taste, which is abstract, unmeasurable and debatable, is at the core of styling. These qualities, combined with hard work, patience, perseverance and passion, are needed (for one) to get into styling. Styling might come across as trivial, fun and easy work for most people, but it is a very difficult job. Not everyone is cut out to be a fashion stylist, even, say, people with impeccable tastes.”

Like Uy, Yap’s requirements for assistants and interns are stringent. He makes them write essays to gauge their personalities and tastes, and the extent of their knowledge in fashion.

Training his team is a must, says Yap. “I also aid in their fashion education, having them do research reports on different fashion topics. I also quiz them regularly, such as having them learn names of creative directors for all global brands. I did not have a mentor, I learned to do everything on my own.”

Yap, however, took up courses in lighting, fashion merchandising and product design at Parsons School of Design in New York. He has a degree in business management from Ateneo de Manila. ■

BCBG parades its color blocks, prints Floral print dresses and sexy separates celebrate the brand’s first collection in the Philippines

BY ALEX Y. VERGARA Philippine Daily Inquirer BCBG MAX Azria, under Linear Group Philippines, the Los Angeles-based ready-to-wear label’s new and exclusive local distributor, recently presented the brand’s 2013 “spring trend” collection featuring floral-printed and colorblocked dresses and separates in skimming and figure-hugging lines.

For the afternoon fashion show’s finale, models wore long dresses in soft fabrics in such solid colors as royal blue, cherry red, white and black. Inspired by “modern fairy tales,” some pieces were combined with see-through material that managed to work well with the dresses’ edgy vibe, eclectic inspiration and close-to-the-body silhouette.

At the same time, certain soft, flowing numbers duplicated the look but not the feel of faded denim combined with iconic bandana prints typically found on oversized hankies.

And despite the use of printed blooms, a good number of pieces managed to look fresh and far from predictable with the inclusion of certain elements such as trategically placed solid panels, sashes and tricky print combinations.

Stand-alone The show at BCBG’s first and so far only standalone store at Bonifacio High Street Central also marked the brand’s complete break from Rustan’s, its former local distributor.

“There are still some good BCBG pieces left that are being sold at Rustan’s,” said Kat Florencio, director of Linear Group. “But since December 2012, we have been the brand’s exclusive distributor in the country. We now carry all the new pieces.”

Unlike other brands, BCBG, under Tunisia-born chair and creative director Max Azria, presents more than two collections per year.

“Most ready-to-wear brands usually present twice a year, spring-summer and fallwinter,” said Florencio.

“In BCBG’s case, we have new collections every month. Since spring, for instance, lasts three months, we would have three collections before the current season is over.”

Apart from dresses, BCBG’s Bonifacio High Street boutique also has women’s accessories, including bags.

Florencio, wife of jeweler and watch dealer Raffy Florencio, plans to open BCBG boutiques in Greenbelt and Shangri-La Plaza by July. For the meantime, the brand has a “pop-up” store at ShangriLa to serve customers in that area.

BCBG is really known for color blocking and the use of prints, said Florencio. Reinterpreting these elements and giving them a fresh spin has always been something the brand’s fans and loyal clients look forward to. ■

Easter

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 38

...from page 36

BY RUDY M. VIERNES

FAST FOOD FOR THOUGHT

WHY AND HOW ONE GOES INTO A HOLY RETREAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH celebrates Ash Wednesday every year. This year it’s on February 13. Ash Wednesday ushers in the liturgical season of Lent which culminates on Easter Sunday, March 31.

Lent is a season for soul-assessment. It affords us a respite to reflect on how we have conducted our moral and spiritual lives and to soul-search about our relationship with God and our fellow men. This Lenten ritual is like an annual physical check-up where tests would indicate signs of something quite different from normal bodily functions that would require prescribed medications.

In a country like the Philippines, devout Catholics would go on an annual retreat done usually during the somber days of the Holy Week which starts on Palm Sunday.

A retreat used to be as long as 40 days of intensive praying and reflection and fasting. This was abridged to seven days and further reduced to just a weekend encounter. Nowadays, a retreat is an instant and quickie affair, like instant noodles or instant coffee. It is crammed into the waking hours of a day, or less. It has also become “mini,” like a mini-recollection, after which the retreater flies off to a McDo or KFC joint for a quick bite of hamburger, fries or fried chicken, the effect of the encounter hardly felt.

For a retreat to be effective it should be a leisurely, relaxing exercise amidst a quiet ambiance that leads to an intensified awareness of God in us. What Joshua wants to say in 2:16

pounded through their hands.

Perhaps the celebration’s longest-running The reenactment draws thousands of people— participant is 52-year-old devotee, Ruben Enaje.

Filipinos and foreigners alike—to the town when With a 26-year crucifixion track record, Enaje Lenten Season rolls began his devotion around. Organizin 1986 after coming ers expect a crowd out unscathed from of 50,000 this year, a 3-storey fall off a from the curious to building.

“Because of that the devout. Thirtyfour pain-seeking accident I said that I would get myself devotees are set to participate in the crucified to show my thanks to the Lord,” religious spectacle on Good Friday, he shares. replicating to the This year, however, best of their human may very well Acting out the parts of Roman Centurions, devotees drive real metal and iron nails into the palms of those to be raised up on the cross. abilities the “Via be his farewell Crucis”; Christ’s “performance,” suffering and crucigiven his age. There fixion. are, after all, “safety Although the ritual guidelines” observed mostly draws male in the selection of participants, there have those to be crucified. also been females who “Just because you have enlisted for past want to be crucified crucifixions. doesn’t mean you can Mary Jane be crucified,” Castro Mamangon, a rice revealed. “We ask for cake vendor in a medical certificate. her 30s, is usually You shouldn’t be Acting out the parts of Roman Centurions, devotees drive real metal and iron the lone female diabetic. What’s your nails into the palms of those to be raised up on the cross. participant, having blood pressure? It’s been nailed to the only allowed for those Cross several times. She started at the age of 18, who are fifty-five years old and below.” taking part in the yearly rites as a way of imploring Castro shared that foreigners are not allowed to the help of God on behalf of her ailing grandmother participate in the crucifixion, after a group reportedly and her younger sister, suffering from cancer. tainted the sanctity of the ritual by drinking alcohol The town’s tradition of reenactment dates back and mocking the rites. to 1955 with writer Ricardo Navarro’s play on the While many find the tradition grotesque, passion and suffering of Christ. Crucifixions started still others find it empty of real meaning. It has in 1962. also come under fire from Christian and health Organizers of Maleldo 2013 disclosed at a sectors; for being an unnecessary parody of a recent press conference that preparations began as truly irreplaceable act, for being unhygienic. early as December 2012. Security measures will This extreme practice, however, is held in high also be more heavily enforced this year, in order esteem by the locals of the town and will likely be to minimize incidences of theft that have marred perpetuated for as many more years as there are previous Maledo activities. still believers. ■

is when one goes into a retreat, he should engulf himself in solemn contemplation in his own pace and time and cast all cares and worries away which he refers to as the “pursuers.”

Take the scene of Mary cuddled at the feet of Jesus while her sister Martha was harried with flitting worldliness. Mary disposed herself wholly with Jesus in a very affectionate and intimate tete-a-tete.

During the course of his evangelization Christ often lost himself in the backcountry away from the “pursuing crowd,” where nature is the artwork, to convene in solitude with his unseen Father reflected in the physical universe. His image is mirrored in the cluster of hills and dales. He is etched in the languid flow of a

rivulet, in the soft glow of sunrise and sunset that burnishes the sky. It is here where silence beckons, “Come to me all of you who are laden and I will give you rest.”

Why retreat? Instead of advance, why retreat? It’s a corny question asked by a retreater.

The answer is we advance and advance without knowing where we are heading to. So we need to back off a bit to view the landscape and see if we are indeed going in the right direction or not. A retreat is a renewal, pagbabago, a period of penance, sacrifice, repentance and healing. It involves an internal change of attitude and evaluation of our lives. If we feel good after a retreat it’s palpably God’s presence in our hearts in blissful repose. ■

39 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Bill No. 54, otherwise known as the B.C. Provincial Sales Tax Act will come into effect on April 1, 2013

Business SMC ’12 profit jumps by 57%

BY DORIS C. DUMLAO Philippine Daily Inquirer

• San Miguel Brewery grew its operating income by 9 percent to P22.37 billion. Despite flat sales volume, net sales went up by 5 percent to P75.58 billion on improved management of fixed costs. Revenues from international operations rose by 6 percent.

• SMC Global Power grew its operating income by 2 percent to P17.1 billion. This was supported by a 4-percent rise in revenues to P74.7 billion as its Sual, Ilijan, and San-Roque plants generated a total of 15,250 gigawatt hours, 6 percent higher than in the previous year. Capacity utilization was higher at 71 percent compared to 67 percent in 2011 due to higher bilateral requirements despite various forced outages.

Consolidated off-take volume grew by 7 percent to 15,961 GW-hours.

• Ginebra San Miguel pared its operating losses down to P566 million from P891 million in 2011.

Total domestic volumes for the company reached 23.8 million, 5 percent lower than the previous year; • San Miguel Pure Foods Co. grew its sales revenues by 7 percent to P95.8 billion but operating income eased by 14 percent to P5.25 billion due to cost pressures on the agro-industrial business cluster early in the year.

But net income attributable to the equity holders of the parent company, rose by 3 percent to P4.23 billion; • San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corp.’s operating income went up by 6 percent to P2.3 billion due to improvements in efficiency and cost structure.

Consolidated revenues reached P24.5 billion, up by a modest 1 percent from the previous year; • Petron Corp.’s operating income declined by 38 percent to P9.39 billion while net income before minority interest dropped by 73 percent to P2.3 billion.

Net sales were up by 55 percent to P424.795 billion with the consolidation of Malaysian operations.■

CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. grew its attributable net income by 57 percent to P27.6 billion last year led by higher earnings from its beer, food, power generation and packaging businesses.

Consolidated net income before minority interest grew by 35 percent to P38.6 billion due to greater gains from the other investments and favorable foreign exchange rates.

Group-wide sales revenues expanded by 30 percent to P699 billion, with each major operating unit contributing to its growth. Cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization went up by 1 percent to P78.1 billion.

Revenues from new businesses jumped by 46 percent over year-ago levels, accounting for more than 70 percent of total revenues last year. San Miguel’s core beverage, food, and packaging businesses, on the other hand, posted a year-on-year increase of 4 percent.

“Our performance over the last 12 months points to the strategic value of our growing portfolio. It’s the result of the discipline that we have brought to our day-to-day operations, and our success in making the most of synergies among our subsidiaries,” SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang said in a press statement.

“Despite the many challenges of the previous year, our core businesses continued to show marked and sustained improvement, while our new businesses, as intended, have added scale, stability, and robust revenue streams.”

PST Exemptions Consolidated operating income stood at P52.8 billion, Certain exemptions from the previous PST system 6 percent lower than in the previous year. and re-implemented under the new PST are: The operating units performed in 2012 as follows: • food for human consumptions, examples, basic groceries and prepared food such as restaurant meals books, newspapers and magazines • children’s clothing Investors swamp auction with P118-B bids • bicycles • prescription medication and household medical BY RONNEL W. DOMINGO He said the Treasury would not accommodate more aids such as cough syrup and pain medications tenders through its over-thecounter facility.

Philippine Daily Inquirer Mendiola added that the recent showing of a THE COUPON rate on 20-year treasury bonds fell by strong appetite for government securities would not Non taxable Sales and Services, includes: • sales of real property such as residential housing or 212.5 basis points to a recordlow 3.625 percent from prompt the bureau to increase the volume of future 5.75 percent set in the previous issue following the offerings. commercial real estate “We’ve already announced our secondquarter issupersistent liquidity in the • admissions and ances and we will stick to that program,” he said. local financial market. memberships In a notice to dealers of government securities The coupon for the issue • professional issued earlier this month, National Treasurer Rosalia was also 42.5 basis points services except Mortgage Associate V. de Leon said the Treasury planned a total of P150 lower than the 4.05 percent legal services billion in domestic debt paper issuances in the second prevailing in the secondary • 1st Time Home Buyers • transportation fare • 2nd or 3rd Mortgages quarter. market.

• Refinancing The bureau has scheduled three monthly auctions of Investors tendered a total Special transitional • Debt Consolidations of P118.3 billion, or more P12 billion in 91-day treasury bills, P18 billion in 182rules apply to cer• Renewals/Early Switches than four times the volume day bills and P30 billion in 364-day securities.

• Self-Employed tain transactions.

The Treasury will also offer a batch of three-year available. The government • Commission Based For transitional bonds, another of seven-year paper and a third of sevenraised P25 billion as planned.

• Canadian Citizens rules regarding the year securities—each worth P30 billion.

Deputy National Trea• Landed Immigrants implementation of Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said the surer Eduardo S. Mendiola • Non-residents the new PST, Consaid in an interview that the government was looking at fully sourcing its financing • Good Credit, Bad Credit tact the Govern• No Credit auction results were “not needs from local lenders. ment of British The government’s program for the borrowing mix surprising.”

Columbia at 1-877“Rates have been going in 2012 was 75 percent for domestic and 25 percent Phone: 780-903-1818 down (because) there’s so for foreign. The mix was at 60-40 a few years back, 388-4440 or by Fax: 780-487-0002 much liquidity out there, (we but the continued push for greater reliance on domestic email at CTBTaxare) actually running after borrowings in line with the government’s foreign Q u e s t i o n s @ g o v.

Email: cecilialai@invis.ca paper (to issue),” Mendiola currency-averse liability management program tilted bc.ca. ■ www.cecilialaimortgage.ca the balance in favor of local debt. ■ said.

BRITISH COLUMBIA will be re-implementing the Provincial Sales Tax (PST) at 5% effective April 1, 2013.

Prior to this implementation, B.C. is implementing the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) at 12% which came into effect on July 1, 2010, replacing the PST. To assist in the preparation for the new PST implementation, the BC Ministry of Finance is continuously providing one-on-one consultations, seminars, e-news, videos and interactive webinars.

An improved PST can be seen on its reimplementation specifically on certain areas of: • new online access for business, including registration, online payment and account updates • due dates for remittances and returns for monthly filers will be moved to the last day of the month to match GST remittances • 8% Hotel Room Tax will be incorporated into the PST instead of requiring separate registration, remittances and returns • businesses will be able to register with their federal • business number • retailers will be allowed to refund tax to customers in a broader range of circumstances • business that collect and remit tax will again receive commission of up to $198 per reporting period

Rate on 20-year T-bonds slumps to 3.625%

Cecilia Lai

Sports

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 40

Schrock excited to play here anew

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer

Photo by Christof Koepsel/Bongarts/Getty Images

UNABLE to see action in the Philippines for close to two years, Fil-German standout Stephan Schrock is relishing the experience of playing in front of his countrymen in the AFC Challenge Cup Group E Qualifiers starting today.

Though he has linked up with the Azkals in friendly matches abroad, Schrock has not played at Rizal Memorial Stadium since the 1-2 loss to Kuwait in the second round of World Cup qualifying in July 2011.

Schrock left a lasting impression in the match with a sublime 25-yard goal that gave the Azkals the lead at halftime.

“It’s always good to be back,” Schrock told the INQUIRER after training. “I’m always excited to come here to play for the Philippines and see the guys (teammates).”

Unlike in his previous trips to Manila, Schrock is enjoying a good run of form in the German Bundesliga as he has started the last four matches for his club, Hoffenheim, which is battling relegation.

One of the biggest matches of Schrock’s career came two weeks ago when he played against German giants Bayern Munich, where he faced off with French national team star Franck Ribery and Austrian sensation David Alaba who, like Schrock, has a Filipino mother.

“It’s a pleasure to play against Ribery,” said Schrock. “Me and Alaba exchanged jerseys after the game. To play against Munich is always a big deal for everybody.”

Schrock knows he has a huge task at hand here.

“We’ve got a big goal and I hope we can get through,” said Schrock. “I think everybody is in good shape.

“We have to go step by step, but the hardest match I think will be Turkmenistan.” ■

HOROSCOPE ARIES (March 21—April 19) Progress with regard to reconciliation with a loved one can be expected today. If you manage to get through all the trials, your relationship will be stronger. In any relationship, honesty is crucial. Learning to give and take is easy. It is a waste of time to tell them what they want to hear.

TAURUS (April 20—May 20) Don’t succumb to peer pressure. You will be misinterpreted by other people because you do things you don't really want to do, and with people whom you don't respect. You need to be brave to go your own way when the going gets tough.

GEMINI (May 21—June 20) You need motivation from something or someone who can push you harder.

Go out of your way and look for some inspiration.

Look for a mentor who can support you in your goals. Feed their ego with your attention and chances are they will take you under their wing. Remember that everyone needs guidance to reach their goals.

CANCER (June 21—July 22) The more you spend today, the less money you will have later. Remember that your money is finite.

Save more money and you will have more to spend. You need to learn that delayed gratification can be much sweeter than the immediate kind.

LEO (July 23—Aug. 22) Your friends will give you all the warmth that you need. A wonderful day is ahead of you, you'll be reminded how loved you are by your favorite people, and how much you love them. You can enjoy the private jokes and silliness you all share together.

VIRGO (Aug. 23—Sept. 22) You need to do some great action with regard to a project today. But you will definitely enjoy the experience. You will be filled with joy, although it might feel difficult for you to tap into it. Your longtime friend has a new interest, and they are going to try to get you into it as well. Give it a try, and be honest if you want it to be in your bag.

LIBRA (Sept. 23—Oct. 22) Let the leader in you come out of its shell.

People enjoy the unique perspective you bring to every meeting, and they will react well to your new ideas. In your home life, you’re gaining more and more control over an issue that you feared would overwhelm you.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22—Jan. 19) If you have a friend or co-worker who’s making bad decisions that can hurt their future, do what you can to help them figure things out. It might sound like a harsh tactic, but you should paint a picture of the worst case scenario— help them see that where they are headed might not be a good place to go to.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23—Nov. 21) You need to run an extra mile when it comes to your career today. You think you have everything under control, but there is one tiny thing that you forgot about. Then touch base with your boss. Show them that you take an interest in the bigger picture, not just your own situation.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20—Feb. 18) Make sure that you can follow every single impulse you have today to explore new interests, people and career prospects. Behave yourself today and keep your nose clean.

Don't give anyone any reason to be cross with you, because someone is eager to make an example out of you.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22— Dec. 21) You will have greater interest in foreign cultures, food, music, dance and even politics. Expose yourself to different cultures and immerse yourself in them.

The world is a big place and you know so little of it—isn't it time to go out and start learning more?

PISCES (Feb. 19—March 20) There are things that you need to improve upon today. You are in a great frame of mind to tackle that bad habit and get on track for a health regimen. A positive change is well within your grasp, all it takes is a little more time than you were hoping it would take. You're on the launch pad to a better life—get ready to take off!

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44 FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013

Kitchen party vibe makes Maritimes a great place to see live music this summer

summer experience,” said festival president Jeff Squires.

“We want people to come here for more than one day and be completely involved in the experience.”

If new music is more your style, Halifax Pop Explosion offers genres from hip hop to punk, from folk to indie rock.

The festival, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2012, draws about 20,000 people over five days into 18 venues in downtown Halifax.

“You can get into all the festival shows over all five days for the price of one wrist band,” said executive director, Jonny Stevens.

“The festival is unique in that we present bands before they blow-up internationally.”

Artists including Arcade Fire and K’naan are among those who performed at the Halifax festival before becoming well-known.

This year’s event is scheduled for October 22-26.

“There are 180 bands so there’s bound to be something that everyone will love,” Stevens said.

If you’re looking for something more family oriented, Gallant recommends the Stan Rogers Folk Festival July 5-7 in Canso, N.S.

Photo by John Shearer

Photo by Film Magic

MONCTON, N.B.—If good times and great music are your idea of an ideal vacation, you might want to consider a trip to the Maritimes this year.

From mid-June to late fall there is no shortage of music festivals throughout Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

The festivals offer every style of music and range from small, intimate shows with upcoming artists to international stars on concert stages drawing tens of thousands of fans.

Doug Gallant, who has written about music in the region for many years for The Guardian newspaper in Charlottetown, says people will get a good mix of music and east coast hospitality at any of the events.

“The festivals have developed a really good reputation for well run events,” he said.

While many of the music festivals have been running for more than 20 years, Gallant said that the calibre of international stars wanting to perform in the region has risen dramatically in the last few years.

“When the economic crisis hit in the United States, a lot of promoters began looking for new places for their artists to perform,” he said. “The first year that the Rolling Stones played Moncton and drew over 80,000 people, other promoters decided this region was a destination they needed to look at.”

While many of the festivals haven’t unveiled their line-ups yet, the Cavendish Beach Music Festival in P.E.I. has announced its headliners will include Kenny Chesney and the Dixie Chicks.

The three-day country music festival set for July 5-7 is held in picturesque Cavendish with nearby beaches and camping, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence as the backdrop.

Past performers have included Reba McEntire, Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw.

“You come for the music and then you get enveloped in the P.E.I. tourism

Photo by Film Magic

BY KEVIN BISSETT The Canadian Press

“You can go there with your kids, sit down in the fields at any one of a halfdozen different stages and hear really interesting stuff,” he said. “It’s a pure folk festival and artists love to play there.”

This year’s event will be kicked off with a Thursday night concert by Ricky Skaggs.

If you’re looking for a chance to tap your toes, eat great food and learn a few things too, then The Celtic Colours International Festival in Cape Breton should be on your list.

Now into its 17th year, the festival is a celebration of the Celtic culture that has flourished in that part of Nova Scotia since Scottish settlers first arrived over 250 years ago.

“It’s good, positive energy and happy music,” said executive director Joella Foulds. “People have a really good time when they come here, and it’s more than just the music.”

There are also cultural events, community dinners and square dances across the island.

This year’s line-up will be announced at the end of June, but past years have featured the likes of The Chieftains, Natalie MacMaster and The Barra MacNeils.

For Jazz and Blues there’s the Dutch Mason Blues Festival in Truro, N.S. from August 9-11 or the popular Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival in Fredericton, N.B., from September 1015.

Brent Staeben has been with the “Harvest” festival since 1993 and says the number and proximity of venues makes it unique.

“You can walk into the downtown of Fredericton with its historic riverfront setting and historic buildings and you will find yourself in the middle of a major, international festival,” he said.

Over the years, the festival has featured a long list of Grammy award winners.

Staeben said Maritimers know how to stage a music festival.

“I think they are an extension of our culture in the sense of the Maritime kitchen party where everybody loves to let their hair down and have a good time with music.” ___ This story touches on just a few of the larger festivals, but there are many more events in each Maritime province throughout the summer and fall.

It is best to plan ahead to ensure you can get tickets and hotel rooms or camping sites near the events you choose. ■

Travel

45 FRIDAY MARCH 8, 2013

dream in mind. All I wanted was to go to college and maybe, dream from there.

Many times, things that come our way are not necessarily those that we had hoped for or prepared for.

Where I once was and where I am now is not something I have ever dreamed of. While in school, I was too concerned with maintaining good grades that I did not have time to dream. Or maybe I was dreaming as I maintained that free schooling. I was obsessed with the fear that if I didn’t go to college, I’d be a nobody. That is not always true, of course.

Perhaps my only real dream was to have my own family. At age two, my only sister and I had been given away separately to relatives. At age nineteen, I was already starting a family, and I did not have any more dreams than that. But because I was used to working hard, my professional life went smoothly, bringing me up the ladder of success, not quite quickly, but steadily upward nonetheless.

There are no accidents in life. Just as I was getting settled in a company that I thought could very well take care of me through my useful years, something came knocking. This. The chance to migrate.

I did not dream then. Why would I dream now? I never dreamt to go abroad and seek the proverbial greener pasture.

Woe to me, I did not even know that one could go abroad without any relative petitioning for him. But we never know how our whole life can be in preparation for something we may not even have aspired to.

I believed that the education I was obsessed with and the profession that I got into afterward were my only sure-fire investments, including the people that I had met along the way.

I am not sure if many of our young people know “what they want to be when they grow up” at a ripe age. Among my older children, that is true. But not for my youngest who at the age of 13 Googled the highest paid profession in Canada and told me, “Mom, that’s what I want to be when I grow up.” Too smart, isn’t it.

When do people really start dreaming? I do not think dreaming should necessarily start in as early as childhood.

Dreaming may come through an evolution.

One’s status in life may be a big factor. Those who grew up with less, might dream big. Those who have more, may not even dream at all. Or the other way around. When you are poor, you do not have the time to dream.

You just get right on and start making money. Meanwhile, if you are born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you may

Grit and Whimsy: General Santos City

BY APRIL SESCON Philippine Canadian Inquirer DEAD FISH glinted in the hot sun. It is daybreak: the sky is white, massive, the concrete rolled out next to sea like a huge flat tongue, gleaming with puddles, with sheen of fish oil, the smell of it—the fish, each the size of a small child—inseparable from air.

The Tuna Capital of the Philippines, they would say, proudly: and the proof lay in one conveyor belt that snaked from brink of sea to cannary, laden with the day’s catch.

General Santos—“GenSan,” in local parlance: a city by the sea, a fishing port, its beaches marked by white boats that bring in a catch of 750 tons day after day. It is not quite the tourist destination, but it attracts its due share of vacationers going through the urbanized metro to more popular spots in Mindanao. It is the “gateway” to the south.

Elsewhere, removed from its fishing ports, GenSan is a white-sand paradise. The beaches of Sarangani offer 230 kilometers of fine white sand fronting waters that seem cut from crystal, turquoise under the southern sun. The Celebes Sea, it is called, as if from myth, as if an ancient

want to become richer or to surpass the achievements of your family.

Looks like there is no formula for dreaming. No right or wrong time. Age does not even matter.

As I said, I do not remember having been obsessed with any thought or dream to be. But I think when you go to college, you also sort of start figuring out what you want, especially on your 3rd or 4th year, when you are deciding which major to take, specifically if you are in an AB or BS course. Then maybe you start thinking of the next three to four years right after college.

Dreaming can also be deeply emotional or simply practical. One dreams of something that will pay big or make him big.

Parents or familial influence also play a role. In fact, there are parents who dream for their children or push their children into a certain direction. Strictly speaking, that should not be the case. Kids should be left alone to dream and to try to reach for that dream. Parents or family are only there to support.

Dreaming can also start with discovering.

You discover what you want to do.

You discover what is good to do. You discover that you need to do something to accomplish something. You discover that you need to help and the best way to do it is to pursue a certain path or direction. You discover and come to a conclusion that you can sustain your family economically by taking on or making a certain decision.

You discover that you will be able to lift

Photo by Allan Barredo

...from page 22

Photo by Paul Bernaldez, AFP

constellation: this ocean basin formed 42 million years ago. The coral reefs make it a go-to spot for snorkelers and divers. Among its inhabitants: sea turtles, dugongs, manta and eagle rays, dolphins, and squid that make their way to the waters in June and July to lay eggs on the coral.

Elsewhere, yet, a lone volcano stands proud over a prairie. Mt. Matutum seems cut from folktale. It looms over a flatland green and vibrant in the wetter months and sparse, dry, in the heat of summer, keeping one eye constantly on the crops and herds of cows, goats, and horses that the local farmers let out on the land. Hikers trek to the area. They take pictures of the mountaintop shrouded in cloud.

But back to port: this morning, the workers wear white rubber boots and pick their way across a floor that glistens with seawater, fish juice, the telltale signs of blood. The tuna look on in shock. Dead, mouths agape, eyes empty like large glass buttons. They gut them from throat to tail, carve out their innards. It’s dirty work, but this tuna industry is one of the largest in Southeast Asia. GenSan’s haul of tuna generates an income of P250 million annually. It employs 7,800 people in all of South Cotabato and nearby towns.

It is the heartbeat of this city: the sound of the surf breaking on metal hull, the nets, the slap of fish flesh on dock; the smell of it in the air. ■

your family up from poverty because of a certain dream. You discover that in this dream, there is a world of opportunities waiting for you.

Most probably, that is how your dream of going abroad usually starts.

Dream or no dream, your destiny is where you are. What you will be is the result of what you do where you are.

Going abroad might not have been a dream for me. But writing a book is. And this dream was made possible after I had migrated to Canada.

Sometimes fate has its own funny way of weaving into our lives, just to let us know that . . . yes, some dreams do come true.

Nobody ever said that our journey will be easy. But as I write and as you read, we share our strengths and we can

hold on to the promise that “where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them”—Matthew 18:20. ■ _____________ Bolet is a marketing communications practitioner and dabbles in writing as a personal passion. She is the author-publisher of the book “The Most Practical Immigrating and Job Hunting Survival Guide: proven simple steps to success without the fears and the doubts”. The book is available in Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo and other online bookshops worldwide, and in National Book Store and Power Books in the Philippines. Visit amazon.com/author/ boletarevalo.

Canada

FRIDAY MARCH 29, 2013 46

What the 2013 Economic Action Plan makes possible for Canadian immigrants

BY MELISSA REMULLA-BRIONES Philippine Canadian Inquirer Much fanfare (and some hiss) greeted Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's 2013 federal budget speech and his Economic Action Plan 2013, which many also said was leaked prior, prompting an opinion writer to say it is only after the budget has been released that the secrecy begins. But then again, that is another matter.

Reactions ranged from the very supportive to the overly critical. NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said, "It does not prepare Canada for the 21st Century and leaves huge environmental, social and fiscal debt to our children." Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae opines "It should be called an Economic Inaction Plan." At the same time, some are "thrilled" because of the $15,000 the government pledged towards training programs, under what has been called as the Canada Job Grant.

However, central to the 2013 federal budget is immigration, and Immigration Canada's Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, could not be more pleased.

First time in decades "I have been a member of Parliament for 16 years and I recall very few budgets that said anything, more than 1 or 2 lines, about immigration. But in this case we have pages 82 through 89 in the budget, that's 7 pages, that are about immigration focusing on foreign credential recognition, reforming the TFW program, the new business immigration programs, job opportunities for newcomers, faster processing for temporary resident visas, faster processing for citizenship applications, international education strategy for foreign students and what are the cost of all those things. I stand to be corrected, but I think there's more on immigration in this budget than in recent decades," according to Minister Kenney.

In fact, and as confirmed by Minister Kenney during PCI's exclusive interview with him, Immigration Canada was one of the only ministries to receive funding in the 2013 budget, with a $42 Million in additional funds over the next 2 years for faster processing of temporary resident visas, and $44 Million in additional funding over 2 years for faster processing of citizenship applications.

He clarifies, however, that "these funding increases will in part be offset or paid for by higher fees for temporary resident visa and citizenship applications."

Higher fees Currently, the application fee for citizenship is $200. However, the actual cost for Immigration Canada to process the application is 3 times that much, or $650 to

be exact.

"We think it's reasonable to ask applicants to pay for at least the majority of the cost of processing their application rather than passing that on to taxpayers. By raising the fees we can increase the number of staff processing citizenship applications and thereby getting people their citizenship more quickly, which is what they want," he said.

Employers who wish to hire temporary foreign workers will also now have to pay Service Canada for Labor Market Opinions, the first step to getting a work permit.

According to Minister Kenney, "This is the first of a two-step process. For employers to invite temporary workers from abroad, they need to prove they have offered a job in Canada at the prevailing regional wage rate and that no qualified Canadians have applied. That process is called the Labor Market Opinion (LMO).

It's free and over 50% of the LMO that we have issued have not been used by employers. Because it's free, many of them are abusing it. They're just applying speculatively. We are now saying they have to pay the full cost of processing the LMO, which is in the range of $200 and we're taking other measures that we announced yesterday to emphasize that the Temporary Foreign Worker program should be used only as a last resort to work, not as a first resort."

He added that the increased funding and staff working on temporary resident visas and citizenship applications will begin in April. "But then it will take time to fully implement that but it will start in the next fiscal year, which is April 1, 2103. But then the higher fees have to go through regulatory process that it will take us at least a year so they will not be in place until September 2014," he said.

Canada Job Grant In the speech of Minister Flaherty, he introduced the Canada Job Grant, which he said "will transform the way Canadians receive training."

He said, "The Canada Job Grant could provide $15,000 or more per person to ensure Canadians are getting the skills employers are seeking. Up to $5,000 will be provided by the federal government. To show their commitment, the employer will be required to provide matching funds. The province or territory will match the final third.

"For the first time, the Canada Job Grant will take skillstraining choices out of the hands of government and put them where they belong and in the hands of employers and Canadians who want to work.

"Job seekers will train at community colleges, career colleges, polytechnics or union training halls among others.

"Most importantly, the new Grant should lead to one essential thing for unemployed or underemployed Canadians-a new or better job."

Minister Kenney calls the Canada Job Grant a "big thing". He said it is a large investment in additional training to help employers hire unemployed Canadians and offer them apprenticeships. This, according to Minister Kenney, is in recognition of the "pockets of high unemployment alongside very large skill shortages in our economy."

He said, the "Job Grant is a key tool to get to those unemployed immigrants, young people and other Canadians into good jobs."

He added, "Part of it is not just recruitment, part of it is actually about training. And the Canada Jobs Grant is a huge incentive to do more training of unemployed or underemployed Canadians, including immigrants."

Hugely Positive Minister Flaherty said in his speech, "I need to make one thing very clear. And it is simply this: Our government is committed to balancing the budget in 2015. Period."

Much has been said about the federal budget, but Minister Kenney thinks that it has its heart in the right place, with its allocation for training and job creation programs. He said, "I know the opposition parties are critical of the budget because, well, they always are, that's their job.

But generally, I think the response to the Economic Action Plan has been hugely positive. It gets us to a balanced budget in 2015 while maintaining low taxes and focusing on job creation, particularly by training Canadians for jobs that are available in our economy."

He adds, "Overall, I'm happy, very happy.

I have to say Immigration Canada is one of the only ministries that got additional funding. I'm glad that we're offsetting that through fees rather than making taxpayers pay for it. I'm honestly very happy as we continue to get strong support for the immigration reforms that we're making."â–

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 Editor Laarni de Paula Editorial Assistant April Sescon Correspondents Maria Ramona Ledesma Frances Grace Quiddaoen 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 & Advertising Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Managing Editor Maita de Jesus Junior Art Director Kimberly Claire Bernardo Graphic Artists Reggie Goloy Maud Villanueva Editorial Assistant Phoebe Casin Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition

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