Philippine Canadian Inquirer #231

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VOL. 8 NO. 231

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Reds condemn hero’s burial for Marcos

BSP turns down DFA offer for new e-passport system

Metro, 8 provinces flooded

Government to overhaul immigration detention system

Pilgrims flock to ‘New Jerusalem’

Family’s home sale mired in uncertainty in wake of B.C. foreign buyers’ tax FORMER President Fidel V. Ramos, Philippine special envoy to China, smiles for the cameras as he drops for push-ups to show his fitness at Camp Aguinaldo on Saturday.

LYN DRILLON / PDI

China welcomes FVR visit for talks

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer FORMER PRESIDENT Fidel V. Ramos yesterday said China had welcomed him to visit Beijing for discussions in the wake of last month’s ruling of an international arbitration tribunal in favor of the Philippines over China’s excessive claims in the South China Sea.

President Duterte has appointed Ramos his special envoy to China to initiate talks with Beijing after the UNbacked Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled last month that China’s claim to almost all of the South China Sea had no basis in international law. The tribunal also found that China violated the Philippines’ rights to fish

Ways to save on back to school clothing shopping

BY GEORDON OMAND The Canadian Press COQUITLAM, B.C. — Cardboard moving boxes are piled about the living room of an otherwise half-packed house nestled on a tree-lined residential street in a quiet Vancouver-area suburb — a scene frozen in time that the home’s owners blame on British Columbia’s controversial new tax on foreign buyers.

The in-transition state of the home in Coquitlam has been the status quo ever since its owners learned the house’s sale, which they understood was a done deal, was thrown into question by the tax.

The couple is at risk of losing an $80,000 deposit they made to purchase

❱❱ PAGE 27 ❱❱ PAGE 7 China welcomes

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:

❱❱ PAGE 18 Family’s home

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS InFocus.canadianinquirer.net

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Philippine News

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Pres. Duterte’s visit to ASEAN countries still being finalized — Andanar PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — A senior Malacanang official said on Tuesday that a reported visit of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to several ASEAN countries supposedly to happen anytime from Aug. 23 to 30 is still being finalized and has yet to be approved by the President.

Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar said that “everything’s still up in the air” as Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza and Finance Secretary Carlos “Sonny” Gar-

cia Dominguez are still convincing the Chief Executive to visit other neighboring countries prior to his Laos trip.

Earlier, Special Assistant to the President Secretary Christopher Go confirmed that President Duterte is scheduled to visit Laos on Sept. 6 to 8 for the turnover of the chairmanship of the ASEAN. “We are still finalizing the recommended Aug. 23-30 ASEAN trip. The President hasn’t approved it yet,” Andanar said.

Andanar said that so far, possible countries to be visited by the President are Malaysia,

Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia.

A visit to Malaysia before the end of August was broached after Dureza met with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Monday at the Premier’s Office in Putrajaya.

The Peace Adviser went to Malaysia for a two-day talk between members of the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) held on Aug. 13-14 in Kuala Lumpur.

Dureza said that PM Najib Razak welcomed the planned visit soon to Malaysia of President Duterte. ■

Former DILG secretary Rafael Alunan III.

Imelda agreed in ’92 of no hero’s burial for Ferdinand Marcos, says former DILG secretary

BY KATHERINE PADILLA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — Rafael Alunan III, former secretary of Department of Interior and Local Government during Fidel V. Ramos’ (FVR) term as president, on Friday said that Mrs. Marcos signed an agreement in 1992 where she agreed to bury husband Ferdinand sans hero’s burial.

Alunan, who acted as FVR’s designated negotiator in talks between the Marcoses and the government concerning the return of Ferdinand Marcos’ remains from Hawaii to the Philippines, presented a four-point agreement to Mrs. Marcos at her temporary residence in Forbes Park, an agreement she later signed.

The signed agreement stated that Ferdinand Marcos’ remains will only be returned to the Philippines under the conditions that he will be directly returned to Ilocos Norte; will not be paraded in Metro Manila; will only be buried in Ilocos and not in Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery); and will only be given military honors befitting a Major in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

“Those four points took into consideration the divisiveness of the issue; the potential for bloodshed at the time that we were committed to prevent; the recognition of criminal wrong-

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doing by his regime that led to his ouster as president and commander-in-chief; and his disqualification for burial honors in the Libingan ng mga Bayani as a logical consequence,” Alunan said.

Despite being former president and World War II veteran, Alunan believes that Marcos is not eligible to a burial in LNMB for violating one of AFP’s regulation that states “personnel who were dishonorably separated/ reverted/discharged from the service and personnel who were convicted by final judgment of an offense involving moral turpitude” are not qualified to be interred in LNMB. “The issue is not whether FM deserves to be buried there being a past president and soldier, but whether he meets the qualifications of a "bayani" out of respect for those who lived up to the standards of heroism till the end. His ouster as President and commander-in-chief speaks for itself, and the exception to the rule that disqualifies a candidate should apply here,” Alunan said.

AFP on August 10, Wednesday has formally received the directive for the internment of Marcos in LNMB, a burial that President Rodrigo Duterte steadfastly supported and staunchly defended.

“The signed agreement in 1992 is now on the verge of being broken,” Alunan lamented. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

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Pokemon Go boosts foot traffic in malls

BY DORIS DUMLAOABADILLA Philippine Daily Inquirer KEY SHOPPING malls in the metropolis are turning into huge playgrounds for people of all ages who brave inclement weather and heavy traffic just to catch a “Pokemon (pocket monster).”

A few days after the Philippine launch of Pokemon Go—a GPS-based augmented reality mobile game that challenges players to catch as many Pokemons as they can—mall operators reported a surge in foot traffic from people hooked on this game.

“Since the launch of Pokemon Go in the Philippines over the weekend, our parks and malls have filled with Pokemon hunters. Gamers continue to play and visit our malls despite the rains,” said head of marketing at Ayala Malls Maricris Bernardino, who cited the malls’ outdoor spaces for adding “excitement [to the hunt], as several unique Pokemon monsters were found in the gardens and parks.”

SM Supermalls senior vice president Steven Tan said as much: “Our malls are favorite hunting grounds for Pokemon Go trainers as we have a lot of sightings. It’s also a safe place to go and play this game.”

Within the SM chain, North Edsa, Megamall and Mall of

Asia have seen the most significant increase in foot traffic given the number of Pokemon character sightings and numerous “Pokestops” and “gyms” located there, Tan said, referring to landmarks that a player must visit to catch a Pokemon, and the place where advanced players can form teams and battle the Pokemon of other trainers.

“very AB phenomenon,” and has yet to create ripples in the provinces, he said. In some places as well, it is not as welcome, he added, citing “universities, schools or even banks [where] there could be a disruption.”

Telcos benefit

‘Lure’ parties

SM hosted on Friday night a nationwide Pokemon Go “lure” party across its 50 SM Supermalls and SMDC Properties, with each mall offering different kinds of freebies, Pokemon face painting and instant prizes.

But Robinsons Malls was the first to announce giveaways of gift certificates in the wake of the app launch, the mall’s marketing director Eunice Gonzalez said, adding Robinsons “had been anticipating the arrival of (the game) in the Philippines.”

Some of the identified gyms and Pokestops were found in Robinsons Galleria, Robinsons Magnolia, Forum Robinsons, Robinsons Place Iloilo and Robinsons Place Butuan.

Similarly, Eastwood City’s daily average foot traffic more than doubled last week due to the launch of the mobile game sensation, said Harold Brian Geronimo, assistant vice president at Megaworld Corp. He noted that Eastwood City had 19 Pokestops, with more than

SM Mall of Asia.

20 kinds of Pokemons sighted in the area. Foot traffic was also higher last week at McKinley Hill, Burgos Circle and Venice Piazza, Geronimo said, adding that the effect was felt mostly on dining sales.

Technopreneur Nix Nolledo, who chairs technology firm Xurpas Inc. which also develops mobile games, said Pokemon Go developer Niantic Labs had a very interesting approach to the game, given that it doesn’t use too much telco data and relies mainly on GPS. “[The Niantic guys] are very good in what they do with location-based type of data. That capability—augmented reality—has been a capability of smartphones for a long time.

It’s just that Niantic was the first to create a global application that works,” Nolledo said.

ROBERTO VERZO / FLICKR

Augmented reality is a technology that combines the real world with digital information and media, such as overlaying 3D models and videos of Pokemons in smartphones on a realtime basis.

Xurpas is happy about how Niantic—through Pokemon Go—had created awareness of mobile games. At present, Xurpas’ consumer applications are still reliant on internet data but this could change soon. “We’re looking at how best we can use the GPS chip in your phone as a way to generate value for the user,” Nolledo said.

Retailers are expected to benefit most from the mobile gaming sensation, as “Pokestops can be a very, very strong advertising platform if you’re a retailer,” Nolledo said.

But Pokemon Go remains a

Ramon Isberto, public affairs group head of telecom giant PLDT, said telecom firms also benefit from this mobile app through greater data usage. “Pokemon Go expands the space of games on the mobile phone,” he said.

PLDT’s wireless arm Smart Communications has offered unlimited data for Pokemon Go for seven days starting Aug. 8.

Yesterday, PLDT chair Manny Pangilinan announced that the Free Pokemon Go for all Smart and TNT subscribers would be back from Aug.14 to Sept. 15.

“You asked, we listened ... No catch, no fine print,” Pangilinan said in a tweet message.

It has also tied up with SM to offer unlimited Pokemon Go data usage for its lure party.

Globe Telecom has also offered seven days of free mobile access to the game for Globe and TM subscribers. At the lure party held at Ayala Malls during the weekend, Ayala Malls teamed with with Globe, through Switch, which is exclusively launching free access to the game for one month at Ayala Malls’ lure parties. ■

Gov’t, MILF sit down in KL to hammer out peace plan

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer NEGOTIATING PANELS of the government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) began yesterday a new round of talks in Kuala Lumpur to launch what they called the “implementation phase” of the peace process.

Chief peace negotiator Jesus Dureza said this underscored the Duterte administration’s commitment to honor the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB) signed two years ago during the term of President Benigno Aquino III, and to develop it further into a more inclusive enabling law that

can pass muster in Congress.

An earlier draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law was rejected by the previous Congress due to what lawmakers said were its many “unconstitutional” provisions.

“This [meeting] is actually to launch the implementation stage of what we envisioned to be a Bangsamoro enabling law.

It is to implement the CAB that was signed between the government and the MILF in 2014,” Dureza said last week.

The meeting is expected to focus on the mechanism that would determine how a new Bangsamoro law would be crafted. It is also expected to tackle key provisions of the CAB that could already be im-

plemented, such as the delivery of socioeconomic development programs in Mindanao.

Under the Duterte administration’s peace road map, all Bangsamoro peace agreements, including those with the Moro National Liberation Front (1996), would be integrated into the new enabling law that will create a new Bangsamoro government unit, Dureza said.

In attendance at the launch in Malaysia were members of Congress, including Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who was tasked with studying and approving the proposed Bangsamoro law before it is submitted to the new Congress.

Lawmakers present

Dureza said the congressiowww.canadianinquirer.net

nal leaders would help ensure that the new Bangsamoro enabling law would be in sync with the proposed shift to a federal government.

“In fact, we are envisioning that the new Bangsamoro government entity can be the pilot of a federal state that embodies meaningful autonomy. With their support, we have no doubt we will see an early enactment of an inclusive Bangsamoro enabling law,” Dureza said in a statement.

He said the seriousness of the Duterte government in pursuing peace with Muslim rebels was attested to by the attendance of so many lawmakers and officials during the launch.

“By being present on day one, we are assured that the execu-

tive and the legislative branches are both on the same page as we implement our peace agreements,” he said.

MILF optimistic

MILF chair Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said efforts to end the fighting in Mindanao must be done now and not be put off for later.

“There must be a final closure to this cycle of conflict in Mindanao. The time to do it is now, not later,” Murad said in remarks made in Kuala Lumpur, aired live over Philippine television.

Murad said that despite obstacles, both sides have reached “remarkable milestones” and their previous efforts have not been wasted. ■

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Philippine News

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Reds condemn hero’s burial for Marcos, call Duterte ‘bull-headed’

BY KATHERINE PADILLA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES — “Duterte is bull-headed with his decision to give Marcos a hero’s burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani,” the Communist Party of the Philippines said on Saturday in a statement condemning the Duterte administration of its plan to give former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr. a hero’s burial. “[He] taunts the people to protest as much as they want in the streets. He reveals his indifference to people’s demands,” the political organization said.

CPP accused President Rodrigo Duterte of being a party to a “Marcosian scheme” that seeks to revise history and make the younger generations overlook Marcos’ “colossal plunder and sale of the country’s patrimony, his debt-borrowing debt spree, his legacy of gross cronyism, his family’s ostentatious lifestyle built upon the poverty

of the people, and his martial law’s massacre of freedom and democracy.”

“By further ordering that Marcos be accorded military honours befitting a former head of state, Duterte is virtually deleting Marcos’ bloody record as a military despot and the fascist violence, human rights violation, corruption and economic hardships he made the Filipino people suffer through 14 years of dictatorship,” CPP added.

CPP also called out on Duterte’s extreme insensitivity to the sensibilities of Martial Law’s survivors, victims, and their families.

“He insults the memory of thousands of patriotic Filipinos from all walks of life who gave up their lives at the prime of their youth to fight for the dictatorship’s overthrow,” CPP said.

“The revolutionary forces continue to stand against the political restoration of the Marcoses and demand that they be

made to pay for all the crimes against the Filipino people,” the political organization said.

It can be remembered that Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, CPP’s founder, said in June that Marcos can be buried at LNMB despite being a “fake soldier for a long time” because he was a soldier who fought in the Battle of Bataan during Imperial Japan’s invasion of the Philippines in World War II. However, Sison stressed that he sympathizes with people who are against the interment of Marcos at LNMB due to the presumption that it is a cemetery for heroes.

Despite protests against a hero’s burial for Marcos, the Armed Forces of the Philippines on August 10 formally received the directive for the internment of Marcos’ remains at LNMB. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., son of the former president, is “deeply grateful” to Duterte for allowing a hero’s burial for his father.

Libingan ng mga Bayani.

“It has always been our family’s position that it is our father’s right under the law to be buried there being a soldier and a former President of this country,” the young Marcos said.

“It is this kind of pronouncement that we hope could end the decades of divisiveness that

JSINGLADOR / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

have been imposed upon us by our leaders. We would like to thank President Duterte for this kind, rightful and healing gesture,” he added.

Marcos is to be buried at LNMB on September 18, a week after his birthday, according to the wishes of his family. ■

Mamasapano drove a wedge between Christians, Muslims in social media, says US report

BY JULIE M. AURELIO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE BRUTAL deaths last year of 44 Special Action Force officers in the hands of Muslim rebels in the Mamasapano, in Mindanao, led to a degree of mistrust between Christians and Muslims as reflected in social media, according to a US Department of State report.

In its 2015 International Religious Freedom Report, the state department cited the January 2015 incident as serving to boost anti-Muslim sentiment in the mostly Christian country.

Apart from the slain officers, also killed in the clash were more than 20 Muslim rebels and civilians, as well as Zulkilfi bin Hir, alias Marwan, a foreign bomb-making expert who was the original target of the ill-fated operation.

“Observers stated the con-

troversy surrounding the Jan. 25, 2015, Mamasapano incident… caused distrust between Muslims and Christians to resurface in social media, online commentary and public statements,” the report said.

The report is carried out every year by the state department’s Office of International Religious Freedom in about 199 countries. It is headed by Ambassador-at-Large David Saperstein.

A video that found its way to the public showing one of the 44 being shot twice at close range “spread very quickly on social media,” although at the time it was circulated, the full context was not verified, it said.

Its release, coupled with gory photos that came out after the attack “showed the increasing strain in relations between Muslims and Christians,” the report said.

The report noted the obser-

vation of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility that press reporting on the video “used loaded language” that served to boost “already high levels of anti-Muslim sentiments.”

Delayed BBL passage

It said the Mamasapano incident also significantly delayed the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law which, among others, would have led to an expanded Muslim autonomous region in the south.

The ill-fated operation was heavily criticized for the SAF’s lack of coordination with the military, and for the role that ex-Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima played.

Purisima knew of the operation even though he was serving a six-month suspension, while then Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and then acting PNP chief Leonardo Espina testified www.canadianinquirer.net

in a Senate inquiry that they were left in the dark.

The Philippines’ 100 million population is predominantly Roman Catholic at 81 percent, with 9 percent belonging to other Christian groups, and 6 percent Muslim.

The US Department of State noted the Philippine Constitution provides for the free exercise of religious worship and bars the establishment of religion by law.

‘Discrimination instances’

Despite this, there were “instances of discrimination in economic opportunities and public statements—via the internet and social media—denigrating the beliefs or practices of particular religious groups, particularly Muslims, or nonbelievers.”

Citing religious scholars, the document said there were reports of tension between different reli-

gious and ethnic groups, especially in conflict-affected areas.

“Some Christians in the southern part of the country expressed fear that if the BBL were passed, it would exacerbate religious tensions and allow Muslim leaders to impose sharia (law) on the Christian minority,” it said.

The Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches said some former Muslims who converted to Christianity faced verbal abuse and mockery from their families and communities.

Others feared that revealing their new religion would result in being beaten, disowned or isolated from their communities, the report said.

The US state department also cited the participation of religious communities in “interreligious efforts” to alleviate the friction and address discrimination. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

China welcomes... and explore resources in waters within its 370kilometer exclusive economic zone in the strategic waterway.

Ramos, speaking in Hong Kong near the end of a two-day trip undertaken to rekindle Philippine ties with China, said he had met with two Chinese officials and they had discussed the need to build trust and confidence to reduce tensions in the South China Sea through talks.

A longtime advocate of closer Philippine-Chinese ties, Ramos said he had discussions with Fu Ying, chair of the foreign affairs committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s communist-controlled legislature. Fu Ying is a former ambassador to the Philippines. ❰❰ 1

round of discussions soon.

“As to where this will take place, we don’t know yet. We have to go back to Manila to find out the latest developments on the official side,” he said and suggested another negotiator might take his place.

There would be ample opportunities for talks between the two governments at a series of upcoming international gatherings, he added.

Panatag Shoal

Philippine-Chinese relations have frayed in recent years due to tensions over Beijing’s claims to almost all of the 3.5-million-squarekilometer South China Sea. The Philippines brought the action Formal discussions against China in 2013 after Beijing seized Ramos said he also had discussions Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), a with Wu Shichun, president of China’s traditional fishing ground for Filipino National Institute of South China Sea fishermen off Zambales province, after Studies. a two-month maritime standoff in 2012.

The two Chinese officials met with Insisting it had “undisputed soverRamos in Hong Kong in their private ca- eignty” over the South China Sea, China pacity, according to a statement released refused to take part in the proceedings

by Malacañang. and rejected the triA statement signed bunal’s ruling, calling

by Ramos, Fu Ying it “waste paper.” and Wu described Besides the Philipthe meeting as beWe have to pines, Brunei, Matween “old friends” go back to laysia and Vietnam and had taken place Manila to find also have overlapping “in a friendly atmoout the latest claims in the South sphere.” developments China Sea. They stand Ramos “expressed on the official to benefit from the trithe Philippine govside. bunal’s ruling should ernment’s desire to they decide to bring hold formal discustheir disputes with sions with the ChiChina to the court. nese government on issues of mutual The South China Sea is crisscrossed concern and interest at the appropriate by sea-lanes through which $5 trillion in time to explore pathways to peace and shipborne global trade passes every year. cooperation,” the statement said.

It is dotted by islets, reefs and atolls “They explored possible human and that are believed to be sitting atop vast ecological security options and sugges- oil and gas reserves. tions for the benefit of their people,” Malacañang said in its own statement.

Militarization The discussions covered avoiding tenTo bolster its claims, China has built sions and promoting fishing coopera- artificial islands on seven of the reefs in tion, encouraging marine preservation, the Spratly archipelago, topping some of cooperation in the fight against drugs, them with runways, radar towers, hancrime and corruption, and encouraging gars and bunkers that can be used for think tank exchanges on issues of mutu- military operations. al concern and interest, the Palace said.

On Wednesday, it launched a satellite to protect its interests in the South Fishing rights China Sea. Ramos told reporters in Hong Kong Responding to China’s militarization that he, Fu Ying and Wu did not discuss of the area, Vietnam has deployed new territorial disputes in the South Chi- mobile rockets to several of its islands in na Sea, but talked about fishing rights the area. there.

The United States, a defense treaty Their joint statement said they “dis- ally of the Philippines, has challenged cussed, in their private capacity, the way China’s excessive claims with freedom forward in the spirit of universal broth- of navigation operations near the artierhood and sisterhood for peace and co- ficial islands Beijing has built in the disoperation between the two countries.” puted waters.

It added that all parties “looked forWashington, however, has called on ward” to the start of formal talks, which it the claimants to avoid actions that build said would be held in Beijing and Manila. tensions and take steps toward a peaceRamos said there would be a second ful resolution of the disputes. ■

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Minority lawmakers say line item budgeting is constitutional PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — Lawmakers from the minority bloc at the House of Representatives said on Tuesday that the line item budgeting is constitutional amid rumors that the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) has been revived in the proposed 2017 national budget.

In a press conference, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman stressed that the Supreme Court’s ruling on the PDAF does not prohibit lawmakers from submitting a list of infrastructure projects and medical, educational, and financial assistance to be included in next year’s budget.

He, however, noted that the post-budget enactment intervention is what the SC ruling disallows. Examples of this violation are realignment requests and belated identification of projects.

In 2013, the SC struck down the legitimacy of PDAF as a pork barrel system that creates a budgeting scheme in

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which items are not “textualized into appropriations bill.”

“After the approval of the GAA (General Appropriations Act), no member from the Congress can have a post-approval intervention,” Lagman said.

He said that the ceiling for infrastructure projects is PHP50 million, while the cap for soft projects is pegged at PHP30 million.

Lagman said that the lawmakers will have no part in the implementation phase since these projects will be forwarded to the various implementing agencies concerned.

For his part, Akbayan Party-list Rep. Tomasito Villarin said line-budgeting is essential to craft a national budget that is responsive to the “needs of the Filipino people and also regain the trust of the Filipinos in the government.”

Villarin assured that the House minority will do its part to scrutinize the proposed budget for possible lump sum appropriations in order to boost transparency. ■

Philippine News

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AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Doubts linger over initial account of fatal jail blast Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer, Inc. Correspondents Jane Moraleda Socorro Newland Bolet Arevalo Katherine Padilla Gerna Lane Sotana Community Editor Mary Ann Mandap maryann.mandap@canadianinquirer.net Administration Head Victoria Yong Graphic Designer Shanice Garcia Photographers Angelo Siglos Vic Vargas For photo submissions, please send to editor@canadianinquirer.net Operations and Marketing Head Laarni Liwanag (604) 551-3360 laarni.liwanag@canadianinquirer.net Advertising Sales Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net Nelson Wu (647) 521-5155 salestoronto@canadianinquirer.net nelson.wu@canadianinquirer.net Amelia Insigne (416) 574-5121 amelia.insigne@canadianinquirer.net Antonio Tampos (604) 460-9414 antonio. tampos@canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Editorial Assistant Christelle Tolisora Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition Philippine Canadian Inquirer is located at 11951 Hammersmith Way, Suite 108 Richmond, B.C. V7A 5H9 Canada Tel. No.: +1 (888) 668-6059, +1 (778) 889-3518 | Email: info@canadianinquirer.net, sales@ canadianinquirer.net Philippine Canadian Inquirer is published weekly every Friday.

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CBCP exec calls for independent probe

BY KRISTINE FELISSE MANGUNAY Philippine Daily Inquirer AMID CHURCH-BACKED calls for an independent probe of the explosion that killed 10 inmates inside the warden’s office of Parañaque City jail, their families continued to raise doubts over what the police had so far said about how the detainees died.

In a phone interview on Saturday, a female relative of Waren Manampen, one of the fatalities, said his corpse was in a “pitiful” condition and showed signs of “torture” when turned over to their family.

“One foot was gone. How did that happen? And he had two bullet holes in the back. Why in the back?” said the relative, who had just attended Manampen’s burial in Maguindanao province. She asked not to be identified in this report for security reasons.

Manampen was one of the “high-profile” inmates who died in the July 11 incident, which also wounded the jail warden, Supt. Gerald Bantag. Eight of the inmates, including two Chinese nationals, were facing drug-related charges.

First police statements

The day after the blast, the Parañaque police chief, Senior Supt. Jose Carumba, said that based on Bantag’s initial account, the inmates came to his office Thursday night for a dialogue apparently regarding his plan to transfer them to other cells and search the jail for contraband.

The warden, Carumba said, was brushing his teeth at the office bathroom when he heard a commotion and a gunshot at the receiving area, prompting him to reach for his pistol. As the inmates “kept firing” at Bantag, an exchange of gunfire ensued—and that’s when a grenade exploded.

Saying an Uzi submachine gun was later recovered from the inmates, Carumba raised the possibility that they were planning to escape or take Bantag hostage that night.

But according to Manampen’s relative, it was practically impossible for the inmates to smuggle high-power firearms into the jail due to the tight security. “I have been there twice to visit him. The jail guards really frisk you to the point that you’re almost naked. I don’t believe the weapons belonged to the inmates.”

It was also odd to say that the group who met with the Bantag had plans to escape because, hours before the incident, Manampen sent her a text message ask-

An explosion killed 10 inmates inside the warden’s office of Parañaque City jail.

SCREENSHOT FROM GOOGLE MAPS

ing her to bring him some clothes when she visits him again on Sunday.

“Why would he even bother to text (such a request) if he had plans of escaping?” she said.

According to her, a week before Manampen’s death, she received an anonymous text message that her relative had been “suffering” in the jail (nahihirapan sa loob).” She texted back to ask what the message meant, but the reply offered no further explanation.

Skeptical widow

“It really bothers me. It makes me believe they were killed and tortured. I just know it,” she told the INQUIRER. But seeking justice now may be a futile exercise “because we are poor,” she said.

Meanwhile, the widow of Jonathan Ilas, another inmate who died, believes that their deaths were “planned.” “There was no riot or whatever it is they are saying,” Cristina said in a TV interview, adding that it was hard for her to accept police statements that the inmates died on the spot.

She also noted that Bantag, who was said to be alone at the office when the inmates came to see him, merely sustained injuries and was rushed to the hospital for treatment.

An official of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has called for an in-depth investigation, saying the Commission on Human Rights should be involved in an independent probe.

“We cannot just simply rely on the in-house investigation being conducted by the police or the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. Let the CHR initially look into it,” said Rudy Diamante, executive secretary of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission on Prison and Pastoral Care.

Carumba on Saturday gave assurance that there would be no whitewash in the

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probe conducted by the local police, saying that all angles—including suspicions that the inmates were summarily executed—were being looked into.

Jail guards’ accounts

“So far though, no one has surfaced to tell us something about that,” he said, adding that only two jail guards have given statements to the police.

He was referring to Senior Jail Officer 2 Ricardo Zulueta, who said it was he who told Bantag that the inmates wanted to talk to him, and JO2 Victor Erick Pascua, who said he and Bantag were in the warden’s office when Zulueta came in to relay the inmates’ request.

Zulueta said he was the one who also picked up the 10 inmates from their cells and brought them to the warden’s office—and admitted that he did not frisk any of them. After bringing them to the office, he said, he stepped outside and went to the gate for a smoke.

Pascua, on the other hand, recalled last seeing the inmates alive when they were gathered in front of the warden’s table. He had just taken about 10 steps from the office and was walking on the hallway when he heard a series of loud thuds.

This was followed by several gunshots and then a loud explosion. “I heard the warden shout, ‘Erick, help!’ So I approached slowly but someone took a shot at me.” Pascua said this prompted him to fire back.

He said he did not see who fired at him in the thick smoke but could only make out that the shooter was wearing yellow.

He said the shootings ceased after several minutes.

Like Zulueta, Pascua admitted he did not frisk the inmates when they entered the office.

But he said there had been many instances in the past when the warden let inmates into his office with no other jail officer around. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

SAF mothers sue P-Noy, et al.

BY GIL CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer

a corruption case.

The mothers also blamed Napeñas, who was in control of the ground operations, saying he relied too much on Purisima’s verbal commitment to arrange the needed military backup when the SAF troopers were surrounded by Muslim separatist rebels in a cornfield in Mamasapano.

THREE MOTHERS of Special Action Force (SAF) troopers who died in the Mamasapano bloodbath have filed a complaint in the Ombudsman blaming former President Benigno Aquino III and his handpicked tactical commanders for the death of their sons in the botched police Still painful mission to capture a Malaysian More than 18 months after terrorist last year. their deaths, the SAF mothThe three complainants were ers said they were still going Telly Sumbilla, mother of PO3 through the pain of losing their John Lloyd Sumbilla; Helen sons due to a failure in tactical Ramacula, mother of PO2 Rodel leadership.

Ramacula, and Lorna Sagonoy, Sagonoy, whose son was the mother of PO1 Joseph Sagonoy. subject of a viral video where This is the third case filed he was shown being shot pointagainst Aquino, former PNP blank, said she was looking for chief Director General Alan Puri- justice and not compensation sima, and former SAF Director which the previous administraGetulio P. Napeñas since a new tion had given them. administration Sumbillo, took over on June whose son’s arms 30. The three were cut and his were identified eyes gouged out, as those in charge They were said she continof a secret misjust following ued to be hauntsion to capture a Aquino’s ed by the grisly Malaysian terrororders, but death of her son ist in the remote they were in her dreams. village of Mamaneglected.

“Even though sapano in Maguwe come from indanao province the mountains, on Jan. 25, 2015, we know why that ended in the they were killed. death of 44 SAF troopers.

They were just following AquiJust like the first two cases, no’s orders, but they were nethe third Mamasapano-related glected. The government did complaint charged Aquino, not even send out a single chopPurisima and Napeñas with per,” said Sumbillo in an emoreckless imprudence resulting tional interview with reporters. in multiple homicide.

The SAF relatives who filed In their complaint, the three the previous two complaints mothers said: “It would serve were Erlinda Allaga, mother well our country and its people of PO3 Robert Allaga; Warlito for a formal criminal inquiry Mejia, father of PO2 Ephraim to be made in court against the Mejia; Julie Faustino Danao, respondents, to make the ham- mother of PO2 Walner Danao; mer fall where it may and mete Celestino Kiangan, father of justice for the deaths of the 44 PO2 Noble Kiangan, and Fepatriots whose names are writ- lecitas Nacino, mother of PO2 ten above and in the the hearts Nicky Nacino. All three comof every Filipino who has plaints were facilitated by the grieved not only for the loss of Volunteers Against Crime and the said police offices but also Corruption. for the loss of decent leadership According to investigators, for the last six years.” the Mamasapano police operaThey said it was “criminally tion was apparently not coorimprudent and evince[d] lack dinated with the military or of foresight” for Aquino to en- the secessionist Moro Islamic trust the planning of Oplan Liberation Front (MILF), with Exodus to Purisima, who was whom the government had a then suspended from office for standing ceasefire agreement. ■

9

Sen. Aquino ‘happy’ to hear Palace will respect SC decision on FM’s burial at Libingan PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — Hopeful that the Supreme Court will come out with a favorable decision to stop the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani, Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino on Tuesday said that it was welcome news that the Palace has agreed to comply with the higher court.

“I’m happy to hear from Malacanang that they will follow what the Supreme Court will decide. We’re hoping that the Supreme Court can step in and provide clarification,” Aquino told reporters in a press conference.

“Of course, at the end of the day, it will be the Supreme Court to decide. We are one with all petitioners who want to seek clarification (on the issue),” he added.

Aquino’s statement came after martial law victims, led by former Bayan Muna partylist representatives Satur Ocampo and Neri Colmenares, on Monday sought a temporary

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restraining order (TRO) to disallow the Marcos’ burial at the Libingan next month.

In a 30-page petition, petitioners argued that the burial was contradictory or inconsistent with another law — Republic Act 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act of 2013 — which recognized the plight of the victims of human rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship.

“Of course, we also know about the human rights abuses.

For me, there’s enough proof already to show the exemptions — who are allowed to be buried and who should be exempted,” Aquino said.

The incumbent senator, said that while he too would respect whatever decision the Supreme Court would come out with, he believed that the people have spoken and have shown enough anger and disgust.

Aquino said that there would be even more petitions and other activities organized to block Macros’ burial in the coming days.

He pointed out that while half of Filipinos agree that

Marcos should be buried at the Libingan according to the Social Weather Station survey released last March, this was only a sign that groups should work twice as hard to reteach Philippine history.

“We should exert double the effort and double the time to explain to people what really happened during the Martial Law and why we are against this,” Aquino said.

Aquino earlier filed a resolution calling for an inquiry to determine the status of education on Martial Law in basic and tertiary education.

Under Senate Resolution No. 29., Aquino, who is also chairman of the Committee on Education, stressed that the younger generations “should be made aware of the horrors of Martial Law.” “History has made it clear.

Over 70,000 people were jailed, over 30,000 people were tortured and over 3,000 were killed. Ninoy Aquino is only one of them,” Aquino said.

“This is not just a fight of the Aquinos, many Filipinos were inconvenienced by this,” he added. ■

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Philippine News

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Pacquiao to PSC: Nurture our Pinoys win athletes’ talents; end corruption medals in 2 China

math Olympiads

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippines News Agency MANILA — On his first committee hearing as Chairman, Senator Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao on Tuesday urged the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) to nurture the talents of Filipino athletes and end corruption within the committee.

Pacquiao, Chair of the Senate Committee on Sports, asked PSC Commissioner William “Butch” Ramirez to present the agency’s grassroots sports program and suggested ways to enhance it such as training athletes at a young age.

“If there is talent there, nurture him. After he graduates from school, continue nurturing him. When the time comes, we will be collecting medals,” Pacquiao said in Filipino.)

Ramirez for his part reiterated his plan to create a masterplan that will allow the committee to build more sports training facilities and provide athletes with the best coaches, dieticians and physicians.

He said that he targeted the completion of the masterplan before September.

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY

PNA PHOTO

The boxer-senator meanwhile urged Ramirez to put an end to corrupt practices within the committee, especially if it would directly affect the athletes.

Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara for his part, urged the committee to establish a Philippine sports museum to exhibit significant achievements of legendary Filipino athletes.

“Our generation knows the story of Hidilyn Diaz but in 20 years’ time, future generations might forget it,” Angara referring to the Olympian silver-

medalist weightlifter.

“We should institute a sports museum so that Hidilyn and other legendary Filipino athletes will not be forgotten,” the senator, who is also vice chair to the Committee on Sports, added.

Also present during the hearing, Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian mentioned how it was a “rare opportunity” that senate chairman on sports is from the grassroots.

He meanwhile urged the PSC to “get their acts together” especially now that a sports champion is in the senate. ■

MANILA — Filipino students continued their winning streak abroad by bringing home medals from two math Olympiads in China.

The Philippine teams won one silver and three bronze medals at the 15th China Girls Mathematical Olympiad (CGMO) in Beijing, and one silver and four bronze medals at the China Southeast Mathematical Olympiad (CSMO) in Jiangxi, two of the toughest math contests in China.

In the CGMO, held from August 10 to 14, Tiffany Mae Ong, a Grade 11 student of British School Manila, won the country’s silver medal.

Bagging bronze medals were Grade 10 students Angelika Joie Tagupa of Philippine Science High School-Main, Natalia Beatrice Dy of St. John’s Institute in Bacolod City, and Jinger Chong of St. Jude Catholic School, according to Dr. Isidro Aguilar of the Mathematics Trainers

Guild-Philippines (MTG).

The students were accompanied by team leader Hazel Shi, and deputy team leader Sioc Bee Azajar, MTG Naga center coordinator and principal of Naga Hope Christian School.

Joining the contest were teams from the US, Russia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia, Taiwan, Philippines and China.

On the other hand, Matthew Angelo Isidro of St. Jude Catholic School took home a silver medal in the CSMO, said team leader James Kevin Martin.

Winning bronze medals were Vince Jan Torres of Sta. Rosa Science and Technology High School; Sean Anderson Ty, Zamboanga Chong Hua High School; Elijamin Wolfgang Claveria, Philippine Science High School-Main; and Vicente Raphael Chan, Zamboanga Chong Hua High School.

Countries and territories that competed in the contest were China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Mongolia, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Singapore and Thailand. ■

All systems go for talks; Tiamzons granted bail

BY KRISTINE FELISSE MANGUNAY Philippine Daily Inquirer IT’S ALL systems go for three National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) consultants facing criminal charges to participate in peace talks in Norway later this month, while three others may well be on their way as well.

Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 Judge Thelma BunyiMedina granted on Friday the urgent motions for the issuance of a court order allowing Satur Ocampo and Randall Echanis to travel to the Netherlands and Norway “on Aug. 16 to Sept.

4.” The two are facing multiple murder charges in connection with the discovery of a mass grave in Leyte province in 2006.

She also granted coaccused

Rafael Baylosis’ petition to participate in the peace talks in Oslo, Norway, on Aug. 20 to 27.

Medina made the decision after she reinstated bail at P150,000 for Baylosis, who surfaced earlier in the day at her court and was finally arraigned on multiple murder charges.

Baylosis had forfeited a P100,000 bail earlier set by the Supreme Court after he skipped his arraignment in July 2015 allegedly due to “intense surveillance and reports of threats to him and his family,” according to Edre Olalia of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers that represents him.

Although Medina also granted the urgent motion for release on bail filed by coaccused Wilma and Benito Tiamzon, and Adelberto Silva, their lawyer Rachel Pastores said they still had urgent motions pend-

ing in other courts.

Medina set bail for the Tiamzons and Silva at P100,000, and allowed them to join the talks in Norway.

No ceasefire

The talks are aimed at ending one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies that began in 1969, left hundreds dead and stunted economic prospects in the countryside. The NDFP is the political arm of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed unit, the New People’s Army (NPA).

The talks have often bogged down in the past with the rebels’ demand to free jailed colleagues, but President Duterte—a former student of CPP founder Jose Maria Sison—initiated the resumption of the negotiations shortly after he won the elections in May. But the President angrily lifted a www.canadianinquirer.net

unilateral ceasefire just days after it came into effect, after a progovernment militiaman was killed in an NPA attack in the south.

Medina noted in her fourpage order that the prosecution had no objection to temporarily free the accused, and stressed that her order was “pursuant to the government’s intent to enter into a peace agreement with the organization they represent.”

She said all six were permitted to travel subject to the conditions imposed by the Department of Justice in an Aug. 9 memorandum that said the release would be only “for the purpose of their attendance and participation in the formal peace negotiations ... and until the duration of the peace negotiations.”

The court also ordered the communist peace consultants to provide their complete contact information both in the

Philippines and abroad. They were also ordered to return home after the talks and to report to the Philippine Embassy “whenever required.”

“Also, they are ordered to submit to this court within 10 days from their arrival a written report as regards the outcome of said negotiations and discussions,” Medina said.

Medina, however, said she denied the consultants’ request to remove their names from the government watch list, hold-departure order, lookout bulletin order or any similar document “as their travel abroad shall be granted (on a) per request basis.”

She also denied the Tiamzons’ and Silva’s petitions for bail to be applied to other courts where they had pending cases because the court “obviously lacks jurisdiction” over these. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

11

BSP turns down DFA offer to undertake new e-passport system PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has turned down an offer from the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2014 to undertake an upgraded and state-of-the-art e-Passport system project, prompting DFA to turn to another governmentauthorized printer for the delicate printing task, a letter seen

by PNA said.

On Feb. 24, 2014, the DFA, through then Undersecretary for Special Concerns Rafael Seguis, has conveyed to the BSP its plan to acquire a new and modern system to meet the increasing e-passport demands and to upgrade its quality and efficiency.

The DFA inquired with the BSP if it was interested to provide the new e-passport service, but BSP Deputy Governor Vicente Aquino, in his reply to Seguis’ letter on March 6, 2014, declined the agency’s offer.

“While we appreciate your trust in the BSP, we regret to inform you that the BSP is not interested in providing the service and the new e-Passport system which the DFA intends to acquire,” Aquino’s letter said.

Under the old system, the BSP prints the passports while French company Oberthur Technologies provides maintenance and repair under an agreement with the BSP. The DFA faced problems because the old printing machines have not been upgraded since they were installed in 2009, the year the Philippine e-Passports were introduced.

In time, the old system developed glitches and suffered from slowdowns, causing production delays and compromising the system’s security.

After the agreement between the BSP and Oberthur was terminated, the DFA sought an agency to agency agreement and negotiated with APO Production Unit, Inc. for the printing work.

APO is a government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) under the Office of the Presidential Communications Operations Office. It’s one of the three recognized government printers, along with BSP and the National Printing Office.

Under the old system, the BSP prints the passports (pictured) while French company Oberthur Technologies provides The DFA’s decision to switch maintenance and repair under an agreement with the BSP. to APO has met criticisms, insinuated irregularities and The DFA issues a staggerForeign Affairs spokesman roughly 500 booklets an hour. prodded the filing of a graft ing 10,000 passports daily or Charles Jose said no agreement Despite the improvements, case former Foreign Affairs 3 million passports a year, but was signed with APO’s subcon- Jose said passports would reSecretary Albert Del Rosario that huge demand still balloons tractor. main at the current Php 950 and several other individuals to 25,000 per day during the “The agreement was be- price tag each for regular proat the DFA before the Office of peak travel seasons like in the tween the DFA and APO. And cessing and Php 1,200 for exthe Ombudsman by anti-cor- Christmas season and the sum- the agreement was for APO to press processing. ruption watchdog, Anti-Trapo mer holidays. provide the efficient delivery of Jose said the new passports, Movement (ATM). Del Rosario APO, Del Rosario said, was the passports,” he said in a tele- with added security features was DFA Chief from 2011 to the only government printer phone interview. and a new design, began rolling March 2016. that accepted the DFA’s proWith regard to the cost of out on Aug. 15.

Del Rosario denied any posal. the new passport under the Aside from aesthetics, the wrongdoing, saying there was “The DFA contracted APO new system, Del Rosario cited most important improvements nothing anomalous with the as a registered government NEDA’s letter highlighting that focused on the new passport’s deal as it was vet“the unit cost es- security features. ted by key govtimates of APO The new passports, for exernment agenare lower than ample, uses intaglio or emcies before the the prevailing bossed printing – a technology 10-year contract The DFA issues a staggering 10,000 current price per similar to what is being used on with APO was passports daily or 3 million passports passport book- banknotes and is hard to fake. signed in Octoa year, but that huge demand still let, and much Other security markings ber 2015. balloons to 25,000 per day during lower than the were not divulged by the DFA The deal, Del the peak travel seasons like in the passport appli- for security reasons.

Rosario said, Christmas season and the summer cation rates of As specified by the DFA, APO was approved by holidays. member of the also upgraded the feature on the Presidential Association of the lamination of the data page.

CommunicaSouth East Asian The transparent lamination tions Operations Nations.” material goes on top of the page Office, National Economic De- printer as prescribed by existAt the heart of the new print- and applied with an adhesive to velopment Authority, Chief ing laws and regulations at the ing system are four new ma- protect the data page from tamPresidential Legal Counsel, De- time,” he said in an email. chines from the Netherlands pering. partment of Budget and ManDel Rosario also said the DFA in a high-security governThe new passports, meanagement and the Department has nothing to do with APO’s ment printing complex at the while, will retain the same of Science and Technology. outsourcing of the printing job 485-hectare Lima Technology booklet covers and design Since the old system cannot to UGEC, which is being ques- Center in Lipa City, Batangas. maroon for regular passport handle the huge passport de- tioned by some groups.

The new machines can churn holders, red for government mand anymore, he said the DFA “The Department’s contract out passports 10 times fast- employees traveling on official had to act fast. was with APO only,” he said. er than the old machines or trips and blue for diplomats. ■

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12

Philippine News

AUGUST 19, 2016

Metro, 8 provinces flooded

BY JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer THE ONSLAUGHT of “habagat” (southwest monsoon) in the country that began on Aug. 8 has left at least five people dead and more than 20,000 people in evacuation centers, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) said.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said rains would continue in the next several days, enhanced by a low-pressure area over Batanes province.

Pagasa warned of further possible flash floods and landslides. While the monsoon is expected to ease on Wednesday, moderate to heavy rains are still expected to continue from Wednesday to Friday over Metro Manila and western and southern Luzon.

In its situation report at 8 a.m. yesterday, the NDRRMC said two men died following the collapse of a firewall in Santa Cruz, Manila, last Saturday while another died when a wall collapsed on a shanty in Barangay Mariana, Quezon City, also on Saturday.

The fatalities were unidentified.

The NDRRMC reported two drowning victims last week— Benedicto Brasileno, 68, of Janiuay, Iloilo province, on Wednesday and an unidentified man whose body was recovered at the Nagtahan Pumping Station in Manila last Thursday.

Missing was Reuben Pahilagmo, 59, of Gasan, Marinduque province, who went fishing last Monday. John Harry Ocera, 38, of Antipolo City, Rizal province, was injured by falling boulders in Barangay Dolores, Taytay, also in Rizal, last Friday.

The NDRRMC said flooding hit several areas in eight provinces, mostly in Bulacan, Bataan and Zambales. It said

P7T for infra in next 6 years

BY RONNEL W. DOMINGO Philippine Daily Inquirer

Affected residents of Marikina who stayed at the covered court of H. Bautista Elementary School in Barangay Concepcion Uno, Marikina City.

JOEY O. RAZON / PNA

5,139 families, or 24,225 people, remained in 52 evacuation centers in about 20 towns.

A total of 15,665 families, or about 70,000 people, were affected across the country.

Task force

The Office of Civil DefenseNational Capital Region activated a task force last Saturday to monitor flooding and conduct preemptive evacuations in Markina, Valenzuela, Quezon City and San Juan City.

In Metro Manila, the Marikina River overflowed around 6 a.m. last Saturday, flooding the LRTFVR Road and other streets. The flooding was reported to have subsided by 9 p.m. the same day.

A 12-meter bridge was washed out in Barangay San Jose, Tuy, Batangas province, while a landslide occurred in Barangay Naparing, Dinalupihan, Bataan province.

In Santa Cruz, Occidental Mindoro province, the Pola Spillway overflowed beginning Tuesday, rendering roads impassable to vehicles.

Flooding was reported in Pontevedra, Valladolid, San Enrique and Pulupandan in Negros Occidental province, which led to the evacuation of 50 families.

Funds and food

Low-lying areas of Iloilo City,

the towns of San Remegio and Sibalom in Antique province, and Sultan Mastura in Maguindanao province, were also affected by floods.

The NDRRMC said the Department of Social Welfare and Development had sent about P293 million worth of standby funds and food and nonfood stockpiles to nine regions as of 11 p.m. Saturday.

Vicente Tomazar, a council director, said as of noon yesterday, 4,287 families were staying in public schools and basketball courts in Rizal after fleeing their homes last Friday and Saturday.

In San Mateo, a landslide at Barangay Malanday destroyed four houses but injured no one.

Floods spawned affected 3,679 families (15,067 people) in Pampanga, Bataan, Bulacan and Zambales, and forced 172 families (669 people) to head for the closest chapels, barangay halls and schools since Saturday night, disaster officials said. Some 130 barangays were flooded in the region.

Strong currents in Hermosa, Bataan, washed out shanties, leaving 10 families homeless and three others with damaged houses.

In Pangasinan, floods affected 21 villages in the towns of Santa Barbara and Calasiao, and in Dagupan City. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

THE DUTERTE administration is expected to have spent a total of P7 trillion in infrastructure projects over the next six years, thanks to higher deficit spending, but the country will also have improved its ability to pay back its debt, according to the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

DBM director Rolando U. Toledo last Friday reiterated that Malacañang intended to make room for economic growth by raising the budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the next few years.

Toledo, who is acting chief of the DBM’s fiscal planning and reforms bureau, said such a ratio of over-budget expenses to the value of the domestic economy would be sustainable.

He was speaking at a forum organized by the not-for-profit group Center for Philippine Futuristics Studies and Management Inc., representing Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno, who was invited but was unable to attend.

The new administration’s spending plans reverse the thrust of the Aquino administration to reduce deficit spending by just 2 percent of GDP. Sustaining the deficit at 3 percent “will result to declining a debt-to-GDP ratio with sustained economic growth,” Toledo said.

“By the end of the Duterte administration’s term in 2022, the Filipino people will collectively share in the improved state of public infrastructure in the country and reap the real benefits of economic growth,” he added.

Toledo said that, to support the government’s fiscal sustain-

ability, Malacañang would push for tax reforms—including measures that would offset the spending drive.

He said such measures could cover an expansion of the value-added tax (VAT) base without raising the rate from 12 percent, indexation of the oil excise taxes to inflation and rationalizing fiscal incentives for investors.

A country’s ability to pay back its debt is considered stronger as its obligations, compared to the size of its economy, goes lower.

Toledo said Malacañang was aiming for a debt-to-GDP ratio of 40.9 percent in 2017, which will be further reduced to 35.4 percent in 2022. Last May, then Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said the government’s overall debt as of end2015 amounted to P4.8 trillion, equivalent to 36.3 percent of GDP. Purisima said the ratio was 8 percentage points lower than the 44.3 percent share recorded in 2009. The 2015 figure was also the lowest since the earliest similarly comparable period of 1998, when it stood at 51.1 percent.

According to DBM’s Toledo, public infrastructure spending in 2017 alone would be 5.4 percent of GDP. Diokno himself has been quoted as saying the government planned to spend a record P890 million for hard infrastructure next year.

Toledo said the goal was to “make up for past neglect, to modernize the crumbling infrastructure, to create decent jobs and to propel the economy to a higher, sustainable growth path.” ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

13

CHR to Duterte: Where are charges?

BY GIL CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer THE COMMISSION on Human Rights (CHR) has urged President Duterte to start filing cases against the judges, mayors and police officers he has accused of protecting drug lords.

CHR Chair Jose Luis “Chito” Gascon said that a week after the President had come out with a list of 159 narcopoliticos in public, he had not filed a case in court, which would have provided them a way to defend themselves from his blanket accusation.

“The Constitution establishes a system of justice and rule of law that requires both due process and presumption of innocence guarantees, among others,” Gascon said.

“Thus, when a crime has either been or is alleged to have been committed, law enforcement must conduct an investigation with a view to charging the accused in the proper forum so a hearing could be conducted whereby the evidence would be

President Rodrigo R. Duterte listens to the report of Philippine National Police Chief Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa in a meeting held at the State Dining Room in Malacañang.

KING RODRIGUEZ / PPD / PNA

considered to establish either the guilt or innocence of the same,” Gascon said.

Even the President himself conceded he did not have evidence or cases against the people he named from his list. “It might be true. It might not be true,” said Duterte, who promised to file administrative or criminal cases against those he

named.

But a week after his public expose, the President had yet to file cases against the alleged drug coddlers who had been publicly shamed by the sweeping accusations.

Executive vs judiciary

The President merely ordered the pullout of the body-

guards and cancellation of firearms of the accused mayors while the police were told to report to their mother units, and the judges to report to the Supreme Court.

The President also had a spat with Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno who told the judges he named to wait for an arrest warrant before surren-

dering.

Sereno said the “premature announcement of an informal investigation” on alleged drug links would render “the judge veritably useless in discharging his adjudicative role.”

Gascon has also been the target of the ire of the President, who declared he would ignore Gascon in his fight against illegal drugs.

“I stress once more that this mandate he assumes includes the duty to guarantee human rights for all,” said Gascon.

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat said the President’s failure to follow up his sweeping accusations with cases showed that he was just out on a “witch-hunt” with no specific end goal.

“After naming and causing them embarrassment, next is to file cases, especially when there is strong evidence. If there are no cases filed and no one among these people prosecuted and jailed, then what we had was a witch hunt. Or worse, we momentarily stopped the drug trade but left it open for a resurgence in the future,” said Baguilat. ■

Miracle coming? Bringing lost sheep back to the flock

BY JODEE A. AGONCILLO Philippine Daily Inquirer CALL IT the modern-day parable of the good shepherd bringing the lost sheep back to the flock.

The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) has tapped the Christian group Christ’s Commission Fellowship (CCF) to lead a pilot spiritual rehabilitation program for drug users under the Philippine National Police’s “Oplan Tokhang.”

“Spiritual intervention has been a proven effective approach to help drug users since churches operate more in communities. It has a more longterm effect compared to medical intervention since there’s a support system. The progress of an individual is monitored,” DDB Chair Felipe Rojas Jr. said, adding that the program will be nondenominational and was just one of their many approaches to solve the country’s drug problem.

The 12-session pilot program will be implemented by pastors and leaders of CCFOrtigas headed by senior pastor Peter Tan-chi, and its 60 satellite churches nationwide.

The counseling will start with a group of 5,000 users from Cainta and Pasig this Sunday, said pastor Dan Urquico, head of Simula ng Pagasa Recovery program, CCF’s program for drug users.

Urquico said the 12-session program, which will be facilitated by CCF pastors and its leader, is divided into three parts, with the first four sessions tackling family. “Addiction starts in dysfunction in the family. No matter how often you undergo rehabilitation, if your family is not restored ... when there’s selfishness and chaotic environment, there will not be much change,” he said.

‘Shabu tiangge’

The next four sessions will talk about the drug user, while

the last four will emphasize the need for a community for accountability.

In 2006, Pasig City was known to be the hub of “shabu tiangge” or flea markets—with the drug trade happening near the City Hall. No longer, said Pasig Mayor Robert Eusebio.

“There are no more drug markets here,” he said. “The leaders are all in jail,” he added.

But drug users apparently still abound, according to Pasig Police Chief Senior Supt.

Orlando Yebra Jr. From July 1 to Aug. 6, police knocked on 2,237 houses under its Oplan Tokhang and Double Barrel program in Pasig City. This resulted in the arrest of 21 wanted felons and the surrender of 1,485 drug suspects. From the 71 police operations conducted within the period, 118 were arrested, 5 killed in action while nine cases were being investigated by the police, Yebra said.

Recent data from the DDB showed that about 500,000 of the estimated 3 million drug www.canadianinquirer.net

users in the Philippines have surrendered.

“We need the help of faithbased groups because there’s a void that needs to be filled in the lives of drug users,” Rojas said, adding that the main reasons for substance abuse are family problems, insecurity and peer pressure.

Prayer meetings

“The usual cravings for illegal drugs, according to research, come between 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Now, we give them spiritual feeding during those times; we expose them to the word (of God),” Rojas said.

CCF pastor Urquico, a former drug addict, recalled how attending prayer meetings called Dawn Watch helped him turn his life around.

“I was 9 years old when I first smoked; 10, when I started drinking. Then, at 11, I tried marijuana,” Urquico said, adding that his drug addiction seriously affected his family. The pastor now helps lead drug us-

ers back to the straight and narrow.

Transformation “I realized that those who were jailed and released just keep coming back to jail. Pabalik-balik lang.”

He added: “Our President (Duterte) always say ‘Change is coming,’ but you see, transformation, real change happens only when we surrender our life to Jesus.”

Aida Concepcion, head of the Pasig City’s Anti-Drug Abuse Council, said CCF has expressed its willingness to share their module with other faithbased groups.

“If the program becomes a success, it will be duplicated nationwide,” Rojas said.

A CCF Facebook post enjoined netizens to “help drug users know Jesus!” Its members are holding a facilitators’ screening and orientation program for its drug counseling program starting Aug. 11, the post said. ■

Opinion

14

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

ANALYSIS

Chief Justice slams Palace smear on judges over TROs

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer CHIEF JUSTICE Maria Lourdes Sereno and the Duterte administration are at loggerheads over the blacklist of officials tagged by President Duterte in his war against crime and drug syndicates. This turn of events took place as the Chief Justice defended seven trial judges whose names were on the list of 159 public officials accused by the President of involvement in the illegal drugs trade.

The allegations prompted the Chief Justice to write a four-page letter to the President, expressing her concern over the latter’s charges against the seven judges. In the letter, which the Court released to the press, Sereno sought to correct President Duterte’s list, which appeared to be a reckless smear on the judges, as part of a witch hunt.

The Chief Justice pointed out that of the seven judges one has been

dismissed for gross ignorance of the premature announcement of an inThis rift between the Supreme law, another was killed, and a third formal investigation on allegations Court and the administration over had retired. The other three could of involvement with the drug trade judicial independence has raised the not have been involved in any way in would have the unwarranted effect of question: Against whom is the govthe criminal activity as they have not rendering the judge veritably useless ernment at war—the judges or the been handling drug-related cases, in his adjudicative role.” drug lords?

Sereno said.

Sereno further noted that too During the Court’s 115th anniSereno also said that the Court many of our judges have been assas- versary on June 10, Sereno rebuked “would consider important to know sinated. Twenty-six since 1999, most President Duterte for interference the source and basis of any allega- of them “reportedly at the behest of in the affairs of the judiciary. She was tion that specific judges are involved crime lords, more specifically, drug responding to allegations that judges in the illegal drugs trade in line with lords.” abuse the issuance of temporary reits duty to exercise straining orders administrative super(TROs).

Even if the President is quiet about corruption, we still vision over all lower Soon after he do our best to clean our ranks. Whether there is TRO or not, courts.” was proclaimed corruption is a problem in government.

The Chief Justice president, likewise noted the Duterte said in extrajudicial killings of people susIn a vigorous assertion of the inde- a press conference in Davao City pected to be involved in the illegal pendence of the Supreme Court and that he would send a representadrug trade and expressed concern to safeguard the “role of the judges as tive to the Court to discuss the isabout “[o]ur judges (having) been the protector of constitutional rights,” sue of putting an end to the “abuse” rendered vulnerable and veritable Sereno cautioned the judges “against of TROs in the judiciary—an action targets for any of those persons and ‘surrendering’ or making themselves that clearly would constitute an groups who may consider judges as physically accountable to any police interference in and disrespect for acceptable collateral damage in the in the absence of duly- issued warrant the functions and independence of war on drugs.” She cautioned: “A of arrest that is pending.” the judiciary. In the same confer-

ence, the President also made the sweeping allegation that the “TRO means money for the judges,” emphasizing that “they have to stop it,” and pointing out that “the issuance of TROs only prevents the implementation of government projects.”

“Even if the President is quiet about corruption, we still do our best to clean our ranks,” Sereno said in response then. “Whether there is TRO or not, corruption is a problem in government.” With respect to the judicial process, the Court needs to root out completely corruption in the judiciary, she added.

Sereno also said: The Court’s effort to stop corruption will be unrelenting, and the magistrates will not stop until corrupt officials are convicted. “We assure the public that we will not stop cleansing our ranks. (When) we get enough basis, we move. I will make sure that every week, this is our agenda,” the Chief Justice said. ■

AT LARGE

Even the heavens weep

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer AS I write this, the lashing rains that turned our skies grey for much of the morning and afternoon have calmed down a bit. But Pagasa says it’ll be raining for the next few days, which doesn’t augur well for all those trekking to the area of the Lapu-Lapu Monument at Luneta this morning.

They will be there to express—by their presence, by their numbers, by the sheer effort of will and indignation—to show their extreme displeasure (to put it mildly) at the planned burial of the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani next month.

Of course, there is talk that what will be laid to rest in the heroes’ cemetery are not the physical remains of “The Apo,” but merely his wax effigy, which is what tourists visiting his mausoleum in his hometown of Batac, Ilocos Norte, are said to be viewing.

But it matters little, it seems, what exactly will be laid beneath the ground in the Libingan. For, doubtless, the Marcoses, whose desire to return to real political ascendancy would seem to have been foiled by Bongbong’s unsuccessful run for vice president, will use this burial as a validation, even a valorization, of FM’s dictatorial rule.

To be buried with him, it seems, is the

truth itself, especially the truth of the vidual golds and 26 medals overall. for P5 million from the Philippine crimes, the human rights violations, Hidilyn’s silver even seems puny be- Sports Commission, the promised the lies, the thievery, that attended side the record expected to be set by “incentive” for Pinoy medalists in Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos’ time Simone Biles of the United States. Rio. When asked what she planned in power. Even the heavens weep at The diminutive gymnast has just to do with this windfall, Hidilyn said this historic travesty. won gold for the women’s all-around, she planned to buy the land on which *** and is expected to add more gleaming her training shed stands and build a ON her homecoming last Thursday, metal with her finishes in individual bigger and perhaps spiffier training Hidilyn Diaz was cut down to size. events, especially in the beam, vault facility where some of her younger TV footage of her silver-medal-win- and floor. Already, she is being called relatives and neighbors could conning performance at the women’s “the top gymnast in history.” Asked tinue their training. weightlifting event in Rio gave the how she feels being ranked among Perhaps Hidilyn—and Philippine impression of a muscular, pumped- the “greats” of the Olympians, the sports officials—could learn from the up athlete lifting the barbells with 19-year-old Biles said simply (but experience of boxer Onyok Velasco seeming ease. But who won silver in photos of her upon the 1996 Atlanta But we have Hidilyn. [...] we couldn’t help but marvel at arrival, flanked by Games. To this day, how far she has come, and how, with sheer grit, she overcame the her visibly proud Velasco has yet to odds to rank among the world’s best in her sport. parents, showed a get the full amount more human, accesthe government sible, less formidable young woman. truthfully): “I’m not the next Usain and private sponsors promised him Certainly not the amazing amazon Bolt or Michael Phelps, I’m the first when he came home with a silver. He we had come to expect.

Simone Biles.” told reporters that while he readily But her smile was of gigantic proBut we have Hidilyn. And when posed for publicity shots with sponportions. One couldn’t help but beam we caught a glimpse of her decidedly sors and their giant replicas of checks along with her, and also to share the Spartan training quarters—a shed representing his incentives, after the palpable joy she must have felt, along near her home in Zamboanga City— publicity died away, none of those giwith her family and neighbors and all we couldn’t help but marvel at how ant checks could be encashed. Maybe Filipinos rejoicing with the winner of far she has come, and how, with sheer that’s why it was considered signifithe first Olympic medal for the Phil- grit, she overcame the odds to rank cant that Hidilyn’s check came in ippines in 20 years. among the world’s best in her sport. regulation size, meaning the money Certainly, in the overall scheme of *** was serious and real. things, Hidilyn’s silver pales beside, FOR now, it is not just acclaim that *** say, American Michael Phelps’ fourth awaits Hidilyn.

AS neighbors we can also take a bit of gold in swimming which brings his During the press conference after pride in the victory of Joseph Schooltotal Olympic medal haul to 13 indi- her arrival, she was handed a check ing who represented Singapore, not

www.canadianinquirer.net

exactly a sports power in the world, in the men’s 100-meter butterfly and came away with a gold.

Even more significant, Schooling won at the expense of Phelps, who, so sports writers say, has always considered the 100-meter butterfly his “waterloo.”

In his home country, Schooling was for a time the center of a controversy over allegations of “foreigners” representing the islandstate. But though he is currently studying and training in the United States, Schooling is a third-generation Singaporean, albeit of Eurasian ethnicity. He is the only child of May and Colin Schooling, his mother a Chinese-Malaysian and his father a businessman who was born and educated in Singapore, his grandfather being a British military officer who married a local Portuguese-Eurasian.

Who would have expected a young man from the Far East to beat the world’s most famous and indeed most accomplished swimmer—if not athlete? The Philippines may have, so far, but one lonely silver medal to account for its participation in Rio. But considering the odds against our Olympic delegates, and the harrowing journeys they had to embark on to compete against the world’s best, we have every reason to be proud of our own sports heroes. ■

Opinion

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

15

PUBLIC LIVES

Two awakenings and a funeral

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer WE SHOULD have seen it coming when, after then President Fidel V. Ramos allowed the dictator’s remains to be repatriated and buried in the Ilocos in 1993, the Marcos family announced that the Marcos Museum and Mausoleum in Batac, Ilocos Norte, would be but a provisional resting place for the former president. Insisting that this was not the burial it had in mind, the family preserved the body in a glass encasement above ground. People who have seen it believe that the waxen figure behind the glass is no more than a representation, and that the real remains lie in a crypt underneath. But that is not the point.

The point is that the Marcos family wants nothing less than a state funeral for the Ilocano patriarch—a burial befitting a great president and hero of the Filipino nation. Therefore, the issue is not just whether Marcos deserves to be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The issue is whether the nation, which rose against him and ended his abusive and corrupt regime in 1986, has awakened from its dreamy state and is now ready to give

the former leader an honored place in its memory.

We should have known that something like this would happen once the euphoria of the Edsa people power revolution has completely dissipated. It is not just because time heals all wounds. It is also because one typically wakes up not just to the harsh reality of failed expectations but also to an inclination to idealize a recovered past.

The Marcoses knew this. They were prepared to wait for one generation (1989 to 2016), continually testing the waters while keeping the successor on standby. With their considerable stolen wealth intact— away from the hands of the postrevolutionary state—they quietly slipped back to power. The Ilocano homeland proved to be easy pickings for Imelda and the Marcos children who alternately occupied the governor’s office and Ilocos Norte’s second congressional district. And, as in the elder Marcos’ time, the whole region served as a solid base from which the son could project his national ambition.

Bongbong Marcos’ first attempt to capture a senatorial seat came in the midterm elections of 1995, nearly a

decade after the Edsa uprising. It was a failure; the young Marcos landed in No. 16, far from the winning circle of 12. Returning to the Ilocos, he successfully ran as governor of Ilocos Norte in 1998. It took another 15 years before he would make another attempt for the Senate. He made it the second time, placing seventh in the 2010 senatorial race.

The Senate is traditionally the right place to be if one is eyeing the presidency. And perhaps no one was more obsessed to see Bongbong retake Malacañang than Imelda who, in her advanced years, never gave up the thought of giving her husband a hero’s burial. It meant the whole world to her because it would signify a nation finally making amends for what she regards as the great injustice done to her husband. After a House resolution in 2011 failed to resolve the Marcos burial issue, she realized that only a Bongbong presidency would put the issue to rest.

The Marcos burial issue is indeed, in the final analysis, a political question. It is the struggle of one vision of governance against another—one, which highlights institutional leadership, and another, which puts great

value on forceful personal presence.

One democratic, and another feudal; one modern, and the other traditional.

After 30 years, we have come full circle as a nation. We are once more in the grip of a fascination with strongman rule. Despite his family name, Bongbong Marcos lacks the requisite personality for this mode of governance. Having failed in his attempt to win the vice presidency, he now draws affirmation from the phenomenal success of Rodrigo Duterte in the 2016 presidential election. In his view, by electing Mr. Duterte, the nation has at last awakened from its stupor.

But there is another awakening apart from the one the Marcoses have long wished for. It is the waking up to the real. We don’t just wake up from the illusions of a detested period; we also wake up to the even more terrifying reality of the present. In his book “Defacement,” the anthropologist Michael Taussig puts it this way: “And what is crucial to ‘waking’ as revolutionary force in the modern world is its blending of pre-historicity with a sudden awareness as to the bizarre, unmasked face of the real, pitching one into a future…. Waking

is unmasking, revealing the surreal nature of the real.”

What, indeed, can be more surreal than seeing an average of 13 dead bodies lying in our streets every single day, and becoming desensitized to the sight of murder victims as though they were no different from the unremarkable remnants of casual road kill? What can be more bizarre than for an entire nation to believe that it can win the war against the global business of illegal drugs by killing drug dependents and pushers?

Just as the “New Society” was an illusion foisted by the Marcos dictatorship on a people that had been made to believe lack of discipline was its fatal weakness, so also is the promise of a drug-free nation secured by the terror of extrajudicial killing. No one ever said that our problems are easy.

But we should work our way through these problems with open eyes, if we are to avoid drifting from one illusion to another.

Burying Marcos in the Libingan ng mga Bayani has never been the issue.

The question is: How much violence against history must we commit to redeem the illusions of the dictator’s family? ■

overcoat displayed in a glass case on context of recent academic works file of Josephine Bracken and anothwhich is engraved a quote from my on the history of physical culture. I er depicting a man lifting weights.

1990 book, “Rizal Without the Over- asked Claudio about Rizal’s program When I showed this to Claudio, he coat.” The other was Leloy Claudio, of studies for a proposed school that exclaimed: “That’s the bent press!” who asked if I knew how much Rizal’s included “Swedish gymnastics” first I didn’t have a clue what this was, dumbbell weighed. I have seen this thing in the morning. I was puzzled so he patiently explained that this heavy piece of metal, together with by Rizal’s describing these gymnas- way of lifting made it possible to Rizal’s fencing equipment, and never tics as “purely hygienic.” Claudio said lift more weight: “The bent press is attempted to put it on a scale after these were light exercises that do not only done for single reps, not like reading Angel Anden’s article on the make one perspire profusely, and the bicep curl which you do for more hero’s body type that appeared in may very well be what we know in than 10 reps. With a bent press, you the Sunday Times Magazine on Dec. schools today as “calisthenics.” struggle with it for sometimes as 27, 1959. Lean and mean Dr. Claudio Rizal also made time for: horse- long as three minutes. In terms of works out at the gym and was curious back riding, fencing and swimming his physical attributes, Rizal would about the weight have been strong in of the dumbbell what Russian physand the manner in ical culturists call I knew that whoever used those heavy dumbbells was which Rizal lifted it. maximal strength, either a very big man or a small man trying to compensate for I referred him to the as opposed to his vertical deficiency.

Anden article that strength endurstated: during the day, and ballroom dancing ance, although we don’t know if “It was not an ordinary five- after dinner. When he was a student Rizal had good strength endurance pounder such that anyone would at the Ateneo Municipal in Intra- as well. But in layman’s terms, his use for limbering up; it was an enor- muros, his PE equipment consisted strength would have been more mous weight almost a foot long and of parallel bars, weights, and Roman similar to a power lifter’s [than] to a as thick as a young boy’s head at the rings or “argollas,” so it is safe to pre- bodybuilder’s. Rizal gained strength knobs. From my almost four decades sume that he would have these in his with minimum weight gain.” experience in the field of weights, I planned school of boys in Dapitan.

Although we don’t have a photoknew that whoever used those heavy It is not well known that during graph of the adult Rizal without his dumbbells was either a very big man his exile in Dapitan, Rizal went back overcoat, we can guess this from the or a small man trying to compensate to his love for sculpture and made measurements as noted down by Anfor his vertical deficiency.” some delightful pieces in clay: a wild den, who actually tried on Rizal’s coat Claudio felt that Anden’s conclu- boar, a woman cutting grass, etc. He in 1957: sion was unfair and a bit rash in the also carved wood reliefs—one a pro“Here are the exact measurements

of Rizal’s coats; shoulder width—16 inches; armpit to armpit—17 inches; base of collar to hem—31 inches; arm length—24 inches. From the snug fit of the coat on my 38-inch chest, I figured that his chest was around 37 inches, quite big for a man only 5’4 or less. His body tapered to a slim waist measuring only 25 inches, almost as slender was a [modern] woman’s.

Even a body builder of today would be proud of a 10-inch difference between his chest and his waist. Rizal had a full 12-inch difference.”

Anden couldn’t try on the pants, but noted the following measurements: “Overall length—41 inches; waist—13 inches (half circumference); hips—18 inches midway—9 inches; cuff 7-3/4 inches. No lowwaist pants, these; on the other hand, they extended almost to the sternum, which explains their undue length, based on the arm length of the coat.”

So for those who really want to know what Rizal’s height was, based on his clothing, it is 5’3, and the body proportions were “classical” and near perfect. It seems there is much more that needs to be researched, not just on Rizal’s physique but on the history of physical culture in the Philippines as well. ■

LOOKING BACK

Rizal’s dumbbell

By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer ANYONE WHO has seen me in person will know that I don’t go to the gym. From my body type it is obvious that my exercise consists of lifting, not weights, but spoon and fork, to bring food from my plate to my mouth. It may seem frivolous to be writing about Rizal again when I should be commenting on the rising incidence of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug users and pushers. Perhaps I should comment on the burial of Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani scheduled on Sept. 18, a date that comes between Marcos’ birthday, Sept. 11, and the date that some “martial law babies” like myself remember as “National Thanksgiving Day,” Sept.

21, when martial law was “officially” declared. Its actual implementation came after the historic document was signed, or, at best, antedated, to comply with Marcos’ personal numerology that had all significant dates in his life defined by seven, or multiples of seven.

Two historians recently asked me about the exhibits at the Rizal Shrine in Fort Santiago. One was Vicente Rafael, who asked about the hero’s

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16

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Canada News Government to overhaul much-criticized immigration detention system

BY JIM BRONSKILL The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Immigration holding facilities in Vancouver and Laval, Que., will be replaced as part of a $138-million overhaul intended to improve detention conditions for newcomers to Canada.

The federal government will also move ahead with plans to expand the range of alternatives to locking up immigrants, with the aim of making detention a last resort, said Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale Monday during a visit to the aging Laval facility.

In addition, a community supervision program will be developed for released detainees.

The Canada Border Services Agency holds people who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public and those whose identities cannot be confirmed.

But the Canadian Red Cross Society has found numerous shortcomings at facilities for immigrant detainees, including

overcrowding and lack of mental health care.

Newcomers are often held in provincial jails or police facilities alongside suspected gang members and violent offenders.

The Red Cross said the border agency detained 10,088 immigrants — almost one-fifth of them refugee claimants — in 2013-14 in a variety of facilities, including federal holding centres and provincial and municipal jails. Among these were at least 197 minors, held an average of about 10 days each.

Of the three federal detention centres, the government has flagged the Laval facility, which dates from the 1950s, and the short-term holding centre at the Vancouver airport as most in need of attention. One in Toronto is considered to be in better shape.

The government says the planned changes mean only the highest-risk detainees will remain in provincial facilities.

Some of the new money will go to mental health and medical services for detainees in federal holding centres.

Beginning this summer, the government will hold consultations on finding more alternatives to detention — such as electronic monitoring — and reducing the number of minors behind bars.

The Liberals don’t want detention to be “the only game in town,” Goodale said.

British Columbia Civil Liberties Association executive director Josh Paterson called the federal plans “very encouraging.” However, he said, it would be a backward step if the rebuilt facilities prompt officials to detain more people.

The End Immigration Detention Network welcomed the government’s acknowledgment of problems, but it said new laws and policies are needed — not revamped holding centres — to remedy unfairness in the system. The network wants a limit of 90 days on detentions.

An average of 450 to 500 immigrants are detained at any given time, the government says.

Several people have died in border services agency custody,

The Canada Border Services Agency holds people who are considered a flight risk or a danger to the public and those whose identities cannot be confirmed.

including two in Ontario last March.

In December 2013, Lucia Vega Jimenez, 42, tried to kill herself while held by the border agency in British Columbia.

She was taken to hospital and died days later.

Last month close to 60 immigrants in two Ontario prisons began refusing food to protest their detention.

Goodale said Monday the hunger strike reflected “the pressures within the system” — ones the government is trying

to address.

The Liberals will look at an array of alternatives including community supervision and surveillance, electronic monitoring and telephone reporting that makes use of voice-recognition technology. The government will ensure public safety is not compromised, Goodale added.

Paterson said the civil liberties association would put forward ideas. “Our preference is to use every other means than detention.” ■

PART 2

Most Asked Mortgage Questions Answered

BY MYLENE LIM, AMP Mortgage Specialist LAST WEEK, I wrote on three of the most commonly asked mortgage questions. I will touch on a few more for this week’s article.

4) How do I qualify for a mortgage?

Lenders look at the following to qualify you for a mortgage: a. Employment and income – Are you receiving a stable income? How much? b. Debt – aside from the hous-

ing cost (mortgage payment, property tax, strata fee and heating), do you have other debts that you carry? c. Credit History – have you been paying all your financial obligations as agreed and on time? d. Property Value – Is there enough value on the property you’re purchasing to secure the loan in case you default on your mortgage payments?

5. What credit score do I need to qualify for a mortgage?

To qualify for the best rates, you would have to have a score of 680 or higher. Having said this, it doesn’t mean you

wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage if you’ve had issues with your credit in the past. A good mortgage specialist would be able to review your application and advise you the different options available to you.

contract on a fixed rate is computed based on interest rate differential (IRD) or three months interest, whichever is higher.

While variable rate penalty to break the contract is limited to three months interest.

6. Fixed or Variable rate?

7. How much will be my monthly mortgage payment?

Fixed rate assures you of the same monthly payment for the duration of your mortgage term. Variable rate gives you a chance to save hundreds, even thousands of dollars as generally speaking, variable rates are lower than fixed rates. Assuming of course, that the variable rate doesn’t go up. The penalty amount you pay to break the www.canadianinquirer.net

This depends on how much is your loan, interest rate, amortization period, and payment frequency (monthly, weekly, biweekly, etc).

8. What are other costs involved in getting a mortgage?

Lenders usually require the

borrower to have 1.5% of the purchase price to cover closing cost, which may include appraisal, legal fees, title insurance & property transfer tax.

Reviewing different products could potentially save you a major of headache and tons of money. So go ahead and spend a few hours to determine what is the best mortgage fit for you. ■ The first part of this article is available on my webpage or FB. Questions? Contact me at 604 783 9097 | mylene. mortgage@gmail.com | www.BestOptionMortgages.ca | FB: Mylene Lim, AMP

17

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

Don’t limit your dreams Be different!

Become an Independant Financial Consultant Becoming an independent financial consultant has been a huge stepping stone for many who join Greatway Financial.

This has enabled them to achieve their financial goals and dream bigger. It is not full-time but part-time. They do it at their own time. You too can have that opportunity to write your own pay cheque! What do Greatway financial consultants do? They passionately share their blessings with others by educating others about finances.

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18

Canada News

AUGUST 19, 2016

Kenney expects NDP supporters will join his Alberta unite the right movement

BY BILL GRAVELAND The Canadian Press CALGARY — Former Conservative cabinet minister Jason Kenney says he expects that NDP supporters will join his campaign to unite Alberta’s right-wing parties.

The Calgary MP is running for the Progressive Conservative leadership on a platform that would require talks to begin on a merger with the Wildrose party.

Kenney, who opened a campaign office in Calgary Monday, told supporters he wants a big-tent political party, which would include those who have voted for the ruling NDP. “Anybody that wants to get rid of this job-destroying NDP government is welcome in this coalition and that includes a lot of traditional NDP voters,” Kenney said.

“There are a lot of people in the public sector who might have voted NDP last time who are realizing they cannot have a strong public sector unless we have a growing economy — union members who are losing their jobs in the coal mines because of the NDP, nurses and teachers who want a more flexible and responsible public services, hard-pressed taxpayers.”

Afterward, Kenney said the “blue-collar NDP spirit” is not represented by the current “ideological” government of Premier Rachel Notley.

“I’ve met NDP union members who said they didn’t vote for a carbon tax and they didn’t vote to shut down the coal industry,” he said.

“They didn’t vote for $45 billion in debt. I absolutely believe if we put together one, big, broad new party we’re going to get a lot of traditional NDP voters supporting it.”

Roari Richardson, provincial secretary of the Alberta New Democrats, said Kenney is not uniting anyone right now.

He said in fact Kenney is very divisive.

“New Democrats we talk to strongly disagree with Mr. Kenney on a number of things — be it collecting his MP salary while campaigning for a new job, his campaign’s climate changedenying positions, or as we learned today, his plans to bring in private health care,” Richardson said in an email.

Kenney said if he is elected Alberta PC leader in March of next year he would immediately begin talks with the Wildrose.

He said he is willing to take Wildrose Leader Brian Jean at his word that he’s open to discussing a merger.

The Alberta PC leadership campaign doesn’t officially begin until Oct. 1. ■

Billions in federal infrastructure money yet to flow to five provinces

BY JORDAN PRESS The Canadian Press OTTAWA — The federal government has yet to sign infrastructure funding agreements with five provinces and two territories — agreements that are a key step before any federal cash can flow to projects underway across the country.

Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Nunavut and Northwest Territories have yet to sign funding deals.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in the Atlantic region this week and is expected to sign a deal with Nova Scotia on Tuesday. New Brunswick is expected soon too.

But federal officials had expected to have all the agree-

ments signed before the midway point of the summer construction season.

It has taken larger provinces longer than first thought to finalize the list of projects eligible for federal cash and negotiate the fine print of the plan, including timelines for when projects need to be completed.

For Saskatchewan, a deadline of finishing new construction or expansion projects by March 2018 has raised concerns that municipalities may rush the due diligence needed to prepare funding proposals, or may not be able to complete projects on time, said Jay Teneycke, a spokesman for Saskatchewan Government Relations Minister Jim Reiter.

The delay in signing a deal hasn’t had a major effect on the pace of projects in provinces

like Alberta, but municipal officials say there is anecdotal evidence of delays for some work while cities wait to make sure that their projects will land federal cash.

The Liberals had pledged during the election to increase infrastructure spending by $60 billion over the next 10 years.

The first two years of the program have $6.6 billion for provinces and cities to spend on transit and water and wastewater systems.

The hope is that the infrastructure spending will help stimulate the economy, create employment — Statistics Canada reported the country had a net loss of 31,000 jobs in June — and pad government coffers with new tax revenue that will ❱❱ PAGE 22 Billions in

www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

Family’s home... a smaller duplex further east in the city, and reneging on the real estate contract would also open them up to being sued.

“We feel like we’ve been let down,” Heather Nyberg told reporters Tuesday in the family’s small backyard as the couple’s two young children, aged one and three, played together in the grass.

“I just feel really disappointed that our family and many, many others like ours are being affected by a poorly planned tax that’s unfair because it’s retroactive.”

The B.C. government has said the 15-per-cent tax is aimed at addressing skyrocketing real estate prices in Metro Vancouver, the province’s most densely populated region. The levy came into effect Aug. 2, days after it was announced, sparking a frenzy of last-minute activity as buyers and sellers rushed to close deals.

The couple sold their home earlier this year, but the deal isn’t slated to close until Sept.

15.

Housing Minister Rich Coleman said in an email that the initial adjustment period may be difficult, but the tax will eventually reduce demand from foreign investors until supply catches up to local needs.

“This transition period is expected to be short-lived, and over the long term the additional property-transfer tax will help to ensure British Columbians can continue to raise their families in Metro Vancouver communities,” he said.

Nyberg’s husband Dan Zimmermann said the new law has put the couple under a lot of strain and uncertainty, which ❰❰ 1

Surrey in Metro Vancouver.

defeats the purpose of selling it in the first place.

“All we wanted to do was reduce the stress and reduce the size of our mortgage, and all of that’s been thrown up in the air now,” he said, adding that the change was also designed to allow them to spend more time with their children.

“We made the best decision with all the information we had at the time and that’s all we can do.”

Nyberg said if the sale of the home they bought three years ago falls through, they would likely have to back out of buying the new property because they can’t afford two mortgages.

“I’ve stopped packing. I don’t want to move into a duplex then move back three days later. Until we get more information we can’t really make a plan,” Nyberg said. “We are just really stressed out.

“We’d been doing these weekly drive-bys of our new place so my son can get used to it. We’re really excited to join a new community where there are more families. We had been setting up our lives to move and now we don’t know what’s going on.”

Jodie Wickens, an Opposition NDP politician who represents the area in the legislature, said she receives dozens of calls and emails every day from people affected by the tax.

“I think that families that entered into a contract with an understanding shouldn’t be unfairly penalized,” she said.

“To be impacted by this bill in such a negative way is unfair and unnecessary. It’s not putting British Columbians first at all. It’s a reactionary way to deal with bad headlines.” ■

19

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World News

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Trump reveals few details on “extreme vetting” of immigrants

BY NATALIYA VASILYEVA AND BASSEM MROUE The Associated Press YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO — Donald Trump is calling for “extreme” vetting of immigrants seeking admission to the United States, but he’s offering few specifics about how that might work, how long it might last or how taxpayers would foot the bill.

Trump, who had previously called for an unprecedented temporary ban on immigration

by Muslims, vowed Monday to overhaul the country’s screening process and block those who sympathize with extremist groups or don’t embrace American values.

“Those who do not believe in our Constitution, or who support bigotry and hatred, will not be admitted for immigration into our country,” Trump said in a foreign policy address in Youngstown, Ohio. “Only those who we expect to flourish in our country — and to embrace a tolerant American society — should be issued visas.”

The GOP presidential nominee has made stricter immigration measures a central part of his proposals for defeating the Islamic State — a battle he said Monday is akin to the struggle against communism during the Cold War. He called for parents, teachers and others to promote “American culture” and encouraged “assimilation.”

But he didn’t say which countries or regions would be subject to the “extreme” vetting, and his announcement that government agencies would create the list suggested that would not happen before the election in November.

The candidate’s aides said

federal agencies would use questionnaires, social media, interviews with family and friends or other means to vet applicants’ stances on issues including religious freedom, gender equality and gay rights.

Trump did not clarify how U.S. officials would assess the veracity of responses to the questionnaires or how much manpower it would require to complete such arduous vetting.

He did say that implementing the policy overhaul would require a temporary halt in immigration from “the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.”

“We will stop processing visas from those areas until such time as it is deemed safe to resume based on new circumstances or new procedures,” Trump said.

The address comes during a trying stretch for Trump’s presidential campaign. He’s struggled to stay on message and build a consistent case against Democrat Hillary Clinton, repeatedly roiling the White House race with provocative comments that have deeply frustrated many in his own party.

Clinton has seized on Republican concerns about Trump, highlighting the steady stream of GOP national security experts who’ve said their party’s nominee is unfit to serve as commander in chief. She kept up that argument Monday as she campaigned alongside Vice-President Joe Biden in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a working class area where both have family ties.

Biden called Trump’s views “dangerous” and “un-American.” He warned that Trump’s false assertions last week about President Barack Obama

Hundreds of marchers turned up on May Day to unite around a protest of Trump on the right wing agenda against all workers and immigrants.

MARIE KANGER BORN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

founding the Islamic State extremist group could be used by extremists to target American service members in Iraq.

“The threat to their life has gone up a couple clicks,” Biden said.

Trump has since said he was being sarcastic in accusing Obama of founding the Islamic State. Still, he directly blamed the president and Clinton, who served as Obama’s secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, for backing policies that “unleashed” the group, including withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in late 2011.

He also challenged Clinton’s fitness to be president, declaring she lacks the “mental and physical stamina” to take on the extremists.

Trump was vague about what he would do differently to decimate the Islamic State in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

He vowed to partner with any country that shares his goal of defeating the extremist group, regardless of other strategic disagreements, and named

Russia as a nation he would like to improve relations with.

Russia and the U.S. have been discussing greater co-ordination in Syria, where the Islamic State is part of a volatile mix of groups fighting for power. But they have been unable to reach an agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Trump also vowed to end “our current strategy of nationbuilding and regime change” — a criticism that extends to policies of both parties. He panned the long, expensive Iraq War started under Republican President George W. Bush, as well as Obama’s calls for new leadership in some Middle East countries during the pro-democracy Arab Spring uprisings.

Obama has held up Bush’s years-long commitment to setting up and securing a new government in Iraq after the initial invasion as a reason to avoid U.S. military intervention in countries like Syria.

Trump’s most specific antiIslamic State proposals centred on keeping those seeking to car-

ry out attacks in the West from entering the United States. He said attacks involving “immigrants or the children of immigrants” underscore the need to implement “extreme vetting.”

Trump first announced his call for banning Muslims last year during the GOP primary.

He introduced a new standard following the June massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, vowing to “suspend immigration from areas of the world where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe or our allies, until we fully understand how to end these threats.”

That proposal raised numerous questions that the campaign never clarified, including whether it would apply to citizens of countries like France, Israel, or Ireland, which have suffered recent and past attacks. ■ Pace reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Scranton, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

By many measures, Milwaukee is toughest US city for blacks

BY SARA BURNETT The Associated Press IN THE country’s long history of racial strife, a few cities have become flashpoints: Los Angeles. Chicago. Ferguson, Mis-

souri. Baltimore.

But by many measures, there is no tougher place to be black in America than Milwaukee, where in recent days the shooting death of a black man by a black police officer has led to violent protests, riots that de-

stroyed businesses and gunfire.

The city of 600,000 along Lake Michigan is also the country’s most segregated metropolitan area, surpassing larger, deeply divided Midwestern cities such as Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit, a 2012 Manhatwww.canadianinquirer.net

tan Institute analysis of census data found.

The overwhelming majority of the black residents who make up 40 per cent of Milwaukee’s population are concentrated on its north side — where the rioting and Saturday’s shoot-

ing occurred — and away from the breweries and festivals that draw tourists to the waterfront.

People living on the north side are far more likely to live in poverty, to be incarcerated or ❱❱ PAGE 36 By many

World News

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

21

Russian warplanes take off Zambian leader’s from Iran to target IS in Syria re-election sparks riots in opposition strongholds

BY NATALIYA VASILYEVA AND BASSEM MROUE The Associated Press

MOSCOW — Russian warplanes took off on Tuesday from a base in Iran to target Islamic State fighters and other militants in Syria, Russia’s Defence Ministry said, widening Moscow’s bombing campaign in Syria in a major development in the country’s civil war.

The long-range bombers took off from near the Iranian city of Hamedan, around 280 kilometres (175 miles) southwest of the Iranian capital, and struck targets in three provinces in northern and eastern Syria.

Meanwhile, Syrian opposition activists said a wave of airstrikes on rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo killed at least 15 civilians and wounded many others on Tuesday, but it was not clear whether the strikes were carried out by the Russian or Syrian government’s air force.

It is virtually unheard of in Iran’s recent history to allow a foreign power to use one of its bases to stage attacks from.

Russia has also never used the territory of another country in the Middle East for its operations inside Syria, where it has been carrying out an aerial campaign in support of President Bashar Assad’s government for nearly a year.

The announcement suggests co-operation on the highest levels between Moscow and Tehran, both key allies of the embattled president.

It comes a day after Russia’s defence minister said Moscow and Washington are edging closer to an agreement on Syria that would help defuse the situation in the besieged northern city of Aleppo.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the agreement would “allow us to find common ground and start fighting together for bringing peace to that territory,” adding that Russian representatives are “in a very active stage of talks with our American colleagues.”

A U.S. official said, however, that discussions with the Russians are still ongoing and no agreement is close. The official

spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media about the ongoing talks.

Russia and the United States have been discussing greater co-ordination for striking extremists in Syria, but they have been unable to reach agreement on which militant groups could be targeted.

Russia has criticized what it describes as U.S. reluctance to persuade the Syrian opposition groups it supports to withdraw from areas controlled by al-Qaida’s branch in Syria.

In Tehran, the state-run IRNA news agency quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, as saying that Tehran and Moscow have exchanged “capacity and possibilities” in the fight against the Islamic State group.

“With constructive and extended co-operation between Iran, Russia and Syria and the resistance front (Hezbollah), the situation has become very tough for terrorists and the trend will continue until the complete destruction of them,” Shamkhani said.

Russia and Iran have been expanding their ties in the past months after most of the sanctions against Iran were lifted following the nuclear deal with world powers that put restricted Iran’s nuclear program from weapons-grade capability.

A top Russian lawmaker, Adm. Vladimir Komoyedov, said Russia’s decision to use a base in Iran will help to cut costs, which is “paramount right now.”

The Russian ministry’s statement issued said Su-34 and Tu-22M3 bombers took off earlier in the day to target Islamic State and the Nusra Front militants in Aleppo, as well as in Deir el-Zour and Idlib, destroying five major ammunition depots, training camps and three command posts.

The Nusra Front is al-Qaida’s branch in Syria. However, the group recently announced it was changing its name to Fath al-Sham and severing ties with the global terror network in an apparent attempt to evade Russian and U.S.-led airstrikes.

Russia and the U.S. have dismissed the name change as

window-dressing.

The Russian Defence Ministry released a video showing a Russian Tu-22M3 long-range bomber dropping bombs in strikes described as “terrorist objects in Syria.”

The nearest air base to Hamedan is Shahid Nojeh Air Base, some 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of the city. The base has seen Russian aircraft land there before. A report in December by the American Enterprise Institute, based off satellite imagery, suggested the air base saw a Russian Su-34 “Fullback” strike fighter land there in late November. It said a Russian Il-76 “Candid” transport plane also landed there around the same time before both took off, suggesting the Su-34 may have suffered a mechanical issue.

The report described the air base as “quite large with a 15,000-foot (4,572-meter) runway, extensive taxiways and multiple hangars and bunkers — all seemingly in good repair.”

It said it is “ideal for providing covert ground support to Russian combat missions.”

Iran’s constitution, ratified after its 1979 Islamic Revolution, bans the establishment of any foreign military base in the country. However, nothing bars Iranian officials from allowing foreign countries to use an airfield.

The announcement from Russia marks the first significant stationing of its troops there since World War II, when allied British and Soviet forces invaded Iran to secure oil fields and keep Allied supply lines open.

Russia says its bombing campaign in Syria is focused on extremist groups but it has frequently struck other, including more moderate rebels fighting Assad’s forces.

Last week, Russian bombers launched a wave of airstrikes on the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State group’s de factor capital in northern Syria, killing at least 20 civilians according to Syrian opposition activists. ■ Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press Writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; Zeina Karam in Beirut and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. www.canadianinquirer.net

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY

the state-run news agency, the Zambia News and Information Service (ZANIS).

Southern Province Police Commissioner Goodwin Phiri said that riots broke out in five districts in the province where the opposition leader’s supporters were targeting Lungu’s supporters.

He said the opposition leader’s supporters were going around targeting Lungu’s supporters, adding that some properties belonging to the ruling party supporters have been gutted.

Police fought running battles and had to fire teargas canisters to disperse the rampaging opposition supporters.

The police chief said 50 opposition supporters have since been arrested.

The riots have also spread to the western part of the country, another opposition stronghold, according to Lusaka Times, a local online publication.

The opposition party intends to petition the results of the election in the Constitutional Court and has since called on Lungu to step aside when the petition is filed in line with the amended constitution.

This is the fifth time Hichilema is losing a presidential election in Zambia. ■

LUSAKA — Riots by supporters of Zambia’s main opposition leader have spread to western Zambia, in which they have taken to the streets to show their anger after the party accused the electoral body of colluding with the ruling party to steal votes from their leader.

Zambian President Edgar Lungu was declared winner by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) after Thursday’s polls, while the main opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) disputed the results, alleging fraud and malpractices in the vote count.

Lungu secured 7.8 million votes or 50.35 percent, just over the 50 percent plus one needed to avoid a second round under the country’s new electoral system.

His main challenger, Hakainde Hichilema, got 1.7 million or 47.67 percent of the votes.

Riots broke out in southern Zambia, Hichilema’s stronghold, with his supporters taking to the streets blocking roads and destroying property on Monday when the final results were announced, according to

Zambian President Edgar Lungu.

US EMBASSY ADDISABABA

22

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Man falls while 15 Guantanamo detainees being pursued by sent to UAE in major transfer black bear in West Vancouver park

BY SARA BURNETT The Associated Press

THE CANADIAN PRESS

suing him.

“The bear wasn’t fearful,” Palmer said, adding the man VANCOUVER — West Vancou- fell as he ran through a forested ver police say a man who came area between the Capilano Rivface to face with a bear man- er and the British Properties. aged to escape but scraped his His injuries did not require legs as he scrambled to get away hospital treatment. from the animal.

Police responded to reports Const.

Jeff of a man screamPalmer said the ing and called unidentified the conservation 35-year-old man office to try and was walking locate the bear. along a trail at As they lose Palmer said Capilano River their fear of the fact that the Regional Park humans they bear did not have when he thought can become any fear of a huhe’d encounincreasingly man suggests tered a large dog. dangerous to it may have be“But then as humans. come habituated he approaches to a food source he realizes it’s such as garbage. a black bear,” “As they lose Palmer said. their fear of huThe man made mans they can loud noises to try and shoo become increasingly dangerous away the bear, which began fol- to humans.” lowing him, Palmer said.

No details have been released That prompted the man to on what happened to the anirun as the bear continued pur- mal.

Billions in... help bring the budget back to balance.

But none of the money can flow to provinces and cities without bilateral agreements.

Although each province knows how much it is getting in new transit and water infrastructure money, it has to negotiate with its cities about what projects it will put forward for federal cash.

That list needs at least 60 per cent of the funding slots filled before a funding agreement can be signed and provinces like Alberta are still in talks with their municipalities.

The federal government has vowed to pick up half the tab for projects and make payments retroactive to April.

Six agreements have been signed so far, including with British Columbia and Quebec, ❰❰ 18

two of the most lucrative.

“These agreements mean hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure funding are flowing to help municipalities improve their public transit and clean water and wastewater systems, while creating jobs and supporting clean growth,” said Brook Simpson, a spokesman for Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi.

A spokeswoman for Ontario Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli said the province is finalizing its agreement with Ottawa, which would provide the most populous province with $570 million for water and waste water projects and $1.48 billion for public transit.

As for when a deal would be done? “Negotiations are going well and we expect to have something in the near term,” Katrina Kim said.

ministration.

According to Amnesty, one of the Afghans released to the UAE alleged that he was “torPORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI — tured and subjected to other Fifteen prisoners at the Guancruel treatment” while in U.S. tanamo Bay detention centre military custody. The man, were sent to the United Arab identified only as Obaidullah, Emirates in the single largwas captured by U.S. special est release of detainees during forces in July 2002 and allegthe Obama administration, the edly admitted to acquiring and Pentagon announced Monday. planting anti-tank mines to The transfer of 12 Yemeni target U.S. and other coalition nationals and three Afghans to forces in eastern Afghanistan. the UAE comes amid a renewed In clearing him for transfer, push to whittle down the numthe review board said he hasn’t ber of detainees held at the U.S. expressed any anti-U.S. sentiprison in Cuba that President ment or intent to re-engage in Barack Obama aims to close. militant activities. However, a The Pentagon says 61 detainPentagon profile from last year ees now remain at Guantanamo, also said he provided little inwhich was opened in January formation and they had little 2002 to hold foreign fighters “insight into his current mindsuspected of links to the Taliset.” ban or the al-Qaida terrorist One of the Yemeni men sent organization. During the Bush to the UAE was identified as administration, 532 prisoners Zahir Umar Hamis bin Hamwere released dun, who the from GuantaPentagon alnamo, often in leged travelled large groups to to Afghanistan Afghanistan and In clearing him for transfer, the review in 1999 and afSaudi Arabia. board said he hasn’t expressed any ter training at a The latest anti-U.S. sentiment or intent to recamp acted as a batch of released engage in militant activities. weapons and exprisoners had plosives trainer. been held withA Pentagon out charge at profile from SepGuantanamo, tember 2015 said some for over 14 years. They been working with other coun- he expressed dislike of the U.S., were cleared for release by the tries to resettle detainees who which they identified as “an Periodic Review Board, com- have been cleared for transfer. emotion that probably is motiprised of representatives from Naureen Shah, Amnesty In- vated more by frustration over six U.S. government agencies. ternational USA’s director of his continuing detention than The UAE successfully reset- national security and human by a commitment to global jitled five detainees transferred rights, said the transfers an- had.” there last year, according to nounced Monday are a “powerReturning Guantanamo pristhe Pentagon. In July 2008, ful sign that President Obama oners back to Yemen would be the seven-emirate nation also is serious about closing Guan- difficult amid a two-year civil repatriated UAE citizen and tanamo before he leaves office.” war raging in the Arab world’s Guantanamo prisoner AbduU.S. Rep. Ed Royce, a Repub- most impoverished country. lah Alhamiri at the same time lican from California who is The conflict there pits an interthat Afghanistan and Qatar chairman of the House Foreign nationally recognized governeach accepted one prisoner a Affairs Committee, criticized ment, backed by a coalition led piece. The current status of the the Obama administration for by Saudi Arabia, a Sunni powsix prisoners in the UAE is not recent releases, portraying the erhouse, against Shiite rebels publicly known. freed detainees as “hardened known as Houthis and their alIn the United Arab Emirates, terrorists.” lies. The UAE is a part of that the state-run WAM news agenThe Office of the Director of Saudi-led coalition. cy had no reports on the Guan- National Intelligence says 5 per There was also no immediate tanamo transfers on Tuesday cent of Guantanamo prisoners reaction in Afghanistan on the and UAE officials declined to released since Obama took of- transfer of the three Afghans immediately comment on the fice have re-engaged in militant from Guantanamo to the UAE. ■ Pentagon announcement. activities and an additional 8 The United Arab Emirates is per cent are suspected of doing Associated Press writer Jon a major regional military ally so. That compares with 21 per Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab for the U.S., as it hosts Ameri- cent confirmed and 14 per cent Emirates, contributed to this recan military personnel target- suspected during the Bush adport. www.canadianinquirer.net

ing the Islamic State group with airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. Dubai’s Jebel Ali port is the most frequently visited by ships of the U.S. Navy outside of America.

Lee Wolosky, the State Department’s special envoy for Guantanamo’s closure, said the U.S. was grateful to the United Arab Emirates for accepting the latest group of 15 men and helping pave the way for the detention centre’s closure.

“The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists,” Wolosky said.

Obama has been seeking to close the detention centre amid opposition from Congress, which has prohibited transferring detainees to the U.S. for any reason. The administration has

Community News

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

23

Enverga seeks cooperation to combat climate change SENATOR TOBIAS Enverga Jr. recently urged fellow parliamentarians to combat climate change.

The legislator from Ontario said in a speech at the ParlAmericas’ Action to Stop Climate Change conference in Panama City, Panama, “Cooperation is necessary to combat climate change.”

Enverga was Canada’s representative to the Aug. 3 to 5 conference attended by parliamentarians from 35 countries representing the Americas. “As a member of the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples, I have seen first-hand the impact of climate change on the lives of the indigenous peoples of the Canadian North.

Communities in the North that are greatly dependent on the environment for their livelihood are at immediate risk because of the threat posed to their traditional way of life, but the impacts of climate change

extend far beyond,” he said.

The FilCan legislator also said that the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, of which he is a member, released a study on the importance of bee health to sustainable food production in Canada. “In recent years, annual bee colony losses in Canada were more than twice the normal rate, and climate change is listed as one of the main factors that cause increased mortality rate. As pollinators, bees are vital to the environment, where they help to ensure the survival of other animal and plant species. Bees are also important for food and seed and honey production industries, which contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to the Canadian economy annually,” he said.

Climate change, according to Enverga, is a concern that must be shared by all. “It is extremely important that we work together to mitigate the negative im-

pacts of this phenomenon.”

At the Panama conference, the parliamentarians established the Climate Change Network, which will serve as a forum for legislative work and the exchange of best practices to diminish the environmental, social and economic effects of climate change.

Enverga encouraged Canadians to get involved in the development of legislation that will help Canada adapt to climate change and alleviate its effects.

“Canada is in a unique position to take a leadership role in finding new and innovative ways to address this issue, which will only be possible with the cooperation of every sector of society,” he said.

The challenge lies in finding and implementing a plan that will be both environmentally responsible and economically viable, according to him. He hopes any future legislation will achieve a balance of the two. ■

FilCan cage star gets U.S. scholarship FILIPINO-CANADIAN basketball sensation Matthew Daves has recently accepted a full scholarship grant from the South West Christian Academy Prep School in Illinois. He was scouted and recruited during an AAU tournament in Dallas and Las Vegas while playing for the Grassroots Elite Basketball Team.

Matthew, known as ‘Chew’ to his family, close friends and teammates, is the second son of proud parents Rob and Dei Daves of Pickering, Ontario.

He was born in 1999, currently stands at 6'6” and weighs 200 lbs.

He started playing basketball at an early age. Gifted with a towering height, spring on his legs and a soft touch from the outside, he has led various championship teams. He was a member of Team Ontario that won the Gold medal at the 2015 Canadian National Championships.

He was also a member of Team Canada Crossover that played at SM NBTC National High School Championships in

Winter Escapade 4 attendees at the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver included Consuls General Neil Ferrer and Julius Torres, retired Consul General Jose Ampeso and Vice Consul Cham Guevara.

CHRISTIAN CUNANAN

PH Embassy unveils 2017 Winter tour

BY FLERIDA A.C.P. MAYO TEAM PHILIPPINES-CANADA recently unveiled in Ottawa its much-awaited group tour program targeting snowbirds and the balikbayan market in North America.

Now on its fourth year, the annual tour known as Winter Escapade will take participants to Laoag, Vigan, Coron and Manila from Feb. 6 to 14,2017.

Ambassador Petronila P. Garcia led the presentation of the nine-day, eight-night itinerary before an audience of 50 interested parties from Ottawa and Montreal.

Winter Escapade 4 (WE 4) destinations were selected on the basis of a survey conducted among WE 3 participants in February this year. Consistent with the pricing of previous tours, next year’s program packs value for money with rates starting from CAD $1,699 per person in a package that includes deluxe hotel accommodations, two roundtrip domestic flights, land and boat transfers, travel insurance, porterage fees and guided tours.

On the first day of registration in Ottawa, around a dozen participants registered on the

spot for the tour. Many more registrants are expected in the coming weeks from the Atlantic Provinces, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.

WE 4 presentations were likewise done by Philippine Consulates-General as follows: Toronto: August 11 Vancouver: August 12 Calgary: August 13 Edmonton: August 14 Winnipeg: August 18 Further information on the tour will be found on www. philembassy.ca and www.winterescapadeph.com which also features an online registration page. The embassy and consulates will extend booking assistance or reply to related queries.

“Every year, Winter Escapade participants enjoy an extraordinary travel experience that make them return to the Philippines for more. The rich cultural, topographical and bio diversity in our 7,100 islands plus our famed Filipino hospitality make for a truly priceless stay. I look forward to again leading Filipinos, Canadians and visitors from other parts of the world in touring the Ilocos Region and Coron in February 2017,” Ambassador Garcia said. ■

Matthew Daves.

Manila last March 2016. During the tournament he was chosen to play for the All Star Selection and was a finalist in the Slam Dunk competition. He has gained lots of interest and of-

fers to play for universities and colleges in the Philippines, as well.

The Filipino-Canadian community wishes Matthew the best on his new journey. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Happy volunteers at the Multicultural Helping House Society (MHHS) pose with MHHS founder Tomas “Tatay Tom” Avendano (seated, center).

CHRISTIAN CUNANAN

24

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Entertainment All about Alden Richards, in his own words AT 24 years old, the highly popular, albeit still very humble, Pambansang Bae Alden Richards continues to surprise people — this time with a narrative of his life experiences.

Following the success of his music album, Wish I May, which reached seven-time Platinum status, and the box office success of Imagine You & Me, his movie with on-screen partner Maine Mendoza, the book is another tribute from Alden to his scores of supporters.

In the much-awaited book titled Alden Richards: In My Own Words, readers get a glimpse into the life of the GMA Artist Center star and one-half of the popular AlDub love team from Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye.

Through the book, Alden opens himself up to his readers, sharing his journey from simple beginnings to his current status as one of the most in demand stars of his generation.

The book also presents a personal side of AlDub as Alden opens up about Maine, and shares stories from their phenomenal rise to stardom.

Currently, the two are off on an exotic adventure in picturesque Morocco to do a photo shoot for a major lifestyle magazine.

And as their multitude of Kapuso fans wait with bated breath for their next adventure, we can be assured of more exciting news and projects from Alden Richards in the coming years. ■

In the much-awaited book titled Alden Richards: In My Own Words, readers get a glimpse into the life of the GMA Artist Center star and one-half of the popular AlDub love team from Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye.

Wency Cornejo and INTRoVOYS Live in Vancouver!

BY BABES CASTRONEWLAND INNOVISION EVENTS & Marketing’s premier offering, “Throwback Sessions” will feature two of the Philippines’ 90’s OPM legends—Wency Cornejo and the INTRoVOYS on Saturday, August 27, 2016 at Fortune Sound Club. This will be the first time for them to perform together in Canada.

Wency Cornejo was the lead vocalist of one other most successful Filipino pop/rock band, Afterimage. The group disbanded after 11 years and three hit albums. Cornejo is best remembered as the voice behind Afterimage hit songs, “Habang May Buhay”, “Next In Line”, “Hanggang”, “Mangarap Ka” and many more.

The INTRoVOYS, on the other hand, broke into the Filipino mainstream audience in 1992 with hit singles, “Maynila”, “Calling All Nations”, “Kaibigan” and “However Which Way”. These are cuts from the group’s best selling debut album, Back to the Roots. Now currently based in Los Angeles, CA., the band continues to perform and tour together in different parts of North America.

Their succeeding albums generated a good number of No. 1 hit singles that earned them the title, “Number One Band In the Land” by the band’s staunch followers. Hits like “Will I Survive”, “Kailanman”, “Di Na

Ko Aasa Pa”, “Stay” and “Line to Heaven” have etched their marks into the hearts of many and even remained relevant up to this day.

Catch these OPM giants in one big musical extravaganza at Fortune Sound Club, 147 East

Pender, Vancouver, on August 27, 2016 and be mesmerized once again while reminiscing their 90’s hits that withstood the test of time. With special guests, Raffy Swap One, Danger Blanket and Audrey Rose.

Doors open at 6:30pm. ■

Cai Cortez expecting a baby boy

BY JANE MORALEDA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — As she marked the first month of being a married woman, actress-comedienne Cai Cortez also announced the

good news that she’s pregnant with a baby boy.

In an Instagram post, the expectant mother shared a photo of her and her loving husband Wiseem Rkhami, saying how she has been beyond excited with their first child.

“Thank you for loving me the way you do. A single glance from you makes me feel safe and complete. I couldn’t ask for a better man to be the father of my [baby].

You will be a great father because I know that you are an amazing husband. I love you,” she said, rewww.canadianinquirer.net

ferring to her husband.

Cortez also reminisced their wedding day, thanking their family and closest friends who helped them prepare for the simple ceremony.

“We weren’t planning for anything grandiose because

we wanted to have the big celebration once our baby boy has arrived, but thanks to very thoughtful people we had just that,” she continued. “Our [lastminute] consultations and fittings will be forever kilig memories leading to the big day.” ■

Entertainment

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

25

Judge overturns conviction of nephew in ‘Making a Murderer’

BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press MADISON, WIS. — A judge on Friday overturned the conviction of a Wisconsin man found guilty of helping his uncle kill a woman in a case profiled in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer,” ruling that investigators coerced a confession using deceptive tactics.

U.S. Magistrate William Duffin in Milwaukee ordered Brendan Dassey freed within 90 days unless prosecutors decide to retry him. The state Department of Justice, which handled the case, declined to comment Friday. The state could also appeal Duffin’s ruling.

Dassey’s case burst into the public’s consciousness with the popularity of the “Making a Murderer” series that debuted in December. The filmmakers cast doubt on the legal process used to convict Dassey and his uncle Steven Avery in the death of Teresa Halbach, and their work sparked national interest and conjecture. Authorities involved in the case have called the 10-hour series biased, while the filmmakers have stood by their work.

Dassey confessed to helping Avery carry out the rape and killing of Halbach, but his at-

torneys argued that his constitutional rights were violated throughout the investigation.

Dassey didn’t testify at his uncle’s trial and his confession wasn’t presented as evidence there. Both men are serving life sentences.

Duffin said in his ruling that investigators made false promises to Dassey by assuring him “he had nothing to worry about.”

“These repeated false promises, when considered in conjunction with all relevant factors, most especially Dassey’s age, intellectual deficits, and the absence of a supportive adult, rendered Dassey’s confession involuntary under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments (of the U.S. Constitution),” Duffin wrote.

Dassey, who is now 26, was 16 when Halbach, a photographer, was killed in 2005 after she went to the Avery family auto salvage yard to take pictures of some vehicles. Court papers describe Dassey as a slow learner with poor grades, with difficulty understanding some aspects of language and expressing himself verbally. He was also described as extremely introverted and poor at picking up on communications such as body language and tone.

Dassey was convicted of firstdegree intentional homicide,

second-degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse in Halbach’s killing. Avery was tried and convicted separately in the homicide.

Avery made headlines in 2003 when he was released from prison after spending 18 years behind bars for a rape he didn’t commit. After being freed, he had a $36 million lawsuit pending against public officials when Halbach disappeared on Halloween 2005.

Friday’s ruling came after Dassey’s appeal was rejected by state courts. The judge said that Dassey’s confession to police in 2006 was “so clearly involuntary” that a state appeals court ruling to the contrary was an unreasonable application of established federal law.

“The court does not reach this conclusion lightly,” Duffin wrote.

The investigators did not have any ill motive, the judge wrote, but rather “an intentional and concerted effort to trick Dassey into confessing.”

The error was not harmless because Dassey’s confession was the entirety of the case against him, the judge said.

Laura Nirider, one of Dassey’s attorneys, said he thought that if he told investigators what they wanted to hear, he’d get to go back to school.

Comedian turns tables on prime minister with bare chested photobomb THE CANADIAN PRESS ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The prime minister’s visit to Atlantic Canada has already included one shirtless selfie — but this time, Justin Trudeau is the photobombee rather than photobomber.

Comedian and Newfoundland native Mark Critch pounced on the opportunity to turn the tables on Trudeau during a walkabout on Signal Hill on Monday.

Critch tweeted a photo of Trudeau grinning at the camera

with Critch bare-chested in the background.

“Sorry to accidentally photobomb your #CityofStJohns pic @JustinTrudeau,” wrote Critch in the tweet, which had been retweeted 1,000 times by early Monday afternoon.

A clearly amused Seamus O’Regan, the MP for St. John’s South-Mount Pearl, flanks the prime minister with one hand over his mouth, presumably stifling giggles.

Trudeau made international headlines recently with two

shirtless photos, the latest while taking a break from surfing and simultaneously photobombing a couple getting married on a Tofino, B.C., beach.

Last month, the BBC and Time magazine reported on a Canadian family that encountered a barechested Trudeau while hiking in Quebec’s Gatineau Park and took a selfie with the prime minister.

Reporting on the same Quebec encounter, American online news provider Mic called shirtless Trudeau “one of Canada’s most prized national treasures.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

VITO FUN / FLICKR

“This is justice for that 16-year-old kid ... who we all saw being bullied into giving a statement that was completely untrue,” she said.

Dassey, who has been incarcerated for 10 years, is in shock and wants to go home, she said.

If prosecutors decide to bring a new trial, the confession would not be usable, she said.

A brother who has acted as a Halbach family spokesman did not immediately respond to phone messages and an email.

Kathleen Zellner, an attorney for Avery, said in a statement that Avery was thrilled for his nephew. Avery is pursuing his own appeal.

“We know when an unbiased court reviews all of the new evidence we have, Steven will have his conviction overturned as well,” Zellner said.

Joe Friedberg, a defence attorney in Minnesota who was not involved in the case but

is familiar with it and participated in a forum on it with Avery’s first defence attorney, said he doesn’t believe the decision will have any bearing on Avery’s case.

“The kid’s confession was not entered into evidence against Avery, and I don’t think it impacted Avery’s trial at all,” Friedberg said.

Netflix last month announced that new episodes of “Making a Murderer” were in production to follow appeals by both Avery and Dassey.

“As we have done for the past 10 years, we will continue to document the story as it unfolds, and follow it wherever it may lead,” filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos said in a written statement following Friday’s ruling. ■ Associated Press writers Amy Forliti and Doug Glass contributed from Minneapolis.

Justin Bieber takes heat from Selena Gomez fans on Instagram THE CANADIAN PRESS JUSTIN BIEBER is threatening to go private on Instagram after getting negative comments from fans of ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez on pictures he posted alongside Sofia Richie.

Bieber posted several pictures of him and Richie over the weekend. One included the caption, “I’m gonna make my

Instagram private if you guys don’t stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn’t be so mean to people that I like.”

The caption sparked more criticism from some, reportedly including Gomez herself. Others commenters defend Bieber.

Richie is the daughter of singer Lionel Richie and the sister of former reality star Nicole Richie. ■

26

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Lifestyle Families seeking flexible daycare options turn to visiting au pairs

BY CASSANDRA SZKLARSKI The Canadian Press TORONTO — Calgary mom Paige Shaw found herself in a bind when her nanny decided to return to Toronto last year.

Her two boys, aged three and five, needed full-time care, a chauffeur to various activities and an energetic playmate. So she turned to the Internet to find their next caregiver and joined a growing number of Canadians seeking new ways to manage what can be frustratingly hard-to-find child care — by hiring an au pair.

The 38-year-old says she had never heard of the concept before last year, but after finding a 19-year-old from Perth, Australia, she says it is “hands down” the best arrangement for her family.

“She really has become part of the family,” says Shaw, noting that her youngest has developed a taste for Vegemite while both boys — now four and six — have adopted some uniquely Australian phrases, complete with a Down Under accent.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a better experience.”

The phenomenon of hiring a young traveller on a holiday working visa instead of a traditional live-in nanny is definitely on the rise, says Manuela Gruber Hersch of the Vancouver-based International Nannies and Homecare.

“We started about four years

ago with a few, and then basically the placements after that doubled,” says Gruber Hersch, also president of the Association of Caregiver and Nanny Agencies Canada. “And then it grew again last year and it will grow again next year as well.”

She pegs the rise to changes Au pairs primarily help look after children, but they can also be relied on to ferry them to appointments and help parents. two years ago to the federal government’s foreign caregiver pointments and help parents “My job is amazing. I love it. worked with helped devise a program that made it “risky, with light household chores — The kids are so independent contract and whittled down a very expensive and cumber- added duties that can vary de- as well,” gushes Spence, noting list of candidates based on persome” to secure a full-time pending on the nanny. the gig has permitted her to in- sonality matches. Personality nanny from overseas.

A big plus for Shaw was that dulge in regular weekend hik- and communication were key, One of the reasons au pairs her au pair, Kim Spence, stayed ing trips, while vacation days al- since the line between what’s are lesser known in Canada is on the clock when her kids were lowed longer jaunts to Toronto, considered on-the-clock and that many are hired under the home sick or had a day off from California, British Columbia off can blur, she says. table, says Gruber Hersch. Cost school, unlike most daycares and Alaska.

But Vancouver accountant is a big issue, since parents must and nannies.

She estimates she’ll return Bing Wang is among those adhere to minimum wage rules In exchange, Shaw provided to Australia with $3,000 in sav- parents wary of dealing with and make deductions for Em- room and board — the cost ings, despite her frequent trav- an agency in his search for a ployment Insurance, Canada of which was deducted from els. But she says it’s her experi- French caregiver for his two Pension Plan and income tax.

Spence’s hourly wage — and a ences with Shaw and her brood kids, aged four and seven, alIn the end, the that are the most though he joined one online au cost can be comvaluable. pair agency and also posted an parable to a tra“I’ve never ad in an online classified forum. ditional daycare been home“I have no idea how they can or nanny, but She pegs the rise to changes two sick. This family protect my information, social there are key difyears ago to the federal government’s makes me feel at insurance number, how much I ferences. foreign caregiver program that home. They are make, my tax return,” explains While a nanmade it “risky, very expensive and like my second Wang, a member of a Facebook ny generally cumbersome” to secure a full-time family now,” says group where families trade tips has specialized nanny from overseas.

Spence, who’ll on finding an au pair. training and extake home memAnyone considering an au perience workories of seeing pair should be ready to forge ing with chilsnow for the first more than just an employerdren, au pairs are typically surrogate family that welcomed time and learning from Shaw employee relationship. young women with only a ca- Spence at the dinner table and how to drive on the right side of “I’m proud of my city and sual babysitting background, on vacations. the road. proud of my country, I enjoy which might not be suitable for The appeal for Spence, now “The connection I have with showing them around and I younger kids.

20, was the chance to travel the kids is crazy — it’s like, part really like that they become a Au pairs primarily help look halfway around the world and mom, part nanny, part sister, quasi member of the family,” after children, but they can also explore a country she’d heard part best friend.”

Shaw says. be relied on to ferry them to ap- great things about.

Shaw says the agency she “It’s been a great experience.” ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

Lifestyle

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

27

Credit card Ways to save on back crash lesson for to school clothing shopping students bound for university, college

BY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO The Associated Press

BY ALEXANDRA POSADZKI The Canadian Press TORONTO — As thousands of Canadian students head off to college and university this fall, many will find themselves bombarded with credit card offers.

Signing up for a credit card has become a sort of rite of passage for young adults, alongside frosh week parties, late-night study sessions and diets comprised primarily of ramen and macand-cheese.

But experts caution that it’s important to be prudent or risk harming your credit score, which could affect your ability to land a mortgage, purchase a car or secure a loan years down the road.

Jackie Rosen from rate comparison website RateSupermarket.ca says it’s common for credit card companies to offer incentives, such as free T-shirts and other goodies, to lure students into signing up.

When Rosen signed up for her first credit card during college 13 years ago, she received a free wine cooler, she recalls.

“It sounds really tempting when you’re a student — like, ‘Oh boy, a free T-shirt, a free cooler,’ — but you need to be really careful and read all the fine print before you sign up for any credit card,” says Rosen.

“Number one is always, always read the fine print before you sign up for anything, because you don’t know until you read the fine print if you’re going to get an extra service you don’t need.”

Those additional services — like balance protection, for instance — can end up costing more in fees, says Rosen.

When choosing a card, Laurie Campbell, the CEO of Credit Canada Debt Solutions, recommends going for one with no annual fee.

“Students are going to find they don’t have many options when it comes to credit cards,” says Campbell.

“They’re going to find that because they’ve never had credit in the past, they’re not going to get that platinum card with all those bells and whistles.

They’re not going to get a card with a lot of different types of points on it.”

The interest rate shouldn’t matter too much, Campbell adds, because the key is to pay off the card every month rather than carrying a balance.

If people are not sure whether they’ll be able to pay off their debts in full every month, they should reconsider whether they should get that card in the first place, says Campbell.

“Don’t get a credit card at all unless you’re working and have a plan for repayment in full, ideally, each month,” she says.

Lastly, Rosen suggests starting off with a prepaid card or a secured card.

With a prepaid card, customers load money onto it upfront and can only spend the amount that they’ve deposited — similar to a gift card, for example.

“You don’t incur interest charges, but that also means you can’t build your credit score,” says Rosen.

A secured card is similar in that it requires people to pay a deposit upfront, but it also allows them to build their credit standing and incur interest charges, says Rosen.

Unsecured cards are the most common type of credit card and they don’t require any sort of collateral. The financial institution is simply trusting one’s ability to repay debt.

“Once you’ve proven yourself with all of these, you can switch over to an unsecured card,” says Rosen. “That’s once you’ve proven to the institution that you’re a responsible card holder.” ■

NEW YORK — Varsity-inspired cardigans. Preppy layers. Satin bomber jackets. There are plenty of fashion trends that experts say should help pique shoppers’ interest for the back-to-school season. That could provide a sales bounce for retailers after last year’s dearth of mainstream looks hurt business.

The trick for shoppers: taking advantage of timing and tools to stay within a budget.

In the second most-important season for retailers behind the winter holidays, families with children from kindergarten to 12th grade plan to spend an average of $673.57 on clothing, accessories, electronics, shoes and school supplies.

That’s up nearly 7 per cent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

The group surveyed nearly 7,000 consumers from June 30 through July 6 about their plans.

Even though that survey showed signs that parents are less worried about the economy, stores are still pushing fat discounts. Some analysts say the back-to-school shopping time had a slow start, with people in no hurry to buy. Lastminute purchasing is a trend retailers have been seeing for back-to-school and the winter holidays for the past several years as mobile phones give shoppers more freedom and options. Political uncertainty is also weighing on them, says Ken Perkins, president of research firm Retail Metrics LLC. “Our sense of things is that it’s relatively quiet out there.

There’s no buildup,” he said.

He believes that retailers will remain aggressive with discounts. Experts say when planning back-to-school buying, it’s smart to research the new looks and take stock of what’s already in the closet.

“Shoppers certainly have a little more money this year, but they still fundamentally want to be efficient,” said Wendy Liebmann, CEO of the consulting group WSL Strategic Retail.

Here are seven ways to save www.canadianinquirer.net

money on back-to-school buying:

Bulk buy the basics

If a growth spurt doesn’t necessitate buying everything new, focus on a few items and take advantage of help from retailers. J.C. Penney’s online site has a section called “Outfits You Love” that suggests ways to mix eight items to create two weeks of looks. “It’s fashion math,” says Liebmann.

“It gives the feeling of lots of choices.”

Stock up on items like socks and hoodies. Target’s new Cat & Jack line for kids has offered $4 tank tops for girls online. Gap’s Old Navy has up to 60 per cent off with styles starting from $4.

Old Navy is offering deep price cuts on hooded sweatshirts, selling for around $12, that Andres Dorronsoro, general manager at Old Navy merchandising, calls “extra cozy.” Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has basic T-shirts for boys for just under $3 and leggings for girls for just under $4.

Do your research

Shop off-price

Mix new and old items

It’s easier than ever to check prices to make sure you’re getting the best deal. One site, camelcamelcamel.com, monitors prices on millions of Amazon.com products and sends alerts when prices drop. Apps like RedLaser and PriceJump let shoppers scan an item to see if there’s a better price online.

Time your buying

Back-to-school discounts have already started, but the trick is knowing the best time to grab certain items. For summer clothes like short-sleeve tops, wait until the last week of August and the first week of September to reap the biggest discounts, says Benjamin Glaser, editor of DealNews, a deal comparison website. For fall clothes, try to buy the first week of October. For jeans, he says to buy later in October for the largest savings. In years past, Glaser says he’s seen brands like Lucky, Levi’s and Nautica cut prices by 40 per cent to 60 per cent during October, with few restrictions.

Discounters like T.J. Maxx, Ross Stores and others are increasingly offering more items in season and are working to better curate them to the local market, says Ronen Lazar, CEO of Inturn, a technology company that works with off-price retailers to help liquidate merchandise. T.J. Maxx says that now through the beginning of September is the best time to catch trends for kids and teens, such as plaid and athletic-inspired clothing.

Leverage store rewards

Chose one store and do most of your shopping there to get the biggest benefit from its rewards program. The Kohl’s programs offers $5 in rewards for every 100 points, or dollars spent. Shoppers can also sign up for programs like Plenti, which let them earn points in one store and use them in another with a single card. Earning 1,000 points will help you get at least $10 in savings at companies like Macy’s and Rite Aid. ■

28

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Business No quick end to potash doldrums in Saskatchewan as capacity ramps up

BY IAN BICKIS The Canadian Press

reducing production, (to) cutting dividends to shareholders,” said Dobni.

The Mosaic Co. cut 330 jobs last month when it suspended production at its potash mine near Colonsay, Sask., while Potash Corp. has instituted some temporary closures at mines in the province to reduce supply.

In early August, Karnalyte Resources Inc. said it had failed to secure funding for the US$700-million phase one of its proposed potash mine near Wynyard, Sask., while last fall Brazilian mining giant Vale stopped development of its $3.5-billion potash mine near Kronau, Sask.

Australian heavyweight BHP Billiton has also cut back staff and development spending at its massive Jansen potash project, with no clear timeline for production.

CALGARY — Oil’s downfall may get more attention but the potash industry that forms the bedrock of the Prairie mining industry is going through its own bust — and analysts say there’s no quick recovery in sight.

Potash, the lightly coloured mineral used as a crop fertilizer, is big business in Canada.

Last year, producers dug out $6.7-billion worth of it, putting it second only to gold in terms of produced mineral value in the country.

But like oil, a wave of overbuilding and production increases in recent years — spurred by a spike in crop prices and a perceived demand that didn’t quite materialize — have left the market flooded with supply.

“We have become grossly It’s going to take a while for us oversupplied ourselves out of this hole. with potash,” said David Asbridge, president of fertilizer advisory firm NPKFAS. “It’s going For Saskatchewan, the reto take a while for us to dig our- duced prices mean lost reveselves out of this hole.” nues, with the province pulling The glut has led to a steep in $552 million in the 2015-16 drop in prices, with the Potash year, $244 million less than Corp. of Saskatchewan report- expected. This year the governing an averaged realized price ment is expecting revenue to in the second quarter of US$154 drop further to $450 million, per tonne, compared with a though it will still make up 3 per brief peak of around US$900 cent of budget revenue. a tonne in 2008 and still over The government isn’t exUS$400 just a few years ago. pecting any quick turnaround The fallout has been mine in prices either, projecting a closures, layoffs and a big cut in price of US$205 per tonne for government revenue as compa- this year and climbing only to nies try to preserve their cash US$221 per tonne by 2020. and stay profitable, said Brooke The effects are being felt outDobni, a professor at the Uni- side of Saskatchewan, with Potversity of Saskatchewan’s Ed- ash Corp. making the drastic dewards School of Business. cision to close its Picadilly mine “They’re doing everything in New Brunswick in January, from A to Z, from closing plants, putting 430 people out of work.

And Canpotex, the marketing body for Canadian potash producers, decided in June not to go ahead with a $775-million port expansion in Prince Rupert, B.C. But the measures haven’t been enough to balance the market, says Peter Prattas, an analyst at AltaCorp Capital, because companies also continue to add supply.

Potash Corp. and Mosaic are working to wrap up multi-billion-dollar expansions, while K+S Group plans to start production at their new Legacy mine near Moose Jaw, Sask., next year.

Prattas says more capacity will have to be cut for prices to recover.

“There will need to be some further mine closures at some point in order to bring the overall market in balance, but the process is a slow one because no one wants to give up volume,” said Prattas.

Not only are to dig companies reluctant to give up production, but some are still pushing to start developing new mines.

Yancoal, owned by Chinese firm Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., is looking to develop a mine near Southey, Sask.

The mine has faced some local opposition, but the Saskatchewan government approved its environmental assessment earlier this week and company spokeswoman Robin Kusch said the long-term outlook is still good.

“We’re very optimistic,” said Kusch. “The potash resource that is there is attractive, and in terms of the potash price, projections in line with production in 2021 are favourable.”

She said the company expects to make a final investment decision on the project this fall. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Rules for trading ETFs in volatile times

BY DAVE PATERSON, CFA Fundata Canada Inc. HISTORICALLY, THE August through October period has been one of the most volatile periods for investors. This year looks to be no different, with many factors likely to weigh on investors, including uncertainty over the recent Brexit vote, uncertainty out of China, and worries over the timing of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s next interest rate hike being just a few.

In more volatile times, some investors may be looking to make some changes to their portfolios.

However, thanks to the volatile markets, they may also find that they don’t get the prices they want for their ETF trades.

To trade ETFs successfully, there are a few rules to pay attention to in order to get the trade execution you want.

Vanguard Canada has published a great piece on its “ETF Education Centre” site that outlines some of their suggestions. (The information is also available from Vanguard in downloadable PDF format.).

Here’s a summary of Vanguard’s suggested trading rules: Use limit orders. A limit lets you set your buy or sell price, while a market order will be filled at the next available price.

The key problem with the market order is that the price at which your order is filled may be considerably higher or lower than it was when you placed the order. A limit order will be executed only at your pre-set price or better. However, keep in mind that a limit order may not be filled at all if there’s no matching bid or offer. But this may often be desirable because it prevents you from executing your trade at a price you don’t want.

Watch bid/ask spreads. The difference (spread) between the buy and sell price can vary, especially when markets become volatile and unsettled. In general, look for wider spreads when using a limit order.

Liquidity of underlying holdings. Note that trading volume is not “liquidity,” and often, volume and liquidity may be unrelated. In fact, it’s the liquidity of the individual securities comprising the ETF that determines overall liquidity for the fund.

Large-capitalization U.S. stocks tend to be highly liquid, for instance, while small-capitalization Canadian stocks (especially junior mines and the like) tend to be quite illiquid. Less liquidity among underlying investments is typically reflected in wider the bid/ask spreads.

Avoid trading at market open and close. The stocks comprising the basket of ETF holdings may not all trade at the opening of the market each day. And this could mean lower liquidity for the fund, which in turn leads to wider bid/ask spreads and pricing that may be higher or lower than your target. Bear in mind that few firms are willing to make a market for ETFs at the close of trading. This will also tend to make the ETF less liquid, with undesirable pricing at the end of the day.

Trade when overlapping markets are open. Trading on underlying securities held by an ETF may be closed in the case of nonNorth American equities and sometimes with bonds. When the market for the underlying securities is closed (say in London or Paris) while domestic markets are still open, market makers lack real-time information for pricing, often resulting in wider spreads. As a rule, trade European and some Asian ETFs in the morning, while market activity overlaps. Also, keep in mind that Canadian and U.S. markets may be open or closed where respective holidays don’t overlap (Thanksgiving Day, for example). Trading hours for bonds tend to coincide with equity markets, except for a very few days, such as Remembrance Day in Canada.

If you watch these factors, you’re less likely to get burned by the market volatility. ■

29

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

Sports Hurting Tabuena way below

BY TED S. MELENDRES Philippine Daily Inquirer RIO DE JANEIRO—Miguel Tabuena teed it up in the most benign conditions in three days but could only manage a two-over-par 73 Saturday and fell farther back of new leader Justin Rose of Great Britain heading into the final round of the 31st Summer Olympics golf competition here.

As Mary Joy Tabal chased after a new national record in the women’s marathon Sunday morning (Sunday night in Manila) and Eric Cray got ready in the heats of the 400-meter hurdles Monday, Tabuena failed to fire at the Olympic Golf Course.

The 21-year-old reigning Philippine Open champion mixed three birdies with five bogeys, including three in a row from the second hole, on nines of 37-36.

Together with his earlier rounds of 73 and 75, Tabuena took a three-round 221 aggregate into the last 18 holes of golf’s resurrection in the Olympics after 112 years.

It didn’t help that Tabuena

played with muscle tape wound around his right shoulder to prevent further injury to what Filipino chiropractor Martin Camara suspected was a strained ligament.

The 7,128-yard links-type course with shoulders of deep, fine sand simply reared its ugly character on the also-rans like the hurting Filipino ace.

Rose, who scored the first hole-in-one in Olympic history in Thursday’s opening round, gunned down a pair of eagles on the way to a splendid six-under-par 65 and a one-shot lead over Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.

The 2013 US Open winner Rose headed for a veritable final-round shootout with Stenson on a 54-hole total of 201.

Stenson, the reigning British Open titleholder, shot a 68 and stood two strokes clear of twoday frontrunner Marcus Fraser of Australia, who settled for a 72.

Rose also canned four birdies to cushion a pair of bogeys as he barely missed equaling the daybest eagle-spiked 64 of young American star Rickie Fowler.

Two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson, also representing the US, matched his 67 in

the second round and surged into medal contention, six behind Rose.

In a round that he described as fraught with the unexpected due to the tightness of the course, Tabuena halted three successive bogeys from No. 2with a birdie on No. 5. He got back to even for the day by picking up two more shots on No. 9 and 10, both from three feet.

Tabuena had his first shot at going under for the first time since his fine frontnine 34 effort on Thursday but he missed the green on the 479-yard par-4 13th and failed to get up and down.

He tripped on another bogey off a wind-blown second shot that landed some 10 yards to the left of the difficult 15th green before parring the rest.

“You saw a lot of guys shooting lowand getting close to the leader because the wind was not that strong and the pins were accessible today,” said Tabuena, the country’s first golf Olympian.

“I put too much pressure on myself on the first two days as I tried to shoot a low number. If you try too hard here, you can go haywire.”

Miguel Tabuena.

But not even the shoulder pain, which he first felt on Thursday after hitting a shot fat on the fairway, and the risk that it might worsen to prevent him from playing in key events in the next few months could stop Tabuena from enjoying his Games stint.

“One more day,” he said. “I don’t really like it when I play in pain, but this is the Olympics which happens only every four years. I’m happy to be part of it.”

Meanwhile, Tabal ran against reigning Olympic record-holder Erba Tiki Gelana of Ethiopia and the world’s other leading female marathoners Sunday morning at Rio’s Sambodrome, the venue of Brazil’s world-famous annual carnival.

ASIANTOUR.COM

The 27-year-old Cebuana was seeking to lower her national record of two hours, 43 minutes and 41 seconds by running a steady pace in the first three quarters of the 42.195 kilometers.

“I need to overcome the expectations of too many people and run my own race,” said the 10th of the country’s 13 athletes to see action here.

The Filipino-American Cray said his progress over the last three months—he set a new PH record of 48.98 during the recent IAAF World Challenge in Madrid—indicated he had a good crack at advancing to the semifinals.

“I am ready for my event,” he said. “I want to stay healthy to give it my best shot.” ■

Filipina marathoner Tabal finishes 124th in Rio PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY RIO DE JANEIRO — Mary Joy Tabal of the Philippines could not handle Brazil’s noontime heat Sunday and finished way outside her targeted time in the women’s marathon of the Rio Olympics.

Tabal aimed at surpassing her personal best of two hours 43 minutes and 31 seconds in the race that started and ended at Sambrodome, the venue of the world-famous Rio Carnival.

But she failed to live up to her own expectations, terribly suffering under the heat and finishing with a time of 3:02:27, which was good for 124th among 157 starters.

Jemima Jelagat Sumgong gave Kenya its first Olympic gold in women’s marathon, winning with a time of 2:24:04, which is just under a minute off the Olympic record.

Eunice Jepkirul Kirwa of Bahrain took the silver medal in 2:24:13 while Ethiopian Mare Dibaba bagged the bronze with a time of 2:24:30.

Three runners from the United States finished inside the top 10, joined by one more entry from Ethiopia, Belarus, Bahrain and the People’s Republic of Korea.

The top finishers were already done with the press interviews along the finish line area when the lone Filipina entry crossed the finish, cheered on by the crowd.

Tabal was 38 minutes and

23 seconds behind the winner from Kenya.

Tabal was so exhausted after the race she was on the verge of collapse. Medical staff of the Rio Olympics attended to her immediately.

It took some time before Tabal regained her composure.

Medics offered to wheel her out but said there was really no need for the wheelchair.

A total of 24 did not finish the race.

Tabal said she saw runners quit during the race, most of them in the final 10 kms. Runners crossing the finish line and falling to the ground was a common sight.

“Yung iba talaga tumutumba na sa daan. Masyado mainit kanina. Minsan gusto ko na din www.canadianinquirer.net

tumigil pero pinilit ko tapusin ang karera (Some could not stand the heat. I wanted to stop but I tried my best to finish the race),” she said.

“Sabi ko sa sarili ko, hindi ako papayag na DNF (did not finish) ang Pilipinas. Kaya slowly but surely, tinapos ko. Hindi ko na inisip yung time (Slowly but surely, I finished it. I told myself I won’t end up DNF),” added Tabal.

It was a gallant effort on her side even if she fell way short of her target. She said on the eve of the race that she was targeting a time faster than her 2:43:31.

“Kahit 2:40 sana (I was aiming for 2:40),” she said.

But Tabal said the heat slowed her down. She also rued the lack of water stations along the 42.195 km route but said it’s not

really the reason for her failure.

All the other runners went through the same ordeal. Others say Tabal had suffered from burnout after running a marathon too many this year.

“Ginawa ko na lang lahat ng makakaya ko para makatapos.

Sa last 10 kilometers para na talagang bibigay ang katawan ko (I did my best to finish. In the last 10 kilometers I felt like giving up),” said Tabal.

“Pero nasa Olympics pa naman ako kaya pinilit ko talaga.

Inisip ko na lang ang mga kababayan natin na nanonood sa akin. Hindi ako puwede tumigil (But this is the Olympics so I really tried to finish. I cannot stop, I was thinking of our fellowmen watching the race),” she added. ■

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AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Technology Complexity makes airline computer systems vulnerable

BY DAVID KOENIG The Associated Press

traffic has nearly doubled in the past decade.

“These old legacy systems are operating much larger airlines that are being accessed in many, many more ways,” said Daniel Baker, CEO of tracking service FlightAware.com. “It has really been taxing.”

The result: IT failures that can inconvenience tens of thousands of passengers and create long-lasting ill will.

It is unclear exactly what went wrong at Delta. The airline said it suffered a power outage at an Atlanta installation around 2:30 a.m. EDT that caused many of its computer systems to fail. But the local electric company, Georgia Pow-

ly switch over to a backup, preferably in a different location.

“And if I had a multibilliondollar business running on this, DALLAS — Twice in less than I would certainly want to have a month, a major airline was some kind of backup power,” he paralyzed by a computer outadded. age that prevented passengers Delta officials declined to from checking in and flights say what kind of backup procefrom taking off. dures they have.

Last month, it took SouthMost other airlines rely on west days to recover from a one of a handful of specialty breakdown it blamed on a travel-technology companies faulty router. On Monday, it to help with IT. was Delta’s turn, as a power Delta’s system, called Deltaoutage crippled the airline’s inmatic, started as a joint venture formation technology systems with Northwest and TWA in and forced it to cancel or delay the 1990s. It was later spun off hundreds of flights. Delta eminto a separate company called ployees had to write out boardTravelport, but Delta bought ing passes by hand, and at one back its portion two years ago. airport they res“Delta has urrected a dotbeen so confimatrix printer dent that it is as from the gravegood at this as yard of 1980s These old legacy systems are anybody that it technology. operating much larger airlines that took everything Why do these are being accessed in many, many back in-house,” kinds of meltmore ways. It has really been taxing. said Seth Kadowns keep happlan, co-author pening? of a book about The answer is Delta’s rise from that airlines debankruptcy to pend on huge, overlapping and er, said that it was not to blame prominence in the industry. complex IT systems to do just and that the equipment failure Kaplan said all airlines have about everything, from operat- was on Delta’s end. some old components in their ing flights to handling ticketing, IT experts questioned IT systems, including Delta. boarding, websites and mobile- whether Delta’s network was “But the front end is all very phone apps. And after years of adequately prepared for the in- modern, and Delta is rather rapid consolidation in the air- evitable breakdown. well-regarded” in the industry. line business, these computer “One piece of equipment goIT problems are not unique to systems may be a hodgepodge ing out shouldn’t cause this,” airlines. There have been highof parts of varying ages and said Bill Curtis, chief scientist profile breaches and breakfrom different merger partners. at software-analysis firm Cast. downs at banks and retailers, These systems are also being “It’s a bit shocking.” among others. Airlines have worked harder, with new fees Curtis said IT systems should particular challenges because and options for passengers, and be designed so that when a part their systems are constantly more transactions — Delta’s fails, its functions automatical- undergoing changes and addi-

www.canadianinquirer.net

tions, i n cludi n g automation to handle the large v o l ume of transactions with customers. When was the last time you called an airline on the phone?

That degree of automation hindered Delta’s ability to inform passengers, many of whom didn’t know about the outage until they got to the airport. In the first several hours after the outage, when planes were grounded, Delta’s website and other systems showed flights as being on time.

Computer network outages have affected nearly all the major carriers in recent years.

After it combined IT systems with merger partner Continental, United suffered shutdowns on several days, most recently in 2015. American also experienced breakdowns in 2015, including technology problems that briefly stopped flights at its big hub airports in Dallas,

Chicago and Miami.

Recovering from an outage can take several days, as Southwest proved last month.

Southwest said it cancelled 2,300 flights between July 20 and 24, about 12 per cent of its schedule, and FlightStats Inc. said more than 8,000 flights were delayed.

Until Monday, Delta had been considered among the leaders in operations and was thought to be immune to big IT problems.

Mergers create many chances for things to go wrong, as airlines that may have incompatible software combine their systems. From an IT standpoint, the United-Continental merger was seen as particularly awful, while Delta’s 2008 acquisition of Northwest was seen as so smooth that American copied it when it combined with US Airways in 2013. ■

Technology

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

31

Canadians pay more for mobile services than most in G7 nations, Australia

Business groups appeal to China over cybersecurity law

THE CANADIAN PRESS

BY JOE MCDONALD The Associated Press

TORONTO — A CRTC report says Canadians pay some of the highest prices for mobile phones compared to those living in the other G7 nations and Australia.

Canadians paid the most for entry-level wireless service of 150 minutes, shelling out an average of $41.08, according to the study. Nordicity prepared the report, which surveyed sev-

eral service providers in six Canadian cities as well as some in the other nations.

In Germany, where entrylevel service is the least expensive, people pay $17.15 on average, according to the report.

Canadian services claimed the second- or third-highest price for the five other higherservice options studied, like unlimited talk and text with five GB of data.

The report found Canadians’

wallets received a reprieve when paying for land lines. Canadians were among those paying the least for fixed home phones.

But Canadians found themselves among those paying the most for fixed and mobile Internet.

This is the ninth year the CRTC has commissioned the study to compare Canadian prices with those of the U.S., U.K., France, Australia, Japan, Germany and Italy. ■

Internet mogul accused of attacks faces probation sentencing

BY SUDHIN THANAWALA The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — Gurbaksh Chahal’s rise from a high school dropout to a 25-year-old Internet mogul who sold his startup for $300 million landed him on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Extra” in segments touting him as a highly eligible bachelor.

That image began crumbling when prosecutors charged him with dozens of felonies in 2013, saying surveillance footage from his San Francisco penthouse showed him punching and kicking his girlfriend 117 times and trying to smother her with a pillow. Chahal avoided prison, receiving probation instead, after the woman stopped co-operating with authorities and a judge said the video could not be used as evidence.

Now he’s again facing time behind bars after violating his probation by allegedly kicking another girlfriend, who also didn’t help with the case, prosecutors say. Video of the first attack made it into San Francisco Superior Court, where a judge was set to sentence the 34-year-old Friday.

Chahal has defended himself against the initial charges, saying he lost his temper but did not hit his girlfriend 117 times.

And his attorneys have attacked the second woman’s credibility, saying she got into a sham mar-

riage to get a U.S. visa and had been drinking the night she said Chahal hit her.

Chahal’s legal woes extend beyond the criminal cases. Two former employees have sued him for discrimination, painting him as a bullying boss who thought little of women — traits hard to combat in the maledominated world of Silicon Valley, experts say.

“What makes Silicon Valley more challenging than other areas is ... it has a macho culture that is deeply embedded,” said Deborah Rhode, a law professor at Stanford University who teaches gender equity law.

“There are very few women in leadership positions.”

Faced with the initial charges, Chahal got help from powerful former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown and the former chief financial officer for the state of California, Steve Westly, according to one of the lawsuits and emails between Westly and Chahal that The Wall Street Journal reported.

A woman who answered the phone at Brown’s law office said he would not be back until Friday. Brown said in a radio interview last September that he was asked to put together a legal team to defend Chahal but did nothing unethical and returned most of the $250,000.

Westly, whose name has been mentioned as a possible guber-

natorial candidate in 2018, said in a statement that he doesn’t comment on ongoing legal cases but that domestic violence in any form is inexcusable.

Khraibut’s lawsuit also accuses Chahal of crass behaviour, saying he sought male colleagues’ opinions of a bikini photo of a prospective female employee and used a vulgar term to describe decisions to let attractive women advance in the hiring process.

In prosecuting Chahal, the district attorney’s office faced a setback when a judge ruled that police illegally seized the surveillance footage from the mogul’s penthouse. But prosecutors pressed ahead, and Chahal pleaded guilty in 2014 to misdemeanour charges of battery and domestic violence battery.

A different judge revoked his probation last month after prosecutors say he repeatedly kicked another girlfriend in the same penthouse in 2014 and then dissuaded her from talking by threatening to report her to immigration authorities.

Chahal accused both women of cheating on him, prosecutors say.

The judge allowed prosecutors to introduce the video after they argued it showed a pattern of abusive behaviour. She reviewed it before issuing her ruling but has not released it publicly. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

BEIJING — A coalition of 46 business groups from the United States, Europe and Asia has appealed to China to change proposed cybersecurity rules they warn will harm trade and isolate the country.

The action adds to mounting complaints Beijing is trying to squeeze foreign competitors out of promising industries in violation of the communist government’s market-opening commitments.

In a letter to Premier Li Keqiang, the country’s top economic official, the groups warn proposed Chinese limits on information security technology might make data theft easier and violate World Trade Organization rules.

The letter represents the biggest such joint action since at least 2010, when business groups banded together to express concern over China’s controls on rare earths exports.

Its signers include the Business Software Alliance, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and bodies for insurers and manufacturers from Britain, Japan, Australia and Mexico.

“The current drafts, if implemented, would weaken security and separate China from the global digital economy,” said the letter, dated Wednesday.

A proposed Cybersecurity Law and separate rules for insurance companies would re-

quire technology providers to show authorities how their products work and to store information about Chinese citizens within the country.

The data storage rules “have no additional security benefits” and would “create barriers to entry” for providers, said the letter. It said being required to disclose how security products work might weaken data safety and count as trade barriers under WTO rules.

The groups appealed to Li to revise the proposed rules to follow international standards.

Chinese leaders say they need the controls to prevent terrorism and anti-government activity. But officials of Chinese industry groups quoted in the state press have said previous restrictions on use of foreign security technology also were intended to shield the country’s fledgling providers from competition.

Business groups have complained over the past five years that Beijing is reducing market access for foreign companies as the government of President Xi Jinping tries to build up Chinese competitors.

That has fueled trade strains with the United States and Europe at a time of anemic global economic growth.

Restrictions on use of security technology in an earlier Chinese anti-terrorism law and rules for banks prompted a similar outcry from business groups that said they would prevent most use of foreign products. ■

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32

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Travel Amphibious tour lets passengers experience Halifax by land and sea

BY ADINA BRESGE The Canadian Press HALIFAX — All aboard the Harbour Hopper, a frog-green, rusting hull-on-wheels tour that allows visitors to experience Halifax by both land and water.

The four-vehicle fleet of retrofitted Vietnam War-era amphibious crafts, purchased from the U.S. army for $1 million apiece, carries thousands of passengers a year, and is a staple of summer in the city.

The approximately hour-long tour is split evenly between the city streets and the seas of Halifax Harbour, narrated by a peppy guide who explains each site’s cultural significance and leads the passengers in the occasional round of “ribbiting” in honour of the Harbour Hopper’s mascot, a rain-capped frog.

“There’s a lot of corny jokes, which everybody enjoys,” says tour guide Kristyn Green. “It’s a great way to get the gist of a city in just a short amount of time.”

The hulking carrier begins its route on land, winding up the narrow roads of Citadel Hill, first fortified in 1749, until it reaches the star-shaped fortress at its summit, designed to provide a clear view of the harbour and Royal Navy Dockyard.

A cannon is fired daily at noon, a tradition that once

helped sailors keep accurate time, but now serves as a ritual fright to the office workers beneath the hill’s grassy slopes.

The bus drones by the broderie-patterned beds of the Halifax Public Gardens; down the city’s main drag, Spring Garden Road; past the Old Burying Ground, where, by some estimates, 12,000 of Halifax’s earliest settlers are buried 10 to a grave; and a statue of British statesman Winston Churchill, who during a visit to the city in 1943 allegedly gushed that it is “something more than a shed on a wharf.”

The tour arrives at a slimy ramp on the edge of Halifax Harbour. At this point, 23-yearold tour guide Alex Landry informs the group that driver Asim Khan has become captain of the vessel, and he will take on the role of first mate.

The crowd braces itself for the awesome transition from bus to boat, and the vehicle rolls into the water with a minor splash. Khan says, depending on the tide, there can be so much spray he has to warn passengers to put away their electronics.

“The splash is always a hit,” Khan says. “It’s a combination of the log ride at most amusement parks and ... launching a boat.”

The vehicle propels its way into the harbour, cruising past the naval dockyards, the light-

house on Georges Island and the serrated skyline of Atlantic Canada’s bustling hub.

Upong returning to land, Landry recants the role the city played in helping to recover the bodies of those who perished in the 1912 sinking of the Titanic, and is the final resting place for more than 100 unidentified victims. He talks about the Halifax Explosion that devastated the city around five years later, in which approximately 2,000 people died in a blast caused by two colliding ships.

By the time the Harbour Hopper returns to the waterfront, some of the children on board have been lulled to sleep by either the history or the waves. Others are still giddy about having spotted a seal near the docks.

“It’s been a really family friendly experience,” says Sanj Sathiyamoorthy, a tourist from Ontario, with his four-year-old son in his arms. “We don’t have boats like that in Kitchener.”

While the Harbour Hopper is a hit among visitors, it is also a source of occasional chagrin for locals, especially vendors on its route who have to hear the same Halifax tidbit up to 30 times a day.

“There are certain individuals around town who didn’t particularly care for us going by them,” says Bob Corkum, a former Harbour Hopper driver.

“The majority of people ... can

Tour guide on the "Harbour Hopper."

RICLAF / FLICKR

tell they carry 40 people on that thing and every time it goes by all summer long it’s full.

“It’s been a good ambassador.”

Since retiring his captain’s hat around 10 years ago, Corkum still hears the Harbour Hopper every day on his way to work. Despite some people’s grumbling, he says the hybrid bus-boat has been a boon to downtown businesses and contributes to the city’s charm.

“For you and me, it’s been here all of our life, and we forget that 80 per cent of the population that comes here and visits — anywhere from the Prairies to Nevada — have never seen the ocean in their life,” he says.

“It gives them a chance to be there out on the water ... and

just see what it’s like to live on an ocean.”

If You Go...

The Harbour Hopper runs from early May to late October.

Visit ww.mtcw.ca/#!familyfun-adventures/cwrq or call 902-420-1015 for information on departures.

Tickets are $35 for adults, $31.50 for seniors, $19.99 for children aged 10 to 15 and $11.50 for children three to nine. There is no charge for children under age two. The family rate for two adults and two kids is $90, and $11.50 for each additional child.

Visitors are advised to arrive 15 minutes prior to departure time and to bring an extra layer of clothing for warmth. ■

Toronto Reference Library exhibit reveals ‘unexpected beauty’ of old maps THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — The Toronto Public Library is highlighting its collection of centuries-old maps in a new exhibition, “The Art of Cartography.”

Some 50 items are on display

— from sea charts and city plans to atlases and celestial depictions — showcasing the “unexpected beauty” of maps dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries, the library says.

Along with reality — or attempts in that direction — the maps reveal a considerable amount of fantasy

when it came to portraying unknown parts of the world.

A 1613 depiction of the North Pole by the renowned cartographer Gerhard Mercator shows a black rock at the top of the globe surrounded by a whirlpool and river rapids.

A 1592 map of Iceland reveals www.canadianinquirer.net

a variety of strange sea monsters frolicking in the waves around the island.

“I think even those people who think that they are not interested in maps will be truly amazed and delighted by these extraordinary and exquisite works,” Joanna Morrison, a librarian with the

Toronto Reference Library’s special collections department, told Canadian Geographic magazine.

The exhibit, sponsored by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, runs Aug. 13 to Oct. 16 in the TD Gallery at the Toronto Reference Library at 789 Yonge St. ■

Travel

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

33

Pilgrims flock to ‘New Jerusalem’ Carved from mountain monoliths in the medieval era, the churches in Lalibela are objects of devotion for millions in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, perhaps the world’s oldest Christian movement

BY LITO B. ZULUETA Philippine Daily Inquirer LALIBELA, ETHIOPIA — Filipino Catholics who have resolved to visit the Holy Land at least once in their lifetime but are discouraged by the tinderbox situation in the Middle East may have found the next best option in this ancient mountain town in northern Ethiopia.

Here, huge whole ancient churches carved from mountain rocks have been drawing, since medieval times, Ethiopian Orthodox pilgrims and, only lately, European, North American and other foreign tourists, especially since United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has inscribed the colossal structures in the World Heritage List.

So impressive are the churches that they have been called by travel operators not without some bases as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

But for devout Orthodox Ethiopians, Lalibela is nothing less than the “Second Jerusalem” and even the “New Jerusalem,” the 800-year-old churches carved out of its red mountain rocks constituting the fortress of the ancient Christian faith, a veritable “Rock of Ages.”

LEFT: Church of St. George, one of eleven monolithic churches in Lalibela, a city in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. RIGHT: Addis Ababa at dawn.

ior of the World), Biete Mariam (House of Mary), Biete Maskal (House of the Cross), Biete Denagel (House of Virgins), and Golgotha Mikael (House of Golgotha Mikael).

To the south of the river are Biete Amanuel (House of Emmanuel), Biete Qeddus Mercoreus (House of St. Mercoreus), Biete Abba Libanos (House of Abbot Libanos), Biete Gabriel Raphael (House of Gabriel Raphael) and Biete Lehem (House of Holy Bread).

The 11th and last church to be built Alternative Holy Land was separated from the rest and was In fact, the churches were built on or- strikingly cruciform in shape. ders of King Lalibela Lalibela had at the turn of the 13th planned to name it century as an alterafter himself until native Holy Land. he saw in a dream St. Because of the George, asking, “But Muslim occupation So impressive where’s my house?” of Palestine and the are the churches He then named the counter-offensive of that they have church after the saint Christian Europe’s been called by beloved to Ethiopians.

Crusades, Christians travel operators In inscribing them from Asia Minor and not without in the World HeriAfrica found the trasome bases tage List, Unesco has ditional trek to the as the “Eighth cited the rock-hewn Holy Land and its saWonder of the churches of Lalibela cred sites daunting.

World.” for their “outstandWith 40,000 peoing universal value,” ple laboring across especially since they two dozen years, 11 have continued to be churches were built a “high place” of deon living rock of votion and pilgrimmonolithic and, semi-monolithic blocks age for Ethiopian Christianity. They are as well as caves. These blocks were then sterling examples of “living heritage.” further hewn and chiseled, forming doors, windows, columns, floors, roofs Oldest in the world and Christian icons.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest This complex, sprawling and ambi- civilizations, and the Ethiopian Orthotious work was complemented by a sys- dox Church is perhaps the oldest in the tem of drainage ditches, trenches and Christian world. tunnels opening out to hermit caves and Even before Christianity, Ethiopia catacombs. Lalibela named them after had practiced Judaism as a result of the key Christian sites in the Holy Land. marriage of King Solomon of Jerusalem To the north of the river Jordan are and Queen Sheba of Ethiopia, a familiar Biete Medhane Alem (House of the Sav- episode in the Old Testament.

But according to Ethiopian sources, Sheba later returned to Ethiopia, while her son Menelik went to Israel and came back with Israelites and the Ark of the Covenant.

Today Ethiopia is home to the Beta Israels Falasha or the “Black Jews.”

The Jewish legacy explains the national Ethiopian symbol—the lion—not referring to the African lion but to the Lion of Judah in the Old Testament. It also explains why the most sacred place accorded in an Ethiopian Orthodox Church is behind the altar where the Ark of the Covenant (or its replica) is lodged.

It was also through Ethiopia’s Jewish heritage that Ethiopians were introduced to Christianity.

In the Acts of the Apostles, VIII: 2640, a court eunuch sent to Jerusalem by Queen Candace of Ethiopia to worship the God of Israel met Philip the Deacon and was baptized by him. Ethiopian tradition said that he returned home and evangelized the people.

In his Homily on Pentecost, St. John Chrysostom said that Ethiopians were present in Jerusalem on Pentecost and that the apostle Matthew was assigned

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the task to spread the gospel to Ethiopia.

Ethiopian monarchs had since then been priestly kings who considered it their sacred duty to promote and protect Christianity and the Orthodox church.

It is also perhaps its strict history of monotheism that has allowed Ethiopia to consolidate its identity and protect its territory and people from colonial depredation, save for the brief interlude between 1936 and 1941 when Benito Mussolini and the Italians invaded and tried to occupy it.

Media tour

Ethiopian Airlines, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary, brought a Philippine media delegation aboard its Boeing 787 Dreamliner to tour key Ethiopian historical sites, especially Lalibela.

At the Church of the Holy Savior, the journalists found pilgrims flocking to the church despite the rainy season to make it inside in time for daily noon Mass.

Once the Mass started, latecomers would no longer be allowed inside even when there was space, so they had to do ❱❱ PAGE 36 Pilgrims flock

Events

34

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

YUKON NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

NUNAVUT

BRITISH COLUMBIA

ALBERTA

NEWFOUNDLAND

CANADA

MANITOBA QUEBEC SASKATCHEWAN

EVENTS

Temporary Foreign Workers Uncontested Divorce Clinic

By Law Courts Center WHEN/WHERE: Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Justice Education Society at the Provincial Court of BC Room 260 800 Hornby St., Vancouver B.C. MORE INFO: To book an appointment, call/text 778-3222839 or email: tfw.divorce@gmail. com Skills Now: Project-based Training for Immigrants in Retail and Administration

By ISS of BC WHEN/WHERE: Call or email at 604-684-2581 (ext 2193 Nanki) skillsnow@issbc.org MORE INFO: Receive a certificate or skills training in retail or administration; job search workshops; and strong employment opportunities.

Mentoring Programme for Immigrant High School Students: Breakfast & Baon 101

By Mentorship & Leadership for Youth Programme WHEN/WHERE: 10 a.m. to 12 nn at Corpus Christi College (near UBC) 5935 Iona Dr. Vancouver BC. Free pick up and drop off service.

MORE INFO: Meet young professionals plus learn to cook.

Call/text Anna de Quito 604-7632210.

Free Counselling Support Group

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., every last Monday of the month, at Mosaic Burnaby Centre for Immigrants, 5902 Kingsway, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call Darae (604)2549626

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To have your events featured on PCI, please email events@canadianinquirer.net

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View all events by scanning this QR code or visiting

Seniors Club Knitting Circle

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 1–3 p.m., Tuesdays at Mosaic Burnaby Centre for Immigrants, 5902 Kingsway, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call (604)438-8214 Enchanted Evenings Concert Series

By Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m., Thursdays, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden, 578 Carrall St., Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Closed on Mondays, admission by donation MHHS Fun Run WHEN/WHERE: August 20, 2016 from 9am-5 pm, Killarney Community Center Oval Tour of the Chung Collection

By Pacific Canada Heritage Centre-Museum of Migration Society WHEN/WHERE: 10:30 a.m., Aug. 26, at Irving K. Barber Learning Centre MORE INFO: Tour to be led by Dr. Wallace Chung. To pre-register pchcmom.intern@gmail.com Summer Sunset Series

By City of Richmond WHEN/WHERE: Every Sunday up to to Aug. 28, at the Olympic Riverside Plaza All Night – Beach Volleyball 5:00 p.m. – Food Truck opens 5:15 p.m. – FREE Yoga Class 6:00 p.m. – LIVE Music Dusk – Open Air Movie (August 21) MORE INFO: Visit http:// richmond.ca/sunsetseries Bridging the Distance: Parenting from Afar

By ISS of BC and St. Mary’s Migrant Ministry WHEN/WHERE: 1to 3 p.m., Aug.

21, at the Seminar Room, School Gym, St. Mary’s Parish, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: To register, contact Resochita Arma at resochita. arma@issbc.org or 604-6847498 ext. 1666 or Lenn Castro at stmarysmigrant@gmail.com Throwback Sessions: Wency Cornejo & Introvoys in Vancouver

By Innovision Events & Marketing and Fortune Sound Club WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 p.m., Aug. 27, at Fortune Sound Club, 147 E. Pender St., Chinatown, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: $30. Special guests include Raffy Swap One, Danger Blanket & Audrey Rose.

Call Isabel Velayo at 778-892-4772 for details.

Overcoming Effects of Prolonged Separation

By ISS of BC & St. Mary’s Migrant Ministry WHEN/WHERE: 1 to 3 p.m., Sept.

4, Seminar Room, School Gym, St. Mary’s Parish, 5239 Joyce St., Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Contact Resochita Arma at resochita.arma@issbc.org or 604-684-7496 ext. 1666

a seat.

TORONTO New WelcomePack Canada Distribution Centre

By WelcomePack Canada Inc. WHEN/WHERE: 1 to 5 p.m., Mon, Tues, Thu & Fri at the Filipino Centre Bldg., 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, On. MORE INFO: Call (416) 928-9355 Tagalog Class

By Filipino Center Toronto WHEN/WHERE: 10 to 11 a.m., every Saturday, Filipino Centre Toronto, Toronto Homework/Tutorial Class

By FCT WHEN/WHERE: 11a.m. to 12 nn, every Saturday, Filipino Centre Toronto, 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, ON MORE INFO: For registrations, call 416-928-9355. The office, at 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 6 p.m

JAG Public Square: Truth Reconciliation & Hope

By Jesuit Alumni Group of Vancouver WHEN/WHERE: 12 nn to 2 p.m., Sept. 10, at Vancouver College Alumni Gym Theatre, 5400 Cartier St., Vancouver, B.C.

Reload Your Dreams

By Kubo Magazine and I-Remit WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 p.m., Aug. 19, at Nancy’s Auditorium, YWCA Toronto, 87 Elm St., Toronto, Ont. MORE INFO: Featuring Rebecca Bustamante, founder and CEO, Asia CEO Awards. Call 647-3001970 for details.

Fundraising Breakfast 2016

By St. Mark’s College/Corpus Christi College WHEN/WHERE: 9 a.m., Sept.. 10, Vancouver College Alumni Gym, 5400 Cartier St., Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Keynote speaker: Fr. Peter Bisson, SJ. Call Florence Chan at 604-822-5516 to reserve

Taste of Manila By the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto and Philippine Cultural Community Centre WHEN/WHERE: Aug. 20 & 21, Little Manila at Bathurst & Wilson Sts.,Toronto, Ont. MORE INFO: Special guests include Vina Morales and Xian Lim

www.canadianinquirer.net

Retrospect Summer Tour 2016 WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m., Aug. 20, Taste of Manila with Retrospect and TFC artists, Little Manila at Bathurst & Wilson Sts., Toronto, Ont.

WINNIPEG Manitoba Filipino Street Festival & Parade

By TFC WHEN/WHERE: 9 a.m., Aug. 20, at Downtown Winnipeg (Broadway and Memorial Streets)

CALGARY Fiesta Filipino Calgary 2016

By ATB Financial and TFC WHEN/WHERE: 12 nn to 10 p.m., Sept. 2 & 3, at Olympic Plaza Downtown Calgary MORE INFO: Free Admission The Canadian Tour

By Klownz Comedy Bar, GMA TV, Great Smiles Dental and Mabuhay Calgary WHEN/WHERE: 7 p,m., Aug. 21, at Polish Canadian Centre, 3015— 15 St., NE Calgary, AB MORE INFO: Featuring Allan K, Ate Gay, Boobay & Boobsie Wonderland. Call 416-431-9444 for details. $45 general admission.

EDMONTON Klownz Comedy Bar The Canadian Tour

By GMA TV and Great Smiles Dental WHEN/WHERE: 7 p,m., Aug. 20, at South Pointe Centre, Edmonton MORE INFO: Featuring Allan K, Ate Gay, Boobay & Boobsie Wonderland. Call 416-312-7069 for details. $45 general admission.

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

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Food How decadent doughnuts can be made healthier baking them

BY MELISSA D’ARABIAN The Associated Press DOUGHNUTS ARE my kryptonite.

Fried sweet dough dipped in glaze, and then dunked into a cup of steaming-hot coffee? Yes, please. And I will give this to you straight: once or twice a year, I’m all in. I load up the car and take the kids to our favourite doughnut spot and we throw caution to the wind.

But for the average Sunday-brunchtype of indulgence, a girl needs a plan. I wanted to create a doughnut that would scratch the itch on a more semi-regular basis. And the baked version is just the ticket.

I make a doughnut in perhaps my favouriteflavour of all time — peanut butter chocolate — that truly feels like a major indulgence, while it’s actually just a minor one, thanks to a few tricks.

First, get yourself a full-sized baked doughnut tin, stat. Not to sound bossy, but this will change your life. Or at least your weekend. Incidentally, stick with the full-sized version — the baked minidoughnuts puff up and the middle fills in, and frankly, you end up with something closer to a muffin half the time.

Second little trick: Use a lot less sugar than you would use for a cake recipe.

The little bit of sugary glaze will make the doughnut taste sweeter than it is, because it’s on the outside.

Third trick: I use three kinds of chocolate — melted chocolate and cocoa powder (both unsweetened) and then just a couple of tablespoons of mini-chocolate chips, which even in small quantities add a gooey-melted chocolate vibe that

says “today is special.”

Lastly, I use defatted peanut flour (also called “dried peanut butter”). It has all the flavour and a fraction of the calories of peanut butter, perfect for smoothies and baked goods.

And as a bonus, these doughnuts can be made gluten-free. I’ve successfully substituted several gluten-free flour mixes (look for “1-to-1” or “baking flour” on the label for best results) in this recipe, which my gluten-free daughter loves.

Chocolate peanut butter baked doughnuts

Start to finish: 30 minutes Servings: 6 doughnuts • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted • 1 square unsweetened chocolate, melted • 1/3 cup brown sugar (or 1/2 cup if you want sweeter) • 1 large egg • 1 teaspoon vanilla • 1 teaspoon white or cider vinegar • 1/2 cup lowfat milk • 3/4 cup flour • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa • 2 tablespoons powdered peanut butter (or peanut flour) • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips Glaze: • 1 tablespoon powdered peanut butter (“peanut flour”) • 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

• 2/3 cup powdered sugar • 2 tablespoons milk • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Preheat the oven to 350 F. In a large glass bowl, whisk together the butter, chocolate and brown sugar until smooth. Add the egg, vanilla, vinegar and milk and whisk together.

In a small bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, dried peanut butter, baking powder and soda and salt together. Add the chocolate chips and toss to coat. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until mixed.

Spray a doughnut baking tin with nonstick spray. Scrape the batter into a 1-quart re-sealable plastic bag and snip the corner to make a 1/2-inch opening. Pipe the batter into the doughnut moulds.

COOKING ON DEADLINE:

Taking green bean salad up a notch

BY KATIE WORKMAN The Associated Press GREEN BEANS can be — well, I’ll say it, boring.

They are one of the most accessible and affordable vegetables on the mar-

ket, and one of the easiest to prepare, but too often they bring to mind the word “meh.”

But green beans can lend themselves to so many different kinds of preparations and seasonings that there are lots ❱❱ PAGE 36 Taking green

www.canadianinquirer.net

Bake until doughnuts are dry and cooked through, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the glaze ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.

Once the doughnuts are cooked, allow to cool a few minutes before removing from the mould. Allow to cool to the touch and then dip the prettier side (the side that was in the mould) into the glaze and set on baking rack for the glaze to cool and harden.

Nutrition information per serving: 283 calories; 87 calories from fat; 10 g fat (5 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 48 mg cholesterol; 279 mg sodium; 45 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 28 g sugar; 6 g protein.

Food Network star Melissa d’Arabian is an expert on healthy eating on a budget.

She is the author of the cookbook “Supermarket Healthy.”

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AUGUST 19, 2016

By many... to be out of work than those in the city overall or the metro area, according to a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee report.

Wisconsin also has the highest rate of black unemployment of any state, and it leads the country in the number of black men behind bars, with 1 out of 8 in prison or jail as of the 2010 census, another study found.

It is a reality that most people don’t see or hear about, in part because Milwaukee’s size often excludes it from nationwide rankings or news accounts of big-city problems. Some community leaders also have preferred not to publicize the issues, said state Sen. Lena Taylor, who still lives on the same north side block where she grew up.

“We’ve always been known as a city with a small-town mentality,” Taylor said. “We’re a destination. We don’t want people to be afraid to come to Milwaukee.”

There’s also a misconception among outsiders about Wisconsin, she said.

“They don’t also think we have black people.”

The state is investigating the fatal shooting of Sylville Smith, whom Milwaukee police say was shot after he turned toward an officer with a gun in his hand. Police say the 23-year-old was fleeing after a traffic stop.

Police Chief Edward Flynn has blamed protesters from outside of Milwaukee for much of the unrest, saying protests and prayer vigils had been peaceful Sunday until a group from Chicago showed up.

But the protests of recent days follow decades of racial tension, particularly between the black community and police.

Cecil Brewer, 67, lives near the gas station rioters burned on Saturday night. He’s lived in Milwaukee for the last 14 or 15 years, and said black people have a target on them. He’s constantly afraid an officer will pull him over.

“It’s a form of racism that if you haven’t lived it, you can’t understand it,” he said. “People look at me because of the colour of my skin. It’s messed up.”

Many of Milwaukee’s black families came to the area after World War II to work in the city’s factories, where goodpaying jobs were plentiful.

Then came the fight for civil ❰❰ 20

FRIDAY

Pilgrims flock... rights. After a 1967 riot turned deadly, a white priest, the Rev. James Groppi, led 200 nights of marches to push for fair housing laws. Joining him on some of those marches was the Rev. Jesse Jackson, a civil rights leader who participated in similar marches across the country.

The story of struggle in Milwaukee’s black community is similar to what has happened in other cities across the U.S., Jackson said Monday. The factories closed or moved jobs to the suburbs or overseas. A lack of transportation made it tougher for people to find work, and poverty led to violence and other problems, Jackson said.

“This is another classic box car on the train of urban neglect,” he said of Milwaukee.

“You have a jobs desert. People have no place to work.”

According to a 2015 study by the Economic Policy Institute, Wisconsin’s black unemployment rate was nearly 20 per cent in 2014.

The numbers are even bleaker in Milwaukee’s north side. A study of what’s considered the most disadvantaged zip code found that just over a third of men ages 20 to 64 living there were employed, compared with 78 per cent in the greater metro area.

That 2014 study by University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor Marc Levine also found nearly half of residents lived below the poverty line, compared with 28 per cent in the city overall. More than one of every five unit of housing was vacant.

Taylor also pointed to high rates of teen pregnancy and a crack cocaine epidemic that led to generations of “kids who raised themselves.” There also have been incidents involving police, such as the shooting of a mentally ill black man by an officer in 2014.

She said what may be most surprising is that the anger didn’t simmer over sooner.

“What you have are individuals who have been devalued, who have a lack of opportunity ... who don’t see any hope,” Taylor said. “When you put all that in one pot, it’s like a pressure cooker. At some point, you have to have a release.” ■ Associated Press Writer Todd Richmond in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

all the ritual ejaculation and prostration— even the obligatory kneeling during consecration (no, just merely standing when the Host is raised as lax Catholics mindlessly do is not allowed in the Orthodox faith)—outside on the mud.

It was a particularly devotional time for Orthodox Christians as they were celebrating the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. Unlike in the Catholic observance when the feast is celebrated in just one day, Orthodox Ethiopians mark it as a whole season of prayer and fasting, the latter enforced every day, so that Orthodox Christians, even children, must abstain from meat (fish and fowl included) till 3 p.m., daily.

Before entering, the media men removed their shoes like the pilgrims because they were on hallowed ground. Inside, they found the faithful separated according to sexes—the

❰❰ 33

women on the right and the men on the left. An eager group of young girls who followed the media group to the men’s side were gently admonished by the guide, also Orthodox, that they should not be there.

King’s favorite

At the Mariam, women huddled in front of murals of the Madonna. The church was said to be the favorite of King Lalibela and it showed in the huge crosses and ornate icons exquisitely carved out of the monolith.

At the Church of St. George, Philippine journalists marveled at the cruciform roof jutting out of the deep trench that surrounded the monolith, which rose some two dozen meters high.

Inside, a monk sat before the altar praying. When the guide knelt before him and asked for his blessing, the monk raised the richly ornate traditional

Orthodox cross and brought its four ends to the guide’s lips, the faithful’s unction joined to the Crucifixion.

Moved by the sight, the journalists followed in the guide’s wake and, ignoring the chasm —nay, the schism—between Latin and Orthodox Christianity, knelt before the monk for a similar blessing. They joined their lips to the points of the Cross and at once they relived the freshness and vigor of the ancient faith, still burning like the fire of the first Pentecost 2,000 years ago. ■ Ethiopian Airlines flies to Addis Ababa from Manila with a brief stopover in Bangkok three times a week. To celebrate the launch of its Dreamliner service to Manila, Ethiopian Airlines offers special roundtrip prices of $787 (economy) and $1,787 (business). Call 8480978/79; 5222095; 5224869); Visit www.ethiopianairlines.com.

Taking green... of reasons to make the effort to take them to another level.

They can be roasted, steamed, boiled and sauteed, or served at room temperature in a salad, as in this recipe.

Here they are paired with bright, tangy clementine oranges and salty feta, then lifted up another notch with minced shallots and fresh thyme leaves.

If you don’t have coarse Dijon you can use regular, though I like the extra texture that the coarse variety gives to the dressing.

The beans can be cooked and tossed with the dressing up to two days ahead, which lets them marinate a bit. Add the oranges and feta just before serving.

All in all, a far cry from “meh.” ❰❰ 35

Green bean salad with clementine oranges and feta

Start to finish: 20 minutes Servings: 6 • 1 1/2 pounds green beans • 3 clementines • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar • 2 tablespoons minced shallots • 1 tablespoon coarse Dijon www.canadianinquirer.net

mustard • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste • 1 cup crumbled feta Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Drop the beans into the water and let them cook for 3 minutes until they start to become tender.

Drain the beans in a colander and run cold water over them to stop the cooking, cool them down and preserve the bright green colour.

Peel the clementines and cut each segment in half crosswise.

Cut the cooled beans in half cross-wise.

In a small bowl or container, combine the olive oil, vinegar, shallots, mustard, thyme, salt and pepper. Whisk or shake to

combine.

Place the beans and orange segments in a large bowl and drizzle the dressing over them.

Toss to combine thoroughly.

Add 1/2 cup of the feta and toss again gently to combine, then sprinkle the rest of the feta on top. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Nutrition information per serving: 166 calories; 93 calories from fat; 10 g fat (4 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 22 mg cholesterol; 337 mg sodium; 14 g carbohydrate; 4 g fiber; 8 g sugar; 6 g protein.

Katie Workman has written two cookbooks focused on easy, family-friendly cooking, “Dinner Solved!” and “The Mom 100 Cookbook.”

Seen & Scenes: Vancouver

FRIDAY AUGUST 19, 2016

ASEAN SPORTS FEST Members of Team Philippines in the recently held Asean Sports Fest at Queen’s Park, New Westminster, B.C. (Photo c/o Jeanie-vi Llonora’s FB)

YOUTH DAY

APPRECIATION PICNIC The United Filipino Canadian Associations in BC appreciation picnic at Trout Lake Picnic Area, Aug. 13 (Photos by Christian Cunanan).

PINOY FIESTA

The Multicultural Helping House Society led by Tomas Avendano celebrated their annual Youth Day on Aug. 13, at the MHHS Newcomer Resource Centre on Fraser St. Vancouver, B.C. It was a day of fellowship, music, dance, talks and food. International Youth Day was celebrated all over the world to recognize the importance of youth efforts and participation in development goals (Photo by Mitzi Echague).

Megan Young, Miss World 2013, entertains the crowd at the Pinoy Fiesta event in Vancouver. Also in photo are organizers Jojo Quimpo and Jayson de la Cruz (Photos by Jojo Quimpo).

MEGAN YOUNG MEET & GREET Miss World 2013 Megan Young met Consul General Neil Ferrer, wife Miriam, members of the FilCan media and VIP guests at Kumare Restaurant in Surrey, B.C. Young, a FilAm actress, model and TV host was in town to grace the Pinoy Fiesta in Vancouver (Photo by Laarni Liwanagde Paula).

BOWLING MEET PICPA VANCOUVER held it’s Annual Bowling Tournament at Rev’s Bowling Center in Burnaby last Saturday, August 13, 2016. The Best Female Bowler goes to Beth while the Best Male Bowler goes to Cecilio. www.canadianinquirer.net

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Seen and Scenes

AUGUST 19, 2016

FRIDAY

WINTER ESCAPADE (Clockwise) Ambassador Garcia welcomes guests to the launch of Winter Escapade 4; Minister Flerida A.C.P. Mayo presents the group tour package and answers questions from the audience; and guests register on the spot for the tour (Photos from PE FB page).

AYALA INTL. SALES TEAM Ayala International sales team which includes Senior Sales Manager Hazel De Mesa (2nd from L), Business Development Manager Crissy Miguel (2nd from the R), Senior International Property Specialist Archie Fojas visit I-Remit Office in Toronto. Branch Head and Marketing Officer Simeon Sarte (L) and I-Remit Canada Country Manager and Managing Director Belinda Lim Herrera (center) welcome team (Photo by St. Jamestown News Service, Dindo Orbeso)

QUEBEC PILGRIMAGE To celebrate the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Prince of Peace Knights of Columbus Council # 9144 brought their parishioners to a pilgrimage to Quebec. Coordinator Keith Coutinho and his active knights went Quebec City to pass through the Holy Door of Notre-Dame de Quebec then proceeded to the Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, the renowned pilgrimage site of over 350 years, to attend the evening Mass in St. Anne Basilica. This was followed by a Candlelight procession around the Basilica (Photos by Dindo Orbeso).

For photo submissions, please email info@canadianinquirer.net. www.canadianinquirer.net

AUGUST 19, 2016

39

CANADA

I'm looking for a Filipino surrogate mother, who currently lives in Edmonton, or is willing to relocate to Edmonton, to carry my baby.

You will need to be between the ages of 21-35, and have given birth to at least 1 child. You also need to be in excellent physical, emotional and mental health. You have never had abuse of drugs/alcohol and you are a non-smoker.

If interested, please send a brief introduction of yourself, with your contact information, to

nathanlee6766@gmail.com

RETAIL SALES SUPERVISOR

CAREGIVER WANTED

for Cascade Gift Store - Banff, AB.

for Elderly lady who lives in Burnhamthorpe and Cawthra area in Mississauga

Responsibilities: Supervise and Coordinate sales staff and cashiers, Assign duties, Authorize merchandise return, Sell Merchandise, Resolve customer complaints and supply shortages, Maintain specified inventory, Prepare reports on sales volumes,merchandising, personnel.

Must have some experience with elderly people and be able to help with some cooking and personal assistance. Can live in or live out as there is a basement apartment. Can work flexible hours to start. Hourly wage can be about $12 per hour.

High School graduate, with 2 yrs Retail Supervisory experience.

F/T Permanent: $18.25/ hour. 40 hours/week.

Subsidized staff accommodation and Extended health benefits.

Send resume to: Cascade Gifts, P.O. Box 2428, Banff, AB T1L 1C2 info@cascadegifts.com

CONTACT Marisa Cerruti (mother) Marisacerruti@rogers.com Lou Cerruti (son) Lcerruti@claybar.ca

Retail Assistant Manager for Cascade Gift Store - Banff, AB.

Responsibilities: Plan, direct and evaluation the operations of the store; manage staff & assign duties; study market & determine consumer needs; determine merchandise & services to be sold; develop & implement marketing strategies; assist in planning budget & expenditures; resolve customer(s) complaints; determine staffing requirements & hiring, etc.

High School graduate, with 3 yrs of related retail experience at increasing levels of responsibility required.

F/T Permanent: $26.50/hour; 40 hours/week.

Subsidized staff accommodation & Extended health benefits.

Send resume to: Cascade Gifts, P.O. Box 2428, Banff, AB T1L 1C2

elaine@cascadegifts.com

Toronto Enquiries: salestoronto@canadianinquirer.net Philippine Enquiries: salesphilippines@canadianinquirer.net

www.canadianinquirer.net

Tel: (1) 647-521-5155

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AUGUST 19, 2016

www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY