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CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER VOL. 4 NO. 109
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APRIL 4, 2014
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Grace Poe not ready for 2016
Hammer wielding robbers at MOA
PNPA vs. PNP
Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Dr. Anna Wolak
This Lent, PCI tackles the question of life and death
Canada faces stark choices in dealing with resurgent Russia The Canadian Press
THE PEACEMAKERS President Aquino and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (center) applaud as peace panel chairs Miriam Coronel-Ferrer of the Philippine government and Mohagher Iqbal of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front exchange copies of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro that they signed in Malacañang. Also witnessing the event are Malaysian facilitator Ab Ghafar Mohamed, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles (right), and MILF chair Murad Ebrahim (left). PHOTO BY LYN RILLON
Gov’t faces lawsuits over P5B in projects BY GIL CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The government risks facing thousands of lawsuits for its failure to pay for at least P5 billion worth of infrastructure projects and supply contracts funded by the pork barrel of legislators, after the Supreme Court declared the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) unconstitutional five months ago. Budget Secretary Florencio Abad Jr.
said the executive branch was “caught in a bind” by the ruling since it could not honor its obligations to thousands of contractors and suppliers without risking the ire of the high court for violating its decision and the Commission on Audit which would disallow such fund releases. In its decision, the high court said funds allotted in 2013 for PDAF projects must be returned to the National Treasury if no notice of cash allotment
❱❱ PAGE 19 Canada faces
Philippine Canadian Inquirer
‘Intensifying search’ at sea yields no debris linked to missing Malaysian Flight 370 PHOTO BY RUSSAVIA / WIKIPEDIA
❱❱ PAGE 8 Gov’t faces
CHISINAU, MOLDOVA—Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says he hopes Russia has seen the “virtue” of diplomacy to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, while a defence expert warns that Canada should be paying more attention to Russia’s claims in the Arctic. Baird sounded hopeful about talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, aimed a diffusing the tension in eastern Europe. But Baird added Russia’s actions will speak more loudly than its words, again calling on Moscow to withdraw its troops from Crimea and along the borders of eastern Ukraine. Baird met on Monday with senior government ministers in Moldova, which is
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Philippine News
3 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
RTC OKs Napoles surgery at gov’t hospital BY JAYMEE T. GAMIL Philippine Daily Inquirer ALLEGED PORK barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles has been allowed medical surgery and hospital confinement—but not in the facility of her choice. In a five-page order issued on Friday, Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 150 Judge Elmo Alameda allowed Napoles to get hospital treatment for a uterine cyst, but ruled that it be in a state hospital, rather than at the private St. Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig as she had requested in a March 3 motion. “After diligently ascertaining the facts, the averments in the motions and the testimonies given … the court finds sufficient basis to grant the motion. However, the request of the accused that she should undergo surgery at St. Luke’s Medical Center should be modified. Instead, the court directs that the accused will undergo surgical operation at the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak), a government hospital situated within the territorial jurisdiction of this court,” Alameda said in his order. Napoles is currently detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, for a serious illegal detention charge filed in Alameda’s sala by Napoles’ cousin and former employee, Benhur Luy. Alameda found OsMak “a workable solution to the contrasting views” of Napoles’ camp and that of the prosecution. Clerk of court Diosfa Valencia explained to reporters: “The court is balancing [Napoles’ request] and the opposition of the prosecution to St. Luke’s. OsMak is also a tertiary hospital. It has complete facilities, the doctors are more than qualified. The court is finding neutral ground. Since OsMak is a government hospital funded by Makati City, it will be independent.” Alameda, in his order, granted the hospital surgery for “humanitarian reasons,” and based on earlier recommendations made in court by Philippine National Police doctor Michelle Daguno and Santiago A. del Rosario, head of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the MakatiMedical Center. “Although surgery is not urgent at this time, as testified by Dr. Daguno, advancing the schedule of [Napoles’] surgical operation as pleaded by the accused herself would be beneficial to her health since the cyst in her uterus, which she claims to be the source of her excruciating pain, would be removed,” Alameda said, in his order. In choosing a state-run instead of a private hospital, “The provisional liberty of the accused having been curtailed by the denial of her petition for bail, it now behooves this court to perform its
Napoles is currently detained at Fort Sto. Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, for a serious illegal detention charge filed in Alameda’s sala by Napoles’ cousin and former employee, Benhur Luy. PHOTO FROM PNP-PIO FACEBOOK PAGE
duty by protecting the interest of the people over the … personal convenience of the accused,” the judge added. Valencia said there was no definite date on when Napoles will be transferred, and it will be up to the OsMak administration. Napoles’ eventual discharge from the hospital after her surgery will also be determined by her attending physician in OsMak, Valencia said. Sought for comment over phone, Napoles’ lawyer Fay Singson said she had yet to talk to her client “but I can surmise she will be thankful that her request for treatment has been granted.” “Although she preferred St. Luke’s, we submit to the wisdom of the court,” Singson added. Singson said they were already coordinating with OsMak and the PNP for Napoles’ transfer “as soon as possible” Singson said. Asked whether Napoles will be bringing her own doctor, Singson said it would be “subject to the guidelines of OsMak… But I was under the impression that as judge [Alameda] said during one of the hearings, [Napoles] could bring a physician of her choice as long as she’s in a government hospital,” Singson said. In his order, Alameda reiterated that Napoles will be shouldering her own hospital bills. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the government was ready to comply with Alameda’s order. “Ospital ng Makati anyway is a public hospital,” De Lima said in a text message to reporters. “Provided such hospital confinement is only for a very limited duration, i.e., only for the duration of the surgery and needed recovery and provided further that a government doctor monitors the
same. I guess that is acceptable,” she added. Raji Mendoza, the lawyer of pork barrel scam whistle-blower Benhur Luy, said they also respected the judge’s decision and believed the issue was thor-
oughly examined. “Everybody has the right to enjoy basic human rights,” he added. ■ With reports from Jerome Aning and Nancy Carvajal
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Philippine News
APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 4
COA finds P204M in misdeclared CA bonuses BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer MEMBERS AND staff of Congress’ powerful Commission on Appointments (CA) enjoyed a bounty of allowances in 2012, including P204 million in extra benefits erroneously classified as maintenance and operating expenses in official records, according to a Commission on Audit (COA) report. The P204.41million in bonuses tucked under the “other maintenance and operation expenses” (OMOE) category was over and above the regular salaries and numerous allowances that commission members and personnel receive, which are classified under personal services and which amounted to P159.45 million in 2012. Altogether, the P363.86 million in salaries and benefits
that commission personnel received in 2012 made up the bulk of the commission’s P455.1 million in expenses for 2012. The COA report covered the Commission on Appointments of the 15th Congress, which was headed by then Senate Presi-
dent Juan Ponce Enrile. The bicameral commission approves the President’s appointment of heads of executive agencies, ambassadors and other public officials. It consists of the Senate President as ex-officio chair, and 12 senators and 12 members of the House of Representatives. The CA proper has 12 staff members, while the CA secretariat has 105. Membership in the commission is a coveted post for members of Congress because it comes with
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much power and influence. The audit agency said most of the CA’s operating expenses were incorrectly classified under the OMOE, which is supposed to include only those expenses that cannot be considered under the regular expenses categories. “OMOE are normally infrequent types of government expenditures and are rarely incurred in government financial transactions,” it noted. In going over the CA’s P236.14 million OMOE, the COA found that P204.41 million in expenses did not belong to the category as these were essentially allowances and bonuses. These should have been taxed but weren’t because they were not correctly classified, the COA said. The P204 million under the OMOE consisted of the CA members’ maintenance and other operating expenses (P71.59 million); additional grocery expenses and grocery bonus (P21.65 million); longevity and incentive benefits and the chairman’s incentive bonus (P15.69 million); Yuletide pack-
age (P14.36 million); financial relief assistance, chairman’s calamity assistance and inflationary calamity assistance (P13.52 million); reimbursable travelling expenses, transportation (P13.26 million); midyear economic assistance and yearend performance incentive (P12.84 million); cost-of-living allowance (P9.265 million); efficiency benefits (P9.095 million); education allowance (P8.45 million); milestone, anniversary bonus (P5.81 million); rice subsidy allowance (P4.63 million); food subsidy and staple food assistance (P4.216 million); and salary (P10.349 million). The COA said these expenses, except for the grocery and food expenses, were essentially benefits granted to the CA members and should be classified as personal services, and therefore subject to withholding tax. It said the grocery and food expenses could be charged to representation expenses if the money was spent for official entertainment, public relations, meetings, seminars or conferences. ■
Philippine News
5 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
AFP to NPA on its 45th year: We have your supremo BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer THE MILITARY has a message to communist guerrillas, who are celebrating the 45th year of the New’s People Army (NPA): Happy anniversary. We have your supremo. The military and police yesterday twitted the lawyers of Benito Tiamzon and his wife, Wilma, urging them to spare the couple’s feline and canine pets in discrediting the arrest of the two most senior cadres of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The military said the Tiamzons were the “power couple” of the CPP, the organization behind the decades-old Maoist rebellion in the country that had claimed the lives of over 30,000 people. Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, Armed Forces public affairs office chief, maintained that government agents, who arrested the Tiamzon couple and five others in Cebu province had complied with the rules and procedures in arresting individuals. As if taunting the NPA, the CPP’s armed wing that will be marking its 45th anniversary on March 29, Zagala said: “Happy anniversary. We have arrested your No. 1 and No. 2.” He urged Rachelle Pastores and Edre Olalia, lawyers of the Tiamzons, to refrain from engaging in propaganda after they accused the police of “planting” the firearms and explosives recovered from the couple. “There’s no truth to that,” Zagala told reporters when asked to comment on the lawyers’ claims that the Tiamzons were merely carrying three cats and four puppies—not guns and grenades—at the time of the ar-
rest. “Instead of presenting their case in the media, they should just present their evidence to the court, which has jurisdiction over the case against their clients,” he said.
abandon the armed struggle. There are other ways to resolve the root causes of insurgency through peaceful means. The military knows that the way to solve our problems is through negotiations, through the peace process.”
Presumption of regularity
Zagala said the arresting officers even took videos and photographs of the operation to prove that the arrest was valid and that the authorities respected the Tiamzons’ human rights. Speaking for the Philippine National Police, Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac said the agents of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) had carried out the operation “with presumption of regularity.” “There’s no such thing as planting of evidence,” Sindac said at a news briefing in Camp Crame, the national police headquarters in Quezon City. “The policemen did their job in accordance with the laws. We have maintained regularity in the performance of our duties,” he added. Afterthought
Pastores and Olalia assailed the CIDG’s filing of illegal possession of firearms and explosives against the Tiamzons and their five companions on Monday, arguing that the criminal charge was just an “afterthought.” The lawyers also questioned the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors who presided over the inquest proceeding at the multipurpose building of Camp Crame. Pastores said the inquest should have been done right after the Tiamzons were arrested
P11.2M for informer
The military has a message to communist guerrillas, who are celebrating the 45th year of the New’s People Army (NPA) this week: Happy anniversary. We have your supremo. INQUIRER PHOTOS
in Aloguinsan town, Cebu, and that the DOJ had no authority to transfer the venue of the inquest without a written court order. The lawyers walked out of the proceedings in protest, saying the process “was highly irregular.” “We will not participate in a questionable process. We will not recognize this process,” Pastores said. Zagala expressed confidence that the arrest of Tiamzon, said to be the chair of the CPP and the head of the NPA, would lead to the resumption of peace negotiations between the communists and the government. He said the 63-year-old rebel leader and hiswife were the brains of the CPP’s political and military strategies, including the use of land mines, ambuscades and intensified tactical offensives against government targets. Zagala surmised that some members of the CPP’s central committeemay have been considering other means to pursue their clamor for social change,
but were overpowered by a faction led by Tiamzon. “The very leaders, who were espousing and encouraging the armed struggle and the use of violence against the government, are now behind bars,” he said. “There’s now an opportunity for the remaining leadership of the CPP to look at other possibilities present in resolving the root causes of rebellion,” he said. ‘Let’s talk peace’
He said it was time to return to the negotiations table. “Let’s talk peace. We should not kill each other because we are all Filipinos.” Zagala said the Armed Forces of the Philippines would continue its “focused military operations” while engaging communities in the government’s “peace-building efforts.” He said the military’s new anti-insurgency blueprint, IPSP (Integrated Peace and Security Plan) Bayanihan, “is really the primacy of the peace negotiations.” “We encourage them to
Zagala said the military and the police were processing the reward for the informer who tipped off the authorities about the location and identities of the two CPP leaders. The government had offered a P5.6-million reward for the arrest of each of the Tiamzon couple. “The inform[er] is the key to the arrest of the Tiamzons. We could not have done this without our partnership,” he said. In the House of Representatives, Bayan Muna lawmakers initiated a move to investigate the alleged illegal arrest and detention of the Tiamzons and their five companions. In a resolution asking the human rights committee to conduct the probe, Bayan Muna Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Isagani Zarate accused President Aquino of acting in bad faith by giving the green light for the arrest of the Tiamzons even as he claimed that he still wanted to pursue peace. Sen. Grace Poe said the arrests should prod the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the political arm of the CPP, to go back to the negotiating table. “If they have a sincere intention to be able to work out something for the good of the people, it’s always good to be at the negotiating table as opposed to having violent conflict,” Poe said in an interview. ■
Solons want one-time COA report on pork BY GIL C CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer HOUSE LEADERS have appealed to Commission on Audit (COA) Chair Grace Pulido-Tan to come out with a one-time, all-inclusive report on all of their members’ lump sum releases—both Priority Develop-
ment Assistance Fund (PDAF) and Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) fund endorsed by representatives— from 2010 to 2012. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. claimed that the COA’s “piecemeal” reporting of allegedly anomalous PDAF and DAP releases of House members
to fake foundations, including those controlled by the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam brains Janet Lim Napoles, have been eroding the public’s trust in the House. “It’s about time the COA came out with a comprehensive report on how many congressmen have unliquidated fund releases. This bit-by-bit release www.canadianinquirer.net
of COA audit reports is doing more harm than good to the institution,” said Belmonte in a text message. Barzaga said that an omnibus of all House members funds releases should provide a clearer picture on the specific House members involved and how much of their pork barrel funds were diverted to fake founda-
tions. “What is happening is that Congress is being flogged in media every day because of this daily or weekly exposés. This has the effect of conditioning the mind of the public that every one in Congress is guilty. This is unfair to the greater majority of House members,” said Barzaga. ■
Philippine News
APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 6
Bangsamoro rising P-Noy: I will not let peace be snatched from my people again BY TJ BURGONIO AND CHRISTIAN V. ESGUERRA Philippine Daily Inquirer WHERE BEFORE his predecessor has failed, President Aquino presided over the signing of a historic peace agreement with Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels after 17 years of negotiations carving a new, autonomous Bangsamoro region in Mindanao. Exuberant over the signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in Malacañang, the President warned dissenters against “snatching peace away” from Filipinos, but at the same time, exhorted Filipinos to trade “bullets for a ripening fruit.” In the signing of the breakthrough agreement with the MILF, the President laid down the road map to the ratification of the Bangsamoro basic law, and the eventual participation of the Bangsamoro people in
the 2016 elections. “If we sustain the momentum for peace, by 2016, the MILF will have shed its identity as a military force, and transformed itself into a political entity, casting its stake in democracy by vying for seats in the Bangsamoro elections,” he said. “The Bangsamoro shall form a perimeter of vigilance against the spread of extremism; it shall act as a bridge of moderation among the great faiths of the various constituencies in Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). From this shared security, we shall enhance the era of prosperity that is dawning upon our region, and harness its energies towards creating a regime of opportunity and inclusivity where no one is left behind. As the Bangsamoro matures, it shall serve as the gateway to trade, investment and cultural exchanges within the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-MalaysiaPhilippines East Asean Growth Area and its
environs—igniting a virtuous cycle of security, development, and equitable progress for the peoples of the entire region,” the President said. “Today, the Bangsamoro rises with Mindanao, the nation, the region and the world.” Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Deles could not have found better words to describe the significance of the moment. MILF chair Murad Ebrahim described the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro as “the crowning glory of our struggle.” But he made it clear that the peace deal was a “shared victory of the Bangsamoro and the Filipino people,” his group acting only as a “gatekeeper” during the transition toward the eventual establishment of the Bangsamoro. Deles was just as optimistic, saying a “new dawn has come, the dawn for books, not bullets; for paintbrushes, not knives; for whole communities, not evacuation centers; and for re-
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In the signing of the breakthrough agreement with the MILF, President Aquino laid down the road map to the ratification of the Bangsamoro basic law, and the eventual participation of the Bangsamoro people in the 2016 elections. PHOTO FROM RAPPLER.COM
warding toil, not endless strife.” In her own speech, she recounted the story of child refugees (“bakwits”) who had to cross a raging river in North Cotabato while fleeing gunfire near their home six years ago. Women, kids running for safety
They found themselves at the doorstep of one Ibrahim Rahman, a village leader, who gave them temporary shelter and later lent his 10hectare property to the children’s families, the story went on. Deles’ account drove many
of the guests to tears, among them, a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. “We stand here today to declare that, henceforth, no family shall be forced to drive their children away for fear of their being maimed and wounded by conflict; and that no child has to cross a raging river and knock on a stranger’s door to beg for protection,” the peace adviser said. “The signal is so strong and unrelenting—no more war, no ❱❱ PAGE 9 Bangsamoro rising
Philippine News
7 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
PH defies China warning Pleading on sea dispute to be filed in UN tomorrow BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer UNFAZED BY threats of sanctions from China, the government yesterday said it was pursuing its case in the United Nations challenging Beijing’s claim to most of the South China Sea, including areas Manila says is part of Philippine territory. The Philippines is to file as scheduled its memorandum or formal pleading tomorrow (Manila time), which would allow the UN Arbitral Tribunal to study Manila’s argument that the Chinese claim covers parts of Filipino territory. President Aquino’s deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said the government was pursuing the case despite official Chinese warnings of a fallout in bilateral relations. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei warned the Philippines on Wednesday against proceeding with the UN case. “China will never accept nor participate in the international arbitration unilaterally initiated and pushed by the Philippines, and China’s position has a solid basis in international law,” Hong told a news conference in Beijing. “We hope that the Philippine side ... returns to the right track of resolving the dispute through negotiation and consultation as soon as possible, (and) stops going any further down the wrong track so as to avoid further damage to bilateral relations.” Tense standoff
“For the Philippine government, we can say that all factors have been taken into consideration when the discussions were being held on the matter of the arbitration,” Valte told reporters. China claims most of the strategically important body of water as well as islets and reefs that border major sea lanes and are reputed to sit on vast oil and gas reserves. The Philippines, whose forces are dwarfed by its giant neighbor in an increasingly tense standoff over some reefs and shoals, sought UN arbitration in January 2013 to settle
‘Intensifying search’ at sea yields no debris linked to missing Malaysian Flight 370 BY ROB GRIFFITH AND GILLIAN WONG The Associated Press
Unfazed by threats of sanctions from China, the government yesterday said it was pursuing its case in the United Nations challenging Beijing’s claim to most of the South China Sea, including areas Manila says is part of Philippine territory. PHOTO FROM INTERAKSYON.COM
the dispute, but China has rejected the move. Valte said questions about China’s response to the filing of the Philippine memorandum should be addressed to Chinese officials.
for the Philippine position.” “That is a tribunal that is empowered really to pass judgment on these things based on international law, which is upheld by most countries that subscribe to it,” she said.
Memo called ‘memorial’
Illegal claims
The Philippines originally filed the case in the UN tribunal in 2013 but China refused to answer Manila’s allegations. Last August, the tribunal directed the Philippines to submit a memorandum—called “memorial” in international law—outlining the merits of its case. Manila refers to the areas it claims as parts of the West Philippine Sea. “Let’s cross the bridge when we get there ... At this point, some of the reports may be speculative and it would not be prudent for us to comment,” Valte said. “Let’s wait for whatever happens after the filing.” “Upon filing, necessarily the other side will have to receive copies of the memorial, but I will have to refer you to the (Department of Foreign Affairs) on what will happen next or what won’t happen next,” she said. Valte said that should the UN body issue a decision favorable to Manila, “that is additional weight
The Philippines alleges that Chinese claims to areas of the South China Sea and its seabed cover areas as far as 1,611 kilometers from the nearest Chinese coast, and are thus illegal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Both countries are signatories to the 1982 treaty. In the latest hostile encounter between the two, Chinese Coast Guard ships this month blocked two Philippine-flagged vessels headed for Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly group, around 200 km from the western Philippine island of Palawan. The Philippines said the vessels were bringing supplies to Filipino Marines aboard a decrepit Navy ship that it beached on the shoal in 1999. The Philippines has also accused China of firing water cannon at Filipino fishermen near Scarborough Shoal, another South China Sea outcrop. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net
PERTH, AUSTRALIA—Despite what Australia called an “intensifying search effort,” an international hunt Sunday by aircraft and ships in the southern Indian Ocean found no debris linked to the Malaysian jet that vanished more than three weeks ago. Several dozen angry Chinese relatives of Flight 370 passengers demanded “evidence, truth, dignity” from Malaysian authorities, expressing their frustrations at a hotel near Kuala Lumpur as the mystery drags on. Nine aircraft and eight ships searching the waters off western Australia found only “fishing equipment and other flotsam” not connected to the Malaysia Airlines plane, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. The Boeing 777 disappeared March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard. But at least four orange objects that were more than 2 metres (6 feet) in size were seen by the crew of an Australian P3 Orion search plane, said the pilot, Flight Lt. Russell Adams, after returning to base. “I must stress that we can’t confirm the origin of these objects,” he said, adding that images of the items have yet to be verified, and a GPS buoy was dropped and ships must still investigate. Adams said it was “the most visibility we had of any objects in the water and gave us the most promising leads.” The planes and ships are scouring a search zone that was redefined Friday based on satellite data from the Boeing 777, but they have found no debris associated with the flight, said Australian Navy Commodore Peter Leavy. The zone lies in a shipping lane where sea trash is common, complicating the effort.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott insisted the “intensifying search effort” was positive because objects “have been recovered from the ocean” in the zone after a weeklong search in another area saw items from planes that ships never managed to find. The planes taking part in Sunday’s search included three Australian P3 Orions, a Japanese P3, a Chinese Il-76, a Korean Orion, a U.S. Poseidon, and two Malaysian C-130s. Eight ships were on the scene, an area roughly the size of Poland or New Mexico, about 1,850 kilometres (1,150 miles) west of Australia. The vessels include the Australian navy supply ship HMAS Success, which was designated to carry any wreckage found. Abbott said a former Australian defence chief, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, will head a new centre in Perth for search and recovery operations, co-ordinating the international effort. Searchers were hampered by rain and low clouds, but still were able to look for debris because of visibility of about 10 kilometres (6 miles). It takes planes about 2 1/2 hours to get to the area, allowing a five-hour search before they must return. Other objects spotted so far include three with white, red and orange colours by the Chinese plane, China’s official Xinhua News Agency said. The missing Boeing 777’s exterior was red, white, blue and grey. For a full week, searchers relied on satellite imagery from various countries as they tried to find the plane in a zone to the south of the current area. They abruptly shifted the site Friday after authorities concluded the plane could not have travelled as far as they had thought based on its estimated speed and fuel consumption. That prompted the change in the search for the plane’s likely entry point into the sea and the ❱❱ PAGE 14 ‘Intensifying search’
Philippine News
APRIL 4, 2014 FRIDAY 8
US seeks defense accord that’s ‘mutually agreeable’ BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE UNITED States wants the ongoing defense talks with the Philippines to be concluded “as soon as possible,” but only if the pact were mutually agreeable to both sides with their concerns sufficiently addressed, said the top US diplomat in the Philippines. Meeting the press at the US Embassy in Manila, Ambassador Philip Goldberg also expressed respect for the opposition to the negotiations but called for constructive criticism, saying that some of the attacks were “almost offensive.” “There are issues we are discussing that are important and relate to the interests of both countries and we want to get it right so that the people on both sides are pleased and satisfied with the outcome,” said Goldberg, as the seventh round of negotiations on the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the two sides opened at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. During the last round held in Washington earlier this month, Manila gave the United States permission to build structures in Philippine military bases.
BY TJ A. BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer
US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg: Mutually agreeable. PHOTO FROM RAPPLER.COM
Upbeat about the conclusion of the talks, the Filipino panel said at the time the agreement was 80-percent done. “We all would like to see it, therefore, before President Obama arrives. But that’s not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is an agreement that is mutually beneficial for both countries. So that’s not a timetable, that’s a result of the negotiations,” said Goldberg. Obama is scheduled to visit the Philippines in April, finally pushing through with his first visit to Manila following a postponement amid the partial US government shutdown in October. The US side has yet to release details of the visit, including the exact date the American president is arriving. While the agenda for the
visit has yet to be announced, Goldberg said trade and mutual defense would most likely be on the table when Obama and President Aquino meet, with new security challenges in the region a matter of mutual concern between the two sides. “I think there will be a stress on...the new issues we confront together. On the economic side, business, trade and important things that will help in the development here, in our bilateral economic relationship. And on the security side, whether it’s through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement or whether it’s talking about our shared mutual interests—freedom of navigation, noncoercive behavior, the need to settle disputes as they exist peacefully, legally and diplomatically,” he said. ■
Gov’t faces... (NCA) had been issued for the projects. The Department of Public Works and Highways immediately issued a memorandum suspending all ongoing projects funded by the pork barrel and stopping any further payments. Acting on the Department of Budget and Management’s request, the Office of the Solicitor General filed a motion in February seeking a clarificatory order from the high court allowing the reissuance of NCAs issued prior to the November 2013 court ruling but which had lapsed, and to guide the DBM and other agencies in the payment of PDAF-funded projects. The NCA is a cash authority issued by the DBM to fund expense items approved through a special allotment release or❰❰ 1
Grace Poe says she’s not ready for 2016 Palace run
der (Saro). “To date, the SC has not responded to the OSG’s motion. Meantime, payments are withheld,” said Abad in a text message. In its motion, the solicitor general said the court decision limiting the disbursement of the remaining pork barrel funds to projects with NCAs would adversely affect implementing agencies that had already signed contracts or awarded projects to construction firms and suppliers. “Since they can no longer comply with their obligations to pay, such implementing agencies now face the risk of lawsuits for breach of contractual obligations entered into in good faith, which contracts may have been already fully or partially executed consistent with
existing obligations supported by Saros,” the solicitor general said. “The decision affects transactions entered into not only in 2013 but in 2012. In the Department of Public Works and Highways alone, there could be more than 17,000 breached contracts which could well translate into more than 17,000 complaints.” Abad explained that the ruling would affect projects that the DBM implemented under the common fund concept which it adopted to accelerate the payment of completed projects. “The SC only allows projects to proceed and payments made if an allotment has been issued, obligated and an NCA has been issued. In a common fund system, an NCA is not assigned to a particular project but to a pool of projects,” said Aba. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net
MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Junior Sen. Grace Poe has thumbed down suggestions that she take a crack at the presidency in 2016, saying she isn’t ready yet. Poe, who is being nudged by some people to run for president, said she was not considering “anything higher at this point.” “I don’t feel I’m ready at this point,” the 45-year-old senator said in a recent interview. “I [haven’t even been here in the Senate a full year].” Poe, Senators Cynthia Villar, Loren Legarda and Pia Cayetano could give the men a run for their money if they contest the presidency in May 2016, according to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago. These senators have a good thing going for them since Poe topped the 2013 senatorial elections while Villar has money, Santiago said. Strong contender
Political analyst Ramon Casiple said Poe could give Vice President Jejomar Binay a “scare” if she ran for president and could be a “strong contender” if she set her eye on the vice presidency. “Some are pushing her to run for president, but she’s very coy. But I think she’s a real candidate,” Casiple said. Running for vice president, he said, would be an “easier possibility” for Poe. While she garnered 20.3 million votes to emerge No. 1 in last year’s senatorial race, Poe said the presidential election was a different matter altogether. “This is one on one. It’s different,” she said of the presidential race. “In the senatorial elections, there are 12 slots.” Father’s tragic fate
And then, of course, she has yet to shake off memories of the tragic fate of her father, action movie king Fernando Poe Jr., who lost to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2004 presidential election that was marred by charges of fraud. The elder Poe died from a
Grace Poe. PHOTO FROM LIBERALPARTY.ORG.PH
stroke seven months after his electoral loss. “My dad had a different experience. It was quite traumatic,” the senator said. Logistics, funds
Besides, the last senatorial elections were tough enough in terms of logistics and funds, she said. “The last election was very difficult. I don’t have the machinery nor do I have the money. I don’t have the party,” said Poe, who ran with the Aquino administration coalition. Poe was chair of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board when President Aquino convinced her to run for the Senate. Binay-Roxas rivalry
The 2016 presidential election promises to be a rerun of the rivalry between Binay, who is widely believed to be running for president, and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II in 2010. Roxas would carry the flag for the Liberal Party (LP), the party’s acting president Transportation Secretary Joseph E. A. Abaya told reporters last week. LP vice chair Senate President Franklin Drilon, who announced in January 2013 that Roxas would be the party’s standard-bearer in 2016, is evasive this time. “Let’s work on the Bangsamoro Basic Law first before we talk politics,” he said when asked on Sunday over dzBB to confirm Abaya’s statement. “The best politics to me is performing your job. The best preparation is doing your job.” ■
Philippine News
9 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Bangsamoro rising... more children scampering for safety, no more evacuees, no more lost schooldays or school months, no more injustice, no more misgovernance, no more poverty, nomore fear and no more want. “Tama na (enough), we are all tired of it,” she added, her voice cracking. ❰❰ 6
Agreement for all
“The comprehensive agreement is not only for the MILF— it is for the MNLF as well,” Murad said in a speech during the signing ceremonies, referring to the Moro National Liberation Front, a faction of which has rejected the peace accord. He maintained that the agreement, signed in the presence of President Aquino and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak whose government acted as facilitator of peace talks between the Aquino administration and the MILF, was also “for all the Muslim ethnic tribes, the Christian settlers and the indigenous peoples in the prospective Bangsamoro government.” “I would like to impress upon all of you that the MILF does not, and will never, claim sole ownership of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro,” he said. “To be overly emphatic, it will not be a government of the MILF, but a government of the Bangsamoro.” Bangsamoro aspiration
Murad acknowledged the amount of work that still had to be done to realize the “intents and contents” of the agreement, which he described as “the most fitting solution to the undying aspiration of the Bangsamoro.” “We keep our awareness that the negotiated political settlements such as [this agreement] are never by themselves implement[ed] automatically,”
he said, citing the need for both the government and theMILF to “give concrete forms to intents and contents” of the deal. “But we have not come this far only to be dampened by doubts and worries. In our midst is the confluence of favorable situations of abundant goodwill and tangible supports that put to rest all uncertainties, misgivings and even fears of what the future has in store for us.” There was thunderous applause after government chief negotiator Miriam CoronelFerrer, MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal and Malaysian facilitator Ab Ghafar Mohamed signed the agreement. Behind them President Aquino, Najib, Murad andmembers of the two negotiation panels cheerfully applauded. “If our goals as a nation are fulfilled, my brothers, Al Haj Murad, Mohagher Iqbal, and myself can all look forward to that one day in the not-so-distant future, when we will all sit back and enjoy a quiet sunset in Mindanao,” the President said, pausing to applause, then continued: “perhaps in the company of friends such as Prime Minister Najib Razak.” “That day, we will look back to the 27th of March 2014, and allow ourselves a little pride. For now, more work needs to be done, and I look forward to building a peaceful, prosperous and inclusive Bangsamoro with all of you.” Leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives, diplomats, Cardinal Orlando Quevedo of Cotabato province and dignitaries—including Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Naci Koru of Turkey, State Minister Maria Boehmer of Germany, Director Salem Ali Othman of Libya, Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman and Administer Helen Clarke of the United Nations Devel-
opment Program—as well as MILF members and MNLF representatives also witnessed the signing. Example to the world
“Together, we have set an example for the entire world,” Mr. Aquino said, referring to the Philippines and Malaysia. “This agreement stands as a testament to how far trust and earnestness can move humanity forward. It shows how righteousness, reason and goodwill are the mightiest of instruments in ending conflict. It proves that the search for common ground is infinitely more productive than hegemonic ambition,” Mr. Aquino said. As if to say that history was on the side of Filipinos for the realization of the hopes and dreams of the Bangsamoro, the President sent a terse message to the naysayers and cynics. “Are you really that confident that we will have another singular opportunity like the one we have today? Do you really think that the confluence of factors such that exists today will happen again—when the Filipino people and their government are committed to redressing a historic injustice; where the international community has thrown its full support behind the achievement of peace; and when we have already fixed an electoral system that was designed to subvert the sovereign will of the people?” he said. The President warned dissenters against “snatching peace away” from Filipinos, but at the same time, exhorted Filipinos to trade “bullets for a ripening fruit.” Mr. Aquino laid down the road map to the ratification of the Bangsamoro basic law, and the eventual participation of the Bangsamoro people in the 2016 elections. While the Aquino administration and MILF were leaving the conflict behind, both sides
www.canadianinquirer.net
must “steel” themselves for the “difficult work of development” ahead, Najib said. “Decades of fighting have robbed a generation of health care, of education, of income. With peace must come not just prosperity but opportunity. Only then will Bangsamoro’s future be assured,” he said. Vigilance
Mr. Aquino reckoned that the signing of the peace deal could “lead to a permanent change in the status quo” in Muslim Mindanao, but its success hinged on “our continuous vigilance.” Mincing no words, the President warned dissenters that they would be dealt with as the government had dealt with the followers of MNLF founding chair Nur Misuari that laid siege to seaside villages in Zamboanga City in September last year. “May this also stand as a warning to those who wish to derail our path to a final, lasting peace—those who wish to sow divisiveness for self-interest, and those who continue to wield arms to pursue their own agendas: So many people have suffered for so long; so many of our stakeholders have worked so hard to arrive at this point. I will not let peace be snatched from my people again,” he said, drawing applause. “Not now, when we have already undertaken the most difficult and most significant steps to achieve it. Those who want to test the resolve of the state will be met with a firm response
based on righteousness and justice—as we demonstrated in Zamboanga City,” he added. Mr. Aquino flew to Zamboanga City to oversee the military operations to flush out Misuari’s followers. The siege left nearly 200 people dead, and forced close to 120,000 people to flee their homes. Even with the peace deal signed, the President said there were individuals who would champion the status quo to keep themselves in power and wealth. “Maintaining fear and insecurity allows them to prey on the entrepreneur whose success is rewarded by kidnapping; the farmer who improved the rough land only to have it grabbed; the student whose very promising future is cut short by a bomb; the pensioner who, seeking security, falls prey to the unscrupulous pyramid scammer; or those mired in desperate times and desperate situations who fall victim to false prophets from either side,” he said. Basic law
With the signing over, the President said the Bangsamoro Transition Commission was now drafting a Bangsamoro basic law that “is equitable, practical and empowering” and served the country’s interest. “It is a law that will have to pass muster as a President pledged to do justice to all, before it is submitted to Congress,” he said. ■
Philippine News
APRIL 4, 2014 FRIDAY 10
Ombudsman denies Corona’s bid BY CYNTHIA D. BALANA Philippine Daily Inquirer OMBUDSMAN CONCHITA Carpio-Morales denied an appeal by former Chief Justice Renato Corona to revisit its previous ruling finding probable cause to indict him and his wife Cristina in connection with their alleged P130-million illgotten wealth case. In a 15- page order denying the Corona couple’s motion for reconsideration, Morales said she found no cogent reason to reverse the Office of the Ombudsman ( OMB) resolution dated Jan. 14, 2014 indicting the Coronas. Morales directed the immediate filing of a petition for forfeiture with the Sandiganbayan, along with sets of criminal information for eight counts of perjury and eight counts of violation of Republic Act No. 6713 (Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees). During the investigation, the OMB Special Panel of Investigators was able to establish that from 2001 to 2011, the spouses Corona earned a total of P30.4 million, of which P27.1 million was earned by Corona as an official at the Office of the President, a Supreme Court justice, member of the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), and member of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET). On the other hand, Cristina earned P3.2 million for 20072010, based on the Alpha List submitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) by the John Hay Development Corp. (JHDC) where she was employed. The resolution stated that from 2002 to 2010, Corona’s cash deposits ballooned from P1.34 million to P137.9million. By 2010, the cumulative discrepancy between his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) declaration and his actual cash deposits amounted to P134.4million. The resolution also cited records of the Land Registration Authority (LRA) on several properties owned by the Corona spouses in Quezon City, Makati City and Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City, which were established to be significantly undervalued by P17.3million.
Hammer-wielding robbers cause chaos at Philippines’ Mall of Asia BY BONG LOZADA AND NIÑA CALLEJA Philippine Daily Inquirer
In a 15-page order denying the Corona couple’s motion forreconsideration, Morales said she found no cogent reason to reverse the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) resolution dated Jan. 14, 2014 indicting the Coronas. PHOTO FROM LOQAL.PH
The Ombudsman estimated the Coronas’ unexplained wealth at P130.3million. On the charges for perjury, the resolution said the sworn declarations in Corona’s SALNs were false, as Corona failed to include the numerous peso and dollar bank accounts (in his 2003-2010 SALNs), a condominium unit at The Columns, Makati City (in his 2004-2009 SALN), and a condominium unit at Spanish Bay Tower in Taguig City (in his 2005-2009 SALN). Corona was found to have only declared P6.8 million as the acquisition cost of a condominium unit in Bellagio I in Taguig City in his SALN for 2010, when the true acquisition cost was P14.5 million. In his SALNs from 2003 to 2009, Corona also undervalued the property located at La Vista in Quezon City by P8 million. Corona was also charged with violation of RA 6713 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, for not filing true and detailed SALNs for 2003-2010, when the value of his declared cash assets, and the actual bank deposits had substantial discrepancies, and his real assets in Makati, Taguig and Quezon City were not declared. Corona was impeached by the House of Representatives on Dec. 12, 2011. The Senate voted on May 29, 2012 to convict Corona for his failure to
disclose his true SALN. As this developed, the Department of Justice has recommended the filing of tax evasion charges against Corona’s soninlaw Constantino Castillo III, saying his “expenses outweighs his income.” In a resolution dated Feb. 20 but which was released, a DOJ task force found probable cause to indict Castillo for two counts of violating Section 254 (attempt to evade tax payment) and two counts of Section 255 (failure to file an income tax return) of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, as amended. Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said the DOJ would file today the tax evasion case against Castillo before the Court of Tax Appeals. “Based on the foregoing, we find that there is probable cause that respondent Castillo has undeclared income for taxable year 2003 and undeclared income for taxable year 2009..,” said the resolution of the DOJ panel led by its chair Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Edna Valenzuela. The DOJ panel did not say how much exactly Castillo, a physician by profession, owed in taxes but the BIR had sued him for P20.24 million in tax liabilities last year. ■ With a report from Christine O. Avendaño www.canadianinquirer.net
MANILA, PHILIPPINES— Sunday won’t stop their nefarious activities. A band of robbers armed with guns and hammers shot it out with Philippine police inside one of the world’s largest shopping malls Sunday, sending Manila shoppers scrambling for safety, police and witnesses said. Waves of police commandos in bullet-proof vests and helmets and armed with assault rifles stormed the SM Mall of Asia (MOA), an AFP photographer saw, after the gang entered a jeweler’s shop inside. Chief Superintendent Jose Erwin Villacorte, Southern Police District chief, said witnesses saw five to six men storm the mall, ransacking a jewelry store on the ground floor by destroying a display case with hammers around 7:30 p.m. Two men were seen smashing the glass cabinet of the jewelry store. Hundreds of frightened shoppers, waiters and store clerks ran for dear life amid gunfire toward the exits of the nearly four-hectare (10-acre) complex of department stores, boutiques, restaurants and entertainment establishments by Manila Bay. Supermarket locked
Philippine Daily Inquirer Lifestyle editor Poch Concepcion, who was shopping at MOA, said the mall’s supermarket was locked “due to security reasons.” Office worker Stacy Mercado, 32, told Agence France Presse: “We were in the grocery when we heard gunshots. We ran for the door immediately and my wife nearly fell with our 10-month-old boy.” “The security guards initially blocked us, apparently because they feared some of us would steal items off the shelves on our way out. But they were swept aside after another burst of gunfire,” he added as the
family of three watched the unfolding police operation in early evening behind yellow police lines outside. The AFP photographer said he saw several people screaming or crying, including parents who told him they had been separated from their children or other family members in the ensuing chaos. “Mall [security personnel] are working with the PNP on the situation and no one was hurt from the incident,” Steven Tan, senior vice president for operations of the SM Supermalls, was quoted in the mall franchise’s official Twitter account. ‘No one seriously hurt’
One of the robbers fired shots to trigger a commotion among the people and distract the security guards, Villacorte said. He said, “Four of our policewomen were able to give chase to the robbers,” in the course of which one suspect was arrested. The rest of the gang apparently escaped. Police said no one was seriously hurt in the firefight. Asked how much the robbers managed to take from the jewelry store, Villacorte said: “They could have scooped out jewelry from the glass cabinet.” “This is a common tactic. These robbers would go into a shop and start smashing the display cases with a hammer to grab things inside,” Villacorte told local television station ABS-CBN in an interview. Several other Manila shopping malls have been attacked in similar fashion in recent years, which led the interior ministry last December to ban Manila malls from selling hammers. Opened in 2006, the Mall of Asia has 407,000 square meters (4.38 million square feet) of retail space, making it the country’s second-largest, as well as among the world’s largest, shopping destinations. Mall of Asia is part of the SM Supermalls retail chain controlled by the family of Henry Sy, the Philippines’ richest man. ■
Philippine News
11 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Western allies back peace deal with MILF BY JEROME ANING AND TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE INTERNATIONAL community offered to support the implementation of the peace agreement signed by the Aquino administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). In separate statements British, Canadian, Australian and European Union officials congratulated the Aquino administration and the MILF for clinching the peace deal, which Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose government brokered the peace negotiations, described as a model for other countries grappling with insurgencies. Government and MILF representatives signed the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro in Malacañang, in ceremonies attended by diplomats, including those from countries that monitored the ceasefire between the government forces and the rebels and financed development in Mindanao to encourage the peace negotiation. The agreement grants largely Muslim areas of Mindanao greater political autonomy in exchange for an end to the MILF’s armed rebellion. A Bangsamoro autonomous region will be established to replace the current fiveprovince Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), which
President Aquino has described as a “failed experiment.” The peace agreement will be the basis for a basic law that would establish the Bangsamoro and which the two sides will submit to Congress for approval. Inspiring example
“The UK wholeheartedly supports the agreement. Its full implementation will bring great benefits for Mindanao and the Philippines. It will also be an inspiring example of how political leadership and democracy can rise above violence and division to provide the security and prosperity that all people want and deserve,” UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said. “While many challenges lie ahead, I celebrate this important milestone along with friends of the Philippines around the world,” he added. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird called the peace accord a “historic milestone [that] paves the way for lasting peace, stability, development and longterm economic prosperity for the people of the southern Philippines and will redound to the benefit of all Filipinos.” He said Canada “stands ready to assist” Filipinos and work with them to make the agreement a reality, implement it in good faith, and overcome the legacy of conflict.
reaffirmed her government’s support for the peace process, calling the agreement a “historic accomplishment on the path to achieving long-term security, stability and prosperity for the people of the southern Philippines.” “I commend the commitment of all parties to negotiating a comprehensive and sustainable peace agreement. As both sides know, implementing the agreement will be critical to its success. I encourage all involved to build on these efforts during the next stages of the peace process,” she said. Bishop recalled that last January, Australia announced an additional $6 million in aid for the next three years to help strengthen the peace process and boost the institutional capacity to implement the peace agreement.
Historic accomplishment
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, on the other hand,
Longtime supporter
Catherine Ashton, EU high
representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice president of the EU Commission, expressed the bloc’s support to the government and the MILF in the implementation of the peace agreement. “[The signing] will undoubtedly reenforce the willingness of all parties to take the necessary steps to implement the agreement. The EU, as a longterm supporter of the peace process in Mindanao, a member of the International Monitoring Team and a major development partner, will continue to lend its full support to the implementation of this agreement,” she said. At the dinner in Malacañang that followed the signing of the agreement, Najib said the Philippine government and the MILF had shown the way to others that peace could be achieved “by sitting down together” and reaching out to
each other in an atmosphere of trust and confidence. “And this is a very significant signal to others as well as in other parts of the world,” Najib said, toasting President Aquino at the Rizal Hall of the Palace. Shared achievement
President Aquino acknowledged that the peace agreement is a “shared achievement” with Malaysia. “This evening, we are gathered in shared achievement and optimism. I believe I speak not only for my government, but also for all Filipinos in recognizing the tremendous personal initiative, risk and leadership displayed by Your Excellency, which helped us to secure an inclusive and peaceful future for our countrymen in the Bangsamoro,” Mr. Aquino said, toasting Najib. With the signing of the agreement, he said peace was “indeed within reach.” ■
LRT-1 bidding faces another delay 6 of 7 bidders seek more time to study project BY MIGUEL R. CAMUS Philippine Daily Inquirer ALMOST ALL bidders are seeking more time to prepare offers ahead of the April 28 bid submission deadline for a massive overhead railway public private partnership (PPP) deal that would link Metro Manila and Cavite province, raising the likelihood of another extension, a person with direct knowledge of thematter told the INQUIRER. Out of seven groups vying for the P65-billion deal, which will involve the construction of an
11.7-kilometer extension of the LightRail Transit Line 1 (LRT1) to Bacoor, Cavite, and the operation of the entire line, only San Miguel Corp. had expressed its capability to submit an offer by the deadline, the source said. The person noted that six other groups—Ayala Corp. and Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Malaysia’s MTD Group, DMCI Holdings, Megawide Construction Corp., Globalvia Inversiones of Spain and Ecorail—have sought extensions for various reasons. Transportation Undersecretary Jose Per petuo Lotilla did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. He said earlier that any extension request would be viewed upon “favorably” if sought by themajority of bidders. Such a decision would help the department avoid similar results to last year’s failed auction of the LRT-1 extension PPP deal. Earlier, MTD Philippines said it would need an additional three to four months after its original partner, Samsung of South Korea, pulled out of the consortium for the rebidding, citing delays and its preference to focus on other projects. MTD Philippines head Isaac www.canadianinquirer.net
David said they have come to an agreement “in principle” for Singaporean SMRT Corp. Ltd., which operates railways, buses and taxis, to join their consortium but the latter still needed time to review the PPP deal, considered among the government’s big-ticket projects. Metro Pacific Investments was also seeking a deadline extension, citing areas in the concession agreement that still needed to be clarified. It also cited the lack of a final location for the common station in Quezon City that would link LRT-1 and MRT-3, as this was deemed cru-
cial in structuring its bid. The LRT-1 extension aims to provide an affordable commuting alternative for about four million people living in Parañaque, Las Piñas and Cavite, the DOTC had said. Ridership at LRT-1, which served about 470,000 passengers a day last year, was projected to hit a ridership of about 820,000 once the system is complete in 2019. The winning bidder will operate the entire LRT-1 system for a period of 35 years, including construction, information on the PPP Center website showed. ■
Philippine News
APRIL 4, 2014 FRIDAY 12
PNP POWER PLAY
PNPA grads vs PMA grads BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES— The “fried chickens” have had enough of the “crispy patas” in the police service. Graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) are closing ranks to protest what they describe as the “inequitable” promotion among them and graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in the 148,000-strong police force. Rosendo Dial, PNPA Alumni Association Inc. chair, said Monday the group’s board of directors had approved a resolution seeking the help of Interior Secretary Mar Roxas in reviewing the current system of appointment of senior police officers to major positions in the Philippine National Police. Roxas is an adopted member of PMA Class 1984. Dial, the former chief of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, said the letter was a reiteration of a similar communication the association sent to PNP Director General Alan Purisima last year. Equitable promotion
“What we are asking is for the national leadership [of the PNP] to implement an equal distribution of senior PNP officers from the PNPA and the PMA to key positions in the PNP,” Dial told the Inquirer on the sidelines of the 35th PNPA commencement exercises at Camp Gen. Mariano Castañeda in Silang town, Cavite province.
“We just hope that senior police officers who are products of the PNPA are also given the same chance afforded to PMA alumni who now head various units in the PNP,” he added. He said the inequality in the promotion of senior police officers had led to the “demoralization” among some graduates of the PNPA. “There’s a growing demoralization because they see that there’s no equal chance for them to land a good position in the PNP,” he said. Dial, a member of PNPA Class 1986, noted that senior officers belonging to PNPA Class 1983 were designated to nominal positions in the police service while younger police officers from the military school in Baguio City were designated to critical offices in the PNP. Although the present number of PNPA graduates in active service was almost 10 times more than the remaining PMA graduates, he lamented that products of the police academy had been bypassed in promotions in the PNP. Star rank
At present, there are only three PNPA graduates—all belonging to PNPA Class 1983— with the rank of chief superintendent, a star-rank position equivalent to brigadier general in the military. On the other hand, about 150 members of PMA classes 1981 to 1984 are holding the rank of chief superintendent or higher. “If you look at the police organization, the PMA alumni are the minority in the PNP while
the PNPA graduates belong to the majority. But in terms of position, PMAers hold the highest positions in the PNP,” Dial lamented. “By the time they are promoted to chief superintendents, PNPA alumni are close to their retirement age already. So there’s no more time for them [to lead a PNP unit]. Their promotion is too late.” In interviews with the Inquirer, several PNPA graduates expressed their discontent over the process of promotion and designation in the police service. Some of them admitted that they had been “forced” to seek the “blessing” of influential politicians, businessmen and even religious groups just to get major assignments in the PNP. “For the past years, we have been expressing our displeasure regarding this discriminatory practice in the promotion of senior police officers through legal means. But our pleas fell on deaf ears,” said one of the griping PNP officials. “The worst we can do is to have a sit-down protest. But if we do that, our careers would surely be put to waste,” he added. Sources of leaders
Last year, the PNP Directorate for Human Resource and Doctrine Development formed a technical working group to study the reentry of PMA graduates into the PNP based on a proposal made by the PMA Alumni Association Inc. (PMAAAI). The PNP defended its decision to consider the suggestion of the PMAAAI, with PNP
President Aquino presents the Presidential Kampilan Award to Police Cadet Glenn Tabo Santelices for topping the Mandilaab Class of 2014 during the 35th Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) Commencement Exercises at the PNPA Grandstand, Camp General Mariano Castañeda in Silang, Cavite on Monday (March 31). PHOTO BY RYAN LIM / BENHUR ARCAYAN / ROLANDO MAILO / MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU / PCOO
spokesman Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac comparing graduates of the PNPA and the PMA to “fried chicken” and “crispy pata.” “We should define the PMA as a leadership school [that] develops leaders. The PNP would like to avail itself of the leaders being produced by the PMA,” Sindac said. Referring to the popular deep-fried pork leg dish, he said: “The PNPA is also a leadership school but maybe it might not be enough. We want to have a variety of [sources for officers]… so it will not be all just fried chicken. We will also have crispy pata.” Sindac said the “education, formation and training at the PMA are different.” Open letter
A group of unidentified PNPA graduates also sent an open letter to journalists covering Camp Crame. In the five-page letter, the PNPA graduates expressed their concern over the unfair
appointment of PMA and PNPA graduates in the PNP. “With this gloomy prospect for PNPA graduates, even with their sheer superiority in numbers, they are coerced by the naked power of the minority to seek political patronage or even seek the endorsement of perceived religious heavyweights in order to be given a modest position in the PNP,” the group said. “[The] counterpart of PNPA Class ‘83, that is, the PMA ‘83, is very fortunate to occupy eight key positions in the PNP and none for the four PNPA graduates,” it said. “It is alarming to note, however, that eight key positions in the PNP are being occupied by PMA ‘84 and none for the four PNPA Class ‘83,” it added. The group said Roxas, also the chair of the National Police Commission, “is perceived to ‘level the playing field’ and probably the only hope of nonPMAers to champion their ultimate dream” of being appointed to key posts in the PNP. ■
Women cops lauded for fast response BY NIÑA P. CALLEJA Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES—They certainly did the fairer sex proud and on Women’s Month at that. Ranking police and government officials on Monday lauded the four rookie policewomen who shot it out with robbers who targeted a jewelry shop at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) on Sunday night.
“Definitely, these women will be given awards and commendations for their bravery in chasing off the robbers,” Southern Police District (SPD) director, Chief Supt. Jose Erwin Villacorte, told the Inquirer. Villacorte praised the four members of the Regional Public Safety Battalion of the National Capital Regional Police Office for their quick response to the call of duty. The four who were assigned
to the Police Assistance Desk at the mall had just taken a break to have dinner when the robbery took place shortly after 7 p.m. “They heard gunshots and screams of people so they rushed to where it was coming from,” Villacorte said. Two of the four policemen were identified as Police Officers 1 Juliet Macabadbad and Delia Langpawen. It was Macabadbad who shot one of the robbers whom she www.canadianinquirer.net
spotted as he was fleeing from the scene, carrying a gun. The suspect, however, managed to blend into the crowd and escape. A few hours later, the police found a bloodstained shirt with apparent bullet holes, leading investigators to believe that Macabadbad had hit the robber. Members of the Special Weapons and Tactics team of the Pasay City police were able to corner a suspect identified as Brian Ban-
sawan, 26, near a Japanese restaurant. He yieldded a .45-cal. caliber pistol used in the robbery. In a statement, Pasay Mayor Antonino Calixto commended the police units that responded to the robbery. “The fast response of the Police Assistance Desk assigned to SM MOA thwarted the plans of the robbers while the arrival of the police officers from the ❱❱ PAGE 14 Women cops
Philippine News
13 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Rebuilding homes, lives in Bantayan BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer SANTA FE, Bantayan Island— The dark clouds gave way to the sun as the human chain passed hollow blocks down the line, each block a step closer to rebuilding lives shattered by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” nearly five months ago. The international group of volunteers worked over the past week to kick-start the construction of 135 disaster-resilient homes at a resettlement site for displaced families in this community by the sea. “It’s just the beginning and, hopefully, we build better community support and spirit for the people of Bantayan Island. And it’s also an opportunity for our employees to feel like they can contribute and help one of our countries of operations,” said Marc Fancy, executive director of Prudence Foundation, the charity arm of life insurance firm Prudential Corp. Asia (PCA). “[We’re] in the life insurance and asset management business, and that’s about protection, that’s about security and risk management. And so, as what we do for business is about society and looking after society, I think the company has that in its DNA naturally,” said Fancy, long involved in volunteer programs in different parts of the world. PCA, which operates as Pru Life UK in the Philippines, this year mounted its biggest overseas volunteer program so far, enlisting some 100 volunteers from its base in Hong Kong and units in Singapore, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia, the United Kingdom and the Philippines for the Bantayan project in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity. 4th volunteer program
Held from March 24 to 28, the “Bantayan build” was the fourth international volunteer program for Prudence Foundation, which also gathered its employees from around Asia to build houses and clear debris following the 2009 earthquake in Padang, Indonesia; in Ishinomaki, Japan, after the 2011 quake, tsunami and nuclear disaster; and in Mae Ai, northern
Thailand, in 2012, months after widespread flooding struck the region. “The real catalyst was Padang in 2009 where we were hosting an event in the main hotel… and the event had 80 people. Four people died who were from our office, from our company. So that hit us personally as an organization,” Fancy said in an interview with the INQUIRER. “In a disaster, when you’ve lost everything, hope is looking diminished. And if you can give people a bit of hope and the opportunity to rebuild their future when they’ve lost everything, it’s a nice feeling,” he added. Pump boats, pedicabs
As part of a “package” of assistance for Santa Fe town, Prudence Foundation also gave 183 pump boats, or outriggers, and 140 pedicabs to families who had lost their livelihood due to the storm. “We also wanted to make sure that we weren’t just providing shelter but that we were also giving people livelihood, an opportunity to have sustainable income and livelihood in the future,” Fancy said. The livelihood aid is part of the $2 million in assistance that the foundation has so far provided for Yolanda survivors across the disaster zone, including emergency relief, education and aid to disaster risk reduction programs. “Each of these programs are not one-offs. We’re trying to look for how we can contribute as a foundation, as an organization, so that we will be able to help in the rehabilitation in the Philippines,” Fancy said.
One step further
Prudence Foundation volunteers carry blocks as they begin building homes at a resettlement area for displaced residents in Santa Fe town, Bantayan Island. Some 100 volunteers from 12 countries took part in the program initiated with Habitat for Humanity to build 135 disaster-resilient homes on the island. PHOTO BY TARRA QUISMUNDO / PDI
300 kilometers per hour, and an Intensity 8 earthquake, said Nonoy Floresca, Habitat’s resource development and strategic partnership manager. “They (Prudence Foundation) have committed to providing housing and they are also giving us pump boats and pedicabs. So it’s not just houses but also livelihood. They are the first organization to do that here,” Santa Fe Mayor Jose Esgana said. Santa Fe, the port of entry into Bantayan Island, lost 95 percent of its houses when Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) plowed through central Philippines on Nov. 8 last year, displacing 4,000 of the 6,700 families in the town, Esgana said. Current shelter needs are pegged at 2,300 homes. Thousands of families, including those in island villages, remain living in tents and makeshift homes. “You’d be lucky if you’d see one house standing out of every 20 houses,” Esgana said.
Other volunteer groups
At least three other groups, including Islamic and Christian organizations, are also working on the ground to provide new houses for coastal families in Santa Fe who are not allowed to rebuild on their old lots. Their contributions support part of the local government’s goal of building 216 new houses on a newly acquired, 2.3-hectare property in one to two years, said Maria Arsenia Perez, Habitat’s procurement officer for the project. With a floor area of 30 square meters, the homes will be built to withstand winds of 270 to
Recovery under way
Despite the still enormous need for aid, recovery is under way in the town. Beach resorts have rebuilt their facilities to start attracting tourists again— and they are coming—with some 200 of the 354 rooms before Yolanda already available for occupancy, the mayor said. While other hotels continue to rebuild, the local government is encouraging homeowners to open their houses for homestay programs for tourists. The goal is to maintain, if not exceed, the annual 100,000 tourist arrivals on the island, the mayor said. www.canadianinquirer.net
Fishing boats can be seen on the shore, indicating that fishermen are ready to go to sea. Porters await arriving vessels at the dock. Children are playing on the beach. And while the tents remain, the sight of the newly repaired homes in the villages show that the people of Bantayan are moving on. Company with a heart
The PCA volunteers were ferried to the island on choppy waters on March 23. It was a rainy morning a day after vessels were barred from crossing from the main island of Cebu province to Bantayan due to Tropical Depression “Caloy.” But the weather improved on Monday morning as the team began to work. Members of the Azkals, the national football team, came later in the week to lend a hand, including star players Emelio “Chieffy” Caligdong and brothers Phil and James Younghusband. “When you have a heart as a company and your people are engaging in communities and helping other people, I think it makes you a better company. I think it just makes us a more humane and sensitive company to our customers, our policy holders,” said Donald Kanak, PCA chair and Prudence Foundation trustee. “So we become a much more market-responsive company, [seeing the] true hearts of people who are in need. Sitting in an office, you don’t get that feeling, right?” said Kanak, who was participating in a Prudence Foundation volunteer program for the second time.
For others who signed up, it was an opportunity to help on the ground, a step further than just sending donations. “It’s different when you yourself are there instead of just your money or the goods [you have sent]. This is a privilege for me rather than a sacrifice,” said Jessie Rigor, a Filipino volunteer who heads a branch of Pru Life UK in Makati City. Chanvit Rompothong of Eastspring Investments Singapore, the firm’s asset management arm, shared the view: “Traditionally, when you hear about these types of disaster, you know, you just give money, there’s really no opportunity to directly go and help. This is exactly a chance to do that, to really rebuild and take part in the charity work.” Family tradition
Malaysia’s Mukesh Ramani found Bantayan build an opportunity to take part in work that has become a family tradition. “My family has always been involved in volunteer work in the children’s home, animal shelter, so I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to come and meet people … I think the reward will always be to be proud once the houses come up and when the community comes in [and we see] how happy they are. You feel proud, you’re giving homes to people,” he said. It was a chance to give back for Eastspring Investments Japan’s Hiroko Omote, who saw how her colleagues worked together in her home country months after the 2011 tsunami. “In Japan, when we had this program, people wanted to come to help my home country … I was so impressed. And whatever I could do for other countries, I thought I should do,” said Omote, who also helped raise funds for Yolanda survivors in the early part of relief operations. “I don’t know how much they (local community) feel this helps but this is a lot better than sitting at home doing nothing, right? The home is the core of your life. You need to have a comfortable house. So I think what Habitat is doing is wonderful, so I am glad that I can do something,” she said. ■
Philippine News
APRIL 4, 2014 FRIDAY 14
‘Intensifying search...’ possible location of its flight recorders, or “black boxes,” which should contain clues to what caused the aircraft to fly so far off-course. The Ocean Shield, an Australian warship with a U.S. device that detects “pings” from the flight recorders was joining the search. It will still take three to four days for the Ocean Shield to reach the search zone. “The ship will take part in the surface search until the debris is positively identified and an underwater search area is then predicted,” U.S. Navy Capt. Mark Matthews said. In addition to the ping locator, the ship will also have an unmanned underwater vehicle and other equipment to look for wreckage on the seabed. The search area is so big that investigators are first hoping to find floating debris so they could set a smaller zone using sophisticated analysis to determine a location from where the pieces drifted. Even if they do that, recovering the flight recorders could be complicated. Despite the huge area, one advantage is the seabed of the search zone is generally flat, with the exception of a steep slope and a deep trench near its southern end. The area is dominated by a muddy ocean floor known as Broken Ridge, which is actually a plateau where depths range from as shallow as about 800 metres (2,625 feet) to about 3,000 metres (9,843 feet). At the edge of the plateau clos❰❰ 7
est to Antarctica is the Diamantina trench, which has been found to be as deep as 5,800 metres (19,000 feet) within the confines of the search zone, although it could be deeper in places that have not been measured. Matthews said the Navy’s ping locator has the “capability to do search-and-recovery operations down to a depth of 20,000 feet.” Information on the flight data and cockpit voice recorders may help investigators resolve what happened on Flight 370. Speculation includes equipment failure, a botched hijacking, terrorism or an act by one of the pilots. At a hotel near Kuala Lumpur, a group of Chinese relatives of passengers on the plane demanded that the Malaysian government apologize for its handling of the search. They also are angry that Prime Minister Najib Razak announced March 24 that Flight 370 went down in the Indian Ocean before any wreckage was found. The group, which flew in from Beijing, waved banners that read: “We want evidence, truth, dignity,” and “Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back.” They also demanded a meeting with Najib. An official tweet from Najib on Sunday said, “My thoughts are with the family members of #MH370.” He added: “We will not rest until the plane is found.” Two-thirds of the 227 passengers were Chinese. China
has urged Malaysia to be more open about the investigation, while Malaysian officials have defended their handling of the probe and the information they have provided to the relatives. In Beijing, tensions were still high at a hotel where other Chinese relatives have been meeting with Malaysian representatives. On Sunday, one woman asking questions called Malaysia Airlines “criminal suspects” to applause from the crowd of about 250 people. Relatives asked why materials being shown to them were in English and not Chinese. Malaysia Airlines said it would fly family members to Perth, but only once wreckage is confirmed to have been found from the plane. It said a family assistance centre would be set up in Perth. In Sepang, Malaysia, not far from the airport where Flight 370 originated, Lewis Hamilton of Britain won Formula One’s Malaysian Grand Prix and dedicated his win to the victims of the flight and their relatives. Before the race, fans held a moment of silence. “We hope very soon there is news to give comfort to the families,” said spectator Chris Sprangers of Australia. ■ Wong reported from Kuala Lumpur. Associated Press writers Scott McDonald and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur; Chris Lines in Sepang, Malaysia; Kristen Gelineau in Sydney; and Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report.
Women cops... Pasay Police Community Precinct and SWAT team led to the arrest of the suspect,” he added. Calixto said the police units involved in the operation would be recognized during the flagraising ceremony on April 7 at the Pasay City hall. At least 10 robbers wielding guns and pipe wrenches made their way through tight security measures at the SM MOA at 7 p.m. on Sunday, creating chaos and panic among shoppers. As people scrambled toward exits, others hid in stores which closed down immediately after gunshots were fired. An employee of an ice cream booth ❰❰ 12
One of the suspected robbers, Brian Bansawan, is behind bars after his arrest by the Pasay police. PHOTO BY NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / INQUIRER
was wounded and taken to a hospital for treatment. Villacorte said that based on the footage taken by the mall’s security cameras, at least two of the robbers armed with guns were able to get past a security check at the mall entrance. “Based on the CCTV, there
were 10 people involved. Some stood guard carrying pistols, others were scooping out jewelry from the glass cabinet,” he added. The robbers targeted F & C Jewelry Store, the same chain that figured in two similar heists at SM North in December and SM Megamall in January 2013. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.
PHOTO BY MARIANNE BERMUDEZ / PDI
Ombudsman wants Corona assets back BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA AND CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE OFFICE of the Ombudsman yesterday asked the Sandiganbayan to freeze and seize over P130 million worth of allegedly ill-gotten assets of former Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife Cristina, saying that the value of the properties they had acquired over a nineyear period was out of proportion to their lawful income. The Ombudsman filed a petition for forfeiture of the Corona couple’s properties and also asked the antigraft court to immediately issue a writ of preliminary attachment against their properties valued at P130.587 million. A preliminary attachment is sought to prevent the concealment, removal or disposition of a defendant’s properties while the case is pending. It is intended to ensure that the winning party’s claim would be satisfied. Corona said he expected Ombudsman Conchita CarpioMorales to deny his appeal to reconsider her ruling indicting him and his wife for allegedly amassing P130 million in illgotten wealth. In a statement, Corona recalled that Morales had been a hostile witness in his Senate impeachment trial in 2012. “What fairness could we have received from an Ombudsman who viciously prevaricated and testified against me as a malicious hostile witness during my sham and an estimated P6.5-billion (at the very least) bribe-laden impeachment trial in 2012?” Corona said.
‘No possibility justice’
of
getting
He said Morales’ action “only proves that there was no possibility of getting justice from the present Ombudsman, who from the beginning, exhibited unusual hostility towards me.” “My right to due process was denied because here the Ombudsman is the accuser, complainant, prosecutor, investigator, judge and executioner, all rolled into one,” Corona said. In her resolution issued Wednesday, Morales directed the immediate filing of a forfeiture case in the Sandiganbayan, along with criminal information on eight counts of perjury and eight counts of violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees. Corona, in his statement, said he did not commit perjury if one was to study his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs). He also said there was “no proof of wealth beyond what I could truthfully earn from honest hard work of 45 years, invest and save, in addition to my and my wife’s family resources and a frugal lifestyle.” In its petition filed yesterday afternoon, the Office of the Ombudsman said the Coronas’ combined gross compensation from 2001 to 2010 amounted to P30.369 million. But their assets and net worth were much higher, it said. Their alleged unexplained wealth amounted to P130.587 million, it said. It said Corona had undeclared cash assets, consisting of peso and dollar accounts in different banks that were not listed in his SALNs. The total of the cash deposits as of 2010 was P134.437 million. ■
Philippine News
15 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Palace: It’s not Mar yet; wait for P-Noy’s choice BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer MALACAÑANG DOWNPLAYED a statement by Transportation Secretary Joseph A. Abaya that the Liberal Party would field Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II as its standard bearer in the 2016 polls. “What Secretary Abaya said, basing on his quote, was his personal opinion primarily because the LP has not started the process,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda told a Malacañang briefing. Abaya, LP acting president, said on Tuesday that Roxas would carry the flag for the party in 2016, and that the party was now holding meetings to push this forward. Lacierda said the public should instead wait for President Aquino’s endorsement of the LP standard bearer. “The President already said in one of the ambush interviews that he will announce it at the proper time. Let’s wait for the President’s final, final imprimatur who his choice will be. Let’s just wait for that. We can hear other people saying but it’s not the President,” he said. But LP member, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, said the party’s nomination as its standard-bearer was for Roxas’ taking. “It’s for him to refuse,” Evardone said by phone. “If there will be a vote, hands-
Transportation Secretary Joseph A. Abaya, LP acting president, said on Tuesday that Roxas would carry the flag for the party in 2016, and that the party was now holding meetings to push this forward. In a Malacanang briefing, however, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the public should wait for President Aquino’s endorsement of the LP standard bearer. PHOTO FROM DILG.GOV.PH
down he will win. But it may not reach that stage; it could just be a consensus of the party.” Without preempting the President, Evardone believed Roxas would get the endorsement of Mr. Aquino. In an interview with Senate reporters, Abaya said the party was pushing for Roxas to be its standard-bearer but this has to go through the process. “You know my answer to the question of who will carry the flag for the LP. That’s Secretary Mar Roxas,” Abaya said. Abaya merely confirmed Senate President Franklin Drilon’s announcement in January 2013 that the party was field-
ing Roxas to run for President against Vice President Jejomar Binay who has already announced his intent to run for the presidency. Roxas went on leave as LP president when he took over the top post at the Department of Interior and Local Government in September 2012 after then Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo died in a plane crash. Since then, the President has often tapped him as his trouble-shooter in times of calamities, or crises. But in doing
Dragging ex-hubby into pork scam foul–De Lima BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer JUSTICE SECRETARY Leila de Lima said she felt “so bad” that two dismissed National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officials had linked her ex-husband to alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles. De Lima said she now regretted not seeking the dismissal of former NBI deputy directors Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala much earlier. De Lima pointed to a statement that her ex-husband, lawyer Plaridel Bohol, issued yesterday denying that he had arranged a meeting between Napoles and then NBI chief Nonnatus Rojas at the NBI in May last year, as alleged by Esmeralda and Lasala. In his statement, Bohol explained that he went to see Rojas just to greet him “a belated happy birthday.” “We were having lunch when Freddie Villamor arrived and subsequently his client, Janet Lim-Napoles, who
complained to Director Rojas that the NBI agents guarding her brother at St. Luke’s hospital were intruding into his private room, causing inconvenience to him [Napoles’ brother] after he had heart bypass surgery. She pleaded that thematter be looked into so that her brother could recuperate well,” Bohol said, referring to Napoles’ brother, Reynald Lim. At the time, Napoles and her brother were facing serious illegal detention charges filed by pork barrel scam whistleblower Benhur Luy. Bohol said he did not know Napoles, whom he noted would later be at the “center of the Priority Development Assistance Fund controversy.” “I just hope that I am not being linked to this issue to connect me in a malicious way to the secretary of justice,” he said. Speaking to reporters, an angry De Lima said that Esmeralda and Lasala, if they felt that their dismissal was wrong, should have sought the “appropriate remedy” rather than linking her ex-husband to Napoles. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net
so, Roxas ran into several controversies. He was seen with the President when the latter flew to Zamboanga City in September last year to oversee the military operations to flush out Nur Misuari’s followers that laid siege to seaside villages that left more than 100 dead. Mr. Aquino sent Roxas and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin to Tacloban City ahead of the landfall of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in November last year. Roxas and Gazmin took the brunt of criticisms for the national government’s alleged slow response and bungling of relief efforts in the aftermath of the most powerful typhoon to hit the country. Before he could even recover, Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. tagged Roxas as the one who drove him to Malacañang for a breakfast meeting with the President during the impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012. After breakfast, Revilla said Mr. Aquino appealed to him to vote for the conviction of Corona for nondisclosure of his peso and dollar accounts in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. Roxas was recently implicated in the controversy surrounding the alleged removal of detained Delfin Lee from the most wanted persons’ list. He denied any hand in this. ■
Opinion
APRIL 4, 2014 FRIDAY 16
THERE’S THE RUB
Heart of the matter By Conrado De Quiros Philippine Daily Inquirer IT’S ONE of those fortitude-challenging predicaments in this country that you don’t just have to win once, you have to win them again and again. Reproductive Health (RH) is one of them. Just when you thought it was a done deal, you’re beset by anxiety it could all be reversed by the Supreme Court, with no small help from the bishops. The ball is literally on the Court’s court now, the justices are all set to judge on its constitutionality next week. Most of the bishops remain adamant in their opposition to it. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is headed by Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who famously said, “Contraception is corruption.” That’s what drove a large group of urban poor women, youth and students to troop to the CBCP headquarters last week to try to make them see the light. Hope springs eternal, and miracles have been known to happen, such as when St. Paul was struck by that same light on the way to Damascus. Believing that conciliation is the better inducer of light than confrontation, the group laid flowers
in lieu of angry chants on the CBCP’s doorstep. They also read a letter addressed to the bishops that reminded them that their own boss in the Vatican, Pope Francis, had spoken emphatically about the Catholic Church needing to stop its obsession with things like contraception, and devoting its attention instead to things like poverty. “In the spirit of the Pope’s call for a ‘new balance,’ we hope that you just join us in trying to feed the hungry, heal the sick and uphold freedom and justice in the Philippines.” It’s a good message and shows how it’s not just RH that’s on trial here, the local Catholic Church is too. RH may be on trial in the court of law, but the Church is on trial in the court of public opinion. Or more than the court of public opinion, the court of morality. “Quo vadis?” or “Where to now?” is a question that applies more to the local Church than to RH. That the Church now finds itself at odds with its own Pope, the one authority the bishops loved to quote when he was still Benedict to damn RH and threaten with hellfire, if not excommunication, those who would not heed his words. Now that the Pope is Francis who, in but a year’s time, has pulled up the Vatican, and
the world along with it, from the Dark Ages to the Age of Reason, quoting him is the last thing the bishops want to do. It’s not the easiest thing to keep the faithful faithful by harping on the imaginary evil of the imaginary mass murder of imaginary children by contraception, when your boss himself harps only about the very real evil of the very real mass murder of very real children by grinding poverty. And orders you quite directly to forget the one in favor of the other. Of course the local bishops have
RH may be on trial in the court of law, but the Church is on trial in the court of public opinion. been at pains to show that rather than being opposed to the current Pontiff’s concerns, they share them wholeheartedly. The CBCP has repeatedly issued pastoral letters conscripting Pope Francis’ pro-poor stance. This has taken, in particular, the form of berating government for promoting “noninclusive growth,” or growth that has benefited only the few but not the many, only the rich but not the poor. But the deeds belie the words, the practice belies the doctrine, the doing (or lack of it) belies the preaching.
At the very least, what has the Church itself done to lessen poverty? I’ve always thought those pastoral letters were a little cheeky, drawing attention as they did to what many of those bishops did during Gloria MacapagalArroyo’s time. The most scandalous of which, though not by any means the most grievous, being to ask for SUVs on birthdays or other occasions or no occasion at all. Of course government deserves brickbats for failing to lift up the poor along with the growth indexes, but for those who tolerated, if not participated in, corruption to be throwing those brickbats, that’s just asking for it. At the very most, you want to lessen poverty, you want to distribute the manna in the wilderness more equitably, lessen the number of mouths to feed. Stop being a thorn in the side, or a pain in the behind, of RH. The men, women and children who trooped to Intramuros were right to invoke Pope Francis to try to lessen the Church’s resistance to RH, quite apart from bolstering the Supreme Court’s confidence in it. Pope Francis is the one pope—I know of no other— who has seen poverty in all its tangible and terrible ferocity, in the men, women and children who live in the slums of Buenos Aires and elsewhere, in the ragged multitude that shoves
and pushes in crowded spaces, where babies cry from lack of milk, where thieves riot from lack of law. You get exposed to things like this and you will be aghast, too, that people can be horrified at the fate of imaginary children and not at the horrifying plight of flesh-and-blood ones. No, it’s not just RH that’s on trial here, the bishops are too. What indicts them in the court of morality and not just of public opinion is their faith itself, is their religion itself. A faith that, as their current and quite luminous head reminds them, draws its inspiration from someone who did not have his eyes constantly turned heavenward but had them instead fixed on carpenters, fishers, streetwalkers, the lepers, the lame, the blind, and at least one certifiably dead man. It’s no small irony that the bishops condemn RH on grounds of morality. When the boss of their boss, the son of a carpenter, kept broadly hinting to them what morality was. By saying things like, not all who say, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of God. By saying things like, whatever you do for the least of your brothers, you do for God. For his devoted followers at least, like Pope Francis, that is the essence of their faith. That is the heart of the matter. ■
AS I SEE IT
What will happen to PH ownership of Sabah? By Neal H. Cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer THE COMPREHENSIVE peace agreement signed by the national government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is not so comprehensive after all. It raised more questions to which there are no clear answers yet. For example, what will happen to the Philippine claim to Sabah? The Sultanate of Sulu owns Sabah, but this has been annexed by Malaysia. Sulu will be part of the Bangsamoro and ruled by the Bangsamoro government. What will the latter do with this controversial issue? “We have no claim to Sabah,” said law professor Alan Paguia at a news forum. “We already own it. It is Malaysia who is claiming it. But it is just a tenant who refuses to leave and who has stopped paying rent.” Sabah was part of the Sultanate of Sulu. In the 18th century, the British North Borneo Co. rented it from the Sulu sultan to be used for plantations. It paid a fixed annual amount to the sultan. When the state of Malaya expanded itself to become the present Malaysia, it annexed Sabah unilaterally. But it continued to pay rent to the Sulu sultanate until recently, when the Sabah issue was revived. Which means that Malaysia recognized the
Sulu sultanate’s ownership of Sabah. When the sultanate asked that the rent be increased because of inflation, Malaysia stopped paying altogether. Until that time, Malaysia was still paying the same amount that the British North Borneo Co. paid to the sultanate centuries ago. Thus, the sultanate told Malaysia to leave Sabah. It refused, and still refuses to do so. When a tenant refuses to pay rent for your property and also refuses to leave, what would you do? You file an ejectment suit in court. For independent nations that court is the International Court of Justice (ICJ). So the Philippine government gave notice that it would file a case in the ICJ. Unfortunately, unlike in ordinary courts, in the ICJ, both sides must agree to submit themselves to its jurisdiction. If one side refuses to do that, there can be no litigation. And in the Sabah issue, Malaysia refuses to agree to take the case to the ICJ. But it continues to hold on to—and to claim—Sabah. Apparently, Malaysia knows that it will lose the case in the ICJ because the facts are clearly in favor of the Philippines. So it just continues to illegally squat on Sabah. Might is right. The case is no different from squatters who refuse to leave somebody else’s property and threaten to fight
anybody who would try to eject them. If this were Europe or the Middle East, nations would have sent troops to forcibly occupy the contested territory, as Russia has recently done in the Crimea, which is part of Ukraine, but which Russian troops have recently occupied. A century ago, Hitler did the same thing to Poland, occupied a German-speaking region
The Sultanate of Sulu owns Sabah, but this has been annexed by Malaysia. Sulu will be part of the Bangsamoro and ruled by the Bangsamoro government. What will the latter do with this controversial issue? that was part of Poland. That led to World War II wherein Germany and its Axis allies—Italy and Japan—were defeated by the Allied Forces. However, the Philippines does not have the might to invade Sabah. So during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, the government decided to train commandos to be sent to Sabah and wage a guerrilla war against Malaysia. The commandos were secretly being trained in Corregidor when it was discovered
www.canadianinquirer.net
and this led to the Jabidah Massacre. Recently, the aging Sultan of Sulu, fed up with waiting and the failure of the Philippine government to assert ownership of Sabah, sent Muslim fighters, led by a brother of his, to infiltrate Sabah and wage a guerrilla war, hoping that local residents, composed mostly of Filipinos from Sulu, would join them. Unfortunately, the guerrilla force was discovered when it landed in Sabah and the ensuing months-long fighting between the Filipino Muslims and the Malaysian forces decimated the Sulu sultanate’s small force. Fast forward to the “comprehensive peace agreement” between the Philippine government and the MILF. The agreement is silent on the Sabah issue which is very important to Muslims in Mindanao. How will the new Bangsamoro and the Philippine government assert ownership of Sabah? Will they dare to offend Malaysia, the principal sponsor of the peace talks? In fact, I think that is the principal reason Malaysia decided to referee the peace talks. Its prime minister, despite his government’s preoccupation with the frantic search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, took the time to come here to witness the signing of the agreement. Sabah is bigger than the island of Luzon. It has an annual income of $70
billion (yes, $70 billion). It has vast stores of oil underground and abundant timberlands aboveground. Wow! That is enough to wipe out poverty in the whole Philippines, not to say bring economic progress to Mindanao. No wonder Malaysia refuses to let go. Another question that the comprehensive peace agreement has failed to answer or has ignored: What will happen to the Tripoli Agreement between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) of Nur Misuari? That accord was sponsored by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which is composed of all Muslim nations in the world. Malaysia is only one of its members. The OIC recognizes the MNLF and Nur Misuari as the representatives of the Mindanao Muslims. What will happen if the OIC insists that the Philippine government follow the Tripoli Agreement? This is an international agreement that the Philippines is obliged to follow. And what will happen if the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a breakaway group of the MILF, grows in strength and continues to fight, as the MILF, a breakaway group of the MNLF, had done? Will the Philippine government hold another round of peace talks with the BIF. ■
Opinion
17 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
PUBLIC LIVES
Modernity and the Bangsamoro By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer MODERNITY IS a term that confuses many. Its root word, “modern,” refers to something that belongs to the present age, in contrast to things associated with the past. But, when applied to societies, modernity takes on more complex meanings. The most common of these is that modernity equals Westernization. Viewed in the light of the historical experience of former colonial societies like ours, modernity, thus understood, automatically invites rejection. To accept it means continuing enslavement to colonial mentality, and the denial of an identity that we can call our own. Stripped of its emotive connotations, however, modernity is nothing more than the societal forms produced by Western societies in the course of their own evolution. These represent solutions to the increasing complexity of the environments they faced. The big question is whether these solutions and social structures are applicable to the situations of non-Western societies like ours. If they are, under what conditions will they work? If they are not, is there a different path to modernity that we can take? What would an Asian modernity look like, for example? These issues lie at the core of many ex-
isting theories of development. But, they significantly come to life when an opportunity to build a nation from the ground up presents itself. Such seems to be the promise of the recently signed Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro. Muslim Mindanao appears to present an ideal case for an alternative modernity. Surely, the Bangsamoro can do better than mimic the dysfunctional institutions of mainstream Philippine society. The marginalization of its people has made them seek refuge in the familiarity of an indigenous culture that, for the most part, has remained intact. The religion of Islam itself seems to stand out as the “other” of the Western religious tradition. Yet, one can’t help wondering how far a community conceived along ethnic and religious lines can proceed in carving a distinct future for itself—in a globalized world that, as a rule, assigns minimal value, if any, to such identities. What role, for example, would Islam play in the Bangsamoro entity, which, from all appearances, is supposed to be secular? In the evolution of societies, the relationship between faith and politics has oscillated between Western-style secularism in which religion becomes a wholly private concern, and the Islamic state in which there is a fusion of these two domains. One great fear of non-Muslims
who may find themselves living within the Bangsamoro territory is that of being subjected to the moral code and precepts of the Shari’a. Is this fear unwarranted? Questions like these are of the utmost relevance to the issue of modernity. The German theorist Niklas Luhmann believed that what distinguishes modern society from all past societies is its primary basis of social differentiation. This, he argues, is drawn along functional, rather than along tribal or
[O]ne can’t help wondering how far a community conceived along ethnic and religious lines can proceed in carving a distinct future for itself—inaglobalizedworldthat, as a rule, assigns minimal value, ifany,tosuchidentities. ethnic or hierarchical, lines. Modernity solves problems of complexity, but it also brings about new problems. Unless new social forms are invented, the shift to Western-style modernity seems inescapable, Luhmann wrote. The transition to modern society highlights the gradual separation of social functions from one another—e.g., politics from religion, the economy from politics, science and law from religion, education from
the family, etc. To appreciate this change, one only needs to look at how these functions were fused in traditional society, and how a person’s fate was determined at birth by his/ her race or position in a preordained social hierarchy. Modernity, of course, is far from being the ideal form of society. The fragmentation of societal functions and the corresponding compartmentalization of the self that it induces have been the subject of postmodern and critical reflection. Modernity’s drawbacks have likewise drawn considerable attention from the modern thinkers of the Catholic Church—notably Benedict XVI, who rued the untold consequences arising from the divorce between faith and reason. But, from the side of the religious community, no one perhaps has articulated and inspired a more comprehensive plan to intervene in the processes of modern society than Turkey’s contemporary Islamic thinker and preacher, M. Fethullah Gulen. Even as he, like Benedict, recognizes the lines separating matters of state from matters of faith, he strongly believes that religion can fruitfully engage the modern world without being assimilated by its logic. He charts a middle path for Islam that
neither rejects modernity out of hand nor blindly succumbs to its terms. The key, he says, lies in the fusion of universal human values and science in the education of the young, and the inculcation of love and tolerance for diversity through dialogues across cultures, faiths, and ideologies. In just two decades, a global civic movement devoted to education and intercultural dialogue has arisen out of Gulen’s teachings, giving to Islam a face vastly different from that of the jihadist and fundamentalist strains with which this great religion has unfortunately been associated in recent years. That it has recently found itself at the receiving end of the Turkish government’s harsh rhetoric is lamentable, but in the light of the movement’s autonomy, perhaps not surprising. The initiatives of the Gulen movement could be a fertile source of ideas not just for the Bangsamoro project, but also for our own incoherent efforts at building a modern and inclusive society. ■
NPA-NDF will remain stalled, as they have been stalled in the past few years. A sticking point raised time and again by the NDF panel, after all, has been the demand to release its “consultants” from government prisons before the negotiations could proceed. This list of qualified consultants, which contains many aliases, has been modified time and again, almost every time an insurgent leader has been captured. And in at least one instance, a captured “consultant” was duly released on the ground of his alleged role in the peace talks only to promptly go underground and rejoin the rebel forces. I don’t see the communist insurgents returning to the bargaining table anytime soon, at least not while the Tiamzons and their companions remain behind bars. Maybe we have a better chance of setting the peace process off on the right foot if the freed seven dogs and cats petition to have their liberation taken as a “goodwill” gesture to get their former humans to start talking around the peace table. *** MEANWHILE, the creation of the Bangsamoro entity nears reality. Between the euphoria whipped up by the Malacañang ceremonies and the dawning of the first Bangsamoro local government in Mindanao lies a road rut-
ted with possible detours and major roadblocks, sudden twists and turns, and turbulence created by self-interested politicians and deluded, paranoid populations. The air around Malacañang may have been warmed by goodwill all over, but when the Bangsamoro basic law is brought to Congress for discussion and ratification, and then submitted for a plebiscite, the atmospherics may no longer be as comfortable or amiable. By then, politicians will have made their own calculations about their share of power, their continued enjoyment of perks and privileges, and their future in a changed Mindanao landscape. And depending on how the fruits of development are nurtured and distributed, and how the Bangsamoro entity will be governed, any number of interest groups and communities will have valid issues to raise and demands to make regarding their “proper” share of the spoils. Already, I take it as a good sign that MILF chair Murad Ebrahim declared in his speech at the signing ceremony that the Bangsamoro belongs to every Mindanaoan yearning for peace, regardless of what faction of the Moro rebels he/she belongs to, or even if he/ she is Muslim, Christian or lumad. “Spoilers” there may be a-plenty, but they could be as relevant tomorrow as seven dogs and cats are today. ■
ERRATUM: In PCI's March 28, 2014 issue, we indicated the name Juan L. Mercado under the photo and article of Mr. Randy David. PCI apologizes for this oversight.
AT LARGE
Dogs and cats By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer DAYS AFTER the ham-handed attempt to crash the celebrations marking the signing of the comprehensive agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the communist National Democratic Front was in the headlines once more over the issue of—cats and dogs. NDF leaders Benito and Wilma Tiamzon were arrested in Cebu City last week, and in a bid to draw some of the limelight on their arrest, followers clashed with a group of Muslim ralliers in Mendiola. The Muslims were conducting a prayer rally for the success of the peace agreement then being launched in nearby Malacañang. One couldn’t have asked for a more ironic development—and one sharply drawing a contrast between the Moro community celebrating the return of peace to Mindanao, and the recalcitrant communists struggling to remain relevant. And then came the news, released by the military, that in addition to the Tiamzon couple and their companions, the arresting forces had also “captured” two pet dogs and a cat which were apparently on board the vehicles the communist leaders were caught in. Though they offered little by way
of evidence, the arresting officers said the pets appeared to be “well fed,” an attempt, the way I see it, of contrasting the pampered life led by the animals with the hardships endured by communist partisans in the countryside. Now we know a little more about these animal companions. The three “arrested” with the Tiamzons have been given new nicknames: Benito, Wilma and Joma (after Jose Ma. Sison, CPP founder), and have been “freed,” into the custody of a Cebu-based animal welfare group. Four other pets reportedly owned by the Tiamzons’ companions were also rescued from their safe house and will likewise be turned over to the Island Rescue Organization. *** SOME niggling questions come to mind: Did the seven animals know their humans were in fact among the most “wanted” insurgents in the country? Were the dogs and cats likewise indoctrinated, or were they equal opportunity animals, caring only if, when and where their next meals were coming from? Judging from the two dogs who currently run my family’s schedule—they are sticklers for routine and will make their dissatisfaction (loudly) known— the pets sharing the Tiamzons’ existence in all probability cared little for ideology. This, even if the dogs shared
geographical roots with the CPPNPA-NDF’s spiritual leader Mao Zedong, being part Shih Tzu mix. But do animals develop a kind of kinship with the humans who look after them? Do they miss their old humans at all? Are they wondering why men in uniform have re-baptized them? And what have they to do with the questions raised by the Tiamzons’ arrest?
The three “arrested” with the Tiamzons have been given new nicknames: Benito, Wilma and Joma (after Jose Ma. Sison, CPP founder), and have been “freed,” into the custody of a Cebubased animal welfare group. We’re talking about “Benito,” “Wilma” and “Joma” and their companions here because, other than mentioning their apparently ample diets, the authorities have given the public little by way of further information on the Tiamzons’ arrest, on what charges, and how and when they will be brought before the bar of justice. *** ALL I can think of at the moment is that, while the Tiamzons remain in military custody, the negotiations between the government and the CPP-
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FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
18
Canada News
Eye catching election signs for fake mayoral candidates slag Rob Ford
NEWS BRIEFS
FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS
BY COLIN PERKEL The Canadian Press TORONTO—A group opposed to the re-election of a scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford pressed its message Monday with a series of eye-catching road signs for fake candidates that use words like urinate and crack. “When I urinate in public, I never get caught on camera,” says one sign, which urges voters to get behind Jim Tomkins. “Anyone’s better than Rob Ford.” The signs were a collaborative effort between the community group No Ford Nation and Toronto advertising agency Rethink, which did the job for free. “It was really a unique creative opportunity to do what we do best,” said Caleb Goodman, partner and managing director at Rethink. “We’re really counting on interested citizens to snap photos and get them on Facebook and Twitter and
FEDS APPEAL MEDICAL MARIJUANA RULING
The signs were a collaborative effort between the community group No Ford Nation and Toronto advertising agency Rethink, which did the job for free. PHOTO FROM BLOGTO.COM
Tumblr and fortunately that has happened.” Over the past year, Ford has been embroiled in numerous scandals that
have made him an international celebrity and a favourite of late-night ❱❱ PAGE 41 Eye catching
Nova Scotia introduces essential services bill as nurses prepare to go on strike BY COLIN PERKEL The Canadian Press HALIFAX—The Nova Scotia government introduced essential services legislation late Monday, a move Premier Stephen McNeil said was necessary hours after the union that represents about Halifax-area nurses filed notice that they were preparing to go on strike Thursday. The Essential Health and Community Services Act would require unions and employers throughout the health care sector to have an essential services agreement in place before job action can occur, and if such an agreement can’t be reached, an independent third party decides. Employers or unions that take
job action before an essential services agreement is in place would be fined $100,000 for the first day and $10,000 for each additional day. People would face fines of $1,000 for the first day of job action and $200 for each day after. McNeil said the fact that there have been three health care labour disruptions within seven months underscores the need for such a law. “This is about striking a balance between ensuring that Nova Scotians have the services when they need them while protecting the workers right to strike,” McNeil said outside the legislature. Labour Minister Kelly Regan said Nova Scotia was the only province without that kind of legislation. “Like all Canadians, Nova Sco-
tians deserve to know their health and safety won’t be in jeopardy during a labour disruption,” Regan said in a statement. In addition to nurses, the bill would apply to paramedics, 911 operators, hospital employees and people who work in homes for seniors, youth and people with disabilities. In all, about 35,000 to 40,000 workers would be covered by the law. It would take effect as soon as it is passed and not expire. The move came after the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union filed strike notice to Regan earlier in the day. The 2,400 nurses that the union represents are in a legal strike position as of Thursday. ❱❱ PAGE 38 Nova Scotia
OTTAWA—The federal government will contest an injunction that allows people to continue to grow medical marijuana while a full legal challenge plays out in the courts. It is the latest salvo in a series of legal actions over how the government administers its medical pot program. Earlier this month, Federal Court Judge Michael Manson ruled that patients currently licensed to grow their own marijuana would be permitted to produce the drug even after new regulations banning the practice take effect Tuesday. HYDRO, FERRY RATES JUMP IN B.C. APRIL 1 VANCOUVER—Critics of the B.C. government say there will be nothing funny about April Fool’s Day, when ferry and electricity rates go up and increase costs for middle-class families and people living on fixed incomes. BC Hydro is hiking rates by nine per cent, the first in a decade of annual increases that will see fees jump by nearly 40 per cent. EVENTS HELD TO MARK END OF HEALTH ACCORD OTTAWA—Canadians in some parts of the country may face bed shortages and more expensive drugs now that a health-care deal between Ottawa and the provinces has expired, an advocacy group warned Monday. Provinces with declining populations, such as New Brunswick, are already feeling the fallout from the expiry of the 10-year, $41-billion health accord struck in 2004, while growing provinces like Alberta stand to gain, said Canadian Health Coalition executive director Michael McBane. DEPARTURE OF SOUDAS RESONATES THROUGH PARLIAMENT HILL CORRIDORS OTTAWA—The sudden departure of veteran Conservative organizer Dimitri Soudas continued to reverberate Monday on Parliament Hill after the long-time confidante of Prime Minister Stephen Harper resigned amid concerns he was using his position to help fiancee Eve Adams win the Tory nomination in a suburban Toronto riding.
Canada News
19 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
Canada faces... squeezed in between Ukraine and Romania, and assured them that Canada strongly believes in the country’s territorial integrity. But defence expert Rob Huebert of the University of Calgary says the Harper government should be paying closer
❰❰ 1
attention to Canada’s own yet-to-bedefined border with Russia in the Arctic. His warning comes after a published report last week quoted a former senior adviser to Putin as saying Russian military pre-eminence in the Arctic is a “red line” that the West dare not cross. ■
Already locked in: report shows Canada not immune to impact of global warming BY BOB WEBER The Canadian Press TOP SCIENTISTS say the latest international report on climate change shows that Canadians must wake up to the impact of warming temperatures on land, on water and in communities across the country. They say the Intergovernmental Report on Climate Change, released Sunday in Japan, shows changes are on their way and further delays in responding to them only narrow the options. “We no longer have the option of choosing between mitigation and adaptation,” Debra Davidson, a University of Alberta sociologist and lead author on the report, said Monday. “We’re already locked into a global warming scenario in which adaptation will be absolutely necessary if we want a reasonable quality of life,” said Davidson, one of more than 2,000 scientists and expert reviewers from 70 countries who contributed. The report says crop patterns will need to shift. Although some studies predict better growing conditions in more northern latitudes, disruptions to normal rain and snowfall patterns will
cause problems, it suggests. “There’s always been some predictions in some areas that some crops will do better,” said John Smol, a biologist at Queen’s University in Montreal. “But if the drought frequency continues, what’s the economic cost of a 10-year drought?” Some Canadian lakes are already seeing algae blooms increase at rates that can’t be explained by agricultural runoff, he said. Popular fish such as lake trout could be threatened by changing patterns of spring thaw and winter freeze-up. Floods, too, will be an issue for Canada, predicted Andrew Weaver, a British Columbia Green party legislature member, climate modeller and lead author on previous editions of the report. The number and value of insurance claims are already on the rise in Canada, he pointed out. The report warns the entire fresh-water ecosystem of the vast boreal forest that stretches almost across the country is under threat. “Rates of climate change associated with medium- to high-emission scenarios pose high risk of abrupt and irreversible regional-scale change in the composition, structure and function of terrestrial and fresh-water ecosystems,” it says. “Examples that could lead to substantial impact on climate are the boreal-tundra Arctic system.” Look for other nations to eye Canada’s abundant fresh water with envy, Weaver warned. “If you look at the climate projections, we get a heck of a lot more water and the southern U.S. gets a heck of a lot less. Where we have water, we get more, where they don’t have water, they get less. “There are issues of water transportation that are going to raise their head in the near future
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whether we like it or not.” Davidson warned that the consequences of climate change will fall more heavily on poor communities. Wealthy centres have more money to upgrade homes, build seawalls or buy more insurance. They’re more likely to have better infrastructure in the first place. And if they need to change how they fish or farm, they can make the investments more easily. “A poor community will have relatively fewer resources at the household level,” Davidson said. Canada needs to stop thinking about climate change as something that only affects sea ice or low-lying tropical islands, said Smol. “These are things that many people in the scientific community have known and have been saying ‘It’s getting worse and worse and worse and worse. And if anything, the rate of getting worse is accelerating.’ “The longer we wait, the harder it is to do anything. And we’re losing options.” An Environment Canada scientist was one of the lead authors of the study. The department declined to make him available for an interview and instead outlined in an email the measures the federal government has taken to fight climate change. A 2012 report by Environment Canada acknowledged the country will miss its 2020 greenhouse gas reduction tar-
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gets by nearly one-third. In question period in Ottawa on Monday, Liberal MP Joyce Murray from British Columbia took Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives to task. “Rather than doing its part to fight climate change, the government’s track record is clear: take credit for provincial actions, mock all proposals to make polluters pay, cut Environment Canada’s climate change and clean-air budget massively, heckle from across the aisle and cheat future Canadians of their right to climate security,” Murray said. Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said the government has been “committed to protecting the environment while keeping the Canadian economy strong since 2006. “Our government has invested significant funds in more efficient technology, better infrastructure and adaptation of clean energy.” Megan Leslie, NDP environment critic, pointed out that Canada now ranks dead last among OECD countries when it comes to climate change. “The ... report is clear,” she said. “Canadians are already dealing with the stark realities of climate change and it is only going to get worse.” Aglukkaq again replied that the government has invested “more than $10 billion in green infrastructure, energy efficiency, adaptation, clean technology and cleaner fuels.” ■
World News
APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 20
Seabed of new jet search zone mostly flat with 1 trench, mostly good news for wreckage hunt BY NICK PERRY AND JUSTIN PRITCHARD The Associated Press WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND—Two miles beneath the sea surface where satellites and planes are looking for debris from the missing Malaysian jet, the ocean floor is cold, dark, covered in a squishy muck of dead plankton and— in a potential break for the search—mostly flat. The troubling exception is a steep, rocky drop ending in a deep trench. The seafloor in this swath of the Indian Ocean is dominated by a substantial underwater plateau known as Broken Ridge, where the geography would probably not hinder efforts to find the main body of the jet that disappeared with 239 people on board three weeks ago, according to seabed experts who have studied the area. Australian officials on Friday moved the search to an area 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) to the northeast of a previous zone as the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 continued to confound. There is no guarantee that the jet crashed into the new search area. Planes that have searched it for two days have spotted objects of various colours and sizes, but none of the items scooped by ships has been confirmed to be related to the plane. The zone is huge: about 319,000 square kilometres (123,000 square miles), roughly the size of Poland or New Mexico. But it is closer to land than the previous search zone, its weather is much more hospitable—and Broken Ridge sounds a lot craggier than it really is. And the deepest part is believed to be 5,800 metres (19,000 feet), within the range of American black box ping locators on an Australian ship leaving Sunday for the area and expected to arrive in three or four days. Formed about 100 million years ago by volcanic activity, the ridge was once above water. Pulled under by the spreading of the ocean floor, now it is more like a large underwater plain, gently sloping from as
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 23 Mar 2014 - PrayForMH370, Malaysians wrote special notes of prayers for the well-being of missing hijacked B777 KL-Beijing airplane. PHOTO BY HITMANSNR / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
shallow as about 800 metres (2,625 feet) to about 3,000 metres (9,843 feet) deep. It got its name because long ago the movement of the Earth’s tectonic plates separated it from another plateau, which now sits about 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) to the southwest. Much of Broken Ridge is covered in a sediment called foraminiferal ooze, made of plankton that died, settled and was compacted by the tremendous pressure from the water above. “Think like it’s been snowing there for tens of millions of years,” said William Sager, a professor of marine geophysics at the University of Houston in Texas. Like snow, the layer of microscopic plankton shells tends to smooth out any rises or falls in the underlying rock. In places, the layer is up to 1 kilometre (half a mile) deep. But if the fuselage of the Boeing 777 did fall on to Broken Ridge, it would not sink much into the muck. “The surface would be soft, it would squeeze between your toes, but it’s not so soft that you would disappear like snow,” Sager said. “Something big like pieces of an airplane, it’s going to be sitting on the surface.” Searchers will be hoping that
if the latest area turns out to be where the plane crashed—and that remains educated guesswork until searchers can put their hands on aerial debris sightings and check what it is— the fuselage did not go down on the southern edge of Broken Ridge. That’s where the ocean floor drops precipitously—more than 4 kilometres (2 1/2 miles) in places, according to Robin Beaman, a marine geologist at Australia’s James Cook University. It’s not a sheer cliff, more like a very steep hill that a car would struggle to drive up. At the bottom of this escarpment is the narrow Diamantina trench, which measurements put as deep at 5,800 metres (19,000 feet), though no one is sure of its greatest depth because it has never been precisely mapped. “Let’s hope the wreck debris has not landed over this escarpment—it’s a long way to the bottom,” Beaman said. The Diamantina trench, named after an Australian navy vessel, is one of the deeper sections of the parts of the oceans that surround Antarctica, according to Mike Coffin, the executive director of the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at Australia’s University of Tasmania. www.canadianinquirer.net
The trench’s rocky crags and crannies would make it difficult for ships using instruments like side-scanning sonar or multibeam echo sounders to distinguish any debris from the crevices. Searchers will especially be hoping to locate the jet’s two “black boxes,” which recorded sounds in the cockpit and data on the plane’s performance and flight path that could help reconstruct why it diverted sharply west from its overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing on March 8. The black boxes were designed to emit locator pings for at least 30 days, and are projected to lose battery power—and thus their pings—by mid-April. The pinger can be heard as far as 2 1/2 miles away, but the distance can vary widely, depending on the state of the sea and the wreckage location, said Joseph Kolly, director of research and engineering for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. Black boxes can get buried or muffled by other wreckage, and thermoclines, which are layers of water with great variations in temperature, can refract the signal, he said. The sediment on Broken Ridge is unlikely to inhibit the ping—but on the escarpment
or in the trench, rocks could scatter the sound, making it harder to detect, according to Mike Haberman, a research scientist specializing in acoustics at the University of Texas, Austin. To pinpoint the ping they hear from the surface, searchers likely will run a submersible equipped with sonar several hundred feet above the ocean floor. The unmanned underwater vehicle will putter along at a slow jog, able to “see” objects on the floor that may seem out of place. But its vision is limited—in a day it could cover an area only about the size of Manhattan, Sager said. The observations stored in the vehicle’s memory can be accessed only by bringing it to the surface. Under the best conditions, to survey the entire new search area could take between three months and up to nearly two years, depending on the quality of data needed to identify the debris, according to calculations by David T. Sandwell, a professor of geophysics who specializes in seafloor mapping at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. Because it is such a painstaking—and expensive—process, most mapping has been focused on things that people consider useful, like underwater shipping hazards and potential oil deposits. With nothing much to interest people in the this part of the Indian Ocean, the maps tend to follow features like the volcanically active mid-ocean ridges, leaving big blank spaces in between. There are 80-kilometre (50-mile)-wide strips of the search area where no shipboard measurements have been taken and scientists use less detailed satellite measurements and educated guesswork to depict what the floor actually looks like. Precisely what the seafloor looks like in detail in the area of the new search is another in a long line of Flight 370 mysteries. ■ Pritchard reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.
World News
21 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
Russia pulls back battalion from Ukraine border; PM Medvedev promises plenty of aid for Crimea BY LAURA MILLS AND VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV The Associated Press RUSSIA SAID Monday it was pulling a battalion of several hundred troops away from the Ukrainian border but kept tens of thousands in place, prompting a worried response from the Kyiv government about what the U.S. warned was still a “tremendous buildup.” Russia moved quickly to strengthen its economic hold on Crimea, with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev arriving in this newly annexed peninsula with promises of funds for improved power supplies, water lines, education and pensions for the elderly. Russia’s takeover of the strategic Black Sea region, its troop buildup near Ukraine’s border and its attempts to compel constitutional changes in Ukraine have markedly raised tensions with the West and prompted
fears that Moscow intends to invade other areas of its neighbour. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a phone call Monday that some troops were being withdrawn from the Ukraine border, Merkel’s office said. The withdrawal involved a battalion of about 500 troops, Russian news reports said. The U.S. reacted cautiously to the Russian troop movement, with Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel saying that “tens of thousands” of Russian forces still remained along the Ukrainian border, a situation he called “a tremendous buildup.” The new government in Ukraine said the action only increased its uneasiness about Russia’s intentions. “We have information that Russia is carrying out incomprehensible manoeuvrs on the border with Ukraine,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevgen Perebyinis
said. “Troops in some places are moving backward, some of them are moving forward.
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Which is why, obviously, we are worried by these movements of armed forces. We have no
clear explanation from the Russian side about the aim of these movements.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also discussed Ukraine by phone Monday, a day after holding talks in Paris, the ministry said. A senior U.S. official said Lavrov had promised Kerry that a division of Russian troops would be pulled back; a division generally consists of thousands of troops. “Now there have been reports of possible drawdowns of Russian military forces from the border. We haven’t seen that yet, but if they turn out to be accurate, that would be a good thing,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney. Concerns of a possible invasion of eastern Ukraine—home to many ethnic Russians—were stoked by the large numbers of troops Russia had along the Ukrainian border for what Moscow said were military exercises. ■
Immigration
APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 22
ON THE MOVE
Visit Canada: New fees and multiple visa options
BY FRANCES GRACE QUIDDAOEN AND LEO MARCO LUI Philippine Daily Inquirer IN FEBRUARY 2014, Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced that applicants for visitor visa will be automatically considered for a multiple-entry visa. It allows a visitor to stay for six months at a time with re-entry for up to 10 years without having to re-apply each time they will be traveling to Canada. No doubt, a multiple entry visa makes it easier to travel to Canada. Why visit Canada?
The move aims to promote tourism and trade by making the visa application simpler and convenient for people to travel back and forth to Canada which is a top country of choice for visitors. Consistently rated as one of the most livable
countries, Canada offers magnificent scenic spots, great outdoors, clean cities and a safe and friendly multicultural environment. It is estimated that every year more than 35 million people visit Canada and in 2012, around one million visas were approved, representing a 40% increase since 2004. With the multiple entry visa assessment in place, more and more eligible visitors are expected to flock to Canada. Visitors who hold a 10-year passport, such as those coming from China, India and Mexico are eligible to be granted 10 year visas. On the other hand, visitors from the Philippines and Brazil who hold 5-year passports could be issued multiple-entry visas for up to five years. Requirements for visiting Canada
To visit Canada, you must have a valid travel document, such as a passport, be in good health, and convince an immigration officer that you have ties—such as a job, home, financial assets or family—that will make you want to go back to your home country. As well, you have to convince an immigration officer that you have enough money for your stay and will leave Canada at the end of your
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visit. The amount of money you will need can vary depending on various factors such as how long you will stay and whether you will stay in a hotel or with friends or relatives. You may also need a temporary resident (visitor) visa, depending on your citizenship. Visitors from the Philippines and China, among others, would need a visitor visa before travelling to Canada. A medical exam may also be required and a letter of invitation from someone who lives in Canada. New application fees
The fee for processing temporary resident visa (TRV) application has now been reduced from $150 to $100 for either a single or multiple entry visa. In the same breath, increases have been introduced in the fees for various applications. The new fees are as follows: • $150 study permits and renewals • $155 work permits and renewals • $100 extensions to remain in Canada as a visitor • $500 maximum fee for a family to apply for TRVs • $465 maximum work permit fee for a group of performing artists and their staff The new fees better reflect the cost of processing those applications. Processing times
The processing times for visitor visa applications vary depending on the visa office but normally, it only takes a few weeks or less. Currently, the wait time for the visa office in the Philippines is 15 days from the time of submission of a complete application package, meaning that you have answered all of the questions on the application forms and have submitted all the necessary documents along with your applications. Applica-
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tions are processed in the order in which they arrive. What is your best visa option for Canada?
Depending on the purpose of your stay in Canada and your citizenship or residential status you may qualify to apply for one or more visa options when it comes to visiting or working in Canada. Would your visiting parents/grandparents want to stay longer than six months? Instead of the added expenses and uncertainty of applying for an extension every 6 months the option to apply for a super visa valid up to 10 years would authorize longer stays of up to 24 months for your parents/grandparents. Are your friends or relatives abroad looking at employment opportunities in Canada? Filipinos working abroad with valid work visas, say Saudi Arabia or Hong Kong, may have the advantage of submitting visa applications to Canada via offices serving the countries of their current employment where processing times could be faster than in the Philippines. Are your nieces or nephews eager to explore educational options in Canada? Upon completing their studies in Canada they might decide to return home to pursue their careers or they might be eligible to stay and work in Canada for up to three years on an open work permit depending on whether they enrolled in a qualified program of studies and have remained in good status. Grace and Leo are licensed immigration consultants (members of Immigration Consultants of Canada Regulatory Council). Submit your questions and story ideas or to enquire about a professional consultation, they could be reached at onthemovecolumn@gmail.com or by phone at 778-840-4295 (Grace) and 778-2277679 (Leo).
Immigration
23 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
Critics say eligibility rules too tough for Syrian refugees coming to Canada The Canadian Press WINNIPEG—Winnipeg could welcome 50 Syrian refugees but so far only one family looks ready to meet the requirements set out by the federal government. Citizenship and Immigration Canada announced earlier that Canada would accept 1,300 of the million-plus refugees forced to flee Syria who are languishing in camps in neighbouring countries. The government committed to accepting 200 governmentassisted refugees and 1,100 privately sponsored refugees, with 50 allocated for Winnipeg. But Ezzat Ibrahim, a retired University of Manitoba scientist who came to Winnipeg from Syria in 1965, says meet-
ing the requirements will be difficult. The federal government’s rules say only family members who meet financial requirements can sponsor the Syrian refugees, and the refugees must be in Jordan and Lebanon. Ibrahim says he’s disheartened, explaining it would work better if lists of people were given to churches and sponsors and then local Syrians were enlisted to help out. More than 100,000 civilians in Syria have died and hundreds of thousands have fled since the Syrian civil war began. Ibrahim said he often hears from refugees about food shortages, a lack of medical attention and being blamed for rising food and shelter prices in overcrowded countries where they’ve taken refuge and worn
out their welcome. “They’re treated badly because they are refugees in a land that doesn’t want them,” said Ibrahim. They can’t go home and for now have no place else to go, he said. “As a refugee, you stay in the camp and suffer forever,” said Ibrahim, who himself sponsored a family of refugees from Vietnam in the mid-1970s. “There was no problem— they came within three or four weeks and we paid for their accommodation” and living costs, he said. “They needed help. The churches and everybody tried to help,” said Ibrahim. “If you want to help, and help with good intentions, then don’t make it difficult.” Quonhai Tonthat, the settle-
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ment and sponsorship co-ordinator for the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council, said Canada’s response to the Syrian crisis is a far cry from humanitarian missions of the past. During the conflict in Kosovo, Canada rescued tens of thousands of Kosovars and brought them here, he said. “They took them all right away and processed them later,” said Tonthat, adding the same thing happened when Canada welcomed 70,000 Vietnamese. “Why for Kosovo and Vietnamese boat people? Why don’t we do the same for Syrians?” Tonthat asked.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada says Canada has been a world leader in providing affected Syrians with humanitarian aid, committing to more than $630 million, a spokeswoman’s statement said. “We have begun to resettle the most vulnerable, and are actively working with the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) so we can fulfil our existing commitments, and then look at doing even more,” she said. They’re expediting the processing of applications they’ve already received but “hundreds” of private sponsorship opportunities remain.
APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 24
FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS:
Dr. Anna Wolak
BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer SOME FOLK have all the luck. And others have guts, determination, talent, and a backbone for hard work and committed service. Filipino-Canadian Dr. Anna Wolak is a shining example of the latter. She decided to relocate to Canada while completing her Medical Residency in Adelaide, Australia, to follow her parents and brothers who had already made the move to the Great White North. Anna’s decision to join her family came in 2007, and with a rather hefty price tag. The move meant starting over again in yet another country (having already moved in 1999, from the Philippines to Australia.) And starting over meant work: Anna had to get her medical education and residency experience accredited by the British Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. She also had to pass a set of national exams governed by the Medical Council of Canada. Perseverance prevailed, and within the first year of her move, Anna accomplished what was required of her to become a Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada. Seven years later, she is now in the thick of a flourishing practice and career, with the opportunity to be a voice to her community. She enjoys a happy home life, and has recently made it on the list of the Top 75 Finalists of the Royal Bank of Canada’s Top 25 Immigrants Awards. This doctor is most definitely IN. Small towns and 8-foot snow banks
Anna recalls her early days as a doctor setting up practice in Canada, and it seems reminiscent of the settler or pioneer spirit: “As an immigrant physician, I could not just open up a practice anywhere I chose. I had to move to an area of need in rural BC during my first year. I had my medical practice in the Canadian desert town of Osoyoos and also worked as an emergency physician at the regional hospital in Oliver, BC.” One of the biggest challenges she faced as a new immigrant
to Canada, by her recollection, was the bitter winter cold; especially in a town like Osoyoos. “The first winter I was here was one of the coldest winters in BC, and it was very bad in Osoyoos. The snow banks had reached 8 feet tall while the temperature fell to minus 28 degrees Celsius during the day! I still struggle with the snow, especially if I have to drive in it,” she declared. Later on, however, she moved to Vancouver, where she found herself closer to her family and then fiancé (now husband) and—thankfully—further away from 8-foot banks of snow. She has stayed in Vancouver ever since, first practicing in Kitsilano, then at Fraser Street Medical, where her family medical practice has been thriving. A tinge of homesickness
Aside from the ongoing occasional struggle with snow, Anna candidly admits to missing her peers back home, as well as a sticky flour dessert her grandma used to make. “It's also hard being away from those with whom I grew up, like my cousins and my high school barkada. Social media makes contact easier, but it just isn't the same as being there. I also haven't been able to find really good sapin-sapin, the kind my Lola used to make,” she shared. Anna counteracts this tinge of homesickness by activating what she calls her “kababayan radar” whenever possible. She keeps an ear out for fellow-Filipinos at the mall, for instance, enjoying the reaction she gets when their mutual Pinoy-ness is discovered: “I enjoy hearing bits of Tagalog slipped into conversation to test to see if I'm Pinoy and then seeing the sheer joy in the response when I answer them in Tagalog. ’Ay, Pilipina din po kayo!’ (Oh! So you’re Filipino, too!) It always brings a smile to my face.” This kinship with country folk extends to her practice, Anna shares. “Similarly, whenever new patients join my practice and I realize they're Filipino, I always make sure they know that we can hold the medical consultation in Tagalog. It usually makes them happy to know we're all kapwang
Pinoy (fellow Filipinos), going through a common immigrant experience,” she said. The good doctor has also discovered a rather unexpected source of battling the blues for home: the public library. “I got very excited when I realized that the Vancouver Public Library has a Filipiniana section in a lot of their branches and that I would be able to borrow books and DVDs to catch up on the latest telenovela or reminisce about my childhood with Hiraya Manawari,” she enthused. Beyond duty’s call
Apart from the moments of missing the land of her birth, a condition shared by most who immigrate to another country, Anna has adjusted well to life in Canada and has since become a voice to her community. “I am passionate about Public Health and have given preventative health lectures to the public, including lectures on childhood inoculations emphasizing adherence to established schedules and also advocating health promotion for women,” she said. While she was in Australia, she actively championed projects with Public Health units for Men's Health, and volunteered for organizations that raised money for teenage cancer research, as well as learned hands-on how to care for children suffering from cancer. In Vancouver, she continues to go above and beyond the call of duty and extends her services outside the confines of her medical practice. She developed the medical component of a prenatal course that is taught in a Vancouver community center, serves on the advisory community of a children's book club (“because I know how important reading is for young children,” she says), and sits on the parent council of her son's preschool. As can be expected from someone with her degree of passion, Anna eagerly lent a hand in the aftermath of November 2013’s devastating Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda, to Philippine locals.) “After Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) hit the Philippines in 2013, I decided I could not stand idly by in light of the devwww.canadianinquirer.net
Filipino-Canadian doctor, Anna Wolak, one of the Top 75 finalists of the Royal Bank of Canada’s Top 25 Immigrants Awards.
astation. I first made a donation to the medical mission that was put on by my high school batch mates, but I needed to do more. So a friend and I organized a raffle as a fundraiser which raised over USD$7,000 that went directly to the Haiyan Relief Efforts of both Doctors Without Borders and the Canadian Red Cross,” she recounted. A pleasant surprise
Anna’s commitment to her profession and her calling as a doctor has not gone unnoticed. She was recently nominated for the Royal Bank of Canada’s Top 25 Immigrants Awards, and has—in fact—already been selected as one of the Top 75 finalists, among hundreds of initial nominees. “I was pleasantly surprised to learn that not only had I been nominated for this award but was selected based on merit from among 630 nominees across Canada by a distinguished panel of judges to join the ranks of the Top 75 finalists,” she shared. Her efforts for the furtherance of medical practice and for the continuing education of its practitioners are definitely worthy of recognition. Anna details her stalwart commitment to this cause: “Alongside treating patients in my family practice at Fraser Street Medical in Vancouver, I had become very involved in organizing, planning and presenting programs for the professional development of family physicians.
I currently chair the planning committee for the Annual Post Graduate Review in Family Medicine, run by both the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver General Hospital. I also serve on the planning committee for the nationally award-winning UBC conference, ‘CME on the Run!’ that educates family practitioners throughout the province. As well, I serve on the planning committees for the Vancouver Division of Family Practice’s Primary Maternity Care CME Task Force.” As if all these were not enough, she has likewise been approached by the General Practice Services Committee Practice Support Program to be a facilitator for Chronic Pain sessions, “which offers focused training sessions for physicians to help improve practice efficiency and support enhanced delivery of patient care.” “Since continuing medical education is so important to keeping physicians’ knowledge current, it is an honour for me to be involved in this role. I was so pleasantly surprised when I learned that the Awards selection committee chose to recognize its importance. Now it is up to the general public to vote for the Top 25, if they agree,” she added. The doctor as woman, wife and mother
With all that Anna has taken
❱❱ PAGE 31 Filipino-Canadian in
25 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
GLOBAL FILIPINO:
Hating Erwan Heussaff
BY TINA ARCEO-DUMLAO Philippine Daily Inquirer DON’T HATE Erwan Heussaff (pronounced U-Ssaf ) for being this close to perfection. And yes, you’re bound to think just looking at him that there’s no justice in this world. Because aside from good genes that have blessed him with above-average height, delicate patrician features courtesy of his French father, Louis Heussaff, and Filipino mother, Cynthia Adea, and a full head of wavy hair that people are just this tempted to run their hand through, he is also the younger brother of model, actress and singer Solenn Heussaff and the significant other for three years now of Anne Curtis, one of the hottest names in local showbiz and allaround brand model. As if these were not enough to make him stand out, he is bilingual as well, being fluent in both English and French, and has an almost complete understanding of Filipino though he admits to still be working on it. But what really defines this 27-yearold is something he painstakingly accomplished on his own in the exciting and hypercompetitive food business. Heussaff is fast developing a reputation as an enfant terrible in the Philippines’ increasingly vibrant restaurant and bar scene, turning traditional concepts on their head through such restaurants as gastro pub Hungry Hound and craft cocktail specialist Niner Ichi Nana at the Globe Telecom tower in Bonifacio Global City; café, bakery and watering hole Hatch 22 at Rockwell Power Plant and the latest, Pink Panda in Makati City that gives traditional Southeast Asian favorites a welcome fresh twist. Heussaff, who traveled extensively with his family and worked in China, Thailand, France, Vietnam, Greece and Russia, not only developed the menu in close coordination with his partners, he is also intimately involved in all facets
of the operation. He visits all four food outlets to make sure that business is running according to plan. He admits that working in the Philippines’ food and hospitality industry offers some challenges that he has yet to hurdle: the occasional delays in the delivery of ingredients, many of them sourced from abroad, and hiccups in the construction schedule. Then there’s the fact that Filipinos work differently; they tend to take everything personally. He’s not one to raise his voice to his staff, says Heussaff but he recalls that on occasion, he had been asked to “soften” his tone and words so as not to hurt their feelings. But he’s not wont to compromise when it comes to food and food concepts, this being a passion he’s been nursing since childhood when he cooked his first dish—salpicao—when he was just eight. He has since developed his beverage concoctions for friends coming over to celebrate his birthday. “During my birthday parties, I cook all the food and do the bartending. I have been doing it since I was 15. I love making people try different things,” says Heussaff, the youngest of three siblings who was born and raised in Manila. That constant experimentation with different flavors and fine-tuning his cooking skills continued until college, during which he also did odd jobs related to food. “I work in food, that’s my life and it’s always been there, even in university,” he says, recalling how he worked as dishwasher and initially thought he’d become a hotel manager. But the boom in real estate development in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates in 2006 inspired him to broaden his horizon and look beyond food to luxury and brand management which he specialized in as part of the business management degree he earned in Paris. “I have always been in love with the ❱❱ PAGE 37 Hating Erwan
RESENTED. “Everybody hated me and I became really good at talking about the weather.” PHOTO FROM INQUIRER PHOTO / ANDREW TADALAN
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FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
26
Life and Death
Matters of Life and Death BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer “NOTHING IS certain but death and taxes.” We all know how the adage goes. Many a writer and poet have uttered the line declaring—decrying?— the certainty of these grim realities, in a world in which everything else seems so horribly uncertain. This rather fatalistic and more than slightly pessimistic proverb draws on the inevitability of death to point out the difficulty in avoiding the burden of taxes. The saying, or a variation thereof, is first attributed to Daniel Defoe, in The Political History of the Devil, 1726, in which he said: "Things as certain as death and taxes, can be more firmly believed." The most popular version, perhaps, is credited to Benjamin Franklin (1706-90), who used the phrase in a letter to Jean-Baptiste Leroy in 1789, which was re-printed in The Works of Benjamin Franklin in 1817: "'In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." By further parallelism, then, can we liken the tax collector to the Grim Reaper, as well? Hmmm…fodder for thought. Then there is that famous line from Margaret Mitchell’s well-loved 1936 classic, Gone with the Wind: "Death, taxes and childbirth! There's never any convenient time for any of them." Whatever your religion (or lack thereof ), political lean-
ing, upbringing, social standing, educational attainment, echelon in life, etcetera: death will certainly come. And it will most likely be inconvenient; if not for you, for those left to deal with the repercussions of your demise. This is not an exercise in the morose, mind you. Perhaps, it is simply a reality check.
former; although I would be a liar to say I do not have more than my fair share of “living dead; the-world-isdead-and-I would-ratherbe-too” moments. But I do what I can to shift focus back to the good and the worthwhile. Easy? Nope. Necessary? Yes! Then what?
Skulls and bones
The reality of our mortality is something of which I remind myself on a daily basis. Why? Beyond the reason of “'coz I’m a Goth-girl, like that,” it helps me live each day to the fullest. Ironic that the reality of death and its certainty is what propels me to live life to the best that I can. This is why I am so fascinated with skulls and bones—I have to have this design on most everything I own; from fashion to furniture, and everything in between. These bits of dark art serve to remind me that I won’t be around forever. You see, in my opinion, there is nothing more tragic than those who are of the “living dead”: alive, but not truly living. This, to my mind, is fate worse than death and a terrible waste of the gift of life. We all have reasons to be apathetic, unfeeling, indifferent; some more than others. But by that same token, we also all have reasons to care and feel; to be exuberant and joyful. It really all boils down to which side we allow to rule over us in greater measure. I’d like to think I allow the latter to rule over me more than the
So what happens after the big “D” comes around? We all know what happens after the big “T“ comes around: improved public service and infrastructure, or fatter politicians; largely dependent on which part of the globe you reside. But what lies beyond the big “D”? That is still highly debated. There are those who believe that man is a three-part being: spirit, soul and body. To be accurate, we ARE a spirit, we HAVE a soul, and we LIVE in a body. Whereas the soul is made up of a person’s mind, will and emotions, the spirit is the part that is immortal. The soul is the person’s unique imprint, while the spirit is one’s very essence. The body is akin to an “earth suit,” enabling the spirit to live in a mortal, earthly world, for as long as the person is earth-bound. The spirit is what breathes life, and once this is gone—after death—then only the shell of the person remains; the empty suit, no longer needed. This concept of the eternal nature of humanity is present in a majority of religions worldwide: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam,
for instance, all ascribe to the immortal spirit. I have had one up-close encounter with death. It was many years back, during the time that I worked full-time on staff at a Christian church. I taught at the Bible school, helped out with office administration, and worked with the youth group. One of our youth leaders was killed in a tragic car wreck. Her mother, too distraught to cope with the situation, asked me to help dress her daughter. It came as a shock to feel how cold and hard her flesh was to the touch. The reality hit me like a ton of bricks: here lay her empty shell; once made alive, and warm, and fleshy by her spirit; but no longer. What happens after the spirit leaves the body is largely subject to a person’s beliefs: Heaven or Hell (for Christians); Purgatory (the Catholic option; the concept is also present in Islam beliefs); Nirvana (the Buddhist equivalent of Heaven, or the “final goal“); “Moksha”, in
which the soul is released after death, to join the Cosmic Buddha. To delve deeply into the foundational beliefs of the religions of the world would fill up the pages of a book, and impossible to do within the limits of my word count. In passing, I will briefly mention that the journey of the spirit between life and the afterlife is also primarily dependent on spiritual or religious inclinations. Christians subscribe more to the “direct flight” to Heaven or Hell, depending on your relationship with the Almighty. Catholics may opt for a “layover” in Purgatory. Many Eastern religions posit the theory of reincarnation, in which the spirit comes back and becomes earth-bound as many times as needed to atone for your sins, until such time that you are deemed worthy and freed from this karmic cycle. I have to admit, that although this notion sounds exotic and intriguing, it ❱❱ PAGE 30 Matters of
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Life and Death
27 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
Life after deaths: Surviving ‘Haiyan’ BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer CAN YOU imagine a typhoon so strong and so fierce that it carried a 1000-ton cargo ship from the sea and plunked it in the middle of a town? That’s exactly what happened the morning of November 8, 2013, when super typhoon ‘Yolanda’ (international name ‘Haiyan’)—equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane and reported to be the strongest typhoon in the world in the last century— ravaged through the Visayan provinces. According to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Eastern Visayas was the most damaged. The region lost 5,870 of their residents, while 26,186 were injured and 1,005 are still missing as of March 14, 2014—over 5 months after Yolanda’s fatal landfall. While some may say that “death is inevitable” or “we’re all going to die anyway,” its sting never loses its potency. It is one thing to know that it is the normal cycle of life. It is
another thing if it comes when it’s cruelly rubbed on your face. The harsh reality of death— further amplified by the destruction brought about by ‘Yolanda’—was something everybody tried to avoid but failed miserably. Yet, despite all the loss and all the destruction, the Filipinos live. They are thriving with smiles on their faces and hope in their hearts. A Ship, A Neighbor
Anton, Sheila Mae, and Alyana Cuenca of Barangay 69 in Tacloban are perhaps excellent examples of optimism in a rather bleak environment. In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Danny Petilla, Anton shared his thoughts about their new neighbor. “It am amyaw barko! (Our neighbor is a boat!)” Anton laughed. Despite their optimism, death was too real for the three kids, however. Dane Yadawon, one of their playmates, was only 3 years old when the super typhoon claimed his young life. He was
Debris lines the streets of Tacloban, Leyte island. This region was the worst affected by the typhoon, causing widespread damage and loss of life. Caritas is responding by distributing food, shelter, hygiene kits and cooking utensils.
U.S. Marines help displaced Philippine nationals from the back of a KC-130J Super Hercules at Vilamor Air Base, Manila, Republic of the Philippines Nov. 11. Super Typhoon Haiyan has impacted more than 4.2 million people across 36 provinces in the Philippines, according to the Philippine government’s national disaster risk reduction and management council.
PHOTO BY EOGHAN RICE - TRÓCAIRE / CARITAS
found inside MV David, a cargo ship owned by Candano Shipping Lines of Tabaco. Alyana recalled that their friend Dane looked alive when they saw him. “Dane looked like he was alive. But he was not breathing
PHOTO BY LANCE CPL. CALEB HOOVER
anymore,” Alyana said in local vernacular. Dane was just one of the dead people the siblings saw when Yolanda’s wrath subsided. According to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), two out of every five corpses retrieved in
the aftermath are kids. Shiela Mae shared, “We saw a lot of dead people. I was scared of the bones.” Despite evacuating early with the entire family and leaving ❱❱ PAGE 44 Life after
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Seen & Scenes
APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 28
COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
PICPA SEMINAR
Members of the Vancouver community recently celebrated the christening and birthday of Rafael, and the birthday of his sister, Nicole on March 29, 2014 at the Alan Emmott Centre in Burnaby. They are children of community leader Ryan Ferrer and wife, Theresa.
Members of the Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPAVancouver) had a seminar on Advance Excel at the Bonsor Recreation Complex in Burnaby and feted the birthday of their March celebrants.
MANNY YANGA RUNS FOR TRUSTEE IN TORONTO’S WARD 7 Photo shows Emmanuel “Manny” Yanga, a very active FilCan community leader in Toronto, filing his candidacy as Trustee of Ward 7 of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) at the Toronto City Hall. Manny is offering transformative solutions and initiatives to issues and concerns of parents and students in Ward 7, especially for secondary and elementary students to achieve academic success and performance. Ward 7 -Scarborough-North York, Toronto, covers: east Yonge St./ Bayview Ave., south of Steeles Ave East, North of Highway 401, East of Victoria Park, West of Brimley Rd. & Kennedy Road, and North of Eglinton Ave East. There are 17 Catholic elementary schools in Ward 7 and covers the secondary schools, Brebeuf College, St. Joseph’s Morrow Park, Mary Ward, and Jean Vanier.
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Seen & Scenes
29 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
POETRY READING Consul General Junever Mahilum-West of the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto and special guests enjoyed a poetry reading by Petronila Cleto during the Women’s Month Celebration.
DART BRIEFING The Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) of Canada had a briefing for the media and the community on their involvement in the Philippine disaster relief operations for typhoon Haiyan. Dr. Brad Eason, Lieutenant Commander and Task Force Surgeon, spoke on the work of Operation RENAISSANCE in the Philippines for Typhoon Haiyan victims.
CHARICE LIVE IN CALGARY Charice was on center stage at the Century Casino in Calgary last March 28, 2014 as part of her CHARICE WORLD TOUR 2014. It was the singer’s very first solo concert in Alberta. Please see page 32 for the story. Photos by Felix and Jane Guinto of Legacy and Memories Photography
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Life and Death
APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 30
Matters of... also strikes me as tiring and tedious. Plus, I cannot see myself coming back as something like a dung beetle. Or worse, a politician or tax collector. Tee-hee. Then there are those of the persuasion that there is nothing that lies beyond the grave but worms, dirt, and decay. I was talking with someone recently, and this person shared their views that the end of our earthly journey is simply THE END. Period. The person with whom I was speaking likened it to switching off a TV set: there is a moment of static or white noise, perhaps, then, nothing. People are entitled to their own opinions and beliefs, I suppose. As for me, I do not think I could ascribe to this, and still live life to the fullest. I believe there has to be more; such complex creations cannot simply fade to black and oblivion. That’s where I stand, anyways. ❰❰ 26
Between the living and the dead
Quite possibly one of my
favorite Bible verses to refer to, in the discourse of life and death, is found in the book of Numbers. You can choose to zone me out, should you be of more agnostic leanings, or you can read on and filter what you please. The verse is from Numbers 16, and I will begin a few verses before, for context: 46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD; the plague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people. 48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. Verse 48 is really what I want to highlight. Many teachers use this in reference to those “anointed” to “mediate” between the “lost” (those who do
not “know the Lord”) and the “saved” (those “who do.”) The lit censer represents the spirit of man, ignited by the fires of God’s Spirit (the altar). This is all well and good, and it also serves the church’s evangelistic purposes. I would, however, like to bring it forth this way: Aaron is all of us; EACH of us, to be more precise. Every day of our mortal lives, we stand between life and death. Our existence always hangs in the balance between life and death; for the reality is, we do not know when death will come. And this uncertain certainty is probably one of the biggest things that “plagues” us. But with our spirits aflame, and raised high, we can bring an end to the things that plague us: challenges, problems, setbacks, and the very fear of death itself. Your spirit, set afire by the Eternal Spirit, can overcome
the plagues. This allows you to stand—not waver or falter— between life and death. And as you stand, allowing your spirit to blaze and burn
bright in this fragile existence, others are encouraged to truly live, as well. ■
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Life and Death
31 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Filipino-Canadian in... on, one can only wonder how she finds time for herself and her family. Yet Anna is not only a committed doctor, but also a dedicated wife and mother. In fact, her advice to others is to “work hard but maintain your work-life balance. Decide what is important in your life, look after your family and your health, and then make sure your work does not take away from those elements. Be the best you can be in your work, but not to the detriment of what is truly important to you.” Outside of work, Anna loves spending most of her free time with her family: her husband, Arthur, and their almost3-year-old son, Jacob, who she refers to as their “pride and joy.” She gushes that Jacob “will also become a kuya (big brother) in the summer, so I look forward to watching my family grow.” An avid fan of the theatre, perhaps one little-known fact about Anna is that she spent over a decade with Repertory Philippines summer enrichment programs, performing in dozens of Broadway and Filipino productions. Her love of music lives on and she admits that she enjoys “listening to and singing along with musical soundtracks.” A voracious reader, she cites The Last Time I Saw Mother, by Chinese-Filipino author Arlene J. Chai; Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, a compilation of complex neurological cases replete with medical mystery and ❰❰ 24
PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Living a beautiful life BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer SWEET MORNING breeze, blossoming flowers, chirping birds, beautiful sunrise—oh, how wonderful it is to be alive. A few weeks from now, Christians around the world will celebrate Jesus Christ’s resurrection from crucifixion, known as Easter or “Muling Pagkabuhay” for Filipino Christians. Quoting a line from the popular religious song, “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son”—this festival reminds us that indeed, life is God’s gift that we need to cherish until our last breath. Here are some tried-andtested tips on how to live a beautiful life. 1. Be one with nature. What’s more pristine than to enjoy the sweet morning breeze, the chirping of birds, the budding flowers, the clear seawater and everything that you can see and feel around you—all of these are God’s gift to us. It reminds us of life’s simplicity—which is now lacking in our world due to the advancements in technology. Take some time out from your busy and complicated life. Reflect and cherish this gift. 2. Be a kid once in a while. Do you miss playing and getting dirty? Well, yes, you can do it once in a while. Jump like
you have no care in the world, whether on a trampoline or on your mattress. Engage in a barefoot run, just like when you were 5. 3. Just smile. The best makeup that you can put on your face is a nice, warm smile. It is something that you can always carry with you wherever you go. It is a simple manifestation that life is indeed beautiful, despite the odds. 4. Relax. Subtract stress and add positivity to your life. Breathe deeply. 5. Feed your mind. Just like our body, our mind needs to be nourished too. Read a book that motivates, entertains, challenges or inspires. 6. Walk. Whether you want to be rejuvenated or motivated, going for long walks will help. 7. Give it your 100% at work. Self-fulfillment is the word. Whatever career path we choose, it is important that we always go the extra mile. 8. Have fun. Life is not all about work. Lighten up a bit after a stressful task. Buy something that you like. Satisfy your food cravings. Or just spend more time with your loved ones. 9. Choose to be happy. No one can give joy to you, but yourself. It is a choice that you have to make. Despite life’s adversities, many still choose to be happy, why can’t you? 10. Have faith. It can absolutely move mountains.
11. Just love. Express your feelings now, with a love letter or a kiss. It is now or never. 12. Work on your bucket list. Travel to your dream destination, get married, have children and pursue your wildest dreams. 13. Talk to God. He always hears and listens. 14. Learn every single day. Jot down all the things that you’ve learned in a day and note the things that you still want to learn in the days to come. 15. Re-connect with a longlost friend. You can send him/ her an e-mail or a Facebook message. Or better yet, write a letter in your very own cursive style, and send it by snail mail. 16. Forgive. There’s no use in holding grudges against anyone. Forgive and forget. 17. Embrace your imperfections. No one is perfect, and you are not exempted from this truth. 18. Plan your retirement. Get a hobby, join a club and meet new friends. 19. Appreciate the people around you. Thank them for all the help they’ve given you. Tell them how awesome they are. 20. Seek for greater fulfillment. More than material possessions and earthly gains, we all yearn for something deeper. Some start their own family and pursue a shelved passion. Yours could be different, but it’s just definitely out there—waiting to be found. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net
shared humanity; and the Anne of Green Gables series by Lucy Maud Montgomery, well-loved from Anna’s childhood, as her favorite books. “Currently, however, my reading consists primarily of medical journals, parenting books and children's literature, like Winnie the Pooh,” she lightheartedly added. The mission behind the medicine
What moves Anna’s heart? Beyond the mere medical side of it, there lies a mission; one that is etched deeply into the core of her being, enabling her to do great and even greater things. It is the key behind every successful—and happily so—person: a genuine love for what you do. And along with this passion for what you do, the knowledge of why you do it. “I love my profession. As a family physician, I look after the health of the entire family. It is their stories that move me. When I do a baby developmental check, I share in the joy of the first smile. I love hearing about my patients' achievements. There is great satisfaction in determining an accurate diagnosis and developing a treatment plan. This is why I chose family practice. I focus on medicine, but I also get to know my patients as people.”" This heart is what drives the hard work. It—apart from Mary Poppins’ spoonful of sugar—is likely also what “makes the medicine go down, in a most delightful way.” And I can almost hear Anna singing that. ■
When not busy at her thriving family medicine practice, or with her numerous advocacies, Anna loves spending time with her family; husband Arthur, and their almost-3-year-old son, Jacob.
FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
32
Entertainment
Charice World Tour Live in Calgary BY C. K. OUR VERY own Charice was on center stage at the Century Casino in Calgary last March 28, 2014 as part of her CHARICE WORLD TOUR 2014. It was the very first solo concert of Charice and a good chance for all the Filipinos in Alberta to watch her, who rose to popularity through YouTube. Dubbed by Oprah Winfrey as “the most talented girl in the world”, Charice proved that night that she is definitely here to stay as the #1 performer to ever capture the hearts of many people all over the world. Let’s go back the memory lane and see how Charice seized international fame at her very young age. In January 2009, Charice performed at two US presidential pre-inaugural events in Washington, D.C., namely the Martin Luther King Jr. “Realizing The Dream” gala at the Hyatt Regency Hotel and at the “Pearl Presidential Inaugural Gala” at the Mandarin Hotel. In February she performed at two post-Oscar award events: Oscar Night at Mr. Chow’s and Oprah’s Oscar After Party held in Kodak Theatre. She debuted a new original song, “Fingerprint” composed by Robbie Nevil and produced by David Foster. In April, she appeared in the season premiere of Ti lascio una canzone, an Italian musical variety show televised from Teatro Ariston in the city of Sanremo. She performed “I Will Always Love You”, “I
Have Nothing”, “The Prayer”, and “Listen”. Later that same month, she went on to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in front of 57,000 baseball fans during the Los Angeles Dodgers 52nd season home opener at Dodger Stadium. Charice is the first international studio album (third overall release) by Filipina pop singer Charice. It was released on May 11, 2010, under Reprise Records, making her the third Filipino singer to be signed on an international record label, the first being Lea Salonga (on Atlantic Records in 1993) and Regine Velasquez (on Mercury Records in 1994). It was launched on The Oprah Winfrey Show during the World’s Most Talented Kids episode with Iyaz on the same day. The album, immediately upon release in the United States, debuted at number-eight on the Billboard 200, making Charice the first Asian artist to reach the Top 10 on the chart solo. The lead single, “Pyramid”, featuring Iyaz, was released as the second and last single from the album on March 2, 2010. The single reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart, making Charice the first Filipino singer to have a top 20 single in the UK charts. In Japan, this album is the 11th bestselling album of 2010 according to Oricon, selling over 270,000 copies. During her Calgary concert, Charice mesmerized the audience with a variety of renditions from pop to our very own OPM music. Her voice gave the audience a wonderful experience and
PHOTOS BY FELIX AND JANE GUINTO OF LEGACY AND MEMORIES PHOTOGRAPHY
they keep on asking for more. A number of pop songs she performed that night were Titanium, One day, Treasure, Crazy in love, Fine China and her hit song, Pyramid. And of course she never got away without singing some of the all-time OPM favorites, Kung Ako Na Lang Sana and Dahil Mahal Kita. She definitely conquered the hearts of not just the Filipinos but also the Canadian audience. Even the people handling the sound tech that evening were very thrilled to be doing the sounds and lights for the concert knowing that Charice is of international fame. She definitely brought a world class performance, and everybody enjoyed an evening of beautiful music with her voice that filled up the venue with happiness for all her fans. CHARICE will be doing the second leg of CHARICE WORLD TOUR and she will be performing on May 31, 2014 in Winnipeg and June 1, 2014 in Vancouver. Thanks to PINOY TIMES ENTERTAINMENT for an excellent concert. ■
Entertainment
33 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Laid-back teen obsessed Awarded actor directs first film Ronnie Lazaro didn’t plan on this; he’s glad he found a producer who with animal prints just let him be BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer YOUNG STAR Janella Salvador says she has been portraying Nikki in the ABS-CBN series “Be Careful With My Heart” for a long time that she sometimes catches herself mimicking her character off-camera. “She’s more kikay than I,” the 15-year-old actress tells Living Stars during a visit to her home in San Juan. “Some people find this lovable. When I hear myself talk like Nikki off-cam, I stop myself.” They also have different fashion tastes, she says. “Nikki wears super-girly dresses while I prefer shorts and T-shirts. I’m more laid-back and fascinated with animal prints. Every time I see something in leopard print, I get it!” Luckily, Janella says her mom, singer-actress Jenine Desiderio, supports her obses-
sion with faux animal fabrics. “She gives gifts and allows me to wear her leopard print clothes.” Her mom helped shape her fashion sense, Janella adds. “She’d give me tips, until one day I realized that I’ve started to develop my own taste. I still listen to her… sometimes!” Clothes
Janella is into maxi dresses— in leopard print, of course. “I recently got two pieces from Forever 21. I wore one when ‘Be Careful’ taped episodes in Subic.” She advises girls her age, “Don’t be afraid to experiment with different styles. Find out what really suits you. Don’t be affected by what people say.” Shoes
Janella says she and her mom have the same shoe size and that they share footwear. “This ❱❱ PAGE 34 Laid-back teen
BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer IT TOOK 35 years for actor Ronnie Lazaro to make the decision but, when he did, it seemed predestined. Over six years ago, Lazaro bumped into an old friend, businessman Anthony V. Gedang, in a local mall. As youngsters, they were neighbors in Pasong Tirad, Makati, which became the setting of Neal “Buboy” Tan’s “Ataul for Rent” that Gedang produced in 2007. “I had no inkling why I saw Ronnie again,” Gedang recalled. “A few days later, Buboy pitched ‘Ataul’ to me. One of his characters, reminded me of my childhood friend, Batul. I thought Ronnie would be perfect in that role.” A taong grasa (crazy vagrant), Batul was the narrator of “Ataul,” which was shown in 15 film festivals around the world, among them Montreal, Cairo,
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Kerala (India) and PiFan (Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea). This experience was a crash course in indie filmmaking for Gedang. “I learned different lessons—technical, artistic, financial.” The main hurdle is distribution, he said. Undaunted, Gedang gambled on Lazaro’s directorial debut, for release later this year. They revived Gedang’s former’s production company, Artiste Entertainment. “Anthony asked me for story ideas,” said Lazaro, who thus suggested one about an Overseas Filipino Worker (played by Irma Adlawan) who comes home 10 years later to find her family life in shambles. Titled “Edna” (formerly “Pajaros Salvajes,” or “Wild Birds”), Lazaro’s debut film was inspired by real OFWs who, he said, “are like migratory birds… forced to go abroad to survive.” Unplanned
He didn’t plan on being a
Lazaro with Irma Adlawan in “Edna.” PHOTO FROM INQUIRER.NET
director, Lazaro said, but Gedang insisted, and he finally relented. He gathered a topnotch cast: Adlawan, Sue Prado, Nicco Manalo, Mara Marasigan, Kiko Matos, Madeline Nicolas, Pen Medina, Joe Gruta, Hermie Concepcion and Frances Makil Ignacio. Armed with two Alexa cameras, he finished the shoot in seven days, in Tagaytay. Cinematographers Larry Manda and Arvin Viola, and screenwriter Lally Bucoy were just as passionate about the project, Lazaro said. “I’m lucky my producer is a friend. He didn’t breathe down my neck.” ■
Entertainment
APRIL 4, 2014 FRIDAY 34
Mary Jean Lastimosa crowned as Bb. Pilipinas-Universe
Laid-back teen... pair of ballet flats is my mom’s… She also got me a pair of sandals in the style that I love.” She points out that teenage girls shouldn’t “force themselves to wear high-heeled shoes. If they need to, use wedges. It’s better to just go with flats or rubber shoes.” ❰❰ 33
BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer Zebra and other animal prints invariably catch her eye.
Bags
Jenine bought Janella a makeup bag for the young actress’ 13th birthday. “It was meant to be mine. It was still there when we came back to the shop,” the teener recalls. “For hand bags, I prefer the basic styles—like this one from Secosana in pink leather and leopard.” Cosmetics
Janella says she hardly wears any makeup when she isn’t working. “For my lips, I just use gloss or light tint, unless it’s a formal event. I usually don’t put on eye color—just pink or light brown to bring life to my face.” “I like Maybelline’s Baby Skin, an ‘instant pore eraser,’” she says. “I also love this balm from Etude House that I put under my eyes before sleeping. When
PHOTO FROM INQUIRER.NET
I wake up my eye bags are gone.” Janella shares a skincare tip. “Remember to remove your makeup before going to bed,” she says. “If you don’t, it will ruin your skin and cause pimples.” Gadgets
Gadgets are “super-important” to Janella. “When I go out and don’t have my iPhone with me, I feel as if I’m not connected to the world. I used to play with my iPad2 to kill time, but now, it’s with my baby brother.” Scents
Janella advises girls to pick scents that match their personalities. “Buy something because you really like it. I prefer sweetsmelling scents. One favorite is
Tease from Justin Bieber’s perfume line. Another is Vanilla Lace by Victoria’s Secret.” For lotions, Janella picks those that complement her perfumes. “My favorites are coconut and vanilla scents from Victoria’s Secret. And I have this cream given by my mom’s doctor friend; it lightens dark parts like the knees. Eyewear
Janella says she buys shades that complement the shape of her face. “I have a pair of Aviators. I also have the roundlensed ‘John Lennon’ shades. But my favorite is this cute one from Penshoppe that looks like a ribbon! I also have a heartshaped pair, which was a gift.” ■
THE MOST beautiful woman in the Philippines has been crowned anew—she is Mary Jean Lastimosa, the 26-yearold, Davao-based entrepreneur. Already a crowd-favorite at the start of the Coronation night on Sunday, March 30, Lastimosa bested 39 other candidates to earn the right to represent the country in the next Miss Universe pageant. After the impressive finish of the country in various international beauty pageants last year, expectations are high for the newly-crowned North Cotabato beauty. But based from her performance in the Coronation night, she seemed prepared for the challenge. Apart from exemplifying class and elegance on
stage, she also showed how spontaneous she can be in answering questions. Reigning Miss Universe Gabriela Isler’s question to her was: "What is the greatest advantage of being a woman?” She answered with conviction: "The greatest advantage of being a woman is being able to compose ourselves. Just like here, we’re standing in front of thousands of people not knowing if they're gonna cheer for us. But we try to compose ourselves, we keep the emotions and show the beauty that is in us. And tonight, thousands of people are here, celebrating the beauty of a woman.” Lastimosa’s fellow winners include Bianca Guidotti as Miss International, Parul Shah as Miss Tourism, Kris Tiffany Janson as Miss Intercontinental and Yvethe Santiago as Miss Supranational. The event was hosted by Anne Curtis and Xian Lim. ■
Johnny Depp shows off diamond ‘chick’s ring’ in confirmation of his engagement to Amber Heard BY LOUISE WATT The Associated Press BEIJING—Johnny Depp showed off a diamond engagement ring that he called a “chick’s ring” on Monday—indirectly confirming rumours of his engagement to actress Amber Heard. Asked whether he was engaged, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star replied: “The fact that I’m wearing a chick’s ring on my finger is probably a dead giveaway. Not very subtle.” He laughed as he lifted up his left hand and displayed a single diamond on a band around his ring finger. His comments follow months of unconfirmed reports of his engagement to actress Heard, 27, who starred alongside Kevin Costner in “3 Days to Kill” released in the U.S. earlier this year. Depp and Heard starred to-
gether in “The Rum Diary,” filmed in Puerto Rico in 2009. In 2012, Depp split with his partner of 14 years, French model-singer Vanessa Paradis. They have two children. In a trademark off-the-wall comment, Depp said: “I think that I would be better at making women’s shoes than I would be at wedding planning, I can’t plan anything. I’m really bad at that stuff.” The 50-year-old actor was in Beijing to promote his new movie “Transcendence.” Depp plays a terminally ill scientist who downloads his mind into a computer in the sci-fi drama that asks: What if we could upload a human mind into a computer? It also stars Rebecca Hall as Depp’s wife and Morgan Freeman. “The technology that exists within the film, what I find most fascinating is that a lot of it exists already and by all accounts
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. PHOTOS FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
from scholars and professors and scientists that species of technology is not far away, that kind of artificial intelligence,” said Depp in an interview. “It’s one of those films that one person is forced to make a choice in an instant, when your loved one is dying and you have a split-second decision if you www.canadianinquirer.net
have the ability to upload their consciousness into a computer, would you do that? It’s quite a strange decision to make but for love I think we would all do it.” “Transcendence” comes out in China on April 18—the same day as the U.S. release. China is the only country currently
where “Transcendence” will be showing in 3-D—a format popular with Chinese audiences. China is also the only international stop Depp is making as part of the movie’s promotion tour, illustrating the growing attention Hollywood is paying to the country that now has the world’s second-biggest box office after the United States. Last Monday, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson promoted “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” in Beijing, followed the next day by “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” stars Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx. “With regard to Hollywood, China is quite a large market, certainly,” said Depp, who was on his first visit to China. “I think there will be a lot more films coming here, a lot more people coming here and continuing the trend.” ■
Entertainment
35 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Tegan and Sara win three Juno Awards; Arcade Fire and Serena Ryder each take two BY NICK PATCH The Canadian Press WINNIPEG—Tegan and Sara’s pop makeover “Heartthrob” set the 43rd Juno Awards swooning, Arcade Fire made its presence felt from almost 10,000 kilometres away while decorated co-host Serena Ryder worked overtime to keep things smooth in the Prairies on Sunday night. With wins for group, pop album and single of the year—the skydive-thrilling “Closer,” performed to perfection during the show with help from Toronto’s Choir! Choir! Choir!—Calgaryreared twins Tegan and Sara managed a field-leading three wins, after having been shut out in five career nominations prior to this year. The accolades came for “Heartthrob,” a Ferrari-sleek reinvention of their punchy punk-pop that highlighted their ace songwriting. After what was considered a somewhat daring gambit, the Quin sisters were clearly elated at the overwhelming recognition. “When we asked our parents if we could play music instead of go to university, they were really mad at us,” said Tegan, 33. “And they agreed to let us do that for a couple years, and somewhere in all of that, we signed a record deal with Neil Young and Elliot Roberts. And Elliot Roberts told us that when we were in our 30s, we’d write good music but that our 20s were for exploring the world and experiencing heartbreak. “And we are absolutely in our 30s. So I want to say thanks to everyone who has supported us from the time we were teenagers. I don’t think very many people, certainly not us, thought two queer kids from northeast Calgary would get to here. And here we are. So thank you very much to each and everyone of you, thank you very much.” Still, the greatest honour of the night was reserved for Arcade Fire, whose difficult double-disc venture “Reflektor” mirrored their achievement of three years ago by claiming album of the year. The Montreal rockers, who also took alternative album of the year, were off in Santiago,
Chile at a Lollapalooza gig but managed to submit one of the evening’s more interesting visual performances, a macabre pre-taped take on “Afterlife” delivered in lush monochrome. After winning album of the year, frontman Win Butler and the rest of the group accepted the award in an outdoor pretaped bit surrounded by a mariachi band. “Hey, thank you guys so much,” he said, swaying from side to side. “We really wanted to be there but we’re in South America right now. Thank you so much for the Juno. We’re so excited. “Hope it’s not too cold.” Although the show had three co-hosts—with East Coast rapper Classified and Scottishborn, Toronto-bred country crooner Johnny Reid eagerly sharing duties—Ryder seemed to shoulder the most responsibility to keep the show afloat. With her husky roar, she opened the broadcast by convincingly mashing up her indiepop gem “What I Wouldn’t Do” with Classified’s “Three Foot Tall” while a chorus of kids chimed in, then later filled the MTS Centre with the smoky torch tune “For You” (the telecast was given an appropriately dramatic sepia-toned filter for the occasion). Of course, she was amply rewarded for the effort, being named both artist and songwriter of the year—giving the 31-year-old an impressive six-Juno career haul. If it’s getting old at all, it didn’t show in an exuberant speech that began by addressing her apparently sagging trousers. “I lost a bit of weight because I stopped drinking for the Junos to be on point and my pants are falling down,” she said as she first charged onstage. “Holy cow, I really didn’t expect to win this but I’m so honoured. Thank you guys so much. “I did want to say I come from a really small town: Millbrook, Ontario. When I was growing up there it was under a thousand people. And this has been a dream of mine my entire life. ... This is the hugest honour ever. This is the award that means so much to me.” She even somehow carved out time in her rambling speech for a non-sequitur defence of superstar rapscallion Justin
Bieber, who was booed with vindictive gusto when the (absent) 20-year-old won his fourth straight Juno Fan Choice award. “I really think that Justin Bieber is an amazing musician and he deserved every bit of that award because he’s been working his ass off his entire life and we need to support how awesome he is,” she said. Ryder’s diligent effort was necessary in a Juno Awards telecast that arguably lacked the star power of the annual gala’s finest instalments. In a year already missing appearances from the multiplenominated likes of Michael Buble, Celine Dion, Drake and Arcade Fire—not to mention Bieber—the last-minute withdrawal of “Blurred Lines” singer Robin Thicke hurt. Thicke, who didn’t win despite three nominations, has been cancelling shows recently due to an apparent vocal issue while also suffering through a high-profile split with wife Paula Patton. Still, the broadcast was boosted by inventive performances from several blossoming acts. With help from the Red Robe Women’s Drum Society, sunshine-pop purveyors Walk Off the Earth—shut out in three nominated categories—executed a theatrical medley of kitchen-sink hits “Gang of Rhythm” and “Red Hands” with a visual panache reminiscent of their innovative YouTube videos. Meanwhile rock album of the year winner Matt Mays howled his blistering “Take it on Faith” and country trio Dean Brody, Brett Kissel and Gord Bamford’s three-song run anchored the second half of the show. And some capable vets also stopped by to buoy the proceedings. Sarah McLachlan plinked the piano for her airy new hymn “Beautiful Girl,” while a starstudded tribute to Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Bachman-Turner Overdrive— which included Mays, Tim Hicks, the Sadies’ Travis Good and the Sheepdogs pounding through open-road Canuck classics “Let it Ride” and “Takin’ Care of Business”—closed the show on an appropriately emphatic note. Although the four members inducted here—guitar wizard Randy Bachman, hale howler Fred Turner, guitarist Blair Thornton www.canadianinquirer.net
PHOTO FROM TEGANANDSARA.COM
Screengrab from Arcade Fire’s reflector music video. PHOTO FROM REDBULL.COM
and drummer Robin (Robbie) Bachman—have spent significant time since their ‘70s heyday engaged in various squabbles, they stood together onstage to accept the honour and shared a four-way handshake at the end of their respective speeches. “The four of us stand here and we took a ride around the world together that was quite incredible,” Randy Bachman said. “It’s great to be standing here tonight in Winnipeg where it all started. Everyone’s had the same message here tonight: if you have a dream, stick to your dream. ... There is no Plan B; Plan B is stick to Plan A. Keep going. Aim for the sky. You might get there. “Thank you, we love you all.” The night did feature some surprises, mainly centred on the marquee acts who didn’t secure any trophies. Buble—last year’s host, and an 11-time Juno winner who has thrice won album of the year—was shut out despite five nominations, Toronto rapper Drake triumphed in only the rap category, Dion came up empty-handed in her four categories (extending a winless streak that dates back to 1999) and Hedley was similarly 0-for-4.
On the other hand, Ottawaarea electronic pow wow trio A Tribe Called Red seemed stunned by their win for breakthrough group of the year— even though they were as qualified as any in the field—before delivering an eloquent speech in acceptance. “I just wanted to say that to Native youth everywhere ... this moment right here is proof that whatever moments you strive for in life are completely attainable,” said Ian (DJ NDN) Campeau. “So aim high.” Even Tegan and Sara—a dogged duo with 15-plus years of dedicated striving—succeeded to an extent that few might have predicted, including the siblings themselves. The pair, whose past four albums have been certified gold, have a fanbase whose fervent passion is downright infamous. And they didn’t forget it as they were elevated to the Junos’ upper echelon. “This award isn’t about the very important people we’re sitting with— our parents, our manger, our best friends— it’s about you,” Sara said after winning single of the year. “Canada has been supporting us since the ‘90s! Thank you so much. We love you as well, Winnipeg.” ■
FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
36
Lifestyle
This is some EPIC stuff! BY ANGEL JONES Special to Philippine Canadian Inquirer AS I was asking around if anyone had any good, local beauty brands worth featuring, my friend John suggested for me to try a new lip balm that has been the focus of his latest obsession. Not only was he impressed with the quality of the product but the amazing service. Skeptical at first, I decided to give it a whirl and contact Epic Blend for myself. After a swift email response and even faster package delivery, I was immediately impressed with the warm and friendly service. Now we know the customer service is great, how about the product? My first dilemma, choosing between hemp, moisture and vegan and all the glorious flavor options. As I read the ingredients and mission statement
of the brand, I was convinced and impressed. I read on about all the organic ingredients and what the Canadian brand stands for and it was time to slather this baby on my lips! I decided to try out moisture first since the winter was turning my lips into sand paper; I thought it to be a perfect choice. As soon as I tried it on, I immediately noticed the creamy texture without the greasy feeling. I loved how my lips felt moisturized without the feeling that I have been rubbing my lips on an oily waxy candle. The staying power was pretty impressive although it didn't stop me from neurotically reapplying because of the delightful feeling I get when slathering my lips. Just to make sure I wasn't overreacting and imagining the awesome moisture power this little tube had, I tried it on the most weathered lips I know… that of my 12 year old daughter! My daughter and lip balm are mortal enemies, and she can-
not stand anything greasy on her face or lips: the evidence is shown on her severely dry chapped bleeding lips. I noticed an instant difference with the first try. The balm did not just coat a layer of product on her lips but it seemed to have penetrated and was quickly absorbed by the skin to deeply moisturize the flakey-dry skin instantly. After going around the house smothering everyone's lips, the census came back and all loved the smooth moisturizing feel without the greasy or waxy residue. The choices in flavor and scents made it very hard not to ingest the tubes on its own. I keep a tube of Epic Blend in every bag, pocket, vehicle and makeup bag! It has become my beauty staple for me and my family and makeup clientele. Epic Blend is a must have for anyone with a pair of lips! ■ To order your own Epic Blend www.epicblend.com
Specially trained retirees help stressed caregivers cope with loved one’s scary hospital stay BY LAURAN NEERGAARD The Associated Press WASHINGTON—Edwin Pacheco was in and out of the hospital for months. He’d survived one organ transplant and desperately needed another. But he wasn’t the only one suffering. Few people asked how his wife was holding up as she kept vigil, cornered hard-to-understand doctors and held job and family together. “Everybody was like, ‘Oh, you’re a good caregiver.’ But inside, I’m dying,” Minerva Pacheco of New York recalls of those tumultuous days. Then one day in the intensive care waiting room at Monte-
fiore Medical Center, a pair of strangers introduced themselves as volunteer coaches for caregivers and offered a shoulder. It’s part of an unusual program that recruits retirees and specially trains them to help overwhelmed family members cope with a scary hospital stay—for their own health, and so they can better care for their loved one. “The caregiver needs to be taken care of, too,” said Montefiore coach Dave Wolffe, a retired high school guidance counsellor who spotted Pacheco’s distress. “If they’re sick, or they break down, feel helpless or hopeless, they’re not going to be too helpful to the patient.” The coaches offer more than
emotional support and a sympathetic ear. They’re trained to help people navigate a complex hospital system and to help them locate community resources that may ease the strain, too. They can track down a doc-
tor to answer a caregiver’s questions. Or find someone to translate all the medical jargon. Or alert a professional to signs of depression. Or gently probe about just how prepared the family really is for continuing care at home: Are they comfort-
able giving injections, or cleaning a wound—or might they need some more planning with the discharge team? Today’s caregivers “are being asked to do a lot of things they’re really not equipped to do,” said social worker Randi Kaplan, who directs the Montefiore Caregiver Support Center. The program evolved as the hospital realized, “we’re ignoring a very, very overstressed population.” Millions of Americans regularly care for older or impaired adult relatives or friends, and a hospitalization only adds to the stress. Yet research shows that patients who have supportive ❱❱ PAGE 39 Specially trained
Lifestyle
37 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Hating Erwan... idea of creating and selling. To this day, I am very headstrong when it comes to marketing,” explains Heussaff. It did not take long before he found himself saying yes to a job offer in cold, cold Russia. “I just thought it could be an adventure. Within 30 minutes of meeting the CEO, I agreed to take the job,” says Heussaff, who was just 21 years old when he was given the responsibility of producing an average of 1,000 meals a day for Sodexo. “I took care of the logistics and the menu. I took care of hiring and operations. I stayed for almost two years and it was hell, but the experience gave me super thick skin,” says this then budding chef, who got beaten up twice on the street, perhaps because he eventually fired half of the people in his workplace. Not a few resented the entry of the young French-Filipino turk. “It was difficult the first two months, but I slowly got to know the language. I never really made any friends. The person nearest to me in age was 38 years old. Everybody hated me. I became really good at talking about the weather,” Heussaff recalls. “When I came back here [after two years], I swear to God I was socially retarded. But it was an amazing life experience.” It was exactly the kind of life experience he thought he needed to have before pursuing his MBA. He went through the application process, but as he did he saw what his father, the president of oil and gas exploration services provider Supply Oilfield Services, was doing through more mature eyes. So when the opportunity came to go into business with his father—whom he refers to as a certified workaholic—he grabbed it. He ended up with a company that provided industrial catering in the oil rigs, which put his experience in Russia to good use. More than the revenues that came in, the biggest profit for Heussaff was the rare chance to work side by side with his father and learn from him. “I have always admired my father,” he says, although he left the job after only two years. Even his father conceded that being part of an industrial catering outfit was not really what his son wanted to do in his life. “He was always telling me to open something. But I don’t want to do that until it is the right time, until I am ready and feel I am mature enough. I believe that the time has come and yes, I am ready,” says Heussaff, who stresses that he is not a chef, but just someone who knows his way well around food. Helping Heussaff make that decision to go out on his own was the growing popularity of his blog called www.thefatkidinside.com, which started gaining serious traction over the last six months. He started the blog in 2012. In May 2013, the popular blog started ❰❰ 25
featuring recipes as well as tips and advice on how to live a healthier lifestyle and bring down one’s weight. So far, his blog has recorded three million views, while his Facebook page has over 70,000 likes, proof of how people are more open to the idea of shifting lifestyles to keep chronic diseases at bay as well as reach their ideal weight. What attracts people to the blog with the distinctive logo—a drawing of Heussaff’s hair and glasses—aside from his obvious knowledge about food is the guy’s credibility. For what better proof that his suggested recipes work than the fact that Heussaff once weighed 240 pounds because of his sedentary lifestyle and overindulgence in rich food. But four years later, thanks to regular exercise and a drastic change in eating habits, he was able to slim down to his current fighting weight of about 150 pounds. But even he admits that there is always that “fat kid” inside who is ready to let loose if allowed. “I believe that when you’ve been fat then you’re always fat even if you’ve got a six-pack. It is a psychological problem and I can understand why people become anorexic,” says Heussaff, who has not gotten rid of his habit of pulling his shirt down to hide his body, even if it is good enough to be featured in underwear ads and plastered in billboards all over the metropolis. The struggle to keep the “fat kid” under lock and key is always there and Heussaff, who has produced videos for Yahoo featuring his meals, helps himself by working out at least twice a week and eating mostly fresh food with a healthy dose of fruits, vegetables and protein. He does have his cheat meals—not days—during which he may eat fried chicken—just a few pieces, not the whole bucket. And he has been known to snatch workout time in the middle of the day when he feels he had overindulged himself on food served in his restaurants. Yes, just part of his duties as managing director. “Everything is about balance, you can eat what you want but in quantities that will just fill your body. That is why the tagline of the blog is sometimes healthy, sometimes fatty,” says Heussaff, who takes charge of the blog content himself, although he now has a few guest writers to add variety to the content. “Exercise for me is also a good way to de-stress,” adds the triathlete. The immense popularity of the website combined with the growing success of his groups’ restaurant and bar concepts have opened other doors for Heussaff, who has turned into a workaholic just like his father and counts on his mother (“my greatest critic”) to keep his feet firmly on the ground. Aside from the four restaurant and bar concepts, Heussaff, who regularly
contributes articles on food and drink to Esquire magazine, has also taken in consulting work with other brands like Rustan’s, that now carries a line of healthy food options with the distinct “The Fat Kid Inside” logo. Heussaff’s passion for food never fails to give Esquire Philippines’ editor in chief Erwin Romulo a thrill. “He’s been such an integral part of the magazine. He’s always creative in the things he’s passionate about. We’re discussing even better ways to present food and drink in our issues, and that takes a lot of imagination,” Romulo says in an interview. He adds that Heussaff, who comes across as serious and brooding, has a refined sense of humor. “You got to love a guy who can make fun of himself as well,” says Romulo. Another advocacy that gets Heussaff all pumped up is the campaign to elevate Filipino food and make more people appreciate the unique flavors and textures of local food. “I want to get the Philippines on the map, make Filipino food achieve its potential,” says Heussaff, who says he intends to stay put in the Philippines for now despite having lived and worked in other countries. “Filipino food has to be hyped up and
presented nicely,” he says, citing Filipino culinary classics such as sisig, bulalo, tinola and bat-choy, “I may not be as well-versed in Filipino food, but I am its biggest advocate.” His sister Solenn, also a partner in Hatch 22, says she welcomed the opportunity to work together in their Rockwell venture, especially in promoting local flavors. Like other siblings, the two have their disagreements but Solenn says she defers to him when it comes to food since he is definitely more of an expert. She is proud however, of fighting for the inclusion of long-time Filipino bread favorites, among them “Spanish” bread and the pan de regla. But of course, Heussaff gave these two bakery staples a new twist: dipping the Spanish bread in condensed milk, and updating the look and taste of the pan de regla—which now goes by the more polite name, “pan de month.” The two bread offerings have turned to be among Hatch 22’s bestsellers, which pleases Solenn no end. She is proud of her brother’s accomplishments, she says, especially the way he has embraced healthy living, having witnessed his transformation from the perennially chubby kid into a swoonworthy specimen of the male species. ■
“Attracting and retaining the best international talent to fill skills shortages in key occupations is critical to Canada’s economic success.” - Hon. Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Employment and Social Development
Respond to Canada’s need for immigrants.
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Lifestyle
APRIL 4, 2014 FRIDAY 38
Aljur does more with a healthy lifestyle Key dates in the
evolution of Canadian attitudes, laws regarding marijuana
BY MARGE C. ENRIQUEZ Philippine Daily Inquirer WEARING BOXER shorts and hand wraps, actor Aljur Abrenica is about to strike, moving toward his opponent, athlete Mark Tura. The leading man of GMA 7’s “Kambal Sirena” then lets loose explosive kicks. Tura tries to hit back, but Abrenica seizes his leg and holds him, before he dispenses a nasty bout of blows and elbows. Abrenica is a man of many interests such as photography, car racing, surfing and martial arts. He discovered his love for racing and drives around with a Dodge Challenger SRT, the same model that Vin Diesel used in “Fast & Furious 6.” Lately he’s been preoccupied with Muay Thai, a brutal but elegant sport that combines kickboxing and hand-to-hand combat. Unlike in other combat sports, a Muay Thai fighter engages in full-body contact (except the head) using the knee, shin and elbows. An uncle introduced Abrenica to Mua y Thai when he was 12 years old but other sports got him distracted. “Laman ako ng kalye,” he says, explaining his love for outdoor activities. At 24, he decided to take up Muay Thai again. “I like the sweat, the toxins are removed. I learn self-defense skills. The most important is discipline. It’s not an easy workout if you stay up late and drink.” He adds that it has given him greater flexibility. “I used to be tight but now I can split.” The training has helped him do credible fight scenes. “My
The Canadian Press
His coach Cruz Hai says Abrenica has great potential to compete. “His stamina and technique have improved and his core is stronger. When he started, his movements were not as refined. He got better by joining the Muay Thai fighters. He can even spar with them. His technique is good and he’s got strong knees and punches.” For cross training, the actor works out with a personal trainer. Abrenica’s program focuses on isometric exercises, cardiovascular training and moderate weight resistance. “I’m not after a beautiful
body. I want to be fit. When you have a healthy lifestyle, you can do more,” he says. Abrenica watches his food intake by replacing white rice with red rice, corn and tubers. He avoids pork but eats steak, broiled chicken and fish with lots of vegetables, broccoli being his favorite. Asked how he manages to squeeze in sports despite taping schedules, Abrenica says his sleep cycle is from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. This enables him to perform well throughout the day. An early riser, he is able to memorize his scripts, play the guitar and sing when his mind is fresh. He says he’s always “open to try new things.” ■
OTTAWA—A timeline of some significant events in the history of marijuana in Canada: 1922: Pioneering feminist Emily Murphy publishes an inflammatory book, The Black Candle. She claims marijuana turns its users into homicidal maniacs. 1923: Cannabis is added to the Schedule of the Opium and Narcotic Control Act. 1969: Canadian government establishes a Commission of Inquiry Into the Non-Medical Use of Drugs, known as the Le Dain commission after its chairman, Gerald Le Dain. 1972: The commission recommends decriminalizing simple cannabis possession and cultivation for personal purposes. 1976: The Netherlands effectively decriminalizes marijuana. 1977: Then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau tells a group of students: “If you have a joint and you’re smoking it for your private pleasure, you shouldn’t be hassled.” 1978: New Mexico passes the first state law recognizing the medical value of marijuana. 1996: California becomes the
first state to legalize medical marijuana. 1999: Two Canadian patients get the federal OK to smoke pot. 2000: Court rules Canadians have a constitutional right to use cannabis as a medicine. 2001: Canadian Medical Marihuana Access Regulations grant legal access to cannabis for individuals with HIV/AIDS and other illnesses. Authorized patients can grow their own pot or obtain it from authorized producers or Health Canada. 2012: Ballot measures in Colorado and Washington legalize recreational use of small amounts of marijuana. 2013: New regulations change the Canadian medical marijuana access rules, shifting to licensed commercial growers for supply and away from homegrown. Some 37,800 people authorized to possess marijuana under the federal program, up from fewer than 100 in 2001. 2014: Patients and producers authorized under the old regulations required to destroy stocks of pot and cannabis seeds, although a Federal Court has granted a temporary injunction allowing continued use of home-grown medical marijuana until legal arguments can be heard. ■
union’s latest offer on emergency staffing. He said that as the strike deadline approaches, the health board continues to cancel surgeries and transfer patients to hospitals outside of Halifax. The key sticking point in the dispute is a demand from the union to increase nurse-to-patient ratios, something it says would improve patient safety. The health authority has said there is no evidence that mandated ratios guarantee better
safety. The essential services legislation would also allow parties to request conciliation or mediation to help negotiate an essential services agreement, and if they can’t agree, either party could apply to the Nova Scotia Labour Board. “Most employers and unions reach collective agreements without strikes or lockouts, but even the possibility of a labour disruption can create stress and confusion,” Regan said.
“This bill gives certainty to people who need and provide care, and ensures essential services must be provided in the event of a strike or lockout.” Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie said outside the legislature after the bill was introduced that he was disappointed the premier didn’t allow negotiations to run their course but he will support it. NDP Leader Maureen MacDonald said she was shocked
that the legislation would apply to so many health care employees, calling it “heavy-handed” and adding that her party will not back it. The Liberals hold a large majority in the house. The bill marks the second time in a month that the party has introduced essential services legislation. On March 1, the government passed a law to end a one-day strike by about 420 home-care workers in the Halifax area. ■
Abrenica uses his shin, which is not allowed in other martial arts, to thwart his opponent. PHOTOS BY NELSON MATAWARAN
moves are more genuine,” Abrenica says. Competition worthy
Nova Scotia... Union president Joan Jessome could not immediately be reached for comment but she has said the nurses would defy legislation that curtails their right to strike. The union and the Capital District Health Authority have been unable to come to an agreement despite the help of a mediator. Capital Health spokesman John Gillis also said the two sides were still discussing the ❰❰ 18
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Sports
39 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Dream Hoops Development League in Full Swing LOUD CHEERS, music, dancing fans, exciting basketball and the sweet aroma of Adobo, Pancit, Lumpia, Empanadas and BBQ coming from the St Patrick’s high school gym is a telling sign that the second annual Dream Hoops Academy Development league is officially underway. We’re just two weeks into the 10week basketball extravaganza that has already become the hottest youth basketball league in the lower mainland. Every Saturday, hundreds of parents bring their children, clad in their impressive uniforms, bright socks and cool shoes to the St Patrick’s high school gymnasium to display their talents. It’s an impressive sight, that makes you feel like you’re watching an NBA game. There’s even contests at halftime where parents get to show off their basketball skills, while their children play the role of the cheerleaders. The Dream Hoops Development League is not just a basketball league for the youth. It’s a party and it is ten weeks of community building. It’s a chance for parents to relax, watch their kids play basketball, eat good food, and have a great time. The founders, Nap Santos and John Boateng each bring a wealth of professional playing and coaching experience to the Academy. Founders Santos and Boateng designed the Dream Hoops Development League as a place where kids of all skill levels could come and explore the game of basketball. The
league has grown to accommodate demand and now boasts of 22 teams and four divisions ranging from grades 2 to grade 11. With fundamental development training sessions during the week for the elementary school divisions, and games on the weekend, kids are able to improve their individual skills and then display what they’ve learned. All kids are encouraged to be leaders, to take the initiative, and to strive to be better than they were the day, or week before. This is the mission of the Dream Hoops Academy, and it is exemplified in the Dream Hoops Development League. It’s a place where all are welcome, where kids are free to be themselves without restriction and a place where everyone has fun. The all-stars in the league are given an opportunity to try-out for the Dream Hoops Academy club team and represent the Academy at local tournaments and super tournaments in the United States. Since the Dream Hoops Academy began in 2012, the Dream Hoops Academy club teams have taken Vancouver by storm. Dream Hoops players always overachieve and many of their players are becoming some of the premier players in their age group across the lower mainland. This is due in large part to the tremendous support from the community and the parents that enroll their children in the Dream Hoops Academy ❱❱ PAGE 41 Dream Hoops
3 Ways to Buy a Home for Less Money GREATER VANCOUVER—If you’re like most home buyers, you have two primary considerations in mind when you start looking for a home. First, you want to find the home that perfectly meets your needs and desires, and secondly, you want to purchase this home for the lowest possible price. When you analyze those successful home buyers who have been able to purchase the home they want for thousands of dollars below a seller’s asking price, some common denominators emerge. While the negotiating skills of your agent are important, there are three additional key factors that must come into play long before you ever submit an offer. This topic has been the subject of extensive analysis by Industry Experts, and a summary of their findings, and a specific step-by-step purchase plan for home buyers, can be found in a new
special report called “Home Buyers: How to Save Thousands of Dollars When You Buy.” This free report outlines the psychology of how a seller sets their asking price, and gives you 3 simple steps to follow, before you even set foot in a seller’s home, which could help you to successfully slash thousands of dollars off the price of the home you want. To order a FREE Special Report, visit VancouverBuyersSaveThousands.com or to hear a brief recorded message about how to order your FREE copy of this report call toll-free 1-888-2565085 and enter 1014. You can call any time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Get your free special report NOW to find out how you can save thousands of dollars when you buy a home.
This report is courtesy of Cheryl Fuller, Royal LePage Kamploops Realty. Not intended to solicit buyers or sellers currently under contract. Copyright 2014
Specially trained... care from family or friends during a hospitalization fare better. “You don’t eat right, you don’t sleep right,” said Pacheco, who hadn’t known she could seek help for herself as her husband worsened between his first transplant in December 2012 and the one that finally restored his health last summer. “You’re scared to ask what’s next.” Families need an advocate, said Dr. Paul Levin, Montefiore’s vice chairman of orthopedic surgery, who tells the volunteer coaches, and medical students, how caregivers can get lost in the shuffle. Years ago, Levin’s oldest daughter had a roller-blading accident and was run over by a bus, suffering life-threatening injuries while at college hundreds of miles from home. In a hospital where he knew no one, even Levin had a hard time cornering doctors, got conflicting reports and once watched his daughter wheeled off to deal with a dangerous complication without any explanation. “I’m a trauma specialist who knows the system, knew the questions to ask, but I couldn’t get a straight answer,” Levin said. Many hospitals offer support groups for caregivers, or services from a social worker or other professional. The volunteer coaches are different: Retirees with no background in health care undergo training to support caregivers in hopes that families will let their guard down with a peer. They make daily rounds through Montefiore’s waiting rooms and nursing stations to offer the services of the support centre, where families can talk with a coach or a social worker, research caregiver resources online, or just relax in a quiet room. There are no statistics on similar volunteer initiatives, but Montefiore and a handful of community hospitals have modeled programs on one at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York. “This caregiver coach idea is very innovative,” said Lynn Feinberg of AARP, who tracks efforts to help caregivers— and says too often what’s missing is ❰❰ 36
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someone to call at a moment’s notice, rather than awaiting a monthly support group meeting. “Utilizing retirees is really a win-win, to provide that basic emotional, practical support and advice.” It takes strong supervision to know the boundaries, cautioned Carol Levine of the non-profit United Hospital Fund, which provided a startup grant to Montefiore and has created online caregiver guides. “They are not there to be nurses or social workers,” she said. Instead, the program “really treats people with respect and dignity and understanding that they’re in a difficult situation.” Montefiore put its 21 volunteers through a training course that stresses those boundaries, teaches nonjudgmental listening and lets them role-play difficult situations. The support services don’t expire when the patient goes home, Kaplan said. Caregivers still can call or come in indefinitely, but there are no home visits. Does the program make a clinical difference? The hospital has begun a pilot study comparing whether cancer patients stick with a grueling chemotherapy-and-radiation treatment better when their caregivers are coached in providing support. Like many of the coaches, Wolffe, 69, had been a caregiver. He sought out Montefiore’s support centre while his wife, Janet Lipson, was undergoing complex cancer treatment. When she recovered, the couple became volunteer coaches to give back. Wolffe recalls a mother of three with terminal cancer whose own parents didn’t understand how badly chemo sapped her strength until Lipson explained it. Later, Wolffe brought in professionals for advice on telling the young children about their mother’s illness. Mostly, Wolffe says, caregivers need to vent: “Sometimes I know I have to bite my tongue because I want to say something. But they just need me to listen.” ■
Business
APRIL 4, 2014 FRIDAY 40
Should you do it yourself when buying life insurance? BY SUSAN YATES YOU’VE SEEN the products marketed on TV for guaranteed acceptance life insurance with no medical exam. You’ve probably also seen the numerous websites where you can apply online for travel health insurance and receive instant quotes with the promise to “save on premiums.” Seems easy. And often unbelievably cheap. So, what’s the catch?
paid out earlier than for others who are healthier when they apply and consequently live longer. They are less likely to die prematurely. Everyone is grouped together in the insurance pool. Further, as new policies are issued, new younger (and therefore lower-risk) people join in. Meanwhile, as people die, their higher risk profile is eliminated. There is a constant process of averaging out and refreshing all the risk in the pool.
The catch
The pooling principle
so those who are at a lower risk are not unfairly disadvantaged. People who pose a higher risk of making a claim may find they have to pay a higher premium, are unable to obtain insurance, or are offered a policy with exclusions. For instance, a person who enjoys the highly risky sport of skydiving could take out life insurance but could not make a claim for the death benefit if he or she dies as a result of skydiving. The no-medical option
To properly understand such products and their guarantees, let’s begin with the fundamental principle that underlies all life and health insurance: the concept of pooled risk. In other words, the risk levels of many individuals are shared. When the issue is life insurance, risk is determined by life expectancy. Some people are more likely to die at a younger age because, for instance, they are in poor health. The death benefit of their policy will be
However, in traditional insurance, there are different pools. There’s one based on gender, another on age, another on smoking habits, and so on. The process used to assess risk, and consequently assign premiums, is called underwriting. Who benefits most from the pooling principle? Clearly, the higher risk person who is most likely to make a claim. Non-guaranteed life insurance is able to attribute higherrisk people to their own pool,
No-medical, guaranteed life insurance must accept everyone, regardless of the risk they present. Insurers control the amount and timing of benefit payouts by limiting the amount of insurance available to certain ages and excluding claims for a set period after the policy is issued. In some cases, the amount of insurance available is a very low sum, perhaps $25,000. This may be adequate to pay the cost of a funeral. If death occurs during the exclusion period,
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premiums may be repaid plus interest. If you have been denied life insurance, then the no-medical guaranteed option may be a good one for you. It might also be the right choice if you need only a small amount of insurance. However, before you buy, it is wise to check against a traditional product both in terms of the coverage you can get and the premium you will pay. Remember, it costs nothing to get a quote from a life insurance agent. Make sure all the information you have compares apples-to-apples before you buy. When you do buy a policy, bear in mind that you have 10 days after you receive your policy to change your mind and get your premium back. Finally, a life insurance policy can be cancelled at any time in writing or by not paying the premium. There will be no charge to do so. Travel health insurance
Often incorrectly called travel insurance, travel health or travel medical is a whole other
kettle of fish when it comes to underwriting. This is one very large reason “Claim Denied!” frequently makes the headlines. Let’s make the comparison with life insurance. When you apply for life insurance, information is taken that helps determine your premium. This may include a report from your doctor. If you are diagnosed with cancer the day your policy takes effect, your premium will not change. Your beneficiary will receive the insurance if you die as long as you have paid the premiums. Most travel health insurance takes very little information when you apply. There is the expectation that you understand and remember all the medical procedures you’ve had in the recent past, and whether there have been any changes in your health—for the better or worse—in the preceding 12 months. Some conditions will make you outright uninsurable. ❱❱ PAGE 43 Should you
Horoscope
41 FRIDAY APRIL 4 2014
Dream Hoops... basketball program. Many parents have seen a night and day difference in the level of play of their children since joining the program. Dream Hoops Academy is able to get the best out of every child because the Academy provides detailed development training which teaches kids the fundamentals of the game, while Coaches Nap Santos and John Boateng push the kids to reach their full potential. According to Nap Santos, “We asked ourselves, if we were kids, what would be the coolest and greatest basketball program ever? So instead of just development and club programs, we came up with the Dream Hoops Development League which really makes kids feel like they’re part of something special.” Coach John Boateng, who is also a published author of the chil❰❰ 39
Eye catching... dren’s book entitled “Hustle” added, “We just wanted to create a basketball program and a league that was fun for everyone, that brought the best out of every kid, something that let kids dream big and something that would uplift the community. We’re extremely thankful for all of the support and we’ll continue to make the Dream Hoops experience better each year.” ■ Everyone is invited to come watch some great basketball and enjoy some delicious food at our concession. All games have started and are every Saturday 9:00am until 9:00pm until May 31, 2014 at St. Patrick's High School gym at 115 East 11th Ave in Vancouver. League registrations are at capacity. To register for development training contact Nap Santos @ dreamhoopsacademy@ gmail.com
TV comedy shows. The mayor has admitted to smoking crack cocaine in a drunken stupor, has behaved boorishly in public, spouted profanities on live television and been caught ranting on video. He is also the subject of an ongoing police investigation in which investigators photographed the mayor urinating in public. Ford has said he is the best candidate to watch over taxpayer dollars and that his personal life doesn’t interfere with his job. Christina Robins, who founded No Ford Nation as a Facebook page in 2011, has set up the website www.nofordnation.com that aims to debunk Ford’s various statements about his performance as mayor. Robins calls her site a “one ❰❰ 18
stop shop” for voters to get all the information they need to make an informed decision when they go to the polls. “We’re also trying to highlight the utter ridiculousness that we’ve had to deal with over the last four years from this mayor, and how we really don’t want four more years of it,” Robins said. “For the last four years, our city has just been a laughingstock.” While the No Ford Nation website draws attention to other candidates—real ones—vying to unseat the incumbent in the October election, none is likely to stump for votes in the way that fictional candidates Jeff McElroy or Ray Faranzi are doing. “He promises to just smoke pot as mayor—not crack,” says McElroy’s election sign. Alluding to a video in which a drunken Ford angrily makes
menacing moves and threats, Faranzi’s sign notes: “The current mayor threatens to kill people and gets publicly drunk. If elected, I promise I will just get publicly drunk. Vote Ray Faranzi.” Goodman said the signs simply borrowed from the Ford scandal reality that was the inspiration for several animated videos Rethink did for No Ford Nation. “Where else do you have such rich material to create from than we did?” Goodman said. “They literally wrote themselves.” Not surprisingly, perhaps, several of the signs have already disappeared, either at the hands of collectors, or those opposed to their message. Others have been clamouring for the signs. “People wanted some for their own lawns,” Goodman said. ■
HOROSCOPE ARIES
CANCER
LIBRA
CAPRICORN
(MARCH 21 - APRIL 19)
(JUNE 22 - JULY 22)
(SEPT 23 - OCT 22)
(DEC 22 - JAN 19)
Incredible feelings of enthusiasm, optimism, and sheer joy could fill your heart and mind today, Aries. Your life is changing in a positive way, and even though it may not be readily apparent, you’re sensing it intuitively. Romance with someone from far away could be in the offing. The only downside is that you might feel panicky, as if all this will disappear. Stay focused!
Are things really going this beautifully for you, Cancer? This is a question you might ask yourself now. All looks perfect as career, romance, education, and spiritual matters seem to crystallize into a wonderful life. Don’t waste time worrying if this is all too good to be true! You’re concerned about the future, but right now, live in the moment. You’re creating some great memories, if nothing else. Enjoy!
A social event in your neighborhood could connect you with people who share your spiritual and intellectual inclinations, Libra. As a result, you’ll probably make some new friends and spend a lot of time on the phone with them over the next few days. If you’re single, one could be a potential love partner. If you’re a writer or artist, expect oodles of inspiration to hit you as a result of all this.
Something wonderful could happen to you today at home, Capricorn. A lover could declare eternal devotion, spiritual revelations could come thick and fast, or great news regarding career or money matters could be just over the horizon. Whatever comes is apt to bring happiness for all concerned. You may pinch yourself to make sure you’re awake! You have it coming, and it’s there to be savored.
TAURUS
LEO
SCORPIO
AQUARIUS
(APRIL 20 - MAY 20)
(JULY 23 - AUGUST 22)
(OCT 23 - NOV 21)
(JAN 20 - FEB 18)
Some beautiful dreams or visions, perhaps involving angels, spirit guides, or other such beings, could come today, Taurus. Listen carefully to the messages they bring. Whether they involve matters in your material life, intellectual or spiritual concerns, or future events, they can shed light on a lot of facts about you of which you might not be aware. Write them down as soon as you can.
Expanding your horizons is definitely on the agenda today, Leo. Travel, education, creativity – they’re all coming to the forefront of your concerns. Romance should also be going well. A friend could introduce you to a new interest, and children might also be a source of joy. Happiness reigns as you’re able to spend more time pursuing the concerns that mean the most to you.
A project that you’re working on, perhaps job related, perhaps personal, is likely to require more creative skill than you usually need, Scorpio. Writing, drawing, or computer graphics could be involved. You might have some doubts about your abilities, but you’re more likely to be surprised by the results. You’re apt to enjoy working this way, and you may hope to continue. Keep up the good work!
Developments over the past few days could have you feeling very excited and particularly optimistic about your love life, Aquarius. If you want to give your friend a gift, by all means do, but confine it to something nonthreatening like a book. Everything seems great now, but too much emotional expression and material generosity could overwhelm your friend. Be patient!
GEMINI
VIRGO
SAGITTARIUS
PISCES
(MAY 21 - JUNE 21)
(AUG 23 - SEPT 22)
(NOV 22 - DEC 21)
(FEB 19 - MAR 20)
Love and romance continue to blossom, Gemini. Social events could find you and your beloved among both old and new friends, perhaps letting some of them know for the first time that you’re actually an item. Someone close to both of you could be planning a wedding and invite you to come. Don’t be surprised if it gives your partner ideas! Let yourself dream a little today. You can face reality tomorrow.
Are you working at home now or perhaps considering it, Virgo? If so, remember that you’ll probably enjoy the comfort and freedom it provides. Being in your own territory among your books and pets and wearing your old clothes will feel good. However, in no way will working on your own compromise your work ethic. If anything, you’ll get more done than ever. Dig in and go for the gold.
If you’re artistic by nature, Sagittarius, expect a rush of inspiration to hit today, along with an irresistible compulsion to start a new project and work until you can see at least some results. If you’ve never been artistic before, you may suddenly feel like giving it a try, perhaps using computer technology. No matter what, you’re likely to derive a lot of pleasure from it, so go to it. Have fun!
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If you’re involved in the arts, Pisces, expect today to hear about an opportunity to exhibit your work publicly. There should be a very positive reaction to it, so you can expect a lot of compliments and ego-boosts. An opportunity to earn some money from your work could also come along. Don’t turn it down out of shyness or insecurity. Go for the gold. This trend is likely to continue, so make the most of it.
FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
42
Travel
One of Canada’s largest comedy festivals kicks off with Tom Green, Sandra Shamas BY CHINTA PUXLEY The Canadian Press WINNIPEG—After a winter where virtually everybody became unwillingly and intimately acquainted with the polar vortex, comedian Sandra Shamas figures we all need a good laugh. So what better place to go than Winnipeg—one of the last places in Canada where winter refuses to release its icy grip— for the country’s second biggest comedy festival? “Frankly, if we get any more (expletive) winters like this, we need to have more shows like this so people can stay indoors and not slit their throats,” said Shamas, who is co-hosting one of the Winnipeg Comedy Festival’s galas. “If it’s just for (expletive) Canadian morale, we need this show.” The festival, which runs from April 7 to 13, is in its 13th year and features 80 performers riffing on everything from food and gender to freedom of speech and “first world problems.” The festival features some 40 shows at a wide range of venues from comedy clubs and theatres to pubs and movie theatres. Some names on the bill are more recognizable than others. Shamas’ one-woman shows— starting with “My Boyfriend’s Back and There’s Gonna Be Laundry” and culminating in her more recent “Big Girl Panties”—have made her a house-
Trevor Boris. Elvira Kurt performing in Outreach series at the Millennium Library.
hold name in Canadian comedic circles. These days, she is an organic farmer in Ontario, making her a perfect candidate to host the festival’s “Food, Glorious Food” gala April 10. The event will begin with Shamas talking about how she went from tending a large backyard garden to becoming a full-fledged farmer at age 52. “I remember reading somewhere that you are supposed to get a hug eight times a day to not become a psychopath,” Shamas said. “I think if I laugh at least eight times a day, that’s like an internal hug.” Tom Green, best known for his gross-out comedies “Freddy Got Fingered” and “Road Trip,” is headlining the festival’s main gala while Kids in the Hall
alumni Kevin McDonald will host five screenings of handselected movies. Other performers are lesser known but not for long, according to festival organizer and comedian Al Rae. The people performing this year will make up the next generation of comedy heavy hitters, he said. “That’s what people are going to see—a new crop of standup stars in bloom. These are people who, maybe you don’t know their name in April, but by September you’ll probably say ‘I just saw that guy at Winnipeg Comedy Festival’ because they are just on the cusp,” Rae said. “And there is a lot of them.” The Winnipeg Comedy Festival is the second largest in Canada after Montreal’s Just
PHOTOS FROM WINNIPEGCOMEDYFESTIVAL.COM
For Laughs, he said. Many might be familiar with the Winnipeg Comedy Festival from its broadcasts on CBC television, but Rae said watching from home is nothing like being in a live audience. Nothing is censored or cut due to time restrictions, he said. “Nothing reproduces the experience of sitting and enjoying this material with 1,000 other people laughing beside you,” Rae said. “It has a much greater psychological effect on people than sitting and consuming it at home.” The comedy festival holds a special place in McDonald’s heart. The comedian came to Winnipeg for the festival five years ago and fell in love with a woman named Paula. Now he calls Winnipeg home
and is hosting what has become an annual film showcase at the comedy festival. Every year, McDonald picks a theme and shows five movies that fit the bill. This year’s movies include such gems as “Ishtar,” “The Producers” and “The Man with Two Brains.” “They’re movies that bombed when they first came out but have either become classics or are movies I think are really good anyway and didn’t deserve to bomb,” McDonald said. “I’m very excited.” ■ If You Go...
For tickets and detailed schedule, browse the festival’s website at http://www.winnipegcomedyfestival.com/tickets Prices range from free shows to the six-gala pack for $239.99.
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43 FRIDAY APRIL 4, 2014
Las Pozas, a surreal garden of gigantic concrete flowers, overrun by the Mexican jungle BY TERESA DE MIGUEL ESCRIBANO The Associated Press XILITLA, MEXICO—At the end of a long, dirt road in Mexico’s northeast jungle, two spiral staircases appear, leading nowhere amid an ornate concrete structure. Giant concrete fleur-de-lis flank a path, and tall bamboo-shaped columns surround a house with no walls. Oversize plaster orchids are in permanent bloom, while a natural waterfall ceaselessly flows down a mountain. This is Las Pozas, a dreamy, little-known garden of surreal art, where sculptures evoke the ruins of ancient Greece but are overrun by exotic jungle plants. It was created by the late Edward James, a British multimillionaire and arts patron who favoured surrealists like Rene Magritte and Salvador Dali. “Mr. Edward wanted to bewilder,” said Carlos Barbosa, a park guide. He thought of the park “as a joke to a future civilization.” And visitors are bewildered by Las Pozas, located on a 100-acre (40-hectare) hillside where the Sierra Madre mountains and coastal plains of the northeast state of San Luis Potosi meet. “I had seen videos and documents but I didn’t expect it to be so impressive,” said Vida Arellano, a tourist from the northern state of Chihuahua. “Once you are here, you are enveloped by nature, the sculptures, the architecture ... it transports you to a different mental state.” Las Pozas means the pools. The ferocity of the jungle in these hills of the Sierra Madre, a seven-hour drive from Mexico City, has destroyed many structures in the garden. But that didn’t bother James, who liked
to think that future archaeologists would discover his lost city and wonder what kind of civilization had built it, Barbosa said. James inherited a fortune from his father and used the money to support the work of great surrealists, including Dali, Magritte, Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. Fascinated with Mexico, he arrived in San Luis Potosi in the mid-1940s, bought land through a Mexican friend and spent the next 20 years of his life building his garden. The park was half-built by the time its creator died 30 years ago, but it remains an impressive work of art, with an air of mystery added by the rust and deterioration brought on by nature. The original project, interestingly, had nothing to do with the garden’s ultimate design. For years, James cultivated thousands of orchids on his land, but in 1962 a cold snap destroyed them, said Zaira Linan, the park’s assistant director. James then ordered workers to build cement flowers that weather couldn’t destroy, Linan said. The son of British aristocrats and grandson of a Canadian timber baron, James first
came to Mexico in 1944 at the invitation of psychiatrist Erich Fromm. He joined a salon of intellectuals and artists at Cuernavaca, the resort city just southeast of Mexico City. It was in Cuernavaca that he met Plutarco Gastelum, a Mexican friend who helped oversee the garden’s progress as workers built wooden moulds from James’ drawings and filled them with cement to create the sculptures. James’ imagination didn’t stop with the flowers. He began to design increasingly complex sculptures, often inspired by artistic philosophies he encountered in his travels. He would sketch his sculptures on postcards and mail them to Gastelum. Barbosa remembered with amusement James’ many eccentricities, including the time he asked a cook to make a banquet for a menagerie of exotic animals he kept and loved like his children. James “used to walk naked through the park and even though he was a millionaire, he often slept in a sleeping bag among the weeds,” Barbosa said. Walking through the labyrinthine paths overrun by the
jungle is an adventure. And just when it seems that there is nothing more to see, a small, stone pre-Columbian house opens the way to a stunning square where a giant concrete sculpture of a blooming flower sits. With park guides’ help, visitors can access the most remote corners of the park, including a concrete bed shaped like a tree leaf where James used to meditate and prepare for death. But James didn’t die in his precious park. He died in 1984 in San Remo, Italy, when a stroke put an end to his delirious project. Since he didn’t leave any sketches for future sculptures, construction halted and the jungle began to take over, Linan said. In 1990, Gastelum’s son, who is also named Plutarco, opened the park to the public. He remembers James as a “tender” character whom he called “Uncle Eduardo,” and says he is of-
ten surprised by the curious anecdotes he reads about James, including one that claims he may be an unacknowledged descendant of Britain’s King Edward VII. “It wasn’t until I was much older that I thought, ‘How come I have an English uncle?”’ Gastelum said laughing. In 2007, Gastelum turned the garden over to a foundation so more resources could be devoted to preserving its 36 sculptures. Today it draws 75,000 visitors annually. ■
informed of your travel plans. Finally, if you have to make a claim, the insurer will retroactively assess all the information you provided. If you didn’t disclose certain details or you made a mistake, your claim can,
and will, be denied. Life underwriting is a science. You are expected to be the underwriting scientist when it comes to travel health if you adopt do-it-yourself approach! This is a lot of responsibility,
because getting it wrong can be financially ruinous. Ask your insurance agent for a quote as an alternative to an impersonal online application, especially if you have any uncertainty as to your medical conditions. ■
Courtesy Fundata Canada Inc. © 2014. Susan Yates president of the Centre for Life Insurance and Financial Education (CLIFE), This article is not intended as personalized advice.
PHOTOS BY BERNARDO BOLAÑOS / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
If You Go...
LAS POZAS: http://www.xilitla.org/. Xilitla, Mexico, is the closest town, about 2 miles (3.2 kilometres) from the garden. Mexico City is a seven-hour drive and Tampico is the nearest major airport, about four hours away. Entrance to the park is about $4. Lodging can be found in Xilitla or at the Posada James Hotel near the park.
Should you... When the policy is issued and during the period of coverage, you must tell the insurer of any change in your health, for the better or worse. You may also have to keep them constantly ❰❰ 40
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APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 44
Life after... their house—the fruit of their parents’ hard work—at the mercy of ‘Yolanda,’ Alyana almost became part of the death statistics if not for their neighbor Crispin Arcoles, who saved her from the raging waters due to the storm surge. “He (Crispin) is gay, but he saved me. He is my hero,” Alyana shared. ❰❰ 27
Helping out after the storm
The Philippine government is under fire for allegedly mismanaging the incoming help from all over the world. Resources were left rotting in warehouses, donated goods were reportedly being sold to survivors, and donations were said to be controlled by certain people and agencies for their political gain and personal benefit. However, many survivors still attest to the government’s “4Ps” program (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) as a source of their monetary income, together with the Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) Cash-for-Work program. World relief also continues to pour in. A report from CNN in January 2014 said that Prince Charles arranged the transport of five million doses of rubella and measles vaccines for ‘Yolanda’ victims because the storm ravaged areas suffered from a measles outbreak. According to the Department of Health,
15,600 cases of measles were recorded from January to February 2014. The value tripled from 2013’s value of 5,863 cases. Japan, just two weeks after celebrating the third anniversary of the deadly tsunami and earthquake of March 11, 2011, decided to send more help to the Philippines to the tune of $3.7 million. According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Australia sent additional support of more than P1.2 trillion for various rehabilitation projects in the disaster-stricken areas— from livelihood to building classrooms to creating a multi-hazard mapping to stocking relief supplies. Even private residents and Filipino business owners are stepping up to help out. According to a report from ABS-CBN, there are talks between the owner of Roble Shipping Lines Inc. and the local government of Tacloban of turning one of the nine ships that ran aground at the height of super typhoon ‘Yolanda’—MV Star Hilongos in Anibong district—into a landmark and a restaurant. Everyone can agree that the road to recovery will be long and hard, but with the Filipinos’ unwavering fighting spirit and a hope that springs eternal, walking down that road is a journey worth taking. ■
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Letters to the Editor
OPEN LETTER TO MHHS
APRIL 4, 2014
FRIDAY 46
POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST?
March 28, 2014 The Board of Directors Multicultural Helping House Society (MHHS) 4802 Fraser St., Vancouver, BC V5V 4H4
Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer Editor Melissa Remulla-Briones editor@canadianinquirer.net
Gentlemen: In connection with your announcement regarding Annual General Meeting and Election scheduled on May 31, 2014 which was published in the Philippine Asian News Today (March 16-31, 2014, Volume 16 No. 06), and released to the public on March 27, 2014, I would like to point out inconsistencies and contradictions to the MHHS Constitution and By-laws:
Associate Editor Laarni de Paula Correspondents Gigi Astudillo Angie Duarte Katherine Marfal Frances Grace Quiddaoen Ching Dee Socorro Newland Graphic Designer Victoria Yong
1. According to Article XI 1. © The committee (on election) shall fix the place, date and time for the general elections. However, the Board carelessly and prematurely scheduled and announced the election to be held on May 31, 2014, not having called a meeting yet of all members of good standing to elect a Chairman and three members of the Committee on Election. 2. All the eligibility criteria set by the Board for candidates are restrictive and limiting. The rules around eligibility are set out explicitly in the By-laws, specifically, Article XI which states that “Any member in good standing 15 days prior to any election shall be entitled to vote or be candidate. xxxx.” The definition of ’member in good standing’ is explicitly described also in Article II, Section 1. There is nothing about the declaration that one must be a member in good standing of MHHS for two consecutive years, must comprehends and accepts the legal liabilities associated with the actions of the MHHS, must be and have been an active member of good standing preferably in a decision-making capacity with a non-for-profit organization with the same vision, goals, aims, purposes as the MHHS for a minimum of three (3) years, among others. Let no one misuse the power of the Board of Directors especially in the conduct of a democratic process called election. It does not permit any one to make substantive rules about things like eligibility, and it most certainly does not allow them to make any rules or criterias that are inconsistent with, or contradictory to, the By-laws. I urge the distinguished members of the MHHS Board of Directors to review again and again your Constitution and By-laws.
Photographers Angelo Siglos Danvic Briones Operations and Marketing Head Laarni de Paula (604) 551-3360 laarni.liwanag@canadianinquirer.net Advertising Sales Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net Antonio Tampus (604) 460-9414 antonio.tampos@canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Editorial Assistant Phoebe Casin Graphic Designer Shanice Garcia
Assuming May 31, 2014 is the election day, here is the correct timetable in accordance with the MHHS Constitution and By-Laws: 1) May 16 -- correct deadline of submitting membership application to be able to vote or be a candidate. 2) May 17 -- the nominating committee shall present to the Committee on Election a list of persons who have agreed to let their names stand for election of directors of the Society. 3) May 21 -- The Committee on Election shall release to the general membership the complete list of eligible voters and candidates. I respectfully urge our Board members to rectify all what you have announced so that whatever results in its finality will be legal, binding, enforceable and in order. Let those who would like to serve with utmost dedication be candidates. Let all members in good standing decide and shout their voice thru ballots. Let’s be fair & square. No more acclamation.
Truly authentic leadership is one based on service, love, and humility, not fame, power, or greed. Respectfully yours, [Original signed] WILFREDO N. BAGUNU 29-10605 Delsom Crescent North Delta, BC V4C 0A4 P. S. 1. On March 11, 2014, I sent a letter addressed to Ms. Concepcion Colobong, President of the MHHS, informing my interest to serve in the Board of Directors and to run in the May election. No response yet. 2. If you would like to talk or see me, I can be contacted in my cell phone number 604-355-1987. Copy furnished: Philippine Asian News Today Philippine Asian Chronicle Philippine Journal Philippine Canadian Inquirer Corporate Registry Office (Victoria)
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