Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #138

RELEVANT SKILLS. MEANINGFUL JOBS. CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER www.canadianinquirer.net

VOL. 10 NO. 138

OCTOBER 24, 2014

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US keeps custody of Marine murder suspect

Naia terminal no longer world's worst airport

Mayon quiets down, no alert needed

Terror suspect arrested this past summer

Retouching Beauty, Retouching Culture?

Binay says he’ll submit to Department of Justice probe

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer

SALUTE President Benigno S. Aquino III, accompanied by Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Gregorio Pio Catapang Jr., salutes the honor guards upon arrival for the 70th Anniversary Celebration of the Leyte Gulf Landing at the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Candahug, Palo, Leyte on Monday.

RYAN LIM / MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU

US Marine suspected in transgender killing tests PH/US alliance

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press OLONGAPO, PHILIPPINES — Inside a funeral parlour, a Filipino mother sits and weeps next to a coffin containing the body of her daughter and demands

answers. On a hulking American assault ship moored at a nearby port sits a man who might have them — a U.S. Marine authorities suspect in the brutal slaying at a cheap hotel more than a week ago.

“We don’t eat without praying first.

❱❱ PAGE 9 Binay says

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m info@canadianinquirer.net A (888) 668-6059

"It's More Fun in the Phiippines" ❱❱ PAGE 40

❱❱ PAGE 10 US Marine

BECAUSE PRESIDENT Aquino supports it, Vice President Jejomar Binay will cooperate in the investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the allegations of corruption against him when he was mayor of Makati City, the Vice President’s spokesperson, Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, said early this week.

But Remulla said the camp of the Vice President was skeptical Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had jurisdiction over Binay.

For one, he said, there was no criminal case against Binay.

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OCTOBER 24, 2014

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Philippine News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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US keeps custody of Marine suspect in PH transgender murder case PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The head of the Philippine military said last week that the United States will keep custody of U.S. Marine’s Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton, suspect in the murder of Filipino transgender Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude in Olongapo City last October 11.

“Under the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), the custody of the erring soldier stays with the Americans,” General Gregorio Catapang said.

The United States said it would comply with a Philippine prosecutor’s order to generate a murder suspect and four other US Marines in the investigation into the killing of the 26-yearold Filipino transgender.

“The Marine Corps will continue to fully cooperate with the Philippine authorities dur-

ing the investigation and any follow-on actions that are required,” U.S. Marines spokesman Chuck Little said. “This will include making the suspect, witnesses, and any evidence gathered available to the Philippine authorities.”

Philippine officials had previously said that one U.S. Navy ship, the USS Peleliu where Pemberton is aboard, would remain in the country during the investigation of the crime.

Other U.S. ships docked in Subic Bay, which had been in the Philippines for a 10-day military exercise, have been cleared to leave the country.

According to Catapang, though the US has custody of the suspect, the Philippines will have the criminal jurisdiction.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced that the subpoena has been issued for Pemberton’s appearance at the preliminary investigation set on October 21.

Four other US Marines, whose names were not disclosed, have also been ordered by the prosecutor’s office to be witnesses at the formal hearing.

The hearings could take days or weeks. Within this timeframe, the prosecutor can either bring murder charges or drop the case. If Pemberton is found guilty, he could face life in prison.

Noting that the incident did not take place during the exercises but while the soldier was on break, Catapang said that ‘this will not affect our relationship with the United States.’

There is a increasing public pressure for Pemberton to be handed over into Philippines custody.

Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, would like the Philippines to acquire custody over Pemberton and terminate the VFA. According to Santiago, under

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U.S. Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton.

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the VFA, ‘the Philippines has jurisdiction over the U.S. Marine because the offense was reportedly committed in Olongapo City and is punishable under the Philippine Penal Code.’

The senator, however, pointed out that ‘the custody of any United States personnel over whom the Philippines is to exercise jurisdiction shall immediately reside with United States military authorities, if they so request, from the commission of the offense until completion of all judicial proceedings.’

‘In extraordinary cases, the Philippine Government shall present its position to the United States Government regard-

ing custody, which the United States Government shall take into full account.’

Based from this, the treaty was put in favor of visiting American troops.

“The disparity is very clear.

The Philippines has jurisdiction but, upon mere request by the U.S., our law enforcement is required to immediately turn over the custody of the American military personnel to the U.S.,” the senator said. “Presumably, the U.S. military authorities will invoke the terms of the VFA in the transgender case. This is one more reason why we should terminate the VFA.” ■ With report from Cyra Moraleda

Philippine News

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OCTOBER 24, 2014

FRIDAY

Proposed Bangsomoro Police will still be under National Police

BY CHRISTOPHER LLOYD T. CALIWAN Philippine News Agency MANILA — The proposed Bangsomoro Police will be under the Philippine National Police (PNP) because that’s what the Constitution says, Senior Supt. Wilben Mayor, chief police information officer, said this week.

“Under the Constitution, there is only one police force, national in scope and civilian in character, to be administered by a National Police Commission,” Mayor told the Philippines News Agency (PNA) in a telephone interview.

Asked about the uniform of the Bangsormo Police, Mayor answered: “It should be aligned in Constitution.”

He added that these matters are still under discussion in the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. .

Earlier, Government of the Philippines chief negotiator Miriam CoronelFerrer said the Bangsamoro bill now

being tackled by Congress as House Bill No. 4994 and Senate Bill No. 2408 for passage into law provides for the creation of a Bangsamoro Police that will be under the PNP. The Bangsamoro Police may have its own uniform and other insignia but the police badge that symbolizes their power as officers of the law will be issued by the PNP. The establishment of proposed Bangsamoro Police is part of the security component of Normalization, which is found in the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed between the GPH and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in March this year.

Other components on security like the decommissioning of the MILF forces and weapons; socioeconomic development for the Bangsamoro; and transitional justice and reconciliation need not be part of the Bangsamoro bill ❱❱ PAGE 13 Proposed Bangsamoro

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CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS Every week, the Philippine Canadian Inquirer celebrates the unwavering Filipino spirit through a feature called “Filipino-Canadian in Focus.”

The feature recognizes the achievements of Filipinos living in Canada who have shown concern for the community, success in spite of trials, and the uniquely Pinoy practice of “bayanihan.”

This year, we are welcoming nominations for the next subject of “Filipino-Canadian in Focus.”

MECHANICS: - All nominees must have (a) Filipino heritage/ancestry - All nominees must be residing in Canada at the time of nomination - Nominees from all industries are welcome (e.g. medical/health, politics, community service, business, entertainment, charity institutions, etc.)

- Who can nominate? Anybody.

Fill up the nomination form by scanning the code with your smartphone or by visiting InFocus.canadianinquirer.net.

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Philippine News

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OCTOBER 24, 2014

Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) has improved from the world's worst airport, to third-worst airport, thanks to some long-awaited improvements.

FRIDAY

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Naia terminal no longer world's worst airport

BY NIÑA P. CALLEJA Philippine Daily Inquirer AFTER TOPPING the list of the world’s worst airports for three consecutive years, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) has the dubious achievement of landing only fourth this year.

“The Guide to Sleeping in Airports,” the interactive travel

site which has been sticking Manila’s international airport with the world’s worst airport tag since 2011, this year praised the Naia, particularly its Terminal 3, for the improvements that have apparently changed passengers’ experience of the airport.

According to the travel site’s 2014 survey results posted on www.sleepinginairports.net on Wednesday, Naia was “overtak-

en” in the worst airport stakes

by Islamabad Benazir Bhutto International Airport (ISB) of Pakistan, Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport of Saudi Arabia and Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport of Nepal.

Pakistan’s ISB, which topped the list this year, was likened to a “central prison,” with pervasive corruption and aggressive yet inconsistent security checks.

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The website ranks airports based on the votes cast by travelers who rate the facilities according to “comfort, amenities and overall experience.”

Most of the travelers that use the website’s services are those looking to cut costs by sleeping at the airports instead of booking hotel rooms.

“After 3 years at the top of our worst airports lists, Manila Naia saw a slight ‘improvement’ in its ranking as a result of increased positive votes for its Terminal 3,” the blog said.

Last August, Naia 3 started full airline operations with the completion of rehabilitation work that was 17 years in the making.

Five international airlines— Delta Airlines, KLM, Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific and Emirates—have now moved to Naia 3 from the congested Naia 1 which has long been the object of ridicule in international travel sites.

“This year, in an effort to lose its title of being the ‘laggard of Asia’ (as one survey respondent put it), the long-awaited rehabilitation of Naia Terminal 1 [has] finally commenced,” the website noted.

The P1.3 billion renovation of the Naia 1, which began last January, is scheduled to finish next March, airport officials have promised.

But Naia was still not spared from negative remarks from travelers in the 2014 survey results. The website said overcrowding, lengthy queues, limited seating, unfriendly immigra-

tion and customs officers and smelly toilets still count among the travelers’ grievances.

The website also brought up the unbearable heat at the Naia when the air-conditioning system broke down last summer, and called the airport “Asia’s largest public sauna.”

“You may now be asking yourself ‘how is this an improvement?’ Well, all news was not grim at Naia 1 this year,” it said.

It said that after last year’s survey results, the newly refurbished day rooms have reopened.

The website also cited the plan of the Manila International Airport Authority, which runs all four terminals of the Naia to include the terminal fees in the cost of the international tickets to decongest the terminals by eliminating the long queues.

“Consider this a firm recommendation to do all that you can to fly on airlines th at use Terminal 3 rather than Terminal 1—particularly if your time at Manila’s Naia is looking long!” the website said.

Other airport terminals that made it to the world’s worst list were Bergamo Orio al Serio International Airport,Italy; Berlin Tegel International Airport and Frankfurt Hahn International Airport, Germany; New York City La Guardia International Airport, United States; Paris Beauvais International Airport, France; and Tashkent International Airport, Uzbekistan. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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DFA: Four US witnesses Filipinos call on Canada to to killing of Filipino ‘repatriate’ mountain of Ontario transgender Jeffrey garbage shipped to Manila Laude depart Philippines

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer

BY MICHAELA DEL CALLAR Philippine News Agency MANILA — The four US witnesses to the killing of a Filipino transgender woman in Olongapo City allegedly by an American serviceman have left the country, the Department of Foreign Affairs said this past Monday.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said this was the information that was gathered by the department from the US Embassy in Manila.

“DFA was not informed by the US side that four witnesses were leaving the country. They are not required to do so,” Jose said. The unidentified witnesses are believed to be members of the US Marines.

Jose explained that the investigation will proceed despite their non-appearance on Tuesday at the Prosecutor’s Office in Olongapo City since “they have already satisfied the legal requirements.”

“Moreover, the US has given assurance that they will make available the witnesses at the trial,” Jose said.

A murder complaint was filed by the family of Filipino transgender woman against US Private First Class Joseph Scott Pemberton. He was summoned

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose.

to appear on Oct. 21 before the Olongapo City Prosecutor for preliminary investigation.

Pemberton and the four witnesses were among the hundreds of US troops who participated in military drills in the country that wrapped up last Oct. 10 under the 1998 Visiting Forces Agreement or VFA. US authorities said they could not confirm if Pemberton will present himself in Tuesday’s proceedings.

Jose said Pemberton’s appearance is expected at the preliminary investigation on the basis of the VFA, a military accord that allows the entry and exit of US personnel in the country for the purpose of joint training with Filipinos soldiers. "(VFA) says US military authorities shall, upon formal notification of Filipino authorities and without delay, make such personnel available to those authorities in time for any investigative and judicial proceedings,” Jose explained.

Jose warned that Pemberton will be “taking his own risk” by not appearing in the investigation.

“He’s risking a decision that will be unfavorable to him. If the prosecutor recommends the filing of murder charges against him, that’s his problem,” Jose said. “His legal adviser should advise him to appear.” ■

MANILA — Philippine authorities demanded that Canada repatriate its junk “exported” to the Philippines in 50 Canadian shipping containers.

“I will not tolerate this matter sitting down. Pick up your garbage Canada, and show us the decency that we so rightfully deserve as a nation. My motherland is not a garbage bin of Canada,” Leah Paquiz, a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, said in a statement last week.

Philippine Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago has also called for an official government inquiry into the matter, even as the situation is raising a stink in various sectors of Philippine society.

“Canada pick up your garbage!!! Philippines is NOT a dumping soil of Canadian garbage!” demands a petition signed, thus far by 25,000 individuals.

The garbage was discovered some months ago, in Feburary, when the Philippine Bureau of Customs scrutinized 50 Canadian shipping containers supposedly containing “scrap plastic materials for recycling.”

Instead, the containers were filled with household refuse, soggy paper, as well as soiled adult diapers.

This discovery prompted officials to impound the shipment at Manila International Container Terminal, and to declare the goods as “junk materials [that] could pose biohazard risks.”

Customs officials said that the garbage was shipped by Chronic Inc., a plastics export company based in Whitby, Ontario, and owned by a certain Jim Makris.

In a February interview the Toronto Star, Makris said, in reaction to the shipped garbage: “It’s the stupidest thing I’ve heard of in my entire life,” adding that “anyone with a brain” knows that it is less costly to simply dispose of the garbage in Canada than to ship it to a counwww.canadianinquirer.net

Filipinos hold up some of the garbage that was sent to Manila by shipping container last month.

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try across the Pacific Ocean.

Makris also said that he had exported “plastic for recycling” and other such shipments on many other occasions, without any issues; but that this time, he said that the containers may have been filled with garbage as “punishment” for his failure to meet the demands of a payoff.

To this date, the garbage has not been removed by Chronic Inc., and their business phones have since been disconnected.

The situation has ecological and environmental groups up in arms, as the containers have started leaking “garbage juice” as a result of the decomposing trash.

Furthermore, authorities estimate that the containers have cost the Philippine government over $1.5-million in storage fees at the already overcrowded and congested container terminal.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this unabashed attempt to dump hazardous waste misrepresented as recyclable plastics into our country,” Romy Hidalgo of

EcoWaste Coalition told reporters from the Inquirer on Tuesday.

Citing the Basel Convention, a United Nations treaty on hazardous waste materials, the Philippines says that the containers are in clear violation of the stipulation that countries are obliged to repatriate any “illegal traffic” seized overseas.

Meanwhile, Canadian foreign officials said that the repatriation of the trash has left them in a bind.

“Currently there are no domestic laws which the Government of Canada could apply to compel the shipper to return his containers to Canada,” the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said in a statement to the National Post.

“The Government of Canada is working with the shipper and the Government of the Philippines to find a solution to this waste shipment in the Philippines, in accordance with our two countries’ respective regulations and legislative frameworks,” that statement added. ■

Philippine News

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OCTOBER 24, 2014 FRIDAY

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An American boy plants American and Philippine flags beside a cross in a military graveyard. The recent alleged slaying of a transgendered Filipino by a US Marine is testing the military alliance of the two countries.

US EMBASSY MANILA / FLICKR

Probers question 4 US Marines on killing Suspect’s appearance “lawyer’s call”, says envoy

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer

four witnesses and swore them to their statements in accordance with Philippine law,” the embassy said.

The embassy cited this as another sign of its continued cooperation in the controversial case.

“The witnesses will be made available for the trial,” the statement said.

The statement did not say who the witnesses were, but Philippine authorities had previously said they wanted to question four US Marines who are believed to have witnessed the killing of Laude.

Another US Marine, Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton, is being investigated over the death of Laude, described by local police as a transgender sex worker.

on Tuesday as their statements had already been obtained.

It stressed that “whether the suspect will appear on Tuesday is a decision that he will make in consultation with his Philippine legal counsel, in accordance with Philippine law.”

Asked whether the four witnesses were still in the Philippines, US Embassy spokesperson Kurt Hoyer replied: “They are not here anymore.”

“NEWS NOT quite right,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg said this past Sunday, referring to reports that the United States would produce a US Marine suspected of killing a transgender Filipino and four other servicemen wanted as witnesses by investigators.

Goldberg twitted that under the bilatUS obligation eral Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), Told about the US Embassy statethe United States will make the suspect ment, Charles Jose, spokesperson for available, but whether the suspect apthe DFA, said: “That’s a legal question. pears in court is for his lawyer to decide.

That’s the call of the prosecutor.”

“We continue to fully cooperate and Jose said that under the VFA, the collaborate with PhilUnited States has an ippine authorities in obligation to make all aspects of the case available US military concerning the death personnel involved of [Jeffrey “Jennifer”] We continue to fully cooperate and in the case.

Laude,” he said. collaborate with Philippine authorities in all He said the US Goldberg said the aspects of the case concerning the death of Embassy and the US United States would [Jeffrey “Jennifer”] Laude. state department had continue to work issued statements closely with the Philthat they would coippine government “to ensure justice is operate. served and the rights of all persons are Subpoena served Jose said Admiral Samuel Locklear, protected.”

Olongapo City Prosecutor Emelie de commander of the US Pacific Command, He said the VFA made possible “close los Santos and Eduardo de Vega of the had ordered a lockdown and stopped coordination between the United States legal department of the the Department any US ships docked on Subic Bay from and Philippine authorities in investigat- of Foreign Affairs (DFA) handed a sub- leaving before investigations were coming Jennifer Laude’s case.” poena to US Embassy officials in Manila pleted.

In a statement issued yesterday, the on Friday for the appearance of Pember“Also, the Naval Criminal InvestigaUS Embassy said four witnesses gave ton and the four other Marines in the tive Service cooperated with the Philstatements to Philippine prosecutors in preliminary investigation on Tuesday. ippine National Police, which led to the the case involving the killing of Laude.

But the embassy said the four other “Last week, city prosecutors met with Marines would no longer have to appear ❱❱ PAGE 12 Probers question www.canadianinquirer.net

Philippine News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

9

Binay says...

“The DOJ can only intervene if there is a criminal investigation,” Remulla said in a phone interview.

Likewise, he said, there was no complainant against Binay in the DOJ. “But if the President supports the investigation, then the Vice President will cooperate and he recognizes the President’s authority,” Remulla said.

He said the Binay camp hoped De Lima would “perform her mandate and oath to be impartial.”

“We also have better chances of fairness and truth with Justice Secretary De Lima than the Senate subcommittee, which has been one-sided from the start,” Remulla said.

Palace officials the other day defended the decision of De Lima to investigate the alleged “systematic corruption” that happened during the terms of Binay as mayor of Makati City.

They said Malacañang supported the DOJ and other government agencies “for doing their job” and “carrying out ❰❰ 1

their duty and their mandate under relevant laws.”

Binay’s camp earlier questioned the authority of De Lima to investigate Binay, who is accused of allowing the rigging of city infrastructure projects and benefiting from kickbacks from favored contractors.

Binay is also accused of amassing unexplained wealth like a 350-hectare farm in Batangas province.

The Vice President has dismissed the allegations as political attacks by his detractors after he declared his intention to run for president in 2016.

Binay himself wondered about De Lima’s “sudden interest” in the allegations against him that were first raised in the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee looking into the alleged overprice of the Makati City Hall parking building, which was built when Binay was mayor.

The Binay camp yesterday distanced itself from former Makati Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado’s involvement in the construction of a P150-million hotel for the Boy Scouts of the

Jejomar Binay.

Philippines (BSP) in 2009 allegedly in exchange for Binay’s support of Mercado’s 2010 mayoral bid.

At the same time, Binay’s camp turned the tables on Mercado, who, it said, admitted to owning a construction company that built the BSP hotel in

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Los Baños, Laguna.

At the time, Binay was the BSP national president; he still is.

It said that during his term as vice mayor, the firm of Mercado cornered over P1 billion in city infrastructure projects while keeping his ownership of the

company secret.

In a statement, Remulla said the Binay camp would leave it to the BSP, which owns the BSP-International Makiling, to answer Mercado’s claim that he had advanced the money to build the hotel.

The hotel was constructed in late 2009, shortly before Mercado and Binay had a falling out that saw Binay pushing his son Jejomar Erwin’s candidacy for mayor of Makati in 2009.

Mercado said he helped in the construction of the hotel but it cost only from P60 million to P65 million, not P150 million.

Asked whether it was true that Mercado had advanced the money in exchange for Binay’s support for his mayoral bid in 2010, Binay’s spokesperson Joey Salgado said this was “another lie.”

“In late 2009, Mr. Mercado had already announced his break with the Vice President,” Salgado said, adding that it was the vice mayor who broke their political alliance which prompted Binay to field his son for mayor. ■

10

Philippine News

OCTOBER 24, 2014 FRIDAY

US Marine...

We don’t sleep without saying a prayer.

Where were you when this happened?” Julita Laude beseeched God. “She had so many dreams and that killer destroyed them all.”

U.S. authorities are co-operating in the investigation, and have ordered the ship to stay at the Subic Bay Freeport, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Manila, until it is completed.

The killing of Jennifer Laude, a 26-year-old transgender Filipino whose former name was Jeffrey, has sparked public anger in the Philippines and revived a debate over the U.S. military presence in a country seen

by Washington as a major ally in Southeast Asia. The nations signed a new accord in April that allows greater U.S. military access to Philippine military camps, part of Washington’s pivot back to Asia, where it wants to counter China’s rising might.

Philippine police have identified the suspect as U.S. Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton.

He was one of thousands of American and Philippine military personnel who took part in joint exercises earlier this month. He and other U.S. personnel were on leave in the city of Olongapo when Laude was found dead.

American investigators have worked with local police, but have not made public any details surrounding the case.

In interviews with The Associated Press, Philippine police and witnesses said that Laude met Pemberton at the Ambyanz, an Olongapo disco bar, in the late hours of Oct. 11.

At one point, they left friends at the bar and checked in at a nearby motel and got a room beside the reception desk.

About 30 minutes later, Pemberton walked out, leaving the door ajar, according to the motel staff.

A housekeeper entered the room to find Laude’s body, partly wrapped in bedsheet, in the bathroom. She had apparently been drowned in the toilet, according to police Chief Inspector Gil Domingo.

Two witnesses — a friend of Laude who was with them at the disco and the motel’s housekeeper — identified Pemberton in a gallery of pictures made available by U.S. military ❰❰ 1

U.S. Marine Pfc. Joseph Scott Pemberton (left) is accused of killing 26-year-old Jennifer Laude[right], a transgender Filipino.

authorities as the Caucasian appearance might spark more male seen with the victim at the criticism about the governbar and later at the motel, said ment’s inability to gain custody Olongapo Mayor Rolen Pau- of him. lino.

“The United States continues DNA tests were being carried to fully co-operate and collaboout on two condoms recovered rate with Philippine authorities from the bathroom, he said. in all aspects of the case,” the A housemate of Laude, who embassy said. identified herself only as AlexPhilippine officials have is, said the victim was a devout sought to limit any fallout from Catholic. In the house they Laude’s killing, describing it as shared, she pointed to a Christ- an isolated case unrelated to mas tree that Laude had only the treaty alliance. recently erected. There were “We are very committed to photos of Laude wearing a bi- this relationship,” State Dekini on the wall. partment spokeswoman Marie Accompanied by local police, Harf said Friday in WashingLaude’s family filed a murder ton. complaint Wednesday against Which of the two governPemberton with Olongapo ments has custody of U.S. miliprosecutors. tary personnel under criminal On Friday, Philippine authorities served a subpoena at the U.S. Embassy for She had so many dreams and Pemberton and killer destroyed them all. four other Marines, who were sought as witnesses, to appear Tuesday before prosecutors in Olongapo in a investigation is a ticklish issue. preliminary investigation. The The Visiting Forces Agreeprosecutors will decide if there ment, which allows U.S. forces is enough evidence for charges to conduct military drills in the to be filed in court.

Philippines, says that the PhilThe U.S. Embassy said Sun- ippines can prosecute Ameriday that prosecutors had met can service members, but that with the four witnesses. The the U.S. has custody over them embassy said it was up to the “from the commission of the ofsuspect whether to appear on fence until completion of all juTuesday, depending on the ad- dicial proceedings.” The Philipvice of his Philippine lawyers. pine Supreme Court, however, Under local laws, he could be ruled in 2009 that convicted represented by his lawyers at U.S. personnel must serve any the initial hearing, but any non- sentence in Philippine detenwww.canadianinquirer.net

tion.

Left-wing activists and nationalist Filipinos have cited the custody provision as proof that the accord was lopsided in favour of the U.S. and undermines the sovereignty of the Philippines, which was an American colony until 1946.

They recall a case of another Marine, Daniel Smith, who was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on charges of raping a Filipino woman after a night of drinking in 2005, also at the Subic Bay Freeport.

Smith was held at the U.S. Embassy in Manila until a Philippine appeals court overturned his conviction in 2009, allowing him to leave the country and sparking anti-U.S. protests.

Protests, typithat cally small, have again taken place in Manila and Olongapo. Most have been by left-wing activists, who have long called for an end to the U.S. presence in the country, as well as gay, lesbian and transgender groups that have labeled the killing a hate crime.

On Saturday, dozens of activists managed to enter the former U.S. naval base at Subic where the suspect’s ship is moored.

They chanted “U.S. troops out now” in the shadow of the USS Peleliu, and called for the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, in his first remark about the killing, said Monday that the important task was to gather all the details that would pin down the killer “so we will get justice.”

The Philippine president defended the accord. “Why would we abrogate the VFA? I mean, name me any place that doesn’t have a crime. And the sin of one person should be reflective of the entire country? I don’t think so,” Aquino said.

Paulino, the Olongapo mayor, confronted the protesters, saying his city of 280,000 people welcomed the American troops and backed the accord.

“We won’t agree for the VFA to be junked because it gives us a livelihood,” Paulino told a protest leader, saying visiting American troops filled restaurants and bolstered tourism.

When U.S. troops left Subic and nearby Clark Air Base in the early 1990s, ending nearly a century of American presence in the Philippines, “we went hungry,” Paulino said.

“Who came to help us? No one,” said the mayor, who owns a rent-a-car company and is a beer distributor in Olongapo.

At the funeral parlour, Laude’s best friend, Roann Dollette Labrador, said the victim had spoken about her death before.

“She mentioned that she wanted to die young, when she’s still fresh-looking,” Labrador said. “And once, she told me that she would like people to get hyped up and talk about her when her time comes.” ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

11

P-Noy backs De Lima on Binay probe–Palace

BY NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to work together to to bring resolution to the territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Philippines, Vietnam to cooperate amid sea row

BY NIÑA P. CALLEJA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE PHILIPPINES and Vietnam have agreed to work together to bring the territorial disputes in the South China Sea to the leaders of Europe and Asia during a retreat session scheduled last week at the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) in Milan, Italy.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario met on Thursday with Vietnam’s deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister Pham Binh Minh on the fringes of the biennial summit of leaders that brings together heads of states, ministers and senior officials of 51 Asian and European countries.

Vietnam and the Philippines have separate claims on several South China Sea territories. They both agree on letting the rule of law to ensure peace and stability in the region and have been vocal in opposing China’s sweeping territorial claims in the region.

According to a statement issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, Del Rosario and Minh expressed concern about the escalation of tensions in the South China Sea. The statement said Vietnam and the Philippines have committed to work to convince their Asem partners to sup-

MALACAÑANG THIS past weekend defended Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s probe into allegations of corruption against Vice President Jejomar Binay even as his allies singled out the official for her “unusual” interest in the case.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Palace supported the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other government agencies for “doing their job” and “carrying out their duty and their mandate under relevant laws.”

However, Valte did not say whether or not President Aquino had given De Lima the go-signal to investigate Binay.

“Secretary De Lima and the DOJ are only performing their mandate . . . It would be difficult if the issue would be that they are not performing their mandate,” Valte said on government-run Radyo ng Bayan.

Valte also said that De Lima, as justice secretary, has proven that “she does not work based on personality... [but] based on the facts and circumstances that have

port the effective implementation of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and the expeditious conclusion of the Code of Conduct.

“These activities [referring to unilateral actions in the South China Sea] are in contravention of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and are contrary to the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea,” said Del Rosario who represented President Aquino at the summit.

Del Rosario underscored the core issue in the dispute as China’s “ninedash line” position, an expansive claim of “indisputable sovereignty” over nearly the entire South China Sea. Del Rosario also brought up the recent statement of the president of the European Union Council Herman Van Rompuy, encouraging the Philippines to pursue its maritime disputes with China and defend the Philippine position in accordance with the rule of law.

During Mr. Aquino’s recent visit to Brussels as part of his European tour, the Philippines and European Union agreed that territorial disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved through international arbitration Minh commended the Philippine government in actively pursuing the issue in all international forums. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

been presented.”

Binay’s allies also criticized De Lima for supposedly dragging President Aquino into the fray after she said that only the Chief Executive could stop her department from investigating the Vice President.

Alter ego

Valte defended De Lima, saying the President was De Lima’s “direct superior and the secretary of justice is the alter ego of the President.”

“Perhaps it was just a nod, instead of Secretary De Lima saying that no one can stop her. Maybe that’s just it. If you take those two statements, it was just a nod and an acknowledgment that she is an alter ego of a higher position. I don’t think she intended to drag the President into anything,” Valte said.

Binay is accused of “systematic corruption” when he was mayor of Makati City by taking kickbacks from city projects.

Binay and his supporters deny the accusations, saying the corruption issue raised against him was merely part of an organized plan to derail his presidential bid in 2016. ■

12

Philippine News

OCTOBER 24, 2014 FRIDAY

‘Corruption, extortion still pervasive at ports’

BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer AFTER THE port congestion, truckers now have to cough up extra money to pay unscrupulous individuals so they can unload empty container vans in yards, Filipino-Chinese businessmen told a Senate hearing last week.

The lifting of truck ban in Manila has led to the smooth movement of trucks in and out of the Port of Manila (POM) and the Manila International Container Port (MICT), easing congestion, government officials told senators.

But a new challenge has emerged: moving empty containers from the importers back to the shipping lines through the container yards.

And if the yard could not absorb these, truckers could not go back to the ports to take on the load. This has resulted in bottlenecks.

As a result, importers are now complaining against additional charges “for not re-

turning containers” within 72 hours, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras told the Senate trade, finance and ways and means committees.

On top of this, truckers have had to pay “under the table fees” just for container yards to accommodate the empty vans, said Melesa “Elsie” Chua, executive director of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. In the past, truckers asked for P100 for afternoon snack, Chua said.

“Now people are taking advantage of it because they know the frustration of how to return the empties (empty vans). Even if you have the pre-alert advice, if you don’t do those under the table, they will not accept their empties. So you’re forced to good to give it to them,” Chua told the committee.

Albert Suansing, director of the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines, confirmed this.

He said checkers of shipping lines would tell truckers that there was no more space for the

After the lifting of the truck ban in Manila ports, importers are complaining of a extra "under the table" fee for returning empty containers back to port.

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empty vans, unless they cough up money.

“If you’re the trucker, you’d rather shell out money to offload the containers,” Suansing said in response to trade committee chair, Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV. Suansing said he was willing to coordinate with the government to identify shipping lines personnel extorting money from the truckers.

“I’ve been telling shipping line executives that their checkers could be richer than them,”

Laude counsel says ‘US spy’ on his trail

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer

he said.

But Chua and Suansing did not mention figures.

Congestion at the two ports had raised shipping costs, led to cancelled orders, and idled about 20,000 workers in special economic zones, officials told the senators in August.

Christian Gonzalez, president of port operator ICTSI, confirmed that extortion continued in the ports.

“Everybody is guilty here.

If someone is taking a truck inside ICTSI, I guarantee you

there’s a security guard asking for money,” he said.

“Another place where the shipping lines are complaining about is the berthing. Your ships can’t get in unless you give bribe,” he added.

Gonzalez said the extortion had persisted even if the system shifted to computerization. He said the worst form is that a person collecting money for a transaction that has been approved.

“The real problem now are people collecting money, promising that they will effectively trigger a transaction that in reality has been approved,” he said.

Almendras said the government was now studying several options to curb this practice.

Gonzalez proposed a paperless technology that involved less people.

“This is a whole culture where we can automate. We can automate but you can’t automate a security guard and traffic enforcer in Parola. Unfortunately, you need the guy with the gun,” he said. ■

Probers question... early identification and detention of the suspect,” Jose said.

US Embassy spokesperson Anna Richey said on Saturday that Pemberton was being held on board the USS Peleliu pending the investigation into the death of Laude.

The Peleliu remains docked on Subic Bay. Other US vessels that took part in joint exercises with the Philippines left last week. ❰❰ 8

where I went, there was an American man who was following me,” Roque told reporters in an interview.

Told in jest that the man might just be a fan, the lawyer who has handled high-profile cases joked: “He’s not a fan. He did not ask for a selfie.”

Roque described the man to

lawyer said.

“Once I leave, I will see him there. That’s why I’m getting pissed…. He also talks to peoIS AN “American spy” stalking ple I already talked to,” Roque Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude’s lead siad. lawyer?

He said this was why it was Harry Roque believes so and urgent that his three witnesshe is concerned there may be es—all of whom identified Pemothers surveilling his witnessberton to be the last person es. seen with Laude The lawyer before she was of the family of killed—be placed the transgender on with the WitFilipino slain in Once I leave, I will see him ness Protection Olongapo City there . . . He also talks to people Program. a week ago beI already talked to.

“If the lawyer lieves he is being can be followed followed, likely openly by an in an attempt to American, I’m “check what evisure they are aldence I have” against Pfc. Jo- be “buff” and sporting a mili- ready following the witnesses seph Scott Pemberton, the US tary haircut. and they (witnesses) might be Marine suspect in the killing.

“I went to the [Olongapo] fis- intimidated by their presence,” “Since arriving in Olongapo cal’s office, the American was he said. on Wednesday, when we fin- there. I went to the police staSought for comment, US Emished discussing the case with tion, the American was there. bassy spokesperson Kurt Hoyer the [Laude] family and I started I went to the house of one wit- said Roque’s story was “ridicumy own investigation, every- ness, he was also there,” the lous and absolutely untrue.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Defense ties issue

The killing of Laude has grabbed national headlines and become an issue in the defense ties between the Philippines and the United States.

Police said they found Laude half-naked on the bathroom floor of a motel room on the night of Oct. 11 with more than a dozen bruises, cuts and bite marks.

They said Laude, who had checked in with the suspect just over an hour earlier, had died from “asphyxia by drowning.”

Police and the prosecutor named the suspect as Pemberton, attached to a North Carolina-based unit that had just

taken part in the joint military exercises.

Under the VFA, the suspect will be charged in a Philippine court but custody will remain with the Americans unless the US government waives this.

Philippine diplomats have said they will ask for his custody once an arrest warrant is issued but it is not clear if the United States will grant this.

Following the hearings, which could take days or weeks, the prosecutor can either bring criminal charges or drop the case. If Pemberton is charged with murder and convicted, he could face life in prison.

The Philippines has said the politically charged case should not be allowed to derail longstanding defense ties, amid growing public pressure for Pemberton to be handed over into Philippines custody.

The Philippines agreed in March to allow US forces wider temporary access to Filipino military facilities under a new deal called Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca). ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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Proposed Bangsamoro... as they can be implemented through the national government, and guided by relevant laws such as on firearms and the like.

According to the proposed law, the future Bangsamoro government has primary responsibility for public order and safety within the Bangsamoro. The Chief Minister of the Bangsamoro government will exercise operational control and supervision over the regional police force.

“Consistent with the Constitution, the Bangsamoro Police force will be under the command and direction of the PNP chief and the administrative control and supervision of the National Police Commission. The recruitment, training and promotion of personnel, the acquisition of firearms and other adjunct services shall remain under the PNP’s jurisdiction,” Ferrer explained.

The chief negotiator said that operational control and supervision over the local police, including deployment of police units within the area or jurisdiction are powers given to local chief executives under the PNP law, or Republic Act No. 6975 as amended by Republic Act No. 8551.

“As proposed, the power will be exercised at the level of the Chief Minister, the chief executive of the autonomous entity,” Coronel-Ferrer said.

According to the Bangsamoro bills in the House and in the Senate, “the Bangsamoro Police shall be professional, civilian in character, regional in scope, effective and efficient in law enforcement, fair and impartial, free from partisan political control, and accountable under the law for its actions.”

It shall be headed by a Bangsamoro Police Director and assisted by at least ❰❰ 4

two deputies with the rank of at least Police Chief Superintendent.

It is assumed that one deputy will be assigned in the Central Mindanao part of the Bangsamoro while the other deputy will be posted in the islands.

Moreover, the bill provides for the creation of a Bangsamoro Police Board that will be part of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) and perform the functions of the latter in the Bangsamoro region.

The Napolcom shall ensure that the Bangsamoro Police Board performs its powers and functions within the bounds of its authority.

On the question of whether the PNP chief can countermand the order of the Chief Minister, Coronel-Ferrer affirmed that this could happen.

“On police matters that have implications beyond the Bangsamoro region, certainly the PNP chief will have the major say as it will involve other provincial and regional police offices or the relevant anti-crime offices,” she said.

“For example, when a criminal element is moving from outside of the Bangsamoro to its territory, then there would be that kind of imperative on the part of the PNP chief to directly order the regional police chief of the Bangsamoro to act in coordination with the other units.”

The Napolcom also can exercise its authority over the Bangsamoro Police Board, where the Chief Minister, as proposed in the bill, will serve as ex-officio chair.

“The Chief Minister exercises delegated powers as a member of the Bangsamoro Police Board. The (Bangsamoro) regional police force remains under the administrative control of the Napolcom,” Ferrer said. ■

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Academician says PHL can compete with other countries in terms of genetic engineering

BY JADE D. MIGUEL Philippine News Agency LOS BANOS, Laguna — What our country only needs are smart minds, said Dr. Emil Javier, an academician from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), in relation to the Philippines' competitiveness in terms of genetic engineering.

A method used in developing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), genetic engineering is being utilized by the country's resource centers particularly the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) in developing crops with increased yield and nutritional qualities.

"Other technologies are costly, in genetic engineering, we only need smart minds to be able to compete with other countries," Javier said adding that the Philippines is a bit ahead from other Southeast Asian nations in terms of genetic engineering, or more commonly known as modern biotechnology.

One example of the country's innovation using modern biotechnology is the development of Bt eggplant or the pest resistant eggplant which SEARCA, along with other science experts, has introduced to farmers' groups Tuesday in a public dialogue held at the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB).

The Crop Science Cluster-Institute of Plant Breeding at UPLB is currently developing the Bt eggplant in the country through partnership with Mahyco and

www.canadianinquirer.net

Cornell University, and support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) and the Department of Agriculture (DA).

These agencies ensure the biosafety of the said crop before its commercialization through contained research in laboratories and greenhouses, small limited confined field trial, multi-location field trials, and commercial propagation.

Though the country maximizes modern biotechnology through its available resources, Javier said that farmers must be equipped with the best technology to compete with other nations in terms of agricultural yield.

On the country's capacity and readiness to be globally competitive on the upcoming ASEAN integration by 2015, Javier stressed that the "nation which has the best technology wins."

"If you want to fight and compete, you have to give us all the tools. Our farmers are being left behind and are not able to compete because they need new technology," he stressed.

With the commercialization of Bt eggplant, science and agriculture experts said the use of the said crop would give farmers higher yields, good quality fruits, lessen production and labor costs due to less pesticide that the eggplant will need to control pests.

When the Bt eggplant is approved for commercial release, proponents said that both seeds of the Bt open-pollinated and hybrid varieties will be made available to farmers. ■

14

Philippine News

OCTOBER 24, 2014 FRIDAY

Breakthrough seen in dengue treatment

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) has adopted a two-day regimen that combats dengue, a mosquito-borne disease that has claimed the lives of at least 1,680 people in more than 416,000 cases reported in the Philippines over the past three years.

Called “ActRx TriAct,” the regimen consists of a single use of an Artemether sublingual spray combined with doses of Artesunate and Berberine tablets.

Artemether and Artesunate are derivatives of Artemisium, which, for more than 5,000 years, has been used effectively in Chinese medical treatments for malaria. After five years of study and testing, the treatment was discovered by Preferred and Proven Therapies Inc., a firm operating at the former Clark Air Base in Pampanga province in collaboration with ActRx Foundation, an international humanitarian and medical research group based in North Palm Beach, Florida, in the United States.

The DOH has yet to formally announce the breakthrough.

But Health Secretary Enrique Ona has issued Department Order No. 2014-0161 calling for the “implementation of a national antidengue program utilizing ActRx TriAct for the treatment of dengue by the Philippine National Institute of Traditional and Alternative Health Care (PITAHC).”

In the Sept. 24 directive, a copy of which was obtained by the INQUIRER, Ona said that “in line with its mandate to protect public health and guarantee public access to essential drugs, the DOH—in collaboration with PITAHC and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)—shall make available and integrate the ActRx TriAct treatment into the national health-care program for dengue.”

He also called for the inclusion of ActRx TriAct in the Philippine National Drug Formulary, “subject to the review by the Formulary Executive Council in accordance with existing rules and regulations.”

Remarkable results

Ona said that “on March 15,

The Department of Health has adopted a two-day regimen that combats Dengue Fever, a potentialy deadly disease that is spread by mosquitos such as the Aedes albopictus mosquito (pictured).

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Preferred and Proven Therapies Inc., ActRx Foundation and ActRx Operational Group, together with PITAHC and San Lazaro Hospital for Infectious Diseases medical research team, presented a report showing the remarkable success of the clinical trials conducted at San Lazaro Hospital on ActRx TriAct, a patented herbal-based combination of Artesunate, Berberine and Artemether as therapy treatment for dengue.”

“After its independent study, the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the DOST likewise noted the remarkable results of ActRx TriAct and fully endorsed the implementation of a national program using the said treatment,” he said.

Ona quoted prominent physician Jaime Montoya as saying that a “review of the [ActRx TriAct] protocol shows that it is scientifically valid and sound to be carried out in hospitals.”

That was why the “integration of the ActRx TriAct treatment in the standard of care and management of dengue incidents in the Philippines” is warranted, Ona said.

He noted that “currently, there is no specific treatment for dengue.”

“The standard of care administered to patients afflict-

ed with dengue involves only maintenance of the patient’s body fluid volume and relief of symptoms,” he said.

Epidemic

According to Ona, “dengue in the Philippines has in recent years become an epidemic.”

In 2012, there were 187,031 cases of dengue with 921 deaths, as reported by the National Epidemiology Center of the DOH. In 2013, the DOH recorded 204,906 dengue cases and 660 deaths. Peak incidence occurred during the wet season [so] the rainy season has become synonymous with “dengue outbreak season.”

This year, some “24,900 cases have resulted in [at least] 100 deaths, or a ratio of one fatality for every 249 cases,” Ona said.

Aside from San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, the agency has authorized state-run hospitals to administer ActRx TriAct treatments to dengue patients: East Avenue Medical Center, Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, Quirino Memorial Medical Center and Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital, among others.

Global significance

Robert Steele, ActRx Founwww.canadianinquirer.net

dation board chair, said the discovery of a cure for dengue “has both global and historical significance.”

“The data, charts and research findings are quite technical and may be daunting to nondoctors. But allow me to declare it in the simplest way possible: Dengue has been cured,” he said.

In a statement, Steele asserted that “soon, the rest of the world will no longer live in fear or die from this dreaded disease.”

ActRx Foundation, he vowed, “will work closely with the DOH to make the cure available on a nationwide scale.”

Ceiling price

To ensure that the antidengue treatment will be accessible and affordable, Steele said the foundation would set a “ceiling price for a single, full-cycle treatment.”

“Profit was never ever our motivation for doing this. Quite literally, we are in the business of saving lives and we want to do it now,” he added.

Upon the treatment’s initial nationwide rollout, which will be made shortly, Steele’s group plans to donate some 100,000 treatments to the DOH “for distribution to indigent dengue

sufferers.”

For his part, Climate Change Commissioner Heherson Alvarez referred to ActRx TriAct as “another excellent example of President Aquino’s publicprivate partnership program working for the good of the Filipino people.”

“The Climate Change Commission has been supporting this research since Day 1. One of the adverse side effects of climate change is the likely increase of vector-borne diseases, such as dengue and malaria.

But now that we have this cure, that’s one less worry to deal with and we can focus more on solutions to other climate change-related problems,” he told the INQUIRER. Alvarez, who worked diligently with ActRx Foundation to get DOH involvement and approval of the cure, explained that “the impact of dengue on the Philippines goes beyond morbidity and mortality.”

The disease “crosses socioeconomic barriers, devastates communities, delays urban planning initiatives and puts a tremendous strain on local governments and state hospitals,” he said.

“The discovery of ActRx TriAct will change all that,” Alvarez said. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

15

Palawan dubbed Top Island in the World by US travel mag

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — The small island of Palawan, according to most readers in a survey conducted by a US travel magazine Conde Nast Traveler magazine, is the top island destination in the world.

Palawan snagged the top spot after receiving a reader’s rating of 88.750 in the magazine’s annual Reader’s Choice Awards for being home to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River, its critically-acclaimed underground river.

There were 30 islands that made it to the top island destination list released Monday.

Aside from Palawan, Boracay Island in Aklan also made it to the top island destination list, clinching the 12th spot with a

rating of 82.683.

The magazine mentioned that Palawan's natural wonder is “one of the longest underground rivers in the world.”

It also took note of the guided boat tours that would “take visitors down a portion of the waterway, where karsts, natural rock formations created by dissolving limestone, loom in every direction.”

Meanwhile, it gave Boracay credit for its “gentle coastlines and transporting sunsets.” It also took note of the island’s “thriving nightlife scene.”

Other islands on the list were Kiawah Island, South Carolina; Maui, Hawaii; Kauai, Hawaii; Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique; Great Barrier Reef and Whitsunday Islands, Australia; Santorini and Cyclades, Greece; St. John, US Virgin Islands; Kangaroo Island, Australia; and

Big Island, Hawaii in 2nd to 10th place, respectively.

The Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Survey started in 1988 while the magazine itself began traveling the globe tracking down journeys since 1987.

Its website, CNTraveler.com also allows readers to tap into a living global archive of the very best hotels, restaurants, shops, itineraries, beaches, villages, and villas.

Palawan and Boracay account for two of the most visited tourist destinations in the Philippines, according to the Department of Tourism (DOT).

In fact, the two destinations are featured in the DOT’s official television commercials (TVCs) aired internationally and can also be viewed on video-sharing website, YouTube. ■

Mayon Volcano.

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President Aquino vows relentless pursuit of Abu Sayyaf Group

Mayon quiets down yet again; not yet time to raise alert level

PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer

“Masyadong matagal nang problema itong Abu Sayyaf na ito (The problem with the Abu Sayaff has persisted for so long already)… It affects our relationships with various neighboring states, na wala silang humpay at palagay ko naman dapat rin tapatan ng estado na walang humpay ang pagtugis sa kanila (that they will not stop, and in my opinion we should match up by relentlessly pursu-

bah in eastern Malaysia.

The couple was released last Friday (October 17) after a ransom was reportedly paid to MANILA — President Benigno ASG. S. Aquino III said on MonAsked by reporters if govday that the government will ernment funds were part of relentlessly pursue the Abu the ransom to free the German Sayyaf Group (ASG) as it has couple, the President replied: strained the country’s relation“Nothing came from the Ofship with its neighbors. fice of the President. I can as“Wala nang safe area ( from sure you that. I didn’t authorize the Abu Sayyaf ); talagang kaianything from the Office of the langan walang President.” tigil ang pagha“Ang focus ko habol sa kanila. doon ay ‘yung At ‘yan ang onAbu Sayyaf (Our going ngayon, focus there is on (There is no safe There is no safe area [from the the Abu Sayaff ) area [from the Abu Sayaff]; the hunt should be rather than the Abu Sayaff ]; the persistent. And that is already ransom.

‘Yon hunt should be ongoing. ang tinatrabaho persistent. And ko (that is what that is already I am working ongoing.)” the on) together President said with the (Armed during a media interview in ing them),” he said.

Forces) Chief of Staff, the Chief Palo, Leyte, where he comGerman nationals Viktor Ste- of the PNP (Philippine Nationmemorated the 70th anni- fan Okonek, 71, and Henrike Di- al Police), the SND (Secretary versary of the landing in the eter, 55, were abducted by the of National Defense), and the province of Allied forces led by group in April after their yacht SILG (Secretary of Interior General Douglas MacArthur broke down near the island of and Local Government),” he during World War II. Palawan while en route to Sa- added. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

LEGAZPI CITY, PHILIPPINES — Fresh lava once more spewed from Mayon Volcano last Sunday, raising renewed fears of eruption. But volcanic activity is now expected to quiet down again, and the lava flow has ceased for the time being, the Philippine Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

Eduardo Laguerta, Legazpi City’s resident volcanologist said: “The volcano is building up pressure again after the lava flow has stopped,” adding the “pressure of the volcano now is not enough to again push the magma to the upper portion.”

Laguerta explained that the magma inside the volcano was moving up slowly, thereby resulting in the 350-meter lava flow observed on the eastern side of Bonga Gully on Sunday.

At this point, Laguerta said, it may still be pre-emptive to raise the alert level, as the volcano remains swollen due to a big volume of magma slowly mov-

ing up the crater. This, however, is indicative of an impending eruption, he noted, with Philvolcs recording two volcanic earthquakes and four rockfall events on Tuesday morning.

On September 15, the local government unit evacuated 54,693 people from the towns of Guinobatan, Malilipot, Camalig, Daraga, Sto Domingo and the cities of Ligao and Tabaco as Mayon’s alert level was raised to 3.

This prompted the national government to deliver relief goods and food packages by caravan to Albay; some of which had already gone bad when the delivery was received on Sunday.

Arnel Garcia, director of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Bicol, clarified, however, that “only 0.1 percent” (32 food packages) of the 22,450 packs delivered were spoiled.

He surmised that the food spoiled during the weekend delivery.

“All of these were released but we assure that we will replace these,” he said. ■

Opinion

16

OCTOBER 24, 2014 FRIDAY

PUBLIC LIVES

Ebola: diary of a global outbreak

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer ONE DAY in early December 2013, a two-year-old child from Guéckédou town in Guinea, West Africa, developed high fever, black stools, and vomiting.

No one knew what the boy had or how he got it. He could have picked it up from a half-eaten fruit laced with the saliva of an Ebola-infected fruit bat.

When we were children, I remember scooping from the ground sweet chicos and mangoes on which bats had feasted the previous night, with no regard for viruses that could be lurking in them. The Ebola virus, which was first detected in 1976, has been traced to wild animals.

In any event, that child became “patient zero”—the starting point of what the World Health Organization has now declared a “global health emergency.” The toddler died on Dec. 6, followed by his mother on Dec. 13, his three-year-old sister on Dec. 29, and his grandmother on Jan. 1. The disease quickly spread after people from the surrounding villages attended the grandmother’s funeral.

On July 23, 2014, the organization Doctors Without Borders announced that the disease was out of control.

From its epicenter in Guinea, it had quickly spread to neighboring Libe-

ria and Sierra Leone. In West Africa this also suggests that if an infected the apartment that Duncan was rentalone, 8,000 cases of Ebola infection person is strong enough to be moving ing, requested him to accompany them have been recorded since March. around, chances are he/she may not to the hospital because there was no More than half of the patients have yet be highly infectious. ambulance available. Four days later, died. Someone warned that there Of course, this offers no assurance on Sept. 19, Duncan left for America, could be 10,000 additional cases ev- to international travelers. Last July 25, taking a Brussels Airlines flight to ery week for the next few months Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian-American, Belgium, where he boarded a United if the virus continues to spread at was on his way home from Liberia to Airlines flight to Washington’s Dulles its present pace. No cure has been Minnesota in the United States. He Airport. Duncan did not reveal his confound, and no vaccine is yet available. collapsed while waiting for his flight in tact with the disease in a questionnaire Some experimental drugs are being Lagos, Nigeria. Sawyer never reached he filled out at the Monrovia airport. tried, but their effectiveness remains the United States. He was taken to a From Washington, he took another inconclusive. The UA flight, arriving rate of survival from in Dallas early in the the disease, which evening of Sept. 20.

We live in a world where we are all connected . . . by has an incubation There he stayed with airplanes that can bring disease from anywhere in a day. period of 21 days his girlfriend and her from infection, is at 20-40 percent.

Nigerian hospital, where he died. Dur- five children.

Though the Ebola virus is not air- ing his brief confinement, he infected a On Sept. 24, he complained of high borne, it is easily transferred through couple of healthcare workers, who also fever and abdominal pain, prompting the body fluids and secretions of in- died from the Ebola virus. his partner to take him to the emergency fected persons. It can enter through But, last September, someone like room of the Texas Health Presbyterian the eyes, through mucous mem- Sawyer left Liberia to visit his kin in Hospital. Again, when asked, he lied branes, and through breaks in the America and managed to reach his about his contact with the disease. He skin. Like the AIDS virus, it can also be destination in Dallas, Texas. His name was diagnosed with a mild viral infectransferred through sexual contact. was Thomas Eric Duncan, a 41-year- tion and sent home with a prescription of The more advanced the symptoms, old personal driver from Monrovia, antibiotics. Four days later, he was back the greater the saturation of the body Liberia, who became the first Ebola in the same hospital with more severe with the virus. The remains of people virus victim to be diagnosed in the symptoms. On Sept. 30, Duncan’s Ebola who die from the disease are thus at United States. How he contracted the diagnosis was confirmed, and he was their most infectious when they are virus is worth retelling. given the experimental drug “Brincidoabout to be buried, which is when relOn Sept. 15, Duncan helped carry fovir.” He, however, could not be saved. atives and friends tend to gather near an Ebola victim, Marthalene Williams, On Oct. 8, he became the first person to the diseased. But, on the bright side, into a taxi. The girl’s family, who owned die from Ebola in the United States.

Unfortunately, two nurses who had attended to Duncan during his stay at the Texas hospital got infected and developed the same symptoms a few days later. One of them, 26-year-old Nina Pham, has been placed in isolation in a National Institutes of Health special facility following her Ebola diagnosis. The other, Amber Joy Vinson of Cleveland, Ohio, is now being treated at the Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. This is the same hospital where, months earlier, two missionaries who had worked with patients in Liberia, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, were brought and treated with the experimental drug “ZMapp.”

Both Brantly and Writebol have survived and have been discharged.

There was an early suggestion to seal Ebolastricken Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone from the rest of the world by banning travel to and from these hapless African countries. No thought could be more misguided; doing so will only make the disease impossible to track down. As Tom Frieden of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put it: “We live in a world where we are all connected by the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and by airplanes that can bring disease from anywhere in a day.” ■

ANALYSIS

Doubts on ‘daang matuwid’

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer CANBERRA—Malacañang disputes recent survey results showing that only three of 10 Filipinos believe President Aquino has delivered on his promise of “daang matuwid” (straight path).

A survey conducted by Pulse Asia on Sept. 8-15, the results of which were released on Monday, revealed that 29 percent of the respondents believe Mr. Aquino has delivered on his promise, but 36 percent believe he failed. The survey also revealed that three out of four Filipinos (34 percent) are ambivalent on the issue, which matters a lot to the credibility of “daang matuwid” as a norm of good governance.

The result that the administration found dismaying was that pluralities in Metro Manila (36 percent) and Luzon (45 percent)—the most populous and outspoken of the regions of the country—think Mr. Aquino failed to execute his well-propagated “daang matuwid” approach. Forty-three percent of Visayans are ambivalent on the issue, while 43 percent of the people of Mindanao believe that the promise was carried out—results that also proved

disconcerting to the administration. matuwid’ has been an ongoing cam- cent difficulties” were “a snapshot Pulse Asia said the survey was con- paign for the past four years. Why is of the prevailing experiences … when ducted during a period when the me- it that [the people of Pulse Asia] con- the survey was taken” and would dia were reporting on the President’s ducted the survey on it now?” have an impact on the response of request to Congress for emergency Perhaps he should be asked: the people. Taking a potshot at the powers to address the expected power Where was he during the past four methodology of the pollster, Lacierda shortage in 2015 and on his expression years when Pulse Asia was monitor- cited the survey results showing that of trust for Philippine National Police ing public opinion on the “straight only 29 percent of the respondents Director General Alan Purisima amid path”? Maybe he could have been lost believe that Mr. Aquino has delivered calls that the latter resign because of in the wilderness, led astray by mark- on his promise and that 36 percent accusations of corruption. ers of the trail that is not as straight think he failed and 34 percent are Malacañang has gotten used to as it is claimed to be. undecided. Lacierda insisted that it listening to and believing in its own Lacierda did acknowledge that would be “difficult for [them] to conpropaganda that the “straight path” the survey took place “on the heels textualize the results … because they is the key to high economic growth of recent controversies that the ad- do not know the sentiments of the and reduced povpeople before the erty, even without survey. Is it lower? . . . 36 percent of Filipinos believe that the President has sound economic Is it higher?” And failed to deliver on his promise to lead the country toward the programs including while only 29 per“daang matuwid” [straight path]. building infrastruccent said they agree ture and creating jobs. Now it finds ministration [was] experiencing.” He with the President’s “daang matuit hard to accept that 36 percent of said the survey results were probably wid” campaign, 34 percent are amFilipinos believe that the President influenced by those controversies. He bivalent, “which means they have an has failed to deliver on his promise to lamented that public sentiment to- open mind,” he said. lead the country toward the “daang ward the “daang matuwid” program He did not elaborate on what the matuwid.” Malacañang spokesper- “cannot be contextualized because of “controversies” and “difficulties” were, son Edwin Lacierda rejected the lack of prior surveys containing the although he mentioned the particular contention that Filipinos were not same set of questions.” He declined to issues besetting the nation at the time satisfied with the administration’s relate the survey results to the Presi- the survey was conducted, which, he program, and wondered about the dent’s refusal to sack PNP chief Puri- said, were responsible for the negative timing of the Pulse Asia survey. sima, who is facing plunder charges at results on the administration’s tireless “That is not correct,” Lacierda told the Office of the Ombudsman. gospels on good governance. reporters at a briefing. “The ‘ daang Lacierda explained that the “reThe issues include the President’s

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request for emergency powers to cope with the looming power crisis, the transmittal to Congress of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, calls for the resignation of Purisima amid the prevalence of crimes involving policemen, the foiled bombing attempt on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the current Senate inquiry into the allegedly overpriced Makati City Hall Building II, calls from some congressmen to impeach Vice President Jejomar Binay, the dismissal by Congress of impeachment complaints against Mr. Aquino, and the suspension of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, who is facing plunder charges at the Sandiganbayan.

Lacierda declined to say whether Mr. Aquino’s defense of Purisima had taken a toll on the administration.

“The President also said he’s not exonerating Purisima. All he is saying is, Let’s give the person a chance to defend himself, and he is doing that,” Lacierda said.

With all these difficulties piling up all at the same time, the administration appears to be overwhelmed by the pressure. Its responses reveal that it is alarmed at the erosion of the credibility of its centerpiece governance program—the “straight path.” ■

Opinion

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

17

AS I SEE IT

Binay overstaying as BSP president

By Neal H. Cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer JEJOMAR BINAY has this habit of overstaying. He and his wife and son have been overstaying as mayors of Makati; and Binay himself has been overstaying as national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines (BSP).

Binay is the longest-serving president of BSP, having been first elected to it in 1994. BSP’s previous presidents served only two- to threeyear terms. Binay has been clinging to the BSP presidency for 20 years.

Former Makati vice mayor Ernesto Mercado, principal whistle-blower against Binay, was senior BSP vice president for only three years, from 2004 to 2007. It is easy to see why Binay does not want to give up the BSP presidency: it has a membership of 2 million, many of whom are no longer boys but adult voters. Imagine the advantage of having an organization with a potential 2 million votes (parents and siblings of boy scouts also tend to be loyal to the organization).

I used to be a boy scout myself,

when I was in school and I spent panicking. Who wouldn’t, with all throw in the towel to save his fighter some of my happiest times there. I that dirt being revealed by his for- from further punishment. That’s still remember the Scout oath: “On mer associates and the big drop in his what Binay’s handlers should also do: my honor I will do my duty to my trust ratings? He and his mouthpiec- Throw in the towel.

God and my country, and to obey the es are desperately trying to stop the It is plain to see that Binay is takScout Law…. hemorrhage, but because of panic, ing a beating. That is why the Binay “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, help- they are making mistakes. camp is panicking. They can see the ful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedi“Lalaban tayo (We will fight back)” presidency of the Philippines slipent, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, rev- are Binay’s brave words in response ping away from their grasp. In their erent,” or words to that effect. to the slings and arrows that are com- panic, they are making mistakes in Does Binay fit into these? Judging ing his way. But that is not what he is trying to prevent Binay from being by recent news and survey reports, he doing. He is desperately asking for knocked out. fails on the very first qualification— mercy.

One mistake: They concocted trustw orthiness. the cockand-bull As a former scout, story of an alleged Shouldn’t we change the BSP national president with I can say that be“Oplan Stop Nogsomebody more trustworthy and who lives by the Scout rules? cause of the teachnog in 2016.” When ings and experiences of scouts while One day he attacks P-Noy’s admin- nobody fell for that, somebody must they were still young, they try to live istration, but the next day he runs to have said during one of their meetby these rules when they grow up the Palace to ask for forgiveness and ings: “The best defense is offense.” to adulthood. Alas, it does not seem help. He is like a boxer who punches So Binay went on the offensive by atso with the organization’s national his opponent and then clinches. That’s tacking P-Noy’s administration and president, this, in the eyes of a good not the way a good boxer fights. He at the same time defending former number of Filipinos. should ask his star senatorial candi- president Gloria Arroyo in an atShouldn’t we change the BSP na- date (and potential moneybag), Man- tempt to get the sympathy of her suptional president with somebody ny Pacquiao, how to fight properly. porters. Another mistake. more trustworthy and who lives by He should also ask boxing managThe next day, Justice Secretary the Scout rules? ers and coaches what to do when your Leila de Lima ordered the National *** man is losing a fight. When his boxer Bureau of Investigation to investiVice President Binay’s camp is is taking a beating, a good coach will gate the allegations of corruption

against Binay. So they turned their guns on De Lima. That only made the feisty justice secretary angrier. The next day, De Lima hit back at Binay in a speech that hinted at the guilt of Binay. She said that only the President and the Ombudsman can stop her from going through with the investigation. Do you get what she meant by that? It was P-Noy himself who gave her the go-signal.

That’s when Binay asked the help of friends to arrange a meeting between him and the President. Binay’s mouthpieces said the meeting lasted three hours, but they did not say that Binay was made to wait for two-anda-half hours, and that the President and he talked for only 30 minutes.

During that half-hour, Binay allegedly swore that he was not referring to the President when he attacked his administration, that he was being harassed, and asked P-Noy to stop the Senate from investigating him.

“If you are innocent, what are you afraid of?” P-Noy reportedly replied.

Since Binay is afraid, can that mean that he knows further investigation will reveal his guilt? ■

AT LARGE

Tangential issues

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer A TANGENTIAL issue in the case of the killing of Jennifer (aka Jeffrey) Laude, a transgender individual, in a motel room in Olongapo City allegedly by an American Marine taking part in war games here, is the “nature” of Jennifer and whether she was plying the “world’s oldest profession” or was merely out for a good time.

Stories have come out about Jennifer’s German boyfriend who said they had plans to get married and that he had intended to take her back home with him to save his fiancée from her “dangerous” life in the Philippines.

Was Jennifer at risk simply because she was a “trannie” in a land where there is still considerable social and legal discrimination against gays, or because, to earn money to put a sibling through school and pay for other expenses, she was engaged in prostitution?

Of course, it’s irrelevant and immaterial whether Jennifer was a prostitute or simply a good-time gal. She did not deserve to die simply because she was not “fully” a woman, in the same way that women (and men) engaged in the flesh trade cannot be raped, beaten up, or killed simply because they failed to satisfy their customers.

But her being transgender has bore the physical characteristics of a full-figured and curvy, I happened to trained a light as well on the reali- man was a crime in itself. This same look down at her hands and found ties of life for those whose sexuality anonymous neighbor said she heard them huge, so huge I would later and sexual orientation lie beyond the about Pemberton being a boxer, and describe them as “kargador” hands. pale. Certainly appalling are com- expressed the view that he “killed a Some trannies, it seems, need to unments that Filipinos are raising too Filipino girl after he found out she dergo not just a lifetime of hormonal much fuss about Jennifer’s killing, as was a guy. I wouldn’t want to be with treatments to help “soften” their if the death of a transgender person a guy and find out it’s a girl. I’d freak masculine features, but also minor deserves less outrage and pain than out. But I don’t think he should have procedures to hasten their transition the murder of a “normal” woman or killed anybody. I just think that’s to womanhood. man. Or that a prostitute’s life is not what put him over the edge.”

Still, what could my transgender worth grieving or agonizing over, as if Shall we count that as an extenuat- friend do about her huge and calhuman rights apply only to those liv- ing circumstance? loused hands? Some transitions, it ing righteous lives. *** seems, science can only help partway, *** A BLOGGER who makes it his although it seems the transition had BUT we are not already been initialone in trying to ated in their minds, Was Jennifer at risk simply because she was a “transtraighten out the their hearts, their nie” in a land where there is still considerable social and legal kinks and tangles of very concept of self discrimination against gays . . . ?

Jennifer’s killing. and being.

A neighbor of As I said earlier, I PFC Joseph Scott Pemberton, the business to confound commonly- have no way of knowing whether JenMarine accused in the killing, ex- held assumptions declared that nifer had completed her transition. pressed “shock” that a murder sus- transgender people don’t just want But she was certainly proud of her pect lived on her street in New Bed- to be transformed into anatomically newly feminine body, as those photos ford, Massachusetts. correct women, they want to become of her bikini-clad form published on Quoted in a news article in the “attractive” women as well.

Facebook and splashed on the front New York Daily News, the neighbor I remember interviewing a transgen- page, prove. (Really, news editors? lamented: “The world is falling apart der Filipino who had, her friends com- Do we need bikini photos to prove right now, between Ebola and every- plained, taken the notion of femininity Jennifer was a woman?) thing else. I have grandchildren. What to the extreme by asking that the surWho knew it was this new form kind of world are we leaving them?” geon give her a cup-D breast size. “It’s that would pave the way for her ignoWell, hopefully, a world where peo- as if she has to be the most voluptuous minious exit? ple would not assume that “pretend- woman on earth,” the friends said. *** ing” to be a woman when one still But while the trannie was certainly OCTOBER being Breast Cancer

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Awareness Month, many organizations have boarded the breast cancer bandwagon to promote awareness of the disease and encourage women to go for early cancer detection.

One of these organizations is Pureology, a hair-care product brand

by L’Oreal Professionnel, which has chosen the ICanServe Foundation as its partner in its advocacy for breast cancer awareness and setting up support programs for Filipino women battling cancer.

Pureology’s connection with breast cancer programs doesn’t come by accident, since it was founded in 2001 as an offshoot of founder Jim Markham’s search for a safe haircare product for a friend stricken with cancer. Local spokesman Asher Lu says that “from its inception, Pureology has been created with integrity and has always been striving to make a positive impact in its communities worldwide.”

Pureology has since made a name for itself as “the best hair care line for color-treated hair” enriched with organic botanicals and made with a commitment to sustainability.

Salon-goers who choose Pureology (the product is available only in beauty salons) can be assured that a percentage of sales goes to ICanServe Foundation to help fund its support programs for breast cancer patients. ■

18

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Canada News

Suspect in terror linked attack had been arrested in summer, say RCMP

NEWS BRIEFS

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL — The man police say deliberately drove a car into two soldiers in a “despicable act” the government linked to terrorist ideology had been arrested by RCMP this summer as he was getting ready to leave the country, a spokeswoman for the federal police force said Tuesday.

Supt. Martine Fontaine said authorities met with Martin CoutureRouleau as recently as Oct. 9 and that there was nothing to suggest any such violent behaviour was in the offing.

One of the soldiers struck by the car on Monday died.

“There was no indication then of his intentions,” Fontaine told a news conference. “On the contrary, he seemed open to the idea of maybe taking measures to change his ways.”

Mounties began investigating Couture-Rouleau, 25, last June when they saw on his Facebook account he was “radicalizing” himself.

“We couldn’t arrest someone for having radical thoughts,” Fontaine said. “It’s not a crime in Canada.”

Couture-Rouleau was eventually arrested and questioned in July as he was preparing to leave the country for Turkey.

“We weren’t able to determine that he wanted to commit an act abroad,” said the RCMP superintendent. “If we had had reasons to believe that Mr. Rouleau would commit a terrorist act or a criminal act, we wouldn’t have let him go.”

The investigation continued, with authorities meeting Couture-Rouleau on several occasions along with the imam at the mosque he went to.

Earlier, the RCMP commissioner said Couture-Rouleau had his passport seized because he was suspected of being an extremist with possible terrorist links.

Bob Paulson said the passport was confiscated and he confirmed he was one of 90 suspected extremists being investigated by the RCMP. “That’s what follows from the analysis; his passport was seized by us ...,” Paulson told reporters after an appearance before the House of Commons house affairs committee.

“He was part of our investigative efforts to try and identify those peo-

Martin Couture-Rouleau.

ple who might commit a criminal act travelling abroad for terrorist purposes. In that respect, we were working him and other suspects.”

The government has raised its internal threat level due to an increase in “general chatter from radical Islamist organizations” such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, said Jason Tamming, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney.

This level means that intelligence has indicated that an individual or group within Canada or abroad has the intent and capability to commit an act of terrorism, but it is not the result of a specific threat, he added.

Police said the car was driven deliberately into the two soldiers in what Blaney called an act of violence against Canada that was “clearly linked” to terrorist ideology.

Canada is taking terrorist threats seriously, Blaney said, adding he was “horrified and saddened” by Monday’s incident in Saint-Jean-surRichelieu.

“What took place is clearly linked to terrorist ideology,” he told a news conference in the town southeast of Montreal that is home to a military college and a garrison.

“It is an unacceptable act of violence against our country, our Quebec values, our Canadian values.”

Police have said they shot the man following a car chase after he had struck the two soldiers with his vehicle in the parking lot of a shopping mall.

Provincial police identified the soldier who died as warrant officer Patrice Vincent, 53.

In the Commons, Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised him as a 28year veteran who served with distinc-

TWITTER PHOTO

tion across the country.

“This was a despicable act of violence that strikes against not just this soldier and his colleagues, but frankly against our very values as a civilized democracy,” he said.

“We will continue to stand with the men and women of the Armed Forces who defend us against these threats.”

Vincent served in Valcartier, Comox, Halifax, Trenton, Esquimalt, Edmonton, North Bay and Montreal.

Provincial police described the second soldier’s injuries as less serious and said his life was not in danger.

Lt. Guy Lapointe told a separate news conference Tuesday that the act was deliberate and that one of the two soldiers was in uniform.

Blaney said that as far as he knows no order has been given to members of the Canadian Forces to not wear their fatigues in public.

Paulson said he does not believe the slain man had co-conspirators.

“We don’t suspect that, but we’re open to that and we’re concerned about that, so we’re going to be pursuing every investigative avenue to satisfy ourselves that we’ve eliminated that possibility,” he noted.

On Monday, Lapointe said the shooting occurred after the man hit the two pedestrians in the parking lot of a shopping mall and took off.

That triggered a chase that ended with the man losing control and his car rolling over several times.

Lapointe said the man was brandishing a knife when he emerged from the vehicle.

Provincial police said CoutureRouleau called 911 during the car chase to claim responsibility for hitting the soldiers. ■

POLICE FIND DEAD INFANTS IN STORAGE LOCKER WINNIPEG — Police in Winnipeg say they have discovered the remains of as many as four dead infants in a city storage locker. Const.

Eric Hofley says concerned employees at the storage locker company called police Monday and, once inside, police found what appeared to be the remains of up to four infants.

FOURTH QUEBEC MP QUITS FEDERAL NDP OTTAWA — New Democrat MP Jean-Francois Larose has joined forces with an independent MP to create a new, Quebec-only party.Larose is the fourth Quebec MP to abandon the NDP since its fabled orange wave swept 59 of the province’s 75 seats in the 2011 election.

B.C. SET TO RELEASE PROPOSED LNG TAX RATE VICTORIA — The British Columbia government will reveal its anticipated tax rate on the proposed liquefied natural gas industry today.

Provincial Finance Minister Mike de Jong says he can’t say much about the proposed law, except that it will be a two-tiered tax recognizing the significant capital investments the industry is making. PHOTO. Moves Business and National. Guard against duplication.

CANADIANS’ FAVOURITE CHIP JALAPENO MAC ‘N CHEESE MISSISSAUGA — Jalapeno Mac N’ Cheese beat the competition to become Canadians’ preferred flavour in a potato chip contest.

Randall Litman of Calgary, who came up with the winning combination, takes home $50,000 plus one per cent of future sales of Jalapeno Mac N’ Cheese on Lay’s Wavy, Lay’s Canada announced Tuesday.

Canada News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Staff at Toronto hospital wrongly viewed Rob Ford’s medical record THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — The Toronto hospital treating Rob Ford for cancer says two of its staffers “inappropriately” viewed the mayor’s health record.

A Mount Sinai Hospital spokeswoman said in a short statement last week that the two weren’t part of Ford’s medical team and that an investigation was immediately launched.

Sally Szuster says that “appropriate action” against the employees has been taken, but

refused in a brief interview to say just what has been done, citing “privacy reasons.”

She says Ford was told about the privacy breach and that the hospital is sorry.

Ford underwent an initial round of chemotherapy last month after being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, and returned for another round last week.

The hospital’s statement says it learned about the disclosure “through a robust system of safeguards and auditing procedures designed to ensure com-

19

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“We sincerely regret that these privacy breaches occurred. Privacy for all of our patients is paramount and we will continue to be diligent in upholding our privacy policies and practices,” the statement said.

The cancer diagnosis prompted the mayor to end his re-election bid, and he is now running for a council seat instead. His brother, Doug, is running for mayor in his place.

A weary-looking Rob Ford cast his ballot in advance polling for the municipal election

Tuesday, and said he was to return to the hospital on Oct. 29 — two days after the municipal vote.

His office later said the mayor would be meeting with his doctors to review his condition and determine the next step of treatment. ■

MPs, senators unanimously make Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai honorary citizen

BY STEPHANIE LEVITZ The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Parliamentarians and senators have unanimously supported bestowing honorary Canadian citizenship upon Pakistani teenager and co-winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, Malala Yousafzai.

The vote came on the eve of Yousafzai’s visit to Canada where she participated in an event on women’s rights in Toronto.

The teen is being made an honorary Canadian in recognition of her bravery in her fight for the rights of women and girls to go to school, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Yousafzai, now 17, became the target of Taliban assassins for being an outspoken advocate for the right of girls to go to school in her region of Pakistan.

She survived an attempt on her life two years ago and has since gone on to become an international spokesperson for the importance of access to education.

“She serves as a model and an inspiration to Canadians and to the entire world in her fight for universal education,” Harper said in the motion.

The Conservatives announced

their intention to make her Canada’s sixth honorary citizen in last year’s throne speech.

Nothing more was said until earlier this month when Yousafzai was declared as the co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the government announced she was coming to Canada.

She is scheduled to attend an event called “Strong Girls, Strong World”, being hosted by the government at a Toronto school Wednesday afternoon.

The prime minister’s office said the event “will focus on empowering young girls through meaningful discussion, to continue being leaders and voices of change in their communities.”

She’ll then officially be given her citizenship in a ceremony with Harper and Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander at a downtown hotel.

Harper and Yousafzai have met before: the two sat down together on the margins of a United Nations event in New York City last year.

There’s no official procedure involved in making someone an honorary citizen though precedent has been for the House of Commons and Senate to approve a motion before the honour is officially granted.

“We are honouring Malala today but really it is our honour for us to bring her within the family of Canadian citizens because her aspirations mirror the very best of our own values,” Liberal Senator James Cowan said during the Senate

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debate on the motion.

“Today we are standing as a nation and telling the world: ‘we are all Malala.’”

Five other people have been made honorary Canadian citizens in the last 30 years: Raoul Wallenberg, Nelson Mandela,

Aga Khan, Aung San Suu Kyi and the 14th Dalai Lama.

According to the Citizenship and Immigration Department, honorary citizenship is just a symbolic title and individuals do not, for example, get passports or the right to vote. ■

20

Canada News

OCTOBER 24, 2014

FRIDAY

Canadian woman tells harrowing tale of surviving avalanche and blizzard in Nepal last week THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A CANADIAN survivor of the Nepal avalanche and blizzards that killed at least 29 people has described a harrowing tale of being buried waist-high in thick, heavy snow on a “nightmare” of a day.

Quebecer Sonia Leveque said she thought she was going to die and that she and her fellow trekkers are fortunate to be alive.

“We fought for survival and we were lucky,” she said in an interview from Nepal with RDI, Radio-Canada’s all-news network.

“I think nobody in the group wanted to die.”

She said that Tuesday was a “nightmare” and that nobody in her small group saw the avalanche coming.

“It happened extremely quickly — within seconds, we were separated,” Leveque said.

“Three people in our group were swept away (and) we tried to find them but there was about 20 metres of snow accumulated at the bottom of the avalanche.”

The death toll in the tragedy was revised upward to 29, with four Canadians among the dead and others among the roughly 70 people missing.

Leveque said she and her fellow travellers remained shaken up but will stay in Kathmandu for at least a few days to see how the rest of the rescue operation unfolds.

One of the men in her group lost his wife in the tragedy and Leveque said it was important to stay with him to give him support.

She also had not yet decided whether to finish her expedition, but admitted she has concerns about the fresh snow covering the mountains.

“We were supposed to be in the mountains until mid-November,” Leveque said. “Maybe we’ll forgo the snow-covered ones but not the others.”

Three Quebec women were reported missing, including Genevieve Adam. Her father feared the worst as he travelled to Nepal while the search continued.

“He wants to be there with her,” said Francois Adam, the

Canadian Sonia Leveque survived an avalanche and blizzard last week in Nepal. The disaster left 29 dead, including 4 Canadians.

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man’s brother. “It’s his little girl and he won’t leave her there.”

But Adam was not optimistic.

“The last information did not give us a lot of hope,” he told RDI. “She was caught in the avalanche that rolled down and, unfortunately, there’s not much hope.”

Adam said his niece was asleep in her tent with other trekkers at the time.

“What I know is that it happened at around four o’clock in the morning,” he said. “She was sleeping, (and) bang! it hit and passed over them and they were carried down along with the avalanche. It happened just like that.”

Adam said Genevieve loved to travel and that it was her dream to visit Nepal and trek in the Himalayas.

“She talked about it last winter. It was a dream to make that expedition because it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world to go trekking. She accomplished her dream.”

Adam said his brother had two daughters and added that

the entire family was in a state of shock.

“We’re realizing even more what’s happening, the magnitude of it,” he said. “We’re not alone. There are other young people who perished in that (avalanche).”

The Children’s Heart Network in British Columbia, meanwhile, posted a Facebook tribute last week to B.C. Children’s Hospital nurse Jan Rooks.

It said Rooks, a cardiology nurse clinician, died when she was caught in the avalanche in the Annapurna region of Nepal.

The non-profit organization said Hooks left for Nepal in late September with her husband, Grant Tomlinson, and another couple. The network’s board of directors said as far as it knows, Tomlinson and the couple were okay.

The statement said Rooks was a “great nurse with a very special love of heart children and families” and had a “special gift for putting people at ease.”

“It seems impossible that www.canadianinquirer.net

someone like Jan can be gone from our lives in the blink of an eye. She will be so sadly missed.”

In West Kelowna, B.C, Matt Adams’ family heard good news late last week after working the phones trying to get in touch with the 29-year-old man in Nepal.

Several media reports and tweets said Adams had called home to say he was safe.

“My friend Matthew Adams has been found safe and sound in Manang! Thank God he’s ok! read one such tweet by Rob Mulvihill.

Adams had set off on a sixweek tour of region last month and his parents and wife Ria hadn’t heard from him since last Friday.

Last week Thursday, search teams in army helicopters rescued dozens of stranded foreign trekkers and recovered more bodies in mountains in the northern part of the country.

Two women from the Ottawa region who had been reported as missing managed to avoid

the worst.

Virginia Schwartz posted on her Facebook page last week that she was leaving the hazardous region along with Jane Van Criekingen, her travel companion.

“Thank you to everyone for all the kind words and prayers, we are safe,” Schwartz wrote.

“We are trekking out of the avalanche danger zone and heading back down along the circuit. We are now in Manang on the lower side of the pass and hope to be in Pokhara in 3-4 days.”

Ganga Sagar Pant of the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal said the death toll in the area was expected to rise.

The route, 160 kilometres northwest of Kathmandu, was filled with international hikers during the peak October trekking season, when the air is generally clear and cool. Many Nepalese were also on the trails because of local festivals.

Terra Ultima, the Montrealbased travel agency that said three Quebecers were among those missing and feared dead, issued an update Thursday.

It said it was focused on rescue efforts and providing support for the families of those who disappeared as well as for the trekkers who have returned to Kathmandu.

Its statement also said a company representative and a Canadian government envoy were due to arrive that week.

Terra Ultima said earlier that six Quebecers in all were in the area, including those missing: two women in their 50s and one in her 30s. One of the three is the hikers’ guide.

A statement from the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal said the bodies of four Canadians were recovered from the Phu area in Manang district.

A company called Panorama Himalaya confirmed the deaths of three Canadian clients in an avalanche while a company called Nepal Hidden Treks confirmed the death of a Canadian woman.

Panorama Himalaya also said it had rescued three other Canadian trekkers, according to the Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal. ■

World News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Too soon? How about not at all for Halloween costumes making light of Ebola

BY LEANNE ITALIE The Associated Press NEW YORK — No holiday screams pop culture controversy quite like Halloween.

So what’s the costume flap of the year?

It might just be Ebola, as in Ebola zombies, bloody Ebola patients and faux protective gear.

Twitter and other social media were abuzz leading into the holiday with talk of hazmat suits and respirators. Too soon?

How about just no, said Philadelphia physician’s assistant Maria McKenna.

One of her own, a Dallas nurse who at 26 is exactly her age, was diagnosed with the virus in the United States after she had helped care for a Liberian man who died at her hospital.

The idea of riffing on the crisis for Halloween “definitely rubs me the wrong way,” said McKenna, who works with post-surgical patients at a hospital.

“Normally I think that irony and humour is funny, but this thing with the costumes, is it really that funny? I mean, Ebola’s not even under control yet,” she said Monday by telephone.

Like it or not, some costume sellers have leftover yellow jumpsuits, rubber gloves and masks from the “Breaking Bad” craze last Halloween. Some sellers predict Halloweeners will repurpose those for takes on Ebola or make their own getups.

Halloween, falling on a Friday, is sure to be a big season for many costume sellers, including Ricky’s NYC. Some revelers are notoriously lastminute on costumes, so it was a bit too early to tell whether all the talk about dressing up as Ebola something or other will actually take off. Talk, after all, especially on social media, is cheap.

“I wouldn’t say we can see an uptick in sales. I’d say it’s still chugging along because it’s a good seller no matter what,” said Ricky’s president Richard Parrott of

the ‘Breaking Bad’ look. “But people are definitely asking about an Ebola-type costume.”

Ricky’s had gone so far this season as to internally kick around the idea of selling some type of Ebola costume and donating a portion of proceeds to finding a cure, Parrott said. Ultimately, “we felt like it probably crosses a line that we don’t want to cross.”

If searches on Google are any indication, the Ebola crisis doesn’t match the Top 10 popularity of Elsa from “Frozen,” or even your basic Wonder Woman, among searches for DIY costumes.

Regardless, the costume site BrandsOnSale went there. It’s selling an “Ebola Containment Suit Costume” for $79.99, complete with white suit emblazoned with “Ebola,” face shield, breathing mask, safety goggles and blue latex gloves.

“You are sure to be prepared if any outbreak happens at your Halloween party. This will literally be the most ‘viral’ costume of the year,” declares the online product description.

The company’s chief executive, Johnathon Weeks, said he sold about a dozen of the costumes in the first week after its Oct. 8 launch. That’s barely a ripple in the more than one million costumes he stocks, but it was shared on social media 7,000 times Monday — the most shared item on his site. Word of the costume was greeted by some blowback from outraged members of the public, he said.

“We don’t stray away from anything that’s current or controversial or anything like that,” Weeks said from his 127,000-square-foot warehouse in Banning, California. “If I told you we had a toddler ISIS costume in the works, your mouth would drop.”

Does he?

“I will definitely let you know when that goes on sale,” Weeks said. “I can tell you it will come complete with a fake machine-gun.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

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Seen & Scenes: Vancouver

OCTOBER 24, 2014

FRIDAY

SUSHI COMPETITION T & T Supermarket – ORA Store held a “DIY Sushi Competition” on Oct. 18. Twelve contestants aged 10 and up joined the event. Winners received T & T Supermarket gift cards and certificates while participants took home gift baskets and certificates as well. T & T Supermarket – Kitchen Deli provides fresh ingredients and tasty sushi daily.

DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR

INAUGURATION

The Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants had a professional development seminar at Bonsor Community Centre in Burnaby B.C. on Oct. 18.

The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver headed by Consul General Neil Frank Ferrer held an inauguration on Oct. 17, of their new office at the World Trade Complex in Canada Place, Vancouver, B.C. Guests of honor during the ceremony were Philippine Ambassador to Canada Petronila P. Garcia, MPs Andrew Saxton and Wai Young, MLA Teresa Wat, and Philippine diplomats in Canada and the U.S. who flew to Vancouver for their Economic Diplomacy meet (Photos by Angelo Siglos).

FAMILY EXPRESS Family Express moved to a new office. In photo is Emilio Liao, president of Family Express Canada Ltd.

For photo submissions, please email info@canadianinquirer.net. www.canadianinquirer.net

Seen & Scenes: Toronto

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

(from L) Talakayan Radyo Filipino co-anchor Karen Tan sharing notes and pleasantries with Toronto Council Candidate Randy Bucao and guest Tony San Juan.

BICOLANOS In photo are Joseph Francia, GMA (Kapuso) Pinoy TV international vice president and head of operations, together with veteran print and broadcast journalist Joaquin (Jojo) T. Taduran, Jr. Francia was in Toronto to bring GMA (Kapuso) stars for several live shows this year and next year.

Francia and Taduran are both Bicolanos from Camarines Sur. (Manny Papa, St. Jamestown News Service).

'TALAKAYAN' IN TORONTO Toronto FilCan community's Radio Talakayan Filipino broadcasters and co-anchors posed with Toronto Ward 10-York Centre Councillor Candidate Randy Bucao after the one hour on-air interview at Fairchild Radio's Talakayan 1430 AM station in Richmond Hill, On. on Oct. 18. Shown L-R: coanchor Nelson Galvez, candidate Randy Bucao, co-anchors Karen Tan, May Cabrias, Bobby Achacon, guest Tony San Juan and producer Jess Cabrias.

DIWALI FEST Senator Enverga joined Prime Minister Stephen Harper and fellow members of the Conservative Government of Canada for the 14th National Diwali Celebration at the Hindu Sabha Temple in Brampton, On. on Oct. 18. Prime Minister Harper said, "Diwali reminds us that light always casts out darkness, that truth always dispels ignorance and fear, that there is good in the world, and that in the end good will triumph."

COMMANDER'S BALL Senator Enverga was a special guest at the Knights of Rizal Canada Region during the 15th Commander's Ball at the Kalayaan Cultural and Community Centre in Mississauga, On. on Oct. 18. Senator Enverga spoke about the importance of following the life of Dr. Jose Rizal and honouring his legacy by living full and meaningful lives, with patriotism and chivalry being the cornerstones of the Knights' shared values. www.canadianinquirer.net

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Community News

OCTOBER 24, 2014

FRIDAY

Top envoy presents credentials Ill Vancouver kid to Intl Civil Aviation Org allowed a 3-minute dash in toy store AMB. PETRONILA P. Garcia called on Raymond Benjamin, secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and formally presented her letter of credentials as Philippine Permanent Representative to the ICAO at the ICAO Headquarters in Montreal recently.

Ambassador Garcia was accompanied by Deputy Chief of Mission Uriel Norman R. Garibay, and Minister and Consul General Eric Gerardo E. Tamayo, as alternate Philippine representatives to the ICAO. Ambassador Garcia also paid a courtesy call on Nancy Graham, director of the Air Navigation Bureau (ANB) of the ICAO, and was also received by MichielVreedenBurgh, chief of the Implementation Support and Development of the Safety Management and Monitoring Unit of the ANB. With the help of the ICAO, the Philippines has made significant progress in implementing the necessary reforms and measures in promoting safety in the Philippine aviation sector.

The Philippines is also on track to remove from circula-

Ambassador Garcia presents her credentials to Raymond Benjamin, secretary general of Civil Aviation Organization.

tion all non-machine readable passport circulating by November 2015, and is among early complaint countries that have rolled out not only machinereadable passports, and also among the early adopters of the enhanced and advanced electronic passports (e-passports) technology as well.

While 2013 was regarded as the safest year for global aviation, the Philippines joins its fellow ICAO members in ad-

dressing the gaps that have contributed to recent high profile accidents and incidents in the aviation industry this year.

The Philippines remains committed to improving and ensuring aviation safety, as well as the integrity and security of travel documents in compliance with ICAO standards and prescriptions, in facilitating the flow of goods, promoting tourism, and easing and securing travel overall. ■

ON NOV.19, a Vancouver-based Starlight child will participate in a 3-Minute Dash through the Toys“R”Us store at Toys“R”Us Vancouver (1154 West Broadway) to snatch as much merchandise as possible within a three-minute timeframe.

The 3-Minute Dash is donated by Toys“R”Us as part of their long-standing partnership with Starlight Canada and will take place in five cities across Canada: Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

Participants were randomly selected from each province as part of a contest Starlight Canada held earlier this month.

Applicants were asked to share the details of their care journey and submit them to their local Starlight programs coordinator for entry.

“Toys“R”Us, Canada’s ongoing commitment to in and out-of-hospital programming is invaluable to Starlight,” says Starlight executive director, Brian Bringolf. “Special events like the 3-Minute Dash provide Starlight children with a chance

to create much-needed positive memories away from the hospital, treatments and therapies.”

“Children have always been the focus of our charity work and Starlight continues to be a great partner for us as together, we share the goal of brightening the lives of seriously ill children when they need a reason to smile” says Kevin Macnab, president, Toys“R”Us Canada.

“Providing the Starlight children with an empty cart, and full reign of a Toys“R”Us store for 3 minutes, is the perfect escape from their hospital stay, as they race through the aisles and experience a fun and unique opportunity that they will never forget. After events like these, it’s the joy on the children’s faces that motivate our employees to continue to raise funds and awareness for Starlight and towards making a difference in children’s lives.”

During the 16 year partnership, Toys“R”Us, Canada has raised over $12 million dollars for Starlight Canada. ■

Catholic groups endorse FilCan for school board trustee A LEADER in four large Catholic organizations in Toronto has endorsed print and broadcast journalist Ace Alvarez, together with two other candidates, for election as trustees in the Toronto Catholic District School Board.

Don Quilao endorsed Alvarez as Trustee for Ward 12 (Scarborough) in the forthcoming Oct. 27 municipal elections in Toronto, together with Joey Abrenilla for Ward 5 (North York) and Emmanuel Yanga for Ward 7 (parts of Scarborough and North York) in an email sent recently to the board, officers and members of his organizations.

Quilao is a director of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Council (CCRC) Formation Institute in the Archdiocese of Toronto. He is also a board mem-

ber of the Alliance of Filipino Catholic Charismatic Prayer Communities; head servant of the Filipino Canadian Catholic Charismatic Prayer Communities and chair of the Education Ministry of the Archdiocesan Filipino Catholic Mission.

In unconditionally endorsing Alvarez, Abrenilla and Yanga, Quilao wrote that the three candidates “… are practicing and devout Roman Catholics who strongly support the idea of sustaining and maintaining the Roman Catholic teachings and values in our Catholic schools.

They are active in supporting and defending the Church.”

Sharon Barlow, chair of the CCRC in the Archdiocese of Toronto, was enthusiastic about the endorsement.

In a related development, Al-

varez was endorsed likewise by internationally-recognized expert in special education, Ashley Molloy, Pd.D. In his endorsement letter, Molloy, who was once a Catholic school teacher, principal and Toronto Catholic education system board-wide administrator, wrote, “I have known Ace Alvarez for many years. His candidacy (for Trustee, Ward 12, TCDSB) brings forth a Catholic vision of education that sees faith as its center.

His journalistic background ensures that decisions will be reached through careful analysis. Ace would bring to this role a diligent work ethic coupled with unquestionable integrity.

I am proud to offer my support for him as a Catholic school trustee.”

In thanking Quilao and Dr. www.canadianinquirer.net

Alvarez.

Molloy, Alvarez reiterated his mission of bringing back the essence of Catholicism in the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), which he said, continues to fade through the election of t he wrong people to the governing body of the TCDSB. Among other talks before several religious and community organizations, Alvarez has enunciated the goals that he wants to accomplish at the TCDSB in a speech before more than 1,000 participants to the ANCOP Walk at the Nathan

Phillips Square in downtown Toronto recently.

ANCOP, an acronym for “ANswering the Cry of the Poor”, is a program founded by Couples for Christ (CFC), a faith-based, Vatican-recognized international lay organization of the Catholic faithful that has a worldwide membership and active in over 100 countries and dependent territories, and was made for the purpose of consolidating CFC’s effort in shelter-building and child education sponsorship for the poor.

(Campaign for Ace Alvarez). ■

Community News

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

AMBASSADOR PETRONILA Garcia of the Philippines is met by John Negrin, President of Aquilini Renewable Energy, during a meeting last week. Ambassador Garcia and a delegation consisting of diplomatic and consular officers and government representatives met with Negrin to discuss investments of the Aquilini Group in the Philippines. Negrin made a presentation on Aquilini's waste-to-energy project at the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) area in Mactan, Cebu, and discussed Aquilini's future investments in agriculture, aquaculture, housing and public infrastructure. â–

www.canadianinquirer.net

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OCTOBER 24, 2014

FRIDAY

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS:

Michael Lim Nurse, Bodybuilder

BY EARL VON TAPIA Philippine Canadian Inquirer A STORY that many immigrants will have in common is the one about leaving a comfortable life back home, arriving at a new place, and putting aside their own goals so they can work any job to support the family.

This was the reality for Michael Lim, whose family left a comfortable life in the Philippines for a chance at a better life here in Canada.

“We were kind of doing well in the Philippines, and then my mom wanted to have a change . . . just like any Filipino she wanted a better future for us,” he said. “And then she applied [to move here,] and then we got approved.”

The family managed a bake shop back in their home province of Nueva Ecija. Selling the business was a “tough call”, he said.

Michael’s family - his mother, sister, and brother - arrived in 2001, when Michael was 20 years old. In the Philippines, he was studying nursing, a job he had always wanted to do. But arriving in Canada he had to put that on hold.

“Back then I always wanted to go back to school, but I didn’t have a choice, to help my mom get established,” he said.

This meant working a variety of jobs, including manual labor jobs, shifts at McDonald’s, cleaning jobs, and restaurant gigs.

But after several years of these types of jobs, it was time to go and finish his education.

“I think it was after five years of doing a restaurant job, as soon as I felt that my sister was old enough to work and she was

able to help my mom with some my schooling, I thought I’d do ing for a top-5 finish, which will finances, I decided to go back to something different, and push see him advance on to Provinschool,” he said. myself to another level,” he cial competitions. If he doesn’t He applied to the well-re- said. make it, he is going to reload spected nursing program at It was his friend, a former and try again at another comDouglas College in New West- competitive bodybuilder, that petition in March. minster, BC, graduated three prompted him into considerMichael explained how strict years ago, and competition now works as a training reginurse. ment sees him go “My mom told to the gym three me before, eduI feel safe living here [in Canada]. I times a day, sevcation is very imfeel like there's a lot of opportunities en days a week. portant. Going to to grow, be it in your career, or your “It’s crazy . . . it school, getting hobbies. I just love it here. takes a hard toll a career, getting on your body. It’s established, you just crazy, but I really have to do like it,” he said. it for you to succeed,” he said. ing the competitive side of fitDespite the gruelling training ness just last year. After several schedule, he has never felt betBodybuilding months of hard training, Mi- ter, and he wants others to try it When Michael had finished chael is now preparing himself out too. school and established his ca- to enter his first competitive “I feel happier, I feel great, reer, he wanted to pick up a new bodybuilding competition this I’m confident . . . I eat healthy challenge. coming November, the Sandra and eat clean. I don’t drink “I’m into fitness and eating Wickham Fall Classic, in the and I don’t smoke, so it’s reright, and as soon as I was done Physique category. He is hop- ally a lifestyle change. I always

www.canadianinquirer.net

recommend to a lot of people, not necessarily to compete in bodybuilding, but to just do a lifestyle change when it comes to eating and exercising,” he said.

From working manual labor and shift jobs at McDonald’s, to finishing his education and becoming a nurse, and now to pushing himself even further in his pursuits as a pro bodybuilder, Michael is now reaping the promise of what his mother sought when she brought his family to Canada in the first place: a better, and happier, future for them all.

“I feel safe living here [in Canada]. I feel like there’s a lot of opportunities to grow, be it in your career, or your hobbies.

I just love it here,” he said. ■ Follow Michael’s journey through his Instagram account: instagram.com/franzmickey

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FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Halloween

From Caped Crusader to Creepy Crawly, in the Name of Candy!

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer IT’S THE most wonderful time of the year. And no, I do not mean that glitzy, glittery, hollyand-spangle-bedecked time of the year. I mean the one that rolls around every October and lurks in the sheen of December — Halloween!

I am more of the “Halloween” persuasion. Blame it on an insatiable sweet-tooth and a fascination with things that go bump in the night. And then there are the costumes. Oh, the costumes!

Gaelic ghouls

The tradition of donning costumes dates back over 2,000 years ago, to the darker days of Halloween.

Halloween is largely believed to be rooted in Celtic harvest festivals, and even pagan festivals of the dead. The Gaelic festival of Samhain – celebrated on November 1 and also known

as Calan Gaeaf – signified that the season of harvest was coming to an end, giving way to the “darker half” of the year as winter set in. It also heralded a restlessness among the spirits from the Otherworld, or so the Gaels believed.

The Eve of Samhain (October 31, what we know as Halloween) was the time when fairies – not the nice, Tinkerbellish kind; but the impish, often evil kind – were thought to be most active, and could move in and out of the human world with greater ease. The souls of the dead, both evil and benign, were also said to re-visit their homes; to tell tales of their forbearers, bestow blessings upon family, or – if you so unfortunately happened to be related to a vengeful spirit – cause distress among the living.

Various traditions started as a way of appeasing the spirits: Feasts were thrown with a place reserved at the table for the departed, bonfires were lit throughout the village, carved

turnips were set out on the front steps to ward off spirits, and people walked around with their clothes turned inside-out in order to confuse evil spirits.

Thus, the early beginnings of the costume tradition.

In time, Christian rulers – in an effort to spread their doctrine – co-opted pagan holidays, thereby transforming Samhain.

In the seventh century, under the rule of Pope Boniface IV, November 1 was decreed All Saints' Day, or All Hallows' Day. But the “pagans” would not be subdued quite so easily. The observance of Samhain Eve continued – with bonfires, costumes, and parades – under a new name: All Hallows' Eve, which later on morphed into "Halloween."

Mumming’s the word

From at least the 16th century, People wore guises: costumes or masks to confuse evil fairies and spirits. Guising or mumming as it was called was a popular ritual at winter fes-

SHUTTERSTOCK

tivals, but was especially observed on Samhain Eve; the night of greatest spirit activity.

The costumes were employed to disguise oneself, or to mimic the otherworldly beings so that these spirits would go about their own way and leave the humans be.

Food was often left out on doorsteps as an offering to fairies to earn their favor. Villagers would go from house to house, all guised up, to collect food for the Samhain feast. Verses were recited, songs were sung in exchange for goodies. Some Gaels – mumming mischievous spirits – would play pranks on the households that did not have goodies, or did not have goodies to their liking. Recognize this as “trick-or treating” yet?

Aside from clothing worn inside-out, some favorite costumes of the time included various animal skins. Villagers also blackened their faces with soot from the sacred bonfires, or painted them, or hid them underneath masks. In 19th century Wales, people frequently guised themselves as gwracho;, a kind of witch feared in Welsh culture. In Ireland, it was common on Samhain Eve for men folk to dress as Láir Bhán, a white mare that would lead the procession of villagers from door to door to collect the offerings needed to satisfy Muck Olla, an unhappy deity, so as

to keep the peace for the coming year. Still, in some other parts of Europe, villagers would cross-dress, donning garments of the opposite gender.

In North America, the practice of mumming was first recorded in 1911. Halloween was celebrated as a sensual feast, with costume parades and unbridled revelry. This all took a turn with the onset of the Victorian era, a period marked by outward morality and repression. Festivities were toned down and made private. Costumes were still homemade and revolved around the darker nature of the occasion: witches, ghouls, ghosts, goblins were among the well-loved guises.

Costumes, commercialized

In North America, during the 1930’s, costumes went from being homemade to being mass produced, thanks to firms like A.S. Fishbach and Ben Cooper, Inc. These companies manufactured costumes and sold them in commercial establishments, as Halloween trick-or-treating fever spread. Costumes were made mainly for children, teens and young adults, and still focused primarily on supernatural entities such as werewolves, vampires, witches, mummies, zombies, devils, and ghosts.

Later on this repertoire grew ❱❱ PAGE 30 From Caped

Halloween

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Halloween candy tampering: Setting the record straight

BY LEI FONTAMILLAS Philippine Canadian Inquirer TRICK-OR-TREATING IS right around the corner!

Pretty soon you will see houses and establishments decked in scary Halloween-inspired decors. Likewise, parents and children are now clamoring for the creepiest costumes to wear as they parade around getting treats from their neighbors.

But as candy freely flows out, so too does speculation about supposed candy tampering,

making parents uneasy and worried about their children.

Rather than enjoying the celebration, they remain anxious and on the lookout for the “unexpected treat” in the Halloween candy.

However, studies conducted on the truth about these Halloween myths showed that while there are some known cases in the past, they were all very minor.

Trick or treat?

Rumors about needles or razor blades in Halloween candy

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surfaced during the 1960s.

There were few well-publicized cases on tampering, and it continued until the 1980s, when talk about needles and small blades found inside pack of candies and chocolates became very popular.

The Industrial Revolution also paved way for stories of poisoned candy. The reason for this is that during that time, many food producing companies moved out of their home or local areas. The trusted sellers were replaced by strangers who used unknown ingredients and unfamiliar processes and machines.

To add to the rumor buildup, several doctors then were claiming that they have been treating a lot of children who were poisoned by eating contaminated chocolates.

For instance, if a child was ill and he/she consumed a candy, it was automatically linked to poisoning from eating the candy. The underlying condition of the child was no longer examined thoroughly.

While no child has been seriously injured or killed, the propaganda generated attention not only from parents but from the general public as well.

There has been no evidence

linking the injury to contaminated Halloween treats, according to sociologist Joel Best, in an interview he gave to David Emery, an Urban Legends Expert, "Since 1983, I have followed stories about contaminated Halloween treats in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune going back to 1958," said Best.

“And every time a case has been reported, the cause of death or injury has turned out to be something other than Halloween candy."

The real scare: Halloween panic

These stories will always remain a legend, according to Best.

"Tainted Halloween candy is a contemporary legend, spread by word of mouth, with little to support it," Best said. Like most contemporary ("urban") legends, this one has more to reveal about our collective psyche than it does about real-world events. "Contemporary legends are ways we express anxiety," he said. This legend shows just how anxious we can be. However, no matter how untrue, urban legends can have a great ❱❱ PAGE 30 Halloween candy

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Halloween

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OCTOBER 24, 2014

From Caped...

Halloween candy...

to include science fiction characters such as aliens, and popculture icons like movie stars, singers, presidents, and athletes. Fairy tale costumes also became a top pick for young girls. For the teens and adults, Halloween costumes evolved yet again into something more sensual, with many favoring borderline or outright racy outfits and showing more skin.

Today Halloween is big business. In 2013, National Retail Federation statistics showed that Americans would likely spend a whopping $6.9-billion dollars on Halloween. A chunk of that – $2.6 billion altogether – would go towards adult costumes, while $330-million was the estimated price tag for pet costumes. The cost of candy weighed in at $2-billion, while greeting cards were tagged at $360-million.

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And the best costume goes to…

Costume choices are very telling of a society and culture, revealing time-honored tradition, pop culture sensations, historical events, and collective fears.

In 2013, Business Insider published the most iconic costumes of the last 20 years, by year: 1. The purple dinosaur sensation from our imagination, Barney, was a smash in 1993, after the show first aired on television.

2. 1994 was the year of the “Mighty Morphin Rangers.”

The Power Rangers have since morphed many times over, but the Mighty Morphin variant remains the most popular.

3. The debut of “Star Trek: Voyager” in 1995 caused a revival in Trekkie costumes.

4. 1996 saw “Scream” fill theatres with blood-curdling, errrr, screams; and everyone wanted to be the psycho-killer, Ghostface.

5. Crime-fighting duo Bat-

The release of the movie "Scream" in 1996 caused the Ghostface killer mask to surge in popularity.

man and Robin made a costume comeback in 1997, with the premiere of the flick directed by Joel Schumacher.

6. South Park took costumers by storm in 1998 with everyone wanting to dress as Cartman and friends.

7. Blue pills and red pills had everyone wanting a Matrix-inspired costume in 1999.

8. Austin Powers, baby. That’s what costumes in the year 2000 were mostly about, with the opening of “The Spy Who Shagged Me.” 9. “Wingardium Leviosa!” had fans of the Harry Potter series levitating to the nearest shop for a costume. The boy wizard was the most popular in 2001 (with the release of “The Sorcerer’s Stone”), with this popularity continuing well into the mid-2000’s.

10. Friendly neighborhood Spiderman was hot off the racks in 2002 with the debut of the first Spiderman movie.

11. “The Curse of the Black Pearl” in 2003 had men sashaying as Captain Jack Sparrow, and women donning wench costumes.

12. The “Sponge Bob Movie” came out in 2004, and this absorbent, porous, and yellow cartoon character dominated the costume scene.

13. Star Wars was huge in galaxies near and far, far away in 2005 with the premiere of ‘Revenge of the Sith.’

14. Guy Fawkes hit the streets in 2006, with masked trick-ortreaters emulating the character from “V for Vendetta.”

15. Young girls and tweens all wanted to be Hannah Montana in 2007.

16. Christopher Nolan’s version of Batman in 2008 made Joker garb a hit that year.

17. Twilight ad True Blood resurrected the Vampire craze in 2009.

18. Lady Gaga inspired costumes towered over others in 2010.

19. 2011 had Snooki wannabes decked in Jersey Shore glitz; fake tan, and all.

20. Psy had folks doing – and dressing – the Gangnam Style in 2012, while Miley Cyrus got people working those twerksuits in 2013.

Proving most popular for 2014 are costumes from the Disney blockbuster Frozen, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles outfits, Game of Thrones inspired costumes, Walking Dead outfits, Duck Dynasty hillbilly finest, Maleficent garb, and your classic superheroes and monsters choices.

Whatever you fancy yourself this year, go ahead and fancy your heart out. It IS Halloween, after all; and whether to ward off evil spirits, or to simply have one Sanhaim of a bagful-of-candy good time, there is no better excuse to give your alter-ego free reign. ■

impact on society.

As a result, many parents were alarmed. Authorities had to encourage parents to further inspect the treats that their children received before allowing them to consume the treats.

Parents also sometimes went out of their way to accompany their children whenever they went trick-or-treating for fear that some malicious stranger may give their children contaminated candies. Hospitals also offered free use of facilities to detect foreign objects in the sweets such as razor blades, pins, and needles.

In other words, there is panic – the best ingredient of a Halloween treat – spreading through time. From the parents, to guardians, neighbors, police officers, and even the government – the panic became rampant.

The real deal

Given the publicity of the cases, thorough investigations were conducted, and one of those cases revealed that it was not about needles and razors, but drugs. Apparently, a child died after eating Halloween candy that contained heroine.

The drug belonged to his uncle.

Some cases also showed that the candy was poisoned by the giver. One particular case revealed that the child’s father poisoned his son in order to get money out of the latter’s life insurance policy.

During another interview Best tried to put the story about the poisoned Halloween candies to rest.

"We checked major newspapers from throughout the country from 1958 through 1988," he said, "assuming that any story this horrible would certainly be well reported. Well, they found a total of 78 cases and two deaths. Further checking proved that almost all of the 78 cases were pranks. The deaths were tragically real, but they,

too, were misrepresented in the beginning,” he said.

The victims of the pranks were mostly children. And sometimes, the child is also the initiator.

Best added, "My favorite, was the kid who brought a half-eaten candy bar to his parents and said, 'I think there's ant poison on this.' They had it checked and, sure enough, there was ant poison on it — significantly, on the end he had not bitten. Of course, the kid had applied the poison himself.”

To put all the conceptions in perspective, Best said that there are more pressing threats to the safety of children on Halloween. More than poisoned candies, it is important to factor in the other possible causes of mortality among children.

Research show that children are four times more likely to be hit by a car on October 31 than any other day of the year, as millions of children all around the world go trick-or-treating on their own.

Considering that most trickor-treat activities are done at night, there are some streets that may not be well-lit enough for the children to be seen. Also, not all costumes are visible at night, especially dark-colored ones like a witch’s cloak. And not all children go with their guardians making them more susceptible, as their boisterous actions may lead to accidents.

Stories on candy poisoning and tampering are urban legends. Stories that were passed on from generations to generations aimed at making an event more interesting. Thus, these should be taken with a grain of salt.

But taking precaution is not limited to Halloween day only.

Regardless of the day and event, children and even adults are susceptible to accidents. There is no way of telling when these incidents will happen.

So, whether Halloween or not, a vigilant eye is still a musthave! ■

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Immigration

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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Tanong Mo Kay Kuya Boy JOEY FROM Burnaby emailed this question: KUYA BOY if I am at risk of being arrested, detained, and removed from Canada by immigration officials, what can I do in these circumstances?

Joey, I discussed your situation with MS. JENNIFER ELLIS one of Vancouver’s premier immigration lawyers. She has been practicing Immigration Law for several years and she may be contacted at her law firm, EDELMANN & COMPANY, at 604 646 4684.

The following answers are not legal advice. They are being provided by Ms. Ellis for informational purposes only.

Q. Who is at risk of being arrested and detained by immigration authorities?

A. There are many different situations you could find yourself in that would put you at risk of being arrested by immigration authorities. For example, - Anyone who has stayed beyond the time allowed (if you entered Canada as a visitor and you haven’t been given a specific time period that you are allowed to be in Canada for, the default is six months) - Anyone who was given a date for their deportation but did not leave Canada - Anyone who is not abiding by the conditions of their entry (i.e. working for an employer who is not the one named on your work permit, working without a work permit, going to school without a study permit, etc.)

- Entered Canada without presenting yourself to immigration officials - Missed an appointment with immigration Q. What should you do if you find yourself in any of these situations?

A. Every situation is different

and you should seek the advice of a lawyer as soon as possible, especially if you believe immigration authorities may already been looking for you or if there is a reason that you fear returning to your country of origin.

Depending on the unique facts of your case, there may be a way for you to apply to remain in Canada. In other cases, you will need to leave Canada first.

Additionally, if you know that there is a reason that immigration authorities could arrest you, you should think about what you will do in the event this does happen. Do you have a lawyer in mind who can help you if you are arrested and detained?

Do you have children or pets who will need to be cared for if you are held in detention? Who will look after them? If a bond is required for your release, who will be your bondsperson? Does that person have any money they can pay as a bond? What is their status in Canada?

Finally, make sure you pay the fare whenever you take public transit. Many immigration arrests are made after transit police discover that a person did not pay for the SkyTrain or the bus and CBSA confirms that the person does not have status in Canada, for example. Also, if you find yourself in any of the situations I mentioned earlier, you should also not drive a car and I would be very careful about riding a bicycle as well because the police can stop you and ask you to identify yourself in any of those situations.

Q. Under what circumstances do I have to answer questions from the police or CBSA? A. Let’s start with the scenario that you are in a public place, and not driving a car or riding a bike. First, you do not have to speak to anyone, unless you are being arrested or detained.

If you are not sure whether or not you are being detained, ask

the officer if you are free to go.

If they say yes, then you can walk away. If the answer is no, you are being detained. If it is not clear to you why you are being detained, ask the officer for a reason.

If you are being detained but you are not under arrest, you don’t even have to give the police officer your name. You can simply tell the officer that you want to remain silent. However, if you are driving a car, or a bike, or if you have broken the law, you will need to identify yourself even if you are simply being detained.

You should be aware that by not identifying yourself, even when you don’t have to, could lead to harassment and even your arrest. You may want to give the officer your name and address to show that you are co-operative. If they keep asking for more information after that, you can simply say that you want to remain silent.

If you are under arrest, you must tell the officer your name and address. You will know if you are being arrested because the officer will tell you.

Do not ever give the authorities a fake name or show them fake ID. What about if the authorities come to your home?

You do not have to let them in, unless they have the necessary warrants. There are two warrants required – one for entry and the other is an immigration arrest warrant. You can ask to see these warrants before you let the authorities into your home. The warrants must be signed and dated and the person they are looking for must be named.

If the authorities have the necessary warrants and the information n them is correct, the person named on the warrant may choose to leave the house to get arrested. That way if

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there is anyone else in the home without status, they are less at risk of being arrested as well.

Q. If I am detained, what happens next?

A. If you have been detained

by CBSA for immigration reasons, you have the right to a hearing called a “Detention Review”. At this hearing, a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board will decide whether your continued detention is necessary.

If you do not speak English, an interpreter will be provided for you, by the Board, at this hearing. You also have the option of having a lawyer represent you at this hearing. If you have a particular lawyer in mind, you will want to contact them as soon as possible. In Vancouver, you also have a duty counsel lawyer available to you who will represent you at your detention review for free.

Duty counsel lawyers in Vancouver are actually private lawyers who have dedicated some their time to acting as duty counsel at the Board and they are paid by Legal Aid. If your detention review is particularly complicated or you already have lawyer who is familiar with your case, you may want to retain a private lawyer who will

be able to spend more time preparing for your detention review than duty counsel. Many lawyers will bill you for their time on an hourly basis and depending on your specific case, they will be able to give you an estimate of the cost.

You must have a detention review within 48 hours after you are arrested. If the Board decides to detain you, you will have another detention review 7 days after that, and then every 30 days thereafter.

Duty counsel will be able to give you specific advice on what options are available for you to remain in Canada, if any. After that, it is possible that Legal Aid will fund your case. It will have to be seen if it is the kind of case that Legal Aid provides funding for and if you meet the financial criteria to qualify. ■ We invite you to tune in to our weekly legal advice program “Tanong Mo Kay Kuya Boy” every Saturday from 1230 pm to 1pm on JUAN RADIO 96.1 FM. Every week, we will feature various professional lawyers who will discuss and give advice about different legal topics.

If you have any legal questions, send an email to kuyaboycanada@gmail.com

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FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Entertainment PHOTOSHOPPING THE CANDIDATES OF MISS WORLD PHILIPPINES 2014

Retouching Beauty, Retouching Culture?

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE “could be” mentality has invaded our minds. Her hair could be shinier, her waist could be smaller, her breasts could be bigger, his abs could be more pronounced, her thighs could be thinner, her skin could be fairer.

The process of digitally enhancing someone’s appearance has become a habit, especially in the entertainment and advertising industries. Even the biggest Hollywood celebrities have fallen into Photoshophungry clutches of photo editors — some by choice, some by sheer duty.

In the recently concluded Miss World Philippines 2014 competition, the candidates’ photos — shot by “renowned photographer Pancho Escaler” — have drawn ire from netizens in the Philippines and across the globe. Some even say that it was manipulation gone way too far.

On the day of the coronation, October 12th, Michael Zhang of PetaPixel.com published an article about the alleged manipulation of the candidates’ photos.

According to Zhang, a “tipster” informed them about the official portraits of the candidates being heavily Photoshopped.

The same tipster said that the person responsible for the said images “must’ve been bored or high when he post-processed these photos.”

The pre-pageant photos were taken about a month before the coronation night.

The Photoshopped headshots of Miss World Philippines candidates Ranielah Marie Oval (left) and Priscilla Kimberley Dela Cruz (right).

YAHOO! PHILIPPINES

It was first published on Yahoo! Philippines on September as part of the series of photos meant to promote the pageant. It was also in Yahoo!

Philippines where the same photos were shown on October 1st in an article questioning the post-processing of the images.

The photos inevitably circulated online, even making its way to www.psdisasters.com — a website dedicated to showcase Photoshop fails all over the world — and big names like

Cosmopolitan and The Huffington Post.

“They’ve [the candidates] have been airbrushed within an inch of their lives,” said the PSDisaster article.

The candidates’ skin appears to have been airbrushed — a commenter used the words “sandblasted smooth” — to give off the appearance of smoother and somewhat fairer complexion.

The contestants’ facial features — especially their eyes — seems to have been manipu-

lated as well to make them bigger. Perhaps the photo editor was trying to achieve a Zooey Deschanel look?

Netizens did not mince their words when it came to the comments section.

There’s the pun-tastic “happy foundation day!” (referring to the heavy application of foundation as a make-up base on the candidates).

Then there’s the sarcastic “please post also the name of the person who post-processed these photos. He has to be cred-

ited for this accomplishment.”

And then there’s the exasperated voice of reason, “hindi masamang mag-edit or magphotoshop, kung realistic pa rin ang kalalabasan,,, malayo sa katotohanan ito… sana makita ito ng management ng beauty contest… nakakahiya [naman].”

(There’s nothing bad about editing photos or using photoshop if the output is still realistic.

These photos are far from the truth. I hope the management of the beauty contest will see this. What a shame.) ■

Entertainment

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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Coco admits to almost losing projects over Bench controversy

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — Actor Coco Martin has admitted that the fallout from his controversial segment in the Bench fashion show nearly cost him some of his endorsements contracts.

Martin, whose appearance on the “Naked Truth” show had him walking a woman on a leash as his “pet”, received outrage from women’s groups and netizens alike for what was largely considered a tasteless act which was demeaning to women.

Last week, the actor talked with reporters from Push while on the set of the television series “Ikaw Lamang,” during which he confessed that some of his endorsements were temporarily pulled from him on the heels of the fiasco.

Shortly after the controversy, Martin apologized to the women’s groups for the performance, which they described as a “disturbing throwback to concepts of enslaving and subjugating women to male fantasies.”

Martin has since been able to regain all his endorsements.

“Okay na. Mula nung nagkausap kami ng Gabriela at ng iba pang mga grupo na concerned nagbalikan na agad (It’s ok already. Ever since I was able to speak with Gabriela and the other concerned groups, (the endorsements) were returned.),” Martin said.

“Siguro [tinignan] lang din nila kung paano ko iha-handle ang situation. Sabi ko naman talaga eh, inako ko na kung ano man ‘yung pagkukulang at pagkakamali ko (Maybe they were waiting (to see) how I would handle the situation. But I have always said that I own up to my shortcomings and mistakes),” he added.

He pointed out that he has learned a valuable lesson from the events that transpired: “Sabi ko nga ako alam ko naman bilang artista ‘yung responsibilidad ko as an actor sa audience ko. Siguro hindi lang talaga all of the time talagang nakatutok ka minsan may mapapabayaan ka, (In fact I said that I know that as an actor, I have a responsibility to my audience. Maybe sometimes we tend to lose sight of that and sometimes we become negligent.)” he said.

Luckily for Martin, he and Bench CEO Ben Chan still enjoy a good working relationship, and the business mogul even apologized to Martin for the ss in which he found himself after the show.

“Nakakatuwa kasi supportive pa rin sila sa akin. Ayun kuwentuhan lang kami tapos humingi lang kami ng paumanhin sa isa’t-isa kasi siyempre hindi naman naming pareho inakala na magkakaroon ng problema (It makes me happy that they are still supportive of me. There, we were just talking and then we said sorry to each other, because neither of us expected that a problem would arise.),” Martin said, in reference to his conversation with Chan. ■

Katrina Halili, on breakup with Kris Lawrence: ‘We’re not prepared’

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Actor Coco Martin, whose appearance on the “Naked Truth” show had him walking a woman on a leash as his “pet”, has admitted that the fallout from that segment nearly cost him some of his endorsements contracts.

FACEBOOK PHOTO

MANILA — Actress and model Katrina Halili is single again, having recently parted ways with Filipino-American singer Kris Lawrence.

“We’re not prepared,” Halili said, of her failed relationship with Lawrence; with whom she has a daughter named Katrence.

“I only see him now as a friend,” Halili added, putting to rest questions on whether she and Lawrence would get back together.

While she was reluctant divulge any more details about the break-up, Halili stressed that it was not due to third-party involvement.

She was also quick to point out that both she and Lawrence are diligent with their responsibilities towards Katrence.

“We’re both okay as parents. He still often goes to my house to visit our daughter,” she said.

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Halili’s world was rocked by a sex scandal involving Hayden Kho some years ago; an incident which she admits had a significant impact on her self-esteem.

She added, though, that she is now more than ready to re-establish herself in her career, for the sake of her daughter.

“I really took myself for granted at the time. But now I’m definitely more focused. I will be more aggressive in proving my mettle. I’m doing this for my baby after all,” said Katrina.

As for future romantic relationships, she shared: “I don’t know but, at this point, I don’t want to entertain any suitors. I want to stay on track. I don’t want to lose my drive.”

A new movie, “Child House”, is in the pipeline for Katrina, who will play a mother role in the flick, as she did in her previous film, “Niño.”

“I don’t mind playing mother roles. I really want to play different roles to better my abilities as an actress,” Katrina said. ■

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Entertainment

OCTOBER 24, 2014 FRIDAY

Screenshot from the trailer for "Above the Clouds".

Trekking from Pulag to Fuji

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer IT HAS been quite a journey so far for young filmmaker Pepe Diokno and the cast and crew of his second film “Above the Clouds,” which is competing in the Asian Future section of the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival (Oct. 23 to 31).

Diokno told the INQUIRER that he was deeply honored to be part of this year’s Tokyo fest.

“I have always looked up to the cinema of Japan, the land of Akira Kurosawa and Hayao Miyazaki. It is one of the biggest festivals in Asia.”

Diokno, who won the Lion of the Future and Orizzonti Prize for his debut movie “Engkwentro” at the Venice International Film Festival in 2009, confessed he felt “thrilled but daunted” by the prospect of competing in the Asian Future section.

Mystical mountain

“It’s exciting because Asian Future features 10 films by up-andcoming directors from across the region. But it also makes me

nervous to represent the Philippines,” he said. “Still, I am very proud of our work. My film shows a side of the country that we haven’t seen in past movies.”

The film follows an orphaned boy (GMA 7 teen heartthrob Ruru Madrid) and his estranged grandfather (rock icon Pepe Smith) as they embark on a trek up a mystical, make-believe mountain.

Diokno admitted that making the film was a “personal odyssey” for him as well.

“I was very close to my grandmother (Nena Diokno), who died in 2011,” he said. “I made this film with her in mind.

If there was one person who would have gotten the movie’s subtext, it would have been her. In coping with the loss of a loved one, you also have to deal with the past, with history—this is the idea that drives the film.”

It took five long years before Diokno could come up with a followup to the acclaimed Cinemalaya movie “Engkwentro.”

He owned up, “After ‘ Engkwentro,’ I was scared. There were a lot of pressure and expectations—most of them com-

ing from myself.”

He overcame the stumbling block by heeding the advice of an esteemed Filipino director.

“Lav Diaz simply said: ‘ Don’t join the rat race.’ He told me to focus on telling stories. That took a lot of pressure off … I realized that it was okay to take my time,” he said. “It took a while to find a story I was passionate about … a story I would bleed and cry for.”

That passion project turned out to be “Above the Clouds.”

It took two years to write the script, another two years to raise the money, almost a year to shoot, and over half a year in post-production, he said.

A Filipino-French production, the film received a grant from the French Ministries of Culture and Foreign Affairs, which allowed Diokno to do the post-production in Paris, France.

Waiting for money

Like in most indie productions, financing was hard to come by for Diokno’s team. “We only shot for 21 days—spread throughout a year because we had to wait for money to come www.canadianinquirer.net

in before we could shoot.”

He described the production process as a “logistical nightmare.”

“We shot on mountain peaks, in raging rivers, caves, cliffs, forests, barren wastelands, grasslands, cities, on highways,” he said. “We even had to recreate an evacuation center with 600 extras. Every single day of the 21day shoot was a trial.”

Lead actor Madrid playfully described the shoot, particularly the hiking scenes in Mount Pulag, as “deathdefying.”

A crew of 60 people went on the hike, Diokno recalled. “We carried the camera, lenses, all the equipment up the mountain. It was freezing cold there.

One of our tents got blown away one night. Whenwe reached the peak, Ruru got sick.”

Then doubt and disappointment crept in, casting a dark cloud over the production. “I was not even sure that we would get the shot that we needed.”

Then a miracle of sorts saved the day.

“Fortunately, the skies cleared and we got our shot. After the scene, it started raining.

It was like the mountain said: ‘Okay, I gave you your shot, now go!’ All in all, it was a beautiful experience. I have to thank the people of Mount Pulag, our porters and guides. They saved us.”

It was important for Diokno to shoot up north.

“Baguio is a big inspiration for the film,” he explained. “I spent many summers there as a kid. From Baguio, the story wandered around Mountain Province. In the script, there is only one mountain, but we shot in different places in Sagada, Benguet and Mount Pulag to form a fictional mountain. I wanted stunning locations that were full of history.”

His fondest wish is for the film to “find its audience in Tokyo and beyond.”

While invitations to other festivals may be in the offing, Diokno said everything was, quite aptly, up in the air.

“We are still holding our breath for Tokyo,” he said. “But I want so badly to show the film in the Philippines because I made it for our countrymen.

Perhaps we will premiere here early next year.” ■

Entertainment

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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Fashion designer Oscar de la Renta dies at 82

BY SHELLEY ACOCA The Associated Press NEW YORK — Oscar de la Renta, the worldly gentleman designer who shaped the wardrobe of socialites and Hollywood stars for more than four decades, has died. He was 82.

De la Renta died at home Monday evening in Connecticut surrounded by family and friends and “more than a few dogs,” according to a handwritten statement signed by two of his company’s executives, Alex Bolen and Eliza Bolen.

“While our hearts are broken by the idea of life without Oscar, he is still very much us. Oscar’s hard work, his intelligence and his love of life are at the heart of our company,” the statement said. “All that we have done, and all that we will do, is informed by his values and his spirit.

Through Oscar’s example we know the way forward. We will make Oscar very proud of us by continuing in an even stronger way the work that Oscar loved so much.”

The late ‘60s and early ‘70s

were a defining moment in U.S. fashion as New York-based designers finally carved a look of their own that was finally taken seriously by Europeans. De la Renta and his peers, including the late Bill Blass, Roy Halston and Geoffrey Beene, defined American style — and their influence is still spotted today.

De la Renta’s specialty was eveningwear, though he also was known for chic daytime suits favoured by the women who would gather at the Four Seasons or Le Cirque at lunchtime. His signature looks were voluminous skirts, exquisite embroideries and rich colours.

First lady Laura Bush wore an icy blue gown by de la Renta to the 2005 inaugural ball and Hillary Clinton wore a gold de la Renta in 1997. On the red carpet at the Academy Awards, Penelope Cruz and Sandra Bullock were among the celebrities to don his feminine and opulent gowns. His clothes even were woven into episodes of “Sex and the City” with style icon character Carrie Bradshaw dropping his name — and comparing his designs to poetry.

De la Renta’s path to New York’s Seventh Avenue took an unlikely route: He left his native Dominican Republic at age 18 to study painting in Spain but soon became sidetracked by fashion. The wife of the U.S. Ambassador to Spain saw some of his sketches and asked him to make a dress for her daughter — a dress that landed on the cover of Life magazine.

That led to an apprenticeship with Cristobal Balenciaga, and then de la Renta moved to France to work for couture house Lanvin. By 1963, he was working for Elizabeth Arden couture in New York and in 1965 had launched his own label.

He told the AP in 2004 that his Hispanic roots worked their way into his designs.

“I like light, colour, luminosity. I like things full of colour and vibrant,” he said.

And while de la Renta made Manhattan his primary home, he often visited the Dominican Republic and kept a home there. Vogue editor in chief Oscar de la Renta. ❱❱ PAGE 37 Fashion designer

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Lifestyle

Instead of composting jack o’ lanterns, reuse them in tasty pies or soup

BY MEGAN COLE The Canadian Press VICTORIA — A different kind of pumpkin patch has grown along the streets and trails of Mount Doug Park in Saanich, B.C. For the past five years residents have been dropping off their old jack-o’-lanterns after Halloween.

According to Jason Fuller, operations manager at Ellice Recycling, nearly 500 pumpkins were collected last year from the Mount Doug Park and Parkway area during the first week of November.

Ellice Recycle Ltd. provides the municipality of Saanich with a free disposal bin, and then Fuller says municipal workers collect the pumpkins and put them in the bin so they can be transported and composted.

While the jack-o’-lantern cemetery in Saanich has been around for nearly half a decade, Frank Leonard, mayor of Saanich, says residents may have been inspired by a nearby community.

“I noticed about a year before it started in Saanich there was something similar happening up near Shawnigan Lake,” says Leonard. “People were leaving their pumpkins along the road just after Halloween, and a year later it popped up in Saanich.”

Even though the municipality doesn’t officially condone the tradition, Leonard says he enjoys it.

“It’s one of those nice populace, non-government initiatives,” he says. “I rather enjoy those. Sometimes there is too much structured play even as grownups. Just it being this community activity is actually quite wonderful.”

The municipality also encourages homeowners to participate in local campaigns that respond

Kids who drink non-cow’s milk twice as likely to have low vitamin D, study finds

BY SHERYL UBELACKER The Canadian Press

to disposing of old jack-o’lanterns such as the Pumpkin Smash, organized by the Greater Victoria Compost Education Centre, which aims to have pumpkins composted rather than thrown in the landfill.

For those looking to make use of their jack-o’-lantern at home, pastry chef Karine Moulin says why not bake with it?

“The frugal side of me says absolutely use it up,” says Moulin of Hotel Arts in Calgary. “My only recommendation would be if someone had a jack-o’-lantern with a candle burning inside it, otherwise I’m absolutely in favour of using an old jacko’-lantern. I would just cut out any of the pumpkin that was a bit dry.”

Reusing an old pumpkin means recognizing it has a different flavour, and Moulin says roasting the pumpkin prior to pureeing it will intensify the flavour.

“They have a different flavour,” she says. “It isn’t as pungent as a sugar pumpkin, so I find I have to add more spices to draw out that pumpkin flavour. It is a bit more muted.”

Greg Hook, head chocolatier and owner of Vancouver’s Chocolate Arts, recommends cooking pureed pumpkin in a double boiler to gently heat it

while also allowing the water to evaporate, which intensifies the flavour.

“Everyone has their own pumpkin pie recipe, but something we do is once we have our puree we will mix in some milk chocolate,” says Hook. “What that does is applies a certain amount of richness to the pumpkin without detracting from the flavour. In a pumpkin pie we would add no more than 1.7 ounces to 3.5 ounces of milk chocolate.”

Even though pumpkin is most commonly used in pies, Hook says once the pumpkin has been steamed and pureed, the options of what to do with it are endless.

“Everyone does the ubiquitous pumpkin pie, but I’ve actually got two recipes, one is for an ice pumpkin terrine and the other is for a pumpkin chocolate mousse cake or for a pumpkin mouse,” says Hook.

“We like to use it in anything where you can have sweetness, but that being said it can be used for a soup really well. One of the best sandwiches I have ever tasted was from a Trinidadian lady who served a roasted ham and pumpkin sandwich that blew my mind. It had really good Dijon mustard, and was really great.” ■

TORONTO — Children who drink non-dairy milk products such as rice, almond or soy milk may have lower levels of vitamin D in their blood than those who drink cow’s milk, a study suggests.

The study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that kids who drank only non-dairy milk were more than twice as likely as children who drank only cow’s milk to be vitamin D-deficient.

Vitamin D, known as the sunshine vitamin, plays a critical role in bone development. Low levels of vitamin D can cause bone weakness and, in severe cases, rickets — a condition that causes bones to become soft and can potentially lead to skeletal deformities.

In Canada, cow’s milk and margarine are required by law to be fortified with vitamin D, which is also found naturally in fish, liver and egg yolks. Most of the body’s vitamin D stores arise from exposure to sunlight, which converts cholesterol

in the skin to vitamin D3. But from late fall through to spring, there is not enough sunlight in Canada for the body to make vitamin D, so dietary sources are critical to maintain bones and to optimize health.

Based on a recommendation by the Institute of Medicine, the level of vitamin D in a child’s blood should measure at least 50 nanomoles per litre to ensure good bone development.

“When we looked at what different kinds of milk and milk beverages children were drinking, we found a gradient in their vitamin D levels,” said principal investigator Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a pediatrician and researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.

“What we found was that in children who were drinking only non-cow’s milk beverages, they had a lower level (of vitamin D). About five per cent who were only drinking cow’s milk and about 11 per cent of children who were drinking only non-dairy milk were below that level (of 50 nmol/l),” he said.

“Among children who drank ❱❱ PAGE 41 Kids who

Lifestyle

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

37

Fashion designer...

Anna Wintour was a frequent visitor and she has said travelling with him was like travelling with the president. “He’s a superstar,” she said.

He also had a country home in northwestern Connecticut. Gardening and dancing were among his favourite diversions from work. “I’m a very restless person. I’m always doing something.

The creative process never stops,” he said.

As a designer, De la Renta always catered to his socialite friends and neighbours — as the designer and his wife, Annette, were fixtures on the black-tie charity circuit — but he did make occasional efforts to reach the masses, including launching a mid-priced line in 2004 and developing a dozen or so perfumes, the first, called Oscar, was introduced in 1977 and more recently, Rosamor.

He was an avid patron of the arts, serving as a board member of The Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall, among others, and he devoted considerable time to children’s charity, including New Yorkers for Children. He also helped fund schools and day-care centres in La Romana and Punta Cana in his native country.

The Dominican Republic honoured ❰❰ 35

de la Renta with the order al Merito de Juan Pablo Duarte and the order of Cristobol Colon. Here in the U.S., he received the Coty American Fashion Critics Award twice, was named womenswear designer of the year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2000 and also received a lifetime achievement award from the CFDA — an organization for which he served as president in the 1980s.

In addition to his own label, de la Renta spearheaded the Pierre Balmain collection from 1993-2002, marking the first time an American designed for a French couture house, and he was awarded the French Legion d’Honneur as a Commandeur. He also received the Gold Medal Award from the king and queen of Spain.

De la Renta gave up the title of chief executive of his company in 2004, handing over business duties to stepdaughter Eliza Reed Bolen and her husband, Alex Bolen, but he remained active on the design end, continuing to show his collections during New York Fashion Week.

De la Renta also is survived by an adopted son, Moises, a designer at the company.

De la Renta’s first wife, French Vogue editor Francoise de Langlade, died in 1983. ■



www.canadianinquirer.net



38

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Business

Canada wins a round in ongoing trade battle with U.S. over meat labelling laws

BY JOHN COTTER The Canadian Press CANADA HAS won a battle in an ongoing trade dispute with the United States over meat-labelling laws that have hurt the beef and pork industries.

The World Trade Organization released a ruling this week that said U.S. country-of-origin labelling (COOL) rules discriminate against exports from Canada and Mexico.

The rules, which went into effect in 2008 and were updated last year, are blamed by the Canadian meat industry for reducing exports to the U.S. by half.

The WTO compliance panel said COOL breaks trade rules because it treats Canadian and Mexican livestock less favourably than U.S. livestock.

The panel said changes the U.S. made to the rules last year made the policy even more detrimental to livestock exporters.

“The compliance panel concluded that the amended COOL measure increases the original COOL measure’s detrimental impact on the competitive opportunities of imported livestock in the U.S. market,” the panel said.

“It necessitates increased segregation of meat and livestock in the U.S. market, entails a higher record-keeping burden and increases the original COOL measure’s incentive to choose domestic over imported livestock.”

The federal government hailed the ruling Monday and

called on the United States to International Trade Minister comply with the WTO decision. Ed Fast has said the legislation “Today’s WTO compliance undermines North American panel’s report reaffirms Cana- supply chains and costs the Cada’s long-standing view that the nadian pork and beef industries revised U.S. COOL measure is about $1 billion a year. blatantly protectionist and fails Some U.S. companies have to comply with the WTO’s orig- said they can’t afford to sort, lainal ruling against it,” Agricul- bel and store meat from Canada ture Minister Gerry Ritz said in differently than meat from doa statement. mestic animals.

“The WTO’s clear and consisRitz has said the federal govtent findings in support of Can- ernment would consider imada’s position effectively sup- posing retaliatory tariffs meaply a clear message to the U.S. sures on some U.S. goods as — end this protectionist policy early as next year if Washingthat creates economic harm ton doesn’t comply with WTO on both sides of the border and COOL rulings. comply with your international In June 2013 Ritz said along trade obligations.” with beef the list could include obligations. “This decision by Ritz has said that he expects cheese, apples, corn, maple the compliance panel is very the U.S. may appeal the ruling syrup, chocolate, pasta, frozen compelling.” before the trade battle is finally orange juice, wine and spirits, Dave Solverson, president resolved. jewelry and mattresses. of the Canadian Cattlemen’s “I think they will ride this “It’s paramount that U.S. leg- Association, praised the WTO right to the bottom politically,” islators act quickly,” he said. report and called on Ottawa he said. “It’s a political solution The Canadian Pork Council to retaliate against the U.S. if to a problem that doesn’t exist.” welcomed Monday’s decision. Washington doesn’t change it’s Ritz noted that it’s the third Past chairman Jurgen Preug- policy. time the WTO He said the has ruled against report leaves COOL. no shadow of a “This is their doubt that the final strike. They I think they will ride this right to the legislation is only had three bottom politically ... It’s a political causing discrimopportunities.” solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. ination against COOL rules live imports of require all packcattle and hogs aged meat to into the U.S. identify where marketplace. the animal was born, raised and schas said there needs to be a “Until COOL comes into comslaughtered. legislative solution to end the pliance with the WTO, the CCA Supporters of the law say it segregation of Canadian and will continue to insist that the better informs U.S. consum- U.S. livestock.

Government of Canada prepare ers, while opponents argue that “It’s high time for Washing- to impose prohibitively high tarsegregating animals and track- ton to end the stalling,” said iffs on key U.S. exports to Canaing them adds costs and vio- Preugschas, who added that the da, including beef,” he said. lates free-trade agreements.

U.S. needs to respect its WTO American cattle producers

were also quick to take note of the report.

Bob McCan, president of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said the COOL policy has hurt some producers in the U.S., including suffering price discounts. He also noted the closure of some feedlots and packing plants.

McCan said the COOL ruling brings the U.S. a step closer to facing retaliatory tariffs. He said COOL is so flawed that it can’t be fixed.

“COOL is a failed program that will soon cost not only the beef industry, but the entire U.S. economy, with no corresponding benefit to consumers or producers,” he said from Texas.

“NCBA has maintained that there is no regulatory fix to bring COOL into compliance with our WTO obligations or that will satisfy our top trading partners.” ■

Business

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

39

Maybank eyes strong domestic growth drivers to help Philippines outperform ASEAN-5 League in ‘14 & ‘15

BY JOANN SANTIAGO Philippine News Agency MANILA — The Philippines is projected to post the highest growth among ASEAN-5 economies this year and the next as domestic demands remain strong and issues negatively affecting growth are being resolved.

In a research note, Maybank ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp. noted the cut made by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on global growth during the two-year period given the weaker-than-expected outturn in major economies.

It, however, cited that projec-

tion for emerging and developing Asia remains rosy at 6.5 percent for 2014 and 6.6 percent for 2015.

For ASEAN-5, which groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, growth for this year is seen to reach 4.7 percent while it is 5.4 percent for 2015.

For the Philippines alone, the projection is a growth of 6.2 percent this year and 6.3 percent next year.

These are, however, lower than the government’s 6.5 to 7.5 percent target this year and 7.0 to 8.0 percent target for 2015.

Relatively, the World Bank (WB) projects the Philippines’

growth during the two-year period to be at 6.4 percent and 6.7 percent, while the Manilabased Asian Development Bank (ADB) sets these at 6.2 percent and 6.4 percent.

Maybank also noted the consensus projection among IMF, WB and ADB of a better output for the domestic economy in the second half of the year after the 6.0 percent expansion from January to June 2014. ”We concur as recent issues holding bank growth in 1H14 (first half of 2014) are being resolved,” it said.

The report said inflation rate is coming down after the September level declined to 4.4 percent from month-ago’s 4.9

percent.

Year-to-date average inflation stood at 4.4 percent, within the government’s 3.0 to 5.0 percent target for the year.

Supply side pressures are becoming less of a problem as oil prices continue to go down even in the international market and imports of basic commodities like rice has been assured.

The problem of port congestion has also been partly addressed after the government of the City of Manila stopped the implementation of the expanded truck ban in its vicinity. ”Vigilance by the private sector keeps the issue on the top of the minds of government of-

ficials and we believe this will help prevent a recurrence of the problem,” the research report said.

The report also said that the government has addressed spending constraints even after the Supreme Court declared some portions of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) unconstitutional.

It identified the country’s edge vis-à-vis the current global economic environment and these are the demand-driven economy, a healthy banking system, young population, low household and corporate debt, declining government liabilities and the improving fiscal and monetary space. ■

Aquino: Intellectual Property Rights system bolsters Philippines’ competitiveness

BY KRIS M. CRISMUNDO Philippine News Agency MANILA — Strengthening the country’s intellectual property rights (IPR) system will support the Philippines’ path to global competitiveness, President Benigno S. Aquino III said this week.

In his speech during the 4th Philippine Anti-Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit delivered by Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo, strong IPR system in the country promotes fair business environment and attracts investments opportunities.

“The achievement of our government agencies in IP protection, enforcement and adjudication, reflect a positive sign for industries both in the local and international levels,” President Aquino noted.

“This also tells us the opportunities to improve the sharing of best practices to maximize the prospects of growths and to address the rising challenge brought about by the ever changing dynamics of the global trade,” the President added.

Early this year, the Philippines was removed from United States Trade Representa-

tive (USTR) Special 301 Report after being in the piracy watch list since 1994.

President Aquino also highlighted in his message that the Philippines ranked second in Asia and Oceania region in terms of patent protection in the 2013 International Property Rights Index.

In the region, the Philippines is only next to Japan in terms of patent protection. The country also surpassed large

and more advanced economies like South Korean, Australia, and New Zealand, according to Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director General Ricardo R. Blancaflor.

The Chief Executive, likewise, noted the country’s commitment to protect global trademarks under the Madrid Protocol in 2012. The Philippines is one of the 90 signatories in the said pact. www.canadianinquirer.net

“Through this system and other related efforts, we are only providing the Filipinos for clear path for global competitiveness. More importantly by exporting high quality Filipino creations, we are showing the world just how talented and skilled our countrymen are,” the President said.

“This significant step is part of our strategy to effectively capitalize on the talent of Filipino who is not only creative

but also hardworking determined and full of energy. This complements our approach to foster fairness, competitiveness and international excellence,” he added.

President Aquino, in his speech, noted that the increased synergies in enforcing the common goal of improving the IPR system, the Philippines will be promoting not only an effective, dynamic and more development-oriented IP regime, but also fostering the conditions that will lead to collective success.

“It is protecting sectors from piracy, counterfeiting and abuse that we ensure stability, and thus the expansion of the industry,” he stressed.

He also assured that the government will continue its reform to achieve better IP system through stronger legal frameworks.

“With the advancement of technology today which presents advantages and disadvantages in terms of intellectual property protection, we are made more aware of the need for a stronger legal and institutional framework that will make sure reforms in this field are fully being implemented,” said President Aquino. ■

40

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Travel

‘It’s More Fun in the Philippines’ slogan has come a long way since its launch in 2012

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — There's no denying that the Department of Tourism’s (DOT) “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” has been the most successful one among all the slogans released by the department to date.

Perhaps only second to the feat reached by “It’s More Fun” was the “Wow, Philippines” slogan used by former Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon from 2001 until 2004.

Launched in January 2012, the present slogan has come as far as being dubbed as the third smartest marketing campaign in the world by global annual ranker of marketing campaigns Warc 100 this year, but the early beginnings of the slogan were not smooth-sailing.

Immediately after its launch, the slogan was criticized for being copied from a vintage 1951 ad for Switzerland. However, these claims were later discovered to be a mere coincidence.

Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. was quick to defend the slogan, denying that it was copied. He took to social media his reaction a day after he announced the release of the new slogan.

“No one can own the expression ‘it's more fun’ but it's very true for the Philippines so it becomes ours,” Jimenez had said on his official Twitter account.

“The line isn't a manufactured slogan. It's simply the truth about our country. Don't be swayed by people who are

A screenshot from the "It's More Fun in the Philippines" website. The slogan, launched in January 2012, is garnering much success for Philippine Tourism.

trying to punch holes in it,” he also said.

This was not the first time a slogan was criticized for being copied. In 2010, the slogan “Pilipinas Kay Ganda” was bashed for being plagiarized from a tourism campaign in Poland. The slogan was eventually scrapped.

“It’s More Fun,” however, in the words of Warc 100 Digital Product Manager Joseph Clift, unlike past slogans, eventually turned out to be a “social media phenomenon.”

On the same day it was launched, the hashtag #Its-

MoreFunInThePhilippines became the top trending topic worldwide on Twitter.

President Benigno S. Aquino III himself has mentioned the slogan in many of his speeches, including the annual State of the Nation Address (SONA).

The slogan, a brainchild of local advertising firm BBDO Guerrero, has two phases. The first is focused on defining the identity of the Philippines and its people, while the second launched last May, promoted the country's tourist destinations.

Jimenez said that what made

the new tourism slogan a hit was that it was more than just an adjective to describe the country. He said that the slogan was more of “an expression, drawn from natural conversation.”

“The new tourism line answers the basic question, 'Why go to the Philippines?'“ the Tourism chief said.

Many reasons for visiting the Philippines are inscribed on the department’s unique posters with over 70,000 of them seen in various places locally and internationally.

“The Philippines is not just

one country, it is a whole gamut of destinations, attractions, services, (and the like),” Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) Domingo Enerio III said.

Enerio, like Jimenez, said that aside from the popular slogan, what really propelled the campaign to become a trend was the fact that Filipinos supported it wholeheartedly.

“Tourism is a feel good industry. Everybody is so supportive.

We have so much support not just from our legislators, public officials, leaders but also the common people,” Enerio said.

“Filipinos have put their weight behind tourism and are now part of this campaign,” he added.

In fact, it has been the only slogan which has been interactive in such a way that Filipinos are creating their own versions of the It’s More Fun posters themselves and sharing them on social media.

This is why it was a smart move for the department to maximize digital technology use by aggressive global online sharing.

“We love sharing the good things about the country,” Enerio said.

Although there is no saying how long the popularity of the It’s More Fun slogan will last, the DOT said that the department will continue to think of ways to make the campaign strategic even beyond the end of the Aquino administration. ■

41

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Sports

Nicholas Walters stops Nonito Pacquiao’s KIA Donaire late in 6th round team wins debut to win WBA featherweight title game in PBA

BY GREG BEACHAM The Associated Press

sive all-around performance that thrilled the sellout crowd for Gennady Golovkin’s middleweight title bout against Marco Antonio Rubio.

Walters, nicknamed the Axe Man for his chopping blows, had won 10 of his last 11 fights by stoppage while climbing from obscurity and winning one version of the WBA title.

Donaire was a serious step up

But Walter stunned Donaire and knocked him down to a knee late in the third, putting an uppercut squarely on Donaire’s CARSON, CALIFORNIA — jaw. Donaire rose and survived Nicholas Walters stopped Nothe round, but developed a nito Donaire with a second left dripping cut near his right eye in the sixth round this past Satin the fourth. urday night, winning the WBA Donaire lost his 122-pound tifeatherweight title in dramatic tles to Guillermo Rigondeaux in fashion.

April 2013. The Filipino-born, Walters (25-0, 21 KOs), a fairly Bay Area-raised Donaire had unknown fighter been considered from Jamaica, one of boxing’s punctuated his top pound-forbreakthrough pound fighters performance by 'I’ve got to go back to the drawing before getting knocking down board,' Donaire said. schooled by Donaire (33Rigondeaux, but 3) for the first he bounced back two times in the with consecutive four-division victories, winchampion’s career. in competition for Walters, but ning the WBA 126-pound title After Donaire swung and he handled the champion with in May. missed with a huge left hand activity and precision before Before this fight, Donaire late in the sixth, Walter caught finishing the fight. said he had a revitalized pashim above the ear with an over“I’ve never seen a feather- sion for boxing after struggling hand right. Donaire fell face- weight with as much power as for motivation in recent years. first to the canvas, and though Walters,” Top Rank promoter Winning his fourth world title he beat the count, he couldn’t Bob Arum said. “Nothing like the exceeded his own expectations, continue in his second loss in concussive power this kid has.” and becoming a father changed four fights.

Donaire fell hard to the can- his mentality toward his violent Walters also knocked vas in the first round, but it was sport.

Donaire down to one knee in ruled a slip. He otherwise con“I’ve got to go back to the the third round with an upper- trolled the early action, and he drawing board,” Donaire said. cut, and he absorbed Donaire’s staggered Walters with a flurry “I know I can’t compete with biggest punches in an impres- at the second-round bell. guys like Walters.” ■

BY JELLY F. MUSICO Philippine News Agency MANILA — Manny Pacquiao, world’s boxing champion and lawmaker, had two turnovers and scoreless in his first game in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) but his KIA team remains triumphant, beating fellow expansion Blackwater team, 80-66, in the opening of the Philippine Cup at the Philippine Arena in Bulacan last Sunday, October 19.

Pacquiao played only few a minutes in the first quarter and the Sorento found themselves trailing by at least 13 points but they rallied in the third quarter to come out with a rousing debut in front of the 52,000 crowd, the biggest crowd to watch a game in the country.

Little known LA Revilla topscored with 23 points while Hans Thiele and Reil Cervantes added 13 markers each and Rudy Lingganay finished with 11 points for Kia. ”Our defense in the half was not organized. I told them to remove pressure because fans are here to support us. We’re able to execute our plays in the second half,” playing-coach Pacquiao said.

KIA assistant coach Glenn Capacio gave credit to their

players for overcoming jitters in the first half. ”I told them to just play their best. Manny is still adjusting.

I’m afraid because he might get injury,” Capacio said.

Pacquiao is preparing for his upcoming fight against undefeated American Chris Algieri in November 23.

Meanwhile, PBA commissioner Chito Salud thanked the basketball fans for supporting the PBA, promising to bring more exiting games in the league’s 40th season. ”We’re happy in the PBA for our 40th season. More than the numbers, our target is we want to make our fans happy. Our games will be exciting this season,” Salud said.

The scores: KIA 80 — Revilla 23, Thiele 13, Cervantes 13, Lingganay 11, Saldua 7, Alvarez 4, Sanga 3, Webb 2, Padilla 2, Buensuceso 1, Ighalo 1, Alonzo 0, Pacquiao 0, Raymundo 0.

BLACKWATER 66 — Tiongson 10, Erram 10, Faundo 6, Nuyles 6, Menor 6, Cawaling 6, Artadi 6, Salvacion 6, Ballesteros 4, Rodriguez 2, Laure 2, Austria 2, Timberlake 0, Gamalinda 0.

Quarterscores: 12-21, 25-34, 63-51, 80-66. ■

Labels on many of the commercial plant-based milk products say they are enriched with vitamin D in quantities similar to the amount required for cow’s milk.

Sara Loveday, a spokeswoman for U.S.-based White Wave Foods, said by email that the company’s Silk-brand almond, soy and coconut milks are fortified with vitamin D, “and our products are clearly labelled to indicate its presence.”

Still, Maguire said it’s important to make sure kids are get-

ting enough vitamin D, and the best way to do that is to buy a fortified product.

“I think we need to be a little bit careful about its vitamin D content and paying particular attention to the back of the bottle,” he said, adding that the information should ideally be put on the front label so it’s easy for consumers to see.

“It’s a little unclear to me at least why cow’s milk is fortified with vitamin D universally, but these alternatives that some parents are choosing are not.” ■

Kids who... non-cow’s milk, every additional cup of noncow’s milk was associated with a five per cent drop in vitamin D levels per month.”

The study involved 2,831 healthy children aged one to six who were recruited from seven Toronto pediatric or family medicine practices that are part of a research network called TARGet Kids!

Researchers found that 87 per cent of children in the study predominantly drank cow’s milk, while 13 per cent drank ❰❰ 36

non-cow’s milk.

There are a variety of reasons some parents give their kids non-dairy milk products, including lactose intolerance, allergies and a perception that they may be a healthier choice.

“I think there are perceived health benefits,” said Maguire.

“The question is: are there actual health benefits? And that’s one of the reasons we did this study.”

All cow’s milk sold in Canada has to be fortified with 100 IU (international units) of vitamin D per cup, and the dairy prod-

ucts are carefully regulated with content testing.

But non-dairy milk beverages made from such plantbased products as soy, rice and almonds fall outside the legislation, he said.

“There doesn’t have to be vitamin D in non-dairy milk. So some do contain it and some don’t.”

Maguire advises parents who choose non-dairy milk for their children to check the nutritional information box on the product to see whether it contains vitamin D and how much.

Extras

OCTOBER 24, 2014 FRIDAY

EXCHANGE RATES

As of October 22, 2014, from finance.yahoo.com

42

PRICE

CHANGE

% CHANGE

CND / USD

1.1219

-0.0006

-0.0566%

CND / PHP

39.9330

+0.0584

0.1465%

CND / EUR

1.4277

+0.0006

+0.0395%

WEATHER FORECAST VANCOUVER

25 Sat

26

Sun

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Wed

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Thurs

Long term forecast taken from: www.weathernetwork.com

CALGARY

EDMONTON

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TORONTO

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31 Fri

HOROSCOPE ARIES

CANCER

LIBRA

CAPRICORN

(MARCH 21 - APRIL 19)

(JUNE 22 - JULY 22)

(SEPT 23 - OCT 22)

(DEC 22 - JAN 19)

Recalibrate your goals this week, Aries. You have been doing some activities that are not in line with what you really want to achieve. This may cause you to lose the amount of energy you need to succeed in your goals. The key word is FOCUS.

You have to think big this week, Cancer. You will be faced with situations that will require you to make major decisions. Some will really shape the direction you will be taking. So, in every path you take, remember to look at things on a grand scale.

You will be needing the comfort of your friends in the coming week. There will be a strong surge of emotion and being with friends will be your only way of coping. Just don’t forget to choose the “real” ones.

Something will hold you from making a major decision in your career in the coming week. A surge of emotion will keep your goal under wraps. Do not hesitate to entertain that doubt and re-check your goals before making a big leap.

TAURUS

LEO

SCORPIO

AQUARIUS

(APRIL 20 - MAY 20)

(JULY 23 - AUGUST 22)

(OCT 23 - NOV 21)

(JAN 20 - FEB 18)

Do not let your thoughts be clouded by the negative energy that awaits you this week. Remember that your strength in facing each emotional downturn is what will shape your actions.

GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUNE 21)

Spill those hidden emotions.

This week, you will find the right person to turn to. Grab the opportunity of having someone who will listen to your heart and give you objective opinions – something your heart badly need this week.

Doing some trial and error on your habits will help you improve your skills. Knowing what works for you and what doesn’t will help you create the best improvements. Don’t be afraid of falling.

You’ll only go up when you start below, so keep trying!

VIRGO

SAGITTARIUS

(AUG 23 - SEPT 22) Don’t get disappointed with people disagreeing with your thoughts. You will get more of them in the coming weeks so stressing out yourself may not be productive. Remember that the more they disagree, the more they believe that your opinion on things matter.

Teamwork is what will drive you to better outputs in the days to come. Your skills in collaborating with your workmates will be tested. Learn how to say yes to working with your peers, that’s the only to produce better results.

PISCES (FEB 19 - MAR 20)

(NOV 22 - DEC 21) Stop brooding over the failures you’ve had in the past week. The stars are telling you that things will be getting better in the coming days, only if you believe that it will. Success starts in the mind, Virgo.

Today, you will realize that the only constant thing in this world is change. There will be major changes in your life and it will come at the most unexpected moments this week, so watch out!

www.canadianinquirer.net

Keeping your emotions in check is a must. You might be making or breaking relationships through your emotions so keep an eye on them in the coming days. You are in danger of blowing things out of proportion so keep your cool.

43

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

www.canadianinquirer.net

44

Seen and Scenes

OCTOBER 24, 2014

FRIDAY

VOLUNTEERS' APPRECIATION NIGHT Scenes from the MTG Healthcare Academy’s “Volunteers’ Appreciation Night” in Scenic Acres, Calgary (Photos by Manoy Ferdie).

COUNCILLOR PAGTAKHAN Councillor Mike Pagtakhan was recently presented with several hand-drawn thank you cards from students at Lord Nelson School for his role in raising funds for the school's new outdoor classroom tables and benches.

Pagtakhan is a candidate in the 2014 Point Douglas Council Ward race.

For photo submissions, please email info@canadianinquirer.net. www.canadianinquirer.net

Events

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

Star Magic’s One Magical Night

By Palabok House in cooperation with Berce Enterprises WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m., Oct. 25 at River Cree Resort & Casino 300 E. Lapalac Blvd., 179 Enoch, AB. MOR INFO: Call 780-995-6907

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Haluwin Kostyum Patlak Party

By Pinoy Without Borders WHERE/WHEN: 6 p.m., Nov. 1, at Calgary Marlborough Community Centre (Upper Hall), 636 Marlborough Way NE MORE INFO: RSVP by Oct. 24, Mabeth at 403-614-1030.

CANADA EVENTS

YUKON

NUNAVUT

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

MANITOBA

SASKATCHEWAN

Free Tagalog Lessons

By Philippine Language School WHEN/WHERE: ongoing every Saturday, 2 p.m., at Sprott Shaw College(walking distance from Rupert Station).

MORE INFO: Learn conversational Tagalog for free.

Course will lead to regular Tagalog curriculum from K-12 in 2015. Call 694-551-3360 or 778-239-0500.

Peer Support Training in Coquitlam

By Immigrant Women’s Peer Support Program and Citizenship and Immigration Canada WHEN/WHERE: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., till Dec. 13, at Immigrant Services Society of BC - Coquitlam Settlement Services, 200C-504 Cottonwood Ave., Coquitlam B.C. Culture Smart

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., every Monday till Nov. 24 at Mosaic 1720 Grant St., Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Contact Mike at 604-254-9626 ext.

484. Registration is required.

Interactive Discussion with Consul General Neil Frank Ferrer

By ISS of BC Settlement Program with St. Mary’s Migrant Ministry WHEN/WHERE: 1 to 3 p.m., Oct. 25 at Seminar Room, St. Mary’s Parish, 5239 Joyce St., Vancouver MORE INFO: To register, contact: Lenn Castro at stmarysmigrant@gmail.com or Resochita Arma at resochita.arma@issbc.org/ 604-684-7498 ext. 1666

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Regina Outreach

By Philippine Consulate General Toronto WHEN/WHERE: 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Nov. 1 to 4 at St. Anthony’s Parish Hall, 1825 Winnipeg St., Regina SK MORE INFO: For inquiries, visit consularmatters@philcongen-toronto.com

BRITISH COLUMBIA ALBERTA

View all events by scanning this QR code or visiting

ONTARIO

QUEBEC

San’ To’

By Philippine Consulate General in Toronto WHEN/WHERE: ongoing till Oct. 28 at NEWFOUNDLAND PCG-Toronto 7th Flr., 160 Eglinton Ave., East Toronto, On. MORE INFO: featuring the works of Romeo Masalunga and Antonio Afable, Jr.

4th World Poetry Canada Intl. Peace Festival

By World Poetry Reading Series Society WHEN/WHERE: 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., UP TO Oct. 26 at Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre, 515 West Hastings Street, Room 7000, Vancouver, B.C. Fright Nites at PNE

By Playland at the PNE WHEN/WHERE: till Nov. 1 at East Hastings and Windermere Sts. Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: For ticketing-related questions, please call TicketOps at 1-888-236-2947 or email help@ ticketops.ca Food Skills for Filipino Families

By Little Mountain Neighbourhood House (LMNH) and Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) WHEN/WHERE: (afternoon) Oct. 25, LMNH 3981 Main St. Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call or email to register: alma_saplala@lmnhs.bc.ca Telephone: 604-879-7104.

Halloween Party

By Victoria Filipino Canadian Seniors Association WHEN/WHERE: 5:30 p.m., Oct. 25 at Cedar Hill Recreation Centre Victoria, B.C. Masterpieces Celebrating 45 Years of Dance

By Ballet Philippines WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m., Oct. 26, River Rock Casino Resort, 8811 River Rd., Richmond, B.C. MORE INFO: Tickets available at Ticketmaster or call/text (604) 808-8945; (604) 765-8396; (604) 3436675. $10 discount for students and seniors. www.canadianinquirer.net

Star Magic’s One Magical Night

By Berce Enterprises WHEN/WHERE: 8 p.m., Oct. 24 at Queen Elizabeth Theatre – Exhibition Place 190 Princes’ Blvd., Toronto, On. MORE INFO: Call Neneng @ 647-4015818; Rene @ 647-995-1746; Clarisse @ 416-939-85 Entertainment Trip to Falls View Casino

By Philippine Chamber of CommerceToronto WHEN/WHERE: Oct. 26 at Pick up locations and time: 7:45 am - 1st PCCT Office - #4-21 Canadian Rd., Scarborough 8:30 am – 2nd Lawrence and Bathurst (Metro Grocery) 8:45 am – 3rd Lawrence and Dufferin (Tim Horton’s) MORE INFO: Fee: $20 with free snack + $10 e-promo coin. For reservation call: 416 850 4966; 416 564 5170; 416 561 3065 or Email at pcct@rogers.com Consular Outreach Mission

By Philippine Embassy WHEN/WHERE: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Oct. 23 to 25, Cambridge Suites Hotel, Brunswick Rm., 1583 Brunswick St., Halifax MORE INFO: Call Elizabeth Domondon – 902-445-3998 or email at elizabeth. eustaquio1@gmail.com

To have your events featured on PCI, please email events@canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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CANADA

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FRIDAY OCTOBER 24, 2014

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