Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #148

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VOL. 1 NO. 148

JANUARY 1, 2015

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NPA kills 3, violates Xmas truce

Major infrastructure projects to improve Manila

No Filipinos missing in AirAsia flight

Attack on Parliament Canadian news of the year

Pacquiao the destroyer

Coloma: Political issues will not be discussed in the scheduled meeting of Pope Francis and President Aquino

BY FERDINAND G. PATINIO Philippine News Agency

MAKE SOME NOISE A little boy assisted by his Lola and sister test plastic trumpets this week for use during the New Year’s Eve revelry. The Government has been making a push to have people celebrate the New Year with non-harmful noisemakers, as the traditional firecrackers cause injuries every year.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

Senate hurdles stimulating year in 2014

BY JELLY F. MUSICO Philippine News Agency MANILA — The detention of the three senators linked in the Php10-billion pork barrel scam was one of the top news makers in 2014 but this did not stop the Senate from legislating important measures to bolster social services

of the government.

“Despite controversies that hounded the Senate, it still is an exciting year because we’re able to do our job by passing important legislation for better social services of our government,” Senate President Franklin Drilon said in his speech during the recent Senate media

❱❱ PAGE 9 Coloma: Political

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PCI year in review ❱❱ PAGE 24

❱❱ PAGE 4 Senate hurdles

MANLA — A government official said that political issues are unlikely to be tackled by Pope Francis and President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, during their scheduled meeting in Malacanang Palace on Jan. 16, 2015.

“There is an opportunity for them to take up issues that are close to their hearts and I think that’s their own call.

But at this point, we don’t see ourselves drawing any scenario that might involve any political issues,” said Presidential Communications Operations Office

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2014 a successful, meaningful, sentimental year for ARMM

BY NOEL Y. PUNZALAN AND EDWIN O. FERNANDEZ Philippine News Agency COTABATO CITY — The year 2014 was the most colourful, meaningful, sentimental and unprecedented year for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

It has five ‘firsts’ since the regional government was created 25 years ago.

Firstly, it recorded a whopping investments of Pph3.867 billion which ARMM Regional Governor Mujiv Hataman attributed to the improved peace and order situation due to the Mindanao peace process.

Second, it was in March this year that Malacanang and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forged the peace agreement, known as Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), after al-

most 19 years of shaky peace talks.

Third, ARMM has been celebrating its 25th year of existence through various activities and programs which lasted for a month. The celebration started last November 7 with the state of the region address of Gov. Hataman which many said was his last because of the coming of new political entity in Mindanao.

The fourth ‘first’ in the regional autonomy’s history is the unprecedented fiscal savings ARMM earned during the term of Hataman where the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Department of Education (DepEd), two of the most graft ridden agencies in ARMM, made a turn around and save more than P1 billion in funds.

‘Ghost’ teachers, employees, schools, projects, and many non-existing workers all van-

ished when Hataman implemented reforms. These earned him the moniker ‘ghost buster’ from no less than President Benigno S. Aquino III. Biddings of public works were made public and under the watchful eyes of non-government organizations and the media which led to savings in favor of the government.

Since its creation 25 years ago, the autonomous region has never conducted Christmas party in offices since about 98 percent of the government workers in the region are Muslims.

But last week, Hataman hosted a grandiose Christmas party for non-Muslim employees who never experienced the same kind of activity during previous administrations.

It was a first, and probably the last, since the current administration will step down once a new political entity, called Bangsamoro Govern-

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ment, shall replace the current ARMM. The Bangsamoro Government is an outcome of the peace process with the MILF that hopefully will end the decades old Moro problem in southern Philippines.

There could be other several ‘firsts’ in the ARMM this year but these were the most notable that Hataman had achieved.

He refused to claim credit for the success of the reforms he initiated but attributed it to

the dedicated and committed officials and employees of the regional bureaucracy.

Hataman said many officials and employees, including himself, were emotional when he delivered his last SONA. He would have wanted to implement more reforms because he wanted the region to become more developed when the new administration assumes the leadership.

He said ARMM has made the difference. ■

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Senate hurdles...

Christmas party in Pasay City.

Drilon added the Senate has started to regain the people’s trust after the controversies triggered by the Php10billion pork barrel scam and the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

The Supreme Court (SC) declared the PDAF unconstitutional and the DAP partly illegal.

Based on the fourth quarter Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, the Senate’s trust rating from last quarter increased from 12 percent in August to 28 percent last October.

“We are also excited that people are beginning to realize that we in the Senate are doing our job and that’s reflected in the latest survey,” Drilon said.

Senator Cynthia Villar, one of the most hardworking neophyte senators, said the survey is a reflection of the people’s approval on how the senators have been doing their work.

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said the only way to win back the people’s trust is to continue working hard, create innovative and new solutions.

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said there is more to do as he vowed to push for the passage of measures that will affect people’s lives and touch real issues.

For his part, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said the Senate has regained its trust rating also because of the Senate inquiries including the alleged overpriced Makati City Hall Car Park Building.

In the SWS survey, Drilon received the highest gain as his net satisfaction rating rose by 16 points, from 20 percent to 36 percent.

Last September, Pulse Asia also released results of a similar survey which showed an increase in the Senate’s approval rating from 33 percent in June to 40 percent in September.

The trust rating of the Philippine Senate plummeted in 2013 due to the alleged misuse of the priority development assistance fund (PDAF) by some senators and congressmen.

The Senate members allegedly received Php200 million each while congressmen get Php70 million each every year from the now abolished PDAF. The PDAF controversy has resulted in the filing of graft and plunder charges by the ❰❰ 1

Ombudsman against Senate which gives automatic admisMinority Leader Juan Ponce sion and provision of scholarEnrile and Senators Jinggoy ship grants by all state colleges Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. and universities to public high at the Sandiganbayn. school students who belong The Ombudsman has found to the top ten places of their probable cause to indict the graduating classes; RA 10650 three senators for diverting which widens access to tertiary their PDAF to ‘bogus’ non-gov- education by institutionalizing ernment organizations linked open distance learning; and to businesswoman Janet Lim RA 10647 which strengthens Napoles. ladderized interface between Based on the findings of technical-vocational education the Ombudsman’s probe, Re- and training and higher educavilla got the biggest amount of tion in the country. kickbacks from the pork bar“The education sector and rel scam worth Php224 mil- the students are the biggest lion while Estrada and Enrile winners in the laws that we received Php183 million and have passed, considering their subsistence allowance of all Php172 million, respectively. immense benefits to countless personnel of the Armed Forces The three senators along out-of-school Filipino youth,” of the Philippine and the Philwith their respective aides are Drilon said. ippines National Police from now detained at Camp Crame “Through the enactment of Php90 to Php150 per day; as after the Sandiganbayan or- these laws, we are confident well as Senate Joint Resolution dered the arrest of Revilla and that we will finally remove the No. 10 which extends the period Estrada last June, and Enrile a traditional barriers to the ef- for filing of claims for repatriamonth later. fective delivery of education tion of Martial Law victims.

The Sandiganbayan also throughout the country, nameIn addition to the host of slapped the three senators with ly poverty, distance and age,” he laws and bills passed by Con90-day suspension each upon stressed. gress, the Senate chief said the request by the Ombudsman.

Drilon also said there are two chambers also passed the bill As provided in the law, the more pro-students laws await- increasing the tax exemption Senate automatically imposed ing congressional approval. limit of 13th month pay and the suspension, barring the These include Senate Bill (SB) other bonuses from Php30,000 three senators to Php82,000 from touching in order to retheir combined flect the current Php18 million consumer price monthly operaDespite controversies that hounded index, and SB tional funds. the Senate, it still is an exciting year 2414 strengthDespite the because we’re able to do our job ening the councontroverby passing important legislation try’s campaign sies, the Senate for better social services of our against illegal, passed 43 bills government. unreported and and adopted 68 unregulated and three interfishing, and ennational agreements this year.

No. 2277 that seeks to establish sure our compliance with our Drilon said 21 of the 44 ap- the Open High School System obligations under international proved measures have already in the country and SB 2226 that conventions and standards. been signed into law by Presi- aims to prevent the commerOn economic development, dent Benigno S. Aquino III. cialization of student-athletes. the Congress passed RA 10641 Drilon said that Filipino On social services, Drilon which liberalizes the entry of students will benefit the most pointed to RA 10645 or the foreign banks in the country, from a wave of social service Mandatory PhilHealth Cov- by allowing foreign banks to acmeasures passed by Congress. erage for All Senior Citizens, quire and invest up to 100% of “These laws we passed reflect which entitles all senior citi- the voting stock of a domestic the government’s commitment zens to avail of PhilHealth ben- bank, or to establish branches to address the most basic and efits for their medical expenses; with full banking authority, and pressing concerns of our coun- and RA 10649, which doubles by lifting the limitation on the trymen which include educa- the the burial assistance for number of foreign banks that tion, health, social reform pack- military veterans from P10,000 can operate in the country. age, consumer protection, and to P20,000.

The Congress likewise enactour ability to prepare for the “We have passed these laws ed RA 10644 or the Go Negosyo dangers of upcoming emergen- to advance the state of social Act to improve the ease of doing cies,” said Drilon. services in the country, particu- business, especially for small Out of the 21 laws, three were larly to those who need our care and medium businesses. aimed at widening access to ed- the most, like the elderly and Early this year, the Congress ucation, by eliminating major the sick,” said Drilon. passed a law establishing the deterrents, according to Drilon.

He also said that the upper Maritime Industry Authority as These include Republic chamber also passed on third the country’s single maritime Act (RA) No. 10648, known reading Senate Joint Resolu- administration to comply with as the”Iskolar ng Bayan Act,” tion No. 2 which increases the the international standards. www.canadianinquirer.net

The Congress’ swift approval of the law helped protect the employment of 80,000 Filipino seafarers based in Europe from losing their job, noted Drilon.

It also passed RA 10643 which requires graphic health warning on cigarette packages; RA 10639 that mandates telecommunications services to send free mobile alerts in the event of a disaster; RA 10642 which protects consumers against sale of defective vehicles; and RA 1063 that extends the corporate life of the Philippine National Railways for another 50 years.

“As I have told our countrymen in the beginning of the 2nd session of the 16th Congress, we needed to prove that the Senate is still deserving of the respect of the people as a democratic institution. Thus, we have passed laws that will help the poor, widen the delivery of education and other social services and improve the economy,” Drilon said.

According to the Senate leader, the public is “steadily being made aware of the Senate’s efforts to reform itself and introduce positive changes to the country,” as evident in the latest survey by the Pulse Asia, which pegged the performance approval rating of the Senate at 42 percent, a far cry from the 33 percent approval rate it garnered last June.

The Senate also passed the proposed Php2.606-trillion national budget right on time in the first week of its December target.

On the last session day before the scheduled Christmas break last December 17, the Senate also approved on second and third readings the Php22.4 billion supplemental budget for fiscal year 2014. ■

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The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is appealing to drivers to keep calm while on the road, as traffic in Manila can cause drivers to lash out in various ways at traffic constables.

PNA

MMDA Chief appeals to motorists to respect traffic constables PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY MANILA — “Respect for each other.”

This was the appealed of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Francis Tolentino on the series of attacks by motorists to some of their traffic constables.

“Ang isang lesson dito yung aspeto ng respeto. Yung paggalang natin sa isa’t isa, bawat driver, ibang pribadong motorista, sa batas trapiko at sa otoridad. Buhayin natin ang respeto sa isa’t isa hindi lamang

po sa enforcer kundi sa kapwa driver at sa pasahero (One lesson we should learn from this is to give respect. We should respect each other; driver, private motorists, traffic laws, and the authorities alike. Let us practice this not just towards enforcers but also towards fellow drivers and passengers),” Tolentino said on Sunday during the agency’s weekly radio program.

The MMDA chief made the appeal after traffic constable Sonny Acosta died when he was hit and dragged by a furious motorist.

Acosta flagged down an Isuzu

Sportivo for being in the lane designated for provincial buses in Cubao, Quezon City last December 19.

The traffic enforcer asked for the motorist’s license, but the driver, identified as Mark Ian Libunao, sped off even while his hand was stuck in the car’s window. He was dragged.

He said enforcers also deserve respect as they are just performing their duties in manning traffic in the metropolis.

Traffic constables, he pointed out, are just strictly implementing traffic regulations so they should be spared from any harm.

The Quezon City Prosecutors Office has filed charges of Reckless Imprudence Resulting in Serious Physical Injuries and Driving with an Expired Driver’s License against Libunao.

The MMDA plans to upgrade the charges to murder against Libunao.

Last November, MMDA constable Jorbe Adriatico was punched and dragged for about 500 meters by a Maserati-driver identified as Joseph Russel Ingco in Quezon City.

Authorities said Ingco assaulted traffic constable Adriatico while taking a video of the

driver attempting to violate a traffic rule on Araneta Ave. corner Quezon Ave. MMDA assistant general for operations Emerson Carlos said Ingco’s actions was a clear and blatant disregard of authority and grave abuse of the privilege of being granted a driver’s license.

Criminal charges for direct assault upon an agent of person in authority.

In 2012, another MMDA constable — Saturnino Fabros — was slapped and verbally assaulted by motorist Robert Blair Carabuena in Quezon City. ■

Philippine communist rebels free 2 captive soldiers ahead of possible talks resumption THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MARIHATAG, PHILIPPINES — Philippine communist rebels freed two soldiers after four months of captivity Friday as a goodwill gesture prior to a possible resumption of peace talks with the government.

Rebel spokesman Jorge Madlos said three more soldiers will

be released by January as part of a push to resume the stalled talks, which broke down in 2011 due to disagreements over the release of jailed rebel leaders.

The government says it wants to resume talks without conditions.

Madlos spoke to journalists at a rebel camp in southern Surigao del Sur province, where the rebels marked the 46th an-

niversary of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines.

It’s one of Asia’s longest running rebellions that has stunted rural development and left thousands dead as rebels, who number several thousand fighters, raid police stations, mining companies and agricultural plantations.

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Maj. Ezra Balagtey confirmed that the two soldiers were released unharmed.

Madlos said the release of the captives — who he said did not commit any crimes against the people — was meant to boost confidence for the restart of talks.

The exiled Communist Party founder, Jose Maria Sison, said that formal negotiations can re-

sume next month but that the government must free rebel consultants and political prisoners.

Presidential Peace Adviser Teresita Deles said Friday that intermediaries have been shuttling between the two parties to explore the possible parameters for the talks. She said efforts were continuing to ensure that talks don’t meet a major impasse again as in the past. ■

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10,000 people evacuated in Misamis Oriental due to ‘Seniang’ PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY MISAMIS ORIENTAL — Thousands of residents in 32 villages in Cagayan De Oro have been forcibly evacuated at the onset of tropical storm “Seniang” Monday.

The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (PDRRMC) in Misamis Oriental reported that more than 10,000 people have been brought to 68 evacuation centers in the province on Monday afternoon.

Edmundo Pacamalan, Jr., head of the PDRRMC, said that most of those affected were

living along the coastlines in mass evacuation of residents in ber boat are still scouring the the province’s east district and the area. town’s flooded area Monday along the major river banks.

There were unconfirmed re- night as more people have been He said that reported trapped several houses in the village of along the coastSta. Cruz. lines in Misamis Brownouts Oriental were also hampered destroyed by the rescue opSeveral houses along the coastlines big waves while erations as resin Misamis Oriental were destroyed some houses cuers take exby big waves while some houses were also carried tra care against were also carried away along the away along the snakes while rivers by the raging flood waters. rivers by the ragwading in flood ing flood waters. waters in the The coastal bushes in the viltowns of Tagolo-an, Jasaan, ports of one missing and one lages. A 52-year-old villager Balingasag, and Lagonglong dead in the town of Tagolo-an said that this was the first time have been battered by big waves while elements of the Army’s the residents experienced flood while the town’s major rivers 58th Infantry Battalion and in their area. overflowed, resulting in the the provincial police with rubAnother 3,000 individuals in

Leader of Manilabased criminal group arrested in Antique PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY ILOILO CITY — The leader of Punggoy Group, a criminal gang based in Metro Manila, was finally arrested by the combined operatives of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the province of Antique.

The 27-yearold suspect, Danilo dela Paz of Apelo Cruz Street, Pasay City, was arrested in a joint operation launched by operatives of the Pandan PNP, Ibajay PNP and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Barangay Patria, Pandan, Antique.

Police S/Supt. Marlon Tayaba of CIDG said the whereabouts of the suspect was traced in Barangay Patria, Pandan town

where he arrived sometime in the second week of December to visit his live-in partner when the lawmen pounced on him over the weekend to serve the warrant of arrest issued by the court in Pasay City.

Tayaba said the suspect is facing criminal cases of murder, homicide as well as illegal drugs and theft pending before the court in Pasay City.

The suspect, he said, was tagged as prime suspect in the killing of SPO1 Jesus Tizon, 40, assigned in Pasay Police Community Precinct 7 sometime in December 2013.

The suspect was also linked to illegal drug trade in Metro Manila.

The fugitive was brought by the CIDG operatives back to Pasay City for the proper disposition of his criminal cases. ■

Cagayan De Oro City’s 32 villages near the coastal lines and river banks were forcibly evacuated for fear of big waves and dreadful flash flood as night fell Monday.

The City Social Welfare and Development (CSWD) has taken care of the evacuees in various evacuation centers in the locality.

The local weather bureau reported that tropical storm Seniang is in the vicinity of Bohol as of 8:00 p.m. Monday.

Storm signal no. 2 remains hoisted over Misamis Oriental and Cagayan De Oro City because the area falls within the 300-kilometer radius of “Seniang.” ■

New People’s Army kills 3, violates Christmas truce

BY LILIAN C. MELLEJOR Philippine News Agency

ing out offensive operations against the police and the military, as well as the government’s paramilitary groups. The party DAVAO CITY — Two army solmarked its 46th founding annidiers from the 71st Infantry versary on December 26.

Battalion and one member of But the army lambasted the the Civilian Auxiliary Force actions of the NPA with the abGeographical Unit (CAFGU) duction of ComVal Provincial were killed by the New People’s Rehabilitation Center Jail WarArmy (NPA) in Sitio Barigyan, den Jose Mervin Coquilla last Barangay Candinuyan, Mabini, December 23 followed by the Compostela Valley Province killing of the three government Monday morning. troopers.

While the identity of the ca“The continued banditry atsualties were put tacks disprove on hold, the 10th the sugar-coated Infantry Agila statements of Division of the the CPP-NPA. Philippine Army They claim that said the three They claim that they are pursuing they are pursuwere in civilian peace but their actions clearly ing peace but clothes on board contradict what they are saying. their actions one motorcycle clearly contraon their way to dict what they Barangay Anitaare saying,” said pan for a Christ10th Infantry mas break when they were re- of the Philippines/National Agila Division Commander Maportedly stopped and waylaid Democratic Front/NPA (CPP/ jor General Eduardo M. Año. by eight NPA rebels.

NDF/NPA) declared a cease“We sympathize with the beThe 10th ID strongly con- fire during the holidays and the reaved families of the slain soldemned such treacherous at- upcoming visit of Pope Francis. diers and will exert all efforts to tack by NPA rebels who mur- The truce will cover Dec. 24, bring to justice those respondered unarmed soldiers.

2014 to Dec. 26, 2014; Dec. 31, sible for this merciless, treachLt. Vergel U. Lacambra, the 2014 to Jan. 1, 2015; and Jan. 15, erous crime,” General Año said.

Chief of the 10th ID Public Af- 2015 to Jan. 19, 2015.

The families of the soldiers are fairs Office, revealed that the The NPA also ordered its yet to be informed of the inciresponding troops from 71st IB fighters to desist from carry- dent. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

found the three soldiers with multiple gunshot wounds in their body and were all unconscious upon their arrival at the scene.

“The AFP has been observing the month-long Suspension of Military Operations (SOMO) since December 18 and has consequently shifted to community services.” Lacambra said.

While the PA declared a unilateral SOMO inclusive from December 18 to January 5, 2015, the Communist Party

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Financial reforms to sustain inclusive growth

BY JOANN SANTIAGO Philippine News Agency MANILA — The goal of President Benigno S. Aquino III’s administration to introduce reforms and put the house in order, as they say, continues to show progress.

For one, the country’s fiscal situation is able to sustain the gains it registered in the early days of the current administration.

As of last October, total revenues grew 13 percent year-onyear to Php 1.57 trillion from year-ago’s Php 1.4 trillion.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima earlier noted that total and tax revenues in the past three years have been expanding faster than the domestic growth.

He said revenue effort as of the end of the third quarter rose to 15.8 percent from yearago’s 15.3 percent while tax effort is at 14.1 percent from 13.7 percent same period in 2013.

He attributed these improvements to automation of tax processes, more effective campaign against tax evaders and smugglers, and reforms in the Bureau of Customs (BOC) among others.

“These latest tax and revenue effort figures, along with manageable national and general government debt levels, clearly manifest that the Philippines continues to stand on firm fiscal footing, which remains to be at the core of our country’s growth story,” he said.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which collects about 70 percent of government earnings, posted an 11 percent yearon-year growth in collection to Php 1.08 trillion.

The agency has a collection goal of Php 1.46 trillion this year and Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Jacinto-Henares maintain that they are exhaust-

ing all means to meet this goal. better than the Php 252.5 bil- since these were previously The pressure on BIR to en- lion same period last year. pegged against 1996 pricing. sure that funds are collected is Another notable fiscal imThe measure provided the a big deal but Henares said she provement was the proportion government additional Php always remind her people not of government liabilities to 51.5 billion revenues in 2013, to succumbed to pressure but gross domestic product (GPD), higher than the projected P34 do their best to hit their goal. which stood at 46.5 percent as billion gains for its first year of “This is what I tell every- of last September, lower than implementation. body: let us work hard (and) the 47.7 percent programmed In the first half of 2014, gains not think about from this meait. Work hard sure provided until the end of the government December. If we P28.18 billion. fall short, we exThe Philippines continues to stand This meaplain. But do not on firm fiscal footing, which remains sure enabled the think about fallto be at the core of our country’s government to ing short today. growth story. implement its Just work and universal health work and work. care program.

Do not look for Purisima said excuses. There’s the new meaa difference between explana- for the year. sures to improve revenues retion and excuse,” she said.

“Actual figures so far are all sulted to the 0.3 percentage It is, however, the BOC that improvements over program point increase in collection registered better turnout as levels,” Purisima told PNA. efficiency and increased infracollection sustained its douPresident Aquino vowed not structure outlays as percentage ble-digit growth in the last 10 to introduce new taxes dur- of GDP to 2.9 percent from 2.4 months. ing his term although the Sin percent in 2013.

As of last October, the agen- Tax Law was amended in 2013, He also said that implemency’s collection amounted to which corrected tax levels of tation of the Treasury Single Php 299.9 billion, 18.8 percent tobacco and alcoholic drinks Account this year increased

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remittance of revenue collection and removed the holding period of banks on the said payments, which in turn is beneficial to the government.

This program unified the government’s bank accounts and provided transparency on the over-all details of the state’s cash flows.

Under the agreement with several banks, the TSA will be maintained at the central bank, being the government’s bank.

Banks are required to remit all collections for the government a day after its receipt unlike before when the fund is held by banks for as long as 10 days which, in turn, enables the banks to gain from it.

Purisima earlier said the system would help the government to have more accurate planning of its expenditures since the budget will be more accounted for.

He said the government will save around P1.5 billion a year from this system and the amount is expected to increase in the coming years.

Asked of what the public can expect from the Finance department in 2015, Purisima said they target to increase 0.3 percentage point to the revenue effort.

“This represents efficiency gains since there are no new tax measures programmed for the year,” he said.

Purisima said governmentowned and controlled corporations (GOCCs) are also targeted to be included in the TSA to ensure transparency in more government agencies.

He said they will also submit to Congress a “comprehensive tax reform package to include new tax adjustments to replace revenues foregone from lower income tax rate.” “(We will also push for) more transparency in reporting of tax expenditure funds provided to the private sector,” he added. ■

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Philippines forges ahead with more accurate weatherforecasting system Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer, Inc. Managing Editor Earl Von Tapia earl.tapia@canadianinquirer.net Community News Editor Mary Ann Mandap maryann.mandap@canadianinquirer.net Correspondents Ching Dee Angie Duarte Lei Fontamillas Frances Grace Quiddaoen Socorro Newland Bolet Arevalo Graphic Designer Shanice Garcia Photographers Angelo Siglos Solon Licas Operations and Marketing Head Laarni Liwanag (604) 551-3360 Advertising Sales Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net Jennifer Yen (778) 227-2995 jennifer.yen@canadianinquirer.net sales@canadianinquirer.net 1-888-668-6059 PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Editorial Assistant Phoebe Casin Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition Philippine Canadian Inquirer is located at 400-13955 Bridgeport Rd., Richmond, BC V6V 1J6 Canada Tel. No.: 1-888-668-6059 or 778-8893518 | Email: info@canadianinquirer. net, inquirerinc@gmail.com, sales@ canadianinquirer.net Philippine Canadian Inquirer is published weekly every Friday.

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BY CATHERINE J. TEVES Philippine News Agency MANILA — The government weather agency this year further worked on improving its services to the public.

In the first half of 2014, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) set out implementing its needs assessment survey covering various sectors in the country.

According to PAGASA weatherman Joseph Basconcillo, the agency developed the survey to better understand various sectors’ climate information and services needs.

Understanding such needs will help PAGASA tailor-fit its climate information to the sectors’ respective requirements, he noted.

PAGASA also released during the period its maiden dry day forecast.

Such forecast aims helping keep the Philippine agricultural sector and other stakeholders to be abreast about expected rainfall conditions nationwide, noted PAGASA Climate Monitoring and Prediction Section head Anthony Lucero.

“The agricultural sector can integrate the forecast in its decision-making process for farmers’ benefit and better rice production,” he said, citing one use of the product.

He noted dry day is a day having less than one millimeter of rainfall.

Lucero reiterated PAGASA will con- The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) tinue developing products that will help hopes to improve its performance in the coming years, to help better prepare the country for natural further meet the public’s need for the disasters such as Typhoons Yolanda and Ruby. latest available information on weather WIKIMEDIA COMMONS and climate.

Among PAGASA’s products at present establishing similar facilities in MindPAGASA’s existing flood forecasting are its 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. 24-hour weather anao and the Visayas,” he said. and warning centers are in Luzon’s Pamforecasts; 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. gale warnHe noted such plan is in line with PA- panga, Agno, Bicol and Cagayan river baings; 11 a.m. weather advisory; as well GASA’s target of establishing flood fore- sins. as weather bulletins at 5 a.m., 11 a.m., 5 casting and warning centers in each of Badilla said PAGASA already comp.m. and 11 p.m. the country’s major river basins. menced training hydrologists for deTo further help boost its performance, The River Basin Control Office list- ployment to its target flood forecasting PAGASA moved to and warning centers establish additional nationwide. centers that moniIn 2014’s second tor rainfall and water half, PAGASA raised levels of water bodies Philippine disaster in the country’s maThe agricultural sector can integrate the forecast risk reduction to a jor river basins. in its decision-making process for farmers’ benefit new level with the The move aims to and better rice production. formal run of its enexpand and improve hanced early warning PAGASA’s flood foresystem (EWS). casting service so The EWS warns more communities communities about can be better forewarned about taking ed these river basins as Abulog, Abra, looming flood threats by literally soundaction on averting water-induceddisas- Cagayan, Agno, Pampanga, Pasig-Lagu- ing the alarm during such occurrence. ters, noted Roy Badilla, who heads the na, Amnay, Jalaur, Tigum-Aganan, Ilog“We enhanced our EWS with sound agency’s Flood Forecasting and Warn- Hilabangan, Tagaloan, Cagayan de Oro, using sirens so people can be better ing Section.

Agus, Mindanao, Davao, Tagum-Libu- aware of and prepare for possible flood“We already have flood forecasting ganon, Buayan-Malungan, Bicol, Panay ing in their areas and evacuate to safer and warning centers in Luzon and need and Agusan. ground if necessary,” said PAGASA sewww.canadianinquirer.net

Philippine News

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

nior hydrologist Max Peralta who is helping spearhead the undertaking.

He noted PAGASA itself activates the sirens using computers whenever its real-time water elevation data warrant such action.

“It’s a first for PAGASA,” he said.

Such became possible through a grant that the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) provided PAGASA for the project, “Establishment of an Early Warning and Monitoring System for Disaster Mitigation in Metro Manila.”

Peralta recalled KOICA extended the grant following the onslaught of record flooding in Metro Manila, nearby Rizal province and other areas during storm “Ondoy” (international name ‘Ketsana’) in 2009.

“KOICA inquired about what assistance it can offer in the wake of death and destruction from ‘Ondoy’ and discussions on the matter led to the project’s creation,” he noted.

PAGASA also worked to further improve its rainfall warning system (RWS) which this agency established initially for National Capital Region (NCR).

The agency commenced work with UK’s Met Office regarding the probabilistic rainfall forecast for RWS,” said PAGASA Regional Services Division-NCR OIC Dr. Bonifacio Pajuelas.

He noted PAGASA decided undertaking the work to make its forecast more site-specific than what this agency provides the public through RWS. To help people better understand anticipated conditions and prepare for these accordingly, Pajuelas said the forecast also indicate percentage probability of rainfall expected in their areas.

PAGASA launched RWS in 2012 to help better protect life, limb and property from inclement weather and its repercussions like flooding.

PAGASA likewise further pursued its project on further providing the latest climate-related information essential in improving crop production nationwide, recognizing agriculture is among the Philippines’ economic drivers.

“We’re working on agro-climatic zoning of the entire Philippines and target mapping this by 2016,” said Delia Basco, PAGASA Farm Weather Services Section chief.

She noted agro-climatic zoning is among tools for assessing an area’s potential agricultural use so stakeholders concerned can be guided accordingly, avoiding costly hit-and-miss crop production blunders.

PAGASA will delineate agro-climatic zones per region in the country using this agency’s latest available rainfall data and other information, she continued.

“Such delineation will identify number of days crops can be grown in each zone,” she said.

According to Basco, the project builds on regional agro-climatic zoning studies PAGASA commenced in the mid-1980s

and conducted until 2003.

PAGASA said those studies covered regions V (mid-1980s and 1992), II (1996), VI (1999), X (2001) and III (2003).

Such and earlier efforts to improve its services reaped recognition for PAGASA this year.

PAGASA emerged as among 43 public institutions that received positive net satisfaction scores from senior business executives who Makati Business Club (MBC) surveyed in July 2014.

MBC said results of its July 1-25 survey this year show PAGASA as the agency that garnered the fourth highest positive net satisfaction score after first- to third-placers Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Tourism and Philippine Economic Zone Authority, respectively, “Rounding up the roster of the 10 best-performing agencies were Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Health, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process OPAPP), Department of Finance and Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA),” MBC also said.

PAGASA, OPAPP and newly-organized PSA “made surprisingly impressive debuts in the business scorecard of government performance for improvement in disseminating accurate weather forecasts, successful signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro and in the continuing effort to make the country’s statistical system more accurate and efficient,” said MBC Executive Director Peter Perfecto.

Over half of respondents in a USAID survey likewise expressed satisfaction about information disseminated by PAGASA. USAID Be Secure Project’s climate resiliency team leader and former environment chief Elisea Gozun noted the 60 percent overall satisfaction rating PAGASA received in the survey is one feedback on general understanding of this agency’s climate and weather information.

“The survey isn’t a performance audit, however,” she clarified.

She noted USAID conducted the survey during summer this year in Luzon’s Tuguegarao City, the Visayas’ Iloilo City and Mindanao’s Cagayan de Oro City.

The survey’s 44 respondents - mostly male - are decision-makers, technical people and professionals as well as support staff, she said.

Such respondents expressed their views on PAGASA’s 24-hour public weather and shipping forecasts, weather outlook for selected tourist areas, forecast for Philippine cities, weekly outlook, airways and terminal forecasts, gale warning, tropical cyclone updates, storm surge and rain warnings.

USAID is working with PAGASA to help improve this agency’s response to its clients’ needs, noted Gozun.

Public understanding of information from PAGASA is key to helping promote Philippine water security which is Be Secure Project’s goal, she added. ■

9

Coloma: Political...

(PCOO) Secretary Herminio with other Heads of State,” Coloma Coloma during a press confer- said. ence on Monday.

According to the itinerary of the Papal He was confident that, “matters of Visit, the Holy Father will be in MalaState” might be discanang at 9:15 a.m.on cussed.

Jan. 16, 2015.

“In a visit like this, The 90-minute where the head of visit will begin with state will be meeting the singing of the two with the President, He is the head national anthems then, we could probof the Catholic and the raising of ably say it is entirely Church. And flags to be followed possible that they the Philippines by the introduction might take up matis a preof the Philippine delters of State,” Coloma dominantly egation to the Pontiff said.

Christian

by Aquino and vice He also said that country . . . we versa. both officials were can infer that Both will also deexpected to talk the common liver remarks at the about issues conpoints of Palace’s Ceremonial cerning the Catholic interest would Hall before the Vatifaith. converge can delegation as well “All of us realize along those as senior government that he is the head of lines. officials, members of the Catholic Church. the diplomatic corps, And the Philippines senators and conis a pre-dominantly gressmen.

Christian country.

After his courtesy So I think from those call to the President, two propositions, we can infer that the Pope Francis will proceed to the Manila common points of interest would con- Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila for the verge along those lines and not on the mass with bishops, priests, and religious usual agenda taken up by the President women and men. ■ ❰❰ 1

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Philippine News

JANUARY 1, 2015 THURSDAY

Indonesian Official: Prospects bleak for missing jet

BY TRISNADI MARJAN AND MARGIE MASON The Associated Press SURABAYA, INDONESIA — Search planes and ships from several countries on Monday were scouring Indonesian waters over which an AirAsia jet carrying 162 people disappeared, and more than a day into the region’s latest aviation mystery, officials doubted there could be anything but a tragic ending.

AirAsia Flight 8501 vanished Sunday in airspace thick with storm clouds on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore. The search expanded Monday, but has yet to find any trace of the Airbus A320.

“Based on the coordinates that we know, the evaluation would be that any estimated crash position is in the sea, and that the hypothesis is the plane is at the bottom of the sea,” Indonesia search and rescue chief Henry Bambang Soelistyo said at a news conference.

First Adm. Sigit Setiayana, the Naval Aviation Center commander at the Surabaya air force base, said 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships were taking part in the search, along with ships and planes from Singapore and Malaysia. The Australian Air Force also sent a search plane.

Searchers had to cope with heavy rain Sunday, but Setiayana said Monday that visibility was good. “God willing, we can find it soon,” he told The Associated Press.

The plane’s disappearance and suspected crash caps an astonishingly tragic year for air travel in Southeast Asia. The Malaysia-based carrier’s loss comes on top of the still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in July over Ukraine.

At the Surabaya airport, pas-

sengers’ relatives pored over AirAsia group CEO Tony FerAirline pilots routinely fly the plane’s manifest, crying nandes flew to Surabaya and around thunderstorms, said and embracing. Nias Adityas, a said at a news conference that John Cox, a former accident housewife from Surabaya, was the focus for now should be on investigator. Using on-board overcome with grief when she the search and the families rath- radar, flight crews can typically found the name of her husband, er than the cause of the incident. see a storm forming from more Nanang Priowidodo, on the list.

“We have no idea at the mo- than 100 miles away.

The 43-year-old tour agent ment what went wrong,” said In such cases, pilots have had been taking a family of four Fernandes, a Malaysian busi- plenty of time to find a way on a trip to Singapore, Malaysia nessman who founded the low- around the storm cluster or look and Indonesia’s Lombok island. cost carrier in 2001. “Let’s not for gaps to fly through, he said.

“He just told me, ‘Praise speculate at the moment.”

“It’s not like you have to make God, this new year brings a lot Malaysia-based AirAsia has an instantaneous decision,” Cox of good fortune,’“ Adityas re- a good safety record and had said. Storms can be hundreds of called, while weeping. never lost a plane. miles long, but “because a jet Nearly all the passengers and But Malaysia itself has al- moves at 8 miles a minute, if crew are Indonesians, who are ready endured a catastrophic you to go 100 miles out of your frequent visitors to Singapore, year, with 239 people still miss- way, it’s not a problem.” particularly on holidays. ing from Flight 370 and all 298 Authorities have not said Flight 8501 took off Sunday people aboard Flight 17 killed whether they lost only the secmorning from Indonesia’s sec- when it was shot down over ondary radar target, which is creond-largest city and was about rebel-held territory in Ukraine. ated by the plane’s transponder, halfway to Sinor whether the gapore when it primary radar vanished from target, which is radar. The jet created by energy had been airreflected from borne for about the plane’s body, 42 minutes.

Based on the coordinates was lost as well, There was no that we know, the Cox said. distress signal evaluation would be The plane had from the twinthat any estimated crash an Indonesian engine, singleposition is in the sea, and captain, Iryaisle plane, said that the hypothesis is the anto, who uses Djoko Murjatplane is at the bottom of one name, and a modjo, Indonethe sea.

French co-pilot, sia’s acting difive cabin crew rector general of members and transportation.

155 passengers, The last comincluding 16 chilmunication bedren and one intween the cockfant, the airline pit and air traffic control was AirAsia said Flight 8501 was said in a statement. Among the at 6:12 a.m. (23:12 GMT Sat- on its submitted flight plan but passengers were three South urday), when one of the pilots had requested a change due to Koreans, a Malaysian, a Britasked to increase altitude from weather. ish national and his 2-year-old 32,000 feet (9,754 meters) to Sunardi, a forecaster at In- Singaporean daughter. The rest 38,000 feet (11,582 meters), donesia’s Meteorology and were Indonesians.

Murjatmodjo said. The jet was Geophysics Agency, said dense AirAsia said the captain had last seen on radar at 6:16 a.m. storm clouds were detected up more than 20,000 flying hours, and was gone a minute later, he to 13,400 meters (44,000 feet) of which 6,100 were with AirAtold reporters. in the area at the time. sia on the Airbus 320. The first Indonesia, Singapore and “There could have been tur- officer had 2,275 flying hours.

Malaysia launched a search op- bulence, lightning and verti“Papa, come home, I still eration near Belitung island in cal as well as horizontal strong need you,” Angela Anggi Ranasthe Java Sea, the area where the winds within such clouds,” said tianis, the captain’s 22-year-old airliner lost contact with the Sunardi, who like many Indo- daughter pleaded on her Path ground. nesians uses only one name. page late Sunday, which was

www.canadianinquirer.net

widely quoted by Indonesian media. “Bring back my papa.

Papa, please come home.”

At Iryanto’s house in the East Java town of Sidoarjo, neighbors, relatives and friends gathered Monday to pray and recite the Quran to support the distraught family. Their desperate cries were so loud, they could sometimes be heard outside where three LCD televisions had been set up to monitor search developments.

“He is a good man. That’s why people here appointed him as our neighborhood chief for the last two years,” said Bagianto Djoyonegoro, a friend and neighbor.

Many recalled him as an experienced Air Force pilot who flew F-16 fighter jets before becoming a commercial airline pilot.

The missing aircraft was delivered to AirAsia in October 2008, and the plane had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours during some 13,600 flights, Airbus said in a statement.

The aircraft had last undergone scheduled maintenance on Nov. 16, according to AirAsia.

The airline, which has dominated cheap travel in Southeast Asia for years, flies short routes of just a few hours, connecting the region’s large cities. Recently, it has tried to expand into long-distance flying through sister airline AirAsia X. The A320 family of jets, which includes the A319 and A321, has a good safety record, with just 0.14 fatal accidents per million takeoffs, according to a safety study published by Boeing in August.

Flight 8501 disappeared while at its cruising altitude, which is usually the safest part of a trip. Just 10 percent of fatal crashes from 2004 to 2013 occurred while a plane was in that stage of flight, the safety report said. ■

Philippine News

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

11

Philippine Army now a force to reckon with arrival of M-4 assault rifles

BY PRIAM F. NEPOMUCENO Philippine News Agency MANILA — With the arrival and commissioning of around 44,000 Remington M-4 assault rifles in its inventory, Filipino troopers serving in the 10 divisions of the Philippine Army (PA) now has a weapon equal to those being used by some of the best military forces in the world.

The batch of 27,100 units arrived in the country last August with smaller batches coming in September, October and November to complete the 44,000 currently in the PA arsenal.

An estimated 13,000 units are expected to be delivered by the first quarter of 2015, PA spokes-

person Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato said.

The M-4 effectively replaces the Vietnam-era M-16 automatic rifles still in use by infantry units of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Each M-4 is worth P38,402.

Detoyato said the M-4 is a very versatile weapon and very ideal for close-quarter battle as it fires a more heavy shell than the M-16 automatic rifle it is replacing, thus ensuring greater damage to its target.

The PA spokesperson said that the older M-16s cannot fire these rounds due to the socalled “rifle twisting”.

“The old M-16s have a 1-in12 twist while the M-4s have a 1-in-7 twist making it more

powerful,” he said.

Detoyato stated that while both weapons have the same range (around 500 meters), the M-4 can be more easily upgraded with modern sighting devices.

“The new M-4s (are) ready for enhancements as it is the A3 model. Its carry handle is removable (thus ensuring) its conversion as ‘flattop’ rifle with Picattiny rail for night vision gear. It also has a handguard to accommodate TGT designators, flash lights and many other items,” he added.

And due to its smaller size than the M-16, Detoyato said the M-4 is more easier to carry in foliage and inside vehicles.

With this characteristics,

the weapon is more easier to fire and reload during engagements, he added.

The M-4 is a gas-operated, magazine-fed, selective fire, shoulder-fired weapon with a telescoping stock and 14.5 inch (370 mm) barrel to ease close quarters combat.

It fires the .223 caliber, or 5.56 mm NATO round.

And with the arrival of the Remington M-4 automatic rifle in Philippine military service, finding spare parts or replacement materials needed to keep this weapon on the firing line will no longer be a problem as 80 percent of its parts are similar with the M-16 automatic rifle now gradually being phased out the Filipino ground units.

This means that both weapons can interchange parts in case of malfunction or battlefield damage.

This is possible as the M-4 is basically the shortened version of the venerable M-16 rifle, according to the fact sheet forwarded by the AFP. “The M-4 assault rifle is a lighter and shorter variant of the M-16A2 assault rifle. The two have roughly 80 percent of their parts in common (and thus) cost efficient,” it stressed.

And despite its short length, the M-4 has a point target range of 500 meters and area target range of 600 meters.

This is greater than the 460 maximum effective range of the M-16A1 assault rifle. ■

Major infrastructure projects in place to improve safety, traffic flow in Metro Manila

BY CHRISTOPHER LLOYD T. CALIWAN Philippine News Agency MANILA — With the official opening and construction of 15 major infrastructure projects in Metro Manila in 2014, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced that traffic will become more manageable during the term of President Benigno S. Aquino III. One of the 15 projects include the new Traffic Signal System (TSS), which was opened last January, and is a highly advanced traffic management network is a partnership of the MMDA and Spain-based technology firm Indra in a consortium with Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corporation (MIESCOR).

The project is worth P295 million, including the newly built Command and Control Center in Makati City also known as Metrobase building.

The new system allowed the MMDA to remotely control traffic lights all over Metro Manila.

The system implemented in 85 priority intersections and

25 traffic control/video surveilOn February, the MMDA pre- management scheme; removal lance locations around Metro sented some 20 recommenda- of affected utilities; road widManila. tion on how to ease the traffic ening first before the building MMDA Chairman Francis condition in Metro Manila once of the structure; enough street Tolentino said the system can the 15 major road projects will light illumination especially help improve the safety of pe- begin. under the viaduct; install CCTV destrians, commuters and vehiMMDA Traffic Engineering in the construction area and cles through well-coordinated Center (TEC) Director Neomie should be connected in MMDA signal routes resulting to faster Recio said the recommenda- Command Center. travel time and reduction of tions include dissemination of Two of the projects, the Skytraffic congestion. information; allocate budget way 3 project and the NAIA With the landmark project, for info dissemination; road Expressway Phase 2 has begun Tolentino said that MMDA will widening; alternate routes; last February 17. now have more The Skyway tools to effecStage 3, impletively advance mented by the the management Department of of traffic flow in Transportation the metropolis Although we cannot fully solve the and Communithrough a statetraffic problem in Metro Manila, the cation (DOTC) of-the-art comTSS will improve safety, traffic flow Toll Regulatory mand center and and travel time.

Board, is divided modern traffic into four sectors: signal system.

Sector 1- BuenThis will be dia to Plaza Dilao made possible with the new sys- zipper lane; deploying 50 traf- (Approximately 3.4km), Sector tem and the installation of 25 fic enforcers in addition to al- 2- Plaza Dilao to Aurora (Apnew fiber optic high definition ternate routes; all contractors proximately 3.9km), Sector Pan-Tilt-Zoom Traffic Control/ should assign tow trucks at 3- Aurora to Quezon Ave. (ApVideo surveillance cameras and the construction area; contin- proximately 2.8km), Sector 4 36 45-inch video screens that ues monitoring the project at - Quezon Ave. to Monumento shall monitor activities. least one month for the project (Approximately 4.7km).

“Although we cannot fully update status; restoration of Skyway Stage 3 aims to insolve the traffic problem in lights, footbridges, pedestrian, crease the interaction among Metro Manila, the TSS will im- loading and unloading; man- regions by providing a new, prove safety, traffic flow and agement of lanes safer and improved route that travel time,” he added.

Implementation of traffic would decongest traffic in the www.canadianinquirer.net

metropolis and lessen travel time for the riding public.

Other projects include MRT Line 3 Extension, LRT Line 1 Extension (Cavite), LRT Line 2 East Extension (up to Masinag), Integrated Transport System (Southwest Terminal), Sta. Monica-Lawton Ave. Bridge, Gil Puyat Ave.-Makati Ave. underpass, NLEx-SLEx Connector Road above PNR alignment, EDSA-Taft Flyover, Espana-Lacson Flyover, EDSA Roosevelt Ave. Interchange, Magallanes Interchange, South Superhighway in Makati City and McKinley Ramp MMDA also launched a website for public to monitor the on traffic buildup caused by the major road projects that will be implemented simultaneously this year.

Tolentino launched roadway project website www.mmroadway.com which enable to monitor status of the 15 major infrastructure road projects.

Last April, the MMDA revived the Pasig River Ferry System to address the traffic situation caused by the ongoing 15 road projects across Metro Manila. ❱❱ PAGE 30 Major infrastructure

12

Philippine News

JANUARY 1, 2015 THURSDAY

Supreme Court: Dispensing justice with fairness in 2014

BY PERFECTO T. RAYMUNDO Philippine News Agency MANILA — Within days before 2014 ends, the Supreme Court (SC) has been dispensing justice with fairness to the cross section of society in general.

The SC has ruled on Dec. 10, 2014 that coconut farmers and the coconut industry can now benefit from the Php60-billion which is part of the coco levy fund.

This after the SC ordered the putting into record of the “entry of judgment” in connection with the decision of the SC in one of the cases of the coco levy dated Sept. 4, 2012.

The SC granted the motion for partial entry of judgment filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) headed by Acting Solicitor General Florin Hilbay to allow the coconut farmers to benefit from the proceeds of the coco levy.

The SC justices rendered a “unanimous voting” although Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, Associate Justices Teresita J. Leonardo-De Castro, Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe and Francis H. Jardeleza inhibited themselves from the deliberations of the case.

Associate Justices Arturo D. Brion, Lucas P. Bersamin and Jose P. Perez were on-leave.

In its decision on Sept. 4, 2012, the SC said that 31-percent of “preferred shares” in San Miguel Corporation (SMC) which were purchased through the coco levy fund is owned by the government.

The SC also ruled that the said “shares” will only be used for the benefit of all coconut farmers and for the development of the coconut industry.

Although the government is still questioning the “ownership” of the “four-percent treasury shares” in SMC, the issue is separate from the more than 753 million “preferred shares” in SMC which the SC has ruled upon.

In another celebrated case, the SC set for next year the deliberations and voting by the SC magistrates on the disqualification case against former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada.

The SC failed to make a voting last December 10 on the

After an eventful 2014, the SC faces another year of its daunting task to dispense justice with fairness as well as in addressing the backlog of cases in the courts in 2015.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

disqualification case against Estrada during the SC’s en banc session.

According to SC Public Information Office (PIO) Chief and Spokesman Atty. Theodore O, Te, the case will be set for voting by the magistrates next year.

The disqualification case against Estrada was filed by Atty. Alicia Vidal and she used as basis the decision of the Sandiganbayan on the plunder case against Estrada.

In his memorandum filed before the SC, Estrada maintained that he is qualified to run for an elective post because former President and now Pampanga (2nd District) Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo granted him an “absolute pardon” when he was convicted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan.

Estrada argued that it was clearly stated in the executive clemency granted to him by Mrs. Arroyo on Oct. 25, 2007 that his “civil and political rights” were restored, including his right to run as a candidate in

the elections.

On the other hand, the SC has issued last December 4 a new doctrine on preventive suspension which prohibits payment of back wages to government officials.

This was after the SC upheld a ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA) in connection with the case of a disbarred lawyer, a former official of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) who was involved in corrupt activity in 2001.

In an en banc ruling, the SC affirmed the CA decision on the case against Atty. Edilberto Barcelona, a lawyer formerly employed with the NLRC, which was filed by businessmen Dan Joel V. Lim and Richard C. Tan. The CA upheld the Civil Service Commission (CSC) resolutions dated Dec. 18, 2006 and Aug. 28, 2007, which in turn affirmed the order dated Sept. 27, 2000 issued by the then chairperson of the NLRC, Roy V. Señeres. www.canadianinquirer.net

The said order barred petitioner, who was then the officer-in-charge of the Public Assistance Center of the NLRC, from entering the premises a month before the Efficiency and Integrity Board (Board) could investigate the administrative case for dishonesty and grave misconduct filed against him.

Lim alleged that on the first week of August 2000, Barcelona called him up and introduced himself as a lawyer and chief of the NLRC. The complainant recalled that on Aug. 14, 2000, at around 7:30 p.m., Barcelona visited his establishment and told him to settle the case for Php20,000.

In support of his allegations, Lim submitted a written complaint of Arnel E. Ditan and Pilipino Ubante, an endorsement letter dated Aug. 2, 2000 of Atty. Jonathan F. Baligod of the Presidential Action Center, handwritten calling cards of the respondent and an affidavit of desistance executed by Ditan

and Ubante.

Ditan and Ubante confirmed the filing of their complaint against their employer, Lim, and that after some dialogue, the employees executed an affidavit dated Aug. 8, 2000 withdrawing their complaint.

Barcelona’s criminal case was eventually filed before a Manila Court and he was also arrested for the same case.

The records of his case were sent to Señeres’ office.

Señeres preventively suspended him and he was barred to continue to work.

This prompted Barcelona to take his case to the CA until it reached the SC. He also sought back wages.

In the SC ruling, it said that Barcelona “was never prevented from returning to work after his suspension, thus he is not entitled to any back salary.”

The SC found Barcelona in March 2004 “administratively guilty of corrupt activity, deceit, and gross misconduct and was ordered disbarred.”

Philippine News

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

“As a lawyer, who was also a public RA 7076, the issue raised on the violaofficer, respondent miserably failed to tion of the equal protection clause is cope with the strict demands and high moot. The fact is, the DENR treats all standards of the legal profession,” the small-scale miners equally as the proSC said in its March 2004 decision. duction limit applies to all of them,” it Likewise, the SC has dismissed last said.

December 3, the petition filed by CaloThe SC said “there is no more reason ocan City Rep. Edgar Erice after finding for the mining corporations to not rechis mining company liable for violating ognize and comply with the said limitathe Environmental Compliance Certifi- tion.” cate (ECC) requirements by going be“It must be stressed that the DENR is yond its mining extraction limits in Ba- the government agency tasked with the rangay La Fraternidad in Tubay, Agusan duty of managing and conserving the del Norte. country’s resources; it is also the agency In the ruling of the SC Second Divi- vested with the authority to promulgate sion written by Associate Justice Maria- rules and regulations for the implemenno Del Castillo, the SC affirmed the deci- tation of mining laws,” it said. sion of the Court of Appeals (CA) saying “The DENR, being the agency manthat the Department of Environment dated to protect he environment and the and Natural Resources (DENR) has the country’s natural resources, is authoriright to revoke the ECCs of small-scale tative on interpreting the 50,000-MT mining companies that violate its ex- limit,” it added. traction policies.

Moreover, the SC has allowed Bureau The SC denied the petition filed by SR of Internal Revenue (BIR) CommisMetals Inc., San R Mining and Construc- sioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares to get tion Corp., and Galeo Equipment Min- copies of the Sandiganbayan justices’ ing Corp. Inc. questioning the CA deci- Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net sion ruling that they violated the ECC Worth (SALN). requirements by going beyond mining In a resolution of the SC en banc dated extraction limits.

Nov. 18, 2014, signed and promulgated by Erice was the chairman and president Deputy Clerk of Court of the SC en banc of SRMI at the time of the filing of the Atty. Felipa Anama, it partially grants complaint for the crime of plunder be- the request of Henares for the SALN of fore the Office of the Ombudsman (Om- the Sandiganbayan justices which will budsman). cover the last three years.

On the other hand, his business part“The Court Resolved to.....Partially ners were Miguel Alberto Gutierrez and Grant the request of Commissioner Eric Gutierrez.

Henares for certified copies of the mission Corp. (Transco) in accordance The Philippine National Police-Crim- SALNs of all incumbent Sandiganbayan with the Civil Service Commission inal Investigation and Detection Group Justices for the last three (3) years only,” (CSC) Memorandum Circular.

(PNP-CIDG) filed the plunder charges the SC resolution said.

In a decision made public last Novemagainst Erice and Agusan del Norte Gov. This will cover Sandiganbayan jus- ber 27, the SC granted the petition filed Erlpe John Amante before the Depart- tices’ SALN for the years 2011, 2012 and by Transco employees and set aside the ment of Justice (DOJ) and was later on 2013. decision of the Commission on Audit filed before the Ombudsman.

The SC also took note of the letter (COA) dated May 26, 2009, as well as its The complaint was filed by Butuan sent by Sandiganbayan Presiding Jus- resolution dated Nov. 26, 2012, requirCity businessman Rodney Basiana. tice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang dated Nov. ing all persons found liable in the Notice Court records show that Erice, Guti- 10, 2014. of Disallowance (ND) dated July 5, 2007 errez and several others have a pending It dismissed last August the request to refund the amount of loyalty award case since 2007 before the Ombudsman of the BIR to have copies of the SALN of received by its employees. for plunder and theft in connection with the SC and Sandiganbayan justices.

The state-owned National Power the operations of SRMI in Agusan del The SC said that there was transpar- Corp. (Napocor) underwent reorganiNorte. zation in 2003 purThen DENR Secsuant to Republic retary Angelo Reyes Act No. 9136, or the issued a Cease and “Electric Power InDesist Order (CDO) dustry Reform Act of against the mining As a lawyer, who was also a public officer, 2001 (EPIRA Law)”, corporations susrespondent miserably failed to cope with the wherein Napocor pending their opstrict demands and high standards of the legal was split into two: erations on Nov. 26, profession.

— the NPC, which 2004. became in-charge This prompted the of the generation of mining firms to take electricity; and their case to the CA until it was elevated ency in their SALN, as media and stu— the Transco, which was charged to the SC. dents’ requests for the release of the jus- with the transmission of electricity to “Significantly, the DENR in the exer- tices’ SALN were already made. the power customers. cise of such power had just recently reIn its earlier resolution, the SC denied Consequently, Transco was created solved the question on the production the request of the BIR for the SALN of effective June 24, 2001 and acquired all limit in small-scale mining. On July 5, all the justices of the SC, Sandiganbayan the transmission assets of the Napocor.

2007, it issued Clarificatory Guidelines and Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) for lack However, due to such reorganization, in the Implementation of the Small- of reasonable basis. the services of all the employees of the Scale Mining Laws,” the SC said.

At the same time, the SC has sustained Napocor were terminated effective Feb. “With the 50,000-MT limit likewise the loyalty awards granted to the quali- 28, 2003, wherein they received their imposed on small-scale miners under fied employees of the National Trans- separation benefits and terminal leave www.canadianinquirer.net

13

pay.

Meanwhile, some of the said employees were rehired by Transco on March 1, 2003 and received loyalty award.

The COA disallowed the grant of loyalty award and sought refund of the same.

This prompted the affected employees to elevate the case to the SC. In its decision, the SC said that the employees who received the benefits did not act in bad faith.

“At any rate, even assuming that the payment of loyalty award is unwarranted, as to the employees who received the same without participating in the approval thereof, they cannot be said to be either in bad faith or grossly negligent in so doing,” the SC said.

In ruling in favor of the employees, the SC cited Blaquera vs. Alcala, saying that the Court “cannot countenance the refund of subject incentive benefits, which amounts the petitioners have already received.”

“Indeed, no indicia of bad faith can be detected under the attendant facts and circumstances,” the SC said.

“The officials and chiefs of offices concerned disbursed such incentive benefits in the honest belief that the amounts given were due to the recipients and the latter accepted the same with gratitude, confident that they richly deserve such benefits,” it added.

For 2015, the SC faces another year of its daunting task to dispense justice with fairness as well as in addressing the backlog of cases in the courts. ■

14

Philippine News

JANUARY 1, 2015 THURSDAY

President Aquino leads commemoration of 118th Anniversary of Dr. Rizal’s martyrdom

BY JELLY F. MUSICO Philippine News Agency MANILA — President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday led the commemoration of the 118th Anniversary of the martyrdom of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal at the Rizal monument in Rizal Park.

Upon his arrival at exactly 7 a.m., the President has been accorded with full military honors.

The President was welcomed

by National Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief Gen. Greogrio Pio Catapang Jr.,

National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) chairperson Maria Serena Diokno, and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

Vice President Jejomar Binay, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Francis Tolentino, Diokno and Estrada accompanied President Aquino in the flag raising and wreath laying ceremonies.

Catapang and Diokno also joined the President in the wreath-laying in front of Rizal’s monument.

President Aquino then met and greeted Rizal’s eight descendants through his siblings Maria, Narcisa, Saturnina, Pa-

President Benigno Aquino III troops the line, escorted by AFP Chief of Staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang, during the commemoration of the 118th death anniversary of Philippine National Hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal on Tuesday, December 30, held at the Parade ground of Rizal Monument, in Luneta, Manila.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

LEFT: President Benigno Aquino

III (2nd right) leads the flag raising ceremony during the commemoration of the 118th anniversary of Dr. Jose P. Rizal on Tuesday (December 30, 2014), held at the Rizal Park, Manila.

Also in photo are Vice President Jejomar Binay (3rd right), former president and Manila Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada, National Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino, Maria Serena I. Diokno of the National Historical Commission, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gregorio Pio Catapang and other government officials.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

RIGHT: The 22-foot statue of the

Philippines’ national hero Dr. Jose P. Rizal is now the tallest Rizal statue, located in Calamba City, his birth town. The statue is mounted on a tiled concrete pedestal on a 6.9-hectare lot right across the street of the Calamba City Hall in Barangay Real. On Tuesday (December 30, 2014), the country commemorates his 118th martyrdom.

The new Rizal monument in Calamba City is envisioned as the new tourist and historical landmark in the province.

BEN BRIONES / PNA

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Philippine News

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

ciano and Soledad.

The descendants of the Rizal clan include Mia Syquia Faustman (Maria); Ammelia Garcia Yulo (Narcisa); Victor Reyes, Lisa Bayot and Malou Villaroman (Saturnina); Ester Lopez Azunin and Marlene Jacinto (Paciano); and, Joel Noel Mendoza (Soledad).

Some 5,000 people composed of government representatives, members of the diplomatic corps, veterans, teachers, students, representatives of nongovernment organizations, and other sectoral representatives attended the event.

In his Rizal Day message, President Aquino emphasized the need for the Filipino people especially the public servants like him to always recognize the courage, deeds and generosity of spirit displayed by Dr. Rizal in unwavering effort “to uplift the circumstances of his motherland and fellows.”

“We discover an examplar of citizenship in our national hero; and in his triumphs and sacrifice, we imbibe the inspiration to continue the fight for the Filipino people,” the President said.

“May this commemoration invigorate and impassion us

as a people, that we may remain unwavering in the duty to bequeath succeeding generations with the dignified, progressive future they deserve,” he added.

The President said the battles the Filipinos are facing today may be different from the time of Dr. Jose Rizal “yet the call to action and service they once heard remains resonant and clear.”

“Rizal served as our precedent for prodigious acts: He took upon himself to alleviate the despair of others and cast his stake for a tomorrow of peace and liberty,” the President said.

The President also enjoined fellow public servants to walk the path of accountability and commit themselves to the task of nation-building.

“We shall compose the next chapters of our history and pass it on to coming Filipinos. United, let us strive to leave them a legacy of an empowered and proud nation,” he said.

Meanwhile, Malacanang has urged the public to learn more about Rizal and his times by visiting the Rizal Day page of the Official Gazette at http://www. gov.ph/rizal-monument. ■

15

No Filipinos missing in AirAsia flight – CAAP

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — There are no Filipinos in the AirAsia Airbus A320200 flight QZ8501 that recently went reportedly missing on Sunday, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said.

In a statement, CAAP further said that the flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, did not pass thru the Philippine flight information region (FIR).

CAAP operation rescue and coordinating center (ORCC) explained that the flight path of the missing flight is far away from Philippine FIR and no record of such pass thru the Philippine air space.

The AirAsia flight has 155 passengers, seven crews on board when it lost contact 42 minutes after it took off.

It went missing after the pilots asked to change course to avoid bad weather.

Reports showed that passen-

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

gers and crew members include one Singaporean, one Malaysian, one French, three South Koreans, and 156 Indonesians.

This is not the first time a plane went missing this year.

To recall, Malaysia’s national flag carrier, Malaysia Airlines, lost two aircraft this year.

Last March 8, flight MH370

went missing on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has still not been found.

After that incident, another plane, flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board last July 17. ■

Opinion

16

JANUARY 1, 2015 THURSDAY

AS I SEE IT

How to stop, hopefully, the New Year’s Eve mayhem

By Neal H. Cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer IT’S THAT time of the year again when people, children and adults alike, foolishly hurt themselves by exploding firecrackers, and authorities predictably making all the usual noise and pretense of trying to stop the madness and mayhem. As of this writing yesterday, there were already 113 cases of firecracker injuries recorded by the Department of Health.

By the time you read this, there would be many more.

On New Year’s Eve, or two days from now, the whole country will be like a war zone, with explosions everywhere and fireworks shooting up into the sky; the injured, whimpering in pain and crowding the emergency rooms of hospitals; and the doctors and nurses overworked trying to save their lives and limbs, sometimes unsuccessfully. Smoke and the acrid smell of gunpowder will fill the air like fog and it will be risky to drive because visibility will be limited. There will be a few fires caused by hoarded fireworks or exploding firecrackers carelessly thrown.

Can we stop this yearly madness?

It seems impossible, but yes, we can— they have to be sold, even on the sly, The pyrotechnics industry is, after if the authorities know what to do. otherwise the manufacturers would all, big business.

The trouble is, they don’t. lose their investments.

The thing to do is, to go to the A few weeks before the New Year’s Inspecting the stores with fan- source, the manufacturers themEve merrymaking, the police and fire fare—again for publicity—is also selves and to tell them—many months department, cameramen and report- useless. By the time the inspectors before New Year’s Eve, not a few days ers in tow, make a show of inspecting arrive, the store owners would have before—not to make the dangerous firecracker stores and confiscating already hidden the banned firecrack- fireworks. Fireworks factories start banned fireworks. Warnings are is- ers, to be sold clandestinely later. their manufacturing operations six sued by the DOH, the police and loWarning the public against ex- months before the new year. cal governments. Police burn seized ploding firecrackers does not have Inspections should be made banned fireworks, regularly—unanagain with journalnounced so that ists in attendance— violators would Can we stop this yearly madness? It seems imposbut only some; the be caught in the sible, but yes, we can—if the authorities know what to do. The rest they keep to be act.

The licenses trouble is, they don’t. sold clandestinely of violators should to the very people be confiscated, not they are warning not to explode fire- much effect either, as experience only suspended. Owners of violating crackers. has shown. Everyone thinks they are factories should be jailed as the law But these are all only for show, so careful and not as foolish as those mandates, not merely fined P20,000 that the public will think they are do- who have hurt themselves. What to P30,000; that’s chicken feed to ing something. The fact is they are happened to others will never hap- them. The law should be amended to doing these things too late. pen to them, so they think—until it make the fines heftier.

For example, the police invited happens to them.

Local officials should be made lifireworks manufacturers to a meetPeople will buy firecrackers, able for violations in their territories. ing, presumably to ask them to stop banned or not, for as long as they Local government personnel, after making banned firecrackers—but are available for sale. And stores will all, being nearest to the factories, this only a few days before New Year’s stock up on fireworks for as long as should make the periodic inspecEve. What good will that do? By that people buy them. And manufactur- tions while the fireworks are still betime, the banned fireworks would ers will continue making them for as ing manufactured, not after. have been made. And once made, long as there is a demand for them.

So that the manufacturers won’t

be forced out of business and their workers out of jobs, they should be allowed to continue making fireworks—but only the safe ones, those that fly into and explode in the sky in a kaleidoscope of colors. Without the fireworks, New Year’s Eve would lose much of its color, wonder and merrymaking.

But these fireworks cost a lot of money, so local governments should have fireworks displays in the town plaza or park so their constituents would have something to watch when the new year marches in.

Firecrackers should be made small, limited to the size of cigarettes at most, to ensure they’re safe. Even if you’re holding these with the tips of your fingers when they explode, your fingers are left only with a tingling sensation. Which is not to say that you should do that. With small, safe and inexpensive firecrackers, manufacturers would be able to sell more and people would not be deprived of the joy of exploding firecrackers in their front yards.

At present, the smallest and cheapest firecrackers are the Five-Star triangle and “piccolo” that, not coincidentally, cause the most injuries. ■

PUBLIC LIVES

Modernity and the Filipino child

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer (Today being Holy Innocents’ Day, I thought it fitting to share the key points of a talk I gave at the “Child Without Borders” conference organized by the Child Protection Unit last Dec. 5.)

IN TRADITIONAL society, the status of the child is determined by the social position of the family from which she is sprung. Indeed, parents “own” their children, a fact that proceeds from the family’s basic role as an economic unit. The state recognizes this, and defers to the primordial authority of parents over their children.

The modern family, in contrast, sheds off its economic function. And with the spread of public education, it also loses a good part of its educational function. The State assumes the formal obligation to protect and ensure the growth of every child, conferring upon them all those rights that are beautifully laid out in the modern document we call the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The transition to modernity is, however, never smooth. Culture tends to lag behind the laws. The change in social awareness is slow.

All too often, the family finds itself If this is a problem of culture, then ly, as our society enters the modern reacting to the myriad pressures of it must be addressed as a question period. As government actively takes poverty by taking out its frustrations of how to promote a different kind on the responsibility of protecting the on its most vulnerable members—the of awareness. Parents, elders, teach- nation’s children—often against those women and the children. ers and adults in authority who deal who should be looking after them—we Almost all the threats that Filipino with children on a regular basis need should be seeing less and less of the children confront in our society— to be able to pause and reflect on the abuses and neglect that now hound corporal punishment, verbal abuse, nature of their actions towards chil- children of this generation. child labor, child trafficking, sexual dren. This is not easy. Most of these Even so, I would be the last to paint abuse, child soldiering, recruitment are habits they may have picked up a glowing picture of modernity. Mointo criminal syndicates, etc.—are unconsciously in the course of their dernity solves many problems but rooted in the poverty and degrada- own socialization. If they grew up brings in new ones. As they become tion to which at least half of our peo- in an abusive family, there is a big increasingly self-reliant at an early ple have been consigned. chance they will not act any differ- age, young people will find less and For all our claims less reason to visit, to being a loving and much less consult Almost all the threats that Filipino children confront nurturing people their parents. The in our society . . . are rooted in the poverty and degradation to that assign a great issue of child abanvalue to children, donment is easily which at least half of our people have been consigned. many of us still find replaced by elderly it hard to listen to them, to take their ently toward their own children. abandonment. As the family loses its words seriously, to respect their feelModernity interrupts this cycle by centrality in modern society, its supings, their pride, their dignity and introducing the child early to a world port functions likewise decline in imself-esteem. We demand from our larger than the household—a world portance. In the end, the only thing children unconditional obedience where she learns to respect the needs that remains is love, which may not aland trust, even when the orders we and rights of other children, a world ways be sufficiently strong to pull evgive to them may have been made where other roles are possible apart ery member together in rough times. during our most irrational moments. from those conferred by the family.

Clearly, we are not yet there. The Because they are “just children,” we Many traditional families will regard problems we face are still the familiar are usually dismissive of their feel- these encounters jealously, seeing ones that reflect the exigencies of an ings, making no effort to understand in them a threat to parental author- impoverished society undergoing the their outbursts and sudden fits of un- ity. That is why they may often view transition to modernity. controlled weeping. We treat these the school—the teachers or the peer That is why the dimensions of child as signs of immaturity rather than as group—as a source of bad influence. protection remain astounding. At desperate calls for help.

This culture fades away, albeit slow- least 5 million children are engaged

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in backbreaking work in agriculture, mining and quarrying, construction, manufacturing, domestic work and scavenging. We have lost count of the number of batang hamog who live in the streets or under bridges, but we know they are multiplying. Three to 6 million children are reported to be living apart from their OFW parents.

Thousands of children are recruited as child soldiers by insurgent groups, or engaged as spies by the military.

Every year, tens of thousands of children fall victim to sexual abuse, trafficking and drug abuse. Every renewal of armed conflict in Mindanao throws children out of their homes and into makeshift shanties in evacuation centers. Every natural calamity victimizes children in numbing proportions.

Older societies in the modern world have graying populations, unable to motivate their young people to get married, settle down and have children. In contrast, wherever we go in these beautiful islands, children at once surround us, their spontaneous smiles masking the burdens they carry on their young shoulders.

We can’t imagine what a boon that is.

Our young population is what keeps our society dynamic and alive, while other nations have long gone into retirement mode. ■

Opinion

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

17

VIEWPOINT

Writing ‘-30-‘

By Juan L. Mercado Philippine Daily Inquirer “YOU’RE A FOOL,” our fellow journalist snapped at us. “Don’t you realize that there are thousands scrambling to migrate to the United States—or anywhere else?”

Upon retiring from the United Nations, which posted us in Thailand and Italy for 19 years, the wife and I chose to return to the Philippines. Then we gave up our permanent-residence status in the United States, which had earlier given us sanctuary, as it did to previous generations of refugees.

We broke loose from martial-law detention and two years of city arrest under the Marcos dictatorship.

For that, we stacked up IOUs that can never be paid.

“Just write anything [in your petition to the President to scram],” counseled then Press Secretary Jacobo Clave, a former colleague in the Evening News. So we scribbled, pledging to obey the laws of the republic. Clave got the signature that was the only law then. Human rights lawyer Joker Arroyo monitored every step of our way to get out and kept the International Press Institute informed.

On the receiving end in UN Thailand, Dioscoro Umali, then regional

representative of the Food and Agri- full of funny phrases and traditions, have created a kind of bottleneck in culture Organization and subsequent and writing “-30-” is one of them. the work world, including newsrooms.

Philippine National Scientist, gave us The use of the symbol was once so ‘You guys just won’t go,’ said my wella temporary job. prevalent that it made its way into mannered and thoughtful son.”

“This contract is for three Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary.

Previously, there was an orderliness months,” the FAO’s Corazon Uy said. It means “a sign of completion.” to how one generation moved aside We stayed 17 years, as regular FAO of“I don’t know the origin,” wrote the and another stepped up to primacy. ficer. But that’s another story.

Philadelphia Bulletin’s Peter Binzen. Life expectancy has stretched. “Even Exit from the unlamented “New He ended his 56-year newspaper ca- when I was the same age as my chilSociety” opened alternate doors for reer with a farewell column that con- dren are now, there was a natural tranour five children. They chose to be- cluded with—what else?—”-30-.” sition from one generation to another.” come US citizens in the interim. The Some say the mark began during a Every year, a small group of rewife and I chose ìthe porters would leave road less traveledî— the newsroom, to be and, as it turned out, replaced by younger We’ll take pleasure in reading the young ones take on a a return to journalones. “With the world where print and the Internet merge in unforeseen comism. harsh insensitivity binations.

Shortly thereafof youth, I thought ter, then Inquirer publisher Isagani time when stories were submitted via this was perfectly fine. But this Yambot and then Opinion editor telegraph, with “-30-” denoting “the makes for a simple equation: fewer Jorge Aruta asked now Presidential end” in Morse code. opportunities for the young to move Assistant Manuel Quezon III and us “I’m not sure that it’s any more of in or move up.” to each do a twice-a-week column. a mystery than a lot of other things,” “But many of us of a certain age It has been over nine years now observed Linda Steiner, who teaches have had a great deal of difficulty since we started crafting Viewpoint journalism at the University of Mary- with the concept of getting older. And columns for the Inquirer. The first land. “Journalists have always liked that means staying front and center column, titled “Trade in orphan to create odd or weird names for professionally. The unspoken syntears,” appeared on Feb. 5, 2004. things that they do or conventions onym for ‘emeritus’ is’ ‘old.’ And ‘old’ There is a time for every affair un- that they have.” is a modern obscenity.” der the sun, Ecclesiastes tells us. And In her final New York Times Changes in news technology have now, it is time to write “-30-,” as re- column, “Stepping Aside,” Anna seen the young invent room for porters over 50 used to do.

Quindlen points out: “Youngsters to- themselves. There is nothing quite as So why did journalists then end day account for about a quarter of the tedious, or as useless, as ritual recitheir stories that way? Journalism is population. And so, inevitably, they tations of the good old days, which

most often weren’t.

Throughout the world there seems to be an understanding that this is and ought to be a time of reinvention, in the economy, in education, in the office—and in the newsrooms.

But no one seems eager to reinvent on an individual level. Yet never has there been a time when fresh perspective and new ideas were more necessary.

“The torch has been passed to a new generation,” John F. Kennedy once said. But torches don’t really get passed very much because people love to hold on to them.

But between the lines I read another message, delivered without rancor or contempt, the same one I once heard from my own son: It’s our turn. Step aside. And now I will.

We are doing likewise.

And on stepping aside, may we thank the Inquirer, especially Opinion editor Chato Garcellano, Christine Ang, and staff for bearing with a more than onerous dose of our flaws.

We’ll take pleasure in reading the young ones take on a world where print and the Internet merge in unforeseen combinations.

So, how do we title this thank-youand so-long column? How else but by “Writing ‘-30-‘”? ■

AT LARGE

Ibarra and Rizal

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer ON THIS day when the nation marks the death anniversary of our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, let us remember him with this excerpt from his novel “Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not),” written in 1887.

The novel and its companion volume “El Filibusterismo” are said to have fired up Filipino public sentiment against Spanish colonial rule, particularly the role played by Spanish friars who, in many towns, became the embodiments of colonial power and arrogance. Without the novels, it is believed, it would not have been possible for the popular agitation for reforms to grow into a full-blown armed revolution led by Andres Bonifacio and the Katipunan.

The excerpt is taken from the famous “idyll in the azotea,” an openair porch in ancestral homes, where the hero of the “Noli,” Crisostomo Ibarra, meets in a tryst with Maria Clara, the love of his youth whom he had left in the Philippines for studies in Europe. Returning to put up a school for the town’s young people, Ibarra finds that his father had died in his absence, and worse, the father’s grave had been desecrated and emp-

tied on orders of the parish priest. some dry, blackened leaves which gave in spite of all my pleadings. ‘You are a Based on the English translation off a sweet odor. “Your sage leaves,” he man now,’ he told me, ‘and you must

by Charles Derbyshire from the origi- said, in answer to her inquiring look. think about your future and about your nal Spanish, the scene not only lays “This is all that you have ever given me.” duties. You must learn the science of the basis for Ibarra’s motivation for She in turn snatched from her life, a thing which your fatherland canreturning to his homeland and edu- bosom a little pouch of white satin. not teach you, so that you may somecating the next generation, but also “You must not touch this,” she said, day be useful to it. If you remain here explains the hero’s transformation tapping the palm of his hand lightly. in my shadow, in this environment of into the darkly subversive Simoun in “It’s a letter of farewell.” business affairs, you will not learn to “Fili.” It also foreshadows later events “The one I wrote to you before look far ahead. The day in which you in Rizal’s life, tracing the arc of anti- leaving?” lose me you will find yourself like the Spanish feeling from reform and In“Have you ever written me any plant of which our poet Baltazar tells: dio participation in political matters, other, sir?” grown in the water, its leaves wither to active protest, rebellion and revolu“And what did I say to you then?” at the least scarcity of moisture, and a tion against the comoment’s heat dries lonial powers: Spain it up. Don’t you unWithout the novels, it is believed, it would not have and the interloper, derstand? You are been possible for the popular agitation for reforms to grow the United States. almost a young man, Exile, it must be and yet you weep!í into a full-blown armed revolution. explained, was an These reproaches experience shared by Rizal and his “Many fibs, excuses of a delin- hurt me and I confessed that I loved “fictional” hero, Ibarra. But while quent debtor,” she answered smil- you. My father reflected for a time in siIbarra came home from Europe fired ingly, thus giving him to understand lence and then, placing his hand on my by reformist zeal, Rizal’s years in ex- how sweet to her those fibs were. “Be shoulder, said in a trembling voice, ‘Do ile served to stoke his nationalism, quiet now and I’ll read it to you, I’ll you think that you alone know how to and led him to imagining (if not yet leave out your fine phrases in order love, that your father does not love you, into active organizing) a Philippines not to make a martyr of you.” and that he will not feel the separation freed from the shackles of Spain.

Raising the paper to the height of her from you? It is only a short time since This is how the “idyll in the azotea” eyes so that the youth might not see her you lost your mother, and I must jourbegins: face, she began: “My—I’ll not read what ney on alone toward old age, toward *** follows that because it’s not true.” the very time of life when I would seek Ibarra smiled with happiness as he Her eyes ran along some lines. help and comfort from your youth, yet opened his pocketbook and took from it *** I accept my loneliness, hardly knowing a piece of paper in which were wrapped “My father wishes me to go away, whether I shall ever see you again. But

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you must think of other and greater things, the future lies open before you, while for me it is already passing behind; your love is just awakening, while mine is dying; fire burns in your blood, while the chill is creeping into mine.

Yet you weep and cannot sacrifice the present for the future, useful as it may be alike to yourself and to your country.’ My father’s eyes were filled with tears and I fell upon my knees at his foot, I embraced him, I begged his forgiveness, and I assured him that I was ready to set out.” *** Ibarra’s growing agitation caused her to suspend the reading, for he had grown pale and was pacing back and forth.

“What’s the matter? What is troubling you?” she asked him.

“You have almost made me forget that I have my duties, that I must leave at once for the town. Tomorrow is the day for commemorating the dead.”

Maria Clara silently fixed her dreamy eyes upon him for a few moments and then, picking some flowers, she said with emotion, “Go, I won’t detain you any longer! In a few days we shall see each other again.

Lay these flowers on the tomb of your parents.” ■

18

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Canada News

Homegrown terror attack on Parliament Hill named CP news story of year

NEWS BRIEFS

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — October 22 dawned as just another busy Wednesday morning on and around Parliament Hill.

Tourists wandered in the fall sunshine past the towering granite and bronze War Memorial, where two unarmed sentries stood ceremonial guard at the tomb of the unknown solder.

A few hundred metres north in parliament’s gothic Centre Block, the prime minister, his cabinet and hundreds of MPs gathered for their weekly national caucus meetings, in turn attracting the usual throng of news media and eager young staff members — all mingling in the marble-floored halls with passing tour groups and good-humoured Hill security.

In a matter of a few moments just after 10 a.m., a lone gunman brandishing an antiquated lever-action hunting rifle shattered the peace, order and good government of that bright autumn morning and riveted national and global attention on Canada’s capital.

Coming just two days after another suicidal attack by a man with known jihadist sympathies who ran down a Quebec soldier, the brazen Ottawa assault rattled the country.

The attack on Parliament Hill and killing of soldiers Nathan Cirillo and Patrice Vincent ignited a debate on home-grown terrorism and are the overwhelming choice as Canada’s 2014 News Story of the Year in the annual survey of the country’s newsrooms by The Canadian Press.

Almost 70 per cent of respondents — 59 of 85 newsrooms — picked the events surrounding Oct. 22 as the year’s seminal news.

“Home-grown terrorism exposed our vulnerability and shook a nation’s faith in its safety and security,” wrote Frank De Palma, newsroom director of The Chronicle Herald newspaper in Halifax.

Kevin Usselman, news director at 660News CFFR in Calgary, said the story brought home “the realization that Canada is no longer immune to events taking place outside of our borders ... a coming of age kind of story.”

Two other deeply troubling events tied for second in the annual newsroom survey: The murder of three RCMP officers by a gunman in Monc-

The attack on Parliament Hill and the events surrounding it — from the tragic killing of soldier Nathan Cirillo to the heroic efforts of Kevin Vickers to stop the attacker — is the top news story of 2014, as decided by 59 of 85 Canadian newsrooms in a year-end survey.

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ton, N.B.; and the national debate over sexual harassment sparked by allegations against radio host Jian Ghomeshi and the suspension of two Liberal MPs by Justin Trudeau.

Both those stories garnered 10 votes each.

Julie Carl, the deputy editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, elected to choose the sexual harassment story for reasons also cited by several others.

“I was torn between this and the shooting at Parliament and the Mounties’ deaths,” Carl wrote.

“But the conversation about sexual harassment and why women don’t report seems to indicate a tipping point in that conversation. I believe we will be talking about it for a long, long time.”

Others wrestled with the choice between two very different but disturbing acts of violence.

“It really was a toss-up between the Ottawa terrorism and the Moncton RCMP shootings,” said Darryl Mills of the Prince Albert Daily Herald in Saskatchewan.

“Both so massively un-Canadian and attacks on who we are.”

The issue of home-grown terrorist attacks appears destined to continue dominating news into 2015.

Self-styled Canadian jihadists continue making public threats, while the motivations of Ottawa gunman Michael Zehaf Bibeau remain a matter of some debate.

RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has described Zehaf Bibeau’s “distorted world view” and said he was “driven by ideological and political motives.”

A video made by Zehaf Bibeau be-

fore the attack has yet to be made public and may never be, despite initial RCMP assurances it would be put in the public domain.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in a year-end interview with CBC, was adamant the attacks are not a result of his government’s decision to join air strikes against ISIL in Iran.

“Look, let’s be very clear on this,” said Harper.

“We’re not at risk from ISIL because we’re fighting them. We’re fighting them because we are at risk from them.

“This is an organization, along with the entire global jihadist movement they represent, that has repeatedly made threats on this country.”

That cause-and-effect argument appears to be still a matter of live debate in the newsrooms of the country, judging by some comments to The Canadian Press survey.

“The slayings of two Canadian soldiers and ‘Canada joins combat mission in Iraq’ are inextricably linked, in my opinion,” wrote Margo Goodhand, editor of the Edmonton Journal.

“We cannot make a decision to go to war without accepting there may be consequences, both short and long-term.”

Added Brad Works, the managing editor of the Journal Pioneer in Summerside, P.E.I.: “It’s fair to say that Micheal Zehaf Bibeau’s actions forced Canadians to reconsider our security at home and question our place and actions in world affairs. Few Canadians were not touched in some way by this story.” ■

HELP POURING IN FOR FAMILY OF ALBERTA GIRL EDMONTON — The founder of a group that helps child victims of sexual abuse says support has been pouring in from people who want to help a six-year-old girl who was badly beaten in Alberta. Glori Meldrum of Little Warriors says it started when she and a friend dropped off some presents and a homemade quilt for the girl at the hospital on Christmas Day. PORTER FLIGHT DIVERTED AFTER SMOKE IN PLANE TORONTO — A Porter Airlines flight carrying 66 passengers from Toronto to Washington, D.C., was diverted when smoke entered the flight deck and cabin. Spokesman Brad Cicero says the plane was diverted to Williamsport, Pa., after leaving Billy Bishop Airport at 8 a.m.

NEWFOUNDLAND BREAK: PREMIER

TORIES

CAN’T

GET

ST. JOHN’S — The year 2014 in Newfoundland and Labrador politics started with electricity blackouts that sealed one premier’s demise, and ended with a fiscal meltdown that threatens another. In between, the governing Progressive Conservatives lost a string of byelections to the Opposition Liberals, bringing their total defeats in the last 18 months to seven.

EUGENIE BOUCHARD FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR MONTREAL — If 2013 was the year that put Eugenie Bouchard in the spotlight, 2014 was the one that showed the tennis star is no flash in the pan. The Westmount, Que., native had a phenomenal year on the WTA tour, rising from 32nd in the rankings to No. 5 at one point before ending it at an impressive No. 7.

Canada News

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

19

Hundreds take political plunge, despite cynicism, politicians’ bad reputation

BY JOAN BRYDEN The Canadian Press OTTAWA — How many people would fight tooth and nail to get into a profession almost guaranteed to earn them a reputation as self-serving liars and cheats, if not outright crooks?

Lots, it turns out.

Hundreds of Canadians are fighting for the opportunity to dive into what the majority of their fellow citizens appear to consider a cess pool: politics.

Many are giving up successful careers to carry the flags of their preferred political parties in 338 ridings across the country in next year’s federal election. Some fought long, hard nomination battles for the right to have their names on the ballot; hundreds more are still in the process of nomination contests.

And that’s the easy part. Once nominated, they’ll spend the next 10 months fending off attacks from their political rivals and slogging door to door in their ridings, where they’ll have to defend their choice of party and profession to cynical voters.

Do they need their heads examined?

Good question, laughs Jane Philpott, a family doctor who is running for the Liberals in the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Stouffville.

Polls suggest “family doctors are usually almost at the very top” of the most respected professions in Canada, she notes.

So, “to go from that to being a politician as the least respected might make one think I’m crazy.”

A recent poll by The Gandalf Group for Ryerson University suggests only 13 per cent of Canadians trusted politicians to behave ethically, slightly ahead of lobbyists. By contrast, 78 per cent deemed doctors to be trustworthy.

The online survey of 1039 people painted a grim picture of how Canadians view politicians: self-serving individuals in politics for personal gain, who use taxpayers’ money to help their friends and who routinely lie, break promises and cheat on their expense claims.

Hundreds of Canadians will dive into politics for the upcoming 2015 Canadian Federal Election.

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Almost 30 per cent of respondents said politicians frequently take bribes. And 63 per cent felt politics corrupts honest people.

The survey was conducted between Oct. 17 and 22; the polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error as they are not a random sample and therefore are not necessarily representative of the whole population.

Far from dissuading good people from running, cynicism about politics seems to be a motivating factor for some of the freshly-minted candidates interviewed recently by The Canadian Press.

“It’s quite frankly part of the reason why I decided to go into politics,” says Rachel Bendayan, a 34-year-old lawyer running for the Liberals in Montreal’s Outremont, where she’s taking on the daunting task of trying to defeat NDP Leader Tom Mulcair.

“I would like to change that.

I think we need to rebuild our confidence in our representatives at all levels of government.

I think we need to give back some of the respect, esteem, importance to public service.”

Erin Weir, a labour econo-

mist running for the NDP in Regina-Lewvan, says “the onus is really on those of us who are seeking elected office to change that (cynical) perception and to demonstrate that these democratic institutions can actually serve good purposes.”

While Canadians profess cynicism and suspicion about politicians generally, some candidates have found they don’t seem to see individual politicians in the same light.

“Once I meet them face to face, they’re quite supportive.

It’s quite encouraging,” says Tim Laidler, a 29-year-old military veteran running for the Conservatives in British Columbia’s Port Moody-Coquitlam.

As a social studies teacher, Janis Irwin, who is running for the NDP in the newly-created Edmonton-Griesbach riding, says it’s “a dagger through the heart” when constituents tell her they can’t be bothered to vote because all politicians are the same.

But like Laidler, she’s finding she can “counter that, at least at the local level, by proving that I am there for the right reasons.”

The reasons candidates offer for taking the plunge into politics would likely strike even the most cynical voters as “the right reasons:” giving back to the www.canadianinquirer.net

community, pursuing particular policy objectives, making life better for Canadians, making their city or town’s voice heard at the national level.

At 60, Richard Cannings is at an age when most are thinking about retirement or, at least, slowing down. But the biologist, ecologist and bird expert is running for the NDP in B.C.’s South Okanagan-West Kootenay because he’s worried about the environment and what he sees as the Harper government’s muzzling of federal scientists.

“I would really like to play a role in turning that around,” he says.

Arif Virani, a 43-year-old lawyer, former United Nations war crimes prosecutor and human rights activist, arrived in Canada as an infant refugee when his parents fled the brutal regime of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. He’s running for the Liberals in Toronto’s ParkdaleHigh Park in part because he wants to “give back to the country” that took his family in.

For Laidler, his military experience in war-torn, povertystricken Afghanistan convinced him that economic prosperity is crucial to a country’s success.

He chose to run for the Conservatives because of their economic track record and what he saw as their traditional support

for the military.

Harjit Singh Sajjan was similarly motivated to run by his military experience, albeit for the Liberals in Vancouver South. He’s a former Vancouver cop who worked in the organized crime and gangs unit, a much-decorated military veteran and first Canadian Sikh to command a regiment.

One of his medals was awarded for his work reducing the influence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. That experience, combined with his police work, convinced him of the need to figure out the root causes of crime and extremism so that a focus can be put on prevention, particularly among kids.

It also persuaded him that Stephen Harper’s aversion to “committing sociology,” as the prime minister has dismissively referred to interest in root causes, is “not only simplistic nonsense, it’s dangerous.”

Whether or not one agrees with their views, it’s hard to deny the strong strain of idealism running through the 2015 crop of candidates.

“I think the drivers that made me want to be a family doctor are the same drivers that made me want to be a politician,” says the Liberals’ Philpott. “You know, it’s about helping improve people’s lives.” ■

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Canada News

JANUARY 1, 2015

THURSDAY

Slain soldiers Cirillo and Vincent named Canada’s Newsmaker of the Year

BY COLIN PERKEL The Canadian Press TORONTO — Two Canadians killed in cold blood on home soil for simply wearing a soldier’s uniform have been selected the country’s Newsmaker of the Year for 2014.

Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, whose senseless murders in October shook the country, were the top choice of editors and news directors surveyed by The Canadian Press.

“It’s very sad but very deserved,” Vincent’s eldest sister Louise Vincent said in her first interview since his funeral.

“First it was a family death and after that we realized that his death was not only ours.”

Indeed, the two unsuspecting and unarmed soldiers quickly became household names for reasons Canadians could barely fathom.

Vincent, 53, described as a quiet, determined person who was always looking to help others, died Oct. 20 after a “radicalized” Martin Rouleau, 25, deliberately ran him down in a parking lot in Saint-Jean-surRichelieu, Que. Two days later, with the country struggling to process Vincent’s death, terror gripped the nation’s capital when Michael Zehaf Bibeau shot Cirillo, 24, in the back before storming Parliament Hill and dying in a hail of bullets.

The photogenic, dog-loving reservist had been quietly standing ceremonial guard with an unloaded weapon at the Tomb of the Unknown soldier when he was attacked without warning.

Once again, Canadians were dismayed and saddened at the prospect of a soldier killed on

Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent (right) and Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, whose senseless murders in October shook the country, were selected as newsmakers of 2014 by editors and news directors surveyed by The Canadian Press.

home soil — this time some- VOCM in St. John’s. were all detached from the dark one who might have looked “They were random victims threat of terror that has plagued like a “big tough man” but was, who were thrust into the spot- so many seemingly so far away.” as a cousin said, “such a kid at light by deranged individuals In all, Cirillo and Vincent heart.” Photographs of Cirillo’s who made us all question our picked up 23 of the 85 votes cast dogs poking their heads from own safety.” to be named 2014 Newsmaker. beneath the fence of the family Michel Lorrain, general diCirillo’s still-grieving family home in Hamilton only added rector with Cogeco nouvelles refused to comment but Louto the palpable grief. in Montreal, noted in his survey ise Vincent called the result a Even before his state-like fu- comments how rare it is in Ca- show of respect for the depths neral, Canadians learned of the nadian history for soldiers to be of their sacrifice. valiant efforts to In second spot save and comfort with 13 votes the dying father apiece were Kevof a five-year-old in Vickers, the boy.

These two men did not ask to be sergeant-at-arms “You are so in the news . . . They were random credited with loved,” lawyer victims who were thrust into the stopping Zihaf Barbara Winters spotlight by deranged individuals Bibeau, and dissaid she repeatwho made us all question our own graced CBC radio edly told him. safety. personality, Jian In scenes not Ghomeshi. seen since the Steve Murrepatriation of soldiers killed killed outside of a combat mis- phy, executive news editor with in Afghanistan, thousands of sion.

CJCH-TV Halifax, called VickCanadians lined the “Highway Their deaths, said Murray ers a “genuine hero.” of Heroes” to show support for Guy, managing editor of the Ghomeshi was already the two men.

Times and Transcript in Monc- known to millions of people be“These two men did not ask ton, N.B., symbolized Canada’s fore he was accused of sexually to be in the news,” said Fred “sudden loss of innocence in or physically assaulting several Hutton, news director with a world where we thought we women — allegations he has

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strongly denied.

Some of those voting felt the scandal surrounding the ex “Q” host had a more profound and lasting impact than did the Parliament Hill horrors.

“I hate to say it but it’s true,” said Adrienne Tanner, deputy editor of the Vancouver Sun. “Not only was he a Canadian icon brought down after years of people protecting him, but he raised the larger issue of sexual harassment in the workplace, a story that unfortunately still resonates in the highest echelons of business and politics.”

Even though the 32-year-old Bibeau’s headline-grabbing attack on Cirillo and Parliament Hill put him in contention for the year’s top newsmaker, only a few of those voting actually picked his name.

Some, such as Darryl Mills, with the Daily Herald in Prince Albert, Sask., called it “offensive” the gunman was given any consideration.

“There is no reason to allow him any more exposure,” Mills said.

While many might consider former crack-smoking Toronto mayor Rob Ford to be firmly yesterday’s man — he was voted Newsmaker of the Year in 2013 — the ailing politician placed fourth overall with 12 votes.

Ford, whose aggressive cancer forced him to quit his quest for re-election this fall, still managed to campaign between chemotherapy sessions to be elected as a city councillor.

“It wasn’t what would change our lives, but it was akin to watching a train wreck,” said David Kirton, host and producer with CKOM Saskatoon.

Only publishing tycoonturned-politician Pierre Karl Peladeau, who picked up 10 votes in Quebec, did better than Ford in the province. ■

World News

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

21

The First Lady of the United States,Michelle Obama, holds a sign with the #BringBackOurGirls hash tag, helping to spread the awareness of the kidnapping of 276 female students in Nigeria by the Islamic Jihadist terrorist organization Boko Haram this past April. The kidnapping was just one of several prominent incidents that inflicted tragedy and pain towards children at large around the world this past year.

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Killings, kidnappings, disasters made 2014 a hard year to be a child

BY MIKE BLANCHFIELD The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Call it the year of growing up dangerously.

From Iraq to Syria, the Central African Republic to South Sudan, to the classrooms of Nigeria and Pakistan, to the beaches of Gaza — 2014 was a spectacularly unsafe year to be a child in some parts of the world.

One piece of evidence is the recent report of the United Nations Children’s Fund which called 2014 a year of “horror, fear and despair” for children.

“Never in recent memory have so many children been subjected to such unspeakable brutality,” UNICEF chief Anthony Lake declared on Dec. 8 when the agency released findings that 15 million children were caught in violent conflicts, while another 230 million were living in countries plagued by armed conflicts.

Eight days later, the report needed an update.

That’s when Taliban attack-

ers wearing suicide vests attacked a school for the children of military personnel in Peshawar, Pakistan massacring 148 people, 132 of them children.

Aside from the human-generated violence, the West Africa Ebola outbreak orphaned thousands of children and deprived five million from going to school, UNICEF says.

“I saw that UNICEF report too and I couldn’t agree more fully,” Perry Mansfield, World Vision director for South Sudan said over the phone from Juba, the capital of that forgotten war-torn country.

“Yeah,” he said, “it’s a pretty crummy year to be a kid.”

Children aren’t just collateral damage — they are being targeted.

In April, the militant group Boko Haram abducted more than 275 teenaged girls from one school in northern Nigeria.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch concluded the Nigerian teenagers were “forced to marry, convert, and endure physical and psychological abuse, forced labour, and rape

in captivity.”

“You’ve seen targeted attacks against children in terms of schools being hit, in terms of abductions, rape, killing,” said Afshan Khan, UNICEF’s head of emergency programs, said in an interview from New York City.

“In previous years, there was a concept around the protection of civilians, in particularly children.”

Children are also being forced to join armies as fighters, including 10,000 in the Central African Republic this year alone, she said.

Half a million children have been forced from their homes there during the ongoing civil war and 430 children have been killed or maimed, a three-fold increase over 2013, the UN says.

For many, the deaths of four Gaza boys killed on a beach during Israel’s summer war with Hamas terrorists came to epitomize the tragedy of children in conflict. The boys, all cousins, were strafed by shells fired from an Israeli navy ship after Hamas broke a ceasefire www.canadianinquirer.net

and fired rockets on Israel.

Those boys were among 538 children killed in Gaza during the 50-day war, along with 3,370 injured. Another 54,000 were rendered homeless.

Donors are growing weary and not meeting the funding demands of the growing list of international crises, said Khan.

In January, UNICEF made a $2 billion appeal but only half has been raised, forcing the agency to scale back what it can offer in crisis zones, including education.

An estimated 28.5 million primary-age schoolchildren are out of school in countries affected by conflict, Khan said.

In the Central African Republic, 660,000 children are out of school in country with a population of less than five million.

At least two million Syrian children are out of school in Syria or neighbouring countries, and some have not seen the inside of a classroom in two or three years.

David Morley, head of UNICEF Canada, recalled a visit he

paid to one family in a Syrian refugee camp this past year.

He saw a small pile of books and asked their 12-year-old girl to tell him about one of the stories.

“She looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know, I used to know but I haven’t been at school for three years, and I’ve forgotten how to read’,” Morley recalled.

Fatima Al Ansar, of Mali, has been luckier than some.

She is going to college in Hartford, Ct. as part of a MasterCard Foundation scholars program.

She’s trying to raise money for a school that she’s helping to build back in her home in northern Mali, where a rebellion continues to cause massive upheaval.

So far, none of the 56 girls, aged five to 14, have been able to go to the school in the last year because of the continuing unrest.

“If you don’t allow people to get an education the future of the country is obviously not going to be good,” she said.

“I find it so evil.” ■

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THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

New Year

New Ways to Ring in the New Year Welcome 2015 with some (unusual) traditions from across the globe!

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer

also provide some fresh ideas for your own New Year celebration.

THE NEW YEAR. Humanity’s “restart” button. A time filled with hope and the endless possibilities that come with a new beginning. Of course, new beginnings can be had at any point in one’s life; regardless of time of the year. However, there is something about turning that last calendar page and starting a fresh leaf that transforms just about anyone into a cockeyed optimist. Or, at the very least, causes one to be somewhat more positive about their general outlook in life.

Named for Janus, the twofaced Roman god of beginnings and transitions — with one face looking forward, and the other looking back — January proves the perfect time for learning lessons from the past and setting new goals for what is to come. Resolutions are made (never mind that they are often broken when February rolls around), and the unnecessary (past mistakes, failures, bad decisions) is discarded, leaving one free and unhampered to embark on the promising journey ahead.

Ringing in this time of hope, the New Year — usually observed on January 1, the first day of the year on the modern Gregorian calendar and on the Julian calendar — is one of the most anticipated and celebrated events across the globe. It is ushered in with diverse traditions, and in varied ways.

These ways of ringing in the New Year may be traditional to some people, but they may

Cycles and Circumcision

The New Year’s tradition dates back to ancient times, and — like many other holidays — has its roots on pagan tradition. Historians trace it back to ancient Babylon, during which it was celebrated as an eleven day festival on the first day of spring. Back then, many cultures relied on the sun and moon cycle to peg the "first" day of the year. Early festivities honored the Earth’s cycles.

It was only when Roman Emperor Julius Caesar mandated the use of the Julian calendar that January 1st became the common day for the celebration.

In later years, Christianity did away with the pagan, earthy rites, and declared the New Year holiday in honour of the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ.

Needless to say, much of the tradition has changed since the days of Earth cycles and Christ’s circumcision.

The stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve usually heralds an explosion of colour, as fireworks light up the skies in many countries across the globe.

health, wealth, and cheer in the coming year.

In some places, such as China and the Philippines, New Year’s Eve is a blast — literally. Aside from fireworks, revelers ex-

spirits seeking to bring bad luck in the New Year.

See spot(s) jump. Jump, spot(s), jump.

In Filipino culture, Polka dots are a favorFirework Frenzy ite pattern for The stroke outfits donned of midnight on on New Year’s New Year’s Eve . . . only when Roman Emperor Eve. It is unclear usually heralds Julius Caesar mandated how and where an explosion of the use of the Julian calendar this custom origcolour, as firethat January 1st became the inated, but it has works light up common day for the celebration. become a widelythe skies in many held belief in the countries across Philippines that the globe. Pyrowearing polkatechnics have become a festive plode firecrackers and employ dotted clothes — or anything tradition to meet the New Year, noisemakers to create a din, with circular prints — on New as well as midnight countdowns believing the happy ruckus an Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and champagne toasts to good effective way to ward off evil will bring prosperity through-

out the year (the round shape symbolizing coins.) The practice has also grown to include the eating of round fruit.

Additionally, Filipino children are made to jump 12 times, when the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve. This is thought to be rooted in Spanish tradition, and is believed to bring a physical growth spurt over the next year.

Tolling bells and twelve grapes

Spain has a tradition that is as seemingly strange, as it is highly observed. On New Year’s Eve, families and friends gather in town and city squares — or in front of the television set, on which the program is broadcast — to await the final tolling of the

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New Year

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

way to usher in 2015? Then you may want to try the goodold New Year’s Eve Mexican tradition of donning brightly colored underpants! Yes; the brighter or more colourful, the better. This tradition is thought to bring good luck and prosperity, as well as luck in love.

Those looking for financial luck usually wear the colour yellow, while those looking to get lucky in love put on the colour red.

People in Bolivia also observe the New Year’s underpants tradition, except they wait until midnight to put on the brightly colored knickers, believing that the change in underwear will bring a change in fortune.

In the United States, it is a time-honoured tradition to kiss loved ones on midnight of New Year’s Eve.

church bells for the year. At the stroke of midnight, with each of the bells’ twelve peals, one grape is consumed. Tradition has it that those who succeed at eating all twelve grapes in time will be blessed with a prosperous and lucky new year. Green grapes are preferred for this custom, as the skin is smoother and thinner, therefore making

the grapes easier to chew and swallow.

This Spanish ritual has been adopted by other nations — such as Mexico and the Philippines — which have had close historical associations with Spain.

Viva, underpants!

Looking for a more exciting

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past incidents, which hinder future progress.

flocking to graveyards after 11 pm.

Give, and it shall come back to you

Dish one’s for you

Holding on to the universal principle of sowing and reaping, the people of Turkey believe that helping out needy, less privileged folk will ensure happiness throughout the coming year. As such, on New Year’s Day, many Turks participate in community service-oriented and fundraising activities. The belief is that by helping out a person in need, one will stay happy because of the sense of fulfillment and blessings that come with doing something good for another person.

Up in smoke

Looking to leave painful memories behind, as you enter the new year? Then burn a picture which represents it. At least, that is what folk in Ecuador do. Ecuadorians gather outside their homes on New Year’s Eve to burn photos that serve as memories of painful incidents, or times they would rather forget. As the photos go up in smoke, it is believed that so do the memories of these

Graveyard shift

In Chile, many people have taken on the habit of visiting their deceased relatives on New Year’s Eve. The practice is said to have started in 1995, when a family made local news after they scaled the fence of a local cemetery in order to welcome the New Year with their father, who had passed away.

The practice has since caught on, with thousands of families

The Danes have an extraunusual way of ushering in the New Year. It is common practice in Denmark to throw old and used dishes at a friend’s front door on New Year’s Eve as a sign of your friendship, unwavering commitment, loyalty, and integrity.

Sealed with a kiss

In the United States, it is a time-honoured tradition to kiss loved ones on midnight of New Year’s Eve. It is believed that a midnight kiss will make the next year beautiful, as well as seal the love between those sharing the kiss and help erase any negative memories.

So go ahead. Put on a polka dotted outfit. Wear yellow or red underpants. Eat those grapes and jump 12 times.

Smash some dishes. Kiss. But whatever you do, don’t forget to dive into the New Year. Suck the marrow out of it. Just do it.

Live out your 2015 to the fullest! ■

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New Year

JANUARY 1, 2015

THURSDAY

2014: The year that was for PH lawmakers

BY LEI FONTAMILLAS Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — For millions of Filipinos, issues and controversies involving the country’s political figures are no longer new. However, 2014 proved us wrong.

While these do not involve impeachment trials or People Power revolution, 2014 can be best remembered for various things including two major highlights: the pork barrel scam and the senate inquiry on Vice President Jejomar Binay and the Philippine National Police chief.

Pork Barrel Scam

First in the list is the arrest and detention of three members of Senate for charges on plunder. Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Ramon Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada were arrested after their involvement with pork barrel queen Janet LimNapoles.

Pork barrel fund is the budget given to each politician by the government. The fund is usually used to execute projects in the community. Janet Lim-Napoles was arrested because she was tagged as the mastermind for the misuse of the priority development assistant fund allocations of the senators. She has a non-existent non-government organization that implemented various projects. After investigations, it showed that the said NGO is bogus. Thus, the senators were questioned as to where they have used the said funds supposedly given to Napoles’ fake organization.

In June 2013, the three senators including Napoles were charged. After the accusation, three different divisions of Sandiganbayan issued warrants for their arrest. Enrile, Revilla, and Estrada were left with no choice but to surrender at the Philippine National Police custodial center and at the PNP General Hospital.

Aside from the three senators, other people involved in the pork barrel fund scam include Enrile’s chief of staff lawyer Jessica “Gigi” Reyes and Revilla’s chief of staff Richard Cambe. Both are already in jail.

Benhur Luy, one of the whistle-blowers that stood up against the people involved in the scam, already gave his tes-

Janet Lim-Napoles was arrested early this year because she was tagged as the mastermind in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

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timonies. Access to his files was also questioned by the lawyers of Revilla and the others involved.

Revilla, Estrada, Napoles, and Cambe are petitioning for grant of bail under the argument that the cases against them — despite Luy’s testimonies — are not that strong enough for them to be detained. However, the Office of the Ombudsman is adamant in keeping them detained throughout the duration of the trial.

Enrile sought for the assistance of the Supreme Court. He is looking at a temporary liberty from the high court. Meanwhile, Revilla’s petition for bail was rejected. However, his lawyers are looking at the First Division of Sandiganbayan to provide him with reconsideration.

Estrada’s case was being managed by the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division. There is no final ruling yet as the court still needs to finish the presentation of witnesses and evidence. Trial is set to happen in February and March 2015 The three senators are still in jail. They spent Christmas in their cells. Reports are also

saying that they are requesting for additional visiting hours as they welcome the coming year with their families. However, the Court still has not issued any update on this.

Both Revilla and Estrada claimed that they are innocent, whereas Enrile never commented about his involvement.

Investigations on Binay and the PNP chief

The year 2014 was also not a favorable one for the country’s second-in-command, Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Investigations on him, and even his family, are ongoing. It started off with his alleged involvement in the overpricing of Makati City Parking Building II construction when he was still the mayor of the city.

Aside from that, Binay also allegedly owns a vast property in Batangas. While he denied this, there are various pieces of evidence pointing him as the owner of the said property.

Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima was also suspended for his involvement in an irregular contract for a courier service involving gun www.canadianinquirer.net

licenses.

In February, the Supreme Court announced the major provisions of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10175) that includes online libel as constitutional.

The court clarified that only the original authors of the libellous materials will be punishable by law. Meaning, those who reacted to it via sharing or commenting will not be in any way affected.

In March, President Noynoy Aquino dissolved six government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCO) as part of his project to abolish any redundant and non-performing agencies in the country.

In April, Senator Teofisto Guingona III, head of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, recommended the filing of graft charges against Senators Enrile, Estrada, and Revilla because of their involvement in the pork barrel scam. Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada also gave letters to the three biggest petroleum companies in the country — Pilipinas Shell, Petron, and Chevron (Caltex) — for them to relocate their oil

depots from Pandacan before 2016.

In May, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales granted immunity to Ruby Tuason, a former secretary of Mayor Estrada who became a state witness against Enrile and Estrada’s son.

The following month, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago took a breather from the world of politics because of her illness, chronic fatigue syndrome.

During the same month, Revilla released a video of his song titled “Salamat Kaibigan.” He insisted that he is innocent and that he will soon return to Senate.

In July, the High Court said that the Aquino administration’s Disbursements Acceleration Program is unconstitutional.

In August, the Office of the Ombudsman said that they were charging Senator Manuel “Lito” Lapid for his involvement in the fund fertilizer scam.

The following month, the President led the turnover of the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law to the leaders of House and Senate. Vice Mayor Binay also delivered a speech that aims to answer all the allegations against him.

In November, two health officials namely Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona and Health Assistant Enrique Tayag were involved in the alleged purchase of PCV10 vaccines in 2012. There have been reports that they did not follow the standard protocol issued by international experts.

In the same month, investigations about the alleged overpricing of the Iloilo Convention Center (ICC) were spearheaded

by Senate President Franklin Drilon with two Cabinet secretaries.

Lastly, in December, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima together with officials from the NBI, PDEA, and PNP conducted a surprise raid of the maximum security section of the New Bilibid Prison wherein they found that the detainees, including big drug lords, were still able to do business inside their prison cells.

Moreover, Atty. Renato Bondal filed charges against Binay for the supposed overpricing of the Makati Science High School. ■

New Year

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

25

#Trending2014: ‘No PDAF’ Edition

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Treat Huey, Gael Monfils, Ana Ivanovic, Goran Ivanisevic, Serena Williams, Tomas Berdych, and Maria Sharapova just FROM SPORTS’ triumphs and boo-boos swung some rackets and tossed some to ‘stupid is forever’ to the country’s best balls around. Oh, and did I mention they lessons learned, here are just some of were super friendly and down-to-earth the most talked about Pinoy headlines and they interacted with their fans like of 2014. they weren’t the tennis gods and goddesses that they are? Yeah, it was epic.

A Year of Shoots and Misses Definitely one of the most unforgettable It has been a year of spectacular wins, sports moments in PH history. heartbreaking losses, and a few infuriatIf you’re a huge basketball fan, perhaps ing events… Well okay, just one infuriat- one of the biggest — if not the biggest — ing event. letdown of your fanatical existence was Who could forget Gilas Pilipinas’ rise (or is) the PLDT FIBA All Star “Game” to fame? With a series of heartbreak- in Manila. Goodness. Just the name of ing losses — most of the event makes me which were only one cringe a little bit. Filshot away from the ipino NBA fans were win — Gilas failed to all giddy when PLDT make it to the 2014 Fresh from decided to fly some FIBA finals in Spain. crushing of the biggest NBA They did manage to American stars — Kawhi Leonwin a game against boxer Chris ard, James Harden, the towering team of Algieri in Brandon Jennings, Senegal, which sent November, Terrence Ross, Tysocial media into Pacquiao said son Chandler, Dea patriotic frenzy that he wants Mar DeRozan, Kyle never before seen to fight Floyd Lowry, and Damian outside of EDSA. Mayweather, Jr. Lillard — to the PhilDespite Gilas losing next. ippines and compete the FIBA World Cup, with our home team they did win millions Gilas Pilipinas. Inof hearts in the Philstead of cheers and ippines and abroad. Another testimony excitement filling the Smart-Araneta to the team’s battlecry: PUSO! Coliseum that night, anger and confuFor the first time since 1998, the coun- sion filled the air. Not all players showed try finally got a gold medal in the 2014 up and on top of that, no game actually Asian Games. Thanks to Daniel Caluag, occurred. Apparently, the NBA did not a Filipino Olympian from the 2012 Lon- give the players the clearance to play in don Games, who won first place in the Manila. And should the games happen, BMX Cycling event in the 2014 Asian they would face huge fines and even posGames. Caluag’s first place win is even sible suspension. With no actual game more historical because it’s the coun- on the hard court, fans only watched a try’s first ever win in the said event. practice session between the teams. The Oh, and remember that time when the organizers had no choice but to refund International Premier Tennis League the tickets of thousands of disappointed came to town? Yeah, nothing major. fans.

And of course, the year won’t be complete without the “Pambansang Kamao” Manny Pacquiao. Fresh from crushing American boxer Chris Algieri in November, Pacquiao said that he wants to fight Floyd Mayweather, Jr. next.

Not one to back off from a fight (or at least not stay quiet about the possibility of a fight), Mayweather called Pacquiao’s challenge on Twitter and Instagram and said he wants the big match to happen.

Will the mega fight happen? Perhaps we’ll know next year.

A Year of Non-PDAF-Related Headliners

Without a doubt, PDAF scam all-stars Janet Lim-Napoles, Bong Revilla, Jing-

goy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and even Vice President Jejomar Binay were the show-stealers of the year. However, there are still a few non-PDAF-related headliners that deserve to be included in the list.

One of the country’s most wanted fugitives, Delfin Lee of Globe Asiatique, was arrested last March at a hotel in Pampanga. Lee allegedly used false documents to get millions of Pesos through PAG-IBIG Housing loans under the names of several Globe Asiatique clients. He is now spending his days at Pampanga provincial jail for syndicated estafa. ❱❱ PAGE 31 #Trending2014

With a series of heartbreaking losses, Gilas Pilipinas failed to make it to the 2014 FIBA finals in Spain. Despite Gilas losing the FIBA World Cup, they did win millions of hearts in the Philippines and abroad.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

www.canadianinquirer.net

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Seen & Scenes: Vancouver

JANUARY 1, 2015

THURSDAY

THE CANADIAN MARTYRS PRAYER COMMUNITY OF RICHMOND Old Town Christmas was celebrated by the Canadian Martyrs Prayer Community of Richmond, B.C. who all came in their cowboy and cowgirl plaid shirts and denim pants for a foot stamping hee haw successful celebration.

FIRETRUCK DONATIONS Rotary World Help Coordinator Elena Agala recently assisted with the delivery of three fire trucks to the Philippines. These firetrucks will be delivered to Cebu, Panglao and Batangas in coordination with the local governments.

MLA MABLE ELMORE

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

FilCan politician and Vancouver - MLA Mable Elmore formally launched her bid to seek the NDP nomination for the federal riding of Vancouver-East at the Philippine Diamonds Society of BC Clubhouse on Powell St. on Dec 21.

www.canadianinquirer.net

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Seen & Scenes: Toronto

FRIENDS OF JESUS CHRIST The congregation of the Friends of Jesus Christ Canada (FJCC) celebrated Christmas on Dec. 20, in a unique way, by producing a live stage play on the life on Joseph, the dreamer; Joseph, the slave; and Joseph, the ruler. FJCC church is located at 181 Nugget Ave. (North of Sheppard), Toronto (Scarborough) On. Canada. (Photos by St. Jamestown News Service).

Pastor Teck Uy of the Friends of Jesus Christ Canada (FJCC) delivers the opening prayer.

FilCan Senator Tobias Enverga, emphasizes love and sharing. Also in photo are Pastor Teck Uy and Rosemer A. Enverga.

Councilor Raymond Cho of Toronto's Ward 42 Rouge River and Ms. Cho deliver their Christmas message together with Pastor Teck Uy.

One segment of the stage play, “The Story of Joseph�.

Another snippet of the Christmas story.

ABOVE: The Order of the Knights of Rizal Scarborough Chapter include (seated front row) Dong Meneque, Alex Rondilla, Paul Cruz. (Standing from R) Nick Alo, Virgilio Sanchez, Virgilio Amante, Joe Sison Luzadas, Manny Yanga, Leo Huerto, Willy Paragas, Larry Bercasio, and Bert Mondragon.

RIGHT: Ladies of the Order of the Knights of Rizal, Scarborough Chapter

KNIGHTS OF RIZAL CASTELLVI GETS AN AWARD Filpino community leader Ricky Castellvi (middle) of the Manila Times, poses with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor John Torry after receiving a plaque of recognition from the National Press and Media Council of Canada. (Photo by St. Jamestown News Service, Romy Zetazate).

Aristeo (Bert) Mondragon, OKOR Scarborough Chapter Commander www.canadianinquirer.net

Aristeo (Bert) Mondragon, a long time member of the Order of the Knights of Rizal, has been voted chapter commander by members of the Scarborough Chapter of the Order of the Knights of Rizal during a recent get-together party. Other officers are Virgilio Amandter, deputy commander; Willy Paragas, treasurer; Jojo Taduran, chancellor; Leo Huerto, trustee; and Virgilio Sanchez, trustee.

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Community News

JANUARY 1, 2015

THURSDAY

FilCan seeks nomination bid for Vancouver-East VANCOUVER — MLA Mable Elmore formally launched her bid to seek the NDP nomination for the federal riding of Vancouver-East at the Philippine Diamonds Society of BC Clubhouse on Powell St. on Dec 21.

“I came to this decision after being encouraged by many people, including ones from this riding, to stand for nomination.

I recognize it is a very diverse riding with many urgent issues.

I am passionate to advocate for these issues on the national level,” said Elmore to a packed group of supporters and media people.

Avelina Vasquez, a labour activist from the Hospital Employees Union, local Aramark, endorsed the nomination bid of Mable. Vasquez said, “I have known Mable for a long time.

She is a solid supporter of the Living Wage campaign, an issue that I am involved in with the HEU, and of the hospital workers.”

Jane Ordinario, a women’s shelter support worker in the downtown east side and a

MLA Mable Elmore.

long-time community activist involved with caregivers and temporary foreign workers also added her endorsement and strong support for Elmore.

Ordinario said, “As a community organizer, I have worked with Mable in helping and supporting migrant workers especially the caregivers and the low-skilled temporary foreign workers. Mable Elmore has made strong positions on issues

that affect us. She has never let us down.”

Before her election as an MLA, Elmore was active as a long-time union and community organizer and leader for many years. She worked in the Downtown Eastside advocating for caregivers, immigrant rights, and women’s rights. She joined the many marches for the missing indigenous women, as well as peace marches in

Vancouver. Elmore co-chaired the Women’s Committee of the Vancouver District and Labour Council and also did organizing work out of the Maritime Labour Centre. Elmore is active in the Queer community and has participated in many Dyke marches on Commercial Drive.

She continues to work and advocate for caregivers and lowskilled temporary foreign workers and firmly believes that Canada needs to return to the model of permanent immigration, not temporary migration.

She made history as the first MLA of Filipino descent when she was elected to represent Vancouver-Kensington in 2009 and when she was re-elected in 2013. Elmore had run for the federal riding of VancouverKingsway in 2005.

“Vancouver-East is a richly diverse and vibrant riding that faces many important issues.

Libby Davies has done excellent work here over the years. She is an icon and an excellent model of a dedicated public servant that gave voice to the voiceless

in her riding,” said Elmore.

Elmore’s continuing and proven track record attests to her passion for social justice and advocacy for community empowerment. Her progressive vision for Canada is based on opportunity for all and not the direction that Stephen Harper and the Federal Conservatives have taken.

Along with issues of permanent migration, Elmore is committed to advocate for a national housing strategy, climate justice, a national mental health strategy, a national poverty reduction plan, justice for First Nations and indigenous communities, and the need for democratic reforms. Elmore emphasized these points: “I believe that to make change is to work collectively with, beside and for the community. It is about thinking of the other, not just for one’s self. It is about changing communities for the better. This is what Canada is about.”

Elmore’s nomination theme sums it up: “proven. passionate. progressive.” ■

Philippine heirloom rice debuts in Canada OTTAWA — Exotic and ecological, Philippine heirloom rice makes its debut in the Canadian market, as various varieties of the Filipino food staple are now available for online purchase across Canada in time for the holiday season. Up until this time, these treasured aromatic varieties were rarely sold in the commercial market.

Level Ground Trading, based in Victoria, British Columbia, has announced the availability of Philippine heirloom rice varieties coming from the japonica family, such as the aromatic (ulikan), the long grain (mini-angan) red rice, and the glutinous (ominio) sticky violet rice. Previously, available only in the hinterlands of Luzon, these varieties can now be delivered straight to Canadian households. Level Ground is solely responsible for the only shipment of rice exports from the Philippines this year.

The rice varieties are of significant cultural importance in the Cordillera region. The ulikan/ mini-angan for one is traditionally given as a wedding gift to

newlyweds, to bring prosperity and food security. It is steeped in folklore and legend among ethnic tribes in the Philippines as a gift from ancestral leaders.

Meanwhile, outside the Philippines, the ominio variety or violet rice itself can be cultivated only in Indonesia and Madagscar and is the preferred grain for preparing rice desserts and for making rice wine. The origin of the ominio plays a significant role in the mythology of certain tribes in the Mountain Province. It is also known as balatinao, and kotinao, and its sticky properties is referred to as diket, chekat, daya’ot/dayakkot, jekot or chaycot.

The rice varieties are being offered in either 700-gm. boxes or cases of six or five-k. boxes. The rice is highly nutritious rice (one variety has up to four gms. of protein/serving). They are 100% non-GMO varieties and are sundried, threshed and de-hulled in the Philippines. Farmers have made a commitment to only use organic fertilizers and disavow the use of any chemical. They can be readily ordered from http://

www.levelground.com/store/ shop/. Level Ground also markets coconut oil products coming from the Philippines as well.

Philippine Ambassador Petronila Garcia notes, “Heirloom rice is tremendously important to the biodiversity of the place it is associated with.” She expressed optimism that with heirloom, healthy and organic products gaining traction in the Canadian market, benefits will redound to all stakeholders concerned. It will also ensure the long term viability of rare Philippine varieties of rice.

Stacey Toews, co-founder and communications catalyst of Level Ground stands solidly behind the rice varieties saying that “at last — the beautiful heirloom rice from the Philippines is available.” Level Ground Trading underwent a prolonged period of working with farmers and other stakeholders, and overcame various logistical challenges in bringing the rice varieties to the market.

Level Ground notes “rice is a crop that has been greatly affected by the movement toward www.canadianinquirer.net

monoculture and the heavy emphasis on planting hybrid varieties. In the Philippines there still remains an incredible variety of heirloom rice.”

Philippine rice-producing partners of Level Ground are spread across 18 communities, stretching across three provinces of the Cordillera Region.

The availability of the rice varieties is testament to the collaborative work among Level Ground, the farmers and stakeholders and non-government organizations, as well that with the International Rice research

Institute based in the Philippines, and the Philippine Department of Agriculture that also ensures and sustains the global genetic diversity of rice.

Traditional Philippine holiday staples such as the arroz caldo, biko, bibingka, kutsinta, palitao and puto bungbong will dazzle with the use of Philippine aromatic, long grain and glutinous rice now available in Canada, making the traditional Christmas Noche Buena feast and the New Year table setting a truly exceptional for this and the coming years. ■

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THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

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 online by scanning the code with your smartphone or by visiting InFocus.canadianinquirer.net.

www.canadianinquirer.net

30

JANUARY 1, 2015

THURSDAY

Major infrastructure...

Tolentino said the ferry system is one of the solutions to increase ridership as several road infrastructures this year.

Ferries pick-up and unload passengers from ferry stations along the Pasig River from Pasig City to Manila.

At present, the ferry service has seven stations: Guadalupe (Makati City), Pinagbuhatan, and San Joaquin (Pasig City); and Escolta, PUP Sta. Mesa, Plaza Mexico and Sta. Ana (Manila).

This alternative mode of transportation is an interagency effort being pushed by the DOTC, MMDA, and the Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission (PRRC).

The MMDA also implemented a fine of P6,000 for colorum and out-of-line vehicles.

This is in response to the regulation to be implemented by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) which increases fines for colorum or out of line vehicles.

Tolentino said the goal is to eradicate colorum vehicles and help ease traffic congestion along the major thoroughfares in the metropolis.

Tolentino said the agency has its own implementing rules under Republic Act No. 7924, the act creating the MMDA. Under the new fines from Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) and its attached agencies, the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), announced that public utility vehicles plying the routes without a franchise will pay P1 million from the present P6,000 penalty, while colorum trucks will be fined P200,000; colorum jeepneys, P50,000; colorum vans, P200,000; colorum sedans, P120,000; and colorum motorcycles, P6,000.

In August, the Metro Manila Council (MMC) passed a resolution urging the LTFRB to exclude Metro Manila from its rationalization policy and intensify its campaign against out of line and colorum public utility vehicles.

The MMC, which is the policy-making body of the Metropolitan Manila Development ❰❰ 11

Authority (MMDA), is composed of all local government units in Metro Manila.

In a three-page resolution signed by the Metro Manila Council-Special Traffic Committee (MMC-STC) chaired by Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, it urged the LTFRB to postpone the implementation of amending the routes of city buses as well as the No-Apprehension Policy on trucks.

Further, they urge the LTFRB to conduct a consultation with MMDA, as agency in charge with traffic in Metro Manila, prior to issuance or amendments on franchises of PUVs and trucks traversing Metro Manila roads.

Atty. Crisanto Saruka, head of MMDA’s Traffic Discipline Office (TDO), said the intensified drive against these illegal vehicles would greatly ease traffic congestion along the major thoroughfares, particularly along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA).

In coordination with the city government of Muntinlupa City, the MMDA also opened the South Interim Provincial Terminal in Alabang for provincial buses from Southern Tagalog.

MMDA also replaced bus segregation stickers it had previously issued to city buses with color-coded ones under the agency’s existing Bus Segregation scheme due to the proliferation of fake labels.

Tolentino said the measure will ensure the efficient and effective implementation of the bus segregation scheme with the end in view of solving the traffic congestion problem along EDSA. Under a new Transport and Traffic Memorandum Circular, Bus A stickers shall be changed with Green Stickers; Bus B with Yellow Stickers; and Bus C with Orange Stickers and shall only load and unload on designated stations.

In September, the MMDA took over management of all roads adversely affected by the traffic at the ports. Tolentino said this was agreed upon during a meeting of concerned government officials tasked to find ways on how to decongest the ports of Manila.

The agency introduced the two-week implementation of the 24-hour “last mile” truck lane where truckers are given

While many opted to spend Christmas in the provinces, motorcycle riders enjoy the roads free from movement of vehicles on Friday, December 26 along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City.

JESS M. ESCAROS JR. / PNA

an all-day access privilege so they can move their cargo out of Manila’s ports.

The MMDA also created “Task Force Pantalan” headed by the NCRPO with MMDA traffic head Crisanto Saruca as deputy and local government units representatives as members.

The MMDA also implemented the full enforcement of the MMC’s “one-lane” truck policy along the stretch of Circumferential Road 5 (C-5).

According to Tolentino, the measure is aimed at addressing the traffic congestion on the whole stretch of C-5 caused by a huge increase in the volume of trucks passing through it daily.

Trucks will only be allowed to use C-5 innermost lane from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.

To have an efficient management of traffic in the metropolis, the MMDA has split-up the functions of traffic managers and enforcers.

Saruca, explained that under the set-up, the Traffic management group (TMG) will be incharge of the supervision and control of traffic, while apprehending violators was designated to the traffic enforcement group (TEG).

Last October 28, the MMDA also allowed provincial buses to use “tunnels,” or three underpasses along EDSA — in Shaw Boulevard, P. Tuazon and Aurora — effective until January 4, 2015. www.canadianinquirer.net

A two-page memorandum circular called for an odd-even scheme in the usage of EDSA underpasses as the provincial buses with plate number ending with 1,3,5,7 and 9 shall use the tunnels every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. On the other hand, plate numbers ending in 2,4,6,8, and 0 are allowed every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The buses must stay at the rightmost lane and not allowed to use EDSA underpasses on Sundays.

And to address traffic problems in metropolis this Christmas season, mall operators have agreed to adjust operating hours of malls and other commercial centers along the stretch of EDSA, opening at 11 a.m. and close at 11:00 p.m. up to January 3, 2015.

On December 24 and 31, malls will open at 12 noon and close at 7 p.m.

On Christmas Day (December 25) and New Year’s Day (January 1), the malls will be open from noon to 8 p.m.

Tolentino said gridlocks were mainly due to holiday shoppers, especially among malls along EDSA despite the adjusted mall hours.

The MMDA noted that traffic volume usually rises 15 to 20 percent between November and December.

Tolentino said the agency already deployed additional 443 personnel to assist motorists.

He advised motorist to use designated alternate routes under

the “Christmas Airport and Shopping Loops” that started last December 5 until January 5.

The agency also extended the operating hours of Pasig River Ferry System.

It added the moratorium on reblocking and road repair has started Dec. 15 while the agency also dispatched EDSA Christmas shuttle and airport shuttles.

Aside from the Christmas Bazaar and the Parade of Stars or the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will also conduct its repair of Roxas Boulevard’s center island.

“Trucks will not be allowed to traverse Roxas Boulevard even if they have 24/7 lane during the Christmas Season,” he said.

Tolentino also assured the public that despite the move, trucks’ operations will not be affected as their alternative lanes have already put in place.

For next year, the MMC said the January 15 to 19 visit of Pope Francis will likely cause traffic congestion in the metropolis because of the expected attendance of millions of Filipinos on his activities slated here.

Tolentino introduced to the public the task force “Phantom” to provide traffic management and security for Pope Francis’ visit next year.

According to Tolentino the Task Force Phantom is composed of 15 traffic constables from MMDA and 15 members of the Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group (PNP-HPG) to ensure smooth vehicular flow during the arrival of Pope Francis.

The highest leader of the Catholic church is scheduled to visit the Philippines from January 15 to 19, 2015, to meet earthquake and typhoon survivors in Tacloban City and Palo, Leyte.

Tolentino said during the Pope visit, the task force will provide escort and security contingent in Metro Manila and the province of Leyte.

Tolentino also noted that possible declaration of the days of the papal visit as holidays will make traffic more manageable and encourage the participation of the public in the planned activities of the Pope.

Pope Francis is the third pontiff to visit the Philippines after Pope Paul VI in 1970 and Pope John Paul II in 1981 and 1995. ■

Immigration

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

31

Canada welcomed a record number of new citizens in 2014, government says THE CANADIAN PRESS

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Alexander cites recent changes to the Citizenship Act for improving the citizenship application process, and says applicants are already seeing results.

menting the new process, more than 115,000 people have become Canadian citizens — a 90 TORONTO — The federal per cent increase from the same government says Canada welperiod in 2013. comed a record number of new Canada’s citizenship applicacitizens in 2014. tion backlog has Citizenship been reduced by and Immigra17 per cent since tion Minister June, and is at its Chris Alexander Alexander says in a release that’s lowest level in alsays more than more new Canadians than in any year most three years, 260,000 people in Canada’s history and more than Alexander said. became new Cadouble the number from last year.

“With more nadians during than 260,000 2014. new citizens Alexander says embracing Cain a release that’s more new A new citizenship decision- nadian values and traditions Canadians than in any year in making process came into force in 2014, we are fulfilling our Canada’s history and more than Aug. 1 and streamlined the pro- commitment to reducing backdouble the number from last cess from three steps to one. logs and, improving processing year.

Officials say since imple- times,” he said. ■

#Trending2014...

This year, actor and endorser Coco Martin walked the runway and raised hell with it. With a female model on a leash, Martin strutted his stuff for The Naked Truth fashion show by clothing megabrand Bench. Various groups — from feminists to human rights activists — lobbied to boycott said brand for alienating women’s rights and objectifying models. Some even dubbed the fashion show as an over-sexualized event. Just a few days after the show, Martin and Bench issued an apology for the incident.

Former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte Representative Imelda Marcos also made news when raids were conducted in her offices and house where millions’ worth of paintings were seized by the Sandiganbayan. Paintings by Michaelangelo Buonarotti, Francisco de Goya, and even Pablo Picasso are now in custody of the Philippine government. Mrs. Marcos also made news earlier this year when she visited former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Arroyo was in hospital arrest and Mrs. Marcos brought wine and flowers and proceeded to call President Benigno Aquino III “unjust and cruel.” I wonder how Mrs. Marcos defines “unjust” and “cruel” ❰❰ 25

in her own vocabulary. man Cedric Lee and his posse for her health. In July, Sen. Noranians can still prob- in a condominium owned by Miriam announced that she ably feel all the bitterness when model Deniece Cornejo. Lee is suffering from lung cancer, Malacanang did not bestow the and his group allegedly came hence the lengthy leave of abtitle of National Artist in July to to Cornejo’s aid after they re- sence from the Senate and even superstar Nora Aunor despite portedly caught Navarro in the her stepping down as a judge numerous acting awards and act of raping the young model. at the International Criminal recognition here and abroad. Navarro then appeared on na- Court. Now, just roughly six President Aquino later on re- tional TV — badly bruised and months later, Sen. Miriam is alvealed that Aunor’s drug case in swollen all over — and filed le- most back to her always-feisty the U.S. was the reason behind gal charges again Lee, Cornejo, state. She recently launched a Malacanang’s seal of disap- and their group. All rape charg- book (“Stupid Is Forever”) and proval. even announced After three that should her years of hiding health continue from authorities, to improve, she a careless ATM will give the transaction led presidential race to Major Genanother go in eral Jovito PalPolitical leaders and experts 2016. paran’s arrest in all over the world commended August. He was the government and its A Year of actually hiding agencies for its great work in Resiliency and in plain sight — a preparing for ‘Ruby.’

Lessons Learned low key hideout After the unin Sta. Mesa, Maexpected chaos nila. The former that was Tymilitary man — phoon ‘Glenda’ dubbed as “berthat caused dugo” (execuover P1-billion tioner) — is responsible for the es against Navarro, including in damages, the Philippines disappearance of student activ- another accusation from beau- braced for another supertyists Karen Empeno and Sherlyn ty contestant Roxanne Cabane- phoon (which was downgraded Cadapan of the University of ro, were dropped. Meanwhile, to typhoon after its first landthe Philippines. He is now de- Cornejo and Lee posted bail in fall) as December started. tained at the Philippine Army September.

Typhoon ‘Ruby’ (Internaheadquarters.

The Iron Lady of Asia, vet- tional Name ‘Hagupit’) made “Dala ka foods” (bring some eran Senator Miriam Defen- six landfalls from December food) became a catch phrase sor-Santiago, made headlines 1 to 12, starting with Eastern after comedian-host Vhong Na- — not for her classic pick-up Samar — a province that also varro was mauled by business- lines and quotable quotes, but suffered from Supertyphoon www.canadianinquirer.net

‘Yolanda’ (International Name ‘Haiyan’) in 2013. Total damages in regions affected by ‘Ruby’ were roughly P5.09-billion (US $113.6 million), but it could’ve been worse if not for the Philippine government’s preparations.

Political leaders and experts all over the world commended the government and its agencies for its great work in preparing for ‘Ruby.’ The country’s weather bureau PAGASA made sure its updates were as prompt and as accurate as possible, while the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) — together with the local government of respective provinces — made sure people were evacuated safely, relief goods were distributed, and rescue operations were conducted.

The government was also very satisfied with their performance. Like a well-oiled machine, everyone worked together and cooperated to save as many lives as possible.

Indeed, with the lessons learned from the tragedy that was ‘Yolanda,’ countless lives were spared from ‘Ruby.’ Once again, the Filipinos proved their resilience to the world. ■

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THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Entertainment

Love it? Put A Ring On It The Biggest Celebrity Hook-Ups of 2014

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer 2014 IS definitely the year for happy celebrity couples. While there are the perpetual breakups and juicy controversies, let’s end the year on a happy note, shall we?

Here are just some of the biggest celebrity hook-ups of 2014—new couples, newly engaged, and newlyweds.

Bianca Gonzales and JC Intal.

New Couples

Despite having a reportedly overprotective mom, popstar Sarah Geronimo finally made her relationship with fellow Kapamilya star Matteo Guidicelli known to the public. Speculations were already looming the two young stars even before Sarah’s announcement, especially when Sarah attended Matteo’s birthday and sang “All Of Me” with him. After Sarah’s admission, Matteo said he’s very proud of his girlfriend for finally standing up for herself.

Love certainly looks so much sweeter the second time around when Kapamilya actor and host Luis Manzano got back together with Angel Locsin—four years after they called it quits. Before the most talked about reconciliation of the year (I believe it’s safe to say that), Luis was dating Kapuso actress Jennylyn Mercado and Angel was with Azkals hotshot Phil Younghusband. After splitting up with Phil, Angel admitted on national TV that she still loves Luis (gasp!) but did not confirm if he was the reason for her break-up with the famous

Mateo and Sarah Geronimo.

MATEO GUIDICELLI (@MATEOGUIDICELLI) / INSTAGRAM

athlete. A quick glance at both Angel and Luis’ Instagram feed will confirm that they’re extremely happy where they are now.

In July, two Kapuso stars confirmed their relationship: Lovi Poe and Rocco Nacino. After spending the Holy Week together vacationing in Europe, the two started to grow very fond of each other. Well, I think it would be quite a challenge not to fall in love in Europe.

According to an interview with GMA News, Lovi said she loves Rocco’s sweetness and humor, while Rocco simply adores Lovi’s simplicity.

While I’m writing this article, “It’s Showtime” hosts Billy Crawford and Coleen Garcia are frolicking the crystal blue waters of Maldives. After roughly seven months of courtship, Billy announced on their noontime that they’re officially a couple. After Billy’s altercation at the Taguig Police Sta-

tion in September where he was charged of malicious mischief and disobedience to a person in authority, the couple showed maturity and proved that the 10-year age gap doesn’t affect their relationship.

Speaking of age gap: Also in 2014, Ai-Ai Delas Alas confirmed that she’s in a relationship with badminton varsity player Gerald Sibayan. Despite being 30 years her junior, both Gerald’s parents and Ai-Ai’s kids don’t seem to mind the age gap. Ai-Ai also shared that her boyfriend is very mature for a 20-year-old, which is why they get along very well.

Newly Engaged and Newlyweds

In February, right in the middle of performing “Kung Paano Maghiwalay” at the Teatro Hermogenes Ylagan in U.P. Diliman, Aiza Seguerra decided to add a few lines of her own to the play and then got down on one knee to propose to girlfriend

BIANCA GONZALES (@IAMSUPERBIANCA) / INSTAGRAM

and fellow thespian Liza Diño.

With a sapphire engagement ring and such a lovingly apt gesture, how can anyone say no to that? Just a few weeks ago, the couple tied the knot in an intimate garden (more like an enchanted forest, actually) ceremony in California.

Before leaving for London, host and endorser Bianca Gonzales arrived at the airport and was handed roses by random airport staff—from the gate to the immigration area. Before checking in, she was asked to “verify a piece of luggage.” As it turns out, the baggage contained a banner that reads “Bianca, please say yes.” Then out of nowhere, PBA cager and Bianca’s longtime boyfriend JC Intal approached her and got down on one knee to pop the big question. Despite spending the first few hours (well, days) of their engagement away from each other, JC’s extravagant gesture doesn’t stop at the airport. During her flight, Bianca got three love letters from her new fiancé—handed by two flight attendants and the pilot.

In a clever rouse, Parokya

ni Edgar frontman Chito Miranda told his girlfriend Neri Naig that she’ll be starring in a new music video with the band Typecast. So, while shooting the last scene in Tagaytay, the projector showed a special message for Neri that beautiful night in May. The projector flashed: “Ako na siguro ang pinakasuwerteng lalaki sa buong Cavite.

Dahil mapapangasawa ko ang pinakamagandang babae sa Eastwood... kung papayag siya.”

(I think I’m the luckiest man in Cavite because I’ll be marrying the most beautiful woman of Eastwood... If she’ll let me.)

Then Chito approached Neri— a ring and a bouquet in hand.

To celebrate the newky engaged couple, fireworks lit up the sky. This month, the couple had two weddings: the first was in a courthouse and the second wedding was a beautiful garden ceremony in (where else?)

Tagaytay.

Who could forget how Senator Chiz Escudero popped the question to Kapuso star Heart Evangelista? The Senator man❱❱ PAGE 37 Love it

Entertainment

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

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Vice Ganda’s grandfather passes away on Christmas Day

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — Comedian Vice Ganda announced on the evening of December 25 that his grandfather had passed away earlier that day.

During a December 21 interview on the television show “The Buzz,” Vice said that Gonzalo Dacumos, 93-years-old, was suffering from renal and respiratory failure, and had to be confined in the intensive care unit.

After some days in the ICU, however, Dacumos succumbed to the ailments, as well as other complications brought on by old age.

The entertainer and TV show host — who grew up in the care of his grandfather — tweeted on Thursday: “He’s gone…

He made sure I was number one before he left.”

In his tweet, Vice

was referring his success at the box office, based on the first-day earnings of his latest film “The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin,” an entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), which began on Christmas Day. Followers and fans of the comedian responded to the announcement with messages of sympathy and support; tweeting their condolences with the hashtag “#BeStrongViceGanda,” which was “trending” as of Friday afternoon.

Dacumos’ remains were brought to The Ascension Chapels in Quezon City. ■

TIME CAPSULE ITEMS TO COMMEMORATE TV IN 2014

Will tube be around in 50 years?

BY BILL BRIOUX The Canadian Press THE YEAR 2014 was, in some ways, the year of the TV anniversary. It marked the 50th anniversary of The Beatles conquering North America on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the 45th anniversary of the launch of “Sesame Street” and 22 years of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes.”

Fifty years from now, when archeologists pry open the lid of a TV time capsule from 2014, what will they discover? Will television even be around in 2064? Here are some items I’d put in the time capsule to try to commemorate 2014.

SOMETHING TRANSPARENT to signify the best new show this fall (that Canadians still can’t see): “Transparent.”

The hour-long drama is a twist-

ed, searing and yet hilarious look at one weird Californian clan. Jeffrey Tambor (“Arrested Development”) will win an Emmy for his fearless and nuanced portrayal of the transgendered head of this wacky family. It originates on Amazon Prime, one of these new digital platforms available in America and the U.K. but not in Canada, although somebody here has bought the rights.

A TOSSED LEAFS JERSEY to represent Rogers’ $5.2-billion, 12-year NHL rights deal.

The net result: Leafs still win games, then lose games in bunches.

HBO AND CBS LOGOS reminding folks this was the year those two networks took the bold step of offering their entire content on digital platforms.

A SKELETON WITH A MOHAWK to salute the departure

of “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.” The Scottishborn host’s arty exit reminded viewers that what he delivered was something that was simply not there before. Also exiting in 2014: Jay Leno from “The Tonight Show” and Stephen Colbert from “The Colbert Report.”

AN ACCORDION to mark the return, to Hamilton, Ont.’s CHCH, of “Tiny Talent Time.”

AN EMPTY RECYCLING BIN to represent “Utopia.” It promised a year of lofty ideals and adventure as random citizens got together to build the society of the future. Instead, it delivered the usual petty humiliations and was basically “Big Brother” gone camping.

A PORN TAPE to help explain, in the words of Marg Delahunty (Mary Walsh), what ❱❱ PAGE 35 Will tube

P-Noy watches ‘Feng Shui’, ‘Benjamin’

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — In support of younger sister, TV host-actress, Kris Aquino, President Benigno Aquino III watched Kris’ latest film, “Feng Shui” when it opened in cinemas on Thursday.

Directed by Chito Roño and starring the younger

Aquino, self-proclaimed “Queen of all Media”, “Feng Shui” is a sequel to the 2004 horror film and is one of eight entries to the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2014.

On his official Facebook page, President Aquino posted photos of himself, along with Kris and their other sisters, Kris’ sons Bimby and Josh, and Kris’ co-star, Coco Martin, watch-

ing the film at the 4-D cinema of the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

Earlier on the same day, the president also showed up at the screening of the comedy flick “The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin,” to show his support for Bimby’s father, basketball player James Yap. P-noy was accompanied by Bimby, Yap, and Yap’s girlfriend, Michela Cazzola. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

NOYNOY AQUINO (P-NOY)’S OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE

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Entertainment

JANUARY 1, 2015 THURSDAY

Sony’s on demand release of ‘The Interview’ will serve as a test for movie industry

BY MAE ANDERSON The Associated Press ATLANTA — Sony’s “The Interview” has been a hacking target, a punchline and a political lightning rod. Now, with its release online at the same time it debuts in theatres, it has a new role: a test for a new kind of movie release.

“The Interview” stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as journalists tasked by the CIA with killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Its Christmas Day release was cancelled by Sony after threats of violence by hackers linked to North Korea. But after an outcry, the release was reinstated in some independent theatres and now, through a few online video services.

Although the circumstances surrounding “The Interview” are unprecedented, experts say the release will be closely watched to see how moviegoers and theatre chains react to a simultaneous debut. It’s a challenge to the longstanding practice of “windowing” — opening a movie first in theatres to maximize box-office revenue before making the movie available in other stages of home video, streaming and television.

“I can’t say that this is the future,” said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations Co. “For this film, in particular, it works because of the saga that goes along with it. But it’s nice to have a film we can actually use as a guinea pig for a video-on-demand release.”

Sony released “The Interview” Wednesday on a variety of digital platforms — Google Play, YouTube Movies, Microsoft’s Xbox Video and a separate Sony website. It costs $5.99

Although the circumstances surrounding “The Interview” are unprecedented, experts say the release will be closely watched to see how moviegoers and theatre chains react to a simultaneous theater and online debut.

to rent for 48 hours and $14.99 to purchase. It also will open in more than 300 smaller theatres on Thursday, though major chains are still holding out.

Carrying “The Interview” marks another step in Google’s efforts to establish YouTube as an entertainment hub that features major movies and trendy musical videos — not just cute clips of kitties. Google, though, primarily is providing outlets for the movie because it considers itself to be a guardian of free speech.

Decisions by Google and Microsoft to show the movie could open their sites to hacking.

Microsoft reported technical problems with its Xbox sign-in system Wednesday, though it wasn’t known whether it was the result of hacking. Microsoft services appeared back to normal by Wednesday night. Microsoft declined comment.

Online availability of “The Interview” comes as more people are choosing to stream video online, largely because of YouTube, Hulu and Netflix, which has been phasing out its

original DVD-by-mail business over the past four years. During that time, the number of Netflix subscribers in the U.S. has nearly doubled to about 40 million in a reflection of Internet video’s growing popularity.

Nonetheless, releasing a major motion picture in theatres and online simultaneously — known as a “day-and-date” release — has never been done by a major studio with a mainstream movie like “The Interview.” It’s been limited to some smaller indie and foreign movies. The upcoming “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” sequel will be released on Netflix and Imax theatres on the same day, but that isn’t a studio production, despite the involvement of the Weinstein Co. Theater chains have been trying to preserve the traditional theatrical window. Regal Cinemas and Cinemark, for example, declined to screen Warner Bros.’ day-and-date release “Veronica Mars” earlier this year. Warner Bros. instead rented from AMC Theaters most of the 270 screens the

www.canadianinquirer.net

movie played in while it was also released on VOD. This time, however, the four major theatre chains can’t really object, analysts said, as they all declined to show “The Interview,” leaving Sony little choice.

“This isn’t being done because Sony wants to do it regularly, but rather out of necessity prompted by the exhibitor boycott,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.

“The only guys showing it are independent chains.”

With a modest budget of about $40 million, “The Interview” had been predicted to gross about $30 million in its opening weekend. Bock estimates Sony could gross just a fraction of that — $3 million to $4 million — at this box office this weekend. As for streaming, Bock said the $5.99 price for rental is much lower than regular theatre tickets, and that could drive demand. But Sony isn’t likely to make up all of its costs, including the tens of millions in marketing costs already incurred.

A best-case scenario for a

video-on-demand release is the thriller “Snowpiercer,” which debuted on video on demand about two weeks after its theatrical release. It made nearly $11 million on VOD, more than double its theatrical revenue, and is considered one of the most successful VOD releases so far.

If “The Interview” agreement is similar to other digital video deals, Google and Microsoft will get a 30 per cent commission on all rentals and purchases of the movies made through their services. Yet even if the movie were to be wildly successful and generate $100 million in video-on-demand revenue, that would leave about $30 million for Google and Microsoft to divide — hardly anything for two of the world’s most profitable companies. For instance, Google is expected to bring in revenue of about $66 billion this year, or about $30 million every four hours.

By including “The Interview” in their libraries, both YouTube and Microsoft’s Xbox can also make more people aware they rent and sell a wide range of videos. Although YouTube began renting movies nearly five years ago, many people think of the site as a destination for free clips lasting for a few minutes instead of place to watch fulllength films.

Gitesh Pandya, editor of Box Office Guru, said all the media attention should lead to “strong averages from the limited theatrical release plus solid videoon-demand sales” over the holidays, but he expects demand to fade in January because of the quality of the movie.

“It is great that a freedom of speech debate is happening for Hollywood films,” he said. “I just wish it was centred around a better movie,” he said. ■

Entertainment

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Will tube... the words “Crave” and “Shomi” really bring to mind.

CANNED LAUGHTER to explain why several attempts to breathe new life into Canadian sitcoms found little momentum in 2014.

A BATTERED BRO CODE BOOK to mark the worst TV finale ever. “How I Met Your Mother” went out with the mother of all bad endings. That was nine years fans will never get back.

A PIECE OF REALLY THIN SKIN to commemorate the TV critic’s press tour session last January where the folks behind “Girls” went postal over suggestions Lena Dunham walks around naked too often on her sitcom.

A JEAN BELIVEAU PLAYING CARD. The Montreal Canadiens’ great captain was saluted in death the way he lived, with dignity, respect and elan.

A PAIR OF SOCKS to salute Bertram Cooper (Robert Morse), who went out on a high note in the season finale of “Mad Men.” A GLASS OF BITTERS to salute the most forgotten TV host of 2014: CNN’s Piers Morgan.

A MARK MESSIER TRADING CARD to salute the omnipresent ex-Edmonton Oilers captain, who, instead of simply shilling for Roger’s hockey bun❰❰ 33

dles, should have been asked to host the new “Hockey Night in Canada.”

A ROB FORD BOBBLEHEAD to remind Torontonians of how their city became world famous for something other than being clean as Jimmy Kimmel and all of the late-night U.S. talk-show hosts feasted on Ford’s follies.

A NETFLIX COUPON to mark perhaps the most significant event in Canadian television in 2014: when the folks behind the U.S.-based digital platform said no to the CRTC’s request for information, throwing down a gauntlet that sent shock waves through the boardrooms of the entire Canadian broadcast community.

AN IN DEEPEST SYMPATHY CARD to mark the passing of what seemed like a steady parade of TV greats in 2014, including Don Pardo, Knowlton Nash, Harold Ramis, Sid Caesar, Robin Williams, Joan Rivers, Dave Madden, Ann B. Davis, Casey Kasem, Shirley Temple, James Avery, James Garner and Annette Funicello.

A DVD BOX SET OF “The Cosby Show.” Either that or a battered box of Jell-O pudding.

It may take till 2064 to sort out Cosby’s legacy.

A BIG-EARED TEDDY BEAR. The poor little fella may not want to come out until 2064. ■

Egypt says it banned Ridley Scott’s biblical epic ‘Exodus’ over historical, religious errors

BY SARAH EL DEEB The Associated Press

film,” the statement said.

The ministry said the movie inaccurately depicts ancient Egyptians as “savages” who kill and hang Jews, arguing that hanging did not exist in ancient Egypt. It said the film also presents a “racist” depiction of Jews as a people who mounted an armed rebellion. The min-

said.

Artistic works dealing with religion are often banned in the Muslim world because reCAIRO, EGYPT — Egypt on Sunligious scholars argue that the day said it banned Ridley Scott’s depiction of prophets is unacbiblical epic “Exodus: Gods & ceptable. Such works are also Kings” because the Hollywood often at odds with the Islamic blockbuster distorts Egypt’s hisportrayal of biblical prophets, tory and presents a “racist” imwhich itself often diverges from age of Jews. their portrayal The Culture in Judaism and Ministry exChristianity. Acplained its decicording to Islam, sion for the first It showed “a false and wrong mental image for example, Jetime in a state- of Egypt’s history,” the ministry said. sus was not crument issued a few cified, and the days after the ban prophet Abrawas announced. It said the film istry said religious scriptures ham was ordered to sacrifice put forth a reading of Egypt’s present Jews as weak and op- Ishmael, not Isaac. history that is at odds with pressed.

Muslim countries have also the story of Moses told by the The statement also objected censored movies over graphic world’s monotheistic religions. to the depiction of God as a sex scenes and portrayals of hoEgypt is a conservative country child, which also drew criticism mosexuality. with a Muslim majority and a in the West.

The United Arab Emirates sizable Christian minority.

The ministry said it had con- also decided to ban “Exodus: Censors objected to the “in- vened two committees — one Gods & Kings.” Juma al-Leem, tentional gross historical falla- of censors and one of archae- of the National Media Council, cies that offend Egypt and its ologists — to review the film. told The Associated Press the pharaonic ancient history in The committee of archeologists movie contained historical and yet another attempt to Juda- agreed with the decision to ban religious errors that are not in ize Egyptian civilization, which the film because it showed “a Islam or in the Bible. “We reconfirms the international Zi- false and wrong mental image spect all religions, not just Isonist fingerprints all over the of Egypt’s history,” the ministry lam,” al-Leem said. ■

WEATHER FORECAST VANCOUVER

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Long term forecast taken from: www.weathernetwork.com

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EDMONTON

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TORONTO

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THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Lifestyle

Tech trends for 2015: virtual reality, wearables, streaming video

BY MICHAEL OLIVEIRA The Canadian Press TORONTO — Will 2015 be the year that virtual reality goes from sci-fi fantasy to real world play thing?

Facebook thinks so, having spent more than US$2 billion to acquire the company Oculus VR, which is expected to release a potentially game-changing virtual reality headset next year. Samsung and Sony are racing to release their own virtual reality gear too.

Virtual reality is part of a booming wearable technology industry that took steps toward a big breakout in 2014. But it’s really expected to explode in 2015.

Here’s a look at a few tech trends that could make a huge leap in the year ahead — along with a few that fizzled out in 2014.

Virtual reality

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg calls Oculus’ virtual reality technology “a new communication platform.”

Looking a bit like oversized ski goggles, the company’s Oculus Rift headset transports users into a virtual world.

When you turn your head, the device’s video screen seamlessly responds to the motion so it feels like you’re actually peering around in the virtual world.

The technology is still in the very early stages but a quick demo makes its promise immediately apparent.

The producers behind the recently aired TV documentary “The Polar Sea” created a stunning Oculus-compatible virtual reality experience of the northern lights as seen from a beach in the Arctic.

Zuckerberg has suggested that sports fans could one day watch a game in virtual reality from the vantage point of the best seats in a stadium.

In the U.S., Samsung just

Virtual reality through technology such as the Oculus VR is part of a booming wearable technology industry that took steps toward a big breakout in 2014, but it’s really expected to explode in 2015.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

released its Gear VR headset, which is also powered by Oculus technology. The $200 headset pairs with a Galaxy Note 4 smartphone to run virtual reality content. Samsung called the device an “Innovator Edition,” signalling that it’s for eager early adopters and not quite ready for prime time. No release date has been set for Canada.

Sony is also working on a VR headset, nicknamed Project Morpheus, and you can expect other companies will rush their own products to market sometime in 2015.

Another phase for the technology will involve connecting VR headsets to other body sensors, so users can see and control their own hands while experiencing a virtual reality setting.

Wearables

Wearable technology isn’t new.

Innovators like University of Toronto Prof. Steve Mann have been experimenting with wearables for decades, while some mass market products such as the FitBit fitness trackers have been available to consumers for years.

But 2015 promises to be the year that the market is flooded with products from the wearables industry, from virtual reality gear, to electronic wristbands, to smart-watches.

Research company IDC Canada is predicting a 70 per cent yearover-year increase in shipments of wearables products to 1.2 million by the end of 2015.

Apple is expected to release its long awaited (and simply named) Watch sometime next

year, which could kick start the smart-watch industry. So far, plenty of smart-watches have been released to the market by the likes of Samsung, Sony and Canadian upstart Pebble, but consumer demand has been relatively muted.

But if anyone can make smart-watches the next big thing overnight, it’s Apple.

Streaming video

It’s already huge but expect the popularity of streaming video to grow even more in 2015.

The TV industry in the U.S. is anxiously awaiting HBO’s big move next year. The cable network known for producing premium top-tier content announced in October that it plans to offer a stand-alone streaming service that would not require a TV subscription.

Could that be the final straw that turns cord cutting into a legitimate trend?

Earlier this year, the Torontobased Convergence Consulting Group estimated as many as 6.23 million U.S. households — or 6.2 per cent of all homes — would be going without a TV subscription by the end of this year.

In Canada, the estimate was up to 665,000 Canadian households, or 5.7 per cent of all homes, would have cut the cord by the end of 2014.

Netflix has certainly had a major impact in spurring cord cutting so far. The Media Technology Monitor estimated that one in three anglophone Canadians were subscribing to Netflix in the spring. Shomi, launched by Rogers and Shaw earlier this year, is available without a TV subscription and should gain traction in 2015.

Bell’s CraveTV isn’t available to cord cutters but should help boost the streaming trend.

Then there’s YouTube, which is becoming the go-to source of entertainment for many teens who are increasingly idolizing online personalities instead of traditional TV or film stars.

Continued growth in smartphone and tablet ownership should also lead to more mobile streaming of video. It’s already common to see bus or train passengers streaming a TV show or YouTube clips to make their trip home feel a little quicker.

Busts of 2014

— Cyber security. From mundane hacking of individuals’ email or social media accounts to high-profile breaches of corporate servers, online crime was a growing concern this year.

The likes of Target and Home Depot had embarrassing data breaches they had to report to customers, and governments around the world — including here in Canada — are struggling to keep up with growing attempts by hackers to infiltrate their systems. Now 2014 is ending with Sony mired in a crisis

Lifestyle

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

as it tries to contain the fallout of an attack by a group identifying itself as the “Guardians of Peace.” Expect companies and governments to put a larger focus on cyber security in 2015 after so many alarming breaches this year.

— Amazon’s Fire Phone, released in the U.S. in July, was a complete bust and served as an example of how difficult it has become to do well in the smartphone market. With the exception of Apple, most smartphone makers are struggling. BlackBerry and Microsoft barely register as competitors to Apple and even Samsung, known for its popular line of Galaxy Android-based phones, is watching its sales and market share sink. Research firm Gartner reported this month that Samsung went from having a third of the global smartphone market in the third quarter of last year to about a quarter of it in 2014. Xiaomi and Huawei have emerged as leaders in China and are increasingly courting international buyers.

— It would be inaccurate to say Bitcoin was a total bust in 2014. A lot of venture capital money was poured into startup companies that want to popularize the electronic currency.

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Love it... aged to gather Heart’s closest friends—to his hometown Sorsogon nonetheless!—to witness the event. Heart was escorted to Sen. Chiz’s ancestral house and all the lights were out, but then one by one, Heart’s friends joined her. During dinner, Sen. Chiz got down on one knee and asked for Heart’s hand in marriage. In between tears, Heart managed to say yes. I believe the second best part of the evening was when Sen. Chiz showed Heart a text message from her dad—giving them his blessing.

And with daughter and parents reconciled, all is right with the world. The couple is scheduled to marry in an exclusive resort on February 2015—just in time for Heart’s birthday.

I believe a collective “man cry” was heard the night of December 10th when French-Filipino Kapuso Solenn Heussaff got engaged to her long-time boyfriend, Argentine model and businessman Nico Bolzico.

It’s a match made in heaven...

No, seriously. They really look like ethereal beings of beauty. I mean, wow, that’s a good-looking couple. ❰❰ 32

Bitcoins were a hot investment at the beginning of 2014, but towards the end of the year their value dropped by two-thirds.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

And established brands want to get in on the trend early too.

Just last week, magazine publisher Time said it would start accepting Bitcoin payments for subscriptions to publications including Fortune, Health, This Old House and Travel + Lei-

sure. But if you bought Bitcoin in January, your investment would be worth only a third as much today. One Bitcoin was priced at about US$950 in the first week of January but has since dropped to the low-$300 range. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

And last but not the least, we have the Kapuso Royal Couple: Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera. The Kapuso Primetime King first proposed to Marian in Macau on August 2012.

However, it was his grand gesture on August 2014 that sent their fans (okay, maybe not just their fans) into a frenzy.

Dingdong surprised Marian with a second proposal during her weekend dance show, saying, “I want to do it right this time.” With a Harry Winston diamond engagement ring, he got down on one knee and asked her to be his wife. As a mere mortal, I can say that if Dingdong’s the one proposing to you, there is no wrong way.

But since Marian is not a mere mortal but a goddess, she deserves more than one proposal. Dingdong even said that he could do it (the proposal) over and over again—but there’s no need to ask a third time since Marian said yes.

By the time you’re reading this, they’re probably already sharing the same last name because the couple is set to wed on December 30, 2014 in Quezon City. ■

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THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Business TOP BUSINESS STORIES FOR 2014

A year of US economic might, hacker attacks, tumbling oil prices

BY TALI ARBEL The Associated Press NEW YORK — This year showed how sheltered the U.S. economy is from geopolitical and health crises around the world. The global economy sputtered, but the U.S. powered ahead. Employers are finally hiring enough to lower unemployment. A plunge in gas prices and a rising stock market has Americans feeling richer and spending a bit more.

Those are some of the top business stories of 2014, as chosen by business editors at The Associated Press. Others include massive product disasters: A string of auto recalls after faulty ignition switches from General Motors Corp. and air bags in many car models caused injuries and deaths.

Hackers stole personal information from millions of people in a wave of breaches at stores, banks, a movie studio and other organizations.

We’re also becoming increasingly dependent on our phones and tablets, using them to communicate, play and pay.

Corporate deal-making was also in the spotlight. Companies acquired each other at a level not seen since 2007, the year the Great Recession began, while a burst of businesses went public.

The top 10 business stories of 2014: U.S. grows as world slows

After a freezing winter put a

There were breaches at Kmart, Dairy Queen, and Albertsons.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. said hackers stole information covering 76 million households and 7 million small businesses. Sony employees’ private information and emails were posted online.

The consequences? Sony Pictures Entertainment cancelled the mass release of “The Interview,” a comedy about assassinating the North Korean leader, after hackers threatened to attack movie theatres. Target Corp. replaced top executives. Shops, card companies and banks sped up card security improvements.

Oil plunge

Hacker attacks, slumping oil prices, and US economic growth highlight some of this year’s top business stories.

chill on buying and selling, the U.S. economy has posted its best six months since 2003. But the rest of the world hasn’t been as lucky. Japan has fallen back into recession. The 18 countries that make up the eurozone are barely growing and fear a dangerous drop in prices. Major developing nations aren’t faring much better. China’s growth has dropped to a five-year low of 7.3 per cent. Western sanctions and dropping oil prices have decimated Russia’s currency.

Brazil just edged out of recession. What’s helped the U.S. is

its relative insulation. American consumers, not exports, are the main drivers of the world’s largest economy.

Jobs are back

Millions of Americans still struggle with low pay and fewer hours of work than they want, and millions have given up looking for a job entirely. But five years after the recession ended, the U.S. job market is looking healthy. The unemployment rate is below 6 per cent. Employers added nearly 3 million jobs, the most since 1999, as shoppers

EXCHANGE RATES

and businesses spend more. As a result, the Federal Reserve ended its recession-era stimulus program in October and is edging closer to lifting interest rates. The Fed has kept rates near zero since 2008 to spur lending and investment.

Security breaches

The theft of 40 million credit and debit cards and 70 million personal records from Target last fall turned out to be just the beginning. Home Depot Inc. hackers nabbed 56 million cards and 53 million email addresses.

Global crude prices have fallen to around $56 per barrel from this year’s high of $115 because of more production, especially in the U.S., while slowing economies in Europe and Asia crimp demand. A rapid decline in the second half of the year pushed gasoline to about $2.30 a gallon in the U.S., the lowest price in nearly five years. Americans are pocketing $15.4 billion more a month than when gas was at its 2014 high of $3.70. Cheaper crude is also pumping up auto sales and saving airlines money on jet fuel.

But drilling could slow in North Dakota’s new boomtowns and other regions, hurting businesses that have cropped up.

And governments in energy producers Russia, Venezuela and Iran are being squeezed, increasing the likelihood of political upheaval.

As of December 30, 2014, from finance.yahoo.com PRICE

CHANGE

% CHANGE

CND / USD

1.1648

+0.0002

+0.0215%

CND / PHP

38.4456

+0.0497

+0.1294%

CND / EUR

1.4137

-0.0021

-0.1513%

Business

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Auto recalls

In the U.S. alone, automakers recalled more than 60 million cars and trucks. That far surpasses the previous record of 30.8 million in 2004. The bulk of those come from two problems that have led to nearly 50 deaths and dozens of injuries.

Japanese air bag supplier Takata, whose air bags can inflate too fast and spew shrapnel, has fought regulators’ demands to expand recalls. And GM was fined the maximum $35 million by U.S. safety regulators for dragging its feet — for a decade — over replacing faulty switches that can shut down car engines.

The U.S. Justice Department is investigating both companies.

Minimum wage growth

Inequality has been rising, and median household incomes have fallen since the recession began in late 2007. But the federal minimum hourly wage has remained at $7.25 since 2009. Labor organizers, fast-food workers and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees have campaigned for higher pay across the country. Congress hasn’t acted, but cities and states — and President Barack Obama — have. Obama raised pay by executive order for government contractors, to $10.10 an hour.

By Jan. 1, 29 states and Washington, D.C. will have a higher minimum wage than $7.25. Seattle approved an increase to $15 an hour, the highest rate in the country.

Mobile momentum

PC sales are Janet Yellen slumping, but The Federal mobile phone Reserve had subscriptions been led excluare expected sively by men for to reach 7 bila century. Then lion this year Janet Yellen, a — the same 68-year-old foras the world’s American mer economics population. consumers, professor and the Phone makers not exports, No. 2 at the Fed, are launching are the main became the first cheaper smartdrivers of woman to lead phones aimed the world’s the central bank. at developlargest Plainspoken, ing countries, economy. with a trace of which could get her native Brookbillions more lyn in her speech, people online.

Yellen criticizes Already, more inequality, fothan a billion cuses on jobs people check growth and has Facebook on tried to demystheir phones and tablets. The tify the moves of the notoriously social media giant spent $22 opaque Fed. She has also tied the billion on a phone messaging failure of most economists to app, WhatsApp. Uber, a hail- predict the damages wrought by a-cab app, is valued at $40 bil- the financial crisis to a lack of dilion. Apple Inc., the iPhone versity in the field. She says that and iPad maker, launched a increasing diversity is a priority payment system that side- at the central bank. steps cash and plastic.

Let’s make a deal Stock markets soar

Another year, another record. The end of the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying stimulus program stressed investors this fall, but U.S. stocks kept rising, extending the bull market run to nearly six years. More companies acquired each other and big companies bought up more than $400 billion of their own stock, helping to put the Standard & Poor’s 500 index on pace for a 13 per cent gain in 2014. And despite the end of the Fed’s bond purchases, which was expected to weigh on markets, bond prices rallied and rates dropped.

Higher stocks and confidence lifted global mergers and acquisitions volume to highest level since 2007. With a few days to go, global deal volume has risen 20 per cent to $3.41 trillion, including debt. Climbing markets make it easier to do stock deals, and borrowing is cheap.

Meanwhile, initial public offerings had their biggest year since 2000. Health care companies made up 37 per cent of all IPOs in the U.S., nearly double the level in 2013. And the biggest IPO ever, that of China’s e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., raised $25 billion in September. ■

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Philippine economy remains among Asia’s top performers for 2014 amid disasters, global challenges

BY LESLIE D. VENZON Philippine News Agency MANILA — The Philippines remained one of the best performers among Asian economies this year despite typhoon damage and falling public spending, even as the country continued to face challenges in achieving job-rich and inclusive growth.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 5.8 percent in the first three quarters of 2014, slightly below the government’s 6.5 percent target for the year.

The Philippines was the fourth best performer in terms of growth in the third quarter, behind China, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said economic growth was expected to be higher in the fourth quarter amid a rosier outlook of businesses and consumers on the back of strong macroeconomic fundamentals.

Balisacan added that the industry and services sectors continue to drive growth this year.

He said the recent powerful typhoon “Ruby” had “very negligible” impact on the economy, estimating that the weather disturbance could translate to a potential loss of only 0.03 percent of GDP in the fourth quarter. The share of agriculture in GDP is just about 11 percent.

Balisacan, who is also the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General, believed that the lower oil prices would be favorable to the economy, as these would further reduce inflation rate and increase the purchasing power of Filipino consumers.

But despite robust economic growth, the NEDA chief said the country still needs to do more to substantially reduce poverty and ensure inclusivity amid climate-related disasters, along with the uncertainties in the global economy.

“We can say that the Philippine government has remained resolute in its stance to strengthen the foundations for sustained and inclusive growth through wide-ranging reforms www.canadianinquirer.net

in governance and the economy,” Balisacan said.

He said the government will continue to implement measures to enhance revenue generation, regulatory efficiency, improve the links between planning, investment programming and budgeting, and build capabilities on planning, budgeting and budget execution.

Citing a business expectations survey, Balisacan said the continued business confidence has translated into higher investments and investment commitments.

The NEDA said increasing investments from employers to generate high-quality and remunerative employment is crucial in achieving poverty reduction towards inclusive growth.

Latest labor force survey indicated the country’s unemployment rate declined to a 10year record low of 6.0 percent.

Balisacan outlined the strategies to further accelerate job creation, including continuous build-up of capital, promotion of priority sectors, stable macroeconomic fundamentals, investment in research and development in the agriculture, industry and services sectors, and reducing the cost of doing business. “…The Philippine economy should consistently grow at a rapid pace over a longer period of time in order to effectively solve the poverty problem,” he added.

2015 Outlook

The Philippines’ hosting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit and higher infrastructure spending are crucial for achieving a seven to eight-percent economic growth target in 2015.

“We are maintaining the seven to eight-percent growth rate because there are events happening next year. We are hosting the APEC Summit and that will be a big boost tourism-wise,” said NEDA Assistant Director General Rosemarie Edillon.

The first leg of the APEC Summit has started and a series of meetings leading up to the Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November 2015 will happen throughout the year.

Apart from hosting the APEC Summit, the NEDA is banking on higher infrastructure spending, super typhoon “Yolanda” recovery and reconstruction, and the ASEAN economic integration boosting next year’s economic growth.

“We will also take advantage of the opportunities presented by the country’s hosting of APEC meeting and the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community by the end of 2015,” Balisacan said.

He said tourism will pick up next year due to the hosting of APEC Summit and favorable sentiment towards the country.

“The resurgence of industry sector, particularly manufacturing, construction, logistics and investments both public and private, are expected to remain robust,” he added.

Further, Balisacan noted that government spending could be a major contributor to growth next year.

The government targets to roll out nine more public-private partnership (PPP) projects with combined cost of PhP702.78 billion in 2015.

These projects include the PhP374.5-billion Makati-Pasay-Taguig Mass Transit System Loop, PhP177.21-billion NorthSouth Rail Project (South Line), and PhP50.18-billion Regional Prison Facilities through PPP Project.

The PPP Center is currently bidding out 12 projects and the biggest among these is the PhP122-billion Laguna Lakeshore Expressway Dike Project.

It has so far awarded the PhP64.9-billion Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1 extension to Cavite and seven other projects.

“When it (election spending) comes, it could be another bonus.

In the next 10 to 20 years, our economy should be joining its peers in the more vibrant ASEAN region,” Balisacan further said.

“The reforms we are pursuing are necessary to enable us to join our peers in those high growth economies. With ASEAN (economic) integration or not, we should be accelerating our reforms,” the NEDA chief added. ■

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THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Travel Destinations getting attention for 2015: Milan, Cuba, Queens and more

BY BETH J. HARPAZ The Associated Press NEW YORK — See Cuba before it changes. Check out the Expo in Milan. And if you’re heading to New York City to see the view from 1 World Trade Center’s observatory (scheduled to open late spring), take the subway to Queens and see if you can figure out why it topped Lonely Planet’s “best in the U.S.” destinations for 2015.

Several major anniversaries will also be marked by a variety of events in 2015, including 70 years since the end of World War II, the 60th anniversary of the opening of Disneyland and 10 years since Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.

Europe

The Milan Expo opens in May for six months and is expected to draw 20 million visitors. The Expo is the modern incarnation of the old World’s Fairs that thrilled 19th- and 20th-century guests with new products and technology. The theme of the Milan Expo is food and nutrition, and dozens of countries will be participating. The U.S. will be doing its part by sending six authentic food trucks to Italy featuring regional American and ethnic fusion menus.

Milan’s famous opera house, La Scala, normally closed in the summer, will host performances daily during the Expo.

Elsewhere in Europe: Jan. 1 marks the day Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency. Pilsen, in the Czech Republic — home to pilsner-style beer and a Gothic cathedral — and Mons, Belgium, known for history ranging from World War I back to the ancient Romans, have been named 2015 European Capitals of Culture.

And Norway made a number of “where to go in 2015” lists, thanks to its connection to Disney’s blockbuster “Frozen” film.

along with numerous arts projects and peace-themed events throughout the year.

In New Orleans, Aug. 29 is 10 years since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. “Come see the new New Orleans” is a mantra in the tourist industry there for showcasing trendy emerging neighbourhoods and a vibrant restaurant scene.

South Dakota expects crowds for the 50th Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup in September and the 75th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August.

Cuba

The news that the U.S. intends to normalize relations with Cuba could lead to a rush of travellers hoping to experience the island before it loses its frozen-in-time culture to an onslaught of U.S. chain stores, hotels and tourists. But don’t pack your bags just yet: For the near future, the only way you can legally visit Cuba as an American citizen is to take a “people to people” cultural exchange tour licensed by the U.S. government. The tours are expensive and itineraries are limited.

The city also got a Christmas gift from Lonely Planet, which named the borough of Queens as “best in the U.S.” destination. Manhattan has been giving ground to trendy Brooklyn in recent years, but the elevation of Queens as the next big thing was a bit of a surprise.

Not that New Yorkers and tourists alike don’t love Queens attractions like the 1964 World’s Fair grounds, the hipster beach scene in the Rockaways, Chinatown in Flushing, the Asian and Latin American ethnic mix in Jackson Heights and the emerging industrial-chic ambience of Long Island City.

But the borough is not quite on tourist radars yet — though the Lonely Planet pronouncement may change that.

Theme parks

Universal Studios Hollywood debuts two new attractions in 2015: Springfield, an immersive area opening in spring surrounding The Simpsons Ride, and Fast & Furious—Supercharged, a thrill ride opening in summer based on the film series.

Disneyland opens “Frozen Fun” in January in Anaheim, California, with a sing-along, New York City “Olaf’s Snow Fest,” and meetTwo big openings take place and-greets with Anna and Elsa, The observatory at the 1 World Trade Center in New York is set to open its in the Big Apple in 2015: the among other attractions. The Observatory in late spring of 2015. observatory at 1 World Trade California theme park also celWIKIMEDIA COMMONS in late spring and the new ebrates its 60th anniversary Whitney Museum of Ameri- this year, with celebration deAnniversaries tion of Abraham Lincoln and can Art in May in Manhattan’s tails to be revealed at the end Singapore celebrates its the end of the Civil War. Meatpacking District near the of January. Disney World near golden Jubilee — 50 years since The new year Orlando, Florindependence from Great Brit- also marks 70 ida, has several ain. Vietnam celebrates 70 years since the 2015 openings, years since independence from end of World including a new France and 50 years since the War II, both the The news that the U.S. intends to Italian restaufirst U.S. combat troops arrived defeat of Nazi normalize relations with Cuba could rant, Trattoria al at Da Nang, which some histori- Germany and the lead to a rush of travellers hoping to Forno; an Africa ans say marked the start of the atomic bombexperience the island before it loses Marketplace at Vietnam War — even though ing of Japan that its frozen-in-time culture to an Disney’s Animal Americans had been sent to the ended the war in onslaught of U.S. chain stores, Kingdom; and at country in prior years.

Asia. Hiroshima hotels and tourists. the new Disney A number of U.S. museums and Nagasaki are Springs complex, and historic sites will be host- planning memothree restauing exhibits and events to mark rial services on the August an- High Line and the Hudson rants, STK, Morimoto Asia and 150 years since the assassina- niversaries of the bombings, River.

The Boathouse. ■

Travel

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

41

New Year’s Eve: Throwing a party where every day is a party is a year-long effort in Las Vegas

BY KIMBERLY PIERCEALL The Associated Press LAS VEGAS — A destination devoted to entertaining visitors every single day can’t just throw any old party to ring in the New Year.

For one night only, about 340,000 people spending some $226 million are expected to crowd the Strip and downtown Fremont Street all looking to be wowed — and for that reason, Las Vegas casino operators, event planners, tourism agencies and more have spent months if not the entire year planning ways to do so.

The result? A veritable revelry buffet to choose from, some free, most at a price, quite a bit so exclusive it requires an invite from the hotel-casinos throwing the parties for prized customers. Showrooms will welcome A-list performers such

as Jennifer Lopez at Caesars Palace, new duo Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga at Cosmopolitan and Maroon 5 at Mandalay Bay. Nightclubs promise performers Iggy Azalea and Drake, among others. And if a flashback is desired, downtown Fremont will offer 13 rock tribute bands (Fan Halen, Queen Nation, Led Zepagain and more).

But, really, most will only need to look up.

Fireworks will shoot from the roofs of seven Strip hotelcasinos timed to a medley of pop music.

Groups wanting an eye-level or aerial view of the fireworks show can buy a spot inside the orbs of the new, perpetually moving High Roller observation wheel on the Strip that will come to a halt during a portion of the show. Package deals start at $2,500.

Inside, and in some cases outside, exclusive parties will be

staged at much expense by the Strip’s biggest properties for its (very) very important people.

And with some VIPs weighing multiple invites, it’s an ongoing quest by casino-hotels to bring the party.

Teams of people from MGM Resorts events — among them painters, digital artists, event managers and floral designers — work in the company’s 110,000 square-foot warehouse space off the Strip and begin planning next year’s New Year’s Eve shortly after the last one.

“Really, they’re storytellers,” said Lenny Talarico, director of events.

“New Year’s Eve, it’s a show. A one night show.”

Demo rooms inside the company’s warehouse have 24-foot high ceilings and lighting revealing a mini version of the party to come. There are buckets of blue gems for floral arrangements, trays of moss and

www.canadianinquirer.net

gigantic centerpieces waiting for fresh flowers.

The warehouse space could be a scene from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory without the candy, complete with a mirrored piano hanging from the ceiling. There’s a forest of flocked pine trees down one aisle and a sitting Buddha statue on a shelf taller than a standing adult, not to mention a giant hand holding a light bulb - a relic among many once built by the team of artisans for a convention group that’s been repurposed event after event.

Even the most exclusive of parties has competition with the cheapest form of entertainment for anyone within sight of the Las Vegas Strip: a seven minute, 11 second fireworks show from the top of seven Strip properties.

No matter how spectacular the entertainment or party environs are inside, “11:30 p.m.,

quarter to 12, the room clears out,” said Jim McCoy, director of production overseeing all of the event fabrications. “The Strip is our Times Square.”

For the first time, the company is building a platform for invited guests to watch the fireworks from the water next to The Mirage’s fire-breathing volcano.

Before and after the fireworks, it’s the job of McCoy’s team — who has built Buddhist temples, sets for movies and Broadway, and ice sculpting — to create worlds of whimsy.

“January 2,” said McCoy, without pause, when asked what he’s looking forward to most. And also that brief moment when he and his staff can exhale and watch the faces of people seeing the first glimpses of the parties on New Year’s Eve night.

“That’s when the curtain goes up and it’s show time, folks,” he said. ■

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THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

Sports

Pacquiao: The destroyer of undefeated in 2014

BY JELLY F. MUSICO Philippine News Agency

another undefeated American fighter Floyd Mayweather.

In an interview after beating Algieri, Pacquiao expressed excitement and readiness to fight Mayweather, who remains undefeated in 47 fights.

In response, Mayweather taunted Pacquiao by posting in the Internet the video of Pacquiao’s sixth round knockout defeat to Marquez. The American fighter has been avoiding the Filipino champion for the last five years.

Pacquiao belittled the American fighter’s taunt, saying “If he posted that in his Instagram, he should fight me now.”

“He should fight me now, since I can be ‘easily’ put to sleep. He posted a video of me when I lost to Marquez, so this means he thinks I’m easy to knock out. So come on, let’s fight!” Pacquiao dared the WBA champion.

Marquez, one of Mayweather’s victim, came in defense of Pacquiao, asking Mayweather to stop using him to taunt Pacquiao.

“He should fight him first, prove he is the best not just talk but beat the man considered the best pound-for- pound

MANILA — Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao has so far defeated seven boxers with unblemished record and two of them happened in 2014.

Like a true warrior not backing out despite his shocking knockout defeat at the hands of Mexican nemesis Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012, Pacquiao continued his comeback bid by handing American Timothy Bradley his first loss in 32 fights on April 12 in Las Vegas.

In the process, Pacquiao regained his WBO welterweight title and avenged a highly controversial split decision loss to Bradley in 2012.

Bradley acknowledged that he lost the rematch against PacFilipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao has so far defeated seven boxers with unblemished records. Two of those defeats quiao whom he called “the bethappened in 2014. Pacquiao hopes to add the undefeated Mayweather to this list in 2015. ter man.”

MANNY PACQUIAO’S OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE The American fighter made a comeback bid only to settle for weather reportedly expressed Pacquiao’s former undefeated opening game of the 40th PBA a draw against Diego Gabriel readiness to fight the popular victims include Jorge Solis (34- season but dropped their last 10 Chaves while Pacquiao came Filipino fighter. He even set a 0-2) of Mexico in 2007, another assignments to bow out of conout with another sterling perdate on May 2 next year.

Mexican Emmanuel Lucero tention. formance against another un“Absolutely. I would love to (20-0-1) in 2001, Nedal HusPacquiao, the 11th overall defeated fighter Chris Algieri of fight Manny Pacquiao. We’re try- sein of Australia (19-0-0) in draft pick, played in Kia’s first New York. ing to make the 2000 and two Filipinos – Dele game but intentionally skipped Though he fight happen. We Decierto (2-0-0) in 1995 and the next eight games to focus on failed to score a want the fight. Rocky Palme (4-0-1) in 1995. his preparation for the Algieri knockout win, We’re ready. Let’s The 2014 also marked his de- fight.

Pacquiao has He should fight me now, since make it happen, but in the Philippine Basketball After breaking Algieri’s unfloored the much I can be ‘easily’ put to sleep. He May 2,” May- Association (PBA) as a playing- blemished record, Pacquiao taller Algieri six posted a video of me when I lost weather said. coach of expansion Kia Sorento returned to his Kia team to play times enroute to to Marquez, so this means he If both camps team. for short minutes in one of their unanimous decithinks I’m easy to knock out. So of the two fightBut it was not a successful last two games but again, has sion victory last come on, let’s fight! ers finally agreed first conference for the Sorento not scored a single point.

Nov. 23 in Mato come into and for congressman Pacquiao Despite his unsuccessful decao. terms, the Filipi- (lone district of Saranggani) in but in pro basketball, Pacquiao Algieri tasted his first de- [fighter] for many years, Manny no champion will get a chance to Asia’s first professional basket- will continue to make headlines feat in 21 fights while Pacquiao Pacquiao,” Marquez said in a beat another undefeated fighter ball league. in the professional boxing areearned accolades from millions website report. in a mega fight the world boxing Kia has won its first game na, that would be capped if the of boxing fans seeking for a The pressure seems working community wanted to see. against another expansion match with Mayweather really possible megafight against yet well in favor of Pacquiao as MayBefore Bradley and Algieri, team Blackwater Elite in the happens in 2015. ■

43

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

www.canadianinquirer.net

44

Seen and Scenes

JANUARY 1, 2015

THURSDAY

CHRISTMAS WARMTH IN WINTRY CALGARY Filipino Canadians in Calgary spread cheer and warm greetings on a cold wintry Christmas.

CHRISTMASTIME IN WINNIPEG MaryGrace Golfo shared photos of their simple but joyous Christmas celebration in Winnipeg, MN.

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

Events

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

CANADA EVENTS

YUKON NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

NUNAVUT

http://bit.ly/ PCI-Events

NEWFOUNDLAND

MANITOBA

SASKATCHEWAN

View all events by scanning this QR code or visiting

2nd Winter Escapade By the Department of Tourism, Philippine Embassy and the Consulates of Toronto and Vancouver WHEN/WHERE: Jan. 30 to Feb. 6, Manila, Cebu, Bohol, Siquijor, Dumaguete MORE INFO: Go online www.winterescapadeph.com for details.

BRITISH COLUMBIA ALBERTA

45

ONTARIO

QUEBEC NEW BRUNSWICK

Happy New Year 2015

By Java Jazz Bistro WHEN/WHERE: Dec. 31, Java Jazz Bistro at 412 6th St., New Westminster, B.C. MORE INFO: $45 All night buffet, karaoke & live band New Year’s Eve Ball 2014 By the Filipino Association in BC WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Dec. 31, Holiday Inn Vancouver Centre, 711 W. Broadway Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Ticket at $75, attire: formal 34th Annual Ati-atihan Festival By the Aklanon Sto. Nino Association of BC WHEN/WHERE: 5:30 p.m., Jan. 10, St. Patrick’s Church Gym, 2881 Main St., cor. 12th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. My Tween & Me Multicultural Mom’s Support Group

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Thursdays, Dunbar Hts. Church 3320 Crown St., Vancouver MORE INFO: call Daisy 604-254-9626 ext. 273

English Corner

By Richmond Public Library WHEN/WHERE: 10 to 12 nn Fridays, Jan. 9 to Feb. 27, and on Sundays, Jan. 11 to Mar. 1 at the Brighouse (Main) Branch, 2nd floor Community Place Rm., 7700 Minoru Gate.

MORE INFO: To register, visit any branch of Richmond public Library, register online at www.yourlibrary.ca/events or call 604-231-6413 Burnaby Seniors’ Club Free Activities for Immigrant Seniors

By Mosaic Settlement Services WHEN/WHERE: (Burnaby North) Beginners’ English Practice – Jan. 21 to Mar. 5, Wed., 9:30 to 11:30 a.m Taichi – Jan. 23 to Mar. 27, Fri., 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

English Conversation Circle – Jan. 23 to Mar. 27, Fri., 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.

Brentwood Community Resource Centre, 2055 Rosser Ave., Burnaby B.C. (Burnaby South) Upper Beginners’ English Practice – Jan. 12 to Mar. 23, Mon., 9:30 to 11:30 Beginners’ English Practice – Jan. 23 to Mar. 27, Fri., 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Knitting Club – Jan. 20 to Mar. 27, Tues., 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Seniors’ Conversation Circle – Jan. 8 to Feb. 12, Thur., 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Mosaic Burnaby Centre for Immigrants, 5902 Kingsway St., Vancouver, B.C. www.canadianinquirer.net

New Year’s Party 2015

By Filipino-Canadian Community of New Brunswick WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m., Dec. 31, at Frank’s Finer Diner in Fredericton, New Brunswick

To have your events featured on PCI, please email events@canadianinquirer.net

THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

CANADA

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www.theoldpath.tv / www.mcgi.org / www.untvweb.com

Burnaby : Walk from Production Way Station / Parking

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THURSDAY JANUARY 1, 2015

“After I graduated from the Health Care Assistant Program, my employers were really impressed with my education and the skills I had developed at Sprott Shaw. Since my first experience was so successful, it was easy to choose Sprett Shaw for my next career move.”

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JANUARY 1, 2015

www.canadianinquirer.net

THURSDAY