Philippine Canadian Inquirer #197

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DECEMBER 11, 2015

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VOL. 12 NO. 197

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Standing up against Islamophobia

Amnesty Int’l raises red flags on Duterte

Trump: Not funny anymore

Sub-zero policy rate an option in another crisis

BC to put up trade office in Manila

Furor over Trump antiMuslim plan goes international: Trudeau, Cameron weigh in

BY ALEXANDER PANETTA The Canadian Press

WRITING ON THE WALL The words “risks” and “miracle,” projected on the face of presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe during a PowerPoint presentation at a presscon on Thursday, may well be the keywords to her quest for the presidency, under siege by a string of DQ cases.

RAFFY LERMA / PDI

Duterte to appear at Comelec

BY KATHERINE PADILLA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — Presidential candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will be at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) head office in Intramuros

Manila tomorrow to ensure that his candidacy won’t have loopholes.

“This is to bolster his COC which was earlier filed through his lawyer Salvador Medialdea with a personal appearance and oath before a Comelec notary,”

Fil-Can in Focus: Cora Dela Cruz

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s eye-popping proposal to ban Muslim travel to the United States prompted a flood of commentary from abroad Tuesday, including from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Unlike the spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron, who called Trump’s religion-based border controls unhelpful and wrong, Trudeau avoided referring to Trump by name.

When asked about political developments to the south, Trudeau and some of his ministers said they didn’t want to interfere in a foreign election — but chided Muslim-bashing politics all the same.

“Canadians are very aware of my feelings on this,” Trudeau said in remarks

❱❱ PAGE 26 ❱❱ PAGE 6 Duterte to

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:

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❱❱ PAGE 26 Furor over

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FRIDAY

Philippine News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

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Alan, Digong know what to do with traffic

BY NANCY C. CARVAJALWV Philippine Daily Inquirer THEY MAY differ in their approach to certain issues, but presidential contender Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and his running mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, see a common solution to Metro Manila’s worsening traffic problem: a decentralized city and the transfer of government headquarters to outlying areas of the capital.

“For the longest time, the drive for development [has been] mainly focused on the National Capital Region (NCR), leaving other regions to fend for themselves. This is not sustainable nor equitable,” Cayetano told INQUIRER reporters and editors during a recent visit to the newspaper’s Makati City office.

“The NCR is perceived by many as the only place where there are real economic opportunities, [so] people unneces-

sarily flock to the region, cre- and small entrepreneurs, and progressive government. The ating problems such as traffic, in turn, spur economic activity mayor’s strong brand of leadunemployment and housing and growth in the other regions ership was the change people woes,” the senator said. of the country. need, the senator added.

“But if development [is] “We need to create alterna“Most of our people long for spread evenly to the regions, we tive corridors of development change. Life is not comfortable can solve these problems,” he outside the NCR,” he said, for most Filipinos; it is miseraadded. adding that this will not only ble for many …. If the problems Such problems have led to decongest the already over- are being solved, you don’t need the clamor for Duterte to run crowded capital, but will also a Duterte,” the senator said. for President, But the vice Cayetano said. presidential “The mayor candidate adnot only symmitted that bolizes order; he among the many also stands for He and the mayor complement each challenges faced the empowerother, the senator said, because of by their tandem ment of regions, their different approach to issues. As was Duterte’s which have long a lawyer, he said, he will provide the toughtalking been neglected legal framework for the tough-talking stance that had by the national mayor. him hurling ingovernment,” he vectives even explained. at Pope Francis in his recent P1 billion per speech. The inregion extend growth to the rest of the cident unleashed a flood of Cayetano said he had pro- country.” negative comments from netiposed to government the alloCayetano said he decided to zens. cation of P1 billion per region to pursue Duterte as his standardDuterte has since apologized be used as capital for a lending bearer because of their shared for cursing Pope Francis for scheme that would help local vision of a decentralized and causing the traffic gridlock.

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More amiable

“How to make him more amiable,” may be a problem for Duterte, but Cayetano said the problem of other presidential candidates was how to tell people how they can really make a difference.

He and the mayor complement each other, the senator said, because of their different approach to issues. As a lawyer, he said, he will provide the legal framework for the tough-talking mayor.

“He will be the fighter in the ring, and I will be the fighter in court,” Cayetano said.

They also share similar advocacies, the senator said, among them increasing the salaries of ordinary workers and reforming the country’s tax system.

Being both lawyers, Cayetano said, he and Duterte had found a possible legal amendment to the law that would end contractualization and ensure that contractual employees would receive benefits due them. ■

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Philippine News

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

NBI to release report on ‘tanim-bala scam’

BY KATHERINE PADILLA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will release a report of the agency’s investigation on the alleged bullet planting scam at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

The NBI formed a task force group called Talaba (Tanim Laglag Bala) whose task was to investigate whether or not a syndicate victimizing airport passenger is indeed operating at NAIA. “The report by the NBI task force Talaba will be released on Dec. 9, if not earlier,” Justice Undersecretary Emmanuel Caparas told the Manila Bulletin.

The task force, headed by Anti- Organized Transnational Crime Division (NBI-AOTCD) chief Head Agent Manuel Antonio Eduarte was originally given a deadline of Nov. 18 but failed to submit their findings on time as the data they received from different government agencies were conflicting.

They, along with other agencies, were also sidetracked due to the recently concluded Asia Pacific Economic Summit in Manila.

The Department of Justice who directed the agency “to probe all incidents of the alleged “laglag-bala”” gave them a 15 days extension of deadline.

The investigation conducted by the NBI included the testing of x-ray machines used on luggages. The agency had their

agents play as a “mules” who were able to pass through the whole security process without being caught of carrying bullets in their luggages.

The alleged tanim bala scam has victimized numerous airline passengers, composed mostly of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW). Eduarte said that the NBI has coordinated with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

“We have also coordinated with the Labor department as well as OWWA and the POEA. They are also extending assistance to locate possible victims and they would forward the complaints to us,” Eduarte said in the same report. ■

The program was aimed at making public transportation the “No. 1 choice of every traveler for their daily commute, even if they own a car or motorcycle” in order to decongest Edsa and other major roads.

MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU

Nonstop bus service off to slow start

BY MARICAR B. BRIZUELA Philippine Daily Inquirer DESPITE THE less than enthusiastic response from the public on the first day of the Edsa nonstop bus service, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) remains hopeful it will catch on and be implemented in other major thoroughfares.

During the agency’s Sunday radio program, MMDA Traffic Discipline head Cris Saruca said that there were few passengers when the point-to-point bus service was launched Saturday.

“We expected the low number of passengers since it was the first day of the bus service.

We need more public information campaigns to make the public aware of this program,” Saruca added. He did not, however, give figures, saying the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) was the one keeping track.

Last week, the MMDA, DOTC and the Edsa traffic technical working group announced the implementation of the “Holiday Non-Stop Bus Service” until Jan. 6 to encourage private vehicle owners to switch to public transportation to ease traffic during the holidays.

Under the project, 20 express buses will travel nonstop from one point on Edsa to either one of three routes: Trinoma (North Edsa) in Quezon City to Park Square Terminal in Ayala Center Makati; SM North Edsa to Glorietta 5, Ayala Center; and

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SM Megamall to Park Square Terminal. Fares will range between P50 and P80.

Other routes will be added at the end of the initial phase of the bus service which may be called the “Premium Point-toPoint Service” by July 2016.

The MMDA and DOTC said the program was aimed at making public transportation the “No. 1 choice of every traveler for their daily commute, even if they own a car or motorcycle” in order to decongest Edsa and other major roads.

This premium bus system will add a total of 151 buses which will ply six routes around the metropolis: Fairview to Makati, Ortigas to Makati, Katipunan to Makati, Eastwood-Makati, Alabang to Makati and Alabang to Ortigas. Fares will range from P60 to P160.

According to DOTC senior adviser for planning Robert Siy, the buses will have a common color and branding, Wi-Fi and GPS systems and closed circuit television cameras. They will also boast better emissions and air-conditioning.

“In terms of frequency, we want to have a very small interval between buses during peak hours. Between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and [from] 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., there will be an interval of only 10 minutes,” Siy said.

“It will also have an automatic fare collection system,” Sy added, noting that the buses would soon take the Beep cards currently used for the Light Rail and Metro Trail Transit systems. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

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Air Force takes wing with new fighters, choppers

BY JAYMEE T. GAMIL Philippine Daily Inquirer A RENASCENT Philippine Air Force yesterday took delivery of six brand new attack helicopters, two fighter jets and an airbus, the initial batch of new air asset purchases worth more than P27 billion.

“This is the renaissance of the Philippine Air Force,” said PAF chief Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Delgado at the turnover ceremony yesterday.

The new aircraft are part of government procurements that were arranged since 2013: P3.4 billion for eight AW109E attack helicopters from the Italianbased Agusta Westland, P18.9 billion for 12 FA-50PH jets from Korean Aerospace Industries and P5.3 billion for three C295M transport aircraft from the Spanish-based Airbus Defence and Space.

With the turnover of some of these purchases yesterday at the Villamor Airbase—attended by the newly arrived President Aquino, fresh from his official trip to Europe—the Air Force now has in its possession eight new attack helicopters, two of the jets and two of the airbuses that it has purchased.

The last C295M aircraft is to be delivered on Dec. 10, while the other 10 fighter jets are expected to be delivered by 2017.

It is the first time in 10 years that the Air Force has acquired fighter jets, having retired the last of such aircraft in 2005.

The new air assets will boost territorial defense, internal security operations and disaster response, Air Force officials

Clark Air Base.

SSGT TONY LAMBERT / UNITED STATES AIR FORCE / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

said.

“These FA-50PH will be employed to secure our land, aerospace and maritime territory, to include our [exclusive economic zone],” Delgado said in a speech.

“It can also be used for surveillance and reconnaissance missions, air interdiction and close-air support missions,” Delgado said.

Security ops

Based on background documents furnished the media, the jets are particularly intended for security operations in the West Philippine Sea. In an interview after the turnover ceremony, PAF chief of air staff Maj. Gen. Galileo Gerald Kintanar Jr. expressed the hope the jets could be deployed to the West Philippine Sea by 2018, after the pilots had been trained and the facilities at Antonio Bautista Air Base in

Palawan were ready.

In the meantime, the new jets are to be based at Clark Air Base, while the Basa Air Base in Pampanga and the Subic Air Base are being repaired to equip them to handle “fighter operations,” Kintanar said.

The AW-109E, meanwhile, will “augment the dwindling number of MD520MGs, the primary attack helicopters of the Philippine Air Force,” Delgado said.

According to a project description

Malacanang exec says Poe has been promising to exceed Aquino admin’s gains without solid programs PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — A Palace official on Tuesday said presidential candidate and Senator Grace Poe has been promising to exceed the achievements of the Aquino administration without presenting solid programs.

Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. made the statement when asked for reaction on Poe’s claim that “traffic”, due to poverty, unemployment and unjust taxes, is hampering the current administration’s straight path bid.

He, however, pointed out that the Aquino administration’s “Daang Matuwid” theme got a positive feedback from the public as proven after the 2013 elections when administration candidates like Poe won in the senatorial slate.

He cited that Poe has identified herself with the government’s priority reform programs.

“Recently however, Senator Poe has been promising to surpass the administration’s accomplishments without offering concrete alternative programs, which our people have the right to expect from presidential candidates such as herself,” he added. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

furnished the media, the Philippines’ current attack helicopter fleet is “barely capable of supporting the close air support requirements of the unified commands.”

Kintanar said that by the second half of 2016, some of the new attack helicopters would be deployed in Mindanao.

“That’s where the aircraft will be needed for internal security operations. Hopefully, all of them will be deployed by early 2017,” he said.

“This will be a welcome addition in terms of capabilities. What is more important is that it has more capabilities to speak of. It can carry more ordnance and will be firing munitions with precision, and it can operate at night,” Kintanar said of the AW-109E. Kintanar said the attack helicopters will be stationed in Sangley, Cavite, while the pilots are undergoing training.

The C295M, meanwhile, will be used for “territorial defense, combat support and disaster response missions of the AFP,” Delgado said.

Kintanar said the C295M is primarily for transport, as it can carry close to 70 personnel as well as heavy cargo. He said the C295M will have its home base in Mactan, Cebu, for maintenance, but will most likely be ferrying cargo and passengers regularly from Villamor Air Base in Metro Manila. ■

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Philippine News

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

For Miriam, youth vote is key to victory

BY NIÑA P. CALLEJA Philippine Daily Inquirer SEN. MIRIAM Defensor-Santiago has high hopes that her support among the youth will propel her to victory in next year’s presidential race as young people, she said, looked beyond traditional politics.

Santiago emerged as the runaway winner in the Nov. 26 mock elections at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), with 1,507 students, or 65.75 percent of the 2,292 student voters, voting her as President.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was a far second, with 18.32 percent of the votes.

The three other presidential candidates had voter shares of less than five percent: Liberal Party standard-bearer Mar Roxas (4.97 percent), Sen. Grace Poe (4.36 percent) and Vice President Jejomar Binay (2.01 percent). Other candidates, lumped together, took 3.49 percent, while 1.09 percent of respondents abstained from voting.

Santiago said the youth is an important sector as it comprises some 37 percent of eligible voters in 2016.

“The candidate with the greatest youth support has greater chances of winning not only because of the sheer

Miriam on DZMM TeleRadyo for the "Ikaw Na Ba?" presidential interview series.

SEN. MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO / FACEBOOK

size of the youth vote but also because of their persuasive power. People listen to the young because it is their future at stake,” Santiago said.

20-million strong

Some 54 million Filipinos are expected to vote next year, 20 million of them aged 18 to 35. That means that just 75

percent of the youth can give a candidate 15 million votes, close to the number that made President Aquino win in 2010.

Santiago said that her victory in the mock elections, despite the fact that she has yet to air campaign advertisements, validates the results of a Facebook-based survey where she also emerged the winner, with 48.36 percent of respondents favoring her.

“In the 1992 elections, the youth not only voted for me, they campaigned for me on a volunteer basis. This new generation seems ready to do the same through social media,” said the senator, who has some 3.2 million followers on Facebook and 2.1 million followers on

Twitter.

The feisty senator, who trailed four other presidential candidates in a recent Metro Manila survey by Pulse Asia Research, said earlier that social media would be the key to winning the elections in 2016.

In the UPLB survey, only the students who are qualified to vote in the 2016 elections were allowed to participate in the mock polls. The respondents were also asked to write their student numbers to prevent double voting.

The UPLB poll followed the voting process in actual elections, said political science instructor Miguel Enrico Ayson. Voting booths were set up around the campus. As in the real elections, were given sample ballots and were told to shade the circle before the names of their preferred candidate.

Landslide winner

This is not the first UPLB mock poll that Santiago has won. She was also the landslide winner, with 57.44 percent of the total 1,170 votes cast in a May 2015 exercise conducted by a class of social psychology students.

Santiago was followed in that survey

by Duterte (7.01 percent), Poe (5.56 percent), Sen. Chiz Escudero and former Sen. Dick Gordon (4.44 percent each), Binay (3.5 percent) and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (2.31 percent).

Santiago also topped a survey on the official Facebook fan page of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, with 64 percent of the total 135,622 votes cast from Oct. 16, the deadline of filing of candidacy certificates, to Oct. 25. ■

Duterte to...

Duterte’s spokesman, Peter Tiu Laviña was quoted as saying in a Manila Bulletin report.

Duterte’s appearance at the Comelec also aims to clear doubts regarding the validity of his candidacy.

The National Capital Region (NCR) Quick Action Team, an organization formed by Duterte’s former classmates will accompany the mayor to Comelec.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate will also be present to support the mayor.

Laviña also asked the public to join the mayor tomorrow at Comelec.

“Join us if you are in the Intramuros area. We do not like though to cause any traffic inconvenience to the good people of Metro Manila whose choice is clearly and conclusively for genuine change under the Duterte-Cayetano tandem,” he said in the same report.

Lavinia also told Duterte’s supporters ❰❰ 1

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to be cautious of setting up campaign funds.

“Let us not put our candidate in peril.

The best way for everyone to help is to spend their own money to print their own shirts, put up their own tarpaulins in front of their homes or shops or in their vehicles, pay for their own transportation and snacks in attending Duterte meetings, forum or activities in their cities or communities, pay their own way to polling places, particularly OFWs who have to take leave from work and travel far to embassies and consular offices abroad,” he said.

“If you know or learn of anyone undertaking fund-raising schemes, please let us know so we can advise them. Of course, spies from the enemy camps can do this as well to destroy the good name of the mayor and sow disunity among our ranks. Worry not, we shall expose them,” he added. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

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PHL decries lack Disqualification cases of financial commitment vs. Poe affect surveys in draft Paris deal

BY MAVELLE DURIAN Philippine Canadian Inquirer

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY

According to Paje, predictable financing sources are critical for the implementation of initiatives like technology PARIS, FRANCE — With only a transfer and capacity-building few days left before the historic innovations to enable the counUN climate change conference try to adapt effectively to cliends, the Philippines has called mate change impacts. on other countries for failing At the same time, Paje said to include crucial adaptation actions that will limit global finance in the current draft of warming to below 1.5 degrees the Paris agreement.

Celsius, which now enjoy the “The Philippine delegation is support of 112 nations, must be seriously concerned about the fast-tracked and sustained defact that there is not enough spite the setback caused by the provision in the draft Paris failure of countries to agree on agreement that provides adap- the review of the 2-degrees Celtation finance for the develop- sius goal. ing countries most vulnerable Such review would have proto the adverse effects of climate vided scientific evidence for change,” Envithe necessity of ronment Secreincreasing mititary Ramon J.P. gation targets, he Paje said dursaid. ing a high-level There remains The Climate meeting held in no clear Vulnerable FoLe Bourget on language rum (CVF), an December 8. capturing the advocacy coMore than mobilization alition of 43 190 countries of adaptation middle income have embarked funds for and developing on two weeks countries small-island naof negotiations most tions led by the to hammer out vulnerable Philippines, has a new univerto climate pushed for the sal climate pact change. continued adopthat will specify tion of 1.5-detracks of finance, grees Celsius mitigation and goal even after adaptation acthe setback. tions from 2020 and beyond.

Paje also emphasized that Even after the first week of the climate crisis does not the talks have ended on Decem- spare anyone and will impact ber 5, there remains no clear all countries whether devellanguage capturing the mobili- oped, developing or least dezation of adaptation funds for veloped. countries most vulnerable to Thus, he said, it is important climate change. for the 195 territories particiPaje pointed out that there pating in the negotiations to was no reference to the amount work in solidarity in establishof finance needed for adapta- ing the loss and damage mechation in Article 6, which covers nism, increasing national mitithe element of finance in the gation actions and accelerating new climate deal. capacity development for adap“My delegation hereby fur- tation. ther intervenes to ensure clear The Philippine delegation, reference to a collective target through its lead negotiator Clifor adaptation,” the environ- mate Change Commissioner ment chief told the assembly.

Vice-Chair Emmanuel de GuzPaje said there should be a man, ensures that the initiacollective target for adaptation tives of the Philippines, on bewith a “solid quantitative goal,” half of the highly-vulnerable or a particular amount for ad- countries comprising the CVF, aptation finance that should be are strongly reflected in the reviewed every five years.

Paris agreement. ■

MANILA — Senator and 2016 presidential candidate Grace Poe said on Monday that the disqualification cases filed against her might affect her ratings in the recent survey of voters’ choice for president.

“My disqualification cases will be the major reason of affecting my survey standings, since the interest of people were focused on my cases during the past few months,” said Poe. She also said that with her disqualification cases, her plans for her countrymen were not given proper attention.

Due to her legal questions on her residency and citizenship, Poe’s voters were unsure if she would still run in the presidential polls.

“Despite of the cases filed against me, I will go on and continue my fight. The rule of law shall be respected and must be upheld. With the process of appeal, we believe that we have strong legal basis to stand on,”

GRACE POE / FACEBOOK

she said.

In the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, showed that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is knocking over Poe, who was he perennial leader in previous surveys, from the top spot.

The SWS poll conducted on

Nov. 26-28 nationwide, shows that 38 percent of the voters favors to Duterte, while Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binary tied with 21 percent each.

Former DILG Secretary Mar Roxas got 15 percent, while Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago got 4 percent. ■

EU vows continuing support to Mindanao and its peace process PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — European Union Ambassador Franz Jessen vowed continuing support to the Mindanao peace process.

“The European Union is impressed by the fact that the government’s and the MILF’s commitment to the peace process despite the delay of the adoption of the Bangsamoro Basic Law has not changed”, Ambassador Jessen said, “and inspired with this firm resolve to peace, the EU’s eagerness and readiness to support the calls for a negotiated political settlement in Mindanao remains”.

Meeting the press, the EU ambassador announced that he will visit Cotabato for the first time from 11 to 12 December www.canadianinquirer.net

2015 to meet with peace stakeholders and to express the EU’s continuous support.

Ambassador Jessen said that despite the challenges encountered, the EU has decided to increase its funding to support peace and development in Mindanao. The EU remains one of the biggest foreign donors providing aid to Mindanao through a comprehensive approach supporting the political settlement and supporting longer term development.

Mindanao is expected to benefit from two focal sectors identified in the EU development strategy for the Philippines (2014 to 2020) such as inclusive growth through access to sustainable energy and job creation, and strengthening the rule of law.

In parallel, the European

Union has launched a new programme in support of the peace process and is providing € 5.5 m (Php 275 million) to allow for a smooth transition and to create conditions for the establishment of the autonomous region of the Bangsamoro and the election of its government.

The programme will contribute to peace building and conflict mitigation, support the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro and strengthen local institutions and political processes.

The grants are being channelled through the Non Violent Peace Forces, NGO Fondation Suisse de Deminage, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, United Nations Development Programme and Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. ■

Philippine News

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DECEMBER 11, 2015

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Standing up against Islamophobia through solidarity

BY FELINE MIKEE Z. CERVANTES Philippines News Agency

man Development Reports, about 33 percent to 39 percent of Filipinos are biased against Muslims.

Furthermore, studies showed that the prejudice and stigma is also attributed to misleading and absence of media standard on reporting and portraying the Bangsamoro, limited inclusion and discussion of the Bangsamoro in the Philippine educational system, and weak understanding of Islam and its diversity, which in the end fuels and propagates Islamophobia.

the self and others — building a shared identity with the other as well as equality.

Equality does not translate to imMANILA — With the Nov. 13 Paris terposing Muslims to be like us, rather it rorist attacks and ensuing bombings is acknowledging our differences and further entrenching Islamophobia in uniqueness from each other. global affairs, deep-seated prejudice and “In our ‘pakikipagkapwa’, we enjoin bias against Muslims have become more everyone to accept and respect our Musmanifest. lim brothers and sisters as equals and The stigma lies in the pervasive assogive them the dignity that we afford to ciation of Muslims to acts of terrorism ourselves,” Telosa stressed, appreciating and violence, thereby creating a divide unity in solidarity. grounded on fear and causing unmer“Let us acknowledge that no matter ited resentment toward them.

Eradicating prejudice through how different we are, we share funda“Even if Islamophobia does not trans- “pakikipagkapwa” mental, universal experiences — such late into violence, it inflicts pain and “Deep-seated prejudices, attitudes as fear, love, suffering, passion, comleaves deep scars,” said Security Reform and views cannot be easily dispelled. mitment — as fellow Filipinos, as fellow Initiative Executive human beings. And Director Kathline through this, we form Telosa during the our shared idenStories of Bangsamtity. Through this, oro Forum on TuesIn our ‘pakikipagkapwa’, we enjoin everyone we start seeing each day at the Torre to accept and respect our Muslim brothers and other as ‘kapwa,’” she Venezia Hotel in sisters as equals and give them the dignity that added.

Quezon City. we afford to ourselves Stories of Telosa defines IsBangsamoro is a lamophobia as an multimedia effort by exaggerated fear or Batch 4 graduates of hostility toward Islam and Muslims that What we need is more education, ex- the Academy of Political Management is perpetrated by negative stereotypes posure to and engagement with our by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. resulting in bias, discrimination, mar- Muslim brothers and sisters,” argued It started in social media with a Faceginalization and exclusion from political Telosa. book page sharing culling stories from and civic life.

She mentioned that “forums such Filipino Muslims around the country The entrenchment of Islamophobia as this contribute in building the con- and culminated with a forum and photo leads to the Muslim Filipino’s exclusion sciousness of the rest of the nation on exhibit at the Torre Venezia Hotel. from jobs, education, housing and busi- the Bangsamoro history and culture.”

The initiative aims to help eradiness opportunities.

Telosa delved on the term “kapwa” cate prevailing prejudice against the According to the 2005 Philippine Hu- which she defined as the unity with Bangsamoro people. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Philippine News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

9

P-Noy ‘confused’ about Poe status, sees Comelec ‘logic’

BY NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer ROME — President Aquino on Thursday admitted being confused about the predicament of Sen. Grace Poe, but said he saw the “logic” in the decision of the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) Second Division to disqualify her from next year’s presidential election.

Speaking to reporters before he left for Manila on Thursday afternoon (Friday night in Manila), President Aquino said he had read the Comelec Second Division’s 34-page decision three times but he was “still not clear on some points.”

“How do I say this? Perhaps if she was clearer, Senator Poe, on what she wanted to do [before] maybe there won’t be this talk from the start. What does that mean, right? I will tell you where the [points of ] confusion here are,” Mr. Aquino said, holding a dog-eared copy of the Second Division’s decision with some lines highlighted in green.

The Comelec Second Division voted 3-0 to cancel Poe’s certificate of candidacy on Dec. 1, granting the petition by former Government Service Insurance System lawyer Estrella Elamparo, who alleged that the senator was not a natural-born Filipino and did not meet the 10year residency requirement for presidential candidates.

Poe said she would appeal the decision to the full election commission.

Face value

Mr. Aquino said that when he was pursuing Poe to be the vice presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, the senator told him that her lawyers “had studied the matter and they were ready to answer any and all questions” about her citizenship.

“I took it at face value,” Mr. Aquino said.

The President said that when he and Poe discussed the question of her citizenship and residency, “it wasn’t as detailed as it was presented” in the Second Division’s decision, such as the numerous trips she made to the Philippines and back to the United States in 2009.

Mr. Aquino was asked if he was not glad that Poe rejected his invitation and that the administration party went for its second choice, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo?

“Well, I really like Leni Robredo as a candidate. I like the things that she’s been saying. She is of the same fold without an iota of divergence,” Mr. Aquino replied.

The support for Roxas and Robredo “is more total … as opposed to we support you 85 percent or 90 percent. I have more confidence to say that the present lineup I can fully support them without

TONY LEACHON / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

an iota of doubt or uncertainty,” he said.

“I think I see the logic in what is being said here,” Mr. Aquino said, referring to the Comelec Second Division’s decision.

“There are actions that seemed you are a Philippine citizen, then there are actions that seemed like you are an American citizen when you used your (US) passport because that was in 2009, when you had several trips,” he said.

Numerous trips to US

US passport

Then there was the matter of Poe using her US passport “at a time when she

took her oath in the Philippines,” he said.

The President’s confusion does not end there. He said he wondered if and when Poe used her dual citizenship and her US passport.

“In the American oath [of allegiance] you said, all allegiance and fidelity. So is that still valid at that time. But then again in 2010, I appointed her and she was supposed to have renounced her [US] citizenship, but there was an action with the [American] consul a year after, according to this [Comelec Second Division] document,” he said.

Mr. Aquino said he had repeatedly asked Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, Justice Secretary Benjamin Caguioa and other top government lawyers to brief him on the question of Poe’s citizenship.

“We’ve gone back and forth on the different points and I still ask them many questions,” he said.

The President said, however, that there were “several avenues” Poe could take, including going to the Supreme Court, to resolve her citizenship problem. ■

English Now!

Mr. Aquino said he was also surprised at the number of trips Poe made to the United States.

“I was surprised at the number of trips in 2009. But perhaps the explanation there was, we were all cleaning up because we would be living in the Philippines permanently—I don’t know ….

There’s clarity and, at the same time, it leads to so many more questions,” he said.

Among the points in the decision noted by the President was the Bureau of Immigration, through then Commissioner Alipio Fernandez Jr., granting Poe’s petition on July 18, 2006, for reacquisition of Philippine citizenship where it said she was a “former citizen of the Republic of the Philippines being born to Filipino parents and is presumed to be a natural-born Philippine citizen.”

Mr. Aquino said that in 2006, it appeared that Poe’s citizenship was clear.

“But since Senator Poe is a foundling and who her parents are have not been established, how do you establish that her parents are Filipino? I think that has not been proven. So you ask, was the [immigration bureau’s] appreciation at that time correct? Was it wrong? Questions like this worsen the situation,” Mr. Aquino said.

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10

Philippine News

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Montero driver in QC mishap blames ‘sudden acceleration’

BY ERIKA SAULER Philippine Daily Inquirer A WOMAN was rushed to the hospital after the companyowned Mitsubishi Montero Sport she was driving slammed into a concrete barrier of the Skyway project on Araneta Avenue in Barangay Tatalon, Quezon City, early Saturday morning.

Cathleen Margareth Sy, a resident of Sto. Domingo Street, San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City, sustained head injuries and was brought to Delos Santos Medical Center, her father said in a radio interview.

According to the victim’s father, Sy told him that the Montero suddenly accelerated and this caused her to lose control.

The black sport utility vehicle (SUV) 2013 model (WQI-

210) is registered to Megaworld Corp. in Makati City, according to a report by Chief Insp. Manolo Rance Refugia, commander of the Quezon City Police District’s Traffic Sector 4.

The report described the incident as a “self-accident” that happened around 6 a.m. as Sy was driving on Araneta coming from Aurora Boulevard and heading toward Quezon Avenue.

The vehicle “accidentally hit/ bumped the barrier,’’ it said.

Several complaints have been reported about the Mitsubishi Montero’s sudden unintended acceleration (SUA), which has lately fanned discussion on social media and calls for an investigation.

Since 2011, the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group recorded at least 23 SUA incidents involving Montero

SUVs from motorists in Metro Manila, Cavite, Antipolo City, Batangas, Tacloban City and Iloilo City, said Sen. Koko Pimentel in a statement calling for a Senate inquiry.

But in a briefing last week, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) stood pat on its claim that its Montero SUV does not have any design, mechanical nor electronic defect. The company cited the results of tests conducted by experts in the Philippines and from Japan.

“SUA is not possible on the Montero Sport from a technical viewpoint. There are safety check systems on the Montero Sport electronics which will eventually allow the Montero Sport to go to a safe mode in case sensors fail,” said MMPC first vice president Froilan Dytianquin. ■

2016 budget to improve lives of 100-M Filipinos, says Albano PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — Isabela Rep. Rodolfo T. Albano III said on Wednesday the scheduled ratification of the bicameral conference committee report on the PhP3.002trillion national budget for 2016 is a solid proof of the legislative branch’s commitment to pass on time a national budget aimed at improving the quality of life of Filipinos.

Albano said joint House and Senate committees have been coordinating with the Executive department in working towards a feasible budget measure anchored on poverty reduction and expansion of economic growth.

“The passing of the 2016 budget measure on time averts the possibility of the government running on a reenacted 2015 budget,” Albano, House contingent head for the Minority Bloc of the Commission on Appointments, said.

Albano made the statement as House Majority Leader and Mandaluyong Rep. Neptali Gon-

ANTON ZELENOV / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

zales Jr. confirmed that members of the bicameral conference committee on the budget signed the bicameral conference committee report after its members finished deliberations and agreed on the final version of the 2016 budget bill Tuesday.

Gonzales said the ratification by the Senate and the House, respectively, of the budget measure will take place next week.

Albano said Congress is committed to enact the budget measure and have it signed into law by the President before the

yearend to pave the way and enable the next administration to pursue the gains of the present administration and propel the country to a higher level of growth and prosperity.

“We are confident that the proposed 2016 spending program’s “Paggugol na Matuwid: Saligan ng Tuloy-Tuloy na PagUnlad” will help improve the quality of life of the Filipino people, in general, and alleviate the incidence of poverty among marginalized and poor sectors,” Albano said. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

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Pope Francis hopes for ‘stable and lasting peace’ in Mindanao

BY KATHERINE PADILLA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — Pope Francis has expressed desire for the continuation of peace process in Mindanao during the Pope’s meeting with President Benigno Aquino III at the Apostolic Palace last Friday.

“Special reference was made to the peace process in Mindanao, with the hope that commitment from the Parties may guarantee stable and lasting peace to the region,” read the statement released by the Holy See. The peace process in Mindanao and the rebuilding of Yolanda-stricken areas in the South were among the topics of the dialogue between the Pope and the president, the Manila Bulletin reported.

The Pope and Pres. Aquino also talked about the Catholic Church’s influence in the lives of Filipinos.

After his meeting with the Pope, the president convened with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and talked about peace process and poverty.

Pres. Aquino said that the

Vatican considers the country as an “example” of peace negotiation with Muslim extremist groups and how extremism threatens the world.

He added that the on-going peace process in Mindanao could be “useful to others to build upon as a response to the radicalization that is happening.”

The meeting with the Pope and Pres. Aquino ended with exchange of tokens. The Pope gave the country of a copy of Laudato Si’, the Pope’s second encyclical and bronze sculpture. He received a Philippinemade porcelain tea set in return.

“The visit of the President here with the Holy Father is very significant. It shows that he is very grateful, the Filipinos are very grateful for the visit of Holy Father in Manila,” Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See Mercedes Tuason was quoted as saying in a Manila Bulletin report.

“We hope for more diplomatic engagements between the Philippines and Vatican. And we thank the President especially for coming here to show the affection that we have,” she added. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

11

Amnesty Int’l raises red flags on Duterte

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL on Monday raised red flags about the human rights record of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and expressed alarm at the public’s fascination with his notoriety for using triggerhappy solutions to crime.

The London-based nongovernment organization, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977, said that of the five presidential aspirants, it had been monitoring “for the longest time” the activities of Duterte, who has emerged as a frontrunner in opinion polls, particularly on persistent rumors of his links to the vigilante “Davao Death Squad.”

One of the mayor’s recent pronouncements that has particularly distressed the human rights group was when he said he intended to revive the death penalty and “to execute it on a weekly basis,” said Amnesty International Philippines (AIP) chair Ritz Lee Santos III. “There are no formal charges in court, but based on the records of the Commission on Human Rights, which we also monitor, there are allegations of human rights violations against him,” he said.

The militant Karapatan, one of the most vocal rights groups in the Philippines, has been unusually silent on alleged vigilante killings in Davao City.

“It’s general knowledge, and we don’t agree with it. But it’s hard when there’s no documentation. We should be able to substantiate any allegations,” said Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general. “No one is coming forward,” she told the Inquirer.

Under Duterte’s helm as mayor, congressman and vice mayor, Davao City has risen in the past two decades to become

one of the world’s safest cities, but at the cost of human rights violations purportedly with the mayor’s blessing.

“It’s alarming,” said AIP campaigner Wilnor Papa.

“I understand why there’s a feeling of insecurity and feeling of desperation because of the state of crime. But there are other solutions besides ‘kill the criminal,’” he said.

Santos clarified that the group would not campaign against Duterte, and that it had no intention of supporting any of the other candidates.

“This is not specific to the person, but we want to call the people’s attention to the need for education and respect for human rights,” he said.

“They have to understand that the right to life is inviolable and should not be abused at any opportunity. People ought to be educated that human rights is nonnegotiable,” Santos said.

Beyond the group’s alarm at Duterte’s “shotgun policies,” he said, “we are more alarmed about how the public has responded, and how the public believes a firm hand is needed in addressing crime.”

“Killing should not be made part of a bigger problem,” he said.

Papa said Duterte’s alarming stance on human rights was not new to Amnesty International, which had released reports on the activities of the Davao Death Squad, a notorious group of vigilantes targeting criminals or crime suspects.

“In the course of Amnesty International’s work, we have had the opportunity to call his attention on some allegations on his pronouncements that are somehow human rights violations,” Santos said.

Challenge to candidates

On Monday, the organization issued a five-point challenge to compel the five presidential

Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte shows his Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) during his visit at the Commission on Elections Central Office in Intramuros, Manila. Behind him is vice presidential candidate Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

aspirants to make public commitments on human rights if elected in May 2016.

But none of the candidates sent any response to the organization’s letters, Santos said.

Amnesty International is asking the candidates to pledge the following in their first 100 days in office: End extrajudicial executions, unlawful arrests, secret detention, enforced disappearances, torture and other ill treatment, and prevent the use of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism to justify human rights violations.

Establish control and accountability over the military, the police and other statesponsored forces, and ensure witness protection.

Ensure the safe and voluntary return of the displaced, and embed human rights protection in the peace process.

Make human rights a priority integrated across government

www.canadianinquirer.net

bodies.

Ratify key treaties on human rights and international humanitarian law.

Aquino record ‘dismal’

In 2010, Amnesty International issued a similar challenge to the incoming administration of President Aquino.

But since then, the group has given a “dismal” rating to the administration’s approach to such issues as extrajudicial executions, unlawful arrests, secret detention, enforced disappearances and torture.

“President Aquino has failed to issue an executive order showing his commitment to ending enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions,” Santos said.

He said there was little progress in exacting accountability from state forces like the military and the police committing human rights transgressions.

“Not one perpetrator of tor-

ture had been punished,” he said.

Santos said the Aquino administration had also failed to review the Witness Protection Program, and to revoke Executive Order No. 546 directing the police to support the military in counterinsurgency work.

“As in our 2010 recommendations, these are still included in our five-point human rights agenda for 2016,” he said.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate, urged Amnesty people to visit Davao City.

“Davao is a city where the rights of people are respected.

Where women, children, Christians, Muslims and all peaceloving people live together in a safe, humane and equitable environment. This is the mark of Duterte leadership,” he said.

“What is important to Mayor Duterte is to ensure that peace loving people are safe in their homes, safe in the streets. We want people from all religions, beliefs, ideologies to live together in a peaceful and fair environment.”

In Angeles City Monday, former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who is running for senator in the administration ticket, vowed to fight Duterte.

“If I have to spend the rest of my life advocating for the opposite of what Mayor Duterte stands for, I will do that even if that’s the only thing I will do,” De Lima told the Inquirer when asked for reactions to Duterte’s topping the latest nationwide survey on presidential candidates.

“We’re under a system of rule of law. We are a democratic and civilized society and it is necessary that we follow a process in going after criminals,” she said. ■ With reports from Jaymee T. Gamil, Nancy C. Carvajal and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon

12

Philippine News

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Pemberton to appeal Olongapo court’s verdict

BY KATHERINE PADILLA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton who was found guilty of homicide over the killing of Filipino transgender woman Jeffrey “Jennifer” Laude will appeal the Olongapo court’s verdict before the Court of Appeals.

“We believe that Pemberton will be acquitted eventually, if not by the Court of Appeals then by the Supreme Court,” Rowena Flores, Pemberton’s lead counsel was quoted as saying in a Philippine Star report.

Pemberton’s defense has 15 days to appeal the verdict, said Flores.

The American serviceman

was indicted of murder charges but was convicted of homicide due to the failure of the prosecution to prove that there was an abuse of superior strength from Pemberton. The court also recognized that Pemberton was drunk when he committed the crime.

Flores said that the defense expected an acquittal from the court.

“If only the court based its decision solely on evidence, then it should have been an acquittal. But we feared that because of the massive pressure on this case, the judge would give in,” she said in the same report.

Flores added that the defense would prove before the CA that Judge Roline Jinez-Jabalde of Olangapo City RTC Branch

FILE PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK

74 is guilty of grave abuse of discretion when she handed a guilty verdict to Pemberton despite reasonable doubt.

According to Flores, the

court failed to identify the third DNA source found in the neck of Laude. The third DNA would have strengthened the defense’s theory that another per-

son might have killed Laude.

The defense argued that Pemberton left the motel where’s Laude was found when the latter was still breathing.

“There was opportunity for anybody within those 30 minutes after Pemberton left to go inside the room and kill Laude.

There was that possibility that someone else went inside the room,” Flores said in the same report.

Flores said that the issues raised by the defense are proof that there was a reasonable doubt in the case.

Pemberton is serving a prison sentence of six to twelve years. He was also mandated by the court to pay the family of Laude of P 4.5 million for punitive damages. ■

Furor over... echoed by a number of cabinet ministers, including Melanie Joly, Stephane Dion and John McCallum.

“And they, by the way, sided pretty clearly against the politics of fear and division in our election here.”

It was far softer than the condemnation that rained down upon Trump within his own country — even from quarters not generally inclined to weigh in on a Republican primary discussion.

The Republicans’ top figure in Congress, Paul Ryan, said he’d break his no-interference rule to castigate comments he called antithetical to American values and to conservative principles.

But the White House demanded deeper repudiation.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama insisted that Republicans pledge to oppose Trump should he become the nominee — a significant step farther than any have taken.

“What Donald Trump said yesterday disqualifies him from serving as president,” said Obama spokesman Josh Earnest. “And any Republican who’s too fearful of the Republican base to admit it has no business serving as president either...

“It’s morally reprehensible.

It runs counter to the Constitution. And it has consequences ❰❰ 1

A KATZ / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

for our national security.”

The tone of U.S. media coverage also appears to have shifted.

News organizations have frequently derided Trump as a buffoonish sideshow in the serious process of picking a president. They’re suddenly comparing him to things far more sinister than a clown.

That change was illustrated on the front page of the Philadelphia Daily News: “The New Furor,” was its lead headline under an unflatteringly timed photo of Trump with an extended arm.

An interviewer on MSNBC told him: “There’s a number of Americans you’re really scaring

right now, including me.”

Another interviewer on CNN put it more bluntly: “Leaders from your own party (are) saying this is un-American and extreme and that it makes you a fascist. How do you respond?”

This was the day after Trump read out a statement on his new policy to a partisan crowd. He received cheers throughout a caustic speech where he railed against the media in the back of the room as “absolute scum.”

The Huffington Post announced its own policy change.

Trump was no longer to be treated as a joke. The website had covered Trump in its enwww.canadianinquirer.net

tertainment section since the summer.

Now the primaries are less than two months away. Trump remains in first place in the Republican polls. And he’s supplemented his promise to deport 11 million mostly Hispanic illegal migrants with a policy aimed at Muslims.

It would be the United States’ first culture-based entry ban in approximately seven decades, since the repeal of Asian-exclusion laws. The comic relief is over, the site founder declared. “(Trump’s campaign has) morphed into something else: an ugly and dangerous force

in American politics,” Arianna Huffington wrote in a post.

“So we will no longer be covering his campaign in Entertainment...The ‘can you believe he said that?’ novelty has curdled and congealed into something repellent and threatening.”

Like an inflatable punching bag, though, Trump has repeatedly bounced back from controversy and defied the disdain of opinion elites. He brushed off the concerns of interviewers Tuesday.

When pressed about how his plan would work — American passports do not have a religious affiliation stamped on them — Trump explained that border guards would ask a question.

“They would say, ‘Are you Muslim?’”s Trump told MSNBC. If travellers answer yes, he said, they’d be banned.

Fellow Republicans denounced him with varying degrees of acerbity. Jeb Bush called him unhinged, Sen. Lindsey Graham called him a racebaiting, xenophobic bigot, but some presidential candidates higher up in the polls, like Sen. Ted Cruz, distanced themselves more cautiously.

None have said they’d oppose him, should he win their party’s nomination. ■ With files from Melanie Marquis in Ottawa

Philippine News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

13

Duterte tops SWS poll Mayor’s surge seen in all classes, areas

BY NANCY C. CARVAJAL Philippine Daily Inquirer DAVAO CITY Mayor Rodrigo Duterte topped a nationwide survey that Social Weather Stations (SWS) conducted in the last week of November, emerging as the No. 1 choice of voters not only from all socioeconomic classes but also from all geographic areas.

Nationwide, Duterte was the choice of 38 percent of voters, giving him a double-digit lead over Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay, who each got 21 percent. Former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas received 15 percent and Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago got 4 percent. Only 1 percent of the voters were undecided.

Among the upper and middle classes (ABC), the tough-talking Duterte got a commanding lead of 62 percent. In far second was Binay with 16 percent, followed by erstwhile front-runner Poe with 13 percent.

Roxas, the Aquino administration’s presidential candidate, got just 6 percent and Santiago, 1 percent.

SWS ran the survey on Nov. 26-28, or five to six days after Duterte finally declared his run for the presidency and two days before PDP-Laban proclaimed him its presidential candidate for the May 2016 general elections.

With 1,200 respondents, the survey, commissioned by a Davao-based businessman, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the national level and plus or minus 6 percentage points at the regional level. Each region had 300 respondents.

The respondents were asked in Filipino: “With Rodrigo Duterte on this list as a substitute candidate for President, who would you most likely vote for President if the elections were held today?”

In the nationwide survey conducted

by SWS in September, Duterte placed fourth, the choice of only 11 percent of registered voters from a list of 12 names.

The poll was topped by Poe, who obtained 26 percent followed by Binay with 24 percent and Roxas, 20 percent.

lack funds and I do not like asking for campaign funds.”

Duterte said his supporters, who had been with him every time he ran for a local office, might go bankrupt because of the huge campaign expenses involved in the presidential campaign.

“I do not like asking for campaign funds. My Davao supporters might go bankrupt if they will keep on supporting me because millions (of pesos) is needed

for the national campaign,” he said.

Vice presidential race

In the race for the second highest elective post in the country, Sen. Francis Escudero, Poe’s running mate, was leading with 30 percent, followed by Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos with 24 percent.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate, came in third, getting 21

Astonished

The mayor said he was astonished by the surge in his ratings.

“I am surprised and awed by the result, but I am thankful for accepting me with all my faults and some virtues.

If elected I can assure you that I will be true to my oath of office and fulfill my promises. Thank you,” Duterte told the INQUIRER in a telephone interview.

Asked how he intended to sustain his lead until Election Day, he said: “I will hide first because at this time I cannot go around the country because I still www.canadianinquirer.net

percent. But in Mindanao, Cayetano was No. 1 with 34 percent, followed by Escudero, 26 percent, and Marcos, 15 percent.

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo, Roxas’ running mate, was fourth in the nationwide survey with 12 percent. She was followed by Sen. Gringo Honasan, Binay’s running mate, with 6 percent. ❱❱ PAGE 14 Duterte tops

Philippine News

14

DECEMBER 11, 2015

Binay camp protests asset seizure during poll period

Duterte tops... ❰❰ 13

percent.

In last place was Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who received just 5

Focus on issues

The camp of Roxas, the Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer, dismissed the results of the privately commissioned SWS survey.

“Let us not give credence to every survey that is being floated nowadays. Every day, there’s a new survey. Let us instead focus on the discussion of important issues like governance,” LP spokesperson Edgar Erice said.

Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez, spokesperson for the administration’s Team Daang Matuwid coalition, said he had not yet seen the survey, and thus, had “no idea when it was conducted, how many respondents were interviewed, and where it was done.”

“I will say though that nine months ago, [Roxas] was at 4 percent, and it is evident from all recent surveys, including this one, that his numbers have gone up significantly since then,” he said.

Gutierrez said he believed Roxas would continue to improve his numbers “as he continues to reach out to more Filipinos and to articulate his message of path (straight governance).”

Snapshots of sentiments

Poe’s spokesperson sounded unconcerned by the fall in the senator’s survey numbers, suggesting that there was plenty of time for the public pulse to change.

“Surveys are snapshots of sentiments of people in a given time frame. People’s sentiments change depending on what message they hear,” said Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian.

He said Poe’s campaign was determined to woo the public to her side by focusing on her message.

“Our resolve is to intensify and amplify the message of Senator Poe—her message of inclusive growth and good governance. We believe that giving focus to this will convert more people into supporting her,” Gatchalian said.

Santiago was not available for comment, according to her liaison officer.

FRIDAY

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer

Rodrigo Duterte at the Commission on Elections Central Office in Intramuros to affirm signed Certificate of Candidacy and Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance issued by PDP-Laban.

RODY DUTERTE / FACEBOOK

Answered prayers

Asked to comment about the results of the survey, Cayetano said: “Answered prayers. There can be miracles if you believed many believers of Duterte prayed for his candidacy.”

He said there was “a lot of work to be done, but we are not changing strategy, lots of communication to show his authenticity and his desire to transform the country and improve peace and order.”

Duterte and Cayetano are running on a platform of anticriminality, corruption, federalism and other hot-button issues, like the need to address contractualization.

Almost half of Metro

Among the regions, Duterte got close to half of Metro Manila (48 percent). A far second was Poe with 22 percent, followed by Binay, a former longtime mayor of Makati City, with 18 percent.

Roxas and Santiago garnered single-digit ratings in Metro Manila, with 7 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

Mindanao, Visayas

In Mindanao, Duterte’s bailiwick, the mayor was the choice of 50 percent of the voters. Binay got 18 percent; Roxas, 16 percent; Poe, 13 percent; and Santiago, 2 percent.

In the Visayas, Duterte received 44 percent, more than

double the 20 percent of Roxas, who has roots in Roxas City in Capiz province. Poe came in third with 16 percent, followed

by Binay with 14 percent. Santiago, who comes from Iloilo province, was last with 5 percent.

Tie in rest of Luzon

In the rest of Luzon (Metro Manila excluded), Duterte, Binay and Poe were in a statistical tie with 26 percent, 27 percent and 28 percent, respectively, as the margin of error for the region was 6 percentage points.

Fourteen percent of the respondents said they would vote for Roxas and 5 percent for Santiago.

In Classes D and E, Duterte was clearly ahead with 37 percent and 32 percent, respectively.

Binay got 21 percent in Class D and 26 percent in Class E. Poe got 22 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Roxas obtained 15 percent in Class D and 17 percent in Class E. It was 4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, for Santiago.

SWS declined to comment on the veracity of the survey, a copy of which was obtained by the INQUIRER. “We cannot comment on something that is not on our website and I have not seen,” Leo Laroza, director for survey data library at SWS, told the INQUIRER by phone. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

THE CAMP of Vice President Jejomar Binay has cried foul over the latest effort of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to seize his assets in spite of a legal prohibition during the election period.

“It looks like the Vice President’s enemies will not stop pressuring him and making life difficult for him and his family,” Binay’s spokesperson for political concerns Rico Quicho said in a statement on Sunday.

Quicho said the AMLC filed a petition for civil forfeiture on Nov. 12 against Binay, his son, dismissed Makati Mayor Junjun Binay, and 62 other individuals and corporations as part of the agency’s investigation into the Binays’ alleged hidden wealth amassed through anomalous government deals.

The AMLC accused the Binays of stashing away billions of pesos in 242 bank accounts The civil forfeiture petition came one day after the lapse of the original six-month freeze order on the Binays’ assets.

On the strength of the AMLC petition, the Manila Regional Trial Court issued a 20-day Provisional Asset Protection Order on Nov. 13 on several accounts, including one under Vice President Binay’s name, Quicho said.

“Even if there’s no basis and it’s against the law, the AMLC has again petitioned the court for an asset protection order” against the assets of the Binays and their associates, Quicho said.

He noted, however, that this time the AMLC had asked the Manila court to freeze only one Binay account with a deposit of P1.7 million, “an admission that it had no solid evidence against the Vice President.”

Quicho said the AMLC’s petition was a blatant violation of Republic Act No. 1379, which prohibits the filing of civil forfeiture cases against public officials “within one year before a general election or within three months before a special election.”

He said the prohibition was explicitly provided for in the law to deter political harassment.

“This is a clear abuse of authority on the part of the AMLC, whose only aim is to destroy the reputation of a political adversary of the administration,” the spokesperson said.

“Besides the fact that there’s no basis and evidence, Vice President Binay has always said that agencies of government are being used against him through demolition by perception,” Quicho said, adding that this included his son’s suspension from office. ■

SEN. MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO / FACEBOOK

Philippine News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

15

QC judge stops DOTC new permits for Uber, GrabCar

BY ERIKA SAULER Philippine Daily Inquirer A QUEZON City court has ordered a 20-day suspension of the implementation of a Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) order permitting the app-based ride-sharing companies Uber and GrabCar to operate in Metro Manila.

Judge Santiago Arenas of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 217 issued the 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) in connection with the petition filed by Stop and Go, a coalition of taxi operators and drivers. The court blocked the DOTC from accepting further applications of app-enabled transport services, pending its decision after it hears on Dec. 8 the Stop and Go petition to ban them in the capital.

“There is extreme urgency to issue a temporary restraining order to the petitioner to prevent grave and irreparable injury and damages because of their claim that they suffer less or low incomes and earnings is found to be persuasive,” said the court.

Judge Arenas clarified that the TROdoes not apply to the existing operations of Uber and GrabCar. The TRO applies only to future applications and not the current operations of Uber and GrabCar, Arenas said.

“How can I include Uber and Grab, they are not impleaded as a party,” Arenas told the INQUIRER as he lamented the negative comments he received on social media.

“The TRO only seeks to restrain the government offices not to accept applications in the meantime,” Arenas said.

“No further implementation of the order and circulars because their legality is being taken up in court,” he said.

Judge Santiago Arenas of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 217 issued the 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) in connection with the petition filed by Stop and Go, a coalition of taxi operators and drivers. The court blocked the DOTC from accepting further applications of app-enabled transport services, pending its decision after it hears on Dec. 8 the Stop and Go petition to ban them in the capital.

PHOTOPHILIA / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The court order also does not 27, also suspended the acceptThe Stop and Go petition affect Uber and GrabCar op- ing, processing and approval of claimed that Uber and GrabCar erations in Cebu, the country’s TNVS applications. were given special treatment to second largest city, where the Stop and Go president Jun operate without a franchise. government has allowed Uber Magno, who received the court “The income of taxi drivers to operate 10 vehicles to help order on Thursday, hailed the was slashed by up to 50 percent meet public transport demand TRO as an “initial victory.” because of the app-based transduring the Christmas season.

“We just want the process port, which does not follow The TRO covtariffs imposed ers the DOTC by the governorder which crement,” Magno ated the categosaid. ries transporThe subject of the case, as far as I About 660,000 tation network know, is TNVS. It has to be clarified taxis ply their company (TNC) with the court which aspects of trade in Metfor the technolthe [department order] are being ro Manila, the ogy provider and restrained. As you said, there are Asian Developtransportation other denominations included in the ment Bank estinetwork vehicle [order], mated in 2010. service (TNVS) Magno said for the unit opStop and Go was erators. only questionThe court order also sus- to be equal,” Magno said. He ing the operations of Uber and pended the related guidelines questioned the “unlimited” ap- GrabCar. “If there are compliissued by the Land Transpor- plications for TNVS while there cations in the department ortation Franchising and Regula- is a moratorium on issuance of der, the DOTC or the solicitor tory Board (LTFRB). franchises for other public util- general can clarify it with the The court order, dated Nov. ity vehicles. court,” he said.

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Transport Secretary Joseph Abaya said he had first to see a copy of the TRO and its contents before he could comment.

LTFRB Chair Winston Ginez yesterday said the board had not yet received the court order.

“The subject of the case, as far as I know, is TNVS. It has to be clarified with the court which aspects of the [department order] are being restrained. As you said, there are other denominations included in the [order],” Ginez said.

The department order also covers the transport denominations of rapid bus transit, airport bus and premium taxi.

Ginez said the LTFRB would comply with the court order and would request the Office of the Solicitor General to study the available legal remedies.

On the issue of “unlimited” TNVS, Ginez said it was a policy issue as the moratorium was limited to existing transport denominations while the TNCs and TNVS were a new innovation.

As of Nov. 9, the LTFRB has received 7,304 TNVS applications. Of the total, 5,660 are with Uber while 1,644 are with GrabCar. In a statement, Uber said the company was aware of the court decision and would study its implications on their partner vehicles.

“Uber was not a party to the proceedings that resulted in the court’s decision and plans to coordinate closely with the DOTC and LTFRB,” it said.

The Philippines was the first country to regulate these types of app-based services, to help make up for inadequate mass transport in Manila, Southeast Asia’s second most congested city after Jakarta, according to research firm Numbeo. ■

Opinion

16

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

PUBLIC LIVES

Four models of political leadership

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer GOVERNANCE IN the modern world has become anything but simple. The more economies are interconnected, the harder it is to predict and control their outcomes. Worsening inequality among and within nations produces problems that are intractable.

Because economic growth can now be achieved without necessarily creating jobs for the many, or improving public services, governments are increasingly unable to invoke sheer growth rates to justify their continued stay in office.

The irony of it all is that simplistic political discourse persists everywhere, offering drastic solutions that substitute strong rhetoric for hardnosed analysis. Politicians like the garrulous Donald Trump in the United States are the popular purveyors of such talk. They say things ordinary people are too timid to express. They are popular because they serve as megaphones for the public’s collective frustrations. They occupy the center stage of politics because every comment they make sparks controversy.

Beside Trump, the rest of America’s politicians seem like wooden figures bereft of commonsense.

But, while politicians are wont to The patron. This quintessential sense, tough-talking demeanor. The occasionally engage in hyperbole to Filipino politician finds a perfect paternalism of the patron toward his draw public attention, it is the re- niche in social structures marked by constituents is there, but in addition sponsibility of voters to think hard of sharp inequality and mass poverty. to personalized power, the strongman what they are actually being offered He promises to take care of everyone, is distinguished by a readiness to apin relation to what the nation needs. particularly the poor. He demands ply direct force to punish troublemakPhilippine politics shares many simi- unconditional loyalty from his fol- ers and teach their ilk a lesson. The larities with that of the United States. lowers in return for a pledge of abid- strongman is a figure of awe as much But, given the tenacity of a patron- ing support for all their needs. He as he is an object of fear. His language client culture in our society, our po- tells them: “Walang iwanan” (rough is blunt; he does not indulge in courlitical models are different. translation: No one will be left be- teous platitudes. He takes the victims In general, Philippine politics to- hind). It is a pact of mutual support of power and of criminal abuse unday offers us four basic models of that, while resonating the rules of der his wing, and swears they will get leadership: the patron, the strong- Filipino friendship, is, in fact, a signi- justice by his own hands. He, too, fits man, the caregiver, a society characterand the manager.

The irony of it all is that simplistic political discourse persists ized by extremes of Readers may note everywhere, offering drastic solutions that substitute strong power and privilege. that in previous esHe likes to mock the rhetoric for hard-nosed analysis. says, I have used pretentiousness of slightly different terms to designate fier for a paternalistic relationship. the elite and the institutions they repthe same clusters of traits. These are The patron projects himself as the resent by the deliberate vulgarity and “ideal types” in Max Weber’s sense supreme provider. Government, to crudeness of his language. In that way, of the term—meaning, each one is him, is a personal turf—a family duty he projects himself as the ultimate a composite of traits not necessar- he bequeaths to his children and kin. weapon of the weak. ily to be found in one actual person. He is accustomed to taking liberties The caregiver. This is a role that Indeed, a politician may project el- with the powers of his office and the is uniquely drawn from the tender ements drawn from the different finances of government. He feels per- traits of our culture. This is the loving models. But, as “ideal types,” they sonally betrayed when he is charged Mother Mary, the self-sacrificing Filserve as a heuristic device by which with corruption. Many of our tradi- ipino “Ate,” the protective Tandang a political analyst may discern pat- tional politicians fit into this model Sora, and the fearless heroine Gabriterns in the empirical world. We can of leadership. ela Silang rolled into one. Best played classify politicians according to the The strongman. This is a varia- by women, the caregiver projects style and vocabulary by which they tion of the patron type, and is distin- moral integrity and compassion as present themselves. guished by the projection of a no-non- her defining qualities. Paradoxically,

her political effectiveness rests on an explicit rejection of everything that is political. To do that, she employs a moralistic language that elevates political inexperience to the level of a virtue, and privileges kindness over competence as a pillar of governance.

The manager. And lastly, there’s the manager, a figure seldom seen in Philippine politics, but who, in view of global complexity, could well become the face of the modern statesman. More comfortable at sorting out systems than with pleasing people, the manager instantly suffers from a strained access to voters. He comes out cold and uncaring, ready with statistics but blind to people’s needs. It is the nation as an entity that he cares about and constantly thinks about, as he charts its preferred path in a world system filled with uncertainty. That is what a modern president should be doing. But, first, he has to get elected, and that, probably, is the biggest challenge a leader-manager has to face.

It’s not difficult to guess who among the current crop of presidential candidates falls under which category.

Whatever our choices might be, what is important is that they are informed by an unflinching view of what our country needs at this time. ■

AT LARGE

Not just between man and whale

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer TOGETHER WITH the poor and people with disability, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Cardinal Tagle will “push open” the Holy Door of the Manila Cathedral on Dec. 9, Wednesday, to signal the start of the archdiocese’s observance of the Jubilee of Mercy.

The Jubilee is an “extraordinary” one that begins and ends on two great and solemn feasts of the Catholic Church: Dec. 8, 2015, to Nov. 20, 2016, the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of Christ the King, respectively.

The Jubilee of Mercy is, in the words of Pope Francis, “a special time for the Church, a time when the witness [to mercy] of believers might grow stronger and more effective.”

This is the reason Cardinal Tagle chose to “push open” the Manila Cathedral doors, enjoining the faithful not only to enter through the Holy Doors of cathedrals and basilicas but also to go through “Doors of Charity” for the homeless, the poor, the imprisoned and the sick.

Devotees can gain indulgences by passing through the Holy Door and making pilgrimages in Jubi-

lee Churches. According to Church teaching, “an indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishments due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven.”

In the Archdiocese of Manila, four other churches have been designated Jubilee Churches, aside from the Manila Cathedral. The churches and the date of their Holy Door opening are: National Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Makati City (Dec. 11, 3 p.m.); Santuario de Santo Cristo, San Juan City (Dec. 12, 5:30 p.m.); Archdiocesan Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Mandaluyong City (Dec. 13, 5:30 p.m.); and Our Lady of Sorrows Parish Church, Pasay City (Dec. 13, 5:30 p.m.). *** STUDENTS know “Moby Dick” as an American classic, the definitive novel on whaling, a tale of obsession and adventure, a meditation on revenge, on humanity’s place in creation, among all the other creatures who share this planet.

What not many people know is that, despite the book’s place in the pantheon of world literature, its author, Herman-Melville, died in obscurity, with his tale of the white leviathan close to disappearing from print. But with champions and changing mores, brought on by two

world wars and a darker, more despairing view of the world, interest in “Moby Dick” grew until it became the classic we recognize it to be today.

What few also know is that “Moby Dick” is based not just on Melville’s real-life experiences aboard whalers (he jumped ship from one vessel in Hawaii), but also on the true-tolife tales of other whaling ships and whalers.

“In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex” is the retelling by Nantucket native Nathaniel Philbrick of the fate of the whaler and the crew, attacked by a gigantic whale in the Pacific in the waning days of the industry in the 1800s.

With whales scarcer and more difficult to find, ships had to sail farther and farther to find their prey, while on the verge of losing their market for whale oil with the discovery of fossil fuels.

It is Philbrick’s contention that the fate of the Essex inspired Melville to write “Moby Dick,” although the novel stops just where the true extent of the crew’s ordeal begins. *** “IN THE Heart of the Sea,” the film version of the tragedy that befell the Essex, opens with Melville paying a visit to the reclusive Tom Nickerson,

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the last living crew member of the Essex whose harrowing experiences aboard the whaler and in the weeks that followed, floating on the ocean in flimsy boats, have driven him to drink.

But the film is really about the delicate dance for power and dominance between first mate Own Chase (Chris Hemsworth), who is an experienced sailor and crew leader but who, because he doesn’t hail from a whaler family, is forced to work beneath an inexperienced captain. That is George Pollard (Ben Walker), proud and arrogant, but secretly frightened to death of being found out and bringing shame to his lineage.

When the Essex encounters the gigantic whale, which rams into the ship and cunningly breaks it in two, the captain and first mate must muster all their courage and capability not just so they and their remaining crew can survive “in the heart of the sea,” but also make their way home. *** DIRECTOR Ron Howard manages the early part of the movie with efficiency and dispatch. We can feel the animosity between the two ship leaders, and the deadly effects of their unspoken rivalry and hostility.

But it is when the whale shows up that Howard speeds up the action and

raises the dramatic stakes. Unlike in John Huston’s filmic vision of “Moby Dick” (screenplay by Ray Bradbury), where we come to view the whale almost as another character, in “In the Heart of the Sea,” the audience is given but brief, if frightening, glimpses of the magnificent creature. Howard and the writers choose to keep the movie and story on a human scale, focusing on the confusion and fear brought on by the attack itself, then on the sufferings the men must endure where, as the filmmakers say, “they must bring into question their deepest beliefs.”

“In the Heart of the Sea” also brings into question the role that humanity plays in the destruction— and possible salvation—of our common home, a home we share with whales and other creatures. Though the discovery of oil under the ground brought an end to the lucrative trade in whale oil, it did not stop entirely, such that whales are now a threatened species. While the use of fossil fuels has not only powered the industrial age, it has also hastened the destruction of our atmosphere and threatens our very survival.

There are lessons in this story far beyond the battle between man and whale. ■

Opinion

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

17

ANALYSIS

Davao killings: Revolt of periphery

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer DAVAO CITY Mayor Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte is by far the most controversial on the short list of candidates who have declared their intention to seek the presidency in the May 2016 general elections. He is known for setting loose “death squads” purportedly linked to him to kill criminals.

He sets the tone and focus of the issues of next year’s balloting. The central theme of his campaign—law and order— overshadows such issues as economic growth, poverty and social reform that have attracted international attention for Duterte’s summary and arbitrary approach.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Philippine government to investigate Duterte for his possible role in extrajudicial killings in Davao City over the past decades. A document issued by HRW has charged Duterte with continuing to espouse the killing of criminal suspects to combat crime in a city that has long had high numbers of apparent death squad executions—more than 1,000 since the late 1990s.

Duterte, who has been mayor of Davao since 1988, has flaunted

this death toll to his critics. He said in a speech on May 15 that his approach to crime fighting depended on the killing of suspected criminals.

“We’re the ninth safest city,” he said.

“How do you think did I do it? How I reached that title among the world’s safest cities. Kill them all (criminals).”

Human rights The mayor’s approach flew in the face of accepted international standards in respect for human rights.

In calling for the Philippine government’s investigation of Duterte, Phelim Kline, HRW deputy director, emphatically rejected the mayor’s method.

“The Philippine government should take a zero-tolerance to any public official who publicly endorses extrajudicial killings as an acceptable means of crime control,” he said.

“Duterte’s public support for extrajudicial killings of suspected criminals should prompt a long overdue investigation into his possible role in those deaths.”

Probable cause Duterte has been speaking across the Philippines for the past six months, touting the killing of suspected criminals as an effective

crime control technique. HRW documented the existence of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) and Duterte’s role in it in its 2009 report, “You can Die Anytime.”

The HRW report on extrajudicial killings included the Davao killings in its 2009 investigation and called on the government to end the use of death squads as a means of crime fighting. The official Commission on Human Rights (CHR) investigated these allegations and in 2012 issued a resolution saying that it found probable cause to recommend that the Office of the Ombudsman file murder charges against Duterte.

But the Ombudsman swept the charges under the rug and limited its investigation to police officers implicated in the killings—not Duterte himself— finding 21 of them guilty of “simple neglect of duty” and fining them the equivalent of a month’s salary. The Court of Appeals later overturned the verdict, saying the Ombudsman merely used statistics against the police officers. To date, not one person has been convicted for involvement in any of the killings.

The Ombudsman has not investigated Duterte for his role in the DDS. Neither has the Department of the Interior and Local Government, which is under the Office of the Pres-

ident and has administrative control over municipal governments. The National Bureau of Investigation, which is under the Department of Justice, has likewise failed to probe Duterte’s alleged links to the DDS. Official tolerance Duterte has a long history of inflammatory public statements that appeared to encourage the extrajudicial killing of suspected criminals.

He has ordered his police officers to “shoot to kill” people, ranging from suspected criminals to rice smugglers. That action has fueled protests from rights groups, including the CHR, which denounced the mayor for his statement, and urged him to operate within “the rule of law.”

What’s alarming is that Duterte’s model of extrajudicial killings appeared to have spread to other cities in the country. US state department cables released by WikiLeaks in 2011 noted the apparent rise of municipal government-sanctioned death squads, including the cities of Cebu, Toledo and Carcar.

“The long official tolerance of Duterte’s advocacy of summary killings as an effective crime fighting strategy needs to stop,” Kline said.

The government should send an unambiguous message to Duterte and

other officials that support for extrajudicial killings results in an investigation—not in speaking tours to gain electoral support for presidential bids in the 2016 balloting.

The Davao killings have raised questions from many sectors among the public, such as, despite calls to probe Duterte’s alleged links with the death squads, why the government has turned a blind eye to this clamor, or why the government is extremely reluctant to hold the mayor accountable for the murders in the category of genocidal slaughters sponsored by the state or regime, such as Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” in the extermination of millions of Jewish inmates at their concentration camps.

Another issue looms over Duterte’s role in the Davao killings: Is it part of a cover-up to whitewash his involvement in the death squads amid recent poll surveys showing Duterte as the front-runner in the voters preference for president in the 2006 ballotting. Is the government rattled by the survey results? The government should be calling the shots in setting the agenda of discourse in the elections—not the upstart challenger Duterte, a provincial challenger from the ranks of local executives. The government faces a revolt from the periphery. ■

Griffin and Sabine trilogy, the book is placed in a Filipino context and will remind Generations X, Y and Z that people in the past wrote in long hand, and sent letters by post instead of email. Which explains why the former type of correspondence is derisively referred to today as “snail mail.”

A curious Quirino grandson rummaging through cabinets in their Baguio vacation house didn’t find the fabled “golden orinola” but discovered a cache of old letters bundled in a piece of cloth. A selection of the letters that date from 1922 to 1926, translated from the original Spanish

by Conchita Razon, is reproduced in the book. Elpidio wrote about 25 letters while Alicia wrote only two— perhaps her part of the correspondence did not survive.

While the letters were written after their marriage they can be considered courtship or love letters because they lived apart, with Elpidio working in Manila while Alicia stayed with her family in Vigan.

It is said that during a party in the Syquia mansion in Vigan, the lights went out and when power was restored Alicia was in the arms of Quirino, so they were wed soon after. What

makes modern people gasp is not the “shotgun wedding” but the fact that at the time of their marriage Quirino was 30 and Alicia was barely 16! Modern eyebrows rise because such a relationship is called under another name today. On Oct. 20, 1924 Quirino wrote: “My dearest Alicia, “Today is your birthday. I deeply regret that my duties here have prevented me from joining in the celebration of your coming of age and gaining your complete independence.

“I expected to touch your fresh young cheeks with my kisses, your last kisses as a minor. Yes, Alicia, you are a woman now respectable and respected. On this day, you begin a life that is broader and more sober than you have known, with a more complex and nurtured sense of responsibility.

“From today onwards, you should drink a daily dose of patience, tolerance and love for all. Acquire a lofty view of everything so that you become capable of seeing and forgiving everything. May this day be as exciting and happy for you as I expect it to be. I hope that from day to day you may give me more reason to love you

and adore you more and more.

“Your faithful and loving husband, who embraces you and kisses you, as well as Tommy, Elpidio.”

Most of the letters are about mundane things like a comparison of cement prices for the house Elpidio was building in Manila or the price of Ilocos textile, blankets and weaving that Alicia sold at the 1926 Manila Carnival. A glimpse into the future president’s character can be seen when Elpidio advised the well-born Alicia to live simply and, during the election campaign season, to be friendly and not appear haughty.

A letter of Alicia in April 1924 instructed Elpidio to use the money from the sale of her “babuy” to buy: Watson emulsified shampoo from Botica Henson, one queso de bola, and a celluloid toy for Tommy from the Japanese store. She inquired about the dresses she ordered as well as the offers for the jewelry she sent to be sold. Her postscript reads: “Don’t forget my white satin shoes.

Try to return [to Vigan] as soon as possible and bring our good ‘little friend’.” Of course, the identity of their “little friend” is left to the reader’s lurid imagination. ■

LOOKING BACK

Love letters

By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer TEXTBOOK or Wikipedia history tells us that Elpidio Quirino, was the first Ilocano president of the Philippines (the second was Ferdinand “Anak ti Batac” Marcos), and the second president after Philippine independence was recognized by the United States in 1946 (the first was Manuel Roxas). Quirino was married to Alicia Syquia of Vigan who bore him five children: Tommy, Doddy Vicky, Norma and Fe. Depending on your Araling Panlipunan or Philippine History teacher, all this useless information, and more, should be committed to memory and spewed out in a quiz or graded recitation. While memorization is a necessary skill to be learned and sharpened, the end result of most Araling Panlipunan is dread of or boredom with history.

Fortunately, Google has made the rote method of history learning obsolete. With proper training, students can now find the best answer to any history question literally with a click of a finger. Unfortunately, some teachers refuse to ride the crest of the

technology wave.

In my time the big debate was whether to allow students to use calculators in class or not. Dinosaurs steadfastly refused their use, overriding a minority who vainly argued that calculators coupled with an understanding of basic math will enable Grade 7 students to do integral calculus! Students today have phones with calculators and Internet capability, yet calculus in middle school remains a dream. History teaching, coupled with the Internet, should proceed to the next step—finding connections between and among the “who,” “what,” “where” and “how” to answer the more important question “why”?

Remembering my grade school years was one of the pleasures of the long weekend stimulated by Rene Guatlo’s latest book, “Elpidio & Alicia: The Love Letters” (National Historical Commission of the Philippines, 2015). It has a stunning book cover by John Santos; the interior is slightly overdesigned by Karl Castro who gathered a maze of photographs and texts, interspersed with some of the letters written out in calligraphy by Anne Tamondong and then placed in envelopes. Obviously inspired by the

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18

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Canada News

Middle class tax cut and new child benefit top priorities in throne speech

BY JOAN BRYDEN The Canadian Press OTTAWA — It isn’t money in your pocket yet, but the Liberal promise for a tax cut for middle-income earners was called an “immediate priority” in the throne speech Friday.

For the tax cut to take effect on Jan. 1, the change needs to be introduced in the House of Commons, but its top billing in the brief speech by the Governor General signalled its importance to the new government.

The cut was a key campaign commitment by the Liberals. It is expected to be offset in part by an increase in income tax on the country’s highest earners.

“This is the fair thing to do, and the smart thing to do for Canada’s economy,” Gov. Gen. David Johnston said in the speech.

During the election, the Liberals promised to cut the rate on the middle-income tax bracket — taxable income over $44,701 up to $89,401 — to 20.5 per cent from 22 per cent. It es-

timated the cut would save up to $670 per person.

However, the party also said it would create a new highincome tax bracket for people making more than $200,000 that would be set at 33 per cent.

The tax cut for middle-income earners won’t help those in the lowest tax bracket, but the government also made its new child benefit a key initiative in the throne speech that will help them if they have children.

The plan is expected to replace the universal child care benefit with a new program that will reduce the payments families receive as household income rises.

Promises to strengthen the employment insurance system and work with the provinces and territories to enhance the Canada Pension Plan also rated a mention in the speech.

The Liberals also campaigned on a plan to cancel income-splitting and roll back contribution limits to tax-free savings accounts, but they were not mentioned in the speech. ■

Canadian health care wait times need improvement, reports say

BY MICHELLE MCQUIGGE The Canadian Press TWO SEPARATE reports being released Tuesday have used different strategies to reach the same conclusion — Canada’s health care wait times leave much to be desired.

The Wait Time Alliance, a group consisting of major doctor’s associations across the country, has analysed data from provincial health care ministries.

The Alliance says there’s been some improvement in wait times for certain services like cardiac or radiation treatments, but many others are unacceptably high.

The Fraser Institute reached its conclusion by surveying 2,382 medical specialists across the country to determine the length of time between when a patient is referred to them and when they receive treatment.

That survey pegs the median wait time is 18.3 weeks, nearly the same as the number reported last year and more than double the length of wait times in 1993.

Both surveys say Saskatchewan and Ontario offer the shortest wait times while patients languish longest in Atlantic Canada.

Both report authors agree that measuring wait times in Canada is a challenge complicated by a lack of universal standards across the country.

Alliance chair Dr. Chris Simpson said the data collected by provincial health ministries varies widely, since different regions and even individual hospitals track different numbers according to their own criteria.

No matter what figures are being presented, however, Simpson said the message is clear — the system as a whole needs to be fixed.

Delays in one area, he said, have immediate repercussions www.canadianinquirer.net

across the rest of the health care sector.

“We have now situations where patients flow from primary care to hospital to home care to long-term care,” he said in a telephone interview. “And every time there’s a wait for one of these components in the system, the rest of the system backs up.”

Both reports suggest patients can expect an expedited timeline when seeking one of the five priority treatments flagged in the now lapsed 2004 health accord, a $41 billion funding agreement between the federal government and the provinces.

The alliance said wait times for hip and knee replacements, cataract surgeries, bypass surgeries, radiation therapy and diagnostic imaging have all improved since the accord was introduced.

The Fraser Institute survey found that radiation oncology and elective cardiovascular surgeries boast some of the shortest median wait times in the country at 4.1 weeks and 9.9 weeks respectively.

Both reports also agree that health care lag times are significantly shorter in Saskatchewan than anywhere else in the country, saying the province has adopted new measures in recent years that have brought about a remarkable turnaround.

Fraser Institute senior economist and report author Bacchus Barua said wait times in the province have more than halved since 2011 when median times stood at 29 weeks.

The 2015 figure stands at 13.6 weeks, he said, crediting Saskatchewan’s willingness to partner with private medical providers and set up a pooled referral system that matches patients with the physician that has the shortest waiting list.

Such “outside the box” thinking, he said, is common among countries such as Germany and

Switzerland whose universal health care systems offer shorter turnaround times than those found in Canada.

He said such systems all feature private sector partnerships and cost-sharing arrangements to keep the patient cue moving.

Canada could be well-served by similar strategies, he said, adding that addressing inefficiencies in the current system would do more good than increasing health care spending.

The Fraser Institute is a think tank whose stated mission is to study “government actions in areas that deeply affect Canadians’ quality of life.”

Simpson said the federal government has an opportunity to take leadership on the issue as part of its stated pledge to negotiate a new health accord.

Some of those terms would apply to Ottawa itself, since the federal government is directly responsible for the medical needs of prison inmates, veterans and First Nations Canadians.

He said setting criteria to standardize the numbers tracked by the country’s 14 health care systems would go a long way to highlighting problem areas and identifying ways to fix them.

“Public reporting of data, I think, is so healthy for a system that wants to improve, because when the public truly understand what kind of value they’re getting from their tax investment and what kind of service is being delivered, they will put on the political pressure that politicians will listen to,” he said.

Barua took a harder line, saying data analysis can only go so far if Canada doesn’t implement policy changes as well.

“Wait times are not simply going to get fixed by provinces measuring them. We’re already doing that, and it doesn’t matter which report you see, pretty much all of them are showing that wait times are too long.” ■

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

19

Parliament’s opening debate sees sparks fly between Liberals, Conservatives

BY JOAN BRYDEN The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Canada’s 42nd Parliament got down to business Monday, with the often-promised new era of civility sounding a lot like a brittle rehash of the federal election campaign.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose and NDP Leader Tom Mulcair used debate on last week’s throne speech to refight some of the same election battles, with sparks flying between Liberals and Tories in particular.

Ambrose issued a scathing critique of the new Liberal government’s throne speech, which was itself a recap of Trudeau’s election promises.

Echoing the same criticisms levelled throughout the campaign, she called the Liberal plan a recipe for intrusive government that thinks it knows best how to spend Canadians’ money.

“What we did hear was a recipe for big government and big spending. So the question that every taxpayer wants us to ask this government is: where will the money come from to pay for all of this?” Ambrose told the House of Commons.

“It only comes from one place and that’s out of the pockets of Canadians.”

Treasury Board President Scott Brison questioned how Ambrose could make such an accusation when she had been a minister in what he termed “one of the biggest spending governments and the most wasteful governments in Canadian history.” The previous Conservative government added $150 billion to the national debt, he added.

The exchange prompted Ambrose to observe: “I think it’s

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been 25 minutes and the sunny planks from the NDP platform, The plan will actually benefit ways are over.” urging Trudeau to hike taxes wealthy Canadians the most But Ambrose was no slouch on large corporations and in- and do nothing for 70 per cent when it came to partisan shots. troduce a $15-an-hour federal of taxpayers, he said, urging She took aim at Trudeau’s minimum wage.

Trudeau to expand the tax cut vow to withdraw Canadian He also touted two other fa- to those in the lowest income fighter jets from the allied vourite NDP election promises: tax bracket. bombing campaign against Is- universal, affordable child care Indeed, after question pelamic radicals in riod was over, FiSyria and Iraq. nance Minister While the AmerBill Morneau adicans, French, mitted in a news British and GerCanadians want a government that conference that mans are all acts honourably and that treats all the tax changes ramping up their others with respect. both inside and would indeed efforts, Ambrose outside this House. We will be that cost Canadians accused Trudeau government. to the tune of of believing that about $1.2 billion “posing for selfa year, starting in ies at internafiscal 2016-17. tional conferences is a better and abolition of the Senate.

“This is going to cost a bit use of his time.”

As he did during the cam- more for the government, and “Canada isn’t back. Canada is paign, Mulcair criticized the we want to explain to Canadibacking away,” she charged. centrepiece of the Liberal plat- ans exactly what the shortfall Mulcair struck a more concil- form — the plan to cut taxes for is,” Morneau said. iatory tone, promising to work Canadians earning between For his part, Trudeau eswith the government “when $45,282 and $90,563 while rais- sentially repeated the throne our values and our policies co- ing taxes on the wealthiest one speech, in slightly greater deincide.” But he took the oppor- per cent — as smoke and mir- tail. But he took a veiled shot at tunity to recycle a number of rors. the previous Conservative re-

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gime, which campaigned on hot button identity issues, including a proposed ban on Muslim women wearing the face-covering niqab during citizenship ceremonies.

Extolling the virtues of diversity, Trudeau said some Canadians have, at times, “been the target of hateful words and deeds, simply because they look different, speak a different language, choose to wear different clothes or practice a different faith.”

But he argued that “intolerance stands little chance” in Canada and pointed to the recent election as proof that Canadians reject attempts to pit one group against another.

While there were some sparks, the tenor of Monday’s sitting was still far more civil than the toxic partisanship that marked the Commons in the months leading up to the election.

“Canadians want a government that acts honourably and that treats all others with respect. both inside and outside this House,” Trudeau said. “We will be that government.”

During the first question period of the parliamentary session later Monday, Trudeau maintained a respectful demeanour as Ambrose grilled him on the planned withdrawal from the bombing mission in Syria and Mulcair challenged him to reveal his plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

However, in keeping with past practice, the daily jousting match did not produce much in the way of detailed answers.

“I am disappointed to find out that question period is still question period and not so much answer period,” Ambrose said later.

“I did think that questions were tough, but respectful.” ■

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FRIDAY

Boy sentenced to probation after fellow student pushed under bus in Nova Scotia

BY MICHAEL MACDONALD The Canadian Press SYDNEY, N.S. — A 16-year-old Cape Breton boy who pushed a fellow student under the wheels of a school bus, killing him instantly, was sentenced Monday to two years of probation by a judge who said a harsher sentence would only “compound the tragedy.”

The boy, whose identity is protected from publication under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was found guilty in October of criminal negligence causing death.

The 18-year-old victim, Christopher Walter Chafe, died last February in front of Sydney Academy as his horrified classmates looked on.

The defence argued the accused, who was 15 at the time, was engaged in ordinary horseplay, but youth court Judge Peter Ross said in an earlier decision the boy should have known his actions could have deadly

consequences. drawn from his friends. probation.

The Crown argued that 12 However, defence lawyer In his decision, youth court months in custody and 12 James Snow argued that even Judge Peter Ross said imposing months of probation would be though the act calls for mean- a year-long sentence could be an appropriate sentence be- ingful consequences, he said counterproductive for such a cause the crime involved seri- it also calls for sentences that young person. He also suggestous bodily harm, as defined in promote rehabilitation and re- ed the youth may lack the skills the Youth Criminal Justice Act. integration into society. to articulate his remorse.

Crown attorney Stephen Snow said his client has acThe judge said the Youth Melnick told court the act knowledged what he did and Criminal Justice Act makes it makes it clear clear that those that sentences under the age of should include 18, when charged “meaningful with a crime, consequences.” start from a poMelnick cited He’s going to have to live with this for sition of “diminthe judge’s Oct. the rest of his life. ished blamewor9 ruling, which thiness” at the said the teen’s sentencing stage. behaviour was “This is par“highly reckticularly releless,” and that he “ought to has already paid a high price for vant when we are dealing with have known that he was putting his wrongdoing. a 15-year-old,” the judge said, (Chafe’s) life at risk.”

“He’s going to have to live noting the boy was in a state of Crown prosecutor Mark with this for the rest of his life,” shock immediately after Chafe Gouthro told the court the ac- Snow told the court. The law- slipped under the bus. cused did not offer a guilty plea yer also referred to the youth’s In a victim impact statement, and has shown no remorse for nightmares as “manifestations Chafe’s family spoke of the imhis actions, though his pre- of his remorse.” mense grief they have suffered sentence report says he suffers Snow asked the judge to sen- since they lost their only son. from nightmares and has with- tence his client to two years on “It tore the heart out of all of

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us,” the statement says. “Parents should not have to bury their children. It’s supposed to be the other way around ...

There is a huge hole in our lives that cannot be filled. We miss him every day.”

The judge said the youth is a first-time offender who comes from a supportive family and has no history of violent behaviour.

“I doubt that a lengthy term of incarceration would provide very much instruction to a teenager in the conduct of their lives in the future,” Ross said, adding that a short custodial term would amount to “tokenism.”

Ross said the sentence should allow the youth to have a productive future and prevent him from becoming unduly resentful.

The judge said the boy must also perform 100 hours of community service work by next September and he will remain under a 9 p.m. curfew for the duration of his sentence. ■

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

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Canada ups climate ambition Alberta RCMP find in Paris despite lacking plan more than 30 firearms to meet current goals where triple homicide suspect shot

BY BRUCE CHEADLE The Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The federal government hasn’t yet delivered a plan for reducing the country’s overall emissions of greenhouse gases, but the Liberals are already supporting a more ambitious climate agenda at the Paris conference.

Opposition critics reacted with scorn Monday to word that Catherine McKenna, the Liberal minister of environment and climate change, has endorsed a global goal of keeping rising average temperatures to within 1.5 degrees C of preindustrial levels, rather than the 2 C threshold that’s been the working target promoted by the scientific community for years.

At a closed plenary session on the weekend at the COP21 climate negotiations, McKenna was quoted saying that on “the question for framing the temperature goal, we support reference to striving for 1.5 as other countries have said.”

In the partial transcript provided by her office to The Canadian Press, McKenna goes on to say: “If we want to achieve this temperature goal, everyone needs to be part of this. We need maximum participation where everyone puts their best efforts forward.”

McKenna, who has been named a facilitator at the conference, was not available for an interview Monday.

“The agreement should provide a collective vision to keep global temperature increases to below 2 C, at the very least,” her spokeswoman, Caitlin Workman, said in an email.

“We support the Paris agreement having language that says we should aim and strive towards limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees.”

The current emission cut pledges put forward by more than 180 countries at COP21 — assuming they’re all completely honoured — are still projected to allow the planet to warm by at least 2.7 degrees C. That’s an improvement on the 3.6-degree

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increase that is projected without the latest promised cuts to greenhouse gases.

Canada arrived at the Paris talks carrying the previous Conservative government’s pledge to cut emissions 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 — a pledge environmental groups said was too weak but one that, nonetheless, came without a road map for achievement.

Ed Fast, the Conservative environment critic, called McKenna’s 1.5-degree ambition “symptomatic” of previous Liberal climate negotiations.

“The Liberal history is one of over-promising and underdelivering,” Fast said in an interview.

“If in fact it’s true that Minister McKenna is actually now looking to increase the global ambition, and Canada’s ambition, her ability to actually deliver real results on reducing greenhouse gas emissions is going to be made that much more difficult and it will cost Canadian taxpayers dearly.”

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair suggested the Liberals are presenting “a bit of a fig leaf to try and hide the fact that Canada went to Paris with nothing.”

Mulcair noted he’d asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Commons on Monday whether Canada would have lower emissions in 2016 than in 2015.

“He couldn’t answer because

he has no plan,” said the NDP leader.

Even Philippe Couillard, the environmentally friendly Liberal premier of Quebec, sounded a note of caution Monday.

“The target has to be in the right place so we’re certain, or relatively certain, of reaching it,” Couillard told a news conference in Paris after a 30-minute meeting with French President Francois Hollande.

Any target must be “practicable for all countries,” he said, noting the two degree threshold has been recommended as a necessity by the scientific community.

Tim McMillan, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, wouldn’t criticize the 1.5-degree target but cautioned that “the discipline to put a realistic, deliberate plan in place is what we think is going to lead to success.”

Adam Scott of the group Environmental Defence called McKenna’s ambition “really welcome.”

“We have to keep our eye on the long game here,” Scott said in an interview from Paris.

“We definitely agree the Canadian government is going to have to step up its game massively in order to meet those obligations. But we think its important to lock that level of agreement into the (Paris) agreement now.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

EDMONTON — RCMP say a search of a property where police shot a suspect wanted in a triple homicide west of Edmonton found more than 30 firearms, some of them loaded.

Officers also found illegal rifle ammunition magazines, bullets and body armour.

Mickell Bailey, 19, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in the deaths.

Insp. Gibson Glavin said further charges were pending.

“We were conducting a search that was part of the homicide investigation and we recovered a number of firearms and ammunition, body armour as well as various types of stolen property,” Glavin said Monday.

“This is where they have been found. So part of the investigation will be to trace ownership.”

A neighbour has said the farm where Bailey lives is owned by his grandfather, Herb Heintz.

Investigators have said that an officer hit Bailey with a single shot last Tuesday, as he walked out of a house carrying a firearm during a confrontation with police.

The homicide victims have been identified as Daniel Miller, 46, Roxanne Berube, 36, and her 16-year-old daughter, Jazmine Lyon.

Their bodies were found in a home near the hamlet of Peers, just outside of Edson, on Nov. 29.

Berube was once married to Bailey’s uncle.

“They are all known to each other, including the accused, but we are not speaking to the exact relationships between them,” Glavin said.

Bailey was treated in hospital last week for a gunshot wound and was listed in serious condition.

He is to appear in Edson provincial court on Dec. 15. ■

ISIL are ‘terrible terrorists,’ but Trudeau says CF 18s will still come home THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — Opposition Conservatives used Justin Trudeau’s first question period as prime minister to hammer his plan to withdraw CF-18 jetfighters from the bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose says the extremists who have overrun vast swaths of Syria and Iraq are part of a death cult that sells women and children into sexual slavery and murders religious minorities.

She wonders how bad it has to

be for the Liberal government to keep the jets in the fight.

Trudeau says Canadians spoke during the election campaign and they want to see the mission refocused towards more long-lasting results, such as training security forces.

The government has yet to define what sort of military training commitment it will make, although last week at a NATO conference, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said the Italians have expressed interest in partnering with Canada to conduct police training in northern Iraq. ■

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Not funny anymore: Website reverses course, pulls Trump from entertainment pages

BY ALEXANDER PANETTA The Canadian Press WASHINGTON — Let the record show that this was the moment in the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign that Donald Trump was effectively yanked off the funny pages.

A symbolic shift occurred Monday when his campaign proposed a ban on Muslims travelling to the United States — a restriction that would apparently even extend to MuslimAmericans returning home.

A partisan crowd delivered an ovation as the Republican poll-leader elaborated on the new policy, in a caustic speech where he railed at the media in the back of the room as, “Absolute scum.”

“We have no choice,” Trump said of his proposed Muslim travel ban.

As he took the stage, the Huffington Post announced its own policy change. Trump was no longer to be treated as a joke. The website had covered Trump in its entertainment section since the summer, a gesture of ridicule for a candidate it derided as a buffoonish interloper in the serious process of picking a president.

Now the primaries are less than two months away. Trump remains in first place in the Republican polls. And he’s supplemented his promise to deport 11 million mostly Hispanic illegal migrants with a policy aimed at Muslims. It would be the United States’ first culturebased entry ban in approximately seven decades, since the repeal of Asian-exclusion laws.

The comic relief is over, the site founder declared. “(Trump’s campaign has) morphed into something else: an ugly and dangerous force in American politics,” Arianna Huffington wrote in a post.

“So we will no longer be covering his campaign in Entertainment. But that’s not to say we’ll be treating it as if it were a normal campaign... The ‘can you believe he said that?’ novelty has curdled and congealed into something repellent and

US deploys Poseidon P-8 spy plane in Singapore for 1st time amid tensions with China

BY MATTHEW PENNINGTON The Associated Press

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threatening — laying bare a disturbing aspect of American politics.

“So if Trump’s words and actions are racist, we’ll call them racist. If they’re sexist, we’ll call them sexist. We won’t shrink from the truth or be distracted by the showmanship.”

The anti-Trump rhetoric hardened elsewhere.

He was condemned across the political spectrum with more severity than when he insulted Mexican migrants; made fun of Sen. John McCain’s prisoner-of-war experience; and told what was widely perceived as a menstruation joke about a female TV personality.

People weren’t comparing him to a clown anymore.

An official with Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s campaign dropped the name of a former Ku Klux Klansman who entered politics: “A few years from now Trump will have the political appeal of David Duke,” John Weaver tweeted. “It will exist, but only on the feverish dark edges of the swamp.”

Equally unflattering comparisons came from Democrats running for president. Martin O’Malley tweeted: “(Trump) removes all doubt: he is running for President as a fascist demagogue.” Sen. Bernie Sanders liked him to “demagogues throughout our history.”

He was denounced by senior Republican party figures.

Trump was reportedly disinvited from a party fundraising event. Top party officials in key primary states, New Hampshire and South Carolina, were scathing.

Former vice-president Dick Cheney told a radio interviewer: “(This) goes against everything we stand for and believe in. Religious freedom’s been a very important part of our history, and where we came from.”

The mayor of St. Louis, Francis Slay, tweeted: “We can no longer pretend Trump is an amusing sideshow. His statements affect our Muslim neighbors’ lives and safety.”

Like an inflatable punching bag, though, Trump has repeatedly bounced back from controversy and defied the disdain of opinion elites. The point was underscored Monday when one of his past critics predicted this, too, would work for him.

Some pundits examined polling data on attitudes toward Muslims and suggested this would improve his standing with Republican primary voters. Among those offering that view was Erick Erickson, a prominent conservative commentator who’d tangled with Trump in the past.

“Set aside the merits of what amounts to at least, in part, an unconstitutional position,” Erickson wrote Monday. “This is actually brilliant politics for the here and now.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

WASHINGTON — The United States has deployed a P-8 Poseidon spy plane in Singapore for the first time, amid heightened tensions in the region over China’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea. The weeklong deployment in Singapore, which began Monday, came as Secretary of Defence Ash Carter met his Singaporean counterpart Ng Eng Hen in Washington and signed a new agreement to step up defenceco-operation.

In a joint statement, the two sides said the deployment would promote interoperability among regional militaries in exercises, and provide support for disaster relief and maritime security.

A U.S. defence official said such deployments in Singapore were expected to become a regular occurrence, happening as often as every three months.

The official did not have authorization to speak publicly about the plans and requested anonymity.

The U.S. and Singapore have

longstanding defence ties. In the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. has also operated the Poseidon surveillance planes out of Japan and the Philippines, which are both U.S. treaty allies.

As part of the Obama administration’s effort to step up its regional security presence in Asia, the U.S. has in recent years deployed two littoral combat ships at the Southeast Asian city-state. Monday’s statement said the U.S. plans a third deployment next year.

Such U.S. military activity is viewed by China as an attempt to contain it, amid tension over Beijing’s large-scale construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea, where China has competing claims with several of its neighbours. The U.S. and others have called on Beijing to halt the construction and any militarization in the area, a key conduit for seaborne trade.

In late October, Washington angered China by sending a warship on a freedom-ofnavigation patrol within the supposed 12-nautical-mile territorial limit around one of the land-reclaimed islands in the Spratly Islands archipelago.

U.S. surveillance flights in the area have also irked Beijing. ■

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Thai police receive Russian intelligence warning of Islamic State group threat

BY NATTASUDA ANUSONADISAI The Associated Press BANGKOK — Thai police have received a warning from Russia’s state security agency that 10 Syrians who may be linked to the Islamic State group could stage attacks in Thailand on targets associated with Russia and others opposed to the militants, officials said Friday.

National police deputy spokesman Col. Songpol Wattanachai confirmed the authenticity of a leaked police memo

mentioning the intelligence warning. He told reporters that the information has not been verified.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian jetliner over Egypt’s Sinai region in October, describing it as retaliation for Russian airstrikes in Syria.

The Thai capital was the target of a bombing in August that killed 20 people, but it has been linked to militants from China’s Muslim Uighur minority.

There have been few signs of IS activity in Thailand, though

the group actively recruits volunteers from its Southeast Asian neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia — which are predominantly Muslim — to fight in Syria and Iraq.

The police memo, dated Nov. 17 and marked “urgent” and “confidential,” cites Russia’s Federal Security Service FSB warning that the 10 Syrians believed to be involved with IS entered Thailand in the second half of October. According to the memo, some of them went to Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

Pattaya and Phuket are sea-

side resorts popular with foreign tourists, and Pattaya is especially popular with Russians.

“The objectives of these people are to cause harm to Russia’s assets or those of its allies in Thailand,” said the memo.

The police memo called on security officials to confirm the information and step up security at possible targets related to countries opposed to IS, specifically the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Sweden and Australia.

Police spokesman Songpol said that after October’s deadly

attacks in Paris, security had already been stepped up at venues in Bangkok such as embassies. He said the information was the first Thailand had received suggesting that ISlinked Syrians had entered the country.

Sidney Jones, an expert on Southeast Asian Islamist movements at the Jakartabased Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, said that IS cells in Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia were getting more serious about establishing a more formal structure. ■

NY Times decries media limits in Thailand after printer blocks articles for a third time

BY GRANT PECK The Associated Press BANGKOK — The New York Times decried limits on media freedom in Thailand on Friday after its local printer refused to publish articles about the Southeast Asian country for a third time.

The printer removed a column from the opinion page of Friday’s edition of the International New York Times about Thailand’s Crown Property Bureau, which manages the financial affairs of the royal family. The column said the bureau was not publicly accountable and its assets may total as much as $53 billion.

Discussion of Thailand’s monarchy is highly sensitive, and criticism can be punished by up to 15 years in prison.

Instead of the column, the newspaper ran a blank space, with a notice in the middle saying “The article in this space was removed by our printer in Thailand. The International New York Times and its editorial staff had no role in its removal.”

On Tuesday, the Thailand edition of the newspaper had a similar blank spot on its front

page where there was supposed to be a story about the country’s sagging economy and spirit a year and a half after a military takeover. The story briefly mentioned the monarchy.

A statement on the corporate website of the New York Times said the printer’s refusal to publish the articles denied readers in Thailand the right to open access to news.

“This second incident in a week clearly demonstrates the regrettable lack of press freedom in the country,” it said.

“Readers in Thailand do not have full and open access to journalism, a fundamental right that should be afforded to all citizens.”

On Sept. 22, the printer didn’t publish the newspaper because of a front-page story about the monarchy.

All three stories appeared in other regional editions of the newspaper as well as online.

After a military junta took power last year, it declared that defending the monarchy was one of its priorities, but also cracked down on criticism of its rule, saying it was necessary to do so to prevent disorder. The army seized power after a period of some-

times-violent political turbulence that affected Thailand after an earlier military takeover in 2006.

Reporters as well as media managers have been summoned by the military for talks, sometimes lasting for days, called “attitude adjustment” sessions. Many of those summoned have been forced to sign statements promising not to criticize the junta.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej has ruled for 69 years and turns 88 on Saturday. His ill health has heightened concerns about what will happen after his reign, but little public discussion has been allowed.

Yuth Chinsupakul, chairman of Eastern Printing Co., which prints the Times, was quoted Friday on the website of the Manager newspaper as saying the reason the latest article was not printed was because it touched on a sensitive matter of the country’s “highest institution,” a reference to the monarchy.

The International New York Times announced last month that it will cease printing and distributing its print edition in Thailand at the end of this year, attributing the decision to the rising cost of operations. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Downtown San Bernardino, California

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Killer in California rampage seemed pious and peaceful, then snapped; motive still unknown

BY MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AMANDA LEE MYERS AND ERIC TUCKER The Associated Press SAN BERNARDINO, CALIF. — With a young wife, infant daughter and government job, Syed Farook appeared to have arrived at a sweet-spot in life.

Friends knew the 28-year-old by his quick smile, his devotion

to his Muslim religion and earnest talk about cars he would restore.

They didn’t know the man authorities say was busy with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, building homemade bombs and stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition for a commandostyle assault Wednesday on a holiday party of his co-workers ❱❱ PAGE 24 Killer in

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Top security officials from India, Pakistan hold talks, signalling resumption of peace dialogue

BY NIRMALA GEORGE The Associated Press NEW DELHI — The top security officials from India and Pakistan held talks in Thailand’s capital on Sunday, signalling a resumption of the rival countries’ onagain, off-again peace dialogue.

The South Asian neighbours’ national security advisers discussed issues including peace and security, terrorism, the disputed region of Kashmir and ways to maintain peace along the countries’ shared border, according to a joint statement issued in New Delhi and Islamabad.

The meeting, which also included the nations’ foreign secre-

taries, marks a thaw in the recent his Pakistani counterpart, anonymity because he was not frostiness that had crept into bi- Nawaz Sharif, had an unsched- authorized to speak to the melateral relations. Talks between uled meeting at the Paris cli- dia. Bangkok was chosen for the the two national security advisers mate change talks. venue Sunday because it was a were called off in convenient loAugust after the cation for both sides disagreed on sides, he said. the agenda for disSince indepencussions.

Talks between the two national dence from BritThe statement security advisers were called off in ain in 1947, India said Sunday’s August after the sides disagreed on and Pakistan have meeting in Bangthe agenda for discussions. fought three wars, kok was held in a two of them over “candid, cordial Kashmir, the Hiand constructive malayan region atmosphere.”

Indian External Affairs that both claim in its entirety.

“It was agreed to carry forward Minister Sushma Swaraj is India accuses Pakistan of the constructive engagement” be- expected to visit Pakistan on arming and training insurgents tween the two countries, it said.

Monday to attend a meeting on fighting for Kashmir’s indepenThis past week, Indian Prime Afghanistan, said a ministry of- dence from India or its merger Minister Narendra Modi and ficial, speaking on condition of with Pakistan, a charge Islam-

abad denies. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the violence, which began in 1989.

India also wants Pakistan to bring to justice Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 168 people. Saeed lives in the open in Pakistan and often appears in TV interviews.

Another concern for both countries is the frequent border skirmishes that erupt along their border in Kashmir.

A cease-fire along the IndiaPakistan line of control that serves as the border in Kashmir has largely held since 2003, but border firing and gunbattles are fairly common, with each side routinely blaming the other. ■

Authorities say that the couple sprayed as many as 75 rounds into the room before fleeing. They died four hours later and two miles 2 miles (3 kilometres) away during a furious gunbattle with police.

The pair had more than 1,600 bullets when they were killed.

Police said they also had 12 pipe bombs, tools to make more explosives, and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition at home.

Police Lt. Mike Madden, one of the first officers to reach the room at the social services centre, where Farook’s colleagues from San Bernardino County’s public health department had gathered, said the carnage was “unspeakable,” the scene overwhelming: the smell of gunpowder, the wails of the injured, the blood, fire sprinklers pumping and fire alarms blaring. All in a room with a Christmas tree and decorations on every table.

The dead ranged in age from 26 to 60. Among the 21 injured were two police officers hurt during the manhunt, authorities said.

Syed Rizwan Farook was born in Chicago on June 14, 1987, to parents born in Pakistan. He was raised in Southern California.

In July 2010, he was hired as a seasonal public employee and served until December of that year, according to a work history supplied by the county. In

California State University, San Bernardino, with a degree in environmental health sciences in 2010.

Divorce records depicted a home divided by abuse. Farook’s mother alleged in 2006 that her husband, also named Syed, attacked her while her children were present, dropped a TV on her and pushed her toward a car, according to records.

Rafia Sultana Farook filed a petition for a domestic violence order of protection on July 3, 2006, against her husband. She said she was forced to move out with three of her children because her husband continually harassed her “verbally and physically,” according to the divorce records.

The Associated Press could not immediately reach the father for comment and was unable to corroborate the allegations in the records. No one answered the door at a home in Corona where a neighbour said the father lived. ■

Killer in... that killed 14 and injured 21.

“This was a person who was successful, who had a good job, a good income, a wife and a family. What was he missing in his life?” asked Nizaam Ali, who worshipped with Farook at a mosque in San Bernardino — the city east of Los Angeles where Farook killed and died.

As authorities identified the deceased and details about Farook’s life began to take shape, the question of what motivated the slaughter remained unanswered.

The FBI was investigating the shootings as a potential act of terrorism but reached no firm conclusions Thursday, said a U.S. official briefed on the probe. Separately, a U.S. intelligence official said Farook had been in contact with known Islamic extremists on social media. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

At the same time, law enforcement officials from local police to Attorney General Loretta Lynch cautioned it could have been work-related rage.

Or a twisted hybrid of religion and personal vendetta.

Farook had no criminal record and was not under scrutiny by local or federal law enforcement before the attacks. ❰❰ 23

January 2012, he was rehired as a trainee environmental health specialist before being promoted two years later. Among his job duties was inspecting restaurants.

The soft-spoken Farook was known to pray every day at San Bernardino’s Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah mosque. That is where Nizaam Ali and his brother Rahemaan Ali met Farook.

The last time Rahemaan Ali saw his friend was three weeks ago, when Farook abruptly stopped coming to pray. Rahemaan Ali said Farook seemed happy and his usual self.

The brothers remember when Farook announced that he would be getting married, saying he had met his future wife online and that she was Pakistani.

Farook told the brothers that he travelled to Mecca in Saudi Arabia last summer.

They said he was gone about a month before returning to the U.S. with his wife. Malik arrived on a K-1 visa for fiancees and with a Pakistani passport in July 2014, authorities said.

The two were married on Aug. 16, 2014, according to their marriage license. Both listed their religion as Muslim.

The couple had a 6-month-old daughter who they dropped with relatives Wednesday morning before the shooting.

Patrick Baccari, who sat at the same table as Farook at the www.canadianinquirer.net

employee party, recalled he was short on words and inclined to talk about cars, not religion.

However, a friend of a man killed in the rampage said Farook had a heated conversation about Islam two weeks before the attack.

Kuuleme Stephens said she happened to call Nicholas Thalasinos while her friend was talking with Farook at work.

She said Thalasinos, a Messianic Jew who was passionately pro-Israel, told her Farook “doesn’t agree that Islam is not a peaceful religion.” Stephens said Farook replied that Americans don’t understand Islam.

Stephens added that Thalasinos did not think their conversations would turn violent.

Farook legally bought two handguns used in the massacre and their two assault rifles were legally bought by someone else federal authorities wanted to question. That person’s identity was not released.

A profile on a matchmaking website for South Asians that matched Farook’s name, California hometown, county health job and Muslim faith said his interests included target shooting in his backyard. Though the date of the posting was not clear, it listed his age as 22.

Details about Farook’s upbringing are sparse.

He grew up in a turbulent home but later graduated from

Blood reported from Los Angeles and Tucker from Washington. Contributing to this report were AP writers Ken Dilanian in Washington; Gillian Flaccus, Christine Armario and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles; Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Mississippi; Garance Burke in San Francisco; and Jason Keyser in Chicago.

World News

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

25

Like everyone else, extremists and violent criminals share their acts via digital age tools

BY BRANDON BAILEY AND MICHAEL LIEDTKE The Associated Press

Like many young adults, the 27-year-old Malik and her 28-year-old husband, Syed Farook, seemed comfortable with social media. A U.S. intelligence official said Farook had been in contact with known Islamic extremists online. But there is no sign anyone from the Islamic State communicated with Malik or provided any guidance for the attack on a San Bernardino social service centre, which left 14 people dead and 21 wounded.

YouTube, Twitter and other online services use automated software to help detect posts that violate their terms of service, including those that depict or encourage violence. They also encourage users to report such material, so it can be reviewed and removed.

Facebook declined comment Friday. But the page containing statements posted by the woman involved in this week’s San Bernardino shootings was taken down. Malik and her husband, Syed Farook, died hours after the attack in a gun battle with police.

The social network has done “a fairly good job of making sure that users understand” that posts or videos glorifying violence will be taken down, said Stephen Balkam, head of the non-profit Family Online Safety Institute, which works with Facebook and other sites

PALO ALTO, CALIF. — Tashfeen Malik, the woman involved in this week’s Southern California mass shooting, has another claim to notoriety: She’s the latest in a growing line of extremists and disturbed killers who have used social media to punctuate their horrific violence.

A Facebook official said Friday that Malik, using an alias, praised the Islamic State group in a Facebook post shortly before — or during — the attack.

Malik’s posting echoes similar bids for attention by violent perpetrators, including a disgruntled Virginia broadcaster who recorded himself shooting two co-workers and then posted the video online and a Florida man who killed his wife and shared a photo of her body on social media. the giant social network reFacebook, Twitter, YouTube versed its own decision to and other social media comtake down a graphic video of a panies do their best to block masked man beheading a womor remove posts that glorify an. In that case, Facebook said violence. But experts say it’s it decided to allow the video an uphill battle, and the advent because users were sharing it of new services that let people as a way of condemning the stream live video from any violence attributed to Mexican event will only make the task drug gangs. But the company more challenging. eventually concluded the post “Now everyone has the opwas too offensive and removed portunity to talk to a larger it again. audience,” said Another probKaren North, a lem: Violent professor of digiposts can resurtal social media face even after at the University Social media didn’t invent extremist they are taken of Southern Caliviolence. But the Islamic State and down. When a fornia’s Annensimilar groups have become deft at fired TV reportberg School. “If using social media to spread their er with a grudge you commit an message, both to recruit followers killed two foract and you want and to threaten their perceived mer co-workers people to know enemies. in Virginia over about it, you now the summer, have a way to he videotaped promote it.” his own actions Social media didn’t invent to promote safe practices for and then uploaded the clip to extremist violence. But the Is- children.

Facebook. The company took it lamic State and similar groups Still, he cautioned: “All the down, but not before someone have become deft at using so- policies in the world won’t else had copied it and re-posted cial media to spread their mes- help” unless companies also it on other sites, North said. sage, both to recruit followers devote staff and resources to Facebook explicitly bans conand to threaten their perceived enforcing them. Even then, he tent being shared by “dangerenemies. “They can rapidly and said, it’s not always easy to de- ous organizations” engaged in easily identify others who share termine whether taking some- terrorist activity or organized their beliefs,” said Marcus thing down is the right thing to crime. But even that requires Thomas, a former assistant di- do. a judgment call, because not rector of the FBI’s operational Two years ago, Balkam pub- everyone around the world detechnology division. licly criticized Facebook when fines terrorism in the same way, www.canadianinquirer.net

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said David Greene, civil liberties director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group.

“Most of these areas are more grey than black or white, and that can put these companies in a very difficult position,” Greene said.

Lawmakers in the U.S. Senate recently considered a bill that would require social media companies to report any “terrorist activity” they found on their site to government authorities. Opponents questioned whether private companies were qualified to decide what constitutes terrorist activity. Tech representatives also warned the bill would have resulted in excessive reports to law enforcement and an overload of unhelpful data. The provision was later dropped.

Given the pervasiveness of social media, it’s perhaps no surprise that some criminals have posted evidence of their own acts. Authorities say teenagers in Illinois, Michigan and California have posted clips of themselves committing rape and assault — apparently to brag to their friends. Law enforcement officials say Florida resident Derek Medina posted a photo of his wife’s body on Facebook with a note accusing her of abusing him. He was con-

victed of second-degree murder this year.

Dealing with these problems is inherent for any social network, said Brian Blau, a tech analyst with Gartner. “They are in the business of connecting people and, unfortunately, there are a lot of terrible people in the world.”

And with the advent of livestreaming apps like Meerkat and Twitter’s Periscope service, safety advocates like Balkam worry that someone will use them to broadcast violence as it occurs. Facebook is also testing a similar service, which lets anyone broadcast live smartphone video to the world.

That will up the ante for social media companies, which will need to expand their systems for users to report violent content as it’s streaming, as well as their ability to respond.

“We’re talking in real time, stuff that you broadcast will have to be reported and taken down in a matter of seconds or minutes,” Balkam said. ■ Associated Press writer Anick Jesdanun in New York, writer Tami Abdollah in Washington and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report. Michael Liedtke reported from San Francisco.

26

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS:

Multifaceted Gem of a Filipina: Cora Dela Cruz

BY JANE MORALEDA Philippine Canadian Inquirer CORA DELA Cruz is a public servant, a business woman, a student, an awardee, a mother, a wife and a Filipina.

Cora Dela Cruz is all that and so much more. As the Executive Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, a mother of two kids and a widow, she continues to yield to her calling in the service to entrepreneurs in the Philippines and in Canada.

Moving to Canada

Born in Tarlac, Cora’s resettlement to Canada in 1971 was a fluke. At that time, immigration was open in the country.

But unfortunately, her friends who applied at the Canadian Embassy for the office category of work failed the preliminary tests. With the quota still unmet, she was then encouraged by her friends to try and with a stroke of luck, she passed the screening.

“It wasn’t planned... I thought it’s very expensive to go abroad and I was very young. It was in US that I heard lot of people immigrating. I was just a fresh graduate and I really didn’t have any plans. There was no purpose for me but Canada became my home.”

“I went to Canada and then I was employed by the provincial government, Ontario government… I passed all the exams at the Civil Service Commission in Ontario and they assigned me to the Ministry of the Attorney General.”

After a year of experience in an entry level position, Cora was reassigned to the Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations and her career progressed from there — having roughly 30 years of government service.

Opportunities along the way

Cora started a family in Toronto, Canada. She got married in 1971 and had her first child the next year. In a few years’ time after migrating to the country and working in the government, she was chosen as one

of the few who were sponsored felt just like home. to further her studies.

“In the whole of the country “I went to school, back to the of Canada, there were only 20 university in the evening for million Filipinos… And in Tofour years while working in the ronto where I settled, I didn’t government… and I’m also hav- see that many Filipino back at ing my new family. It was hard the time. There may be some. because it took a lot of disci- Not that many ‘cause if you pline, commitment and time,” were to compare that to this she said. time, everywhere, there are “If I look back I’ll say, ‘How groups of Filipinos.” did I do all that?’ But it’s all the “In terms of the food, I used motivation because my school to have baon (packed lunch). I fees were paid by the govern- cooked rice and then I put some ment… I also attended semi- eggs and all these. I cannot just nars and conferences for career go there and have some chicken growth.” noodle soup and crackers and The promotions came one cheese for lunch… I was lost to after another as she held a wide and there but the people were range of managerial positions so hospitable in a way.” and served on major interdeAs time passed by, Cora was partmental review committees. able to embrace Canada and ex“I pushed myself and my celled even more at work. adrenaline kept me going…

Always offering a helping There were moments when I hand and keeping an open recharged myself, had a break mind, the Canadians saw her with the family. But I didn’t commitment, dedication and Cora Dela Cruz. stop, I didn’t quit.” hard work and entrusted her In 2001, the Filipino com- with various positions she held have to embrace all that.’ And I munity urged Cora to put up for years. go by that quote.” a travel tourism office in Can“I’m thankful… I didn’t real“And I remember when I had ada. Hence, the Canadian As- ize that because of helping, of to speak. In my first job, one sociation of Philippine Travel opening up, I was learning. I of my functions was to explain Agents was founded. was learning somebody else’s an act — act is a law. First, I’m “We didn’t have any travel work. So when the supervisor’s not a speaker. Number two, I tourism office in Canada at or the manager’s position was don’t know what it meant. But that time… But when immi- opened, they put me there. I then my father said, ‘You go gration started to grow, there don’t apply. I’m lucky. But I also out there. You think of them was a demand. We had a lot worked hard,” she beamed. as they’re all your equals. In of travel agents but there was the eyes of God, they’re all the no tourism consul office. And Words kept in her heart same.’ And then so I went, preso, we organized this associaLeaving the Philippines, Cora pared and since then, I loved tion.” was guided by the words im- speaking.”

“Since then, we had travel parted to her by her father.

But it was not easy as she agents and operators who fo“My father said, ‘You don’t faced challenges at work. Being cused on travel to the Philip- have to be shy because you have branded as ‘colored,’ she was pines… Unforlooked down and tunately, they her promotions closed it for were questioned. budget reasons “They went to but they started I’m thankful… I didn’t realize that the labor union to rally again for because of helping, of opening and asked, ‘Why one as they plan up, I was learning. I was learning was she promotto reopen it.” somebody else’s work. ed and not us?

She’s colored.’

Embracing the I said, ‘It’s not country — its my fault. There people, food, environment a color… In the eyes of God we’re must be a reason why they proAlthough missing the Philip- all the same no matter what col- moted me… I didn’t apply, they pines, Cora was later on able or you are. The only time there’s just put me here.’” to live the life around her. She a difference is when you say, ‘I “‘It’s the way how they look at delightfully recalled the excite- am brown and they’re white. I me at the time… It was difficult. ment she felt whenever she come from a different country They made it so difficult for me. saw a kababayan (countrymen) and therefore I am second to But then, if you do your job very aboard a transit bus and how them.’ And my father said, ‘You well, there’s always that recogthe once foreign country slowly have to prepare yourself. You nition and acknowledgement. www.canadianinquirer.net

CANCHAM PHILIPPINES / FACEBOOK

Do the best that you can, recognizing that there is a growth for you.”

Cora just kept soaring and saw challenges as means to become tougher.

She served as the President of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce-Toronto (PCCT) from 2005 to 2006 and the President of the National Alliance of Philippine Business Trade and Tourism (Canada) from 2009 to 2012.

In 2009, the (Canada Asian Network) awarded her along with other outstanding Asians.

These were individuals who have contributed to a series of categories: public service, business, sports, arts and sciences.

She was nominated under public service and business — and was the only Filipino recipient of the recognition.

Always giving, always helping

Already working in the government, managing two travel agencies and nursing his ailing husband at that time, Cora was still able to set up a school in Toronto in 1999 — the Delamar Institute of Technology, Inc., a private school registered with the Ministry of Education. ❱❱ PAGE 28 Multifaceted Gem

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

27

Travel

Bleisure: Cruise ships offer easy ways to add fun to business meetings, promote networking

BY BETH J. HARPAZ The Associated Press HOLDING MEETINGS on cruise ships can be cost-effective and can simplify mixing business with fun.

The one potential downside: Onboard Internet access may be slow and expensive. But depending on your group, limited Wi-Fi might not be a bad thing.

“You know how people are when they sit in a meeting: We get on our phones and check things out,” said Judy Walker, vice-president of marketing at Anago Cleaning Systems, a commercial cleaning company that’s held two meetings on cruises. “They were not able to do that on the ship. We really kept them focused. We felt it worked in our favour.”

Other benefits to cruise meetings: “We planned them in the winter months so that everybody wanted to come,” Walker said. “And they were able to bring their families along.”

Stephen Dixon, chief development officer for Children’s Lighthouse, an educational childcare franchise company, said his company’s two cruise conventions seemed to promote “more camaraderie” than land-based venues where participants scatter during free time.

On ships, he said, “the franchisees have more time together to share best practices, get to know each other and build relationships.”

As for Wi-Fi issues, “I think it’s more positive than negative to get people get away from the screens and enjoy relationships and conversations more,” Dixon said.

Jo Kling, president of Landry & Kling, which specializes in managing events at sea, says cruise ships can also be costeffective. Where a land-based venue might charge extra for table linens, floral arrangements, audiovisual equipment and the like, that’s all included on a cruise. “It can be from 10 to 30 per cent less than a hotel and you don’t have to bring in entertainment,” Kling said.

Meals are included in the cruise price too: “You don’t have to think about how much every hors d’ouevre is going to cost,” Kling said.

Jeanna Steele, a partner in Sea Planners Group, said cruise ships also make it easy to reserve 1,000 or more rooms for large meetings and conventions.

“Not many other places can give you that under one roof,” Steele said.

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Today’s ships offer a variety of recreational options that can also serve as team building exercises, from climbing equipment, basketball courts and thrill

rides to pools, casinos, karaoke and nightclubs, as well as in-port excursions like cultural tours or nature walks.

“It has so many options for different

demographics,” said Adam Noyes, chief restaurant operations officer for Checkers and Rally’s restaurants, who’s helped plan and host 18 cruises to reward the brands’ top performers. “It’s a good solution for folks that want high activity or low activity. They can create their own experience.”

Tenisha Taylor Bell, former Atlanta chapter president for the National Association of Black Journalists, had a mixed experience at an NABJ regional conference in March on a cruise to the Bahamas.

“While our programing was spectacular, Internet access was not,” said Bell, a former CNN executive producer who now has a public relations company, Perfect Pitch Media Group. “We are working journalists. And we could not work.

We had no access to post our blogs, some of us were filing for our newspapers and TV stations and we couldn’t.”

Steele said that while onboard Internet access varies, it has improved in recent years to the point where “the fastest Internet at sea is just like being on land.” She singled out Royal Caribbean

Vancouver

❱❱ PAGE 28 Bleisure: Cruise

Manila

More flights, better connections!

For more information please contact local travel agency or call EVA Air Vancouver branch office (604) 214-6608

www.canadianinquirer.net

28

Travel

DECEMBER 11, 2015

Montreal festivals aim to show visitors the bright side of the winter season THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL — While Montreal winters are long and the days are short, the city is committed to maintaining its reputation as a festival-hosting, culturally unique nightlife capital all year round.

UNESCO declared 2015 to be the International Year of Light — a theme particularly wellsuited to Montreal’s winter festivals and celebrations, many of which share the goal of illuminating winter days.

Here’s a roundup of what the city has to offer: Luminotherapie

Every winter, Montreal’s main open-air concert venue hosts a different interactive sound-and-light project designed to showcase the city’s creativity.

The chosen project for this year is called “Impulse” and consists of 30 working seesaws of different sizes that emit sound and light as they move up and down.

The see-saws, which are activated by members of the public, are complemented by largescale video projections on the surrounding buildings.

Marie Lamoureux, a communications consultant for the organizers, says the goal is to “have something interactive and creative that gives people a deeper appreciation of winter and encourages them to interact with public space.”

Luminotherapie runs from Dec. 10 to Jan. 31, 2016 in the Place des Festivals on JeanneMance Street.

Night snowshoeing on Mount Royal

Mount Royal, the 250-metre peak in the middle of the city, is home to Montreal’s largest park and the place to go for dramatic views of the city, especially at night.

Les amis de la montagne, a not-for-profit group dedicated to protecting and enhancing the mountain, offers evening showshoe tours on Friday and Saturday evenings in January

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and February.

The 90-minute treks are led by one of the organization’s environmental educators, who speaks about the history of the mountain and the park.

According to Helene Panaioti, the group’s communications director, the trip provides a chance to experience both the city’s urban landscape and its natural beauty.

“The city lights and the reflection of the snow create beautiful natural lights,” she said. “You really see the whole city.”

During the day, Mount Royal also offers skating, sledding, snowshoeing, tubing, hiking, and kilometres of cross-country skiing trails. Equipment rental is available.

Nativity scenes at Saint Joseph’s Oratory

The city’s largest and arguably grandest church includes a museum with a permanent exhibit of more than 200 nativity scenes from 100 different countries, with a special collection of creches by Quebec artists.

This year a second, temporary nativity scene exhibit inspired by UNESCO’s theme of light and by the music of Acadian singer Angele Arsenault will run until the end of March.

The Oratory will also host weekly concerts of traditional Christmas organ music every Sunday afternoon until Jan. 3.

Christmas in Old Montreal

Montreal’s historic district hosts a Christmas celebration throughout December that includes a Christmas market, free outdoor movies and yoga, a telephone line direct to Santa and strategically placed warming stations.

The skating rink at the Old Port is another popular destination thanks to dramatic city views and musical-themed evenings. It’s open every day beginning at 10 a.m. until March 6.

Winter festivals

Montreal hosts a number of outdoor winter festivals that aim to get people outside in the snow. The family-friendly Fete des neiges carnival takes place over four weekends from January 16. to Feb. 7 and includes paid and free activities including tube sliding, sled dog tours, skating, shows and music.

Then there’s Igloofest, a 12day outdoor electronic dance festival spread over four long weekends in Montreal’s Old Port featuring ice-and-steel decor, snowsuit contests, and local and international DJs. It runs Thursday to Saturday, Jan. 14- Feb. 6. Ages 18 and up.

Continuing on the theme of light, the Montreal High Lights festival, which runs from Feb 18 to March 5, celebrates the city’s food, arts and culture and includes massive outdoor lighting displays with family-friendly activities. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

Multifaceted Gem...

“In the 1980’s and then early 90’s, the Canadian government gave caregivers the opportunity to go out, improve themselves and apply for residency… However, these caregivers had to show that they have made improvements for their careers if they want to move out from being a caregiver,” she explained.

“While I’m there in Canada, I sponsored cousins… as caregivers. They came to me and said, ‘The Immigration said we have to show something that we went to a school or we upgraded our skills.’ I said, ‘Okay, I will rent a couple of computers. Get all your caregiver friends. Come to the basement, Saturday and Sunday. I will teach you how to do the computer.’

After three months, her students increased in number.

This prompted her to rent a space downtown, hire teachers and open the vocational school which taught computer usage and personality development.

Returning to the Philippines Still having more to give, Cora, then 63, eventually came back home — not as a tourist or retiree but as the Executive Director of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (CanCham).

“I still would like to do something. I still can contribute. I had so much in me that I wanted to share… I was given the offer and accepted it. There were things I still wanted to do. I had a lot to offer and I wanted to see the country. I haven’t seen it for so long. I was so young when I left.”

“Now I’m here. I enjoy my work. I get to meet with members and share the business experience that I have in Canada, the work ethic, the business ethic that I gained in Canada. In here, of course, you cannot just say, ‘This is the Canadian way of ❰❰ 26

doing things.’ No. it’s applying it in their business.”

As the chief operating officer, Cora is responsible for the delivery of programs and smooth operation of the organization in relation to its members. She presents business opportunities both in Canada and in the Philippines through trade missions and events.

When asked about her plans for CanCham, Cora said that she would like the organization to have at least 500 members — it has 318 members to date.

“What I would like to do is to be able to expand the network of Philippine companies doing business in Canada and at the same time, expand the number of Canadian companies trading here and in the Philippines. Let them know that the Chamber can assist in finding networks, finding links and that they can use the Chamber to be the stepping stone and we will make the connections between the two countries.”

On Being an Inspiration

Cora believes that every moment should be seen as an opportunity.

“Keep on looking… There’s always opportunity around. It’s not something that has to be fed to you. Make an opportunity for yourself. And for every person you meet, there is an opportunity. If it’s not now, maybe later on. A lot can happen.”

More importantly, she believes that a positive outlook in life is a gift we can give to the world.

“Life is good… I always say that. Adversities, these are temporary. Life can still be good.

Sickness, you look at things as life is still good because it’s teaching you a lesson to be tough; it’s teaching you a lesson to be strong because a person is drawing strength from you. So I say, well, life is good.” ■

Bleisure: Cruise... as “leading the way in technology.”

A spokesperson for Cruise Lines International Association, Lorri Christou, said the industry has “made technological strides” and that most cruises today “offer a myriad of Wi-Fi, onboard texting and data options.” ❰❰ 27

While Bell was unhappy with her Wi-Fi experience, she acknowledged that the cruise did offer extraordinary opportunities for getting to know other participants. She recalled watching the sunrise with a conference speaker as “one of the best conversations I ever had.” ■

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FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

www.canadianinquirer.net F PhilippineCanadianInquirer

T PhilCanInquirer

m info@canadianinquirer.net sales@canadianinquirer.net

A (888) 668-6059

www.canadianinquirer.net

30

Community News

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

J.A. Tan’s ‘Amazing Journeys’ Knights of Rizal to exhibit opens commemorate the 119th martyrdom of national hero

BY MARY ANN MANDAP Philippine Canadian Inquirer

ART ENTHUSIASTS, collectors, artists and Filipino-Canadian guests celebrated the launch of J.A. Tan’s art exhibit entitled, “Amazing Journeys,” at the Hycroft Gallery in Vancouver, B.C. J.A. describes himself as an artist with autism. Diagnosed as a high functioning child with autism before his third birthday, he aims to show through art how his mind works. ”I have come to the realization that I have always used art as a way of helping myself bring out my thoughts, feelings, and ideas. I consider it an integral part of my existence as each work is a personal journey of myself with myself, and myself with the world, bringing a feeling of peace and happiness since things become clearer to me through the images and visual pictures before me,” he said.

“Coping with everyday life as an artist challenged with autism, I strive to make a difference in the world. Through my work, I hope to make the world less of a mystery and less scary for everyone. I hope to be able to create images of how someone like me thinks, feels, and interacts with people,” he added.

J.A. Tan’s praxis includes painting, drawing, and collage.

For his art pieces, he uses acrylic, oil, black ink, pastel, pencil, crayons and mixed media.

BY DINDO ORBESO AND ROMY ZETAZATE St. Jamestown News Service

J.A. Tan.

J.A.’s mother, Marie Zelie Tan is amazed by her son’s journeys.

“J.A. completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art+Design in May 2010. Since then, he has been working as a visual artist having solo and group shows in Vancouver, Philippines, U.K.(London), USA (Miami and L.A) and China (Beijing). He has also been commissioned to do work for homes and offices in Vancouver and the Philippines. One of the highlights of his budding career is his having one of his artworks — “Victory” — chosen among over 200 submissions and issued as a United Nations stamp in April 2012,” she enthused.

She and husband Vince Tan, a retired executive of AyalaLand, are proud of him. “He has come a long way from the young kid who spoke full sentences only

ART OF J.A. TAN FB

when he reached the age of five, but who always doodled and drew on whatever he got his hands on,” Zelie recalled.

Asked what inspires him? Zelie said J.A. always says that art is how he is able to communicate with the world around him.

“It is also the way he helps himself understand what is happening around him and makes sense of it. He speaks through his art, and I believe that is what inspires him. He expresses himself in the best way he knows — through his art — and he strives to always do his best. His philosophy in life is “never give up.” Truth to tell, his talent is God’s gift to this “special person,” she said.

“Amazing Journeys” will run from Dec. 2 to Jan. 4, 2016. Hycroft Gallery likewise featured the art of Wade Comer. ■

THE OFFICERS and members of the Knights of Rizal throughout the world will commemorate the 119th martyrdom of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, the Philippine national hero, on Dec. 30.

In Canada, the newly formed Earl Bales Chapter headed by Benjie Dimaapi, will host the celebration together with his officers and members.

Jaime T. Marasigan, Rizal Canada regional commander; Ed Prillo, deptuty regional commander; Joe Damasco, immediate past regional commander; George Poblete, past regional commander; Lapulapu Cana, other regional and chapter officers and members, will be on hand to join in the celebration.

The event is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. with the wreath laying in front of the statue of Dr. Jose P. Rizal at the Earl ❱❱ PAGE 39 Knights of

Photo shows Jeremias Singson (right) supreme commander of the Knights of Rizal together and George Poblete, immediate past regional commander of KOR-Canada Region (L), with Dolly Poblete (middle).

ST. JAMESTOWN NEWS SERVICE

BC Safety Authority sheds light on safe holiday decorating WITH THE holiday season just around the corner, BC Safety Authority (BCSA) is reminding British Columbians to protect themselves and their property by following a few basic lighting safety tips.

Faulty wiring of seasonal lights can create electrical hazards and result in injury or property damage. To reduce risk, BCSA advises consumers to follow the manufacturer’s directions for installation and use of indoor and outdoor lights and to use only products approved for use in Canada.

“Aged or worn out Christmas

lighting and displays are subjected to cold and wet winter conditions as well as UV from the sun. This can have a deteriorating effect on the lighting.

Lighting should be looked at each year to make sure it is in good working order,” said Michael Pilato, BCSA senior safety officer.

BCSA recommends checking lights or other electrical decorations for defects before use and discarding any with cracked receptacles, frayed or loose wires. Another important precaution is to turn off all electrical lighting and decorations

before leaving the house or going to bed.

In addition, BCSA provides the following tips for lighting your home safely this holiday season: - Ensure that your lights have Canadian safety approval certification. Check all of your electrical holiday decorations for labels with approved agency marks. A full list of approved safety markings can be found at: http://www.safetyauthority.ca/ alert/electrical-informationbulletin-approved-certification-marks-electrical-products - Follow the manufacturer’s www.canadianinquirer.net

directions for installing and using any electrical decorations.

- Consider switching to energy efficient LED lights — they produce less heat, which reduces the risk of fire.

- Use the right cord for the location - indoor and outdoor cords are different.

- Outdoor receptacles within 2.5 meters of grade require a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) receptacle.

- Never run cords under rugs where people will walk over them or through doorways or windows where they may become pinched - breakage of

pinched wires can cause a fire.

- Never use staples or nails to attach cords to walls or roofs.

- Make sure cords can handle the amperage indicated on your electrical devices, and avoid multi-outlet adaptor connections which can overload your outlet.

- Outdoor lights left up yearround will likely need to be replaced.

- Keep lights out of the reach of small children. ■ For additional information about electrical safety, visit BCSA’s website at www.safetyauthority.ca

31

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

Entertainment

Julia pitted against Miles in new TV series

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer “BOTH OF us are misunderstood,” said young actress Julia Barretto on why she could relate to Trixie, her character in the drama series, “And I Love You So.” “People don’t understand why Trixie and I are the way we are. When it comes to facing problems, we always stand strong. We stick to what we believe in,” said the 19-year-old actress.

Of late, Julia is the subject of tabloid news stories romantically linking her to James Reid, as well as for her decision to drop the surname of her dad, Dennis Padilla (Dennis Baldivia in real life).

“I like my role. It’s important that viewers understand where she (Trixie) is coming from,” Julia explained. “Just like me, she fights for what she believes in. She knows when enough is enough. She’s a strong person, but there are also moments when she breaks down.”

The series revolves around

the lives of Trixie (Julia) and Joanna (Miles Ocampo), who consider each other bitter rivals in school and in love—they fall for the same guy, Justin (Iñigo Pascual). Their rivalry intensifies and becomes more complicated when they are forced to live under one roof as stepsisters.

Fighting back

For her part, Miles said she had to adjust when playing Joanna. “It was a difficult first few weeks for me. I’m thankful that our directors and staff are very supportive. I easily relate to Joanna because she has learned to fight back when she feels that she’s right. She’s friendly, optimistic and is generally a happy person. She doesn’t care much about what other people say as long as the people she cares for aren’t affected.”

“And I Love You So” is Miles’ biggest project so far. “I’m lucky that I get to work with talented actors. They are supportive and giving. I’m learning a lot!”

Also in the cast are Dimples Romana as her mother, Mi-

Julia-Barretto.

chelle; Angel Aquino as Trixie’s mom, Katrina, and Tonton Gutierrez as their father, Alfonso.

Julia said playing a mean girl in the series is a challenge.

“Trixie feels envious of Joanna, since all she wants to do is please her dad. Now, his atten-

tion is divided, because Joanna and her mom are around,” Julia explained. “Trixie becomes an angry person because she wants all of her dad’s love and affection for herself.”

She added: “I learn from other actors by watching how they treat their scenes. To get into

character, I also ask myself: What’s it like to be mean? How is Julia when she’s angry or jealous? I put those emotions into my character. It just comes from the heart!”

In teasers, Julia is shown deliberately hitting Miles with a volleyball during an interschool match. “We can’t discuss other scenes, but there’s more to just throwing a ball at Joanna,” said Julia. “How I abuse her verbally is more painful than what she feels when I hit her.”

In real life, Miles said she and Julia are good friends. “I’ve known her for a long time because I was able to work with her mom, Tita Marjorie, in a previous project. We would always say ‘hello’ to each other.

What’s surprising was how fast we became friends when the show started!”

Julia added: “We’ve gotten so close that it’s always hard for us to stop laughing on the set—although we don’t talk when we have to shoot sensitive sequences. Trixie will soon provoke Joanna. Let’s see how she will stand up and defend herself.” ■

Back-to-back titles: PHL’s Angelia Ong crowned Miss Earth 2015

BY JANE MORALEDA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — Winning for second year in a row and marking a first in the pageant’s history, the Philippines again took home the Miss Earth crown as the country’s Angelia Gabrena Ong won in this year’s tilt.

The coronation night was held over the weekend at the Marx Halle in Vienna, Austria.

Thiessa Sickert of Brazil was named Miss Earth Fire; Brittany Payne of USA was Miss Earth Water; and Dayanna Grageda of Australia was Miss Earth Air. Rounding up the Top 8 finalists were delegates from

Austria, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela.

Ong succeeded Filipina beauty queen Jamie Herrel who took home last year’s Miss Earth crown, six years after Karla Henry won the Miss Earth title in 2008.

“The crown deserves to go to the Philippines again. I have the right mind and spirit and I’m ready to face the challenges that come with the crown. I believe I’m the right person to inspire and educate people on how they can help preserve and protect the environment,” Ong said in an interview with Inquirer.net.

Prior to winning the coveted crown, the 25-year-old Philip-

pine delegate expressed interest in participating at the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris as she wanted to continue her advocacy of caring for the environment.

“I chose to continue the advocacy I started when I was just a candidate for Miss Philippines Earth. These were restoration, reforestation, minimizing carbon footprints and taking 5R (rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, respect) by heart which brings me to a campaign I call #wewillbecausewecan,” she said in her Miss Earth profile page.

“This campaign aims to inspire and educate people on how they can contribute in helping the environment in www.canadianinquirer.net

It’s a back-to-back Miss Earth win for the Philippines as Angelia Ong takes home the crown this year.

PHOTO FROM MISS EARTH’S OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE

their own little ways and even through social media… Getting the campaigns online is a strategy to get the message out there and create more awareness,” she added.

“Awareness or identifying the problem is the first step in solving the problem… We have to educate people about the ❱❱ PAGE 32 Back-to-back

32

Entertainment

DECEMBER 11, 2015

MMFF New Wave: Beyond franchises and formulae

This year’s filmmakers tell the stories of petty thieves, poets, soldiers, migrants and fishball vendors

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer THIS YEAR’S filmmakers in the New Wave competition of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) tell stories that veer away from the franchises and formula flicks usually churned out by the annual event’s main section.

Arlyn de la Cruz’s “Mandirigma” goes straight to the battle scarred mountains and valleys of southern Philippines. “As a journalist, I have been embedded with troops many times in the past,” she recalled. “I’ve been to the so-called war zones.

I wanted to recreate the images I saw in the field onscreen.”

She has a simple mission: “I want to give honor to every warrior who fought in the battlefield.”

Although inspired by real events, she clarified that her film is not based on the Mamasapano tragedy, which claimed the lives of 44 SAF (Special Action Force) officers.

John Paul Su similarly tapped into his personal reservoir of experiences in making his entry, “Toto.” “As an immigrant myself, I am deeply attracted to the film’s story,” Su acknowledged. “It speaks of the tension between integrity and compromise in the journey of outsiders.”

“The immigrant experience, and Filipino diaspora,” he pointed out, are recurring themes in his work. But beyond the story of a migrant who yearns to live in the land of milk and honey, he wants to recount the struggle of “every individual who aspires to fulfill his dreams.”

“In my film, everyone has a dream, be it about love, career or friendship,” he related. “But how far will you go to attain your dream?”

Dying language

Carlo Enciso Catu’s “Ari: My Life With a King” chronicles a young man’s odyssey, as well —specifically, his journey to rediscover his roots through Kapampangan poetry. “This film tells the story of the dying

Christine Reyes to tie the knot with non-showbiz boyfriend in January

BY JANE MORALEDA Philippine Canadian Inquirer

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Kapampangan language,” Catu remarked. “It was made with the hope to encourage every Filipino, not just Kapampangans, to learn and speak their own language first.”

Apart from neophyte actors (like Coco Martin’s younger brother, Ronwaldo Martin), Catu likewise worked with reallife poets. He found “every aspect of the shoot challenging, but inspiring.”

“The excitement, enthusiasm and creativity flowed naturally,” he said.

His film won awards at the Harlem and All Lights (India) fests.

Like Catu’s film, King Palisoc’s “Tandem” is well-traveled, too. “Tandem” was previously screened in Montreal, Vancouver and Cairo. Palisoc, who has always been fascinated with “crime-dramas,” got hooked on the story, because it “depicts a brewing conflict within a family,” with the city’s dark underbelly as setting.

Apart from exploring the dynamics of a “riding-in-tandem” operation, it shows how “brothers are tested in their relationship.” “I wanted to develop characters that live in desperation, not just as victims of society but of their own choices, as well,” he noted. “They may

seem trapped in an endless spiral of crime and corruption, but I wanted to make a film that allows characters to have choices, and not be bound by societal pressures.”

Illiterate

Ray An Dulay admitted that, with his film, “Turo-Turo,” he wishes to “touch people’s lives.”

The film centers on an illiterate fishball vendor who learns to read and write with the help of his son.

“We want viewers to open their minds regarding the issue of illiteracy,” he said. “Young people do not value education anymore. The youth should not take their studies for granted.

Hopefully, we can encourage the audience to finish schooling before it’s too late.”

Also an actor, Dulay is not after fame and awards in directing his film. “We joined this festival not to prove that we are the best,” he owned up. “Our goal is for the audience to appreciate our movie. It’s a great feeling when a moviegoer gives you a compliment that comes straight from the heart.”

MMFF’s New Wave section will have screenings from Dec. 17 to 24 at Glorietta, SM Megamall and Robinsons Place Ermita. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

MANILA — Kapamilya actress Christine Reyes and her nonshowbiz fiancé, Ali Khatibi, are getting married in Balesin Island on January 27 – the same date they first realized their admiration for each other back in 2013.

“Nalaman namin na we like each other nung time na ‘yun.

Kaya gusto sana namin ‘yung Balesin wedding namin sa January 27… Dapat dun ‘yung [prenuptial pictorial] namin. Bayad na ‘yun so sabi namin dalhin na lang namin doon sina Pastor tapos doon na magpakasal,” Christine told Kris Aquino during her guesting in Kris TV on Tuesday, December 8.

(We discovered that we liked each other that time. That’s why we want our Balesin wedding to be on January 27…. Our prenuptial pictorial was set there.

It’s already paid so we thought of bringing our Pastor there and get married there as well.)

The couple’s first option, however, was to have a backyard wedding in their house.

But with the construction needing more time, they opted to tie the knot in Balesin.

“Kaysa naman somewhere here na very normal… Gusto naman talaga niya [Ali], beach wedding… Na–stress ako sa planning kasabay ‘yung teleser-

ye, kasabay ‘yung construction ng bahay. Kapag nagwe–wedding plan pala, ang daming kailangang puntahan, ang daming kailangan mag–decide kami together,” the 26-year-old actress said, admitting that they originally planned to wed last December 3 but their conflicting schedules made them postpone the wedding.

(Instead of [getting married] somewhere here that’s very normal… He really wanted a beach wedding…. I got stressed with the planning along with the teleserye, along with the construction of the house. [I realized that] when you plan for a wedding, you have to decide together on a lot of things.)

“Gusto ko kasama ko siya palagi… E, may times na ang dami niyang ginagawa. Ang dami niyang ka–meeting. One time, nag–ayos ako ng schedule, fixed na, [pero] may isinisingit siya na kliyente. So, nag–away kami,” she added.

(I want him to be with me always [when making decisions]… But there are times when he’s doing a lot of things.

He meets with a lot of people.

One time, I arranged a schedule, it was already fixed, but he still met with a client. So, we fought.)

Finally finishing all the preparations, the couple only wanted a simple ceremony attended by their respective families and a few close friends. ■

Back-to-back... threats of Climate Change because it is only through an educated society can true reform be achieved.”

Ong received recognition from the Malacañang Palace as she brought honor to the country.

“Congratulations and best wishes to her,” Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said over government radio dzRB. ❰❰ 31

“This is again a proof of the beauty, intelligence and excellence of Filipinas in international competitions which are held to strengthen the country’s friendship and cooperation with other countries,” he said in Tagalog.

The Philippines now has the most number of winners in the annual advocacy-driven beauty pageant, followed by Brazil and Venezuela each winning two titles. ■

Entertainment

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

33

Justin Bieber performs acoustic show for food bank in Toronto on Monday night

BY PETER HENDERSON The Canadian Press TORONTO — Justin Bieber kicked off an intimate benefit concert in Toronto in comfy, casual style, telling the crowd: “It’s good to be back in Canada!”

“It’s really good to be home,” he said, taking the stage at the Danforth Music Hall in a white tuque, grey hoodie, black jeans and sneakers.

“We’re just going to make this really loose,” he added as he sat on a stool beside guitarist Dan Kanter to kick off the acoustic show with his new hit “What Do You Mean.”

It was a family affair at the show as Bieber brought his little sister, Jazmyn, and little brother, Jaxon, onstage briefly.

He performed a mix of hits as well as holiday tunes, and even a rendition of Drake’s hit “Hotline Bling.”

He also interacted with the crowd, allowing a fan to ask him a question (it was about his favourite candy, which he said is Sour Patch Kids) and with the viewers watching the live stream on his website (“Sucks you guys aren’t here,” he said cheekily).

Fans lined up for over 24 hours to get a prime seat at the sold-out event on Monday evening, the same day he landed a

Grammy Award nomination.

“I already have tickets for the May concert, but this one is just so intimate and it’s a smaller venue, so it leaves for more opportunity to get closer to him....

And the proceeds are going to a really good cause,” said Taylor Bousfield, 21, of London, Ont., who arrived at the venue at 11 a.m. on Sunday to secure a good spot at the general-admission show.

“I’m (a) big (fan), but after today, I’ve seen way crazier, to a whole other level.”

Proceeds from the acoustic concert will go the Stratford House of Blessing in Bieber’s hometown of Stratford, Ont. The outreach centre has a food bank and services to help those in need.

The organization says Bieber’s mother used its services when he was little.

The lineup to get into “An Evening With Justin Bieber” at the approximately 1,400-seat venue stretched around the block before doors opened.

“1,500 people, wow. This is a special crowd,” said Bieber.

Tickets, which were priced at $100 each, quickly sold out when they went on sale last Tuesday.

“It’s pretty stressful,” said Bousfield, who took a bus to the city and camped out overnight with a friend in front of the ven-

ue in hopes of securing a frontrow spot. They barely slept and planned to still show up for school for exams on Tuesday.

“I have such anxiety, it’s crazy,” she added.

Danielle Leonard, 15, from Richmond Hill, Ont., called it a “once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

“At shows at the Air Canada Centre and Rogers Centre, they’re not as special as this one,” said Leonard, who had been camping out at the venue with a friend since 7 p.m. on Sunday.

“There’s a little amount of people and they’re all worshiping the same person that you are, rather than like 50,000 people being there. Like, he’s actually paying attention to the people in the crowd.”

Bieber has helped out the Stratford food bank before.

Last year, he and his grandmother donated several of his childhood items for the group to auction off on eBay. The 21-year-old pop superstar has also donated $10,000 to the group.

Bieber has been riding high on the charts with his new album “Purpose,” which includes the hits “Sorry” and “What Do You Mean.”

On Monday he got a Grammy nomination for best dance recording for “Where Are U Now,” a collaboration with Skrillex and Diplo. ■

The Weeknd.

CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION-SHARE ALIKE 4.0

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS from The Canadian Press

For years, The Weekend has loomed large on the fringes of mainstream music with pitch-black tunes that earned him critical kudos and a loyal cult following. Fast track to 2015 and the future has certainly brightened for the R&B sensation dubbed the “prince of darkness.”

Kendrick Lamar is the king of the Grammys: The rapper is the leading nominee for the 2016 awards with 11, including album of the year for “To Pimp a Butterfly” and song of the year for “Alright.”Lamar, who won two Grammys earlier this year, is followed by Taylor Swift and the Weeknd, who each earned seven nominations, including album of the year. “Butterfly,” “1989” and “Beauty Behind the Madness” will battle country singersongwriter Chris Stapleton’s “Traveller” and rock group Alabama Shakes’ “Sound & Color” for the top prize.

It’s been a heck of a year for the CBC — a scathing report denounced managers for their handling of the Jian Ghomeshi affair while former anchors Amanda Lang and Evan Solomon faced controversies of their own.All the while, the CBC continued to grapple with steep budget cuts that slashed news broadcasts, gutted sports and documentary divisions and put for sale signs in front of aging facilities.

The high-octane “Mad Max: Fury Road” might have driven off with the most awards on Sunday, but the Los Angeles Film Critics Association had another in mind for its top film of the year: “Spotlight,” the comparatively subdued drama about the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into sex abuses in the Catholic Church. LAFCA is one of the highest-profile regional critics groups, but often strays from the mainstream in its annual awards choices. Only once in the past 20 years has the LAFCA Best Film winner gone on to win the Best Picture Oscar.

U2’s performance in Paris on Sunday night wasn’t just about music — it had a mournful tinge, too. Frontman Bono paid respects to 130 people killed by extremists in Paris on Nov. 13, and 14 people killed in a mass shooting last week in California.

Justin Bieber performs on the Today Show in New York City.

A top Russian official on Monday met with the American actress turned animal rights activist Pamela Anderson at the Kremlin to discuss wildlife conservation. During the televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, Anderson expressed her concern about the fate of Russian seals and the prevalence of sea aquariums that keep belugas, orcas and dolphins in captivity.

DEBBY WONG / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

www.canadianinquirer.net

34

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Lifestyle

They work hard for this quality of home and community Reading room for kids’ storytelling, weekend barbecues, gardens away from the noise–these are what the seafarers come home to

BY CATHY CAÑARES YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer KAREEM DUAZO’S firstborn son took one look at the Aspen unit at Pacific Terraces Community (PTC) South in Imus, Cavite, and told his father, “I want to stay here.”

There were two bedrooms and two toilets; and the kid was delighted upon seeing the second-floor balcony.

Duazo, then a seafarer, also felt the 90square meter, twostory unit was perfect for his growing family. It was 2012 and they had just moved in, after his wife gave birth to their second son.

Duazo used his paternity leave to take care of his wife and new baby.

“Honestly, I did not want to go back to work yet,” he tells INQUIRER Lifestyle in Filipino. “Every morning I’d hear the crowing of roosters instead of honking cars. I was able to get away from the noise, pollution, crowds and traffic.”

Duazo and his brood were among the early settlers at PTC South. His property stands on a corner lot and is near the clubhouse, the guardhouse and the basketball court.

PTC South is one of two latest additions to the PTC communities developed by ACM Homes for seafarers looking for good homes to invest their savings in.

Weekend barbecues

Located in Carsadang Bago in Imus, the subdivision is tucked away in a quiet and bucolic part of the province, and yet is only several kilometers away from Coastal Road that links Cavite to the metropolis.

Duazo, currently crewing manager for a transoceanic firm, said he and the first few families that moved to PTC South formed an immediate

bond.

“We had barbecues every weekend,” he recalls. “We had wine and a grill, just like what they do in the States.”

The impromptu group also organized Halloween trick or treat sorties, Christmas parties, Easter egg hunts, sports fests and football and baseball clinics. There were also monthly community meetings.

Although the picnics have stopped, Duazo said everyone is still involved in monitoring the construction of the clubhouse and a reading room where they plan to hold storytelling sessions for children.

Duazo recalls that he and the other dads who regularly attended the community meetings agreed that preserving their neighborhood’s familybased lifestyle is of prime importance.

Legacy

“Sooner or later the kids will grow up but this neighborhood, this community, will be our legacy to them,” Duazo stresses.

Near PTC South is an earlier development of ACM Homes that residents fondly call PTC One. “It’s really just PTC but we are the real pioneers,” says Violeta Gacita who lives in a twostory house with husband Orlando. Their son Oliver bought the house in 2009 when he was still a bachelor.

Gacita said her husband originally wanted the property to serve as halfway house between overseas assignments as a seafarer.

Their son is now married and stays in Fairview, Quezon City.

He turned the house over to his parents so they don’t have to put up with the noise and pollution in the vulcanizing shop that doubled as their home in nearby Bacoor.

Gacita leads INQUIRER Lifestyle to a greenhouse a stone’s

throw away from her home.

“This is where I plant vegetables,” she says. “It’s therapeutic.

It’s just me, the quiet and the fresh air.”

PTC One has other smart amenities such as reading rooms, a bamboo park for children, and a basketball court where the bleachers’ section is made of grass. In 1992, Antonette de Guzman, Carol Osteria and Mia Gentugaya founded ACM Homes, a niche property developer providing affordable homes to low- and middlemarket families. It was their way of giving back after learning of the Philippines’ recovery after the 1986 Edsa revolution.

De Guzman was then regional director for credit at The Elders Finance Group and Osteria was an investment banker at Chemical Bank in Hong Kong.

The two teamed up with Gentugaya, then a senior partner in a top law firm, believing that Filipinos, no matter their income level, could lead better lives, given a secure, comfortable environment. They chose www.canadianinquirer.net

Cavite as the site.

Gentugaya later stepped back to become a consultant while De Guzman and Osteria went on to do nine low- to mediumcost development projects in Imus, three in General Trias, and one in Tanza.

These include ACM Homes 1, ACM Sherwood Homes, ACM Woodstock Homes (Phases 1 to 9), ACM Woodcrest Homes, Goodwood Homes, Pacific Woods, Pacific Woods West, Pacific Renaissance Villas and PTC. ACM Homes also completed Woodstock Homes in Nasugbu, Batangas.

To date, more than 10,872 housing units in 20 projects spread over 123.84 hectares in Cavite and Batangas have been turned over. Each community is located near town centers, various modes of transport, institutions and commercial districts.

House and lot packages range from P300,000 to P5.9 million with payment options that match buyers’ income levels.

Of these developments, PTC in Carsadang Bago has formed a strategic marketing alliance with the Philippine Transmarine Carriers Inc., one of the country’s largest crew management companies.

Gacita said ACM regularly brings speakers to their community to give seminars to wives and mothers of seafarers.

The seminars discuss financial literacy and possible businesses to augment the remittances sent them.

As a result of these seminars, Duazo says the women in their community have become smarter in handling money: “They invest in things for the house, cultivate the garden, engage in landscaping but there is no competition.”

Duazo adds that his wife once heard a remark that PTC is “sosyal at pangmayaman but that’s not the case. We worked hard for all the things we enjoy here.

There were a lot of sacrifices, hardships, loneliness at sea to make all this worth it. And peace of mind is priceless.” ■

Lifestyle

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

35

5 strategies you (and your boss) can do to cope with shift work

BY LIZETTE LOFRANCOABA IT’S 6:30 am Saturday. You are almost done with a busy night shift at the engineering boiler plant. This is your third night shift in a 4-shift “tour of duty”.

Your 12-hour shift included a scheduled generator test, HVAC maintenance work outside in freezing temperature and contractors asking for your assistance on renovation work they were doing, when Security calls to inform you that a water pipe has just burst. After your fix the pipe, you heave a sigh of relief as you hit the road for a 30-minute drive home. You hardly see through the fog and suddenly press on the breaks to avoid running over a jaywalker. You are jolted out of your drowsiness.

You are now feeling heady and hungry as you didn’t have time to grab your snack at midnight.

You get home, your eyes droopy and bloodshot from lack of sleep.

You are met by three elementary kids all getting ready for school and your spouse who gives you a couple of reminders from yesterday’s to-do list. You are too tired to get something to eat and drag yourself to bed instead, hoping to get lucky and a 6-hour sleep before another shift begins later today. You pull up the sheets when… the cellphone rings!

Welcome to the world of shiftwork! Undoubtedly, shiftwork is here to stay and will not be going away. In our 21st century economy, shiftwork is a pattern that is not likely to be abandoned in the workplace.

Services of shift workers are required in current-day transportation and communication industries, in the medical, food, hospitality sectors, among others. Community safety requirements also necessitate that we have workers working round the clock.

Shiftwork, however, has had a huge impact on the well-being and overall functioning of the common worker. Many scientific studies have shown that shiftwork has become a serious public medical as well as health and safety concern across the globe because it poses a conflict between work demands and the human body functions.

Because shiftwork disrupts Driver’s education incorporatthe human body’s normal 24- ing sleep hygiene techniques hour body rhythm also known could significantly improve as “body clock”, shift workers road safety. Front-line managhave to prepare for sleep at a ers who supervise shift workers time when their bodies are tell- may benefit from training on ing them to be up and active. reducing accidents and injuries, Vice versa, they must remain managing fatigue, promoting alert and ready for work when work-life balance among their their body clock is telling them staff. Included in employee to shut down and get ready for training and education should sleep. The risk of cancer and be an emphasis on individual other illnesses such as in the personal responsibility for gastrointestinal, cardiovascu- shiftwork management such as lar, reproductive systems, the proper diet and eating patterns, development of sleep disorders, sleep hygiene and maintestress, depression and fatigue, nance, stress management and performance deficits, safety relaxation techniques, physical and productivity concerns, as fitness and social recreation, well as interference in fam- conflict resolution among othily and social life have all been ers. reported as being grave conse2. Get involved in discusquences of continued and un- sions around shift design. managed shiftwork.

Poorly designed work sched- Centre for Occupational Health What can you do to cope with ules aggravate adverse health and Safety recommends that shiftwork? You may not feel risks, impairments and acci- shifts rotate forward from day you have a lot of options but dents. Find opportunities to to afternoon to night because here are a few practical steps speak with key people in the or- circadian rhythms adjust better that you--and your employer- ganization who have the ability when moving ahead than back.

-can jointly take to address to influence operational chang3. Suggest better workplace shiftwork concerns: es, that is, your manager, your facilities and programs. Shift 1. Get yourself educated and Health & Safety committee, the workers often have reduced acpropose employee training Human Resources Department cess to wholesome food during for shift workers and super- or your union representatives. night shift and may increase visors where there is none. See how much flexibility can be their consumption of snack There is a lot of information accommodated in determining foods, rather than eating wellavailable about the effects and the length of shifts (eight vs. 10 balanced meals. Although it ways to manage shiftwork, but vs. 12-hour shifts, for example) might entail cost, an in-premise the question is: 24-hour healthy Are employees snack supply, and employers cafeteria or aware? Is this kitchen facilities information Shiftwork, however, has had a huge (fridge, microcommunicated impact on the well-being and overall wave oven, etc.) to members of functioning of the common worker. would help make the organizahealth food option? Shiftwork tions available education is a at all hours. Prorelatively lowvision of on-site cost strategy for improving the and the loading of physical and exercise and fitness facilities, health and well-being of shift mental tasks. Where possible, recreational opportunities or workers; however, it appears it is advised that most demand- rest/napping facilities would that it is underutilized. A 2004 ing tasks are to be scheduled do wonders in allowing for rest investigative survey done on early in the shift and on day where needed and promoting 178 organizations from a range shifts. Discuss best options and healthy lifestyles. Safety conof work sectors in BC revealed practices in how you shift work trols at work should also be enthat 82% provided no shiftwork and rest periods may be sched- sured. For example, providing education for their shift work- uled, such as, for example: the good ventilation and temperaers. Of the 32 organizations direction of shifts, the schedul- ture controls as well as installthat did provide some shift- ing of time-off after each set of ing bright lights in shiftwork work education, training was night shifts, the speed of shift areas help give signals for the usually "limited to either a sin- rotation, the start and end time body to remain alert and awake. gle orientation session at hiring of your shifts, etc. For example, Safe-ride-home programs may or occasional safety talks, did as early morning shifts are as- also be considered. In some not include written materials, sociated with shorter sleep and companies, workers who work was not specifically tailored for greater fatigue, it is advisable to late are required to inform sethe type of shift schedules em- avoid shift start times as early curity personnel regarding ployed at the organization."* as 5 or 6 a.m. The Canadian their contact number and estiwww.canadianinquirer.net

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

mated time of departure from office area.

4. Utilize avenues for worker conversations and staffmanagement consultation.

Help raise awareness. Shift workers may want to maximize dialogue opportunities with their coworkers and with management. You may want to get involved in conversations, town hall meetings, employee fora by initiating discussions and providing innovative suggestions on concerns such as workload organization, schedule flexibility, development of health watch and promotion programs, development of support groups. For example, you may open up discussion on how to: • Help identify optimal shiftwork schedules. Jobs involving more routine and monotony should not be relegated to later in the shift if you see that tiredness is most pronounced. Or shift workers can suggest creating a special shift system to address increased production demands that require extended periods of overtime work.

• Ensure that schedules are posted and made visible to everyone. Policies on schedules may also be posted on employee bulletin boards.

Discuss ways on how each one in the shift system is informed well ahead of time.

• Come up with suggestions for creative family-friendly ❱❱ PAGE 41 5 strategies

36

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Business

Sub-zero policy rate an option in unlikely event of another crisis: Stephen Poloz

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD The Canadian Press OTTAWA — The Bank of Canada is saying for the first time that it would consider pushing its trend-setting interest rate below zero if the country ever suffered another major economic shock such as the financial crisis.

In prepared remarks of a speech Tuesday, governor Stephen Poloz said the option of a negative key interest rate was now among several potential unconventional monetary policy tools the bank could apply in an unlikely crisis scenario.

The central bank, he said, has moved its “effective lower bound” — or its floor — for the benchmark rate into subzero territory for the first time, dropping it to negative 0.5 per cent from the positive 0.25-per-cent mark it set in 2009. The bank’s rate is now 0.5 per cent.

There could be limitations on the impact of such a move, Poloz said.

“While we now believe that interest rates can be pushed below zero, there still is a lower bound,” Poloz said in the speech at the Empire Club of Canada in Toronto.

“So we can’t be cavalier about how much more room to manoeuvre we have. Further, there is evidence that consumers and businesses respond less to interest-rate declines when interest rates are already very low.”

Poloz, however, stressed that the fact he listed new unconventional monetary measures should in no way be taken as a

sign the bank is about to use any of them.

He reiterated his optimism for the Canadian economy and reaffirmed his projection it was strengthening despite the pain of persistently low resource prices. The non-resource sectors, Poloz added, have continued to strengthen.

“Given this outlook, it may seem like an odd time to be updating our unconventional monetary policy tool kit,” he said.

“I certainly hope we won’t ever have to use these tools.

However, in an uncertain world, a central bank has to be prepared for all eventualities.”

Poloz said after examining the experiences of other countries since the financial crisis, the bank added new potential remedies to a cabinet already stocked with options like forward guidance and large-scale asset purchases, also known as quantitative easing.

The bank used a form of forward guidance in 2009 when it committed to keep the key rate unchanged for a year as long as there was no change in the inflation outlook.

On Tuesday, Poloz announced another new unconventional measure added to the bank’s arsenal: funding for credit.

The option would ensure economically important sectors had continued access to funding even when the credit supply was impaired, Poloz said.

Poloz also said fiscal stimulus tends to be a more powerful tool than monetary policy in extreme crises. ■

PH eyes free-trade deal with EU Boost trade, investments with 28-member bloc

BY AMY R. REMO Philippine Daily Inquirer

Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement; Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA), and the THE PHILIPPINES is hoping Asean-India FTA. to start by early next year the Meantime, the European formal negotiations with the Free Trade Association (Efta) European Union on a free-trade is willing to provide highly faagreement (FTA), a move that vorable concessions for Philipwill dovetail with the country’s pine agricultural and fisheries aggressive thrust toward further products under a proposed free solidifying its ties with Europe. trade agreement, as based on Trade Assistant Secretary the fourth round of negotiaCeferino S. Rodolfo said they tions held last month. were waiting for the so-called The Philippine panel, led by “mandate to proceed” from Trade Undersecretary Adrian Malacañang, the go-ahead for S. Cristobal Jr., reportedly saw Philippine trade officials to a huge interest in the country’s enter into formal negotiations tropical fruits, tuna, and other with the 28-member bloc. If high value added products from the mandate comes in within the four member states of Efta, the month, actual negotiations namely Switzerland, Norway, could start within the first Iceland and Liechtenstein. quarter of 2016, he added.

“They were offering us good Last week, the European concessions for our agricultural Chamber of Commerce of the goods, considering that Efta is Philippines (ECCP) stressed protective of its own agriculture the significance sector. Efta didn’t of signing a FTA provide these with the EU, but kinds of conceshad also cited the sions to other need for the govBut it’s just that other countries are partners but they ernment to unalways modernizing rules, making it opened it to us,” dertake certain easier for investments and foreign Rodolfo said. actions to help companies to come in and do He explained ensure a faster, business. [Other countries] will race that this might smoother flow in ahead of us if we do not continue our be due to the fact negotiations. reforms. that the agricul“The Philiptural products pines will have to coming from the accede to certain Philippines and treaties and conventions, for the continued strong bilateral Efta countries were different example, on public procure- ties between the two parties. and complementary. Amongthe ment. We also still need to see According to the EU, trade in products mentioned during the Competition Law coming goods between the 28-member the negotiations in Geneva ininto effect with the implement- bloc and the Philippines grew cluded canned tuna; processed ing rules and regulations to 16 percent to P12.5 billion, while tropical fruits ( juices, canned), make the country more inter- trade services rose 17 percent to and other high value-added esting and more aligned with P3.1 billion. The “impressive” products like coconut water international conventions,” trade flows had reportedly put and coconut sugar. Also mensaid ECCP vice president Erik the EU at par with the United tioned in the talks were aquaMoller Nielsen.

States as the country’s third- culture feeds, which the coun“We should not forget that biggest trading partner next to try is already supplying to some countries around us are also Japan and China. countries in Europe. concluding [FTAs] all the time.

The Philippines has so far “Efta is a big user of aquaculWe cannot afford to stand still. signed seven free trade agree- ture feeds and we supply that We saw the same recently in the ments, only one of which was bi- to Europe. I think [Philippine Ease of Doing Business [Index] lateral and the remaining six are suppliers] can already supply to where the Philippines slipped [in through the Asean. These are the Efta countries since they have its rankings]. So, has it become Asean FTA; Asean-China FTA; the same standards and logisharder to do business here? No, Asean-Korea FTA; Asean-Aus- tics requirements as Europe,” not really. But it’s just that other tralia-New Zealand FTA; Asean- he added. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

countries are always modernizing rules, making it easier for investments and foreign companies to come in and do business.

[Other countries] will race ahead of us if we do not continue our reforms,” Nielsen explained.

The Philippines and the EU are still considered within the scoping stage, which will enable both sides to agree on a common idea on what they want to get out of the FTA, and the sectors that will be covered by the agreement. Once the scoping exercises are concluded, the two parties can then launch the formal negotiations on an FTA. An FTA is expected to help boost trade and investment ties between the two parties. As it is, total trade in goods and services between the EU and the Philippines reached a historic high of P15.6 billion as of end-2014, buoyed largely by the country’s robust economic growth and

Business

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

37

BC to put up trade office in Manila

BY MARY ANN MANDAP Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE GOVERNMENT of British Columbia (BC) will expand its presence in the fast-growing Southeast Asian region by opening a trade and investment representative office in the Philippines. This was announced recently by Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton, on behalf of Minister of International Trade Teresa Wat. The expansion of BC’s trade presence into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) region is part of the province’s soon-to-be announced new Asia trade strategy.

“A presence in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) will put BC on the doorstep of an economy that’s valued at $2.4-trillon and has annual growth forecasts above five percent for the next five years,” Anton said.

Meanwhile, Anton credited the Philippines’s rapid economic growth, BC’s growing trade with the country, and BC’s “strong relations” with the Filipino community as primary reasons for BC’s choice of Manila as site of the trade office.

A trade presence in the Philippines will help BC companies identify and capitalize on new trade and investment opportunities in a market that is experiencing significant economic growth itself. The Asian Development Bank forecasts

GROWING TRADE BETWEEN PH AND BC. Consul General Neil Frank Ferrer, second from left, and BC Minister of Justice

and Attorney General Suzanne Anton hold up a sign summing up BC’s reasons to open a representative trade office in the Philippines. The announcement to open the trade office in the Philippines was made today, 04 December 2015, at the Max’s Restaurant in Vancouver. Consul General Ferrer and Minister Anton are joined by, from left, Amrik Virk, BC Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services, BC Member of the Legislative Assembly Elmore Mable, and Philippines-Canada Trade Council (PCTC) President Jorge Marco.

MARY ANN MANDAP / PCI

GDP growth of 6.3 % in the Philippines in 2016, up from six percent in 2015. Exports to the Philippines have grown 48% since the launch of the BC Jobs Plan in 2011, and BC has emerged as the largest provincial exporter to the Philippines with 41 percent of national exports in 2014.

The Manila trade office will be the 12th such office established by BC, including those in Japan, South Korea, India, Chi-

na, Europe and the US, as part of its aggressive drive to intensify its trade, particularly with the Asia-Pacific Region.

Consul General Neil Frank Ferrer of the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver said he regards the choice of Philippines as “a vote of confidence in the Philippine economy and business environment,” which “certainly reinforces the Philippines’s reputation as a rapid-growth area, a preferred

trade and investment destination, and an ideal business hub in ASEAN.” Ferrer said he would have been happy even if it were another ASEAN country that was chosen, as long as such country is among the five which have established Consulates General in Vancouver—Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. “You can imagine how thrilled we are now that it was the Philippines that

was chosen,” he said.

“Looking ahead, we see so much promise and so much opportunity to strengthen and deepen business ties between the Philippines and BC,” Ferrer said, noting the increased activity in trade and investment across the Pacific and the presence of a growing number of BC companies operating in the Philippines.

Another BC official, Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA Amrik Virk, who is also BC’s Minister of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services, noted that it is the strong human relations between BC and the Philippines that “opens new doors for trade and investment and contributes to prosperity.”

Virk noted that trade and investment representatives (TIRs) who staff these offices connect BC businesses with new markets. In 2014-2015, TIRs, played a critical role in facilitating and supporting more than 160 inbound and outbound international missions involving BC companies, and helped facilitate 271 international business agreements.

The announcement, which was also attended by members of the Filipino-Canadian community, including FilipinoCanadian business people and business professionals, was made at the iconic Max’s Restaurant (Cuisine of the Philippines) at the busy Kingsway district of Vancouver. ■

Banks unite to donate $1M to help support Syrian refugees arriving in Canada THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — Canada’s five biggest banks say they’ll collectively donate $1 million to the Canadian Red Cross to support Syrian refugees arriving in Canada.

BMO Financial Group, CIBC, Royal Bank of Canada, Scotiabank and TD Bank Group say customers can also make donations to the Canadian Red Cross at their local branch, effective Thursday.

In last week’s throne speech,

the new Liberal government promised to bring 25,000 Syrian refugees to Canada by the end of February 2016 and about 10,000 privately sponsored refugees are likely to be in Canada by year’s end.

Canadian Red Cross president Conrad Sauve says more than four million Syrians have been displaced as a result of internal conflict.

Sauve says the donation will help refugees begin their transition into new communities and provide essential services and basic needs as-

sistance in the form of clothing, personal care products, food, and family reunification.

In September, Canada’s five largest banks donated a total of $1 million to the Canadian Red Cross for essential relief items and first aid to help with the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe.

“The severity of the Syrian refugee crisis is immense,” Sauve said in a news release.

“We deeply appreciate this much-needed support from the banks and all Canadians.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

38

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Sports

‘You can’t quit’: Willie Desjardins implores struggling Canucks to keep going

BY JOSHUA CLIPPERTON The Canadian Press VANCOUVER CANUCKS head coach Willie Desjardins is imploring his team to keep going.

Losers of four straight and 12 of 15, the Canucks are just 9-108 so far in 2015-16 after topping the 100-point mark last season.

Desjardins says staying the course with a system that has worked in the past is key, especially for a team that is 3-6-8 in games decided by one goal.

“It’s hard to believe sometimes that it’s going to turn around,” the coach said Friday after practice. “It’s like if you climbed a mountain and there’s fog at the top. You might be one step away when you quit. You don’t know. The only thing you know is you can’t quit.”

Desjardins showed more emotion than usual moments after the Canucks dropped a 4-2 decision to the Dallas Stars on Thursday in a game where Vancouver was outshot 34-16, including 18-6 in the second period.

“We need better performances,” he said at the time. “That’s

not good enough.”

Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows said despite the results, there’s no disconnect between players and coaches in terms of what’s being asked.

“I think guys really believe in the structure,” said the veteran winger. “Sometimes when things aren’t going your way maybe you’re trying to cheat the system a little bit and trying to do things on your own. That’s the wrong thing.”

Vancouver has been hamstrung by a lack of secondary scoring and sloppy play at critical times.

The first line of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Jannik Hansen has 46 points over the last 12 games, but the rest of the forwards have combined for just 18 points over that span.

Henrik Sedin said the lack of chances coupled with the defensive zone breakdowns over the last six weeks are directly correlated.

“We have to realize we haven’t followed our system 100 per cent,” said the Vancouver captain. “Until we do that and play a 60-minute game where we do the right things it’s tough to tell

“Adversity only makes you stronger,” said Burrows. “I’ve seen that throughout the years.

It wasn’t always nice, but we found ways to get out of it and we got better. That’s the way we’ve got to approach it.”

The Canucks will try to take a step in the right direction on Saturday when they host Bos-

ton. Not many players remain on either roster from the 2011 Stanley Cup final, which the Bruins won in seven games, but it still means something to Vancouver’s veterans.

“Any time you face teams you’ve been up against in the playoffs late you get a little bit of rivalry,” said Henrik Sedin.

“It’s games you always get up for.”

Desjardins, in his second year behind the bench, said having Boston come to town could be that extra jolt his team needs.

“Those guys will always remember that series,” he said.

“It could have gone their way with a couple different breaks.

For us it’s good. There should be some emotion with it.”

Notes: Canucks rookie defenceman Ben Hutton declared himself fit to play after missing the last seven games with a lower-body injury. ... Vancouver defencemen Luca Sbisa and Dan Hamhuis, and forward Brandon Prust missed practice.

Desjardins said Hamhuis and Prust were out for maintenance days, while adding that Sbisa’s hand injury isn’t thought to be serious. ■

The results augur well for the national duathlon team that will bat for inclusion in the PH contingent in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games where duathlon is likely to be included.

Robinson Esteves and Jeric Buhian finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the men’s event, but Asian Beach Games bronze medalist Robena Javier failed to finish the race after suffering a flat tire. ■

Rogers Arena, current home arena of the Canucks.

HUCUL002 / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

where this team is.”

The loss of Brandon Sutter to an abdominal injury that will keep him out until January has hurt Vancouver’s attack, forcing second-year centre Bo Horvat and rookie Jared McCann further up the lineup. But the Canucks aren’t using that injury or anything else as an excuse.

Mirasol shines in Malaysia

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer NATIONAL TEAM standout Mirasol Abad boosted her stock with a golden finish in

the standard duathlon event of the Pariaman ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup 2105 in Pariaman, Malaysia, recently.

Abad finished the 10K run40K bike-5K run event in two hours, 16 minutes and 40

seconds to best a strong field that included silver medalist Eva Desiani of Indonesia (2:19:00).

Miscelle Gilbuena made it a 1-3 finish for Filipinos after checking in at 2:23:47.

www.canadianinquirer.net

Sports

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

39

Canadian sprint sensation Andre De Grasse signs eight figure shoe deal with Puma

BY LORI EWING The Canadian Press ANDRE DE Grasse has signed the largest initial shoe contract in track and field history.

The 21-year-old sprint sensation from Markham, Ont., signed a multi-year deal with Puma worth approximately US$11.25 million. With bonuses, he could earn as much as US$30 million, according to his agency Doyle Management.

“Signing this partnership with Puma is a major thing for me, in such an important phase in my career,” De Grasse said in a release. “I have massive dreams for what I want to accomplish and Puma clearly shares my belief, they will give me great support along my journey.”

De Grasse is coming off a spectacular season that saw him win bronze in the 100 metres at the world championships at just 20 years old. He also swept gold in the 100 and 200 metres at both the Pan American Games and the NCAA championships for the USC Trojans.

His professional deal means he must forgo his senior season of eligibility, but he’ll continue to work with USC coach Caryl Smith-Gilbert while he completes his degree.

“Andre has risen to the top of the sport very quickly and I’m both happy and proud that USC

could be a part of his journey,” Smith-Gilbert said. “What Andre accomplished in his short time here at USC was nothing short of amazing, and we look to support him in any way possible as he embarks on his professional career.”

De Grasse joins a star-studded group of Puma sprinters that includes Jamaican stars Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell.

Bolt re-signed with Puma in 2013 for an estimated US$10 million a year, a contract that will take him to the end of his career. The world record-holder in the 100 and 200 metres signed with Puma as a teenager.

De Grasse grew up playing soccer and basketball, and didn’t run a track race until Grade 12, when coach Tony Sharp spotted him at a meet at York University.

Sharp said the decision to go pro was the “right thing to do at the right time.”

“It’s going to be a busy time but I think it’s a win all around.

One semester to go, managing school work and focusing on track,” Sharp said. “Hopefully the demand from any potential sponsors won’t interfere with training time, because you can’t lose sight of the goal to get to Rio and perform.

“But he’s a humble kid, and I think that helps, and his character is pretty low-key, so hopefully he retains that humble demeanour and I think he’ll be fine.” ■

Knights of...

Bales Park in Toronto, On. which will be done by Consul General Rosalita Prospero to be assisted by Rizal Canada regional officers.

This will be followed by a program at the Earl Bales Park Community Center coupled with a dinner reception. Call Benjie Dimaapi at tel. 647-2029137, email: bdimaapi@ciccsite.com, for more information.

In the meantime, the Rizal Dimasalang Chapter headed by ❰❰ 30

Commander Wilfredo Gomez will be coming in full force together with Noel Sinlao, deputy commander; Mario Alpuerto, chancellor; Liberto, archivist; Joaquin T. Taduran, Jr.,trustee; Ed Prillo, trustee and Rizal deputy regional commander; Francis Holm, trustee; and Rico Valenton, youth representative.

Rizal Dimasalang Chapter advisers include: immediate past regional commander George Poblete; and Sen. Tobias C. Enverga, Jr. ■

MAXISPORT / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Rafa serves up success secrets

BY CEDELF P. TUPAS Philippine Daily Inquirer PLAGUED BY injuries that caused a dip in form the past season, Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal yesterday expressed optimism he can still regain the form that vaulted him to the top of men’s tennis.

Nadal, ranked world No. 5, is in the country for the first time to play in the International Premier Tennis League He said he has been toiling the past six months in a bid to make it back to No. 1 next year.

“I believe I played well in the last few months of the season,” said Nadal during a brief press conference ushering in a clinic at Colegio San Agustin Gym in

Makati. “Hopefully, I can sustain that and be in good shape heading into the Australian Open.”

Nadal was joined in the clinic by uncle and coach, Toni Nadal. Organized by Topspin Ace PH and Globe Telecom, the clinic drew players 6 to 16 years old.

The 29-year-old 14-time Grand Slam champion said he is launching the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy in Mallorca, Spain, in March next year.

“We hope to see a few Filipinos in the academy,” added Nadal, who interacted and played a few games with clinic participants.

He said his success in tennis did not come easy, pointing out the long hours spent on the

practice courts.

“It’s the work we put in every day,” said Nadal.

“It’s important to be surrounded by the right people and having a lot of support. I believe I have the right motivation. But Toni (Nadal) helped me play with a lot of intensity.”

While rivals like Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have pushed him to the limit, Nadal said his drive to succeed comes internally.

“I wanted to be better,” he said. “I just want to improve my level, day by day, year by year.

It’s true that having great players in front of you improves you. But my motivation was always personal and my desire to improve.” ■

Tornadoes bag PSL title

BY MARC ANTHONY REYES Philippine Daily Inquirer FOTON FINALLY completed its Cinderella finish, displaying an all-out effort to climb all the way from the bottom to topple defending champion Petron yesterday for the 2015 Philippine Superliga Grand Prix crown.

Lindsay Stalzer, Katie Messing, Jaja Santiago, Kayla Williams and Angeli Araneta launched an unstoppable drive to secure the 25-18, 25-18, 25-17 Game 3 triumph before a sellout crowd at Cuneta Astrodome.

It was a fairy tale run for the Tornadoes, who struggled www.canadianinquirer.net

with their new recruits in the preconference, made it to the semifinals as the last-placed team and eventually marched to the title series as serious underdogs.

“We really prayed for it.

Thank you Lord,” said a jubilant Foton coach Vilet Ponce de Leon. “We gave it our all. It was not easy but all worth it.”

In a series that pitted Petron’s championship credentials against Foton’s tall lineup, the only factor that mattered yesterday was the Tornadoes’ burning desire as they came out firing on all cylinders.

“We played as one unit, that’s how we won over the top seasoned players in the league,”

said De Leon.

The Tornadoes only committed 10 errors against the Blaze Spikers’ 15. Foton also had 17 excellent digs compared to 15

by Petron.

Stalzer, the Chicago-born touring pro, led Foton with 20 points. Her overall skills and leadership also earned the 31year-old the Most Valuable Player award. Among other individual awards winners were Petron’s George Pascua for best coach, best libero Jen Reyes of Petron, second best opposite Frances Molina of Petron, first best opposite Michelle Gumabao of Philips Gold, second best setter Adachi and first best setter Perez. ■

40

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Technology

Apple Maps is back on track, thanks to big investments and Apple’s control over the iPhone

BY ANICK JESDANUN The Associated Press NEW YORK — Apple Maps quickly became the butt of jokes when it debuted in 2012.

It overlooked many towns and businesses and misplaced famous landmarks. It marked New York’s Madison Square Garden arena as park space because of the word “Garden.”

The service was a rare blunder for a company known for simple, easy-to-use products.

It’s a different story three years later.

Apple fixed errors as users submitted them. It quietly bought several mapping companies, mostly for their engineers and other talent. This fall, it added transit directions for several major cities, narrowing a major gap with Google. Apple Maps is now used more widely than Google Maps on iPhones.

“They really did a great job in a short amount of time,” said Alex Mackenzie-Torres, a former Google Maps manager who’s now with competing transit app Moovit. “Apple has something that few companies have — simplicity in design mixed with high doses of pragmatism and practicality.”

Apple’s significant investment in fixing Maps underscores how important maps and related services are to tech companies. Location is key to helping phone users find restaurants and shops, discover things to do and just get around. It’s also big business, as app makers tap into the core mapping functions of phones to direct people in helpful ways and sometimes offer them bargains based on where they’re standing.

The quick turnaround also demonstrates how easily companies like Apple can steer people to their own services.

Google Maps and various thirdparty apps offer many features that Apple Maps lacks, yet Apple cleverly turned user inertia

Apple Maps iOS navigation.

to its advantage. Many people use Apple Maps just because it comes with the phone. Even if you’ve taken the trouble to download a competing app, other iPhone services such as Siri and Mail will invariably take you to Apple Maps.

Without the ability to steer users this way, Apple “would not be in the position they are in,” IDC analyst John Jackson said. “Not that they aren’t improving the experience, but this helps the cause.”

Apple says its mapping service is now used more than three times as often as its next leading competitor on iPhones and iPads, with more than 5 billion map-related requests each week. Research firm comScore says Apple has a modest lead over Google on iPhones in the U.S., though comScore measures how many people use a service in a given month rather than how often.

Google still dominates among all U.S. smartphones, though, in part because Apple Maps isn’t available on Google’s Android system, which is more prevalent than iPhones. In October, Google Maps had more than twice as many smartphone users as Apple Maps. Much like Apple, Google benefits as the

KĀRLIS DAMBRĀNS / FLICKR

default on Android.

For years, Google provided the default mapping service on iPhones. That changed as more people relied on turn-by-turn voice navigation with automatic rerouting, a feature Google offered only on Android. Apple built its own service from scratch and knocked Google Maps off the iPhone’s home screen.

Google’s initial forays into voice navigation in 2009 had problems, too, including directing motorists to left turns at noturn intersections. But by 2012, Google Maps had improved significantly. By then, more people knew how a mapping service ought to work — and Apple’s new offering fell short.

“I heard so many different horror stories that I was almost hesitant to try it,” said Rick Ostopowicz, an iPhone owner in Catonsville, Maryland. “I remember once, it was taking me on a road that no longer existed.”

CEO Tim Cook apologized and promised that Apple would “keep working non-stop” to deliver the best experience possible. Without much fanfare, the service gradually improved.

“We are fast learners and we are fast at fixing things,” said www.canadianinquirer.net

Greg “Joz” Joswiak, an Apple vice-president who oversees product marketing for iPhones and related services. “We learned the maps business incredibly fast.”

Apple now gets data from more than 3,000 sources for business listings, traffic and other information. In adding transit, Apple sent teams to map out subway entrances and signs. That results in more precise walking directions, as stations can stretch for blocks and the centre point used by some services isn’t necessarily the closest. Apple also started sending out vehicles with sensors to map roads, similar to Google’s longstanding practice.

By making Maps a core iPhone feature, Apple made it easier for outside developers to include mapping features in their apps. When you go to Yelp, you can find directions to a business with one tap.

When you go to the Starbucks app, you can see all the nearby stores.

On the flip side, the iPhone’s Siri voice assistant leads direction requests straight to Apple Maps, as does tapping on an address in Mail and other apps.

With that integration, users like Ostopowicz no longer hesitate.

The default behaviour isn’t just a competitive advantage for Apple; it’s a convenience for many users.

But default settings mean nothing if the experience isn’t good — as it most definitely wasn’t three years ago. Kristi Denton, an iPhone user in Austin, Texas, said that after getting bad directions with Apple Maps long ago, she has gone as far as to copy addresses and paste them into Google to avoid the default Apple service.

Lots of users, though, have returned. And many new iPhone users never experienced Maps at its worst.

Google Maps, of course, has also been improving. Last month, Google started letting motorists store mapping data on their phones so they can look up businesses and directions even when cellular service is spotty. It’s available on Android now and coming to iPhones soon.

Google also has mapped such indoor venues as shopping malls and faraway lands as the Galapagos Islands. Google has better search tools for landmarks and business listings and offers transit maps for more regions than Apple. Google also provides biking directions and options to exclude highways and toll roads from driving directions.

Third-party apps, meanwhile, have their own innovations. Waze — now owned by Google — is a popular app for motorists to share traffic information and avoid jams. Moovit is better than both Google and Apple at factoring in temporary service changes in mass transit, while Citymapper offers suggestions on whether to board the front, middle or back of a train.

Apple says it’s not done improving Maps.

But ultimately, Apple Maps doesn’t need to be the best. It just needs to be good enough that its users won’t look for something else. ■

Technology

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

Streaming dominates Internet traffic in North America: report

5 strategies...

REHAK / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

more than a quarter of upload traffic, which is substantially lower than download traffic, in part because of the its peerto-peer design that sees users share parts of files with each other.

Yet the file-sharing service now accounts for less than five per cent of total Internet traffic, down from 31 per cent in 2008.

Despite data caps and small screens, audio and video

programs that help address the difficulties that you and your co-shift workers face.

• Encourage coworkers to share their experiences of shiftwork and represent their concerns in discussions with management. Encourage colleagues to report fatigue-related incidents and near-misses.

5. Take action. Take advantage of your company’s employee assistance program if you have one. If you are unable to take your breaks during night shifts, raise the issue with your supervisor or safety representative. Be aware of the impact of fatigue on your own health and safety. Individuals vary in the way their bodies are able to cope with shiftwork and changing sleep patterns. Take responsibility for your own sleep hygiene. Develop habits that will aid proper sleep and a healthy lifestyle. Find the motivation to exercise. Seek support from occupational health and your family doctor if you are suffering health problems that may be related to shift patterns.

It is highly imperative that shift workers and the employers that employ them be intentional about taking steps to lessen its toll on the health and well-being of workers. If ❰❰ 35

THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — Streaming has taken over the Internet and now accounts for more than 70 per cent of North American downloads at peak times, up from less than 35 per cent in 2010, according a report from broadband services company Sandvine.

Netflix makes up a huge part of Internet downloads, the company said, with the streaming service accounting for 37.1 per cent of all downstream traffic in North America during September and October.

Youtube accounted for the second-largest share of download traffic, at 17.9 per cent, followed by regular Internet browsing at 6.1 per cent.

As streaming sites have risen in popularity, the BitTorrent file-sharing service — which some blame for the proliferation of pirated content online — has declined in its share of overall Internet traffic.

BitTorrent still accounts for

streaming is also the biggest slice of mobile Internet traffic, accounting for 36.98 per cent of overall traffic at peak times.

YouTube was the biggest contributor to mobile downloads, followed by Facebook and web browsing.

Sandvine provides traffic management services to more than 250 Internet providers around the world, and regularly compiles the traffic data from its customers into reports. ■

WEATHER UPDATE VANCOUVER

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your boss and management for that matter realize your commitment to health, safety and the bottom line productivity, chances are that there is going to be a bigger buy-in to your ideas. Shiftwork is never easy but when you are aware of its impact on you--your health and your work--and you take action, you will have addressed half of the problem. ■ *“Shiftwork Practise in British Columbia” by Dr. Ralph Mistlberger, July 2004) http:// w w w.wo rks a f e b c .c o m /c o n tact_us/research/funding_decisions/assets/pdf/RS2001/ RS2000_01_012.pdf The writer is a Certified Human Resources Professional in BC. She is an HR Career Mentor servicing new immigrants navigating in the Canadian workplace.

Please note that statements expressed herein this article are those of the author’s. They are provided for general information purposes only. This column is not intended to provide specific professional advice and should not be relied on as a basis for any legal decision. For comments or questions, please contact the author via email at hopefortheflowers.2012@yahoo. com. Thank you.

Long term forecast from www.theweathernetwork.com CALGARY

EDMONTON

WINNIPEG

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Events

42

Christmas Show By the Friends of Jesus Christ Canada WHEN/WHERE: 5:30 p.m., Dec. 12, at 181 Nugget Ave. Toronto, ON. More Info: Call Romy Zetazate 647907-6697 New WelcomePack Canada Distribution Centre

By WelcomePack Canada Inc. WHEN/WHERE: 1 to 5 p.m., Mon, Tues, Thu & Fri at the Filipino Centre Bldg., 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, On. MORE INFO: Call (416) 928-9355

DECEMBER 11, 2015

Tagalog Class

By FCT WHEN/WHERE: 10 to 11 a.m., every Saturday, Filipino Centre Toronto Homework/Tutorial Class

By FCT WHEN/WHERE: 11a.m. to 12 nn, every Saturday, Filipino Centre Toronto, 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, ON MORE INFO: For registrations, call 416-928-9355. The office, at 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 6 p.m.

YUKON

CANADA EVENTS

To have your events featured on PCI, please email events@canadianinquirer.net

View all events by scanning this QR code or visiting

http://bit.ly/ PCI-Events

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NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

BRITISH COLUMBIA ALBERTA

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Pinoy Connect

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: Sundays until Dec. 20. Settlement services: 12 to 2 p.m.; Bayanihan Support Circle: 2 to 4 p.m.; Employment Law Clinic: By appointment only at Mosaic Burnaby Centre for Immigrants, 5902 Kingsway, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call 604-254-9626 Temporary Foreign Workers Uncontested Divorce Clinic

By Law Courts Center WHEN/WHERE: Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Justice Education Society at the Provincial Court of BC Room 260 800 Hornby St., Vancouver B.C. MORE INFO: To book an appointment, call/text 778322-2839 or email: tfw.divorce@gmail.com English Now: No Cost Language Training for Jobs in Administration or Retail

By ISS of BC MORE INFO: Contact 604-684-2325 or englishnow@issbc.org Skills Now: Project-based Training for Immigrants in Retail and Administration

By ISS of BC

WHEN/WHERE: Call or email at 604-684-2581 (ext 2193 Nanki) skillsnow@issbc.org MORE INFO: Receive a certificate or skills training in retail or administration; job search workshops; and strong employment opportunities.

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Mondays until Dec. 14 at Mosaic Vancouver Community Room, 1720 Grant St. Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call 604-254-9626 ext. 487

The Gift of Giving

By EveRIAthing WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m., Dec. 11 at Olympia Pizza & Restaurant, 10257 King George Hwy, Surrey, B.C. MORE INFO: Tickets available at www.eventbrite.ca

English Conversation Circle for Newcomer Moms with Children Aged 0–6 (Free childminding provided)

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: Fridays, 10a.m. to 12 noon, until Dec. 18 at Brentwood Learning Centre, 101–1899 Wilingdon Ave, Burnaby, B.C. MORE INFO: Call 604-438-8214 ext 120

Free Drop-In English Conversation Circle for Temporary Foreign Workers

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: Mondays, 6:30–8:30 p.m. until Dec. 14, at Mosaic Vancouver Community Room, 1720 Grant St. Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: 604-254-9626 ext. 487 Art Show of JA Tan WHEN/WHERE: Exhibit runs from Dec. 2 to Jan. 4, at the Hycroft Gallery, 1489 McRae Ave. Vancouver, B.C. Free Drop-In English Conversation Circle for Temporary Foreign Workers www.canadianinquirer.net

Information Session on Government-funded Training Programs

By Options WHEN/WHERE: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Dec.19, at City Centre Library 10350 University Drive Surrey, B.C. MORE INFO: Training will be in the area of administration, fire protection technician, and construction. For more details, call Cynthia Tamondong at 604-572-4020 ext. 1132 or email me at cynthia.tamondong@options.bc.ca

DECEMBER 11, 2015

43

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Tel: (1) 647-521-5155

44

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Food

Festive recipes to tantalize taste buds THE CANADIAN PRESS THE FIRST rule of thumb when entertaining is keep mum about how the food was supposed to appear or taste.

“Don’t come to the table with your food complaining, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, it’s a bit overcooked, it’s undercooked, it was supposed to be...’” says celeb chef Ricardo Larrivee.

“Your guests don’t care. They don’t know what you wanted to do. Just put it on the table and be proud because you took time, money, effort, all that, and sincerely they’re not coming for that.

They’re coming to be with you and the rest of your group.”

Make your table festive with simple inexpensive touches, such as a big bowl of cranberries and some leaves or evergreen branches from the yard or garden centre, he adds.

“Simple is always better and it’s cheaper also and it looks nice,” he says.

Here are some recipes that are sure to dazzle your guests this festive season.

includes this recipe in his new book “Cooking Like a Master Chef,” added some raisins for a little sweetness.

If the garlic burns, start over, he cautions. There is no way to get rid of the horrible flavour and acrid smell, and the extra labour is well worth it.

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PISTACHIO AND WHITE CHOCOLATE SPREAD

This decadent spread is an easy-tomake gift that will earn you brownie

points from the recipient.

“Of course it’s easy to bring a bottle of wine or something, but sometimes to do something yourself expresses also the friendship you have for these people because you took the time and effort to do it,” says Larrivee. “It’s nice to do things that are uncomplicated but will say, ‘Hey, I thought of you.’”

Package it in a small mason jar with a decorative ribbon.

It can be spread on crostini or crackers as an appetizer or on breakfast toast.

Add a bit of heavy cream and garnish pancakes or put it between two cake layers with whipped cream or on top of cupcakes.

Preparation: 10 minutes • 125 ml (1/2 cup) unsalted shelled pistachios • 125 g (4 oz) white chocolate, coarsely chopped • 45 ml (3 tbsp) cold water In a food processor, finely chop pistachios and white chocolate, then grind until a firm paste forms. Add water, 15 ml (1 tbsp) at a time, and puree until smooth. Transfer to a jar.

The spread will keep for 2 to 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Makes 175 ml (3/4 cup).

Source: Ricardo Magazine, www.ricardocuisine.com.

SAUTEED RAPINI WITH TOASTED GARLIC

Rapini is also called broccoli rabe.

With its bitter flavour profile, it needs a sidekick to balance it. Here, garlic assumes that role. Graham Elliot, who www.canadianinquirer.net

Preparation: About 10 minutes Cooking Time: 12 to 18 minutes • Salt • 1 kg (2 lb) rapini (broccoli rabe) • 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil • 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced • 250 ml (1 cup) golden raisins • 15 ml (1 tbsp) red pepper flakes • 1 lemon, sliced Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. It should be salted enough so that it tastes like the ocean. Set a large metal bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water near the stove. Drop rapini into boiling water and blanch for 2 to 3 minutes or until bright green and tender. It will be slightly undercooked. Lift rapini from boiling water and immediately plunge it into ice bath to stop cooking.

Remove from ice bath and set aside.

In a saute pan, heat oil over mediumhigh heat. Reduce heat to medium and saute garlic just until crispy and golden brown. (Take care that it does not burn.)

Add rapini and saute for 10 to 15 minutes, or until it is soft and just about melts in your mouth. It will seem overcooked.

Season with salt and serve rapini garnished with raisins, red pepper flakes and lemon slices.

Makes 6 servings.

Source: “Cooking Like a Master Chef: 100 Recipes to Make the Everyday Extraordinary” by Graham Elliot with Mary Goodbody (Atria Books, 2015).

ROASTED PORK LOIN WITH ORANGE SAUCE

Turkey doesn’t have to be the centrepiece of the festive dinner. Here’s a recipe for a roasted pork loin that is not only elegant but delicious.

Preparation: 30 minutes Cooking: 1 hour Pork Loin • 15 ml (1 tbsp) whole-grain mustard • 15 ml (1 tbsp) honey • 1 clove garlic, chopped • 1 pork rack (6 bones), about 1.8 kg (4 lb) • 15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil ❱❱ PAGE 47 Festive recipes

Seen & Scenes: Vancouver

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

CHRISTMAS CAROLS The University of the Philippines Alumni Association in BC choir sang Christmas carols at the home of Philippine Canadian Inquirer CEO Alan Yong, for the benefit of UPAABC scholars.

Right: Philippines Canada Trade Council Board Below: Philippine musicians Nazer Degayo Salcedo and Kay BalajadiaLiggayu

Above: Guest performer Ethan David Right: Tenor Jeremiah Mari Carag

AUTUMN SERENADE

ROGER'S SANTA PARADE

The Philippines Canada Trade Council in cooperation with the Consulate General of the Philippines in Vancouver recently presented Autumn Serenade, a gala performance of light classics, musicals and more at the Kay Meek Centre in West Vancouver, B.C. (Photos by Manny Noel Abuel).

The 12th annual Santa Claus Parade attracted huge crowds in Vancouver despite the heavy downpour. Since its inception in support of the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, the event has raised over $140,000 and more than 75,00o lbs. of food. (Photos by Laarni Liwanag-de Paula).

68TH BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF KING BHUMIBOL Deputy Consul General Anton Mandap and Edward Teodoro of the Surrey Board of Trade write their birthday greetings for His Majesty King Bhumibol. www.canadianinquirer.net

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46

Seen and Scenes: Toronto

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

SAN NICOLAS ASSOCIATION Scenes from the San Nicolas Association of Ontario's Christmas Party and induction of officers on Nov. 28, held at Macedonian Banquet Hall.

The event was organized

by Elvira Mina.

TALAKAYAN RADIO

HOUSE BLESSING Josephine Sumadero arrived in Canada as caregiver over three years ago.

She found a good employer and wisely invested in her future. Father Ben Ebcas recently blessed her house (Photos by Ariel Ramos).

World Financial Group (WFG) executive Agnes Miranda, Gawad Kalinga Canada (GKC) Chairman Pidoy Pacis, political commentator Tony A. San Juan and (standing) coanchor Karen Tan posed at the interview break during Talakayan Radyo Filipino AM 1430 broadcast on Dec. 5, at Fairchild Radio Station.(Photo by May Cabrias).

Talakayan Radyo Filipino AM 1430 broadcast guests and staff (from L) Bobby Achacon, Joe Damasco, May Cabrias, Karen Tan, GKC's Pidoy Pacis, WFG's Agnes Miranda, Randy Bucao and Tony San Juan. (Photo by May Cabrias).

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

47

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015

Festive recipes...

• Salt and pepper, to taste • Squash Puree • 1 onion, chopped • 45 ml (3 tbsp) butter • 1.5 l (6 cups) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed • 50 ml (1/4 cup) water Orange Sauce • 15 ml (1 tbsp) cornstarch • 30 ml (2 tbsp) water • 50 ml (1/4 cup) lightly packed brown sugar • 30 ml (2 tbsp) red wine vinegar • 1 small onion, chopped • 1 clove garlic, chopped • 1 orange, grated zest only • 125 ml (1/2 cup) orange juice • 300 ml (1 1/4 cup) veal stock Pork Loin: With rack in middle position, preheat oven to 200 C (400 F).

In a bowl, combine mustard, honey and garlic. Set aside.

Season meat with salt and pepper. In a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, brown meat in oil. Brush with mustard mixture and place in skillet with bone side down.

Roast for about 55 minutes or until a thermometer inserted into centre of meat reads 57 C ❰❰ 44

(135 F). Transfer rack of pork to a serving plate and loosely cover with aluminum foil. Let rest until temperature reaches 63 C (145 F).

Squash Puree: In a large saucepan over medium heat, soften onion in butter. Add squash and continue cooking for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add water. Cover and continue cooking for about 30 minutes or until squash is tender, stirring occasionally. In a food processor, puree until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Orange Sauce: In a bowl, dissolve cornstarch in water. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, vinegar, onion, garlic and orange zest. Bring to a boil and let simmer until brown sugar starts to caramelize. Add orange juice and simmer for 1 minute. Add veal stock and cornstarch mixture. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly.

Let simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Slice rack of pork between bones. Serve with squash puree and orange sauce.

Makes 6 servings.

Source: Ricardo Magazine, www.ricardocuisine.com.

ROASTED PEARS AND GRAPES (PERE E UVA AL FORNO)

For dessert at Christmas, Lidia Bastianich likes cookies that can be made in advance.

“But I like fruit for dessert.

Baked tarts. Even I do grapes and pears baked. You can do them in the morning and put them aside and then you just put some ice cream on top and the syrupy delicious pears and grapes on top and everybody seems to love that,” she says.

• 500 ml (2 cups) seedless red grapes • 250 ml (1 cup) sugar • Juice of 2 lemons, freshly squeezed • 150 ml (2/3 cup) Moscato • 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise • 30 ml (2 tbsp) apricot jam • 3 firm but ripe Bosc pears, halved and cored Preheat oven to 190 C (375 F). Place grapes in a baking dish. In a bowl, combine sugar, lemon juice, Moscato, vanilla bean and apricot jam and stir

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until blended. Pour over grapes.

Nestle pear halves, cut side up, into grapes.

Bake until pears are tender and liquid around grapes is thick and syrupy, 45 to 50 minutes. Remove pears and let stand for about 10 minutes.

Discard vanilla pod. Serve with some of the grapes and their liquid spooned around them.

Variation: Pears and grapes are a great marriage of flavours, but Bastianich also like this preparation with quince and fresh cranberries. To try this,

cut peeled and cored quince in quarters (they take longer to bake than the pears), and substitute fresh cranberries for grapes. It will take more sugar since cranberries are not as sweet as grapes.

Makes 6 servings. ■ Source: “Lidia’s Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine: Everything You Need to Know to Be a Great Italian Cook” by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali (Appetite by Random House, 2015).

48

DECEMBER 11, 2015

FRIDAY

Don’t limit your dreams Be different!

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

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

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