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VOL. 2 NO. 205

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OFWs assured of protection vs. bullet-planting schemes

Martial law an issue, says Roxas

Manny Pacquiao draws flak for same sex comment

Five RRSP Tips from CPABC

So, do you remember your college internship?

VIRTUAL VENICE

Consider the Venice Grand Canal Mall in McKinley Hill, Taguig City, the most romantic mall on Valentine’s Day, as it is easy for lovers to imagine themselves in Venice, Italy, as gondoliers serenade them with love songs.

LYN RILLON / PDI

P-Noy woos crowds for LP bets but says he’s dateless

BY NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer IRIGA, CAMARINES SUR—He will be dateless on Valentine’s Day, or so President Aquino says.

But at least one lady received a box of

chocolates from the bachelor President who handed it to her in front of a cheering crowd at a ruling Liberal Party campaign rally here yesterday.

Mr. Aquino, 56, surprised senatorial candidate Leila de Lima with the candy

Fil-Can in Focus: Dr. Jesse Ronquillo

Trudeau marks 100 days as PM with big boost to Canada Summer Jobs program

BY DIANA MEHTA The Canadian Press TORONTO — Justin Trudeau marked his 100th day in office Friday with news of a big-ticket boost to a program that helps students get summer jobs, spending the prime minister billed as an investment in Canada’s flagging economy.

Trudeau announced plans to double the resources behind Canada Summer Jobs Program during a visit to Toronto’s Dovercourt Boys and Girls Club.

The federal government spent $106 million on the program last year to help create more than 34,000 summer jobs. New funding of up to $113 million each year for the next three years will allow the program to offer nearly 70,000 summer jobs to students from now until 2018.

“Not only is this good for them, it’s

❱❱ PAGE 26 ❱❱ PAGE 10 P-Noy woos

❱❱ PAGE 21 Trudeau marks

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:

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Philippine News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

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Philippines, rebels fortify truce amid stalled peace pact

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippine government and Muslim rebels have extended the stay of international cease-fire monitors at their first meeting since their peace pact stalled amid fears of fresh fighting.

Government negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and her rebel counterpart, Mohagher Iqbal, expressed disappointment over Philippine Congress’s failure to pass a Muslim autonomy bill that’s required under a 2014 peace accord that ended decades of fighting in the southern Philippines.

Their joint statement was issued Friday after two days of talks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which has brokered the peace deal.

Despite the setback, the government and the 11,000-strong Moro Islamic Liberation Front agreed to extend by another year the mission of Malaysia-led monitors that has helped keep a ceasefire. They also kept in place a joint group that allows the Islamic guerrillas to help government troops capture terrorists and outlaws.

Both sides hoped that both measures would prevent any outbreak of violence stemming from rebel frustration with the delay in the peace process.

The House of Representatives and the Senate ended the last regular session of their term early this month without passing the bill, which aims to establish a more powerful and potentially larger autonomous region for minority Muslims in the south of the largely Roman Catholic nation.

The bill was stalled by indignation over the killing early last year of 44

police commandos in fighting that involved some of the guerrillas from the main rebel group.

A new autonomy bill would have to be presented to a new Congress under the successor to President Benigno Aquino III, who spearheaded talks with the rebels that led to the signing of the 2014 accord. His six-year term ends in June.

In the Kuala Lumpur meeting, Iqbal warned that Congress’s failure to pass the autonomy bill this month, sparked “widespread frustration on the ground by our people and members of the (Moro group).”

Iqbal said the government and the rebels should “jointly find ways and means to address this dangerous situation and avoid actions that may increase the frustrations.”

The insurgents, he said, should be assured that the 2014 peace pact would be honoured and that a new autonomy bill would eventually be filed and approved by Congress under the next president.

Army troops clashed early this week with gunmen in fighting that killed a soldier in southern Maguindanao province.

The gunmen, who the soldiers thought were insurgents from another group, turned out to be Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and both sides were taking steps to prevent such accidental clashes, regional military spokeswoman Capt. Joan Petinglay said.

There have been concerns that the setback in the peace deal may embolden smaller but more hardline rebel groups, which have vowed to continue fighting for a separate Muslim homeland in the south. The military has said it remains relatively peaceful in the country’s south, adding that it’s ready to deal with any contingency. ■

One Bangsamoro Movement (1-BANGSA) leaders headed by their National President Maulana “Alan” Balangi (center) pray before the start of the Bangsamoro Multisectoral Leaders press conference. The movement is supporting the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law JUANITO GUEVARRA / PNA

It’s gov’t money anyway so take it, Binay tells supporters

BY KRISTINE FELISSE MANGUNAY Philippine Daily Inquirer

(UNA), Binay’s party, accused the administration of engaging in vote-buying.

UNA spokesperson Mon Ilagan said the Binay camp had received reports TAKE THE cash because it is govern- of vote-buying by the administration ment money, but vote for the candidates in Tagbilaran, Bohol, Nueva Ecija, and of your choice anyway. “other local government units.”

This was the advice Vice President He said the vote-buying was being done Jejomar Binay gave through the “bothis supporters in Batom-up budgeting” rangay San Andres, process and the 4Ps Cainta, and Angono, program, the AquiRizal, yesterday.

As we say in no administration’s “My appeal to you Makati, take centerpiece antipovis, do not embarthe money, erty conditional cash rass them. Take it, put it in your transfer program. that’s money from pocket, but In the case of the the country’s coffers. vote for whom first, Ilagan said those As we say in Makati, you want. buying votes would ask take the money, put the barangays what it in your pocket, but their population is and vote for whom you “add a zero to it.” want,” said Binay, who is facing multiple “And that will be [the number of their] corruption allegations from his time as programs or projects,” he said.

Makati City mayor.

In the case of the second, he said the voteBinay did not explain how money buyers tell the people that if Binay wins, the from the government coffers could end 4Ps program would be discontinued. up in a candidate’s hands.

This is why Binay is going around sayEven as he urged his listeners to accept ing that if he wins, he will not just conmoney from politicians, the spokesper- tinue the 4Ps program but will even exson of the United Nationalist Alliance pand it, Ilagan said. ■

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Philippine News

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Susan Roces denies her sister Rosemarie is Grace Poe’s mother

BY JELLY F. MUSICO Philippines News Agency MANILA — Actress Susan Roces finally broke her silence on the persistent rumors that her sister Rosemarie Sonora is the biological mother of the former’s adopted daughter Senator Grace Poe. In a campaign sortie in Poe’s birthplace in Iloilo on Tuesday, Roces denied that Poe is the love child of Rosemarie Sonora and the late former President Ferdinand Marcos.

“On the rumors that she is the daughter of my sister, why I should deny if it is true?” Roces told the media.

“I was with my sister day and night during that time. I never saw her pregnant. That was 1968, the year I got married.

Later she too got married,” Roces said.

“During that time, Rosemarie, my sister, was very busy doing television and she was very visible,” the veteran actress added.

Poe, now 47 years old, was found at the Jaro Church in Iloilo as an infant, but five years later, she was adopted by Roces and her husband, the later famous movie actor Fernando Poe Jr. The issue of being a foundling has been used by Poe’s detractors to file petitions to disqualify her as presidential candidate in the May elections. Poe is still waiting for SC’s decision.

“I just don’t understand why they have been saying that my daughter is not a Filipino. How she landed here (in Iloilo)?,” Roces said.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruled in favor of the petitioners who also claimed that Poe has not met the 10-year residency requirement, prompting her camp to elevate the disqualification case to the Supreme Court (SC).

Poe returned to Iloilo on Tuesday for the third campaign rally of the Partido Galing at Puso (PGP) to be held in front of the Jaro church where she was abandoned 47 years ago.

“It’s symbolic because that is where I was found,” said Poe, a leading presidential candidate based on the Pulse Asia survey.

Poe vowed to return the kindness that was done to her by the people of the province when she was a child.

“My provincemates, I know

I’m not good in speaking Ilonggo. I grew up in Manila, that’s true, but I won’t forget that I was found here,” Poe told supporters.

She expressed gratitude to the Militar family of Jaro for taking care of her while she was a toddler and for allowing her to be adopted by movie icons FPJ and Susan Roces, who gave her opportunities in life.

Siblings Junie and Teresa Rodriguez, who hail from Guimaras, had offered to undergo DNA tests, saying Poe could be their sister Victoria’s daughter.

The DNA tests turned out negative.

For the first time since Poe officially launched her campaign, Roces accompanied the senator on a provincial sortie, visiting public markets and defending Poe against those

who claim she is not a naturalborn Filipino because she was a foundling.

As she visited various cities in Iloilo, Poe reiterated that she was a daughter of the province, no matter what her critics say.

“I was born in Jaro. I really came here and I want our countrymen to know that if I will be given a chance, I will not ever forget them,” she said.

Poe said she would prioritize infrastructure projects in Iloilo, such as the Iloilo-GuimarasNegros Bridge that will boost trade and tourism in the Western Visayas region.

Iloilo City delivered 121,783 votes for Poe in the 2013 senatorial elections, helping her top the senatorial race with more than 20 million votes, the highest ever received by any candidate for a national post. ■

New UN disaster official lauds PH, other nations for fewer calamity deaths

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer

QUIRER, Glasser said the fatalities due to storms hit 996 in 2015, compared to 17,778 from 2005 to 2014.

Citing data from the Belgiumbased Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), he said the death toll from 346 major global disasters last year reached 22,773, including 8,831 who perished in the Nepal earthquake.

linked to natural hazards.

“The main message from these trends analysis is that reducing greenhouse gases and adapting to climate change are vital for countries seeking to reduce disaster risks now and in the future,” he said.

“The Nepal quake has confirmed yet again that earthquakes are the most deadly natural hazard category and underlines the importance of ensuring compliance with building codes,” the chief of the Geneva-based UNISDR said.

“It is buildings which kill people in seismic zones as we saw again last week in Taiwan,” he said.

THE NEW head of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) has lauded the Philippines and neighboring China, Japan and the small Pacific island states for doing a good job in reducing the death toll from storms through early warning systems and timely evacuations.

Hottest year Robert Glasser, who also reMeanwhile, a total of 3,275 placed Margareta Wahlstrom as people died in the heat wave UN Secretary General Ban Ki- that hit France between June moon’s special representative and August, while 2.248 people for disaster risk reduction, yes- were killed in India due also to terday reported that over 3.83 the extreme heat. million Filipinos were affected by Striking calamities, mostparadigm shifts ly typhoons, that Rescuers left about $1.9 The main message from these trends have reportbillion in ecoanalysis is that reducing greenhouse edly pulled out nomic damage. gases and adapting to climate 113 dead a week The Asia Pachange are vital for countries seeking since a 6.4-magcific region “bore to reduce disaster risks now and in nitude quake the brunt of 90 the future. struck the Taityphoons rewanese city of ported last year, Tainan, leaving which included only four miss48 cyclone-strength storms,” Glasser said 2015 was the ing in the rubble of a collapsed he said. “hottest year on record,” with 17-story residential complex. A In a statement, a copy of weather and climate-related total of 327 people in the buildwhich was emailed to the IN- disasters dominating trends ing survived. www.canadianinquirer.net

Panay Island after Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines on November 2013.

NIAR / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Earlier, Warhlstrom cited the Philippines as one of the most disaster-prone countries in Asia that had made “striking paradigm shifts” in disaster risk reduction and management.

Manila, she said, was “developing more sophisticated methods of gauging the impact of typhoons,” in the aftermath of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) which devastated Eastern Visayas in November 2013.

“Better disaster preparedness and more efficient re-

sponse systems are now in place across much of the region, including the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Indonesia,” she said.

She stressed the need to “reduce existing levels of risk and avoid creating new ones by ensuring that public and private investments are risk-informed and do not increase the exposure of people and economic assets to natural hazards on flood plains, vulnerable low-lying coastlines and other locations not suited for human settlement.” ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Leila says she OK’d Korean’s transfer; info may clear ex-BI chief

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer COULD THIS revelation set former Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison free from liability?

Former Justice Secretary and now Liberal Party senatorial bet Leila de Lima yesterday admitted that she approved Mison’s move to transfer Korean fugitive Cho Seongdae to a facility of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces (ISAFP) Compound at the military headquarters in Quezon City in October.

Cho’s transfer, which later led to his second escape from detention after his arrest on human trafficking and extortion charges, was the basis of the National Bureau of Investigation’s recommendation to file charges of grave misconduct against Mison.

Cho was moved to the military facility after he escaped from the Bureau of Immigration’s Warden Facility (BIWF) in Bicutan, Taguig City, on Sept.

29 through an alleged P1-million payoff to immigration officers. He is currently detained at the NBI since his second rearrest.

The information was revealed for the first time by De Lima and Mison yesterday in

response to statements made on Thursday by acting Justice Secretary Emmanuel Caparas on the possibility of revisiting administrative charges against him even if he is no longer in government service.

The NBI report on Cho’s escape made no mention of De Lima’s concurrence to the ISAFP transfer, saying Mison was administratively liable as the BI had “acted on its own, disregarding protocol” in moving Cho without first informing the DOJ. Both the NBI and the BI are agencies under the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“Yes, I was informed about it and it was cleared with me,” said De Lima through text yesterday.

She said there was “justifiable reason” to move Cho because of his escape from the BIWF. “It was also my understanding that there were indications from the initial results of the probe into that prior escape from the BI detention facility that the BI personnel thereat were involved, hence it was no longer advisable or safe to keep that fugitive in that facility,” said the former Justice chief.

She said she was willing to vouch for the transfer, in case administrative charges against Mison would be pursued.

“Yes, of course. That’s the truth,” said De Lima. ■

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Leni to voters: Keep the gifts, follow your heart

BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer KEEP THE gifts, but follow your heart.

Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo gave this piece of advice to voters as the administration vice presidential aspirant recalled her improbable landslide win against her moneyed rival in the 2013 elections.

“My victory made me realize that money alone does not determine the outcome of an election,” Robredo told an enthusiastic audience in Barangay Payatas, Quezon City, on Thursday night.

The female-dominated crowd gathered for the launching of “QC Women for Leni,” a group spearheaded by Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte, one of Robredo’s ardent political supporters.

“You can take what the candidates would give you. Anyway, [those gifts] also came from us,” she said, eliciting chuckles from the crowd.

“I know that although voters receive what politicians give them, they would still vote who’s in their hearts. That’s what we should always remember,” she said.

Robredo, a lawyer, was forced to run as House representative following the tragic death of her husband, the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo, which caused a rift among their political allies.

Egged on by her late husband’s friends and supporters, among them President Aquino and her running mate Mar Roxas, Robredo agreed to lead the charge in ending the decadeslong stranglehold of the power-

Camarines Sur Representative and VP aspirant Leni Robredo ROBREDO'S FACEBOOK PAGE

ful Villafuerte clan on the third congressional district of Camarines Sur. Despite running her campaign on a shoestring budget, Robredo handily trounced her rival, Nelly Villafuerte, wife of then incumbent Rep. Luis Villafuerte, regarded as the political kingpin in the province.

In her speech, Robredo narrated how she had to wake up as early as 5 a.m. to do house-tohouse visits to reach out to voters in 186 villages. She said her daily campaign would usually end by midnight.

“Do you know what my rival did? She would go to the areas I visited and would bring along a music band, dancers, singers and even gifts for raffle,” she said.

“There was a time when I

looked outside our window and saw thousands of people attending my rival’s political rally.

I told myself there was no way I would win. But you know what happened? I got 80 percent of the total votes cast,” she said.

According to Robredo, the memories of her husband and her unlikely victory had been her inspiration as she set out for an even more strenuous campaign to win the second highest elective post in the May elections.

Robredo, who has consistently surged in the recent surveys of voters’ preference for the next vice president, said the warm reception she had been getting in political gatherings organized by her supporters had also given her hope to take on the challenges ahead. ■

SC ends oral arguments on Poe case

BY PERFECTO T. RAYMUNDO Philippines News Agency

Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

CHARI VILLEGAS / SENATE POO

MANILA — After more than five hours, the Supreme Court (SC) terminated the fifth day of the oral arguments on the case of Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, which was also the last www.canadianinquirer.net

day of the hearing of the case on Tuesday.

The oral arguments ended at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

SC Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. Aranal Sereno reminded all the parties involved in the case to submit their respective memorandum within a period of five days from Tuesday.

After which, Sereno said, the

case will be declared as already “submitted for resolution.”

The case involves the two petitions of Poe assailing the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc cancelling her certificate of candidacy (COC) for president in the May 9, 2016 elections over questions on her citizenship and residency. ■

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Philippine News

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OFWs assured of protection vs. bullet-planting schemes

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippines News Agency MANILA — Departing Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) no longer need to worry about bullet-planting schemes in Philippine airports as the government has assured their protection in the form of legal assistance.

This was after ranking government officials on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which harmonizes the functions of agencies involved in airport security screening of passengers, baggage, and cargoes in the country’s airports.

“Looking back September last year, the transport sector was rocked by controversy,” Office for Transport Security (OTS) Administrator Roland Recomono said, in a press briefing, referring to the rise in the number of bullet-planting cases.

Recomono said that the extortion scams had affected passengers’ confidence in the country’s civil aviation, most especially security to a certain extent.

“We have addressed this particular issue in order to restore back passengers’ confidence in air transport,” he added. “(From now on) nobody will be subjected to harassment by some security and law enforcement personnel in our airport.”

“The MOU was crafted to ensure that passengers will be safe and convenient in their travels without any compromise in our national security and in the enforcement of existence laws,” Transportation and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Joseph Abaya said.

“We have a few bad eggs (in the transport security)...but hopefully, our efforts pay off. Hopefully, this MOU will facilitate things,” he added.

He also said that the DOTC was set to transfer airport x-ray screeners from the OTS to the MIAA to have a clearer chain of command and responsibility.

Signatories

OTS Administrator Recomono, Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group (PNP-AVSEGroup) Chief Police Chief Supt. Francisco Balagtas, Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, National Prosecution Service Prosecutor (NPS-DOJ) General Claro Arellano, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Administrator Rebecca Calzado and Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Leo Cadcac signed the MOU. Abaya, Labor and Employment Sec. Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, Justice Sec. Emmanuel Caparas and Interior and Local government Sec. Senen

“(From now on) nobody will be subjected to harassment by some security and law enforcement personnel in our airport.”

CARABAOPOWER / EN.WIKIPEDIA

Sarmiento served as witness to the MOU signing.

Under the MOU, a technical working group (TWG), chaired by MIAA and composed of representatives from the parties to the MOU, will be created and convened within 15 days from the signing of the MOU. The TWG will serve as the coordinating mechanism for the implementation of the activities under the MOU. MIAA will provide harmonized coordination and leadership at the airport in cases involving immediate security resolution in security screening check points to prevent undue delay and inconvenience to passengers.

OTS will meanwhile undertake aviation security screening on all passengers/cargoes and airport personnel/ employees for restricted and prohibited items. It will also refer to PNP-AVSEGROUP all interceptions for prohibited items; ensure the implementation of standard operating procedures in conducting the passenger security screening; and re-inspect the bags in the presence of the AVSEGROUP, MIAA, and POEA or Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

On the other hand, the PNP-AVSEGROUP will respond immediately to referrals by OTS aviation security screeners and determine the formally endorsed anomaly/interception, inform immediately the Labor Assistance Center (LAC) of the POEA and/or the Repatriation and Assistance Division (RAD) of the OWWA, among other assistance.

There will also be prosecutors on-duty in the NAIA terminals 24/7 stationed to conduct inquest and preliminary investigation of cases and give guidance on the proper interpretation and application of the law through orientation seminars and training programs.

OWWA will provide immediate assistance to the worker or accompanying family member subject of an investigation, especially on welfare needs during the conduct of investigation, including safekeeping of their personal belongings. It will also provide accommodation when the worker has been released

from police custody and while waiting for a rebooked flight or arrangements, to name a few.

Pro-active

Baldoz, for her part, noted that commerce, tourism and air travel—especial-

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ly of OFWs— were affected by the bulletplanting scheme.

“OFWs are affected because of missed flights, inconvenience, lost job opportunities and even criminal prosecution,” Baldo said.

“Several steps have been taken by the various government agencies represented here to make sure proper and immediate assistance will be provided to our OFWs who will be subjected to custodial investigation and apprehended for alleged possession of ammunition in Philippine airports,” she assured.

Baldoz also shut down perceptions of public against President Benigno Aquino III for ignoring issues relating to the protection of OFWs. “It is not true that the President does not give importance to the welfare of OFWs,” Baldoz said in Filipino. “Our President is very pro-active in this. We have all given our full commitment to give full protection to our OFWs.” ■

Philippine News

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FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Drilon: Salary hike should serve as Valentine’s gift

BY MAVELLE P. DURIAN Philippine Canadian Inquirer Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer, Inc. Correspondents Jane Moraleda Socorro Newland Bolet Arevalo Mavelle Durian Katherine Padilla Community Editor Mary Ann Mandap maryann.mandap@canadianinquirer.net Graphic Designer Shanice Garcia Photographers Angelo Siglos Solon Licas Vic Vargas For photo submissions, please send to editor@canadianinquirer.net Operations and Marketing Head Laarni Liwanag (604) 551-3360 laarni.liwanag@canadianinquirer.net Advertising Sales Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net Emy Rose Figueroa salesphilippines@canadianinquirer,net emy.figueroa@canadianinquirer.net Nelson Wu (1) 647-521-5155 salestoronto@canadianinquirer.net nelson.wu@canadianinquirer.net Amelia Insigne 1-416-574-5121 amelia.insigne@canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Editorial Assistant Phoebe Casin Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition Philippine Canadian Inquirer is located at 11951 Hammersmith Way, Suite 108 Richmond, B.C. V7A 5H9 Canada Tel. No.: +1 (888) 668-6059, +1 (604) 484-9243 778-889-3518 | Email: info@canadianinquirer.net, sales@ canadianinquirer.net Philippine Canadian Inquirer is published weekly every Friday.

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Member

MANILA — Senate President Franklin Drilon called the attention of President Aquino to sign an executive oder that will increase the salaries of government employees and serve as Valentine’s gift.

The executive order grants salary increase to 1.5 million government workers, as an alternative to Salary Standardization Law IV (SSL4).

According to Drilon, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad has submitted the certification on the availability of funds under the 2016 budget to President Aquino.

The Congress has appropriated P57.91 billion in the 2016 budget under the implementation of Tranche 1 of the SSL, to cover the requirement.

Aside from the salary hike, Drilon also saw the need to look into the Social Security System (SSS) proposed pension increase of the retired sector workers.

Drilon has been asking the officials of the SSS to review on how are they going to increase the pension of the retirees without causing any danger to the fund life being shortened.

He also said that the SSS executives can recommend a viable amount which they can approve if the SSS cannot give a

Senate President Franklin Drilon.

go signal on P2,000 increase.

“Probably not the P2,000, but for heaven’s sake, our pensioners need help.

Perhaps some increase in the pension, how much is reasonable to protect both the fund life and our 30 million SSS members, and at the same time, respond to the needs of our pensioners,” Drilon

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

said in an interview with The Philippine Star.

According to Abad, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) would submit a formal recommendation to issue an executive order granting salary increases to over 1.5 million state workers this year. ■

Pimentel dismayed by ‘disabled’ features of VCM for May polls

BY JELLY F. MUSICO Philippines News Agency MANILA — Senator Aquilino ‘Koko’ Pimentel III on Tuesday expressed dismay that two important features of the vote counting machine (VCM) will be disabled due the time it will consume in the May 9 national and local elections.

During the joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System (JCOC-AES), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) made a demonstration of the new VCMs which replaced precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines only for the 2016 polls.

“It’s a nice-looking machine, it has modern features which can print election return and receipts for voters. The screen which is big compare to cellphone can display the votes. The problem all these will be disabled,” Pimentel said.

“We were impressed but in the actual election day, it won’t have impact be-

cause they will disable (the features). So what’s the point?,” he added.

Pimentel, however, said the Comelec has the reasons to disable the two features since it will take time for a voter to finish the casting of vote.

“The time it will consume is a valid point of the Comelec. I myself, as chairman (of JCOC-AES), is thinking how to address the time concern,” Pimentel said.

The senator said the Comelec should think of another way how the two features can be included since these part of the services that the government leased to the Smartmatic.

He suggested that Comelec that the voting period should be extended from 7 a.m.-5.p.m. to 7 a.m.-7 p.m.

“The shortening voting period does not encourage the enabling of the two features,” Pimentel said.

Voting 7-0, the Comelec en banc voted to remove the two features of the VCM. When asked if the Comelec can conduct credible automated election using the VCM, Pimentel said: “Don’t ask if I’m confident but I’m willing to help the

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Comelec to achieve the honest, orderly, peaceful, credible and trustworthy elections.”

For his part, Rep. Oscar Rodriguez, co-chairman of the JCOC-AES, said he “pretty sure” that the Comelec conduct credible and honest election.

“I think glitches have been addressed. So I’m pretty sure about that (credible election),” Rodriguez told the media.

Rodriguez thanked all the resource persons, including from the private sectors who are helping the Comelec to strengthen the electoral system in the country.

Meanwhile, Comelec chairman Andres Bautista assured that the senior citizens, pregnant women and the persons with disabilities (PWDs) will be given special treatment and facilities during the May 9 elections.

Maricor Akol of the Automated Election System Watch (AESWatch) insisted that installing the two features of the VCM should be the proper way to make the May election results acceptable to the people. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

MMDA reviving nocontact, on-cam tack vs erring drivers

BY MARICAR B. BRIZUELA Philippine Daily Inquirer SAYING THE scheme was effective in enforcing discipline among motorists, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Tuesday said it would bring back the “no-physical-contact” apprehension policy starting next month.

In a resolution approved during a meeting of the Metro Manila Council, the MMDA’s policymaking body, the agency said the policy which relies on closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras was effective in catching traffic violators based on a six-month test period in 2011.

“We were able to apprehend more than 1,000 speeding motorists five years ago,” MMDA Chair Emerson Carlos said, recalling how summons for errant drivers grew into a pile on his desk at the time.

The agency first implemented the “no-contact” policy during the term of then MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando. It was revived in 2011 under the chairmanship of Francis Tolentino but only on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and Diosdado Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City.

The MMDA resolution will take effect on the first week of March, 15 days after its publication in a newspaper of national circulation.

This time, it will be implemented on major thoroughfares such as Edsa and C5, as well as other areas in Metro Manila where the MMDA has working CCTV cameras and traffic constables.

“We have more than 400 CCTV cameras in the entire

Metro and we plan to add 160 more these coming months,” Carlos said.

However, the MMDA’s monitoring and apprehension will not be limited to CCTV cameras alone as traffic enforcers can use cell-phone and digital cameras to record violations.

A notice from the executive director of the Traffic Discipline Office will be sent to the owner or operator of the vehicle caught on video or photographed committing a traffic violation. The notice will indicate the date, time, location and traffic violation, along with a photograph or video clip of the incident. “[We] will require the owner or operator of the vehicle on the photo or video to identify the driver and his or her address,” the MMDA said, adding that the recipient would be allowed to contest the violation with the MMDA Traffic Adjudication Division within seven days.

Carlos assured motorists that they would evaluate the footage before firing off a notice. “We will not send any summons if we have doubts [about the incident] or the details of the vehicle,” he said.

Should no protest be filed, a final notice will be sent to the violator, asking for the settlement of the corresponding fine.

Carlos said their ultimate aim was to instill discipline in motorists and make them aware that they could still be held liable for violations even without traffic enforcers around.

They also hope to minimize physical apprehension to prevent traffic buildup on thoroughfares and prevent incidents of extortion or bribery involving their enforcers, he added. ■

9

Presidential candidate and Senator Grace Poe gets a warm welcome from elderly women and men during her visit at the Ninoy Aquino Hall in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

If she isn’t Filipino, how did she get here?

BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer IF SHE isn’t Filipino, how did Sen. Grace Poe land in the Philippines?

This was the question posed by actress Susan Roces to critics doubting the citizenship of her adopted daughter to derail her presidential bid, much like what they did to her husband, the late Fernando Poe Jr., in 2004.

Roces, 74, visited La Paz and Central public markets in Iloilo City Tuesday as part of Poe’s campaign sortie in the city where she was left as a newborn in 1968.

In between sipping La Paz ‘batchoy’ at a market café, Roces said: “I can’t understand why they are saying my child is not a Filipino. (If she isn’t a Filipino), how did she land here?”

Without any proof that both or either of Poe’s biological parents are Filipinos, her critics have used the issue as basis to seek her disqualification on

www.canadianinquirer.net

the grounds that she could not prove that she is a natural-born Filipino as required of presidential candidates under the Constitution.

Roces admitted to getting hurt by the “nasty” accusations against her daughter but she said she had learned to accept these as part of God’s plan.

“I guess [the disqualification cases] are part of politics. This also happened to my husband but it was a different case. I leave it all to the Lord’s will,” Roces said.

In a separate press conference in Iloilo City, Poe said she was grateful to the Militar and Rodriguez families for volunteering to help her find a match for her DNA. She said that she hoped that her real parents were as decent and kind as these families.

Rumors

Roces also spoke out on rumors that Poe was a love child of Roces’ sister, Rosemarie Sonora, and former President Ferdinand Marcos.

“Why would I deny if she

(Poe) was indeed the daughter of my sister? I was with my sister, day and night during those days. I never saw her pregnant in 1968, the year I got married,” Roces said.

Poe said her aunt had been a visible figure the year she was born.

“You can dig up from the Vera Perez archives of Sampaguita (Pictures) and check the Pepito and Rosemarie show, which was a weekly and you can see if she was really carrying a baby then,” she said.

Poe said she decided to cap her Iloilo sortie with an evening rally in front of Jaro Church.

“This is symbolic because this is where I was found. Most of all, this is a beautiful and historic plaza for the people of Jaro and I want to show I belong with them.”

Poe said she and her mom would retrace their heritage in the campaign sorties starting with her father’s roots in Pangasinan province to Iloilo and Bacolod City, Negros Occidental province, where Roces grew up. ■

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Philippine News

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

P-Noy woos... treat, titillating the audience that had gathered here to show their support for the administration ticket led by Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo.

“I’ve noticed that Leila has been losing weight, she might end up joining Binibining Pilipinas (beauty pageant),” the President said from the podium, while signaling to an aide who handed him a box of Galaxy Flutes chocolates.

He then walked over to De Lima, who was seated onstage flanked by Robredo and another senatorial candidate, Rep. Cris Paez.

A laughing De Lima, who is from Iriga City, stood up to receive the chocolates from the President and then showed the box to the crowd which cheered and hooted.

The President and De Lima are both single. De Lima’s marriage has been annulled. She has two sons.

The INQUIRER has learned that quite early in his administration, the President had observed De Lima’s fondness for chocolates. He reportedly noticed how she would help herself to the chocolates served during meetings. ❰❰ 1

Wooing local crowds

The President’s loveless state is a constant theme in his speeches, which he cleverly puts to good use to get his audience’s attention.

It has worked well in the campaign rallies as he stumps for Roxas, Robredo and the admin-

istration senatorial candidates, grabbing the crowd’s attention throughout his speech.

Mr. Aquino woos the crowds in the provinces by describing in their own language how pretty the local women are.

In Bicol yesterday, the ladies were magayunun (very beautiful), he said. In Iloilo at the kick off campaign rally on Tuesday, the women were guapa (lovely), Mr. Aquino said, adding that those who were going to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a date were lucky.

At the Iriga rally yesterday, the President said that Valentine’s Day was fast approaching “for you, but not for me.”

“Maybe next year,” Mr. Aquino told his adoring audience.

In an earlier speech, he said that while the new administration should be buckling down to work by July 1, he should be courting a girl already.

The President leaves for California on Monday for a special summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its strategic ally, the United States. He will be returning home at the end of next week.

Sweet promises

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, the President warned people that candidates would be courting them for their votes.

“We must be careful. Many will give you sweet promises but the truth is, they will only love themselves,” he said.

This was the reason, he emphasized, that the people must

vote Roxas for President, and Robredo for Vice President, and the administration senatorial candidates.

In the town of Pili, where he inaugurated a newly widened diversion road before going to Iriga, Mr. Aquino said in a speech that Roxas and Robredo are candidates who do not just make promises.

“They have made sacrifices and they have worked for the good of the majority. In their years of public service, their names have remained clean because for them, it is country before self,” Mr. Aquino said, adding that Roxas and Robredo will certainly enhance the “straight path” that his administration has started.

True to his word

The President said that he himself has been “true” to his word, to the promises he made when he ran in 2010.

“I addressed (government’s) shortcomings and (the country’s) problems for them not to worsen and be inherited by whoever will succeed me.

Our hope is they would have a stronger foundation for development and they would be better equipped to lead the whole nation to progress,” he said.

As for the recipient of the box of chocolates, the President praised De Lima, the former justice secretary, for filing charges and throwing wrongdoers in jail, regardless of their official position or status in life.

“That’s justice. That’s Leila de Lima,” he said. ■

Jesse gave Leni ‘leftover’ roses on Valentine’s Day

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer TABACO CITY—AT 51, Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo still turns heads.

But the running mate of LP standard-bearer Mar Roxas has no intention of replacing Jesse Robredo in her heart, she said on the eve of Valentine’s Day. “In our 25 years together, he never gave me a headache,” she said of her late husband. “If I

look for a [new] love life, he might just give me a headache.

So I’d rather not.”

The Camarines Sur representative said she will miss the “leftover” roses Jesse used to give her on Valentine’s Day. These were the remainder of what he regularly gave the female employees every Feb. 14 at the Naga City Hall, where Jesse served as mayor for 10 years.

“Nomatter how busy he was at work, he would find the time to buy and give out the flowers to the employees. He would

give the remainder to me,” Leni recalled.

This would be her third Valentine’s Day without Jesse, she said.

The then interior secretary died in a plane crash in August 2012. He left behind his wife and their three daughters— Aika, Tricia and Jillian.

Known to be a very private person, Leni, a lawyer and economics graduate, was thrust into a political career after her husband’s death, yielding to the public clamor to run in Camarines Sur’s third district. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

DepEd, 13 industry groups ink MOA to draw up senior HS curricula based on industry needs

BY MA. CRISTINA C. ARAYATA Philippines News Agency MANILA — Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday inked a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with 13 industry associations to draw up senior high school curricula based on what the industry needs.

According to Education Secretary Armin Luistro, DepEd will work together with the 13 industry associations, so it can adjust the curricula based on their needs.

“Some companies have lamented, ‘yung mga graduates n’yo cum laude nga, di naman match sa IT programs namin (they graduated cum laude, but they do not fit our IT programs),” shared Luistro.

“So we would sit down with them (industry associations) and match our curricula with their requirements,” he said.

He said DepEd would include the industry associations’ inputs in the curricula.

The DepEd chief cited that the old-fashioned way of asking for assistance was to ask companies for old computers, or classrooms for donations. Now, the Department is taking it to the next level. “(We’re doing this) so that our curriculum will not just be based on books,” he said during the MOA signing held at the DepEd office in Pasig City.

Moreover, Luistro cited that the Department will put entrepreneurship in the curriculum, so students could opt to put up

a business.

As DepEd fully implements the senior high school program of K to 12 starting school year 2016-2017, DepEd’s partnership with industry associations will include their provision of industry job requirements in every province/city/municipality, work immersion, use of facilities, training of teachers, donations for infrastructures, equipment, among others.

The 13 industry associations are: Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, Inc. (CCPFI); American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (AmCham); European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (ECCP); Korean Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Inc. (KCCP); German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (GPCCI); Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP); and Semiconductor and Electronics Industries of the Philippines (SEIPI); IT and Business Processing Association of the Philippines (IBPAP); Management Association of the Philippines (MAP); People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP); Philippine Business for Education (PBEd); and Makati Business Club (MBC).

DepEd said the partnership would help every K to 12 graduate to be ready for higher education, or for employment or entrepreneurship.

The partnership also targets to address job-skills mismatch in the Philippines.v

Philippine News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

11

US: We’ll use only PH bases under Edca

BY NIÑA P. CALLEJA Philippine Daily Inquirer CAMP H.M. SMITH, HONOLULU— The United States has no plans of building American military bases in the Philippines even with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) between the two countries, according to the commander of US forces in the Pacific. “[The Edca] is an agreement between the US and [the] Philippines [that] will allow us to use some Philippine bases and allow us to improve infrastructure at those bases. It is not about [establishing] new American bases, it is about using Philippine bases,” Adm. Harry Harris Jr., chief of the US Pacific Command (Pacom), told reporters at a recent briefing here.

an) at Rancho Mirage, in Sunnylands Estate in California, Harris explained why the South China Sea and Asean, including the Philippines, were important to the United States.

“Southeast Asia is at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region and is the central pillar to [the] US rebalance to the Pacific,” Harris said, referring to Obama’s strategy of shifting the US defense focus from the Middle East to Asia.

“The leadership of Asean as a whole is key to the rules-based international

order in the whole region,” he said, explaining why the United States continues to strengthen its defense ties with Asia-Pacific countries, five of which— the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Australia—are already its treaty allies.

The United States carries out annual joint military maneuvers with those countries, exercises that Harris called “investments for a reason.”

“They improve our interoperability.

They improve our relationships. And

Constitutional

Harris avoided the question whether the United States would step up the frequency of its South China Sea naval patrols now that it was getting access to Philippine military bases. “[The Edca] was challenged in the Supreme Court. Now we have a green light.

We are involved in the planning now,” Harris said without giving details.

The Philippine Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Edca last month, ending more than a year of uncertainty caused by a challenge to its legality mounted by some lawmakers and left-leaning groups who feared the security deal would allow the United States to build new military bases in the Philippines.

Harris said Manila and Washington were working on the “prioritization of bases and the possible infrastructure improvement” the United States would provide.

“This will help the Armed Forces of the Philippines, but it will also help us.

It is for our mutual benefit,” Harris said.

Last month, Philippine military officials said that five military airfields, two naval bases and a jungle training camp had been offered to the United States.

These were Basa Air Base in Pampanga province, Camp Antonio Bautista and a naval base in Palawan province, Clark Air Base in Pampanga, and Lumbia Airfield in Cagayan de Oro City.

“Infrastructure improvements to Philippine bases would enhance support capabilities for a rotational presence of US forces and assets,” US Air Force Capt. Cody Chiles, spokesperson for Pacom, said when asked for details of the improvements plan.

Importance of Asean

In a presentation to journalists ahead of US President Barack Obama’s meeting with the leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Nations (Asewww.canadianinquirer.net

they improve our readiness,” he explained.

Challenges for US

The United States faces challenges in the region, Harris said.

“We see an assertive China, a resurging Russia. There is a thousand miles of Russian coastline in the Asia-Pacific region, which includes strategic nuclear and submarine bases,” he said. ❱❱ PAGE 15 US: We’ll use

12

Philippine News

Remains of Pinays killed in Iraq fire arrive home

BY KRISTINE FELISSE MANGUNAY Philippine Daily Inquirer THE BODIES of the 13 Filipinos who died in a hotel fire in Iraq on Feb. 5 arrived in the country yesterday.

Rebecca Calzado, the head of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa), joined members of the victims’ families for the 4 p.m. arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport cargo terminal.

Calzado said the remains would be brought to the respective hometowns of the victims in Luzon and Mindanao.

“I don’t know if the families from Mindanao can make it today but we are making arrangements with the airport,” she said.

Calzado said arrangements

were also being made for the benefits to be paid to the families. Active Owwa members are entitled to social benefits and death benefits, she said.

The 13 Filipino women were killed when a fire broke out at the Capitol Hotel basement where they were working in the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq.

Authorities said they were suffocated by the smoke as they tried to make it out of the structure in the dark.

There are 1,500 Filipinos working in the Kurdistan region in north Iraq, mainly as engineers, nurses, household service workers, and hotel and restaurant employees. The region has largely been spared from the deadly violence that plagues other parts of the country and is frequently visited by tourists from other areas of Iraq and various countries in the region. ■

MAPS.GOOGLE.COM

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Martial law an issue, says Roxas

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer LIGAO CITY — Martial law abuses are a real election issue, especially for human rights victims, Liberal Party (LP) standardbearer Mar Roxas said here on Saturday, contradicting vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier assertion that it was a fabricated “media issue.”

“Perhaps for victims of martial law, this is not only an issue for media,” Roxas told reporters after a campaign rally here with his running mate Leni Robredo.

“They were the ones who were personally hurt, and many people who were not physically hurt still lost years [of their lives] because of martial law,” Roxas said.

He said the country itself lost years to martial law, including Filipinos who were forced to go abroad. “For our people, martial law is a real issue,” he said.

Marcos has been criticized by victims of martial law and their survivors for downplaying the atrocities committed during the dictatorship of his father, President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

During the LP sortie in Tabaco City, human rights lawyer and former Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said Filipinos should not vote for candidates like Bongbong Marcos and others who benefited from martial law.

Lagman, a former five-term member of the House repre-

Liberal Party (LP) presidential candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas II uses his right fist in testing the hard hat of a farm worker.

OLIVER MARQUEZ / PNA

senting the first district of Albay, is seeking election again.

He is the brother of Hermon Lagman, a political activist who disappeared during the martial law regime. His older brother Filemon “Popoy” Lagman, founder of the Partido ng Manggagawa, was killed in 2001 during the Arroyo administration it was believed by former comrades in the communist movement.

Reproductive health

Edcel served as minority floor leader in the House of Representatives until 2012 when he resigned over differences with the Aquino administration. He was the main proponent of the Reproductive Health Bill.

“I think the people should reject all those who benefited from martial law, up to now,”

Lagman told reporters.

Pressed to elaborate, he admitted his remark was aimed at “a particular person, the son of the late dictator,” although he did not mention the younger Marcos by name.

Lagman added that his words could also be construed as an “omnibus statement” directed at all those who rose to power and wealth during the martial law years.

“There is no reason why we should elect people who are identified with martial law, which brought so much sacrifice and abuse to the Filipino people,” he said.

In his speech at the LP rally, Lagman told the audience: “Let us not vote for those who benefited under martial law, like this one who’s now running for vice president.” ■

Gov’t, Moro rebels won’t give up peace

BY NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer PEACE NEGOTIATORS from the government and the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front concluded a two-day special meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, yesterday, still determined to see the peace process through with a socalled “Bangsamoro Law” to be approved in the next administration.

Although disappointed with the nonpassage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL)

by the 16th Congress, the two parties reaffirmed their “commitment to the peace process and preserve the gains of more than 17 years of negotiations and the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB).”

The peace panels stressed that the CAB, the peace agreement signed by the government and the MILF in March 2014, continues to provide a “viable roadmap and comprehensive approach toward resolving armed conflict in Mindanao.”

“The parties recognize that the nonpassage of the BBL has

adversely affected the timeline of establishing the Bangsamoro entity. They agreed that the means forward is the early passage of the legislation in the next administration and Congress, which is a requirement for implementation of significant aspects of the CAB, including the decommissioning of MILF weapons and combatants. Toward this end, the parties shall exert further efforts to promote understanding and greater acceptability of the proposed basic law,” they said.

The joint statement was signed by government chief newww.canadianinquirer.net

gotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer and MILF chief negotiator, Mohagher Iqbal.

Ghafar Mohamed, the representative of third party facilitator Malaysia, witnessed the signing.

The parties renewed the mandate of the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group (Ahjag) until March 31, 2017.

The Ahjag, they said, is a mechanism that has “proven time and again its importance in isolating and interdicting criminal syndicates or kidnapforransom groups and terrorist groups operating in Mindanao.”

The mandate of the Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT), which monitors the ceasefire between the government and the MILF, was also renewed until 2017. The parties discussed updates from the TPMT and the Independent Decommissioning Body (IDB).

“The parties also agreed that the socio-economic package for the initial 145 decommissioned MILF combatants should continue. Meanwhile, the parties discussed the security and storage of the turnedover weapons,” the joint statement said. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

13

Breaking boundaries for borderless education

BY FILANE MIKEE Z. CERVANTES Philippines News Agency MANILA — The thrust toward eLearning in the Philippines is not without boundaries. Time, money, political, will, and many others create huge blocks that prevent technology from completely redefining the delivery of education.

Educational technology, also called eLearning, is the use of technological tools in learning. Both learning and teaching are conducted via electronic media and communication technology.

It expands access to education as it builds on the traditional classroom learning by widening its reach and offering flexibility in pace and procedures. eLearning can occur in or out of the classroom. It can be self-paced or may be instructor-led. Further, it is apt for distance learning and can be utilized in conjunction with face-to-face teaching.

School, educational institutions, and organizations might encounter challenges often associated with implementing a full-proof eLearning roadmap.

On the first day of the Learning Summit 2016 slated Feb. 16 to 18 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, Jose Antonio Garcia, Assistant Professor and Educational Technology Coach at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, shared the college’s initiative in tearing down the walls to make education borderless.

“There is no singular end-all solution, but that shouldn’t stop organizations from trying,” said Garcia.

With pursuits to adapt the current trends of online learning, Benilde, in

partnership with Globe and Bright- versatile should be thoroughly weighed similarly undertake a massive face-lift. space, created an eLearning program in line with BBE’s vision of “Whoever.

For example, policies in access and called “Borderless Benildean Education Wherever. Whenever.” usage of electronic gadgets, and censor(BBE).”

“There should be political will to in- ship of certain websites are some of the Garcia explained that this initiative vest in technology and innovation,” things that require thorough deliberaaims to “develop and implement an in- Garcia said, noting some affordances to tion, if not revision, when venturing to tegrated learning platform driven by be considered such as gadgets, Internet this learning innovation, noted Garcia. pedagogically-sound instruction that is bandwidth, and literacy.

Tooling teachers from the “pre-milleaccessible anytime, anywhere, by anyAlthough the costs and investments of nial world” is also a challenge. one, including persons with disabilities creating a borderless learning innova“Traditionalists should adapt and and those with spechange.

Many cial learning needs.” schools are gradually He also said that moving toward that BBE sought to prodirection (eLearnvide inclusive and eLearning can occur in or out of the classroom. ing),” argued Diana innovative education It can be self-paced or may be instructor-led.

Go, another faculty by “getting everyFurther, it is apt for distance learning and can member from Benilbody on board.” be utilized in conjunction with face-to-face de who is in-charge BBE is primarily teaching. School, educational institutions, and of advancing BBE’s for academic strucorganizations might encounter challenges full roll out. ture, however, it will often associated with implementing a full-proof In order to ensure be integrated with eLearning roadmap. a seamless integranon-academic and tion, Garcia said that support offices and an institution should functions in its full create support sysimplementation tems involving trial, across the college this 2016. tion must be taken into account, Garcia training, and hand-holding, as well as Tearing down the walls for a border- said that establishing infrastructures devising an incentive scheme toward less education also shared an equal amount of consid- adoption and championing.

Having a clear purpose can set the eration.

This allows for maximization of power course and help identify the needs for Since the way education is deliv- usage and innovation. the development of the program, Garcia ered has undergone immense change “Solutions need not be grand. They stressed. through technology, pre-existing poli- have to be meaningful, they should matBorderless education, according to cies, mandates, and mindsets should ter,” said Garcia. ■ the Benildean way, is “taking classes out of the classroom” and “gaining access to information anytime, anywhere and by anyone.”

Hence, the need for an integrated learning platform which is mobileready, cloud-based, cost-effective, and

Philippines to sell Marcos jewelry valued at $21 million THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippine government has approved the public exhibit and auction of the jewelry collection of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ widow Imelda which international experts have appraised to be now worth at least 1 billion pesos ($21 million), officials said Monday.

The hoard was seized when Marcos and his family fled to Hawaii in 1986 following a popular revolt that ended his two decades in power. They include a 25-carat, barrel-shaped diamond worth at least $5 million and a Cartier diamond tiara that is now many times more valuable than the previous estimate of $30,000 to $50,000.

Andrew de Castro of the Presidential

Commission on Good Government, an agency tasked to recover the Marcoses’ ill-gotten wealth, said they hope to hold the exhibit and auction before the end of President Benigno Aquino III’s term in June, when the terms for the current members of the commission also end.

The government’s Privatization Council headed by the Department of Finance last week approved the sale of the jewelry.

A portion of the collection seized at the presidential palace when the Marcoses fled, however, is still being contested in court. Other pieces of jewelry were seized in Hawaii and at Manila’s airport.

“The jewelry confiscated from the Marcoses remain a singular manifestation of the misguided priorities of the Marcos presidency during his reign,” commission Chairman Richard Amurao said Friday. ■

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Philippine News

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

MMDA to permanently enforce ‘No Physical Contact Policy’ in dealing with traffic violations

BY CHRISTOPHER LLOYD T. CALIWAN Philippines News Agency MANILA — The Metro Manila Council, the policy-making body of Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), passed on Tuesday the resolution for the permanent implementation of the ‘No Physical Contact Policy’ in apprehending traffic violators.

In a meeting at the MMDA headquarters in Makati City, the council made the decision after it has deemed the implementation of the policy effective in dealing with traffic violations in Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City and Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard, Pasay City in 2011.

MMC is composed of the 17 local government units (LGUs) of the National Capital Region.

The resolution seeks the use of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, digital cameras and other methods to capture images and videos of traffic violations.

The agency will then summon concerned motorists regarding their violations.

The MMC said the policy also aims to prevent unscrupulous acts of traffic enforcers such as extorting money from motorists who want to evade their violations.

The traffic scheme shall cover moving violations of drivers along major thoroughfares in Metro Manila, especially along Edsa and C-5.

“There had been piles of summons regarding the violations caught with the No Physical Contact Policy on my desk which proves its effectiveness,” MMDA Chairman Emerson Carlos told reporters after the meeting.

“When there is (physical) contact, constables will have to chase after the motorists before they could issue them receipts, there’s a possibility that violators will escape unlike when there is no contact, violations are captured through videos, then you’ll only need to review them,),” Carlos explained.

In addition, the resolution allows the motorists to contest the violations before the Traffic Adjucation Division (TAD) provided that they appeal the offense within seven days from its date of receipt.

In a meeting at the MMDA headquarters in Makati City, the council made the decision after it has deemed the implementation of the policy effective in dealing with traffic violations.

PNA

This modifies the policy during the tenure of former MMDA chief Bayani Fernando where apprehended motorists have to pay fines first before explaining their side during adjudication.

“There is no presumption of innocence, you are automatically considered at fault when you are caught, you need to pay the violations first before you are able to contest, now if you look at the regulation, we improve. You have the right to

Boxing star Manny Pacquiao draws flak for same sex comment THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Boxing star Manny Pacquiao has created a firestorm in his home country after saying people in same-sex relationships “are worse than animals.”

Pacquiao, who is running for a Philippine Senate seat, made the remark in a video posted Monday on local TV5’s election site. He also said animals are better than people in same-sex relationships because they recognize the difference between males and females.

Among those expressing opposition to the comments was gay comedian and television host Jose Marie Viceral, known as Vice Ganda. He tweeted that les-

contest, if you contest the period will be extended and you’re only ask to pay if you lose the contest, “ Carlos added.

However, Carlos explained that the policy will only catch moving violations, thus leaving administrative offenses to MMDA constables.

Carlos said the ‘No Physical Contact Policy’ will not rid Metro Manila’s streets and roads of traffic enforcers because there are still places that are not cov-

LTFRB hails 2 more exemplary cabbies this month PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY

Manny Pacquiao.

WORLDSWILDLIFEWONDERS / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

bian, gays, bisexuals and transgenders are humans, not animals. He said they’re not saints, but that they’ll pray for Pacquiao.

Danton Remoto of the LGBT

group Ladlad said Pacquiao’s comments showed he had a shallow understanding of issues important to the LGBT community. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

ered by CCTV cameras.

MMDA will install 160 CCTV cameras in addition to more than 400 CCTV cameras which were already installed in strategic areas around Metro Manila.

Carlos said the resolution is set to be implemented in March.

The ‘No Physical Contact Policy’ was earlier implemented during the time of former MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino to catch overspeeding motorists. ■

MANILA — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) hails two more cab drivers for random acts of honesty and kindness.

One of the drivers was Anthony Masa of Jorivim Transport who returned lost items to its rightful owner; another was Carlo Santiago Diaz of GrabCar for being a good Samaritan to a family who lived in the streets.

Both drivers were given the Drayber ng Bayan Award and were presented with certifi-

cates of recognition at the LTFRB main office on Tuesday.

Last Feb. 9, drivers Arnold Bado of RoseWin Taxi, Diosdado Anonuevo of Esgar Taxi and Miguel Ardiente, Jr. of Royal HM Taxi were also commended for their good deeds.

LTFRB board member Atty.

Ariel Inton said the recognition was part of the LTFRB campaign to curb erring drivers in public transportation and prove that good drivers still exist.

Also present during the awarding ceremony were LTFRB Chairman Winston Ginez and Board Member Ronaldo Corpus. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

15

LTO says license of cabbie who asked for an iPhone as payment is fake

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippines News Agency MANILA — The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) on Tuesday said the license of the cab driver who demanded a passenger’s iPhone as payment last week was indeed fake.

“This is to certify that the alleged Professional Driver’s License No. NO2-12-012104 bearing PVC card with serial number 0021560160M2 issued on Nov. 23 2015 under the name of Rosalejos, Jeric Culllano was not duly issued by this office therefore same is fake/ suspicious,” the LTFRB quoted a certificate issued by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) upon request by board member Atty. Ariel Inton.

Inton noted that according to MAHK Transportation Services operator Merely Fukuta, the

driver voluntarily surrendered his driver’s license and assured that he will appear during the scheduled hearing on Wednesday (Feb 17).

To recall, a certain Mark Tomale filed a complaint at the LTFRB main office narrating how the driver overcharged him and his pregnant cousin last Jan. 5.

According to Tomale, he picked his cousin up from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 and was surprised to have the driver charge them as much as Php 30.00 per kilometer (km).

Tomale and his cousin agreed, but when they had finally reached 6.6 km along, the driver demanded for a Php 1,980 fee.

He said that he only had Php 1,400.00 with him so the driver went ahead and took his cousin’s iPhone 5s worth around Php 22,000. ■

CALERUSNAK / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The high-powered Philippine team for the UNCLOS arbitration case being heard by an arbitral tribunal in The Hague has begun presenting the arguments for the Philippine position—with emphasis on the tribunal’s proper jurisdiction to hear and decide the case PCDSPO

US: We’ll use...

“There is a proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, that is North Korea, although five countries in Asia-Pacific are nuclear-capable,” he added.

The United States is leading the global opposition to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and it is championing freedom of navigation to counter China’s claim to almost all of the 3.5-million square-kilometer South China Sea. To bolster that claim, China has built artificial islands on seven reefs in the Spratly archipelago that could be used for military purposes, raising tensions with rival claimants to territory in the South China Sea—Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

The seven artificial islands are within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, which has taken the dispute to the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague for resolution. A decision is expected by June.

Analysts said a more constant and increased US military presence in the Philippines through the Edca would slow down ❰❰ 11

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China’s expansion in the South China Sea. P-Noy to raise China issue

President Aquino may be expected to raise China’s expansionism at the Sunnylands summit, according to Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. Mr. Aquino “has always represented the Philippines’ position on the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and overflight” in the South China Sea, as well as adherence to international law in resolving disputes in the strategic waterway, Coloma said in Manila on Sunday.

The President leaves for the summit today, accompanied by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and some Cabinet officials.

On Wednesday, Del Rosario disclosed a proposal for the rival claimants in the South China Sea to meet on the sidelines of the summit, but it was uncertain if the leaders’ schedules would allow for it.

Strategic partners

Obama proposed the sum-

mit during the third US-Asean meeting in Kuala Lumpur in November last year, following the decision of the leaders to elevate their relations to the strategic-partner level.

In a statement issued in December last year, the US government said the summit aimed to provide leaders a forum to strengthen cooperation under the new US-Asean strategic partnership on political, economic and security issues.

Briefing reporters in Malacañang last week, Assistant Foreign Secretary Hellen Barberde la Vega said it would be the first meeting between Asean and the United States as strategic partners.

The summit aims to “explore how Asean and the [United States], after elevating their relations to the strategic-partner level, can work more effectively together and especially now with the establishment of the Asean Community,” De la Vega said. ■

Opinion

16

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

ANALYSIS

Edsa 1 and 2 revisited: end of an era

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer CANBERRA—On Feb. 22, the Philippines will observe the 30th anniversary of Edsa 1, the 1986 People Power Revolution that marked the end of the era of coup attempts. There has since been another people power uprising—Edsa 2 on Jan. 16-20, 2001, the 15th anniversary of which was not officially celebrated. But the euphoria over Edsa 1 as a landmark bloodless revolution that toppled the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos has dissipated, eroded by the widespread disenchantment of the Filipino people over its unfulfilled promise. Today there is little to celebrate in the Edsa 1 anniversary as the country faces a presidential election in May. Edsa 1 and Edsa 2 are two entirely different political phenomena, although these events took place on the same highway, 15 years apart. Edsa 2 is not a continuity of Edsa 1. The government has ignored Edsa 2 as a nonevent, not worthy of a single line of recognition in the Official Gazette.

The presidential election in May comes as a stark contrast to the turmoil that surrounded the transfer

of power driven by unrest in the Philippine democracy is ending an 2, there is nothing to show that the streets, as the country goes back to era of political change dominated by succeeding administrations have rethe mechanism offered by regular the coup d’etat as the arbiter of lead- duced the abominable poverty in the and free elections: orderly transfer of ership change.

Philippines. power. After the disruptive process In that era, the military and the This explains why the Filipino of leadership change dominated by Catholic bishops acted as the criti- masses failed to find resonance with street demonstrations during Edsa cal kingmakers in two People Power the ruling elites in their euphoria 1 and Edsa 2, it is fair to say that the Revolutions. Their interventions in over the overthrow of the dictatorFilipino electorate has found people the political arena shaped the direc- ship during Edsa 1. The Edsa revopower an irrelevant exercise to intro- tion of the restoration of democracy lution was a Manila-centered moveduce political and social change. This after the fall of the Marcos dictator- ment in which the people in the pendulum swing of the public mood ship. provinces had scant participation. away from people power toward the It should come as a relief to note With this framework, it will be illuelectoral system is underlined by a the reduced level of military and minating to examine the dynamics of number of changes the interventions of in the power structhe generals and the The Edsa revolution was a Manila-centered movement in ture, in the power clergy in the People which the people in the provinces had scant participation. bases of the social Power Revolution. institutions that As a flashback, let generate the initiatives for leader- Church interventions at this stage of us recall the chain of events. In Febship change through people power bringing back civil society to the cen- ruary 1986, the revolt of then Defense movements, namely the military and ter of political action. We are mov- Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and the the Catholic Church. These were the ing away from the period of political then Constabulary chief, Gen. Fidel principal catalysts that sent millions instability fostered by People Power Ramos, sparked the first Edsa revoof Filipinos to Edsa to topple the Revolutions toward the normaliza- lution. At that point, the politicized Marcos and Estrada regimes in 1986 tion of electoral democracy. archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Jaiand 2001, respectively.

The People Power Revolution was me Sin, intervened with a call to the A close examination of the dynam- a dubious mimicry of social revolu- people to go to Edsa to protect the ics of Edsa 1 and 2 will reveal the key tion in that it did not lead to the re- rebel leaders from Marcos’ retaliaroles of these social institutions as distribution of social and political tion as they holed up in Camp Crame agents of political change. And as we power from the ruling elites to the to make a last stand. Sin’s mobilizamove toward the May elections, it is underclass of Philippine society. tion of civilian mass support for the hard to escape the conclusion that Thus, in the aftermath of Edsa 1 and embattled military rebels opened

the way for the entry of Cory Aquino, widow of the assassinated ex-senator and opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr., as successor to Marcos after he fled the country to escape the wrath of a lynch mob in Malacañang.

The succession issue also opened a rift between the civilians and the rebel soldiers, after Cory rejected military demands that she take her oath of office as president at Camp Crame instead of at Club Filipino, sending the message of civilian supremacy over the military in the post-Marcos power arrangements.

In Edsa 2, it was the withdrawal of military support for Estrada that played a pivotal role in the collapse of his presidency. Estrada was then the subject of an impeachment trial at the Senate on charges of corruption for allegedly taking bribes from operators of the illegal numbers game jueteng, among others.

The withdrawal of support of the Armed Forces chain of command led by the then chief of staff, Gen. Angelo Reyes, from the Estrada presidency was in reality a military coup backed by a people power demonstration.

That was the last time that the coup d’etat was used as a function in the turnover of state power. ■

PUBLIC LIVES

A sociologist’s take on love

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer LOVE IS complex in the sense that it entails no less than the joint constitution of a world that uniquely belongs to two people in love. This is how I understand romantic love. In such a world, the loved one can be the person that s/he is, and feel affirmed on that basis, without any reservation. If this is still what love means today, then it is worth asking whether there is any sense in simplifying the quest for love by recourse to algorithmic matching.

With the rise of social media, we have seen the emergence of dating apps like Tinder, OKCupid, Blendr, and eHarmony, among others. These apps are advertised as the ultimate tools for bringing together closely matched couples who can expect to find themselves in lasting and fulfilling relationships.

What is remarkable here is that while these postmodern matchmaking devices may succeed in finding you a date, they say nothing about the hard work that accompanies the quest for a lifelong partner. If at all, they tend to reduce the requisite effort that love entails to the ability to come up with attractive self-descriptions and effective communication

starters aimed at maximizing one’s San Diego, is quoted as saying: “OK- prompted to think that perhaps their outcomes. And, as though in antici- Cupid prides itself on its algorithm, marriage has lost its reason for being. pation of the disastrous dates that but the site basically has no clue Yet, by nature, passionate love is may result from superficial match- whether a higher match percentage ephemeral. That is why the philosoing, eHarmony offers an app called actually correlates with relationship pher Nietzsche thought that nothing “Bad Date Rescue” that “allows us- success.” And yet, this is what its us- could have been more ill-advised than ers to ‘fake’ an incoming call to their ers are prompted to believe. Thus, for modern society to make it a condiiPhone in order to break up a bad when a date turns bad, contrary tion for marriage. “Modern marriage,” date.” to what one is made to expect, the writes Nietzsche, “has patently lost all What kind of human relationships blame is heaped on the world and on its rationality…. The rationality of marare these that today’s online network- everyone else rather than on oneself. riage lay in the principle of its indising sites seem to be offering as the Traditional society simplified solubility; this gave it an accent, which, functional equivalents of good old- the choices available in that world set against the contingencies of feeling, fashioned romantic love? And what by linking these to ethnic, religious, passion, and the moment, could make do they tell us about itself heard…. The inthe kind of society creasing indulgence that is unfolding beshown towards loveRomantic love, as we know it today—a quasipathological fore us? From what matches has practiobsession into which one falls—is a modern invention.

I could gather, these cally eliminated the webbased tools, to basis for marriage, which one subscribes for a fee, are or class affinities. Indeed, arranged the thing which makes it an instituoperating on the mistaken premise marriages were the norm. Roman- tion in the first place.” (“Twilight of the that enduring relationships based on tic love, as we know it today—a qua- Idols”) love are things to be found rather than sipathological obsession into which But love would be unreal if it did made. Accordingly, it is not unusual one falls—is a modern invention. not reflect the social structure from for seekers to go to their dates with a Indeed, says the German sociologist which it springs. Freed from the conchecklist of expectations, waiting to Niklas Luhmann, its early motifs straints of race, ethnicity, religion score a hit rather than primed to em- were drawn from the passion associ- and social class, the modern person bark on a painstaking world-making ated with extramarital relationships. finds himself/herself navigating a experience.

Ironically, it then became a prerequi- world of bewildering diversity in the In a report published on JSTOR site to modern marriage that spouses search for a partner. The liberation of Daily, titled “Don’t fall in love on OK- learned to nurture and demand of intimate relationships from the conCupid,” Kevin Lewis, a sociology pro- themselves. And so when the pas- straints imposed by politics, religion, fessor at the University of California sion is gone, modern couples are also and class laid the foundation for the

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idealization of love as a zone of exclusive interpersonal intimacy within modern society. Luhmann attributes this happenstance to “the sentimentalism of the eighteenth century… a component of the bourgeois critique of aristocratic immorality.”

The relationships facilitated by today’s social media seem a little different from modern romantic love. Even as they promise intimacy, such relationships are not seen as a necessary prelude to marriage or to a long-term commitment. OKCupid’s clients expect to discard relationships with the same ease as replacing a mobile phone or “unfriending” a Facebook friend. I guess it’s a mindset that goes well with the habits of a throwaway culture.

Of course, it has its human toll.

Perhaps we can begin to imagine what it is we give up when love no longer figures significantly in our intimate relationships by considering its broader social function. Here’s Luhmann’s prosaic take on the value of love: “While it may be entirely conceivable to lead a life individually without love and yet find selfaffirmation in the world (for example through one’s achievements and successes), it is not at all possible for love to be replaced as a mechanism of society as a whole.” ■

Opinion

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

17

LOOKING BACK

Rizal in love

By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer VALENTINE’S DAY is just around the corner. This weekend the prices for long-stemmed roses and other flowers will spike, there will be few vacancies in motels, and boxes of imported chocolates will fly out of store shelves. Why should one wait for one day in a year to make a show of love and affection instead of expressing these all year round? Why should I wait for February to write about Rizal’s love life when I can do so even during Holy Week?

The other day, Instituto Cervantes director Carlos Madrid asked me if I had tracked down Josephine Bracken’s grave in the Roman Catholic part of Happy Valley Cemetery in Hong Kong, and I sadly had to admit that it is an ongoing quest. Josephine was allegedly buried in a pauper’s plot in the cemetery in 1902, after she succumbed, according to her death certificate, to “miliary tuberculosis and ulceration of the breast.” There must be a record of the burial somewhere, an indication of the location of the plot, but after more than a decade of sleuthing I still hope to find her grave.

Every schoolboy knows that Rizal immortalized Josephine in the “Ul-

timo Adios” that was circulated They were not married, yet they Ferdinand Blumentritt (Vol. 3), and widely after his execution on Dec. 30, were living together in a small, gos- Miscellaneous Correspondence 1896. Here she is remembered and sipy, conservative town. Worse, the (Vol. 4). Everyone who could not be bade goodbye with the words: “Adi- domestic arrangement did not sit classified in the first three volumes os, dulce extranjera, mi amiga, mi well with Rizal’s mother and other are lumped into “Miscellaneous,” alegria.” (Farewell, sweet foreigner, members of the family, who may not and all the women romantically asmy darling, my delight) have expressed their disapproval sociated with Rizal are in this volNot many are familiar with a poem openly but showed it in other ways. ume.

Rizal wrote for Josephine in July When Rizal’s younger sister TriniThe letters between Rizal and Jo1895, shortly before she sailed from dad planned a visit in August 1895, sephine, and the letters to his famDapitan to Manila. “A Josefina,” he reminded her of his domestic ily with references to Josephine, give translated from the original Spanish situation and told her frankly that if us an idea of their domestic life: She

by Nick Joaquin, reads: she could accept it, she was welcome kept him company, darned his socks, “Josefina, Josefina/ to these to stay in his home; if not, he would and tended to his nephews and the shores you came in quest/ of dwell- rent a house in town for her. In this chickens. Rizal added: ing place, a nest/ “She cooks, like an emigrating washes, sews, and The letters between Rizal and Josephine, and the letters to swallow takes care of the his family with references to Josephine, give us an idea of their “If your fortune chickens and the domestic life. you must follow/ house. In the abto Shanghai, China, sence of miki for or Japan,/ don’t forget that on these letter he complained that he was be- making pancit, she made a kind of shores/ beats for you the heart of ing treated like a child rather than long macaroni noodles out of flour one.” an adult. and eggs that served the purpose.

Why Josephine left for Manila is In the compilation of Rizal’s cor- If you could send me a little ankak, unclear from the poem, but there respondence published by the Jose I would be grateful to you, for she seems to have been trouble in Dapi- Rizal National Centennial Com- makes bagoong; she also makes tan because Rizal is unsure if she mission in 1961, the 954 letters ex- chile[?] miso, but it seems to me will return to him or travel onward changed between Rizal and others that what we have will last us for to Shanghai, China, or Japan. Jose- were sorted and chronologically ten years!” phine did return, to Rizal’s relief, arranged into four volumes: CorIn a letter to his mother, dated Jan. because the rumor in Manila was respondence with Family Members 15, 1896, and sent with a package of that she had been sent away. They (Vol. 1), Correspondence with Col- dried fish, Rizal tried to explain his should have lived happily ever af- leagues in the Propaganda Move- relationship: ter, but more troubles were to come. ment (Vol. 2), Correspondence with “You will receive a small quantity

of salted fish that was prepared by the person who lives in my house.

She is good, obedient, and submissive. We lack nothing, except that we are not married, but as you yourself say: It is better to live in the grace of God than being married in mortal sin. Until now we have not quarreled and when I advise her, she does not answer back. If you come and accept her I expect that she will get along with you. Besides, she has nobody in the world except me. I am all her kinsfolk.” To his sister Trinidad he wrote: “Miss J. is better than her reputation, and since she has been staying with me her little defects are being corrected. She is meek and obedient, and not hard-headed, besides she has a good heart. What we only need is to pay a curate, that is to say it is not necessary to us. Until now we have not quarreled; we are always gay, jesting. The public can say it is a scandal; without doubt it is very scandalous to live better than many married people. We work and are contented. She will do everything to be your friend, but what will people say?”

Rizal’s correspondence reveals that their relationship was not all roses and chocolates. The real challenge was staying together in a difficult situation. ■

AT LARGE

Enough Room in the heart

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer YOU MIGHT call it an “anti-Valentine movie.” “Room” tells the story of a young woman kidnapped and kept hostage for seven years but whose story is told from the viewpoint of her fiveyear-old son, Jack.

Any way you look at it, it is not a pretty story. Jack and his mother live in Room, a world bordered by the four walls of a tiny shed, a skylight their only access to the outside world, providing just shifting views of the sky and the few leaves that happen to fall and rest on the glass.

Life is bleak and a stultifying routine. They subsist on food, water and other needs brought in by a bearded man they call “Old Nick.” But he is no Santa Claus. He drops by unannounced most evenings, forcing the mother to keep her son inside a closet, perhaps so he would not see her routinary rape and abuse. When he leaves, he forces her to turn her face to the wall while he punches in a code in the door lock, the only means to enter or exit Room.

Apart from the skylight, mother and son have another means of ac-

cess to the larger world: television.

But while it serves to entertain and inform, it also creates in Jack a dissonance between reality and imagination, fantasy and truth. His mind is muddled, unable to believe that there is another, larger world outside Room and other people besides his mother and Old Nick. As he explains later in the movie, “Room may be small, but its walls stretch far away.”

But for Joy, the mother, the walls of Room are slowly closing in. A cruel act of vindictiveness on Old Nick’s part (he turns off the heat in Room in the middle of winter) tells her that in essence they are not just prisoners but also putty in his hands. He can decide their life and death on a whim, abandon them altogether, or prolong their agony endlessly. *** THIS leads Joy to start plotting their escape, but for her plans to succeed she must put Jack through a crash course on Reality 101, teaching him the ways of the world, but not before opening his eyes, harshly at times, to the cruelties and danger that wait for them “outside.”

I won’t go into details about how Joy’s plans work out, but let me

just say that their confinement and confusion continue even outside of Room. The movie is not just about how Joy and Jack escape Room, but also about how the world closes in on them even in the world outside, in a world where everything, everyone, has changed.

So “Room” tells us not just how the mother and son manage to step out into the larger world outside Room, but also how they both learn to cope with this new world, how to find their own “strong,” and how to open their hearts once again to the promises and potential of a world that was once so cruel as to snatch a young 17yearold cheerleader from everything she held dear and keep her in the grip of a monster. *** “ROOM” is based on a novel of the same name by the film’s writer, Emma Donoghue.

A movie about the life of a pair of captives in a small shed (at least in the early scenes) may not hold enough appeal for a general audience, which may explain why it was produced by a group of small independent Canadian-Irish film producers.

But in the months since its release,

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“Room” has received critical acclaim, especially for Brie Larson, a relatively unknown performer, who has won as Best Actress (for Motion Picture– Drama) in the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards, the Screen Actors Guild awards, and is at present nominated for Best Actress in the Oscars and the British Film Awards.

What was really impressive for me, though, was the performance of Jacob Tremblay, who portrays Jack with innocence and grit, authenticity and intelligence. For this compelling acting accomplishment, the young Tremblay was named Best Young Performer in the Critics’ Choice Awards.

I had read about “Room” the novel and come to the conclusion that it wasn’t for me, for the prospect of reading a book that tells a boy’s version of his life of five years of confinement seemed to me much too depressing. And then I heard about the movie, and I wondered how such a bleak tale had been translated into the big screen and became curious about it.

I have no regrets. Other people at the sneak preview asked if I hadn’t been moved to tears, as I so easily am. Strangely, I never felt like it, for I

was by turns repulsed and angered by Old Nick’s senseless cruelty, but also amused and delighted by Jack’s pluck and his terrible love for Joy. *** AT ONE point toward the end of “Room,” Jack proclaims that the world outside Room is “so large and wonderful” and that he and his mother have decided to live in it “forever until we die.”

Indeed, we never know what riches and joys we have in our lives until we lose the world and everything—including other people—in it.

Of course, “Room” is a Valentine movie, because it is a movie about love—the love between a mother and son; the love for life that a cruel, hard man had tried to drain out of a young woman and her child; the love that kept them going despite the harsh light of the world outside that was softened by the love they received from other people around them.

Every life, every love, is large enough to contain the world, as long as it is filled with hopes and dreams that stretch far away from the four walls of a Room and bring one to worlds once unknown, but now familiar. ■

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FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Canada News

Syrians not the only ones facing adversity at home, say non-Syrian refugees

BY MICHELLE MCQUIGGE The Canadian Press TORONTO — Solomon didn’t face a welcoming committee with cameras clicking when he landed in Toronto as a refugee.

Instead, he got a send-off.

The smuggler who had brought him into the country gave him a lift into one of the city’s predominantly Ethiopian neighbourhoods, wished him well and left him to fend for himself.

With the help of his fellow countrymen, the 16-year-old found his way to a youth shelter, which then passed him off to other community organizations that were largely illequipped to help a newly arrived refugee seeking sanctuary in Canada.

His experience stands in stark contrast to the welcome offered to the thousands of Syrian refugees arriving in the country. The earliest arrivals were greeted by none other than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who offered them handshakes, hugs and winter apparel.

People fleeing the raging war in Syria went through an accelerated screening process before boarding flights that would take them to a country that has pulled out all the stops for their arrival. The medical care, transportation costs and warm national welcome are all readily available thanks to a Liberal government initiative targeted specifically toward Syrians.

Solomon, who requested that his real name not be used, applauds Canada for offering a helping hand to those fleeing persecution. But he also cautions that Syrians are not alone in facing adversity in their homelands.

“Our (Ethiopian) government has trouble distributing everything to the people,” he said in a telephone interview.

“Apparently on paper we have what appears to be a democrat-

ic country, but when you live ada’s efforts to resettle Syrian there it’s totally different.” refugees.

Differences lie at the heart of Dench said official recognithe concerns voiced by organi- tion is no longer necessary for zations supporting the thou- those fleeing Syria, a fact that sands of refugees that seek asy- she said highlights the disparity lum in Canada each year. between the way other populaWhile they commend the tions are treated during the apgovernment’s efforts to support plication process. a population in crisis, they la“The whole system is really ment that others in similar cir- set up to discourage people, and cumstances don’t have access to make it difficult, if not imto the same resources. possible, to sponsor other refuJanet Dench, executive direc- gees,” she said. tor of the Canadian Council for One Montreal church discovRefugees, fears recent govern- ered the disparity first-hand afment initiatives have created a ter deciding to sponsor a refugee. two-tier system.

John Docherty, pastor of the Gaining refugee status in Menonite Fellowship of MonCanada is a complex and bu- treal, said the congregation was reaucratic process fenced about torn between sponsoring a Syrwith rules, quotas and govern- ian family or one from another ment restrictions. part of the world where deDench said many of those bar- mand is high. The East African Sponsors, family, and Canadians simply wishing to welcome their new riers have been removed as part country of Eritrea, for instance, neighbours await the first plane's arrival of Syrian refugees at Toronto's Pearson of the Syrian refugee resettle- is the original home to a third of International Airport. But not all refugees were welcomed with well wishes. ment program. The country’s the world’s refugees, according STACEY NEWMAN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM sponsorship agreement hold- to the UNHCR. ers, for instance, are allowed to Docherty and his parishio“You cannot have any area “The prospect of initiating bring in as many Syrians as they ners began looking into the is- where there’s not a backlog,” something now while the enwish while the number from sue and soon encountered a he said. “One of our major chal- thusiasm is high, the motivaother regions is still subject to fact that may prove decisive lenges is to reduce those back- tion is there, the willingness to government-imposed caps.

— processing times for non- logs and to bring down the pro- pich in and put money up is palSmaller private sponsorship Syrian refugees are often years cessing times and that’s what pable. Five years from now, that groups, too, are typically only longer than for those who are we will be doing. You cannot do will have evaporated for sure.” allowed to supit overnight.”

Solomon does not see his port those who According to own more difficult beginnings have been fordata from Citi- in Canada as a disadvantage tomally recognized zenship and Im- day. He completed high school as a refugee by The whole system is really set up to migration Can- with a 93-per-cent average and either the Unitdiscourage people, and to make it ada, the average is currently attending Ryerson ed Nations High difficult, if not impossible, to sponsor wait time for University on a scholarship.

Commission for other refugees. private sponsorHe believes his initial trials Refugees or the ships originating made him “more of a man,” addcountry in which in Africa and the ing that the playing field tends they were residMiddle East in to level out for all refugees once ing when they filed their appli- part of the government’s cur- 2015 was 45 months, a marked the crucial claim documents cation. rent target program. contrast to the quick turn- have been secured and governThat lack of recognition John McCallum, the federal around expected for the incom- ment support tapers off. was what prompted the then- minister of immigration, refu- ing Syrian refugees.

“Once you have a good deciConservative government to gees and citizenship, said the In some visa offices, waits can sion about the (refugee) hearreject a refugee claim from current focus on Syrian refu- reach up to 69 months — or just ing, you don’t really care about Mohammad Kurdi, the uncle of gees has not diverted resources shy of six years. what you’ve been through in three-year-old Alan Kurdi, who from efforts to bring in refugees Docherty said the lengthy my opinion,” he said. “Paper drowned along with his brother from other countries. wait times are making his group is the most important thing in and their mother when their “The problem is that the im- more inclined to direct their Canada. You know, documents. boat capsized before reaching migration department that we sponsorship efforts towards a So once you are allowed to have the Turkish shore. A photo of inherited, people have been Syrian family. that, you don’t care what you’ve Alan’s lifeless body face down waiting for years for many “People have energy today been through because it’s only on a Turkish beach is widely things,” he said after a panel that they may not have five a matter of time to make everycredited with galvanizing Can- discussion in Toronto. years down the road,” he said. thing in the right direction.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Canada News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

19

Govt wraps consultations on inquiry B.C. set to deliver fourth into murdered indigenous women straight balanced budget THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — A national inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women will come a step closer to reality today, as the Trudeau government wraps up consultations on how best to conduct an in-depth examination of the issue.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett and Status of Women Minister Patty Hajdu are to wrap up consultations with a final meeting today in the nation’s capital.

The pair has been on a crosscountry tour since early December to meet with the families of murdered or missing aboriginal women and girls, seeking their input on what a national inquiry should look like and what it should attempt to accomplish.

Bennett said last week they’ve heard from 1,300 people, many of whom believe police have ignored their concerns about missing or murdered loved ones.

The federal government hopes to have the inquiry up

BY DIRK MEISSNER The Canadian Press

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett.

ART BABYCH / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

and running by the summer but it must first decide what the inquiry’s mandate should be.

Bennett said it requires a balancing act to ensure the inquiry’s focus isn’t too narrow or too broad.

A 2014 report by the RCMP concluded 1,017 aboriginal women had been murdered between 1980 and 2012, and that another 164 were considered missing.

Indigenous women make up 4.3 per cent of the Canadian population but the report found they account for 16 per

cent of female homicides and 11.3 per cent of missing women.

Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper resolutely refused to launch a national inquiry into the issue, arguing that indigenous women need action, not more studies.

However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during last fall’s election campaign to immediately launch an inquiry as part of his bid to establish a new “nation to nation” relationship with indigenous peoples. ■

Canada beats Valentine’s Day cold records set when MacDonald was prime minister THE CANADIAN PRESS THE WEATHER on Valentine’s Day was cold enough to freeze even the warmest of hearts in parts of Canada.

Quebec saw windchills reach -46 C, Newfoundland saw 30 centimetres of snowfall in some places and Ontario broke an astounding 17 records for low temperatures in one icy swoop.

Barrie, Ont. reached -33.3 C,

which broke a Valentine’s Day record set in 1879 when Sir John A. MacDonald was the prime minister.

A couple hundred kilometres away, Welland, Ont. plummeted to -26.9 C, beating out a the previous record from 1885, the same year that Louis Riel died.

The cold weather caused trouble for many Ontario motorists — the south central Ontario branch of the Canadian Automobile Association says it received over

8,000 calls for assistance Sunday.

Quebec’s frigid windchills were cold enough to freeze exposed skin in as little as five minutes.

It capped off a weekend of cold temperatures that affected many parts of eastern and central Canada.

But the tides are expected to turn over the next week, as the forecast shows temperatures surpassing the freezing mark in some parts of the country next weekend. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s Liberal government is set to deliver a fourth consecutive balanced budget Tuesday with sprinkles of relief expected for first-time home buyers trying to get into a red hot real estate market.

Tweaks were also signalled on medical services premiums and more cash promised for social service programs in a throne speech last week that said the government will “resist the temptation to spend our way into trouble.”

Premier Christy Clark said the budget targets affordability on several fronts, but the measures will be incremental.

“The budget, what you’ll see, is relief across the board for people in all different sectors,” she told reporters last week in Vancouver.

Clark said the government has already moved to help single-parent families with cuts to their medical premiums, but a massive overhaul or elimination of the program — called for by the Opposition New Democrats and the Green party — is not in the cards, yet.

“It’s antiquated, it’s old, and the way people pay for it generally doesn’t make a whole ton of sense,” Clark said. “I think in terms of wholesale change though, it’s going to take a little longer for us to work through some of that, but you will see some things in this budget.”

B.C.’s next provincial election is set for May 2017.

NDP finance critic Carole James said the medical premiums are an unfair tax that results in people earning $30,000 annually or more paying the same rates as those who earn $1 million.

“We have to get rid of this unfair tax,” she said.

James said B.C. families are being squeezed with fee and rate increases, including hydro, insurance, tuition and medical premium rates.

“The piece I’ll be looking for in the budget is the issue of affordability for families,” she said. “If you take a look at how difficult it is for people right now, and the fees and services and increased taxes this government has put on families, it is getting tougher and tougher.”

B.C. Hydro rates jumped four per cent last month and the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says B.C.’s medical premium rates have increased 39 per cent since 2009, from $108 a month for a family with children to $150 per month now.

Finance Minister Mike de Jong said the medical premium payments, which collect more than $2 billion annually, account for about 14 per cent of B.C.’s health budget of almost $19 billion.

He said the government is looking at being more flexible with medical premiums but he rejects calls to make the payments part of the income tax system.

“I disagree with that,” he said.

“All you are doing is creating the illusion health care is free, and it’s not.”

De Jong said the major achievement of his latest budget remains the fact it will be balanced, an accomplishment most provinces and the federal government won’t realize this year.

The Royal Bank forecasts B.C.’s economy to lead Canada’s growth rate this year at 3.1 per cent and 2.9 per cent in 2017. The B.C. government has forecast growth at 2.4 per cent this year.

Last fall, de Jong forecast the budget to include a surplus of $265 million, down about $20 million from the original estimate due largely to falling resource revenues, particularly natural gas. ■

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FEBRUARY 19, 2016

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:

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

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

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

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

- Who can nominate? Anybody.

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

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FRIDAY

Canada News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

21

New mortgage rules kick in as Ottawa looks to cool Toronto, Vancouver markets

BY ROSS MAROWITS The Canadian Press TORONTO — Canadians looking to buy homes between $500,000 and $1 million will have to put down larger down payments as new federal rules took effect Monday.

Under the changes, homebuyers must now put at least 10 per cent down on the portion of a home that costs more than $500,000.

Buyers can still put down five per cent on the first $500,000

of a home purchase. Homes that cost more than $1 million still require a 20 per cent down payment.

Phil Soper, president and CEO of Royal LePage, says the new rules aim to slow the breakneck pace of price growth in the red-hot markets of Toronto and Vancouver without affecting markets that are lagging, such as those in oil-dependent provinces.

“The problem with monetary policy is that it impacts the struggling Calgary market or the just fine Winnipeg market

and the overheated Vancouver market in equal amounts,” Soper said.

“If you lower interest rates, you lower interest rates for all.

And that’s not what the country needed. This change ... is the first attempt to recognize the fact that some parts of the country are in need of a mild tap on the break, while other parts of the country really need to continue to receive stimulus.”

When the new rules were announced in December, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said he

estimated they would affect about one per cent of the overall real estate market. Some industry observers predicted a surge in sales activity as homebuyers would look to pre-empt bigger down payment requirements.

Soper says real estate markets in Ontario, B.C. and Quebec have been “boisterous” in the first five weeks of the year — but he says it’s unlikely that the new mortgage rules are responsible.

“I think it has much more to do with clean sidewalks from a

mild winter and low mortgage rates than it does with impending changes that tweak mortgage insurance regulations,” Soper said.

“It’s just not a big enough change to have materially impacted home sales volumes in the country.”

Ottawa tightened rules for new insurable loans four times between 2008 and 2012, including upping the minimum down payment to five per cent and reducing the maximum amortization period in stages to 25 years from 40 years. ■

Trudeau marks... good for the broader economy, now and in the years to come,” Trudeau said.

“Yes we’re building a stronger future for them, but we’re also building a stronger present for everyone that they work for and touch with their experiences and hard work. That’s why investing in young people is so important.”

Summer jobs, Trudeau noted, help youth get the experience they need to start their careers, pay for ongoing education, and build self-reliance.

“The needs that our young people are facing in terms of unemployment, in terms of the need to develop work experience, the need to get good summer jobs is massive right now,” he said. “We needed to take seriously our responsibility to give young people the tools and the capacity to succeed.”

At least one economist said Trudeau’s announcement is one more likely to yield economic benefits down the road rather than any time soon.

“In terms of providing greater financial support for students, I would argue that yes, it’s a good thing in the longer run. But ... will it help to prop the economy up this year? I wouldn’t think so,” said David Madani, senior Canadian economist with Capital Economics.

“I think this is another example, a much smaller example, but it fits in within the theme that the government is trying to think about ways in which ❰❰ 1

Prime Minisiter Justin Trudeau.

ART BABYCH / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

it can support the longer term mum provincial wage rates, tor employers who employ no economic outlook.” ranges from 100 per cent for more than 50 employees.

Under the Canada Summer not-for-profit sector employers The program is aimed at proJobs program, viding muchthe government needed work subsidizes sumexperience for mer wages paid students while to young people In terms of providing greater financial supporting small between the ages support for students, I would argue businesses and of 15 and 30, who that yes, it’s a good thing in the organizations were full-time longer run. But ... will it help to prop that provide imstudents during the economy up this year? I wouldn’t portant commuthe past academthink so nity services. ic year and inTrudeau nottend to return to ed, however, that school full-time the boost to the in the coming academic year. to 50 per cent for public sector program was not his governThe subsidy, based on mini- employers and for private sec- ment’s only planned efforts to www.canadianinquirer.net

help youth.

“How we’re investing in young people will be even more apparent in the budget as we look at ensuring access to postsecondary education, as we look at improving job and skills training for young people just out of school. There are many, many initiatives our government is examining for young people out of school,” he said.

The Canada Summer Jobs program is one of three that fall under the umbrella of the federal youth employment strategy.

During last year’s election campaign, Trudeau promised to pump an additional $300 million into the strategy over three years, creating 40,000 youth jobs. After that initial boost, he vowed to boost the youth employment strategy’s budget to $385 million annually, a $50 million hike over the current outlay.

Trudeau underscored the importance he places on job creation for young Canadians when he crafted his first cabinet in November, reserving the youth portfolio for himself.

The Liberals’ come-frombehind victory in the Oct. 19 election has been attributed in large part to Trudeau’s ability to engage Canadians who don’t traditionally vote, including youth and indigenous people.

Some 3 million new voters cast ballots, propelling voter turnout to 68 per cent — its highest level in more than 20 years. ■

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Canada News

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Five RRSP tips from CPABC CHARTERED PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA VANCOUVER — Tax season has started and that means British Columbians are trying to make sense of tax changes and how to handle their RRSPs. The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) has put together five important RRSP tips for the 2015 tax year: 1. Who is Eligible to Contribute to an RRSP?

Anyone with “earned income” in a prior year who is subject to Canadian taxation on that “earned income”, including non-residents, may contribute to an RRSP. You can make part or all of your RRSP contributions to a spousal RRSP under which you are the contributor and your spouse is the annuitant, and you as the contributor are entitled to the tax deduction. For this purpose, a spouse refers to a legally married partner or a common-law partner of the opposite or same sex with whom you have cohabitated for the past 12 months.

To maximize your long-term tax savings, there should be an attempt to equalize the retirement income of both spouses.

Therefore, RRSP contributions should go into the name of the spouse who will otherwise have the lower income in retirement.

There are, of course, exceptions to this general rule where, for example, both spouses are trying to accumulate funds for the Home Buyers’ Plan or the Lifelong Learning Plan.

2. Tax Savings from an RRSP

If you have an RRSP deduction limit as shown on your 2014 Notice of Assessment and

you are a B.C. resident, the following are the income tax savings you could realize from making an RRSP contribution: • If your taxable income is between $11,327 and $44,701, a $1,000 RRSP contribution would reduce your 2015 taxes by up to $227.

• If your taxable income is between $44,702 and $89,401, a $1,000 RRSP contribution would reduce your 2015 taxes by about $227 to $343.

• If your taxable income is between $89,402 and $138,586, a $1,000 RRSP contribution would reduce your 2015 taxes by about $343 to $407.

• If your taxable income is over $138,587, a $1,000 RRSP contribution would reduce your 2015 taxes by about $437 to $458.

Remember, an RRSP is a tax deferral vehicle–you will be taxed on the funds when withdrawn.

That said, you would rather pay $1 of income tax tomorrow than $1 of income tax today. Actual tax savings will result if you are in a lower tax bracket when you withdraw the funds, or if you can save income taxes by moving taxable income to a lower income spouse through a spousal RRSP. Look into the amount you can save with an RRSP contribution today.

3. Early Contribution to an RRSP

RRSPs can be tax-effective investment vehicles, especially if you are many years from retirement. If you do decide to take advantage of an RRSP, it is advisable to contribute at the beginning of the year to start the tax-free compounding of earnings within the RRSP earlier. Also consider monthly contributions to your RRSP throughout the year as opposed to a lump sum contribution at the end of the year or in the first

60 days of the following year.

You can make an RRSP contribution in a year and not claim a tax deduction in that year if you think your marginal tax rate will be higher in a later year. You will still benefit from the tax-deferred earnings. Provided your undeducted RRSP contributions do not exceed your RRSP deduction limit plus $2,000, your undeducted contribution can be carried forward indefinitely, without penalty, for deduction in future years. This could be a substantial advantage if you claim the tax deduction in a year or years when you are in a higher tax bracket.

For your RRSP contribution to be deductible for a particular tax year, the contribution must be made by the 60th day following the end of the year. For the 2015 tax year, the deadline is February 29, 2016.

4. Is There a Good Time to Use the Money in an RRSP Prior to Retirement?

The primary objective of an RRSP is to save for retirement by permitting tax deductions for current period contributions, and tax-deferrals on investment earnings, with the goal of creating a retirement nest egg. Ideally, tax deductions occur during periods of higher income (higher income tax rates) and withdrawals occur during periods of lower income (lower income tax rates). With this in mind, it might sometimes make sense to withdraw funds from your RRSP prior to retirement.

It might make sense to withdraw funds from your RRSP or a spousal RRSP in the first year you become self-employed and your net income is low as a result of start-up costs, or income is deferred as a result of tax planning. For example, if you are commencing a business in 2016,

Tax season has started!

you could contribute $10,000 to your RRSP by February 29, 2016, deduct it on your 2015 tax return, and receive a tax refund. You could then withdraw the $10,000, net of withholding taxes from your RRSP later in the year, include it in your 2016 income, and pay little or no tax as a result of having little or no other income in the year.

That said, since the purpose of an RRSP is to save for retirement, you should think very carefully about the future impact on your retirement wealth before withdrawing funds from your RRSP, especially since RRSP contribution room is finite. (If you plan to re-contribute a previous withdrawal, outside of special programs such as the Home Buyers’ Plan, such re-contributions would utilize future RRSP contribution room.) Also be careful about withdrawing from a spousal RRSP because the income could be attributed to the contributing spouse if a spousal RRSP contribution had been made in the prior three years.

drawal. In addition, withdrawals do not affect your RRSP deduction limit; therefore, you will permanently lose that contribution room.

When you make your withdrawal, the financial institution administering your RRSP will withhold 10 to 30 per cent for taxes. You will get a credit for the tax withheld when you complete your income tax return for the year. You might owe additional income tax at that time or be entitled to a tax refund of part or all of the tax withheld, depending on your marginal income tax rate and other income tax withheld for the year.

Funds withdrawn from an RRSP for the Home Buyer’s Plan or the Lifelong Learning Plan are not taxable income in the year withdrawn and are not subject to withholdings. They are, however, subject to repayment or income inclusion requirements over time. Speak to your Chartered Professional Accountant if you are thinking about a withdrawal from your RRSP. ■

5. Withdrawals from an RRSP

Tax rules relating to these RRSP tips are complex. This is not intended as tax advice and you should not make tax decisions based solely on the information presented in these tips. You should seek the advice of a chartered professional accountant before implementing a tax plan or taking a tax filing position.

Provided your RRSP is not in a non-redeemable investment or a locked-in RRSP, you may withdraw any portion of your RRSP at any time. In most circumstances, you will pay tax on the amount withdrawn from an RRSP as it is considered income in the year you make the with-

B.C. budget expected to address real estate concerns, medical services premiums THE CANADIAN PRESS VICTORIA — British Columbia’s Liberal government is set to unveil the provincial budget today, and Premier Christy

Clark says it will include financial relief for people in various sectors.

The government hinted in its throne speech last week that help is on the way for first-time homebuyers struggling to break

into the red-hot housing market.

The budget is also expected to tweak what Clark has called an antiquated medical services premiums program, but will stop short of abolishing the premiums. www.canadianinquirer.net

Finance Minister Mike de Jong is expected to introduce the government’s fourth consecutive balanced budget, and he notes most provinces and the federal government won’t see that this year.

The Royal Bank forecasts the province’s economy to lead Canada’s growth rate this year at 3.1 per cent and 2.9 per cent next year.

The B.C. government has forecast growth at 2.4 per cent for 2016. ■

World News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

23

Palestinians renovate church at Jesus’ birthplace

BY DANIELA BERRETTA The Associated Press BETHLEHEM, PALESTINIAN Territory — After two years of painstaking work, experts have completed the initial phase of a delicate restoration project at the Church of the Nativity, giving a much-needed face-lift to one of Christianity’s holiest sites.

The project, partially funded by the Palestinians and conducted by a team of Palestinian and international experts, is the biggest restoration at the iconic church in some 600 years. The removal of centuries of dust has left Crusader-era mosaics sparkling in sunlight filtering through brand new windows.

Structural repairs on the fragile rooftop and windows have been completed and art treasures have been returned to their delicate elegance.

Although the Palestinians are overwhelmingly Muslim, they consider the church a national

treasure and one of their most visited tourist sites, and President Mahmoud Abbas has been actively involved in the project.

Ziad al-Bandak, who leads the Palestinian committee in charge of the restoration, calls what has been accomplished so far nothing short of “revolutionary.”

“For the first time you can see, when you go up, mosaics really magnificent and beautiful and unique in the whole world,” he said.

The Church of the Nativity, located in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem, was built by Saint Helena in the 4th century over the grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have given birth to Jesus.

Despite its spiritual significance, the church was neglected for centuries and is listed as endangered by UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency.

Until two years ago, rain leaked through the severely damaged rooftop, threatening to harm priceless artworks inside.

Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

NEIL WARD / FLICKR

Then, in 2013, the Palestinian Authority, the internationally backed self-rule government, took the lead in financing the restoration. The rest has come from the Palestinian private sector, the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches and other countries.

Al-Bandak said nearly $8 million has already been spent.

The renovation is being conducted by a joint team of engineers, restoration experts and workers — Palestinians as well as Italians from “Piacenti,” a firm which specializes in the renovation of historical sites

and has worked on dozens of villas, palaces, churches and monasteries in Italy and Russia.

Over the past two years, specialists have replaced the most damaged of the ancient wood beams of the rooftop and put up a new cover. They also installed new wooden framed windows that prevent water infiltration.

For the first time in almost 1,000 years the thousands of fine mosaics’ tiles have been retouched.

Mimmo Nucatolo, who heads the Italian team restoring the mosaics, called the gold, green and pastel artworks “a unique example” made by skilled mosaicists at the end of the Crusader period. But he said that after centuries of neglect, the mosaics were in such a bad state that they almost disappeared from sight.

“From underneath you could no longer see the colours, so much so that some people were ❱❱ PAGE 25 Palestinians renovate

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World News

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

George W. Bush offers tough takedown, never mentions Trump

BY JULIE PACE The Associated Press

turn to presidential politics has been met with blistering attacks from Trump about the unpopular Iraq war and the economic recession that began at the end of his administration. Trump has also repeatedly reminded voters that the Sept.

11, 2001, terror attacks happened on Bush’s watch.

“If the ex-president is campaigning for his brother, I think he’s probably open to great scrutiny, maybe things that haven’t been thought of in the past,” Trump told reporters Monday.

Rather than gloss over 9-11, Bush leaned in. As the crowd fell into a hushed silence, he recounted in detail his whereabouts on the morning of the attacks and praised the troops that served in the two wars he started in response.

“Your most solemn job as voters is to elect a president who understands the reality of the threats we face,” he said.

He’s also a reminder to voters eager to break with the political establishment that Jeb Bush would be the third man from his CHARLESTON, S.C. — George family to serve as president.

W. Bush never mentioned DonBut South Carolina is a state ald Trump. But with his folksy that has long been friendly to touch, the former president the Bush family. Presidents unleashed a tough takedown George W. Bush and George of the billionaire businessman H.W. Bush each won two Rewho has upended a Republican publican primaries in the state, Party his family has long led. and their family retains deep “I understand Americans are social and political ties here. angry and frustrated,” Bush Pete and Tisha Petersen were said Monday during his first among the Bush family fans campaign rally for his brother, who attended Monday’s rally.

Jeb Bush. “But we do not need Neither is sure whom they’ll somebody in the Oval Office vote for in Saturday’s primary, who mirrors and inflames our and both said the former presianger and frustration.” dent’s return to the campaign Trump’s rise has confounded trail has indeed rekindled the Bush family and its allies. memories of the Iraq war and But despite months of predictthe economic recession. ing the brash billionaire would But Tisha Petersen said that, fade, it’s Jeb Bush whose White “for people who love the Bush House hopes are in peril, parfamily, I think it’s not such a ticularly if he’s unable to pull bad thing either. It shows loyout a strong showing in Saturalty.” And her husband said that day’s South Carolina primary. with Jeb Bush struggling to get The fortraction, he may mer president not have had any emerged from other choice but his self-imposed to campaign with political hiberAll the sloganeering and all the talk his brother. nation to try to doesn’t matter if we don’t win. We “Jeb doesn’t give Bush a Presineed somebody who can take a quite have that dent’s Day boost. positive message across the country. edge that his He layered each brother had,” he validation of his said. “Maybe his younger brother brother will give with an implicit him a little bit of critique of Trump.

As he praised South Caroli- that.”

He urged voters to back a na’s Republican Gov. Nikki HalGeorge W. Bush has kept a candidate who will be “mea- ey, the daughter of Indian-born low profile since leaving the sured and thoughtful” on the parents, Bush pointedly said: White House in January 2009. world stage. A candidate whose “Thank goodness our country He retreated to his home state “humility” helps him under- welcomed her parents when of Texas, where he picked up stand what he doesn’t know. A they immigrated here in 1969.” painting and delved into work candidate who can win in NoIt was a reminder of how on his presidential library, pubvember’s general election. much the Republican Party has lic health projects in Africa, and “All the sloganeering and all changed since he was president. events for wounded military the talk doesn’t matter if we While Bush championed failed service members. don’t win,” Bush said. “We need legislation that would have proThe former president is the somebody who can take a posi- vided a pathway to citizenship latest member of the promitive message across the country.” for millions of people in the U.S. nent political family to hit the With his brother as a strong illegally, many current GOP campaign trail to help prop up warmup act, Jeb Bush delivered presidential candidates have Jeb Bush. Family matriarch an impassioned version of his fought to outdo each other with Barbara Bush had hit the camcampaign speech, touting his tough enforcement policies and paign trail in New Hampshire, experience as Florida governor even mass deportations. delighting voters with her outand vowing he could put RepubJeb Bush spent months trying spoken style and tenacity, as the licans back in the White House to figure out what role, if any, his 90-year-old traipsed through for the first time in eight years. brother might play in his cam- snow to get to events. ■ “I can beat Hillary Clin- paign. The 43rd president left ton,” he said of the Democratic office deeply unpopular with a Associated Press writers Bill front-runner. “I can promise nation fatigued by the Iraq War Barrow in Columbia, South Caryou that.” and angry over his botched re- olina, and Jill Colvin in CharlesThe former president’s re- sponse to Hurricane Katrina. ton contributed to this report. www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

Anti-migrant force builds in Europe, hurting Merkel’s quest

BY VANESSA GERA The Associated Press WARSAW, POLAND — So where should the next impenetrable razor-wire border fence in Europe be built?

Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban thinks he knows the best place — on Macedonia’s and Bulgaria’s borders with Greece — smack along the main immigration route from the Middle East to Western Europe. He says it’s necessary because “Greece can’t defend Europe from the south” against the large numbers of Muslim refugees pouring in, mainly from Syria and Iraq.

The plan is especially controversial because it effectively means eliminating Greece from the Schengen zone, Europe’s 26-nation passport-free travel region that is considered one of the European Union’s most cherished achievements.

Orban’s plan will feature prominently Monday at a meeting in Prague of leaders from four nations in an informal gathering known as the Visegrad group: Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The Visegrad group, formed 25 years ago to further the nations’ European integration, is marking that anniversary Monday.

Still, it has only recently found a common purpose in its unified opposition to accepting any significant number of migrants.

This determination has emboldened the group, one of the new mini-blocs emerging lately in Europe due to the continent’s chaotic, inadequate response to its largest migration crisis since World War II. The Visegrad group is also becoming a force that threatens the plans of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who wants to resettle newcomers across the continent while also slowing down the influx.

“The plan to build a new “European defence line” along the border of Bulgaria and Macedonia with Greece is a major foreign policy initiative for the Visegrad Four and an attempt to re-establish itself as a no-

table political force within the EU,” said Vit Dostal, an analyst with the Association for International Affairs, a Prague based think-tank.

At Monday’s meeting, leaders from the four nations will be joined by Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov so they can push for the reinforcements along Greece’s northern border. Macedonia began putting up a first fence in November, and is now constructing a second, parallel, fence.

“If it were up only to us Central Europeans, that region would have been closed off long ago,” Orban said at a press conference recently with Poland’s prime minister. “Not for the first time in history we see that Europe is defenceless from the south ... that is where we must ensure the safety of the continent.”

Poland has indicated a willingness to send dozens of police to Macedonia to secure the border, something to be decided at Monday’s meeting.

“If the EU is not active, the Visegrad Four have to be,” Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said recently. “We have to find effective ways of protecting the border.”

The leaders will try to hash out a unified position ahead of an important EU meeting Thursday and Friday in Brussels that will take up both migration and Britain’s efforts to renegotiate a looser union with the EU. The Visegrad countries have also recently united against British attempts to limit the welfare rights of European workers, something that would affect the hundreds of thousands of their citizens who now live and work in Britain.

The anti-migrant message resonates with the ex-communist EU member states, countries that have benefited greatly from EU subsidies and freedom of movement for their own citizens but which now balk at requests to accept even small numbers of refugees. The Visegrad nations maintain it ❱❱ PAGE 26 Anti-migrant force

World News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

25

Pope warns against devil in hardscrabble Mexico City suburb

BY NICOLE WINFIELD AND JACOBO GARCIA The Associated Press ECATEPEC, MEXICO — Hundreds of thousands of people gathered Sunday for the biggest event of Pope Francis’ five-day trip to Mexico, a Mass in the capital’s crime-ridden suburb of Ecatepec, where drug violence, gangland-style executions and kidnappings are a daily fact of life. Francis had a clear message for the masses: “With the devil, there is no dialogue.”

The Mexican bishops’ conference said some 300,000 tickets had been handed out and that an estimated 2 million people were expected to line the pope’s motorcade route to the huge field where the liturgy took place. They tossed flower petals as Francis passed by and cheered with pom-poms in the yellow and white colours of the Vatican flag.

Francis was bringing a message of encouragement to residents of an area where the murder rate, particularly of women, was so high that the government issued a special alert last year. With a densely packed population of some 1.6 million, Ecatepec is a sprawling carpet of cinderblock slums mixed in with some better-off neighbourhoods, and is a strategic point for drug gangs that thrive amid poverty, unemployment and impunity.

In a clear reference to the drug lords who hold sway here, Francis focused his homily on

the danger posed by the devil and urged Mexicans to resist the temptations of wealth and corruption.

“Let us get it into our heads: With the devil there is no dialogue,” Francis said, improvising from his prepared text.

“There can be no dialogue because he will always defeat us.

Only the power of the word of God can defeat him.”

As a morning chill turned to a brilliant, warm day, pilgrims on foot and clad in white lined the streets leading to the field.

Vendors sold T-shirts, plates with Francis’ image on them, pins, bandanas and cardboardcutout figures of the pope.

“He’s coming to Ecatepec because we need him here,” said Ignacia Godinez, a 56-year-old homemaker.

“Kidnappings, robberies and drugs have all increased, and he is bringing comfort. His message will reach those who need it so that people know we, the good people, outnumber the bad.”

Francis’ decision to celebrate his largest Mass in Ecatepec speaks volumes about his priorities and desire to go to the “peripheries” of Mexico. A day after he was feted in the grandeur of Mexico City’s historic centre, Francis began the part of the trip that is certainly closest to his heart: offering words of hope and encouragement to society’s most marginalized.

At least 1,554 women have disappeared in Mexico State since 2005, according to the National Observatory on Femicide, and last year the govern-

ment issued an alert over the killings of women in Ecatepec and 10 other parts of the state.

Nevertheless, women who came to see Francis said they felt safe, thanks in part to the huge security presence: The government assigned more than 10,000 police, soldiers and agents of the presidential guard to protect the pope’s motorcade and Mass.

Graciela Elizalde, 35, arrived at the field Saturday evening to wait for the pope and said she wasn’t at all afraid to spend the night on the street. She said she felt “protected by my faith and the joy of seeing the pope upclose.”

“The pope is not going to change things, but at least he will touch the hearts of those who do harm and are trying to destroy the country,” she said.

“He is the ‘messenger of peace’ because that’s exactly what Mexico needs, not just Ecatepec.”

Conchita Tellez, 65, from the northwest Mexico border city of Mexicali, said she spent 38 hours on a bus to get to Ecatepec and was among the first in line for a spot at the Mass. She expressed hope Francis can help ease the troubled soul of the country, where 100,000 people have been killed and 27,000 disappeared in gangland violence since President Enrique Pena Nieto’s predecessor launched an offensive against drug cartels shortly after taking office in late 2006.

“The pope comes to Mexico at a very ugly moment,” Tellez

Pope Francis greets the pilgrims during his weekly general audience.

GIULIO NAPOLITANO / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

said, “and he comes to pray for us and for all those who lost hope and have submerged the country in blood and violence.”

Francis’ is visiting Ecatepec a day after his grueling schedule appeared to be already taking a toll. He seemed tired and winded at times Saturday, and he appeared to nod off at an evening Mass and also lost his balance and fell into a chair set up for him to pray.

He appeared much livelier Sunday, beaming and waving at the crowds along his route.

The pope’s five-day trip to the world’s largest Spanish-speaking Catholic country is shining an uncomfortable spotlight on government and church shortcomings in dealing with social ills.

According to government statistics, about 46 per cent of

Mexicans live in poverty, including 10 per cent in extreme poverty. Meanwhile, the homicide rate rose precipitously between 2006 and 2011, before declining somewhat for the next three years and then ticking up again in 2015.

Francis’ schedule Sunday includes three popemobile motorcades and a visit to a pediatric hospital.

“The pope is coming to Ecatepec because it needs him and because the faith is reeling,” said Petra Arqueta, a 62-yearold from Morelos who nonetheless spent a night waiting in line. “The poor and the working people are here, and this pope prefers to talk to the humble.” ■

ration, even allowing access to the church in the dead of night to facilitate the work of experts.

The full restoration will continue in phases and is expected to take at least another three years.

Additional projects will include work on stone capitals and columns as well as on the ancient floor mosaics currently covered by stone flooring.

The work will depend on the availability of funds. Al-Bandak said an additional $11 million is needed. The Palestinian Au-

thority has already launched a campaign to raise the funds and Abbas has pledged to follow through.

“He told me from the beginning: ‘Even if you don’t have all the money to go ahead, start.

This is a holy place and money will come,”’ al-Bandak said.

The completion of the first phase is already a source of pride. “We are very proud of it because when we protect our national heritage, our history, we protect our future,” al-Bandak said. ■

Associated Press writer Peter Orsi in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Palestinians renovate... wondering ‘Do we really have mosaics in this church?”’ Nucatolo said.

While experts are still carrying out work 10 metres (32 feet) above ground, visitors and pilgrims will have to wait until the end of 2016 before being able to admire the winged creatures and brightly colored mosaics that have been brought back to rare brilliance.

After completing the mosaics in the central nave specialists are now renovating those ❰❰ 23

in other areas of the church, working on wall plastering, restoring the external stone facade and repairing the wooden beams.

The metal scaffolding will only be removed after these steps are completed, said Afif Tweme, the restoration’s project manager. He said he hopes this will be done by the end of the year.

The plan is also to install a microclimate system to control sunlight, temperature and humidity in the church, as well as

new lights and a smoke detection system, Tweme said.

The Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches share ownership of the church, and run it according to a 19th-century agreement that assigns responsibilities for upkeep that are jealously guarded by each denomination.

The churches have traditionally viewed each other with suspicion and have had fraught relations. But al-Bandak said they have all been “very co-operative” throughout the restowww.canadianinquirer.net

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FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS:

Dr. Jesse Ronquillo

BY LAARNI LIWANAG-DE PAULA Philippine Canadian Inquirer CANADA, USA and Australia — three great countries where Dr. Jesse Ronquillo, an internationally trained and a multiawarded aqua scientist considered to be the second home for his family.

With the help of his family and rounds of discussions, the decision was final — it will be Canada.

Who is Dr. Jesse Ronquillo

The low-profile scientist is a native of Cagay, Camarines Sur. His mother was from Quezon Province while his father was from Caloocan. At an early age, Dr. Jesse wanted to be an engineer, while his mother wanted him to become a medical doctor. His grandparents planned to have him look after their 100-hectare fishpond property in Bicol, but he had wanted to pursue something else. After high school — on his cousins’ persuasion — he enrolled at the College of Fisheries, University of the Philippines – Diliman.

He was given a scholarship by the Philippine Council for Agriculture Resources and Development and graduated cum laude in 1980.

Thereafter, he was hired as a Professor at the University of the Philippines - Visayas.

After 2 years, although was offered scholarship at University of California, USA, he opted to take the scholarship on aquaculture offered by the Japanese

government for he believed Challenges in Canada then that Japan was more adAdmittedly despite the honvanced in the field of aquacul- ors, awards and qualifications ture. There, he finished further that Dr. Jesse has, he found it studies and obtained his Mas- very hard to find a job. He was ters Degree. told he is overqualified, or he During his studies in Ka- does not have the Canadian exbushima, Japan, he met his wife. perience.

She was of Japanese parentage He joined UBC as researcher but was born in Argentina. She in 2004, got his citizenship and was a medical student who was at the same time got an offer as specializing in neurology. It was Assistant Associate Professor the first time that two foreign in Nova Scotia from 2007 unstudents were married in that til 2008 as a replacement for a city so Kabushima celebrated professor who was on long term with the elite in attendance and disability. all foreign students performed After his temporary stint in cultural dances. Their marriage Nova Scotia, he went back to made news and was featured in UBC. Fortunately, Viva Aquaprint and broadcast media. culture and Seafood DistribuThe couple went back to the tion Ltd needed an expert and Philippines at UP – Visayas consultant to help the company where Dr. Jesse did a lot of re- to set up an aquaculture facility Dr. Jesse Ronquillo. search. He was hired as Con- in Langley to produce shrimp sultant by the Department of and fish. He was sent by UBC to Philippine Canadian InquirScience and Technology. Dur- help as part of an industrial re- er got the chance to know beting this time, he developed a lot search project. ter the accomplished scientist of technology for aqua culture and here are some highlights: and got a lot of awards from na- Dr. Jesse now What do you like best in Canational and international awardA few weeks ago, Dr. Jesse da? giving bodies. went to Japan to set up colAlthough tax rates are too Their stay in high, the social the Philippines safety net is best was cut short as in Canada. his wife who was What do you miss not able to get As much as possible, keep on getting about the Philipaccustomed to educated, keep on up grading. You pines? hot weather and never know if the job you will find I feel nostaldust, got sickly. will be much better than the job you gic sometimes.

He was offered a want.

When I visit, I job in Maryland, always get inUSA but decided vitations from to migrate to different uniCanada instead. laboration between Japan and versities as a “balik scientist The Ronquillos are now well- UBC. In the planning now is a awardee.” I am recognized in settled in Richmond, British project on aquaculture inter- my field as an international exColumbia. national seminars to be held at pert. But I do not dwell on this UBC. recognition. I believe that the

technologies I developed can help the aquaculture industry in the Philippines. That is what I want — to help because I love my country so much.

What is your advise to the Filipinos in Canada?

It may be hard to look for the job you want. But be patient.

Do not lose hope. As much as possible, keep on getting educated, keep on up grading. Keep on volunteering and networking to meet people and prospective employers. You never know if the job you will find will be much better than the job you want. ■ Information on the technologies, studies, papers, and researches done by Dr. Jesse Ronquillo are found in the Canadian Aquaculture R & D Review 2015.

Anti-migrant force... is impossible to integrate Muslims into their societies, often describing them as security threats. So far the Poles, Czechs and Slovaks have only accepted small numbers, primarily Christians from Syria.

Many officials in the West are frustrated with what they see as xenophobia and hypocrisy, given that huge numbers of Poles, Hungarians and other Eastern Europeans have received refuge and economic opportunity in the West for decades. ❰❰ 24

Indeed there are plenty of signs that the countries are squandering a lot of the good will that they once enjoyed in the West for their sacrifices in throwing off communism and establishing democracies.

Orban’s ambitions for Europe got a big boost with the rise to power last year in Poland of the right-wing Law and Justice party, which is deeply antimigrant and sees greater regional co-operation as one of its foreign policy priorities. Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo’s

government says it wants to do more to help Syrian refugees at camps in Turkey and elsewhere while blocking their entry into Europe.

Although Orban is alienating Greek authorities, who are staggering under the sheer numbers of asylum-seekers crossing the sea from Turkey in smugglers’ boars, he insists he must act as a counterweight to Western leaders, whom he accuses of creating the crisis with their welcoming attitude to refugees. www.canadianinquirer.net

“The very serious phenomenon endangering the security of everyday life which we call migration did not break into Western Europe violently,” he said. “The doors were opened.

And what is more, in certain periods, they deliberately invited and even transported these people into Western Europe without control, filtering or security screening.”

Dariusz Kalan, an analyst at the Polish Institute of International Affairs, said he doesn’t believe that the Visegrad group

on its own can destroy European unity but says Orban’s vision is winning adherents across the continent in far-right movements and even among mainstream political parties.

“It’s hard to ignore Orban,” Kalan said. “People in Western Europe are starting to adopt the language of Orban. None are equally tough and yet the language is still quite similar.” ■ Karel Janicek in Prague and Pablo Gorondi in Budapest contributed to this report.

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

27

Travel

When in Tokyo, try making a Japanese woodblock print

BY LINDA LOMBARDI The Associated Press

YOU PROBABLY know what an ukiyo-e print looks like, even if you don’t recognize the term.

“The Great Wave Off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai is a familiar image around the world, a premier example of a Japanese art form that turns up on mugs and T-shirts as well as museum walls.

For me, a few museum posters bought in high school and preserved like precious relics gradually evolved into an obsession with Japanese culture.

So when I heard there was a place in Tokyo where I could make an ukiyo-e print myself, I Ukiyo-e prints in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan. had to try it.

David Bull, who moved from found when I picked up the first scrub brush.

Canada to Japan in 1986 to be- piece of paper from the stack We started with red because come a printmaker, owns the between by thumb and forefin- it’s easy to see when the pigMokuhankan studio and offers ger. You’re supposed to hold it ment and paste are mixed and “print parties” to tourists. between your first two fingers. ready; with the others, you just When I arrived there, I knew And if you think that’s awkward, have to trust it when the block we weren’t going to start with wait till you hear what Bull told looks shiny and wet. Then we anything as complex as Hoku- me next: Don’t look! We’re not got the sheet of paper and put sai’s wave. Bull provides a sim- going to do this by sight. Your it down. ple design for beginners. But thumb needs to be free to cover Once the paper was in place, the basics are the same: These the carved notch on the right, I picked up a round, flat stone multicolored prints are made so you can’t see it. You slide the with a handle and rubbed the paby using a different woodblock paper in, determining by touch per hard. Since each colour may to apply each pigment. that it’s snug against the carved be used on different parts of the For this to print, there’s an work, you need example of each to line the piece block posted on of paper up perthe wall so you fectly each time. [...] the basics are the same: These know what spots I couldn’t help multicolored prints are made by using to cover. thinking of those a different woodblock to apply each We were makscreen-protector pigment. ing an edition films you put on of three prints, a phone, when so with the first you get just one block I printed chance to line it up correctly? I angle, and lay the paper down three sheets of red. I put them can’t usually do that right. How over the whole block. between pieces of Styrofoam to was I going to do this again and I practiced that on each keep them moist. Bull moistens again on the same sheet of pa- block, and Bull said we were the paper the night before and per? ready. Laid out on the work it expands a little; if it dries up, There’s a method to it of surface were some pretty little the design won’t line up right. course. Each woodblock has two bowls with brushes in them, You can put the prints on top of shallow notches or slots carved containing pigment and paste. each other immediately without along the bottom of the design First, you drop a glob of paste worrying that the ink will smear as guides: a straight line on the onto the block’s surface. Then or stick. “That’s the real differleft and a corner on the right. stir up the pigment and brush ence between Japanese printBut all of your instincts — or some on. Mix them together mine, at least — are wrong, as I right on the block with a little ❱❱ PAGE 39 When in

Nova Scotia wildlife centre offers firsthand education on natural world

BY ALY THOMSON The Canadian Press SEAFORTH, N.S. — A large black raven named Perry and dozens of waddling ducks greet visitors at the entrance of Hope for Wildlife, a safe haven for wild animals carved into the rocky coastline of Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore.

But it’s no zoo — many of the animals who live at the facility in Seaforth were once in dire straits and are now used to help educate people about wildlife rehabilitation and the natural world.

Take Tilly, the crow that came to the centre roughly 40 kilometres outside Halifax late last year with claws painted with pink nail polish.

Tilly was raised as a pet and doesn’t know how to survive in the wild, so he now teaches visitors about his species. His coworkers include a corn snake, a fluffy grey chinchilla, a skunk named Max and two tiny turtles.

“Half of our workload is the actual rehabilitation work, but the other half is education, and what better way to educate than bringing people here for them to see firsthand?” said Hope Swinimer, founder and operator of Hope for Wildlife.

“When visitors come, we try and have them leave with an understanding of what wildlife rehabilitation is — the reasons we get the wildlife to begin with, what we do to the wildlife while it’s here, and everything from the minute it is admitted to the minute it is released back into the wild.”

Staff at Hope for Wildlife teach visitors year-round about animals that commonly come through the centre — everything from bald eagles to whitetailed deer and foxes. They also muse about what to do when coming across an injured animal and how to properly and respectfully deal with nuisance wildlife.

Several of Hope for Wildlife’s outbuildings sit halfway up a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, giving visitors panoramic views of Nova Scotia’s picturesque shoreline.

The centre also boasts a number of wooded walking trails.

“Not only does it combine education and science and rehabilitation, but it’s also just a beautiful, peaceful place to come and enjoy the morning or afternoon,” said Swinimer over the sound of a crowing rooster.

Swinimer said in a world ❱❱ PAGE 28 Nova Scotia

“Not only does it combine education and science and rehabilitation, but it’s also just a beautiful, peaceful place to come and enjoy the morning or afternoon.”

www.canadianinquirer.net

28

Travel

Palawan’s ‘Bantay Turista’ to set up tourist desks in 4 towns PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY PUERTO PRINCESA CITY — The Palawan provincial government’s Bantay Turista (BT) project, in support of its tourism industry, will start setting up tourist desks, initially, in four municipalities.

Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer for Media and Training Roselee Buenconsejo, who is also the project’s head, said Monday that the tourist desks will be initially set up in the towns of Quezon and Brooke’s Point in southern Palawan, and San Vicente and El Nido in mainland north of the province.

Buenconsejo said the municipalities were selected as pilot areas of the tourist desks, which will eventually be placed in Coron, Busuanga, Taytay and Narra, which are also frequented by visitors.

BT will begin setting up the tourist desks in March, and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduc-

tion Management Office (PDRRMO) will lead the activity.

Through the tourist desks, guests and visitors can get information about what they need to know before visiting any site in the municipalities mentioned.

Buenconsejo reiterated that the focus of the project is to keep tourists visiting Palawan safe from any untoward incident.

To implement the purpose, the PDRRMO will coordinate with the police and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) that will play big roles in the effort to keep Palawan’s tourism industry flourishing.

Buenconsejo also explained that part of the targets of the BT project is to also provide trainings and seminars to resort, hotel, tour operators, and front desk officers, who can help provide vital information about tourism in the province and how travels can be safe.

The modules that will be used for these trainings will come from the Department of Tourism (DOT), she said. ■

Zipline in El Nido, Palawan.

Nova Scotia... that’s becoming increasingly digital, it’s important to teach children about nature.

“People are not going to grow up to love and respect nature unless they’re exposed to it. So a big part of what we do is educating kids, to get them reconnected with the Earth and get them to feel joy for the natural world.” ❰❰ 27

If You Go...

Admission to Hope for Wildlife is free, though donations are welcome. The facility is open for tours between Sept. 30 and June 1 on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Between June 1 and Sept. 30, the facility is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For groups of 10 or more people, email tours@hopeforwildlife. net to book a tour. ■

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Consider Grand Bahama for a quiet island getaway

BY GLENN ADAMS The Associated Press LOOKING FOR a low-key winter getaway or quiet spring break destination? Grand Bahama may be your place.

It’s one of the main islands of the Gulf Stream-warmed Bahamas archipelago of 700 islands, cays and inlets sprawling across the waters off southeastern Florida. Our February trip saw temperatures locked between 70 and 80 degrees, with an occasional spurt of rain at night.

At restaurants, it wasn’t unusual for the three of us — my wife, brother-in-law and me — to be the only ones there, although some places buzzed with activity. With the exchange at 1:1 U.S. dollar to a Bahamian dollar, the prices all seemed reasonable, and the practice of factoring tips into the bill made transactions even simpler.

Beaches in many areas were quiet, with an occasional trickling of cruise ship passengers now and again making their way across the glistening sand, wading out to reefs and checking out ships dotting the horizon. This was the case at Gold Rock Beach at Lucayan National Park, which at $5 per head is a don’t-miss stop just a few miles east of Freeport along the Grand Bahama Highway.

Tour companies and taxis make trips to the park, which features trails to an underwater cave system where preColumbian artifacts have been discovered. Another part of the park (be careful crossing the highway) offers trails whose meandering boardwalks lead through a mangrove ecosystem featuring saltwater fish, waterfowl and wading birds.

Tour companies also offer activities including kayak trips through a mangrove forest, sightseeing by bike or Jeep, allterrain vehicle rides, snorkeling and birding. For the more adventurous, there’s parasailing and even (gasp!) shark feeding dives.

We spent a week in a rented house in Freeport’s Xanadu Beach area, noted for the 13-story resort once owned and inhabited by Howard Hughes and haunted by Hollywood www.canadianinquirer.net

The Grand Bahamas offer a low-key winter getaway to travelers.

jet setters. Now the high-rise stands eerily silent, its oncevibrant surroundings looking desolate as we looked on from the quiet white-sand beach.

Same at Freeport’s International Bazaar, a marketplace of shops and boutiques - now mostly abandoned, shuttered, silent. Under the shade of a palm tree near its main gate, a checkers board, pieces still set on squares, lay untouched as if waiting for the next move.

But we found our bliss at Albertha Cooper’s restaurant. It’s a bit out of the way, but worth the expedition.

At the far eastern end of the island in McLean’s Town, a seaside village known for its annual conch-cracking contest, we happened upon Cooper’s tidy little drive-up restaurant. There was no menu to be seen, but she gladly obliged us with her specials for the day. I chose the fried conch plate. Asked where the conch was caught, she pointed to the turquoise cove a few hundred yards to our backs.

“Right there,” she said with a smile.

The conch came with a helping of rice-and-beans and coleslaw. My wife chose three lobster tails with sides, and her brother chose the ribs plate.

Add a couple of beers and a rum and Coke for drinks, $52 total for our feast for three.

On another outing, we drove to the west side for a day of snorkeling and relaxing at Par-

adise Cove, a friendly and informal resort near Dead Man’s Reef, 15 miles from Freeport.

Getting around the island was easy, though driving itself is a bit of a challenge: You drive on the left side of the road, but many cars also have steering wheels on the left — different from both the U.S. and British systems.

Of course Grand Bahama is but one of the islands in the Bahamian chain. Nearby Paradise Island and Nassau (the Bahamian capital on New Providence island), offer more night life. Atlantis, with its more than 2,300 rooms, casino, water park and what it calls the world’s largest open-air marine habitat, is also a major draw for visitors.

Eleuthera and Harbor Island offer quieter settings in an atmosphere that retains trappings of the British loyalists who settled there centuries ago. Eleuthera, where fishing and pineapple farming are king, boasts well-developed resorts, pink sand beaches, rocky bluffs and large coral reefs.

If You Go...

Bahamas tourism website, www.bahamas.com. Numerous flight options to Freeport, including frequent service from South Florida airports, plus ferry service from Fort Lauderdale for the four-hour trip to Grand Bahama. Planes and boats connect Freeport and Nassau. ■

29

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

BURNABY SQUARE – 2ND FLOOR Unit 201 – 7885 6th Street Burnaby, BC V3N 3N4

Phone: (604) 553-4000 Fax: (604) 553-4100 E-mail: appointments@bc-ice.com Webpage: www.bc-ice.com We offer FLEXIBLE HOURS including early mornings, evenings and weekends! www.canadianinquirer.net

30

Community News

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

FilCan Michele Serrano Filipina competes for Mrs. Canada Globe seeks Senate nomination

BY TONY A. SAN JUAN THE NORMALLY reticent Filipino Canadian community in Ontario is fully agog on the recent political development in the parliamentary landscape in Ottawa.

Michele Serrano, a notable community leader, experienced corporate manager, entrepreneur and practicing certified professional has applied for nomination to the Senate of Canada.

Michele Serrano will represent Filipino Canadians, their interests and aspirations, and make a credible Filipino professional and community leader in going to the so-called “chamber of sober second thought.”

Ontario is one of three Canadian provinces where two vacancies in the Senate are to be filled this winter 2016, through “nonbinding merit-based recommendations by a five-person independent advisory body on Senate nominations to the Prime Minister and for eventual appointment by the governor general.

Many kababayans have continously expressed the need for someone in the Senate like Michele Serrano to be not only as “our hope but a rightful voice hope but a rightful voice and inspiration for us in our Filipino Canadian community”, including our families, women, elderly, youth and students, new immigrants and fellow Canadians as well. As a woman with distinguished career and experience, Michele according to her pronouncement “intends to serve and share with fervor and fairness her personal and professional skills, capabilities and talents when afforded the opportunity.”

Michele has a distinguished ca-

reer as a practicing professional accountant, former government executive and corporate business manager and comptroller. She is greatly proud of having achieved Canadian professional designations in 5 industry sectors, such as: certified professional accountant (CPA), certified general accountant(CGA), regulated Canadian immigration consultant (RCIC), certified human resources professional (CHRP) and licensed financial advisor.

She is a member of several accredited professional organizations and a recognized community advocate and political organizer as well. Michele is an officer or member of the following organizations: Philippine Cultural Community Centre, Philippine Chamber of Commerce-Toronto, Filipino Canadians Political Affairs Council, Council of Filipino Canadian Professionals in Ontario, Filipino Canadian Parents Association in Catholic Education and Federation of Filipino Canadians-Ontario.

She is focused and fully engaged in civic and community activities particularly in charitable and social fundraisers.

The nomination process, according to requirements, is by organization. To date, supporting Serrano’s Senate quest include a cross section of active community-based and mainstream groups, such as professional, business, alumni, faith-focused, sports, specificinterest and other provincebased organizations. ■ Michele is encouraging those who wish to learn more about her and /or her rationale, she may be contacted by phone at: 416-988-9613 or michele.serrano@hotmail.com

ANOTHER FILIPINA is set to compete in an international pageant. Sheryl Rinaldi from Mississauga Ont. was crowned the new Mrs. Mississauga Globe. She will be travelling to Regina, Sask. this spring, to compete for the title Mrs. Canada Globe 2016.

“I’m thrilled and excited to be representing the city of Mississauga and be the voice that life does not end when you have children but is only a beginning. To never stop dreaming, keep giving for the sky is the limit,” said Rinaldi.

Leading up to the pageant, Rinaldi will be raising funds for the SOFIA House, the chosen charity for 2016. The SOFIA House is a second stage housing facility that provides safe housing and support for families trying to escape violent homes.

Friends and family can support Rinaldi in her fundraising efforts through virtual voting which will begin in March 2016. Every vote cast will be a

Rinaldi.

vote toward the People’s Choice award.

Rinaldi stays busy working as an office manager, wedding planner and skin therapist.

Founded in 1996, the Mrs. Globe pageant has been producing one of the largest and most recognized and celebrated international pageants for misses in the world. They are a

celebration of beauty, culture and charity for women. ■ The Mrs. Canada Globe pageant will be held on Apr. 1 and 2, in Regina Sask. and will be livestreamed across the globe. To vote for Rinaldi, on Mar. 1 to30, for People’s Choice Award, visit http://www.mrscanadaglobe. com/mrs-mississauga.html.

Teen dazzles on the basketball court

BY MARY-ANN R. MANDAP Philippine Canadian Inquirer MOVE OVER Steph Curry, ankle breaker and dribbling extraordinaire Lance Fuentes is taking ball handling to a different level.

The 13-year-old baller is a freshman high school student of Vancouver College. Like his idol Steph Curry, he plays a point guard for the school’s Grade 8 team and the AthElite Academy under-14 squad.

Lance started playing hoops at the age of four, and now has an arsenal of dribble moves that hints of a great future in basketball. He has perfected skills like crossovers, behind the back, spin moves and even dribbling two balls between his legs while blindfolded.

Below is a recap of PCI’s Q & A with the young athlete who is competing for the Advil Highlight of the Month contest.

Q: Where were you born?

A: I was born in Los Angeles, CA. When my parents moved to Canada, I became a Canadian citizen.

Q: What inspires you? www.canadianinquirer.net

Lance Fuentes.

A: My Instagram account. A lot of people are witnessing my hard work and my dedication to basketball. In return, I also inspire a lot of people that nothing is impossible without God. Q: Who is your basketball idol?

A: Stephen Curry is my idol.

He is humble and he also believes in God. His shooting is spectacular and his handles are on point.

Q: What is your favorite basketball team?

A: My favorite basketball

team is the Warriors because they have amazing teamwork.

Q: Who coached you or helped you improve your basketball skills?

A: My dad helped me improve my ball skills and I would like to thank him for motivating me, driving me to the court, and supporting me. My Mom, despite of her health, is 100% supportive of me.

Q: Besides dribbling/ball handling what other skills are ❱❱ PAGE 32 FilCan teen

31

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Entertainment

Vancouver BC’s Lucky Aces: ‘Born to become Champions’

BY BABES CASTRONEWLAND

2015 MARKED a milestone in Philippine television history.

Filipino global broadcasting network ABS-CBN launched an original concept, first ever dance reality talent search for kids called, Dance Kids. Emerging as grand slam winner is Canada’s exceptionally talented dancing duo, Lucky Aces.

These two are now taking the country by storm as the show’s first grand champions.

Reyond “Lucky” Ancheta and Andree “AC” Bonifacio started learning how to dance hip-hop at very tender ages under the tutelages of seasoned Filipino-Canadian dancers/choreographers Cezar Tantoco and Mark Dogillo of Fresh Groove Productions Dance Studios in Richmond BC. Lucky Aces’ terpsichorean tandem is next to bar none.

They were seen performing in various Filipino-Canadian community events and as opening act to major Filipino artists performing in Canada. That didn’t take long for leading American talk show host, Ellen DeGeneres, to invite them on said prime TV program twice in a row that led to special spot performance at Ariana Grande’s Concert in Vancouver last year. It was a whirlwind of a phenomenal popularity streak for Lucky Aces. As if those weren’t enough, they received an invitation from Philippine broadcasting stalwart ABSCBN to join their first ever nonfranchise reality dance competition coined as Dance Kids.

According to AC Bonifacio’s father, Arnold Bonifacio, it was a difficult decision to make.

The duo had to forego a number of invitations to perform at America’s Got Talent, another popular television reality show in Germany and another (3rd) guesting at Ellen (Ellen De-

Reyond “Lucky” Ancheta and Andree “AC” Bonifacio.

Generes). “Napakahirap po ng naging katayuan namin noong una. Hindi po namin malaman kung ano ang pipiliin namin para sa mga bata. Pero sa huli, napagkasunduan naming payagan silang sumali sa Dance Kids. Matagal na naming pinangarap makauwi ang mga bata sa Pilipinas at doon sila magpakitang gilas ng kanilang kakayahan sa pag-sayaw.” (it was a tough decision for us to make for the kids. We were reluctant at first. But in the end, we’ve finally decided to allow them to audition for Dance Kids. After all, it’s been our lifelong dream for them to be able to perform in the Philippines and show our countrymen what they can do best and how). And as history would prove it, the Lucky Aces became the first grand champion and that was no easy feat.

Their initial presence during the auditions raised eyebrows from parents of other contestants. Some even blatantly questioned why this dynamic duo had to join the contest.

They’ve already earned international celebrity status after being watched all over the globe on Ellen (DeGeneres) Show.

Other parents alluded to their own kids having much dire need of winning the contest money than Lucky Aces.

The truth is, more than the monetary gain and immense popularity in winning the Philippines’ first season of Dance Kids, Lucky Aces have conquered another caveat in its dancing career. That is, no matter how strongly remote or challenging it may seem, once you put your heart and soul in doing your passion, nothing is impossible. All Lucky Aces has ever aimed to demonstrate is how they both love to dance and empower other young dancers to become the best of the best.

A few days before Dance Kids grand finals, Reyond or Lucky complained of extreme stomach pain and had running fever. Albeit looming concern from everyone, the show producers and production crew took no time in taking Lucky to nearby St. Luke’s Hospital not only once but thrice. Nothing was left unturned in ensuring that the young boy’s health was more important. The kids’ parents were very impressed at the assistance that Lucky got from ABS-CBN production crew and management staff got during his short-term illness. Then came the most crucial part of the contest finals.

Lucky and AC were only given barely 48 hours to conceptualize their steps and execute www.canadianinquirer.net

AC of Lucky Aces with PCI publisher Alan Yong and his family.

them. Everyone thought they couldn’t achieve what they were hoping for. Worst, they thought of not making it to the grand finals. With so little time to rehearse and Lucky’s health condition, losing was at the back of their minds. But, that was not what they joined the contest for. They went to the Philippines to win Dance Kids.

And so they did. The parents (Arnold and Cherry Bonifacio; Roland and Angelika Ancheta) of Lucky and AC are forever grateful and indebted foremost to the Almighty God; their families, friends and to all those who supported and voted for LUCKY ACES as follows— The ABS-CBN Management and Staff, Dance Kids & Star Magic, choreographers Mark Dogillo and Cesar Tantoco, A Team,

SB Gensan, G Force (Teacher Georcell), ACnatics, Team AC, All Lacers, Lucky Aces Phil, Tatak Lucky Aces and Reyondree Fan Club.

What’s ahead of Lucky Aces after Dance Kids? They’re off to taking their career to the next level in tall orders. They’d be performing on various television programs, mall tours both in the Philippines and overseas.

Their immediate next stop will be Disneyland Hong Kong and shows in North America. There is no stopping for these two shooting stars. The sky is definitely the limit for them. And for those of us who have seen these youngsters grew up on stage dancing since they were 3 and 4 years old, respectively, our hearts are beaming with so much pride and joy. ■

32

Entertainment

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Coco took psych test for Cardo

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer ACTOR COCO Martin revealed that he had to take a psychology test before assuming the lead role in the top-rating ABS-CBN program, “FPJ’s Ang Probinsiyano.”

“It tells you what kind of a hero you are,” Coco shared with the INQUIRER during a visit to the “Ang Probinsiyano” set in Camp Crame, Quezon City.

“It turned out that the role [of Cardo] was perfect for me.”

The role was first portrayed by the late Fernando Poe Jr. on the big screen.

“Like Cardo, I’m very close to my family. I was also brought up in a poor family. Like me, his family, [aside from] his community, is most important to him.”

“Coco is so passionate about the show, so collaborative and

helpful with his ideas,” said Malou Sevilla, the show’s director.

She said that creating the character of Paloma—a prostitute/sales lady/beauty contestant—was Coco’s suggestion.

“It’s one of his dream roles, something he had not done before...we thought of [depicting] white slavery, too,” she added.

The director also said that the “Paloma, the Beauty Queen” episode was the show’s “little tribute” to 2015 Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach.

Portraying Paloma was really challenging, said Coco. “I now appreciate women, who patiently dress up and put on makeup before going out. The preparation alone takes two long hours. There was also the torture of having to wear high heels. I stumbled several times.

“I had to wear a bra and put on pads for breasts and hips.

I also wore gloves because my

hands are too manly. I know my limitations. I laughed the first time I saw myself. " The Feb.1 episode featuring Paloma has set a ratings record of 45.9 percent in terms of nationwide audience share, according to a Kapamilya network statement. What’s next for Cardo after Paloma? He said that “a romantic angle” between his and Anne Curtis’ characters may be explored.

As for the scariest stunt, he said it was jumping from a foot bridge onto a moving bus.

“We didn’t ask permission from the network. I’m used to guerrilla shooting because of all the indie films I had made,” he confessed.

His director explained that while the program is about a probinsiyano policeman trying to find his brother’s killer, “it is also about him trying to help make this [country] a better

Filipino group 4th Impact signs $2-million record deal?

BY JANE MORALEDA Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE 4TH Impact made a buzz in social media after several reports surfaced that the girl group was offered a $2-million record deal by music giant Columbia Records for two studio albums, becoming the first ever Filipino artists to be offered a multi-million dollar record deal by a foreign music recording company.

Almira Cercado, one of the four sisters from Isabela who comprise the group, allegedly told the LA Times in an interview that Columbia Records contacted them last year after The X Factor UK wrapped up.

Almira also mentioned that the contracts, which included two albums and a six-monthlong tour, were signed last week. Producers and songwriters, possibly including Bruno Mars, were invited to work with the group in making their albums with the first one to be released next year.

Moreover, the singer also purportedly revealed that five other record labels gave of-

Filipino all-girl group 4th Impact.

fers to 4th Impact, previously known as 4th Power.

The Filipino girl group impressed the audience and judges alike with their performances while competing in The X Factor. As of posting, their powerhouse audition video where they sang Jessie J’s “Bang Bang” earned over 40 million views.

Fake, hoax

However, this good news has yet to be confirmed by the Cercado sisters.

“There will be formal announcements if there are contracts signed for the band to any recording company. The management and the band will

FACEBOOK PHOTO

announce it on their social media pages and to our official fan pages as well,” 4th Impact’s official representative told UnrealityTV. Still with no confirmation of the contract to date, netizens had mixed reactions. Some were happy for the singers while others believed that the reports were “fake,” noting that the LA Times has not published the supposed interview.

“While some say the report is fake, others are saying ‘hoax’ and others say it is true, it was a leak that shouldn’t have happened,” a fan said in an article published by web magazine ASTIG.PH. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

KARL IVAN SAN LUIS FOLLOW / FLICKR

place to live in.”

“When we did the dancing policeman episode, we wanted Coco to dance, but we also wanted to tell the story of an errant MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) officer,” Malou said. “It was meant as a shoulder-tap for those who

have gone astray, as well as a commendation for those who have remained faithful to their duties.”

She continued: “There are stories we want to discover...we could use them to not only entertain, but to inform viewers, as well.” ■

FilCan teen... you good at?

A: I’m also good at shooting and passing.

I have a lot of experience because I played for a lot of club teams and coaches, since I was in Grade 4, especially AthElite.

I am very good in Math. I am also attending Kumon-Happy Learning Center in Westminster. It helps me a lot.

Q: Do you have trophies/ medals in basketball?

A: I have two MVP trophies. I won Knights of Columbus free throw competition - District and Lower Mainland.

Q: Are you inclined to pursue a basketball career?

A: Very inclined to pursue my basketball career because I have the most wonderful and especial gift from God. I know one day, I can share this to a lot ❰❰ 30

of young ballers that anything is possible if you believe.

Q: How have your parents supported you in your passion?

How do you balance this with your academic and other pursuits?

A: My parents supported me by always cheering me on in my games and driving me to my games and practices. I prioritize my studies before anything else. Then when i have time, I’ll go to the Richmond Olympic Oval or the community Center to practice basketball.

Q: What is your ultimate dream?

A: My ultimate dream is to play in the NBA or to create a program and train young kids on how to get handles. It will also be for families who can’t afford it. ■

Entertainment

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Drake met with ‘mentor’ Michael Jordan during NBA All-Star festivities

BY VICTORIA AHEARN The Canadian Press TORONTO — Drake got some advice from one of the best sources possible before coaching the Canadian team at Friday’s NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.

“Michael Jordan talked to me earlier today,” the Toronto rapper told The Canadian Press after Drake’s team won 74-64 over the Americans at the Ricoh Coliseum.

“He told me to go out there, told me what plays to avoid running, told me: ‘If you want the champagne and cigars, you gotta win.”‘ “I had a great sit-down with Mike,” added the “Started from the Bottom” hip-hop superstar, who referenced the NBA legend in the song “Jumpman,” a collaboration with Future.

“I mean, Mike’s like a mentor and a great friend to me, so Canadian rapper Drake.

HELGA ESTEB / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM that’s always a highlight. We played ping pong today and I No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

“It’s a body of work that I’m won — a lot.”

Meanwhile, on Friday, Drizzy extremely proud of and I just Such a meeting was bound to further cemented his status as can’t wait to give it to the city happen during the weekend’s one of Toronto’s most famous — to the world, but mostly to all-star festivities, where Drake exports when he received the the city, because I made it for was to add what the NBA called key to the city from Mayor John everybody from here. So I’m ex“his own special touch” to the Tory. cited for them to hear it.” player introductions for SunHis presence is also felt Drake is also excited to help day’s game. around “The 6”: He’s the global Toronto’s youth, now that he After all, Jordan is consid- ambassador for the Toronto has the key to the city. ered one of the He said he met best NBA players with Tory — or of all time, and “JT,” as he likes Drake (whose to call him — the real name is AuIt’s a body of work that I’m extremely other day to talk brey Graham) proud of and I just can’t wait to give about possible is undoubtedly it to the city — to the world, but initiatives to put at the top of his mostly to the city, because I made it in place “to engame these days. for everybody from here. courage kids just The former to make the most “Degrassi: The of whatever situNext Generaation they’re in.” tion” star has had a stellar year, Raptors, he has his OVO (Oc“I’m 29 years old and I think becoming the most streamed tober’s Very Own) festival and I’m in a position to still be able artist of 2015 globally and clothing line/record label, and to speak to the youth in our city, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard cryptic billboards promoting let them know to be proud of Hot 100 with dancing delight his upcoming album “Views what we have, to avoid bringing “Hotline Bling,” which became From the 6” loom over the city harm to one another, to avoid an Internet sensation with in many spots. just being out here without a countless memes and parodies.

Drake wouldn’t reveal much purpose, maybe,” said Drake.

He also nabbed five Grammy about the album, due out in “I want to try and encourage Award nominations, including April, only saying: “We’ve got these kids to make the most of best rap album for “If You’re an amazing campaign going on their days in the city, because Reading This It’s Too Late,” a in this city, just trying to get ev- it’s a blessing to be here and nosurprise release that debuted at erybody excited.” where else.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

33

Producer says Grammys doesn’t have Oscars diversity issue

BY MESFIN FEKADU The Canadian Press LOS ANGELES — A veteran Grammys executive producer says his awards show does not have a diversity issue like the Oscars and that it is not fair to compare the two programs.

Ahead of Monday’s show, news outlets reported that the Grammys could be under fire since it planned to pay tribute to white performers such as David Bowie and The Eagles’ Glenn Frey with live performances, though the legacy of black acts such as Natalie Cole and Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire recently passed and were not receiving the same treatment.

Ken Ehrlich said he first thought of booking a performer to honour Cole, but then he watched her 1992 Grammys performance of her singing in sync with her father, Nat King Cole, who appeared in video. It was the same year she won album of the year for “Unforgettable... with Love,” which paid tribute to her father with reworked versions of some of his best-known songs.

Ehrlich called the video of the performance “unbelievably touching” and said it will be played at the end of the “In Memorium” section of the awards show. Natalie Cole died Dec. 31.

Earth, Wind & Fire — who were set to receive a lifetime achievement award before White passed — will accept the honour on live TV, speak about White’s legacy and present one of the top awards, record of the year, Ehrlich said. White died Feb. 4 and Ehrlich added that there will also be a surprise with Earth, Wind & Fire.

B.B. King, who died last year, will also be honoured with a performance tribute by Bonnie Raitt, Gary Clark Jr. and Chris Stapleton, Ehrlich said.

The producer said though the Oscars have received a backlash

for a second straight year of all-white acting nominees, the Grammys are not even comparable.

“The fact of the matter is popular music is, it came from New Orleans, it came from Memphis, it came from Kansas City, it came from the Islands, it came from Africa, and the music we listen to today, not just hip-hop, not just R&B, but all music has been influenced and been shaped

by African-American culture, so I don’t think the same rules apply,” he said. “There wouldn’t be a Grammys show today if it weren’t for the great African-American artists who built the culture and wrote the music and we try to reflect that every year. I don’t think it’s fair to level criticism, the same kind of criticism against us that the Oscars are experiencing.”

Ehrlich added that the music and movie industries are like apples and oranges: “They might be the same shape, they might get to you in the same form, but they’re entirely different art forms and they come from entirely different places.”

Other performers at the Grammys, airing from Staples Center in Los Angeles, will include Adele, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, the Weeknd, Carrie Underwood and Kendrick Lamar, who is the top nominee with 11.

Members of the Eagles and Jackson Browne will perform to honour Frey, who died on Jan. 18. And Lady Gaga, who Ehrlich booked to perform on the show before Bowie died, said the pop star asked to sing in tribute to the icon who died on Jan. 10.

“She (said) to me, ‘I would really love to do a David Bowie segment and (I said) to her, ‘Of course. It couldn’t be more appropriate,”‘ he recalled. ■ The Grammys will air live on CBS at 8 p.m. Eastern.

34

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Lifestyle

‘When fairy tale falls apart:’ Couples’ status varies by relationship, region

BY MELANIE PATTEN The Canadian Press ONE MARRIAGE expert has a decidedly anti-cupid message for long-term lovers this Valentine’s season: rein in the wooing.

Amid the red roses, candlelit dinners and declarations of love, all couples — particularly those who aren’t legally married — are being advised to make time to talk about what happens if things go south.

Elizabeth Abbott, author of A History of Marriage, says couples become so seduced by love itself, they forget there’s more to a successful relationship and some of it is, well, unromantic.

“It’s real life. It’s living together, it’s having a job, it’s spending money,” says Abbott, a historian and senior research associate at the University of Toronto.

“A little less romance, please.”

In no situation is that more important than in common-law marriages — especially if the love affair ends or if one person dies.

John-Paul Boyd, executive director of the Calgary-based Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family, says many people in common-law relationships are unaware of their rights and entitlements or lack thereof.

That’s despite Statistics Canada figures that show the number of common-law relationships grew at a rate more than four times that of married couples between 2006 and 2011.

“I think people should have the right to have the relationship that they want. The problem is that people are, as I learned from being a family law lawyer, woefully ignorant of their rights under the law,” says Boyd, adding that married couples can be equally nescient.

Part of the trouble is a lack of consistency. Laws governing common-law relationships differ across the country in both

Elizabeth Abbott, author of A History of Marriage, says couples become so seduced by love itself, they forget there’s more to a successful relationship and some of it is, well, unromantic.

the length of time two partners law relationships in Canada, still value in traditional marmust cohabitate before they are does not grant any of the same riage, pointing to the hardconsidered common law and rights to what it calls “de facto fought battle to allow samewhat partners are entitled to in spouses” as it does to married sex couples to marry. But she the event of a breakup or death. couples. says there are several reasons Division of property laws, in A man in Carbonear, N.L., why partners still choose to particular, “are a disaster,” says told the CBC last fall he was live common-law, including a Boyd. being prevented from mak- chance to test-drive a lifelong “In Alberta, for example, you ing medical decisions on be- commitment that doesn’t end only have rights if you sign an half of his common-law wife, in a pricey divorce. In Queagreement as an Adult Inter- who has dementia. Despite 30 bec, she speculates it’s an act dependent Partnership. ... Only years together, David Sellers of rebellion against the Roman married people have any pre- said his partner’s nursing home Catholic Church. sumptive rights.” wouldn’t even allow him to take For Maurice Robichaud and Common-law standing in her off the property.

Pat Galbraith of Fredericton, Ontario entitles it was simply a partners to claim matter of life spousal support getting in the but not propway. Robichaud erty.

UnmarI think people should have the right popped the quesried partners in to have the relationship that they tion to his nowNova Scotia can want. The problem is that people wife after five claim spousal are, as I learned from being a family years of dating support once law lawyer, woefully ignorant of their but it took anthey’ve been in rights under the law. other 16 before a common-law they made it ofrelationship for ficial. The couple two years. Howsays they spent ever, partners living together Boyd ranks British Colum- two decades watching their in a conjugal relationship can bia as the most common-law- children from previous relaalso file a Domestic Partnership friendly province. Since 2013, tionships grow up together and Declaration, which provides couples living common law for bond. many of the same rights as for two years have the same rights The couple had a will in place married couples. as their married counterparts. but Galbraith admits they Even the term “common law” If the relationship falls apart, didn’t give much thought to the isn’t recognized in all provinc- partners are entitled to half of potential consequences of their es. Quebec, despite having the shared debts and assets. common-law status. highest number of commonAbbott says it’s clear there is “Maybe we’re naive but bewww.canadianinquirer.net

cause we’d been together for so long, we assumed that we would have marital status,” she says.

“We never even checked into it.”

Retired legal aid lawyer Kathy Briand knows just how badly things can go. She represented a Nova Scotia woman in a Charter challenge that took the issue all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Briand’s client, Susan Walsh, lived common-law with her partner, Wayne Bona, for 10 years until 1995 and wanted half the family assets when the relationship went bust. Walsh argued the province’s Matrimonial Property Act violated her equality rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by treating her relationship differently.

“It was an absolutely traditional marriage,” says Briand.

“It was fairly long-standing except for the certificate. She did everything that an ordinary wife would do that would entitle her.”

In December 2002, the high court ruled 8-1 that Nova Scotia’s law, which requires divorcing couples to evenly split assets, shouldn’t ensnare common-law couples. The case, which drew national headlines, spurred Nova Scotia to pass domestic partnership legislation.

Fourteen years later, Briand says not nearly enough has been done to protect commonlaw partners.

“No one gives a thought to what will happen when all that fairy tale stuff falls apart,” she says.

Both Boyd and Briand say it’s important for partners to protect themselves, whether by getting hitched or signing a legal document. Even married couples can benefit from a prenuptial agreement.

“Nobody balks about buying insurance, but it’s just not romantic to talk about pre-marriage agreements,” says Briand, before adding with a chuckle: “But it’s way easier to do when you both still love each other.” ■

Lifestyle

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

35

PANGARAP : SO, OUR JOURNEY BEGINS

So, do you remember your college internship? whole picture. Often, the student comes face-to-face with people that run the show, and the systems that are employed to conduct business on a dayto-day basis.

TO THE YOUNG GRADUATE It is a practicum, or a practice OR STUDENT, AN INTERNsession in the real world. The SHIP IS AN ENCOUNTER WITH student may not only observe, THE REAL WORLD WITH but he may actually be able to REAL PEOPLE, AS WELL AS A participate in the activities of GLIMPSE INTO THE PROMISE the office, albeit only those that OF HIS CHOSEN FIELD. are not confidential and do not I do remember. I was a stubreach security. He is given a dent of broadcasting. I was able taste of how business is conto go live on radio or television ducted in an actual work setting. as a trainee was as part of my It is not uncommon that stucourse requirements. I went dent-interns receive actual job onboard an actual morning raoffers in the course of or after dio program. That was probably they finish their training. So the first time I discovered mywhile the student benefits in self as a spontaterms of actual neous speaker. learning gained Imagine at age from the intern19, I was giving ship, the best tips and advice to A good internship prepares us for benefit could be homemakers and the good and the bad, for a range of the fact that he housewives. That possibilities in the real world. can so impress was the show’s his trainers that format that I was his potentials betrained for. come apparent Barely two weeks after going oretical knowledge to practice and thus, may receive an offer to onboard, I was offered my own or discover how the principles stay and work for the company radio slot in the station that he learned from school are ap- immediately after graduation.

I apprenticed with. After one plied in a real work setting.

When we were students, we month, I received an offer from The student is also made took on apprenticeship as an the government radio station to aware of how the work environ- excursion or mere picnic. It was do my own morning show. Yes, ment functions, including prac- a chance to get out of the classit happened that fast and I was tices, the line of authority, the room and meet real people. It myself surprised. But because I ranks, the logistics, and every- was time to watch your favouwas still a student, I resisted the thing else that is related to the rite subjects working before BY BOLET AREVALO

temptation to go full-time.

Admittedly, it boosted my self-confidence a lot. Ironically though, I never got into serious broadcasting as a job, although I tried it for about six months during my senior year in university. That opportunity has kept me wondering to this day what I could have made of myself had I pursued that career direction.

Certainly, I would be richer.

Most college students usually go into what they call an onthe-job training or practicum as part of the course requirements prior to their graduation. Just as the one I went into as a student of broadcasting did, this exercise is supposed to allow the student to use his the-

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

your eyes. If you were lucky, you became an actual participant, like going on-cam if you did television or on-air if you were on radio, and not merely assumed a behind-the scene role.

Student internship has its fun and it also its share of disappointments. We go out there imagining an ideal world to end up faced with the realities—disgruntled employees, asshole bosses, Jurassic systems, stinking closets, budget nightmares, killing deadlines.

But an internship is an encounter with reality, and reality is not a bed of roses. Not everything is nice, with sugar and spice. A good internship prepares us for the good and the bad, for a range of possibilities in the real world. It may not be the whole spectrum, but it’s somehow a realistic glimpse.

As a young student, it was much easier to think of go-

ing or not going into a muchawaited on-the-job training or apprenticeship because it was more fun than work. An internship gives you a taste of the real world, but not the whole spectrum of the good and the bad side of the workplace. It can happen many times that internship will provide a means for our skills and talents to be discovered, respected, and then applied. ■ Bolet is a marketing communications practitioner and dabbles in writing as a personal passion.

She is author-publisher of the book: The Most Practical Immigrating and Job Hunting Survival Guide, proven simple steps to success without the fears and the doubts. The book is available in Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, the Reading Room and other online bookshops worldwide.

The rise of the Filipino romance in English

With more of these books out than ever before, these new-generation novels feature updated characters–even sex–as they try to win over readers

BY RUEL S. DE VERA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE FILIPINO romance is turning over a new page. The word “romance” in Philippine publishing has always been identified with the romance in Filipino, those thin, inexpensive books with covers featuring men and women who bear just the vaguest resemblance to celebrities.

These extremely popular books are passed around for reading and part of a busy multimillion peso industry.

But the Filipino romance in Filipino has company. Look-

ing nothing like their Filipino counterparts, the Filipino romances in English are laid out differently, larger, thicker and more expensive. They also represent a movement that has been agitating for recognition for over a decade.

Today, more romances in English are being published and made available to Filipino readers than ever before. At the heart of this revolution is Mina V. Esguerra, who is currently working on her 24th romance.

Esguerra is the brains behind #romanceclass, a group who are doing their mightiest to popularize the romance in English.

Esguerra points to the genre’s beginnings to the Summit Books of the early 2000s, naming writer and editor Tara FT Sering as the progenitor of the romance in English.

Sering remembers that chick lit was experiencing its own boom at that time, and Summit had decided to try and enter that market. “There was room for books written by Filipinos in this genre,” she says. “Something that would capture the life experiences of this core audience of women in the Philippines more accurately. I was really excited about that and where it could go.” www.canadianinquirer.net

Sering wrote what she considered a sample and it was distributed free with Cosmopolitan in 2002. That book, “Getting Better,” could easily be considered the first Filipino romance in English.

Sering, as editor of Summit Books, would preside over a line of chick lit titles—many of them qualifying as romances in English—through those years.

Sering herself would write two such novels, including “Almost Married,” the sequel to “Getting Better.”

Sering remembers the response being enthusiastic.

“It was refreshing I supposed

because at that time, there weren’t many books in this genre published locally. These books were written in English, yes, but the stories distinctively Filipino.” Sering defines their books’ ethos as: “’Who’s that girl?’ It was about what she was doing with her life, her attitude toward it, and then the romantic situations follows. So they were a lot to do with self-definition in one’s 20s and 30s, of which romantic relationships were a big part of.”

Summit Books has continued to publish chick lit books to the present in its Modern Fiction line. ■ To be continued

36

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Business

Birkin bag now better investment than gold or stocks, say insiders

Hermès’ brag bag is said to have been worth more than both gold and the S&P 500 in the last 35 years

BY CHECHE V. MORAL Philippine Daily Inquirer WITH LUXURY industry insiders claiming that handbags are becoming a safer investment than the stock market, affluent women now seem to have the perfect excuse to splurge on a Birkin.

According to a luxury bags online reseller called Baghunter (baghunter.com), only the Hermès Birkin has outdone both the price of gold and the S&P 500 in the last 35 years.

It said the average annual return for the Birkin is about 14.2 percent, versus S&P’s 8.65 percent and gold’s -1.5 percent.

The flagship product of the French luxury house has also been fetching record prices at auctions, with Christie’s in Hong Kong selling a fuchsia crocodile-skin Birkin with 18-karat gold hardware studded with diamonds at $223,000 in June last year.

Christie’s now also has a dedicated handbag shop on its website, apart from holding regular luxury handbag auctions.

Classic style

But do women really consider investment a priority when they put their name on the infamous years-long waitlist for a Birkin?

“I buy for fashion and style, and the brand name,” said Agile Zamora, who has in her collection about five Birkins, in varied sizes and materials.

During this interview at the launch of a luxury skincare brand, the socialite was toting a 25-cm purple Hermès Kelly.

Zamora prefers Hermès and Bulgari. She owns different bag styles from both brands, and the occasional Louis Vuitton, “but only if it’s a limited edition,” she added.

“Hermès styles are classic, and I want pieces I can wear to

different functions,” she said.

While the idea of buying for investment isn’t top of mind, she acknowledges that her luxury purchases are justified “because their value appreciates, especially the crocodile skin.”

Janet Go (not her real name), who was in the same event carrying a fuchsia ostrich Birkin, said she buys “partly for investment.”

Unlike Zamora, Go buys various brands, in trendier styles.

She has eight Birkins in her collection.

“I do buy a lot of bags, and my purchases depend on style and function,” Go said. “But owning an Hermès is different, because it has become a status symbol, and the Birkin’s style will remain a classic.”

Zamora said she has never thought of disposing of her bags for profit, as each holds sentimental value. She and Go hope to hand them down to their daughters.

Status symbol

Ingrid Chua, the TV presenter and blogger famously known as The Bag Hag (thebaghagdiaries.com), said she thinks most women don’t consider the investment value when they plunk down the minimum half a million pesos for a Birkin, “but it certainly is a factor.”

“There are also women who buy the Birkin because it has become a status symbol—that being able to afford a bag with this price tag means they are of a certain social and financial standing,” Chua said. “It is a brag bag, if I may be blunt.”

Unlike styles from other popular luxury brands, Birkins are famously hard to acquire.

Because of wait lists, having the cash doesn’t guarantee you could own one.

Hermès declined to comment on the local retail price of its famous bag, but a 35-cm regular leather Birkin would cost from P500,000 to P520,000 if you

buy it from the boutique, said Chua. The reseller price can go as high as P1 million, depending on the color. “Limited-edition or special-order ones cost a whole lot more,” she added.

Zamora, who buys her Birkins only at the Hermès boutique in Greenbelt, fretted that the store allots her only one purse a year, if at all. Still, she said she feels lucky, as she’s a valued loyal customer; some of her friends have been on the waitlist, with little luck.

“When I got my first one, I was so happy! I put my name down on the list. I didn’t care what size or color, as long as they could give me one,” Zamora said.

“The Hermès Birkin is considered the Rolls-Royce of bags—being able to buy one from an Hermès boutique is almost next to impossible, especially today, with the increased demand from Asian countries for it,” said Chua. “Women want to buy the Birkin because the bag is very well-made and designed, and does hold its value.”

Decent return

Chua agreed that Hermès Birkins and Kellys are good investment pieces that hold, and may even increase, their value over time “as long as you did not purchase them at black-market prices. If you had purchased either of those two bags directly from the boutique, you can still get a decent return on it should you sell it.”

That may not apply to other labels, with some industry insiders likening brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton to brand-new cars losing their value exponentially the moment they’re driven out of the parking lot.

“Chanel and LV bags don’t always appreciate in value,” Chua agreed. “However, if people are looking to buy bags from these brands as investments, I suggest they purchase bags that are www.canadianinquirer.net

Famous celebrities own Birkin bags, one of which is former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham.

EVERETT COLLECTION / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

produced in very limited quantities—pieces from the runway collection or special collaborations. The limited-edition bags from Chanel and LV have a higher chance of appreciating in value over time compared to the classic pieces that these brands offer, which are readily available in-store at any given time.”

Other experts also say buying from brands which don’t have their own ecommerce sites, like Celine, have good investment returns, as you’re assured there’s no flood of stocks in the market.

Still, if you had kept a Chanel classic flap purse bought in the 1990s “in excellent condition with little sign of wear,” you could potentially still get a good return should you decide to sell it, Chua said.

Supply and demand

In the end, prices of these bags are driven by supply and demand, adds this bag expert.

“Christie’s is making good money on their bag auctions because there is a very strong demand for Hermès Birkin and Kelly bags,” said Chua.

“And Hermès is not churning out enough of these bags to meet the demands of the buyers—most of whom are from Asia. There are a lot of resellers of these coveted bags, but buyers have become more discerning and more careful because of all the scheming and unscrupulous resellers who want to make a quick buck by selling counter-

feit Birkins and Kellys to those who want these bags, but can’t get them in-store, and have had very little research done on what a real Birkin or Kelly looks like.

“Christie’s is one of the most credible auction houses and, therefore, there is trust placed on the institution. And buyers are willing to pay a premium for these bags from them because they know they are buying the real thing. There is a higher price to pay for authenticity and guarantee because of the institution’s integrity and credibility.”

Thorough research

Should one consider buying a purse for investment, Chua’s advice is to do thorough research first.

“Bag forums and blogs are helpful reads,” she said.

“Find out more about the bag first, gauge the current demand for the bag you intend to buy.

And the best advice I can give is, to buy the bag directly from the boutique. I discourage getting them from the black market because of the bloated prices and the uncertainty over authenticity. Counterfeit designer bags are so good now, quality-wise.

It is so easy to be fooled into thinking the bag is ‘real.’

“Lastly, if you are buying a bag for investment, at least make sure it is a bag you really like, too.

This way, if it doesn’t get sold, you still love the bag anyway. And that’s not money lost!” ■

Business

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

37

From airlines TransForce sees Western to telecom to beer, Canada economy further oil price pain seeps weakening and spreading east into other sectors

BY ROSS MAROWITS The Canadian Press

BY LAUREN KRUGEL The Canadian Press CALGARY — From airlines to beer-makers to wireless providers, withering crude prices have been a drag on businesses seemingly far removed from the oilpatch.

“Sometimes — outside of Alberta, particularly — there’s some skepticism or even some derision against the petroleum sector,” said Todd Hirsch, chief economist at ATB Financial.

“Some people actually feel it’s getting its comeuppance. ... But they need to realize that it has broader implications for the whole economy.”

WestJet Airlines (TSX:WJA), based in Calgary, is shuffling around its schedules to reflect lower demand for flights to and from energy-focused destinations in Western Canada. On a recent quarterly conference call, there was also talk of potentially deferring the delivery of new planes and returning leased aircraft that are up for renewal next year.

“It’s had a dramatic impact on WestJet,” aviation consultant Rick Erickson said of the crude downturn. “Demand is down across the country but nowhere near as much as it is in Western Canada.”

Traditionally, a big portion of airline traffic had been oil workers commuting to and from site from elsewhere in the country, said Erickson. With projects on hold, those volumes have tapered off.

The crude downturn was even cited as cause for concern in the latest earnings for Molson Coors Brewing Co., which said on its quarterly call Thursday that beer drinkers — particularly in Alberta — are choosing economy brews over premium brands.

The oilpatch pain was also evident in the latest financial report from Vancouver based Telus (TSX:T). The company added just 4,400 postpaid wireless customers in Alberta dur-

ing the second half of last year, a sharp drop from the net 50,000 it added in the same period a year earlier.

Insurer Manulife (TSX:MFC) took a $250-million charge in the fourth quarter and a $876-million charge for 2015 as a result of a decline in its energy investments.

Data compiled by NPD Group, a research firm, paints a picture of how retail traffic has fared in different parts of the country in 2014 versus 2015.

Purchasing visits were down two per cent in Alberta and Atlantic Canada, while in the country as a whole, they were up three per cent.

The U.S. crude benchmark hit a high of around US$108 a barrel in mid-2014 and finished off 2015 below US$40 a barrel. It’s since depreciated further.

Tough economic times cause consumers to scrutinize their discretionary purchases, said NPD Canadian retail analyst Sandy Silva.

“Can we have that extra meal out or can I have that new dress or new pair of shoes?” she said. “I think it’s just going to cause consumers to think twice.”

The retailers that are in for the most pain are ones that sell workwear, like steel-toed boots or flame-retardant coveralls, said Silva.

“All of a sudden those tried, tested and true guaranteed sales are not so guaranteed anymore.”

Low oil prices do benefit the economy in some ways, said CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld. Lower fuel costs are welcome, for instance.

But the bad outweighs the good, he said.

“Make no mistake — Canada is a major oil exporting economy and on balance it’s a negative for the Canadian economy,” said Shenfeld. “That’s made up for a deep negative from the oil-producing provinces and a modest positive for the rest of Canada.” ■

MONTREAL — Canada’s largest trucking company expects the Western Canadian economy will continue to weaken, spreading its pain across the country.

TransForce CEO Alain Bedard said Friday that low oil and commodity prices will remain a significant drag on growth while the low Canadian dollar has so far provided only a small boost to the manufacturing sector based in Eastern Canada.

“The situation in Alberta is terrible and it’s only going to get worse,” Bedard said during a conference call to discuss the company’s fourth-quarter and 2015 results.

Bedard said Alberta’s market for smaller truckloads, which was the best in Canada until a year ago, has seen volume

shrink 25 per cent.

“Calgary is like a ghost town now,” he told analysts.

The Quebec-based company expects energy-related earnings in the province and in Texas will fall another $10 million over the coming year. Anything more than that will force it to shut operations as it did when it mothballed the oil rig moving business in both countries, he said.

Bedard said his company is also feeling pressure because low prices have virtually brought the mining sector to a standstill.

And even though the low loonie has helped forestry and building sector exports, the prospects for growth in the manufacturing sector are limited.

“We lost so much industrial capacity in the East. It’s never going to be the same, but at least we’re starting to see a little bit.”

TransForce (TSX:TFI) is counting on a strengthening of the U.S. economy later in the year and growth in its business supporting e-commerce to offset general economic weakness in Canada.

The company, Canada’s biggest trucker by fleet size and revenue, is forecasting that its e-commerce business that delivers online orders directly to customer homes could almost double next year as revenues rise from $100 million to between $150 million and $200 million.

TransForce says it has signed a deal with an unidentified major e-commerce player in Canada that will add courier service in Vancouver and Toronto. Meanwhile, it has expanded its relationship in the United States with Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce player, by adding new distribution markets. ■

Japan says it wasn’t excluding Mexico and Canada during TPP side talks with U.S. THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — Japanese officials say they believed they were also negotiating with Canada and Mexico when they struck a controversial side agreement with the United States on automobiles last year during the TransPacific Partnership talks.

They discussed the agreement with U.S., which angered Canada and Mexico, in a briefing ahead of a meeting between Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion and his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida.

The Japan-U.S. deal, which would have allowed a higher percentage of Japanese parts in cars in North America’s highly integrated auto sector, stalled completion of the 12-country Pacific Rim deal by at least two www.canadianinquirer.net

months.

The Japanese officials say they were surprised to learn that they had negotiated a deal with only the United States, but they did not explain why they thought that.

Mexico’s former ambassador to Canada has said the side

deal angered the Canadians and Mexicans and nearly drove the two countries from the bargaining table.

Japan hosts this year’s G7 summit, and Dion and Kishida have a broad agenda that also includes combating terrorism and nuclear proliferation. ■

38

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Sports

‘We’re alive’: Canucks buoyed Accelerators eye by back to back road wins fourth D-League win, with lowly Leafs on deck share of No. 1 spot

BY JOSHUA CLIPPERTON The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Left for dead just a week ago, the Vancouver Canucks have new life.

Back-to-back road victories over the Colorado Avalanche and Arizona Coyotes has the club within shouting distance of the two wild-card spots in the Western Conference.

And with a home game against the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs set for Saturday, the Canucks know the door is open for a playoff push.

“You could have easily said that if we lost (against Colorado and Arizona) it would have been tough for us to make the playoffs, no question about that,” Vancouver forward Daniel Sedin said after Friday’s practice. “Now we’re back in the hunt.”

Following last Saturday’s 4-1 home defeat to the Calgary Flames — the Canucks’ fourth in a row, including three straight at Rogers Arena — a local newspaper wrote off Vancouver’s chances of making the post-season.

What a difference seven days can make.

“Two huge games for us,” said Canucks defenceman Luca Sbisa. “In this dressing room there’s a sense we’re on the right path. At the same time you’ve got to keep going.”

Added captain Henrik Sedin: “We’re alive. I don’t follow the

ups and downs in the media ... we’re still in it.”

It took 97 points to make the playoffs as the third-place team in the Pacific Division last season, and 99 to grab the West’s last wild-card spot, but it’s likely a lower total will be enough in 2015-16.

Part of the reason the Canucks (22-20-12) have been able to stick around is that the teams ahead of them have stumbled.

“There’s a bit of a gap between the top teams and the ones trying to get into the wildcard spot,” said Sbisa. “Any other season you’d be looking at being out by six or seven points right now and you’d really have to get on a role.”

The Minnesota Wild, who like Vancouver are three points out of final wild-card spot behind the Nashville Predators in the West, have lost seven straight at home, seven in a row overall, and are 1-10-2 over their last 13.

Nashville, which dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday, is 1-3-1 over its last five after winning five of six. The Colorado Avalanche, meanwhile, occupy the first wild-card spot, six points up on Vancouver and Minnesota, but were 0-3-1 in four home games before picking up consecutive road victories over the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings.

Vancouver and Minnesota have each played 54 games, while Nashville is at 55 and Col-

orado is at 58. The Canucks also trail Anaheim by four points for third in Pacific, but the Ducks have a game in hand.

“It’s just amazing how close it is,” said Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins. “Some of the teams seem to have dropped some games you didn’t think they were going to drop. Everybody has stayed close enough that if they get on a real roll they have a chance.”

Vancouver, just 9-10-5 at home this season, will be looking for its first three-game winning streak after failing on five previous attempts.

And despite the shakeup in Toronto that saw the club ship captain Dion Phaneuf to Ottawa in a massive trade earlier this week, plus a number of injuries to key personnel, the Canucks expect a strong effort on Saturday from a group playing for jobs in the NHL. “They’re all professionals,” said Desjardins. “You don’t get to the NHL unless you have pride in what you do. I know they’ll be a team that comes in and plays hard.” ■ Note: The Canucks announced that defenceman Alexander Edler will miss six weeks and forward Brandon Sutter is out six-to-eight weeks after both players were hurt in Tuesday’s win over Colorado. Edler left the game after taking a slapshot off his foot, while Sutter had surgery for a fractured jaw after taking a puck to the face.

www.canadianinquirer.net

BY JASMINE W. PAYO Philippine Daily Inquirer

Aguilas at 2 p.m.

Lessons learned

PHOENIX-FAR EASTERN University tries to stay unbeaten in four games against an opponent that boasts its own set of varsity stars in the main game of the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup today.

Bannered by the core of UAAP champion FEU, the Accelerators go for a share of the lead versus Caida Tiles at 4 p.m. at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Accelerators coach Eric Gonzales reminded his wards that they face rough sailing against the Tile Masters, who are led

by Arellano’s standout guard Jiovani Jalalon, Letran’s Rey Nambatac and top rookie pick Jason Perkins of La Salle.

“Caida is a tough opponent,” said Gonzales. “Hopefully, we can give them a fight.”

The Accelerators have been riding on the solid games of Mac Belo and Mike Tolomia.

University of the PhilippinesQRS/Jam Liner, meanwhile, hopes to arrest a twogame skid against the winless Mindanao

The Tile Masters hope to recover from a first loss to Cafe France, which rallied from 24 points to win, 90-87, last Thursday.

The Bakers survived a lackadaisical start, clawing back from a 28-52 deficit in the second period behind the stellar play of Carl Bryan Cruz and Paul Zamar to halt the Tile Masters’ three-game winning run.

Cruz fired 26 points and Zamar wound up with 25.

“We have to learn from this experience,” said Caida coach Caloy Garcia. “It’s still a long season andwejust have to learn to play together.”

Aside from Belo and Tolomia, the Accelerators get ample support from fellow FEU reliables Roger Pogoy and Raymar Jose and Ed Daquioag of University of Santo Tomas.

“We just have to be thankful,” Gonzales said of their strong start. “We might be champions, but this is another league.

We have to respect every opponent.” ■

Sports

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

39

Despite the frigid cold, NBA all-star game in Toronto gets a thumbs up

BY NEIL DAVIDSON The Canadian Press TORONTO — When the players cleared the court at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday night, the NBA all-star fun continued.

Cheerleaders and just about anybody else with a pass that got them down there crowded onto the hardwood for photo ops or just to savour the moment.

All-star weekend is a party.

The game is secondary. And like most good parties, nobody wants to leave.

For those keeping count, the West won 196-173 in a game that erased the existing all-star records for most points by one team (163) and total points by two teams (321). Defence had been left at the border.

While Kobe Bryant waved goodbye, a new generation of NBA stars showed off their party tricks.

West coach Gregg Popovich called the all-star experience “a joy.”

“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had at an all-star game just be-

cause of the predominant group of the young talented kids coming up like the new stars and watching them interact with each other was a thrill for me,” said the veteran San Antonio Spurs coach.

“We had fun at practice the other day. They’re just a funloving group and they enjoy each other, as much as they enjoy the game. So it was a lot of fun for me. And dinner at night wasn’t bad either.”

Watching the week, one had to marvel at the NBA which invaded the city like a horde of Visigoths. From charity functions to player appearances, the league pulled out all the stops.

Sting did his part, delivering a solid halftime show, albeit one that might not hit the NBA’s younger fans.

Despite the frigid weather, Toronto showed its heart when it comes to hoops.

“I think everybody got the feel of the energy that we witness every single night when we play as Raptors players,” said Toronto forward DeMar DeRozan, who helped demonstrate that with several highlight-reel dunks. “I think all the guys re-

ally got insight on how in-tune the city of Toronto and all of Canada is to basketball.”

Added teammate Kyle Lowry: “Toronto, I think we put ourselves on the map a little bit around the world.”

Perhaps, but this weekend is unlikely to boost future travel to Toronto in February given the Ice Station Zebra conditions. Not that February was a high-volume month for tourists to start with.

While the weather was a topic on everyone’s chapped lips, the all-star game produced plenty of other storylines.

There was Bryant’s all-star farewell, Russell Westbrook’s back-to-back MVPs after a 31-point outing and Paul George’s 41-point performance, one off Wilt Chamberlain’s league record. Given George’s long road back from a horrific leg injury, it was a pity he did not get the trophy.

“It would have been a special moment to win it. But really, it was really just about coming here and just enjoying being with these guys, man, and having a good showing,” George said.

Poignant moments for PH best

BY JASMINE W. PAYO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE NIGHT featured many touching and solemn scenes as the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) celebrated the best Filipino athletes of 2015.

“I’m shaking,” said world boxing champion Nonito Donaire Jr., surprisingly overwhelmed, as he took the stage to receive the night’s highest honor at the PSA Awards on Saturday night at One Esplanade in Pasay City.

“I don’t do this when I’m inside the ring, but in front of you guys, I’m shaking. That means it’s a big deal and I’m very thankful.”

Donaire received his fourth PSA Athlete of the Year award, sharing the honor with fellow world boxing champion Donnie Nietes and crack golfer Miguel

Tabuena.

“I’ve learned through my defeats to be grateful for every moment I’m given by God [so I can] inspire those around me,” said Donaire.

Tabuena, who, just like Nietes, was grateful to all who helped shape his career, also felt honored to be in the company of world-class athletes.

“To share this stage with two world boxing icons that we all watch whenever they fight is an amazing feeling,” said Tabuena.

The star-studded gala night had poignant moments when baseball and softball great Filomeno “Boy” Codiñera received a standing ovation after accepting a Lifetime Achievement award, and when the families of the late legendary basketball coach Ron Jacobs and Filipino cage legend Caloy “The Big Difference” Loyzaga also looked

moved by the touching tributes.

Alaska team owner Wilfred Uytengsu Jr., recipient of the Executive of the Year Award, delivered a heartfelt speech as he reflected on how sports had defined him starting from a young national swimmer to a very firm supporter of sports such as basketball, triathlon and football.

“Along the way, I learned a lot about the importance of great work ethics, commitment, dedication, and sacrifice,” said Uytengsu.

Just like Uytengsu, Donaire noted how sports is all about inspiration.

“To all the athletes, let us all be inspired and inspire each other—not to try, but to be the best… for the whole world to see that we, as [Filipinos], are a force to be reckoned with,” said the WBO super bantamweight champion. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

The NBA All-Star game was held at the Air Canada Centre at Toronto.

JHVEPHOTO / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Saturday night’s skills competition was a doozy with Zach LaVine and Aaron Gordon raising the bar on big air and originality. Even the skills challenge was entertaining as the bigs took on the guards.

Drake gave Torontonians a reason to puff out their chests.

“This is the best game with the best players, finally in the best city in the world,” he said as he introduced the players.

And there was validation from LeBron James.

“Thanks for welcoming our league with open and warm arms,” he said of Toronto and Canada. “Even though the weather wasn’t as warm, the arms and the love from everyone here has been well-received.

“Toronto did a hell of a job of putting on a show, and it was an honour,” he added. ■

When in... making and Western,” said Bull: With many Western prints, the paper is the carrier of the ink; here, the paper is actually embedded with the pigment.

When we moved on to the second block, with blue, I lined one up wrong. Bull reminded me that even the professionals aren’t perfect.

“The first three per day never make it to the shop floor,” he said. “They’re like a warmup — that’s your excuse to the boss.”

We did the black outline of the design last. The black ink tends to splatter, so Bull had me put on an apron. The scrubby brush to mix this ink on the block has shorter bristles, so it’s easy to get it on your fingers. To prevent smudging, you have to stop and make sure your fingers are clean.

The professional printmakers in the back of Bull’s shop print the black ink first, but it ❰❰ 27

needs to dry overnight. So with novices like me, the order is reversed to let us experience the whole process in one session.

We also used only four blocks — the professionals that day were working on a print that required 30 different impressions — and less expensive paper.

Otherwise, we used real materials and an authentic division of labour.

“It’s the old ukiyo-e quartet,” Bull said: the boss, the designer, the carver and the printer. He is both boss and carver for this shop, but insists, “I’m not an artist.”

“The guy directing the movie, he’s not a screenwriter,” Bull said by way of comparison.

“This way, you have consummate professionals at every stage.”

Even without being a consummate professional, it was fascinating for me to get a taste of the method. ■

40

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Technology

Facebook nude painting case can face trial in France

BY PHILIPPE SOTTO The Associated Press PARIS — If you post a 19th-century nude painting on Facebook, is it art or impermissible nudity? That question is now cleared for trial in France, after an appeals court there ruled that an aggrieved user can sue the social network over the issue.

Five years ago, Facebook suspended the account of Frederic Durand-Baissas, a 57-year-old Parisian teacher and art lover, without prior notice. That was the day he posted a photo of

Gustave Courbet’s 1866 painting “The Origin of the World,” which depicts female genitalia.

Durand-Baissas wants his account reactivated and is asking for 20,000 euros ($22,550) in damages. He said he’s “glad” he has been given the chance to get some sort of explanation from the powerful social network.

“This is a case of free speech and censorship on a social network,” Durand-Baissas told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “If (Facebook) can’t see the difference between an artistic masterpiece and a pornographic image, we in France (can).”

The case is an illustration of the tricky line social media sites walk globally when trying to police explicit content.

“It’s another hole in the fabric, at least in Europe, when it comes to users’ rights running counter to the way these companies operate in the U.S.,” said

Steve Jones, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Social networks are going to have to be much more careful about how they interact with users and how they summarily make decisions about those users’ accounts,” he said.

Facebook has never provided any specific explanation for the suspended account.

“This case dates back more than five years and Facebook has evolved considerably since then,” spokeswoman Christine Chen said in an emailed response to a request for comment. “While

What Facebook’s policy on nudity means in practice

BY MAE ANDERSON The Associated Press NEW YORK — What are Facebook’s rules for posting nude images?

The question is at the forefront again after a French court ruled Friday that a French art teacher can sue the social media service after it suspended his Facebook account. Although Facebook hasn’t given a reason, the account suspension came after he posted an image of a classical painting featuring a female nude.

Facebook’s rules on nudity have evolved over time. The latest community-standards policy, from March 2015, says Facebook restricts photos of genitals or fully exposed buttocks, as well as some images of breasts if they include the nipple. But Facebook says it allows photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with postmastectomy scarring.

“We restrict the display of nudity because some audiences within our global community may be sensitive to this type of content — particularly because of their cultural background or age,” the policy states.

Here’s what that means in practice:

BREASTFEEDING pictures were the subject of controversy for years. Breastfeeding moms protested when images were pulled. In 2009, 11,000 people staged a virtual “nurse-in,” replacing their profile photos with nursing ones. It’s not clear when Facebook’s policy changed internally, but about two years ago the policy wording changed to specifically allow photos of nursing mothers.

July 2014, North Carolina photographer Jill White’s Facebook account was suspended after she posted a PHOTOGRAPH OF HER DAUGHTER and a friend on Coppertone’s Facebook page.

Her 2-year-old daughter’s buttocks were partially visible, an homage to the famous Coppertone image of a dog tugging at a child’s swimsuit. White says her account was suspended twice, and she was warned it would be banned permanently if she didn’t take the photo down. She replaced it with the same image with an emoji covered the offending part. But after friends got away with posting the original photo, she started doing it, too — so far without problems. White says she still doesn’t understand Facebook’s rules or how they are enforced.

In 2011, Facebook apologized for disabling the account of an Iowa photographer who posted shots of a FRIEND AND HER NEWBORN moments after birth; the images partially showed her friend’s breasts, but not her nipples. Laura Eckert’s photography business, New Creation Photography & Design, specializes in pictures of pregnant women and the first moments of a baby’s life. Facebook emailed Eckert to apologize and say that disabling the account had been in error.

In 2013, more than 20,000 people signed an online petition, led by photographer David Jay and breast-cancer survivor Ann Marie Giannino-Otis, urging Facebook not to ban MASTECTOMY IMAGES. Facebook responded with an official policy that permits the vast majority of mastectomy photos.

Giannino-Otis said Friday that while the policy change helped, many mastectomy photos are still flagged by other users and removed by Facebook.

Facebook didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday.

Facebook’s policy allows “photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures.” Yet many users have run into trouble after posting ART CONTAINING NUDITY. Frederic Durand-Baissas, the teacher whose account was suspended, had posted Gustave Courbet’s 1866 nude painting “The Origin of the World.” Artist Jerry Saltz said in a column for New York magazine’s Vulture blog that he lost his account after posting graphic images from medieval art.

And in January a Facebook account for the Christopher Stout gallery in New York was suspended after posting an image of an artist sitting topless on a toilet.

www.canadianinquirer.net

AP Business Writer Marley Jay in New York contributed to this report.

Technology

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

we are disappointed by today’s that French consumer-rights answer for their possible faults ruling on jurisdiction, we remain law doesn’t apply to its users in in French courts.” confident that the court will find that country because its world“On one hand, Facebook the underlying case itself to be wide service is free. shows a total permissiveness without merit.”

The Paris appeals court dis- regarding violence and ideas The social network’s cur- missed those arguments. The conveyed on the social netrent “Community Standards” ruling could set a legal prece- work. And on the other hand, page, which Facebook revised dent in France, where Facebook (it) shows an extreme prudishin March 2015 to provide “more has more than 30 million regu- ness regarding the body and detail and clarity,” states: “We lar users. It can be appealed to nudity,” he said. restrict the display of nudity France’s highest court.

The French government has because some audiences within The appeals court said the lobbied Silicon Valley tech giour global community may be small clause included in Face- ants to take down violent exsensitive to this type of content book’s terms and conditions re- tremist material, notably after — particularly deadly attacks in because of their Paris last year. cultural backFacebook has ground or age.” had a tough week But Facebook’s Social networks are going to have in France. current policy to be much more careful about how France’s in— revised well they interact with users and how they dependent priafter Durandsummarily make decisions about vacy watchdog Baissas’ suspenthose users’ accounts said Facebook sion — also now is breaching appears to allow user privacy by postings such as tracking and usa photo of the Courbet paint- quiring any worldwide lawsuits ing their personal data, and ing. Facebook’s standards page to be heard by the Santa Clara set a three-month limit ahead now explicitly states: “We also court is “unfair” and excessive. of eventual fines. And the govallow photographs of paintings, In addition, the judges said the ernment’s anti-fraud agency sculptures, and other art that terms and conditions contract issued a formal notice giving depicts nude figures.” signed before creating a Face- the company two months to Facebook’s nudity policy has book account does fall under comply with French data pronot yet been aired in French consumer rights law in France. tection laws or risk sanctions. court. So far, Facebook law“This is a great satisfaction It notably accused Facebook of yers have argued that under its and a great victory after five removing content or informaterms of service, lawsuits like years of legal action,” lawyer tion posted by users without the one filed by Durand-Baissas Stephane Cottineau, who rep- consultation. ■ could only be heard by a spe- resents the teacher, told The cific court in California, where Associated Press. He said it AP Business Writer Mae AnderFacebook is headquartered. sends a message to all “web gi- son in New York contributed to The social network also argued ants that they will have now to this report.

Poll suggests support for a regulated Uber THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — An Angus Reid Institute online poll has found that most respondents don’t support banning Uber, but would like to see the ride-hailing service regulated like much like the taxi industry.

Two-thirds of the 1,503 people who responded to the poll conducted late last month said Uber should be regulated. But more than 70 per cent said they were open to Uber operating in their communities, with only one in six saying they’d support an Uber ban.

Only one in 10 of the respondents said they’d actually used sharing-economy companies like Uber and Airbnb, although they were familiar with them.

The poll is being released as taxi drivers in Toronto have called off plans for anti-Uber protests to coincide with the NBA’s upcoming all-star weekend festivities in the city.

Earlier this week, Montreal taxi and limousine drivers targeted the city’s airport part of their protest against Uber,

WEATHER UPDATE VANCOUVER

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promising to increase pressure tactics if the company doesn’t suspend operations.

Taxi drivers in Toronto, Montreal and other Canadian cities argue that Uber is unfairly sapping their business because it isn’t subject to the same fees and regulations that govern the taxi industry.

There was a generational divide among the respondents to the online survey, with those younger expressing more support for an unfettered Uber than older respondents.

The survey’s respondents are part of the Angus Reid Forum, a 130,000-member panel of Canadians who participate in surveys and discussions. Angus Reid says the forum comprises of people in each major demographic group, and respondents receive a small monetary incentive — from $1 to $5 — for completing each survey.

The polling industry’s professional body, the Marketing Research and Intelligence Association, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. ■

Long term forecast from www.theweathernetwork.com CALGARY

EDMONTON

WINNIPEG

TORONTO

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Events

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FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Generative Journalism Training with Peter Pula - Axiom News Founder

By Calgary's Generative Journalism News Co-op WHEN/WHERE: 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 26, at United Way of Calgary - 105 12 Avenue Southeast #600, Calgary, AB.

YUKON NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

CANADA EVENTS

To have your events featured on PCI, please email events@canadianinquirer.net

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

NUNAVUT

MANITOBA

SASKATCHEWAN

Conversational English Class

By Multicultural Helping House Society and Welcome BC WHEN/WHERE: 3 to 4:30 p.m., Saturdays up to Mar. 5, at Rm. 203 MHHS 4802 Fraser St., Vancouver, B.C.or sanzidah@helpinghouse.org MORE INFO: Call Sanzida 604-879-3277 Closer Than Ever WHEN/WHERE: up to Feb. 20, at the Gateway Theatre MainStage in Richmond, B.C. MORE INFO: Cast includes Ma-Anne Dionisio, a Toronto-based Filipino artist and one of Canada's musical theater sensation. Ma-Anne played "Kim" in the original Toronto production of Miss Saigon and is a twotime Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee. There will be a special Filipino performance at 8 p.m., Feb. 19.

Temporary Foreign Workers Uncontested Divorce Clinic

By Law Courts Center WHEN/WHERE: Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Justice Education Society at the Provincial Court of BC Room 260 800 Hornby St., Vancouver B.C. MORE INFO: To book an appointment, call/text 778-322-2839 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

View all events by scanning this QR code or visiting

http://bit.ly/ PCI-Events

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 416928-9355. The office, at 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 6 p.m.

Tagalog Class

By FCT WHEN/WHERE: 10 to 11 a.m., every Saturday, Filipino Centre NEWFOUNDLAND Toronto, Toronto

BRITISH COLUMBIA ALBERTA

FRIDAY

ONTARIO

QUEBEC

NOVA SCOTIA

MORE INFO: Receive a certificate or skills training in retail or administration; job search workshops; and strong employment opportunities.

23, at Mosaic Vancouver Language Centre, 304– 2730 Commercial Dr., Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call Paeony at 604-254-9626

10 Weeks of English Conversation

By South Vancouver Neighbourhood House WHEN/WHERE: Feb. 1 to Apr. 9, 18 locations in Metro Vancouver MORE INFO: Call Amie to register – 604-324-6212 ext 142

Dreams: Gerphil Flores

By Tribu Productions WHEN/WHERE: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 19, Centre Stage, Surrey City Hall 13450 104 Ave. Surrey, BC MORE INFO: VIP ticket holders ($100+GST) | door opens @ 5:30 p.m. General Admission ($45+GST) | door opens @ 7:00 p.m. With special guests Nazer Salcedo, Jeremiah Carag and Janice Lozano.

Mentoring Programme for Immigrant High School Students: Breakfast & Baon 101

By Mentorship & Leadership for Youth Programme WHEN/WHERE: 10 a.m. to 12 nn at Corpus Christi College (near UBC) 5935 Iona Dr. Vancouver BC. Free pick up and drop off service.

MORE INFO: Meet young professionals plus learn to cook. Call/text Kyle Andrews at (778)896-0661 I Belong Support Group

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 5:30 to7:30 p.m., every Monday of the month, Mosaic Burnaby Centre for Immigrants, 5902 Kingsway, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call Darae 604-254-9626 Free Counselling Support Group

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., every last Monday of the month at Mosaic Burnaby Centre for Immigrants, 5902 Kingsway, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call Darae (604)254-9626 English Conversation Circle for Newcomers

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: Tuesdays, 1–2:30 p.m., until Feb. www.canadianinquirer.net

Annual Post-Valentine’s Dinner & Dance Fundraiser

By West Coast Domestic Workers’ Association WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 to 11:30 p.m., Feb. 20, at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Church, 3150 Ash St. Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Tickets: $20 caregivers; $25 community. Contact 604-669-4482 ESL Book Club

By Vancouver Public Library WHEN/WHERE: 3 to 4:30 p.m., Feb. 20, Mar. 19, Apr. 16 and May 28, Champlain Hts. Branch 7110 Kerr St., Vancouver, B.C. Seniors ESL Conversation Circle

By Vancouver Public Library WHEN/WHERE: 1 to 2:30 p.m., Thursdays up to Apr. 7, Champlain Hts. Br., 7110 Kerr St., Vancouver, B.C. UST Alumni Association of BC 2016 Meet and Greet

By USTAABC WHEN/WHERE: 1 to 5 p.m., Feb. 27, Old Navy Room, Metrotown Mall, Burnaby B.C. MORE INFO: Refreshments will be served

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

43

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FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

Food

George likes his chicken spicy?

Resto pop ups lure customers

BY ALEKSANDRA SAGAN The Canadian Press TORONTO — This summer in Toronto, Seinfeld fans will be able to dine at replica of Monk’s Cafe, while Friends enthusiasts will have the chance to get their caffeine fix at Central Perk.

The iconic fictional hangout re-creations are part of a trend as entrepreneurs and restaurateurs evoke nostalgia to lure in customers — a marketing ploy often used in retail.

“If everybody else is doing that, why not restaurants?” said Carol Wong-Li, a senior analyst of Canadian lifestyle and leisure at Mintel.

The entertainment industry has long used nostalgia, she said. Disney recently revamped the Star Wars saga, which has proved to be a boon for Cineplex, while Netflix has revamped beloved shows like Full House and Arrested Development.

For eateries, this strategy helps mitigate risk, said Wong-Li, as it provides them with a built-in customer base from the cult shows’ fandom.

“Seinfeld is just this cultural phenomenon,” said Mackenzie Keast, co-organizer of the upcoming Seinfeld pop-up diner in Toronto.

He and his three, fellow Seinfeld-loving friends plan to pay homage to the show by serving foods central to plot lines, like chocolate babka, muffin tops and Kenny Rogers’s chicken.

After Keast and his friends announced their plans on Facebook, nearly 30,000 expressed interest in attending the launch party July 15.

“To enter the world of Seinfeld a bit, I

Famous as Monk's in Seinfeld, the famous restaurant from Seinfiel is actually Tom's Restaurant in New York City.

think, is really exciting for a lot of people,” he said.

Fans of Friends seem driven by a similar desire. They’ve flocked to replica Central Perk pop-ups in England and New York.

Now, one is set for a brief stint in Toronto this summer.

Joshua Botticelli and two of his friends planned to open it for one day in June.

But, after more than 50,000 people said on Facebook they wanted or planned to go, the trio decided to extend its run to at least three days.

“I think it just makes everyone remember those good old days, and they want to experience that in person,” said

RDIKEMAN / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Botticelli. the media companies that own the If all those prospective customers copyright to these shows, said Bruce do show up to immerse themselves in Starr, a founding partner of BMF Media these TV set replicas, it can pay off fi- Group. nancially.

Licensing such eateries can create a People are more likely to loosen their new revenue stream at a time when peopurse strings when feeling nostalgic, ac- ple aren’t buying DVDs and watching cacording to a 2014 study published in the ble, he said. It can also arouse the interest Journal of Consumer Research. of a younger demographic, he said.

Keast said he will consider making Warner Brothers licensed the rights the mock Monk’s a for mock Central permanent fixture if Perks in the British demand stays strong cities of Liverpool during its planned and Chester, as well four- to six-month as New York, ahead of run. the 20th anniversary But nostalgia alone of Friends. won’t bring repeat To enter However, Botticelli customers to these the world of is not seeking a litypes of joints, warns Seinfeld a bit, cence for his pop-up.

Wong-Li. I think, is really Neither is Keast.

“If the food isn’t exciting for a Botticelli said his good enough, people lot of people. endeavour will be aren’t going to come a parody and he is back,” she said. “The working with a lawnostalgia will only yer to ensure the carry you so far.” pop-up will meet Still, it’s possible those guidelines. A to make the formula similar parody popwork. up, a Saved By the Bell diner not affiliThe Lockhart Cocktail Bar, dubbed ated with the show’s copyright holder, is the Harry Potter bar, opened last Sep- set to open in Chicago for the month of tember in Toronto. It pays tribute to J.K. June.

Rowling’s books in its name, decor and Keast, meanwhile, said his diner will menu offerings. only be inspired by the show, but will This strategy can also be a boost to have its own name and identity. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

Seen & Scenes: Vancouver

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

GERPHIL CONCERT David Foster’s Golden Girl Gerphil Flores, Asia’s Got Talent (AGT) third placer, received a standing ovation from an appreciative audience during her first Canadian concert tour entitled, “Dreams,” at the Kay Meek Theater on Valentine’s Day. Presented by Tribu Productions under Cliff Belgica, other guest performers include Nazer Salcedo, Jeremiah Carag and Janice Lozano. Seen enjoying the classical concert were Philippine Consulate General Deputy Consul General Anton Mandap, Consul Rogelio Villanueva with their dates (Photos by Charen Cusi and Janice Lozano).

RITE OF ELECTION Archbishop Michael Miller celebrated the Rite of Election at the Holy Rosary Cathedral in Vancouver, on Feb. 12, for those preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation with the opening of Lent (Photos by Angelo Siglos).

ALUMNI MEET AND GREET Members of the University of the Philippines Alumni Association in BC had a fun afternoon on Feb. 13, waxing nostalgic about their student days, exchanging stories of romance and quirky moments in campus, and sharing cherished memories of UP life. New and inactive members present were also welcomed to the fold. UP alumni Gerphil Flores and Nazer Salcedo, visiting concert performers, dropped by the venue with their entourage. (Photos by Charen Cusi). www.canadianinquirer.net

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Seen and Scenes

FEBRUARY 19, 2016

FRIDAY

FILIPINO COMMUNITY OF NEW BRUNSWICK The Filipino Community of New Brunswick marked Valentine’s Day with a dinner bash for couples, singles and friends.

MARSHALL MCLUHAN Philippines Press Club Ontario (PPCO) President Rose Tijam welcomes 2015 Marshall McLuhan awardee Joseph Morong, a prominent investigative reporter and series documentarist of GMA Network to Toronto.

A lively discussion of current events in the Philippines followed on Feb. 10. This was accompanied with delicious food by FV Foods on Wilson Ave. and Bathurst St., Toronto and attended by Ontario Filipino Women’s Club (OFWC); Beauties of Summer; Philippine Canadian Charitable Foundation Beauties; Senator Tobias and Mrs. Rosemer Enverga; Michelle Serrano; PPCO members and guests.

SILAYAN CENTRE The Silayan Community Centre headed by its president, Ben Ferrer, continue to honor its' members on different occasions at the Wellesley Library during their birthdays and special occasions like Valentine's Day.

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

Senator Tobias C. Enverga, Jr. assures members of the Filipino community that his office at the Parliament Hills is open to everyone who needs his help. On the other hand, Rosemer Enverga of the Philippine Canadian Charitable Foundation (PCCF) cites the different programs participated in by the said foundation like Ancop, Kalayaan and more (Photos by Dinod Orbeso).

www.canadianinquirer.net

Food

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19, 2016

Don’t limit your dreams Be different!

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

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

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FRIDAY