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DECEMBER 13, 2013
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Tax amnesty for Pacquiao
Palace to oppose China’s air zone
Calamity fund not for Ping
Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Jeatriz De Leon
Holiday events and attractions
Marcos victims to get $10M BY DONA PAZZIBUGAN AND KRISTINE FELISSE MANGUNAY Philippine Daily Inquirer
TIME TO REBUILD ROOFTOP REFUGE. A boy sits on the rooftop of his destroyed home in Barangay Balas in Palo, Leyte. PHOTO BY RAFFY LERMA
Mandela in Manila was in love BY JULIET LABOG-JAVELLANA Philippine Daily Inquirer IT WAS during his historic visit to Manila 16 years ago that the world first confirmed talk going around that Nelson Mandela was in love. For it was the first time that the former South African president took with him his special friend Graça Machel on a state visit as his “official companion.” The romance with Machel nearly stole the show from the significance
and euphoria of the visit by Mandela, the revered antiapartheid hero and the first South African president to visit the Philippines. When Mandela arrived to a 21gun salute in Malacañang on March 1, 1997, he introduced Machel to then President Fidel V. Ramos, his Cabinet and some diplomats as his official companion, eliciting smiles, if not teasing, from those in the reception line. Since she was not yet officially Mrs.
❱❱ PAGE 35 Marcos victims
Power hike shocks users ❱❱ PAGE 11
❱❱ PAGE 9 Mandela in
MARTIAL LAW class suit members will get the $10 million settlement paid by the buyer of former first lady Imelda Marcos’ ill-gotten 1899 Claude Monet masterpiece beginning Jan. 27, their lawyers said on Monday. Each member will get P50,000 (equivalent of $1,175) as part of the compensation out of the $2 billion judgment awarded by a US district court in Hawaii in 1995 to the 9,539 victims of human rights abuses during martial law. In a statement, lawyer Rod Domingo Jr. said the distribution would be conducted over eight weeks.
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Philippine News
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SENATE CLASH OF TITANS
Miriam accuses JPE of committing 7 sins BY NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE EXCHANGE of harsh words and charges between Senators Miriam DefensorSantiago and Juan Ponce Enrile resumed on the Senate floor, with the woman legislator questioning the integrity and morality of the minority leader. In a privilege speech, Santiago accused Enrile of committing seven sins, including his supposed role in the deaths and disappearances of political dissenters during martial law decades ago and a propensity to chase women. She asked Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to investigate the charges. “Guided by faith in a just God and in the rule of law, dozens of whistle-blowers have testified in writing and provided supporting documents to prove that the very heart of darkness is the leadership of the Senate itself,” she said while staring and repeatedly stabbing a finger at Enrile, who was seated just a few feet away. Santiago charged Enrile with command responsibility for human rights violations committed during martial law, masterminding the P10-billion pork barrel scam, maintaining a smuggling hub in Port Irene in Cagayan province, operating a gambling empire, owning an illegal logging concession, “hypersexualized” womanizing and underdeclaring his net worth at just P118 million. She also accused the former Senate President of giving safe haven to then Sen. Panfilo Lacson in his home province in Cagayan when the latter was evading a warrant for his arrest amid reports that he slipped out of the country during the Arroyo administration. Pork barrel scam
Enrile delivered a privilege speech last week to deny repeated allegations that he was the “brains” behind the pork barrel scam, that he wanted implicated businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles dead and that he financed Moro National Liberation Front rebels in their attempt to lay siege on Zamboanga City in September. He went on to cast doubts on Santiago’s competence by disclosing her low marks in the bar examinations, on her integrity by having the Senate rent her satellite office at her office building and on her mental health by recalling the time when she admitted to consulting a psychiatrist once. Enrile, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr., members of their staff and several other lawmakers and government officials are facing plunder charges in the Ombudsman in connection with the pork barrel scam allegedly hatched by Napoles.
I aired in the latest hearing of the blue ribbon committee, where I first made that very same accusation, based on the lawyer’s thought process of enlightened skepticism,” Santiago said. Gallery
In a privilege speech, Santiago accused Enrile of committing seven sins, including his supposed role in the deaths and disappearances of political dissenters during martial law decades ago and a propensity to chase women. PHOTO FROM ABS-CBNNEWS.COM
“Instead of presenting evidence to the public of his hypocritical protestations of innocence, Enrile once again chose to steer public attention to what he hopes will be a diversion: The lies and black propaganda hurled against me during the 1992 presidential campaign,” Santiago said. “This man, contrary to logic and common sense, hopes to evade criminal prosecution and public outrage over his plunder, by resurrecting campaign dirt against me which are over 21 years old! Dream on, old man, aka Tanda!” she added, looking at the 89-year-old senator that she also called Mr. Dementia. Manifestation
In a manifestation after the speech, Enrile said Santiago “only confirmed everything that I said in my privilege speech regarding her mental health, her propensity to make unfounded, baseless accusations, regarding her use of ad hominems, personal attacks, personal assaults against innocent people without any proof or iota of evidence to back her up.” “And sad to say, she presented herself as my best evidence to prove the points that I said in my previous privilege speech,” he added. Santiago had one of the podiums placed in front and center of the session hall so that she could face Enrile and her colleagues instead of Senate President Franklin Drilon as she spoke. At times, Enrile would smile and nod as Santiago delivered her scathing remarks. He was also tinkering with his tablet, something that Santiago had previously criticized as Enrile’s lack of focus on the workings of the chamber he used to lead.
“Notably, the Ombudsman has admitted receiving a memorandum of over 200 pages pinpointing Enrile as the mastermind of plunder. That official memorandum validates the charge
“If he smarted against the accusation, Enrile could have requested for an additional hearing where he could be personally present and interpellate Janet Napoles, who appears to be his BFF, or best friend forever. But he chooses to stay away and keep silent, because he is immobilized by fear and humiliation,” she added. Some 200 students from 16 schools, including the University of the Philippines College of Law and San Beda College, went to the Senate to watch and listen to Santiago. The senator’s husband, former Interior Undersecretary Narciso Santiago Jr., and a cousin, former Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, were also in the gallery. On a medical leave for chronic fatigue, Santiago didn’t allow Enrile or any of her colleagues to interpellate her after her ❱❱ PAGE 10 Miriam accuses
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Too early to talk of tax amnesty for Pacquiao BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer THE POSSIBILITY of extending amnesty to world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao for allegedly misdeclaring his income in 2009 is “a bridge that is too far away yet,” President Aquino said. Mr. Aquino noted that Pacquiao, the representative of the lone district of Sarangani, had not even owed up to his tax deficiencies. “I think the lesson has to be that if you are guilty of a particular crime, then...you have to exhibit a degree of remorse. But, at this point in time, he says that he has complied with all the requirements. So I think this is crossing the bridge that is too far away yet,” said Mr. Aquino, when interviewed at the 27th annual Bulong Pulungan Christmas Party. Mr. Aquino explained that any amnesty proposal would emanate from his office and should be approved by Congress.
“Amnesty is (a) proposal by me (which) has to normally indicate, perhaps, a class of individuals, a group. It doesn’t refer normally to an individual,” said the President, when asked if he would be open to extending amnesty to Pacquiao. An amnesty does not extinguish a taxpayer’s liabilities as it only condones penalties and does away with imprisonment for tax evasion cases. On Thursday, Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares said that Pacquiao “technically misdeclared” his income in 2009 when he stated in his tax return that he earned only less than P50 million in the Philippines and when he failed to include his earnings from his two fights in the United States that year. Pacquiao’s gross income should have been closer to or even more than P1 billion, claimed Henares, who froze his bank accounts for allegedly failing to settle P2.2 billion in tax deficiencies. Pacquiao, one of the world’s richest athletes, had just returned from a convincing vic-
tory over American Brandon Rios in a welterweight match in Macau when news about his tax problems resurfaced. He protested the Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR) move to freeze his bank accounts, insisting he had already furnished the bureau copies of tax returns submitted to the US Internal Revenue Service to show that he had paid his income taxes. Pacquiao said he was not hiding or running away from his tax responsibility, and expressed confidence that the issue would be settled soon. The BIR started to investigate and audit Pacquiao in late 2010 after an “abrupt” drop in his ranking among the country’s top taxpayers, said Henares. From 2006 to 2008, Pacquiao was in the top 10 percent of highest taxpayers but he slid to the top 30 percent in 2009. When the BIR audited him for his 2008 and 2009 income tax returns (ITRs), Pacquiao
did not submit any documents, thus prompting the agency to subpoena him. He responded by executing an affidavit declaring his US income and tax payment in his 2008 ITR but without any supporting documents. In that instance, Henares said the BIR did not
become strict in asking documentation and allowed him to claim tax deductions. But when Pacquiao claimed tax deductions for expenses, he was unable to provide documentation, she said. The BIR then assessed that he had P769 million in tax obligations, including value-added tax. On his 2009 ITR, Henares said Pacquiao did not declare
any US income but only less than P50 million earned in the Philippines, thus the “underdeclaration.” T h e agency estimated his
tax obligations for 2009 at P1.433 billion based on his income in the United States from “public information” on his bouts there and shares from pay-per-view and online ticket purchases, as well as endorsements. ■
It’s our best treat!
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With a report by Christine Avendaño
Philippine News
5 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
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Philippine News
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 6
Palace to oppose China’s air zone BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer THE AQUINO administration will oppose through diplomatic channels any “air defense identification zone” to be put up by China over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Malacañang said. Speaking to reporters at the Palace, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said the Philippines would insist on freedom of navigation in the disputed maritime territory, “whether air transport or maritime transport” and “the airspace above it.” Coloma was referring to the statement of Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing late Monday that it was the Chinese government’s right to decide where and when to set up a new air defense identification zone after the one it declared in the East China Sea on Nov. 23. Ma was answering reporters’ questions about China’s declaring a similar zone in the West
Philippine Sea, a prospect that Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario spoke about in a television interview on Nov. 28. “There’s this threat that China will control the airspace [in the West Philippine Sea],” Del Rosario said in the interview on ABS-CBN. China declared the air defense zone over the East China Sea to bolster its claim to the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands, known to the Chinese as Diaoyu Islands. China and the Philippines are disputing ownership of islands, islets, reefs and atolls in the West Philippine Sea, with Beijing asserting its claims by sending multivessel fishing expeditions to the disputed territories accompanied by armed patrol ships. UN arbitration
With nothing to match Beijing’s military muscle, Manila took the territorial dispute to the United Nations in January for arbitration, angering the Chinese who insist on bilateral negotiations to resolve the con-
troversy. Besides the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also claim territories in the West Philippine Sea, nearly all of which Beijing insists is part of its territory. Like the Philippines, Vietnam stridently opposes China’s claim to most of the regional waters. China’s answer to them includes authorizing the maritime police of Hainan province beginning last January to board and seize foreign vessels that “illegally enter” Chinese waters. The latest Chinese action, following escalation of the dispute with Japan in the Senkakus, is the declaration of the air defense zone in the East China Sea. Asked whether the Aquino administration viewed a Chinese air defense zone in the West Philippine Sea as a threat, Coloma, said: “The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has already made a statement on that. Our firm resolve against any impediment to freedom of navigation, whether air trans-
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Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said the Philippines would insist on freedom of navigation in the disputed maritime territory, “whether air transport or maritime transport” and “the airspace above it.” PHOTO FROM OPINIOJURIS.ORG
port or maritime transport, remains in waters covered by [the West Philippine Sea], and the airspace over it.” Coloma reiterated the DFA’s
position that “there should not be a premise or reason to escalate the anxiety or tension” ❱❱ PAGE 13 Palace to
Philippine News
7 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Leila: P-Noy knew of Biazon probe, but...
SC dismisses petition to stop pork scam probe
BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer
BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer
PRESIDENT AQUINO was aware that Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon was being investigated in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam but not about the decision of the National Bureau of Investigation to file charges against him, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said. She said she did not give Mr. Aquino a “heads up” before the charges were filed against Biazon. She said however that she had given the President early on a list of persons the NBI was investigating for having transactions with nongovernment organizations linked to alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, and this included Biazon who was the Muntinlupa City representative from 2001 to 2010. “But as to when they [charges] will be filed, the President has no idea,” De Lima said. She said Mr. Aquino’s directive to her was “to just make sure to have enough evidence to support the cases.” She also made clear the NBI was investigating only the cases of persons who had transacted with Napoles’ NGOs, while the other cases cited in the Commission on Audit’s special audit on the pork barrel would be investigated by the Inter-Agency Anti-Graft Coordinating Council (IAAGCC). Asked if there were many other persons being investigated, she said she could not con-
firm that. She also declined to say if they included more allies of President Aquino. Told that Biazon had described the case against him as weak since there was nothing to link him to Napoles, De Lima said that was Biazon’s “defense” and she could not comment on it. “It’s up to him. He will have an opportunity to present his defense at the proper time and forum,” she said. Told that Biazon had claimed he was included in the charge sheet at the last minute since the affidavit of key whistleblower Benhur Luy was executed only two or three days before the actual filing date, De Lima said the lawmakers they had charged were each not only accused in supplemental affidavits filed by the whistle-blowers but also in an affidavit “common to all.” She said the NBI’s investigation of Biazon was thorough and that it took them some time to complete the probe, “as it would be difficult to just go ahead (and file cases) when you are not sure about it.” She however described as “commendable” Biazon’s decision to resign after he and 33 other lawmakers were charged with malversation, direct graft and corrupt practices in the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly funneling the Priority Development Assistance (Fund), or pork barrel, to dubious NGOs put up by Napoles. “He took the initiative of filing his resignation and that’s more of delicadeza (propriety). Beyond that I cannot comment,” De Lima told reporters. ■
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima described as “commendable” Biazon’s decision to resign after he and 33 other lawmakers were charged with malversation, direct graft and corrupt practices in the Office of the Ombudsman for allegedly funneling the PDAF, or pork barrel, to dubious NGOs put up by Napoles. PHOTO FROM GMANETWORK.COM
THE SUPREME Court threw out for lack of merit a petition to stop the Office of the Ombudsman from investigating the P10-billion pork barrel scam. Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te told reporters that the petitioner, Director General Antonio Ortiz of the Technology Resource Center (TRC), failed to show that the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation acted with grave abuse of discretion when they filed plunder charges against him and Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and more than 30 other people in the Office of the Ombudsman in September. Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile is also accused in the case, which stemmed from the misuse of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) by legislators allegedly in connivance with businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. Napoles allegedly siphoned off P10 billion from the PDAF, a pork barrel that channels funds to congressional districts, into her bank accounts through nonexistent projects, paying hundreds of millions of pesos in kickbacks to senators and congressmen who endorsed the projects, which were proposed by bogus nongovernment organizations (NGOs) that Napoles herself established. The names of Estrada and Sen. Gregorio Honasan have been mentioned in recent days in the investigation of another scandal involving nonexistent projects that cost the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) P220 million, released to NGOs allegedly controlled by Napoles. Yesterday, Estrada and Honasan admitted requesting funds for agrarian reform projects in 2011, but said it was local officials and not they who endorsed the NGOs that proposed the projects. Napoles’ contacts
In the case filed by the NBI in the Office of the Ombudswww.canadianinquirer.net
Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te (inset) told reporters that the petitioner, Director General Antonio Ortiz of the TRC, failed to show that the DOJ and the NBI acted with grave abuse of discretion when they filed plunder charges against him and Senators Estrada, Revilla and more than 30 other people in the Office of the Ombudsman in September. PHOTO FROM SOLARNEWS.PH
man, the government alleged that Ortiz and Director Dennis Cunanan were Napoles’ contacts in the TRC, which released P580.85 million from the PDAF allocations of Enrile, Revilla and Estrada to NGOs controlled by Napoles. On Nov. 21, the Ombudsman announced that it had begun a preliminary investigation and directed 38 respondents, including Ortiz, to answer the charges against them and submit evidence in their defense within 10 days of the order dated Nov. 21. The Ombudsman panel of investigators said it had found “enough basis to proceed with the preliminary investigation.” Premature
Ortiz went to the Supreme Court to stop the preliminary investigation, but Te said the high tribunal found no merit in Ortiz’s petition. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that she had not seen Ortiz’s petition, but described it as “improper” because it was “premature.” The justice department and the NBI on Friday brought a second batch of complaints in the pork barrel scam, this time against 34 people, including eight former members of the House of Representatives. Among the former congress-
men charged with graft in the Office of the Ombudsman was Rufino Biazon, who resigned as head of the Bureau of Customs on Monday after being implicated in the scandal. The Commission on Audit (COA) had found that Biazon, a member of President Aquino’s Liberal Party, was among the House members who approved the funding of nonexistent projects proposed by Napoles’ NGOs from 2007 to 2009. Biazon said he did not know Napoles, and vowed to clear his name. Selective
But the Metro Manila chapter of the labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) yesterday criticized the filing of charges against Biazon as “selective,” saying President Aquino had many allies whom the COA had found involved in them isuse of the PDAF. Gie Relova, BMP secretary general for Metro Manila, also criticized De Lima for saying the pork barrel scam investigation did not consider political affiliation. “We cannot let De Lima’s temporary amnesia slide,” Relova said. The filing of charges against just one ally of the President was not convincing to the “skeptical and indignant” Filipinos, he said. ■
Philippine News
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 8
7 Pinoys among 52 dead in Yemen terror attack BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC AND JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer SEVEN FILIPINO hospital workers were killed and 11 others injured in suicide bombings at the Ministry of Defense complex in Yemen, according to a report by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). The seven were among the 52 killed in the terrorist attack that the al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for, saying it targeted the site as it hosted US personnel behind drone strikes against its militants. Malacañang condemned the “senseless violence,” even as the DFA called on the Yemeni government “to bring the masterminds to justice and take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of Filipinos and other foreigners in Yemen.” “Seven Filipino hospital workers were killed and 11 others were injured but not in serious condition in suicide bombings that occurred in the Ministry of Defense complex... The consul is continuously gathering additional information and coordinating with hospital and government authorities,” Communications
Secretary Herminio Coloma said during a briefing in the Palace. The Filipino victims were among 40 Filipino workers in the hospital within the complex. The Philippines has almost a thousand nationals working in Yemen, said DFA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez. “The injured and survivors have been taken to a safe place. [The] names of those affected have been withheld until their families have been informed. The situation is now under control by Yemeni Security Forces,” Coloma said. In a press conference, Hernandez, quoting the reports of the Philippines’ ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ezzedin Tago, honorary consul Mohammad al-Jamal and Filipino community leader Ester Galahan, said 11 other Filipinos sustained minor injuries and were “shaken and traumatized.” One sustained a head injury that required surgery, Hernandez said, adding that workers “pretended to be dead” to survive the assault. “We call on the Yemeni government to bring the masterminds to justice and to take appropriate measures to ensure the safety of Filipinos and other
foreigners in Yemen,” the DFA official added. The spokesperson said Al-Jamal and Galahan were visiting hospital morgues to check if there were other Filipino fatalities. Hernandez said Tago would be sending vice consul Redentor Genotiva to the Yemeni capital Sanaa “at the soonest possible time” to assess the situation there and help in arranging the immediate repatriation of the remains of the fatalities. A suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into the Yemeni defense ministry complex on Thursday. A second car brought into the compound armed militants who opened fire on the staff. “The assailants took advantage of some construction work that is taking place to carry out this criminal act,” Yemen’s defense ministry said, without elaborating. Medics and a defense ministry official said the gunmen pulled a Western doctor and a Filipino nurse into the hospital’s courtyard and shot them in front of the local staff. Hospital patients were among the casualties in the attack, including both soldiers and civilians, among them a top Yemeni judge and his wife, Ye-
men’s supreme security committee said. The attackers also killed one of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s relatives who was visiting a patient in the site, the defense ministry said on its website. The other casualties were from Germany, Vietnam, India, Venezuela and Yemen, according to the Saba news agency and hospital reports. The agency said 167 people were wounded, nine of them seriously. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), regarded by Washington as the jihadist network’s most dangerous affiliate, said the complex played a role in its drone war with the United States and housed US personnel, although there was no immediate evidence to support the allegation. The complex was “stormed … after the mujahideen (holy warriors) proved that it accommodates drone control rooms and American experts,” AQAP said in a statement published by its media arm on Twitter. “As part of a policy to target drone control rooms, the mujahideen have dealt a heavy blow to one,” it said. In a statement, Vice Presi-
dent Jejomar Binay denounced the attack, describing it as “a senseless act that has no place in the modern world.” The brazen daylight attack on the sprawling facility followed a spate of hit-and-run strikes on military personnel and officials, as the country struggles to complete a thorny political transition. Yemen has been going through a difficult political transition since veteran president Ali Abdullah Saleh stood down in February 2012 after a year of deadly protests against his 33-year rule. The transitional process aims to produce a new constitution, paving the way for parliamentary and presidential elections in February, but many hurdles remain. Yemen is also battling AQAP, which often attacks the security forces, despite suffering setbacks in a major army offensive last year and repeated US drone strikes on its commanders. In an attempt to halt hitand-run attacks, the authorities imposed a temporary ban on motorbikes in Sanaa to prevent shootings that have killed dozens of officials. Last week, two gunmen on a bike killed a Belarusian defense contractor and wounded another. ■
Calamity fund not for Ping Escudero says ‘Yolanda’ rehab budget to go to line agencies BY NORMAN BORDADORA AND PAOLO MONTECILLO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE BILLIONS of pesos in calamity and quick response funds—at least the ones allocated by Congress—for the Eastern Visayas are not for the so-called rehabilitation and reconstruction czar to spend but will go to the line departments, according to Sen. Francis Escudero. “Senator [Panfilo] Lacson or the office that will be created [headed by him] is not an implementing agency. His is coordinative, so it’s the agencies that will use these funds, bid [the projects] out or implement [them] themselves,” said Escudero, the chair of the Senate finance committee. That is, unless the executive
order still to be threshed out detailing Lacson’s functions would define his office as an implementing agency, the senator said. “But I don’t see that happening,” said Escudero. Lacson, appointed by President Aquino to take charge of the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the regions devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” has expressed the wish that he be given “absolute authority” akin to the one that US General Douglas McArthur got in the aftermath of World War II. “I don’t know the mandate of Senator Lacson and I don’t know the role that he will play here but the allocations that we are passing are through the implementing agencies. These are the line departments,” Escudero said.
“So I don’t know the contents of the executive order as regards the office that will be created but it is clear that implementation will be through the agencies,” he added. The Senate passed on third and final reading the joint resolution extending until the end of 2014 the validity of some P12 billion worth of 2013 appropriations for President Aquino’s calamity fund and some departments’ quick response funds. The extended appropriations would be augmented by the unspent and unobligated funds, or savings, of the executive branch, Escudero said. Aside from this, Congress is also expected to pass a P100 billion rehabilitation and reconstruction fund to be included in the P2.26-trillion proposed budget for 2014. It is also expected to pass www.canadianinquirer.net
The chair of the Senate finance committee said Senator Lacson’s office is not an implementing agency, but only coordinative. PHOTO FROM 8LIST.PH
before the year ends a P14.6billion supplemental budget for 2013, also for calamity-related expenses. The supplemental budget will be funded by the unreleased portion of the congressional pork barrel which the Supreme Court has declared unconstitutional. The Senate and House panels have yet to meet to reconcile their respective versions
of the proposed 2014 budget and of the joint resolution on the P12-billion extended appropriations, hence there is no itemized distribution of the P12 billion. “The distribution of the P12 billion for the calamity fund and the quick response fund will be up to the executive branch,” Es❱❱ PAGE 14 Calamity fund
Philippine News
9 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Mandela in... Mandela, Malacañang observed protocol by not having First Lady Amelita Ramos around for the occasion. Machel, widow of Mozambique President Samora Machel, quietly stood by Mandela’s side as he signed the Malacañang guest book. More cameras clicked as the two emerged at the reception hall holding hands. The public display of affection prompted journalists to pop the personal question— usually a no-no for visiting dignitaries. ❰❰ 1
Love life
In Mandela’s joint press conference with Ramos, Malaya reporter Ellen Tordesillas asked if wedding bells were to ring soon for Mandela. Not hearing the question quite well at first, Mandela laughed when he realized that the question was not about affairs of the state. But Ramos clapped, appearing to have given his consent to the query. “Well my cultural background does not permit me to answer this question with people young enough to be my children or grandchildren,” Mandela replied skillfully. When Mandela was conferred an honorary degree of doctor of laws at the University of the Philippines the next day, journalists were more interested in asking him about details of his love life than finding out about trade prospects between the two countries and other aspects of Philippines-South African ties. Mandela and Machel were married on July 18, 1998. His previous marriage to Winnie Madikizela, a South African politician, ended in a divorce in 1996. Though Mandela’s love life titillated romantic Filipinos, it was for so much more than that his visit was highly anticipated.
Towering figure
For here in the flesh was one of the towering figures of the 20th century—a human rights lawyer and 1993 Nobel Peace Prize winner, jailed for 27 years during the years of white supremacy rule in South Africa, who steered his country out of apartheid to become its first black president in an all-race election in 1994. Tall and dapper in a black suit he wore for his Malacañang visit (he donned the traditional Madiba shirt for other events), Mandela might have taught Filipino politicians a thing or two about humility in greatness. “Leaders, no matter how exceptional, are not indispensable,” Mandela remarked. It was a timely message for at that time, there were moves to amend the Philippine Constitution supposedly to lift the term limit on the President. Mandela had even asked former President Corazon Aquino if she was going to run in the 1998 elections, to which she replied that she had no interest in doing so.
Mandela told his hosts the Philippines held a special spot in his heart ever since he heard about the country’s consistent opposition to South African apartheid policy. PHOTO BY CATWALKER / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
“The struggle he led transformed not only his country but more importantly, the shape of racial relations throughout the world,” Ramos said. UP honors
Freedom icon
The self-effacing freedom icon said South Africa was never worried about who would replace him as president, adding he never thought he had “exceptional qualities.” At the time of his Manila visit, he was two years away from completing his one term in 1999. “We had never been apprehensive about whether the stepping down of one man would lead to less delivery of whatever demands and needs of our people and our relations with the world are concerned,” he said, adding there were many others in his country who were “heads and shoulders above me in abilities.” Ramos hailed Mandela’s visit as special and extraordinary.
Apart from holding talks with Ramos and a private meeting with Ramos’ predecessor, Aquino, Mandela went to UP to receive his honorary degree from then UP president Emil Javier and then Education Secretary Ricardo Gloria. There he met with former Huk Supremo Luis Taruc whose story supposedly inspired Mandela. Mandela, 78 at the time of his visit, appeared strong although he was slightly limping from a knee injury that caused the postponement of his trip the year before. Manila was the first stop in his Asian tour which included Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia. Among those who welcomed Mandela were then Vice President Joseph Estrada
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and Ramos’ Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon, his Armed Forces chief of staff Arnulfo Acedera and Air Force chief William Hotchkiss, as well as then Senate President Ernesto Maceda and Speaker Jose de Venecia. Maceda noted how simpatico (congenial) Mandela was, an observation shared by Palace reporters who covered the visit. On his way to a closed-door meeting with Ramos in the Palace, Mandela approached our group and asked: “Good morning, how are you? Why are you not in school?” Ramos had to tell him that we were not high school students but reporters covering the Palace. “I’m honored to meet you,” Mandela told the surprised—flattered reporters. Though he had disarmed Filipinos with his charm and demeanor, Mandela, in fact paid homage to the Philippines. ‘People power’
Mandela told his hosts the Philippines held a special spot in his heart ever since he heard about the country’s consistent opposition to South African apartheid policy. He said he came to know about this when the Southeast Asian Nations held a conference in Bandung, way before the Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) was created. Since then, he said, he had closely followed developments here, including the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolt. “This is one of the countries that had been very successful in overcoming the legacy of colonialism, of poverty, of ignorance, and we stand to gain a great deal by associating with it,” Mandela said. In the Malacañang guest book, Mandela wrote: “Visiting the Republic of the Philippines is the fulfillment of a long and cherished dream. An unforgettable experience.” ■
Philippine News
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 10
Villa, ex-Napoles lawyer, quits gov’t BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer
to engage in wrongdoing. Active member
RENE VILLA, a former lawyer for detained pork barrel scam suspect Janet Lim-Napoles, has resigned as acting chair of the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA). Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, speaking on state-run radio yesterday, did not say why Villa resigned. “He made a personal decision and the President accepted this, thanking him for his services,” Coloma said. Villa resigned on Nov. 30, Coloma said. PublicWorks Secretary Rogelio Singson, who has supervision over the LWUA, will recommend Villa’s replacement, Coloma said. Aside from Villa, Grace Karen Singson also quit as chief privatization officer of the Privatization and Management Office of the Department of Finance. It could not be immediately verified if Singson was related to the public works secretary. Villa was appointed LWUA chief in September 2011 to replace former Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay, one of the business partners of Napoles. Highest-profile exec
Prior to joining the Aquino administration, Villa served as a lawyer for Napoles for four years, making him the highestprofile government executive and Liberal Party member with direct professional links to the
Atty. Rene Villa PHOTO FROM GMANETWORK.COM
alleged brains behind the P10billion pork barrel scam. Villa admitted that he had received money and a 4×4 pickup from Napoles as payment for his legal services. Napoles is facing plunder charges in connection with the pork barrel scam through which she allegedly funneled billions of pesos from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), or pork barrrel, of legislators to nonexistent projects proposed by dubious nongovernment organizations (NGO), which resulted in kickbacks to lawmakers over the past decade. Not a license
Villa also served as secretary of agrarian reform but on July 8, 2005, he joined the “Hyatt 10” group of Cabinet and other government officials who quit their posts in protest over allegations that then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo had stolen the 2004 elections. Speaking about Villa earlier, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said that membership in the Liberal Party was not a license
“We recognize his membership in the Liberal Party, but it doesn’t mean that [his] membership is blanket [immunity from suit],” Roxas said. “So we’re now ascertaining the specifics.” Asked by the INQUIRER if Villa was still an active member of the party, Roxas said: “Yes, we have [in the party] a category of [members] of national stature, because he was a Cabinet secretary.” As a Liberal Party candidate, Villa ran for the third district seat of Iloilo in the House of Representatives in 2010, but lost. Villa said he had nothing to do with Napoles’ dealings with the Department of Agrarian Reform, from which her NGOs got P200 million in agrarian reform funds in 2007 and P900 million in Malampaya funds in 2009 in operations that are now the subject of graft and plunder cases filed against her in the Office of the Ombudsman. “The professional engagement involved a coal project in Kalimantan, Indonesia, which involved initially a French national who was already in the coal business in China and wanted a partner to enter the Philippine market using coal from Indonesia,” Villa said. “In the process, we became friends, as she would invite me to some of her parties and the Masses [in her office that she sponsored] to mark important events in her life,” he said. ■
Incoming Custom Commissioner, John Phillip Sevilla, during his acceptance speech. PHOTO FROM CUSTOMS.GOV.PH
‘Keep politicians out of Customs’ BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer NO POLITICIANS, especially those with aspirations for higher office, should be appointed to head the Bureau of Customs (BOC), in order to protect the bureau from any intrigue that would hinder its task of going after smugglers, said Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian. Malacañang should consider permanently appointing a corporate professional as customs commissioner, as he or she would be less likely to have political biases or links and would not be distracted by ambitions of running for public office. President Aquino has designated John Philip Sevilla, a finance department undersecretary, as officer in charge of the BOC after he accepted outgoing Customs Commissioner Rozzano “Ruffy” Biazon’s resignation from the post. ‘Moral muscle’
Miriam accuses... speech. She, however, briefly addressed the students in one of the Senate’s hearing rooms and had pictures taken with them before leaving the premises. Enrile said he thought Santiago was going to answer his allegations against her “point by point.” “But truly she did not because everything I said is covered by documents that I have here especially what I said about her confirmation hearing and regarding her previous consultation with a neuropsychiatrist and this was when I interrogat❰❰ 3
ed her intensely when she submitted herself for investigation during her confirmation hearing in 1989,” he said. “She was present in those meetings and it was shown that indeed something was wrong,” he added. Debate challenge
Santiago, nonetheless, challenged Enrile, a fellow alumnus of the UP law school, to a debate. “As I did in the past, I challenge Enrile to a public televised debate on the plunder charge against him, including his illegal and immoral use of
the Senate President’s discretionary fund to distribute nearly P2 million as Christmas bonus last year to each senator, except for four senators, whom he considers his political enemies, led by me,” she said. “It should be held at the UP Malcolm Theater and only students with valid IDs should be allowed to prevent Enrile from renting a partisan crowd,” she added. The session was suspended for several minutes after Santiago’s speech. When it resumed, Enrile rose to make the manifestation. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net
Biazon, the President’s Liberal Party colleague, resigned after he was named in a criminal complaint involving the alleged misuse of his pork barrel funds when he was a Muntinlupa representative. Gatchalian said the customs bureau chief should have strong managerial skills as well as “moral muscle” to run after the corrupt people in the agency. The BOC leader should also have corporate discipline to lead the bureau. “The next BOC chief must have the needed corporate qualifications suited for the job; someone who is fearless and does not have any political biases or ambition; a visionary who can influence those who resist
change; an activist who can carry out reforms yet mindful of the employees’ welfare; and most importantly, somebody who has the moral fitness and integrity to lead and transform an institution that has a deeply entrenched culture of corruption,” he said in a statement. No hesitation
He added that the next permanent BOC chief must not hesitate to go after the smugglers and send them to prison. According to Gatchalian, a strong leader is needed at the BOC because introducing reforms there has been tough with strong resistance from various groups. He also pushed for customs procedures to be automated in order to reduce face-toface transactions between bureau personnel and importers. The BOC should also reduce the number of ports where it has posted a dedicated customs presence in order to strengthen ennished forcement and reduce pilferage and smuggling in static ports, he added. Biazon meanwhile said he supports the appointment of Sevilla as BOC officer in charge. “No one can question the credentials of Sunny Sevilla... he has an untarrecord and unquestionable integrity,” Biazon said. He said Sevilla had the added advantage of already having an “established working relationship with the [finance] department and Secretary [Cesar] Purisima.” Biazon said he and Sevilla have already met to discuss the projects and programs that are in the middle of implementation and need to be followed through. ■
Philippine News
11 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Power hike shocks users ERC approves Meralco staggered rate increase BY RIZA T. OLCHONDRA AND KRISTINE FELISSE MANGUNAY Philippine Daily Inquirer A THREE-MONTH installment plan starting this month for the biggest ever rate increase of P4.15 per kilowatthour by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is still staggering for consumers clamoring for a reprieve amid recent price hikes in various commodities. The increases will be P2.41 per kWh in December, P1.21 in February and 53 centavos in March, according to Meralco. While the installments look relatively small, the real impact could be bigger because consumers will bear interest charges on the cost of managing the deferred increase. “The increase per month seems small. So that’s good. But if I will still have to pay everything in the end, it would still be a burden,” said Edwin Samson, who operates a sari-sari store in one part of his modest home. “I will probably stop using lights in my house, maybe even the radio. I can’t stop using the lights, electric fan and refrigerator in the store,” he said. The higher generation charges stem largely from the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya gas field from Nov. 11 to Dec. 10, prompting Meralco’s supplier power plants (Sta. Rita, San Lorenzo and Ilijan) to use more expensive fuel. The value-added tax (VAT) and other fees that adjust to the power generation rate pulled up the total increase from P3.44/kWh to P4.15/kWh. With the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Meralco will implement its highest power rate increase in December, February and March. The increase when added to last month’s generation charge of P5.6673/kWh would have resulted in a power generation charge of P9.1070/kWh this month without the staggered implementation. For a typical household using 200 kWh a month, a one-time increase of P830 would have pushed its monthly bill from P2,212 to P3,041.48. Third option
Meralco and the ERC reached
an agreement on the implementation of the staggered payments at a meeting on Monday. In Meralco’s presentation to the ERC of its December generation charge and its proposed cost recovery deferment, the utility firm suggested three options: • Setting a generation charge of P7.90/kWh in its December billing and collecting the deferred amount in February. • Capping the generation charge at P7.67/kWh for December and February; and • Distributing the charges in December, February and March. The ERC endorsed the third option. ERC Executive Director Saturnino C. Juan said the third option reflected the smallest increase per month. Following the presentation, the regulator said in a letter to Meralco: “The ERC is well aware of the huge impact that Meralco’s generation charge adjustment will have on the retail rates to its customers. Cushion impact
“Given that there are also reported increases in the prices of other commodities, Meralco’s proposal to stagger the implementation of its generation cost is timely, as it will cushion the impact on the electricity consumers.” The ERC then said it authorized Meralco to implement a generation charge of P7.67/ kWh in its December billing and add to its calculated generation charge for February 2014 billing the generation rate of P1/kWh. “The balance on the deferred generation amount any carrying cost shall be included in Meralco’s generation charge for March 2014. Should Meralco seek to recover its carrying costs on the entire deferred amount, it shall file a formal application for this,” the ERC said. This means that Meralco will have to make a separate filing on the so-called carrying cost (the interest charge on the rate hike deferment). Still unacceptable
Pete Ilagan, president of National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc., said the rate increase was still
A three-month installment plan starting this month for the biggest ever rate increase of P4.15 per kilowatt-hour by Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is still staggering for consumers clamoring for a reprieve amid recent price hikes in various commodities. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
unacceptable. Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the ERCMeralco meeting appeared to be a ploy to preempt the House investigation of the huge rate increase set Tuesday. “At any rate we will try to get to the bottom of this proposed rate increase and we will do all we can to stop it,” Zarate said. Picket at ERC
Militant groups staged a picket in front of the ERC while the agency was hearing Meralco’s presentation. The groups, which included Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Gabriela, Anakpawis and Kongreso ng Pagkakaisa ng Maralita ng Lungsod (KPML), denounced what they said was Meralco’s “corporate greed” and the ERC’s supposed connivance with the power utility. “The ERC just accepted Meralco’s proposal as if it were the firm’s spokesperson,” said KPML head Gie Relova. Relova said he and around 70 members of the group trooped first to the Meralco offices in Caloocan and Quezon City on three vehicles before reaching the ERC headquarters in the Ortigas area before noon. An Anakpawis placard called for the repeal of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), which the group said liberalized and privatized the power industry to the point that corporations like Meralco were able to increase power rates “at their own whim.” Relova said the power rate hike was “not justified,” especially since many areas hit by www.canadianinquirer.net
Supertyphoon “Yolanda” were still under reconstruction. “Epira is the mother of all evils,” he said. Mitigating measures
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry reserved its comments as it called for an emergency meeting on the power rate hike on Wednesday. There have been calls to tap the Malampaya Fund to cushion the impact of the power rate hike, despite earlier appeals to use the fund for survivors of Yolanda.
Ivanna de la Peña, Meralco first vice president and regulatory affairs head, said the increase could have been worse without mitigating measures. To temper the increase, Meralco entered into a power sales agreement with Therma Mobile Inc. as other suppliers were not willing to sell on a short-term basis to Meralco. The power utility also coordinated with power suppliers to manage costs and encouraged end-users to be more energy efficient, she said. ❱❱ PAGE 40 Power hike
Philippine News
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 12
Int’l law experts laud PH stand on sea row BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer AMID RISING tensions between claimants to territory in the East China Sea and the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines’ stand of invoking international law in asserting its own claim against an increasingly aggressive China is gaining support from international law experts. Meeting in Manila, international law experts and scholars said the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) should serve as the anchor for nations disputing ownerships of resourcerich islands in the East China Sea, South China Sea and its part within Philippine territory calledWest Philippine Sea. Tensions have risen in recent days between Japan and China over Beijing’s declaration on Nov. 23 of an “air defense identification zone” in the East China Sea covering a group of uninhabited islands claimed by both countries, and between the Philippines and China over suggestions that Beijing would declare the next such zone in the West Philippine Sea. Speaking at a forum organized by the Angara Centre for Law and Economics, a think tank founded by former Sen. Edgardo Angara, Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, said China “must bring its claims into line” with the law of the sea. Storey cited complications posed by China’s nine-dashline claim to nearly the whole of the South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea. “[The] nine-dash line is the crux of the South China Sea problem and stands in the way of a resolution and joint development,” Storey said, adding that China’s “commitment to international law is shaky at best.” “China is claiming ‘historical rights’ within the nine-dash line but the dispute should be settled in accordance with “historical facts and international law,” Storey said. US stand
Also, US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg appealed to all the parties to work toward “reducing tensions.” “I think you know where we stand and that is we think we
should beworking very much to reduce tensions, whether that is in Southeast Asia or Northeast Asia,” Goldberg told reporters in a joint briefing with Senate President Franklin Drilon. Goldberg said China’s declaration of the air defense zone in the East China Sea was “unilateral” and could “raise tensions,” but that the United States has stepped in to preempt any further escalation. US Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is traveling to Asia this week, and has met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In talks with Abe in Tokyo on Tuesday, Biden condemned China’s action as an effort to “unilaterally change the status quo” and said it had raised “the risk of accidents and miscalculation.” He promised to raise those objections with Xi in Beijing. In Beijing on Wednesday, Biden laid out the American case against China’s action in discussions with Xi and urged the Chinese leader to show restraint in the zone, which he stressed the United States regarded as illegitimate and a provocation. Biden stopped short of calling on China to rescind the zone, something it is highly unlikely to do, given the nationalist sentiments that have been animated by its standoff with Japan. But the United States has ignored the zone, sending B-52 bombers to fly through it. Respect for interests
Xi held his ground, suggesting that China and Japan may be able to manage a standoff and, speaking in a conciliatory tone, repeated a phrase he used at a meeting with US President Barack Obama in Southern California in June, said China wanted to build a “new model of major-country relations,” based on respecting each other’s core interests, collaborating on global problems and devising ways to “appropriately handle sensitive issues and differences between us.” Biden said the relationship between China and the United States needed candor and trust. He urged China to refrain from “taking steps that will increase tension” and to deal better with the other claimants to territory in the region. China declared the air de-
fense zone in the East China Sea to bolster its claim to five uninhabited islands and three barren rocks there long administered by Japan and known to the Japanese as Senkaku Islands. The Senkakus are also known as Pinnacle Islands, but the Chinese call them Diaoyu Islands. Taiwan is also claiming ownership of the islands, believed to have potential oil and gas reserves. Philippine defiance
China and the Philippines are contesting ownership of Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), a rich fishing ground in the West Philippine Sea off Zambales province, and a group of islands in the Spratly archipelago, off Palawan Island farther to the southwest. China seized control of Panatag Shoal after a two-month standoff with the Philippines last year, forcing Manila to bring the dispute to the United Nations in January for arbitration. Beijing has refused to take part in the arbitration but under the rules the proceedings can continue without China’s participation. The Philippines will file in March next year a pleading detailing the merits of its case against China. Manila’s defiance has angered Beijing, which authorized the maritime police of Hainan province in January to board and seize foreign vessels entering what it considers Chinese waters.
PHOTO FROM CULTUREINASIA.BLOGSPOT.COM
when” to declare the next zone. Malacañang that it will oppose through diplomatic channels a Chinese air defense zone in the West Philippine Sea. But Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin yesterday dismissed as “speculative” news reports about China’s considering declaring an air defense zone in the West Philippine Sea, as the Chinese had “not done something yet.” Gazmin, however, acknowledged that the imposition of an air defense zone by the Chinese in the West Philippine Sea will be a threat to regional security. Storey called on the parties to work together and assert their position in international forums, underscoring “the critical importance of upholding international law and norms of behavior.” “Asia-Pacific states have a collective interest in peace and stability in the South China Sea, the free flow of maritime trade, freedom of navigation and protecting rights and responsibilities of coastal states under Unclos,” Storey said.
Shows of force
Beijing also sends large fishing expeditions to the Spratlys accompanied by maritime patrol vessels, in shows of force directed at the Philippines and Vietnam, which also claims territory in its part of the South China Sea that it calls East Sea. Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan also claim parts of the sea, home to vital trade routes where a third of global trade passes, and of islands, islets, reef and atolls believed to be sitting on vast oil and gas reserves. That China will declare an air defense zone in theWest Philippine Sea is not unlikely, with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing saying that her country had the “sovereign right” to decide “where and www.canadianinquirer.net
‘Crucial phase’
He said the dispute would see a “crucial phase” over the next decade, warning that allowing the escalation to continue might be framed into the rivalry between the United States and China, dynamics seen now more than ever as the American side pursues its strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific region. China views the US strategy as aimed to contain its rise as a regional military and economic power. “If the claimants design and implement an effective set of conflict prevention and crisis management mechanisms, provide legal clarity to their claims, and finally muster the political will to pursue a negotiated set-
tlement that resolves their territorial and maritime boundary claims, a bright future beckons,” Storey said. “But if the status quo continues, and tensions are allowed to fester, the dispute will almost certainly be sucked into the vortex of US-China rivalry, rendering it utterly intractable for at least a few more generations,” he said. Stanford University senior fellow Donald Emmerson shared Storey’s view, saying clarifying maritime boundaries through the Unclos is a positive step toward resolving the disputes. “Tensions urgently need to be addressed on multiple fronts in alternative ways. Recourse to international law is a prime option. Other channels include bilateral and multiple negotiations—bilateral, minilateral, and multilateral—designed to induce, end, or alter specific actions by the parties concerned,” said Emmerson in a statement the Angara Centre released ahead of yesterday’s forum. US support
In a separate interview, the US ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) reaffirmed American support for the Philippines’ peaceful efforts to resolve its maritime dispute with China. Jakarta-based David Carden, who is visitingManila this week for a US-led youth summit and to meet with Philippine officials and agencies, also said unilateral moves that tended to raise tensions should be avoided. “We don’t take sides in… territorial disputes. But we do believe, all disputes of whatever nature should be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law. We have a deep stake, as does the rest of the world in that case,” Carden said in an interview. ■
Philippine News
13 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Gov’t gives cash-strapped housing body P12B BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer THE AQUINO administration had to pump in P12 billion in emergency funds to state-run Home Guaranty Corp. (HGC) last month to help it pay off debts and avert the collapse of its financing program for socialized and low-cost housing. HGC president Manuel Sanchez said his company was not bankrupt but only “cashstrapped” as it was loaded with properties that it could not sell fast enough. The HGC provides risk guarantees and fiscal incentives to spur private and public lending to socialized and low-cost houses. Sanchez said the government had to give the HGC a lifeline after it was faced with debts last month of which P12 billion was for the zero-coupon bonds issued by his predecessor, Gonzalo Bongolan, who went on an ill-advised borrowing spree during the Arroyo administration. “We had to borrow P12 billion from the government to ensure our continued operations. Without the loan, we will be forced to stop and the housing sector will be in peril,” HGC said. Sanchez said roughly 70 percent of HGC’s guarantees covered socialized (each worth P400,000 and below) and low-cost (P2 million and below) housing projects. “We have no choice but to offer a sovereign guarantee. No private or public institution will lend to the housing sector without our guarantee.” Old Bilibid for sale
Sanchez said the HGC had committed to pay off its debts to the government quickly by fast- tracking the sale of big- ticket items such as the Old Bilibid property and the national government compound in Quezon City to raise cash. The HGC has P31 billion in real estate holdings but most of these were either locked in legal battles with their previous owners or occupied by squatters, hampering their disposition. Sanchez is also hoping that the government would convert these advances as capital into the HGC as it only has P13.573 billion in paid-up capital out of the P50billion capitalization under its charter. The HGC is also lobbying to triple the government’s annual subsidies from P500 million to P1.5 billion to give it a more solid financial footing. COA findings
The Commission on Audit ( COA) said HGC, which has P78.339 billion in total guarantees, had a high risk of not paying its guarantees because its reserve fund of P536 million was only 0.24 percent of total approved guaranty lines ( P222.286
billion) and 0.68 percent of total outstanding guarantee (P78.339 billion). Under Bongolan, who led HGC from 2001 to 2010, it issued a combined P22 billion worth of debt papers dubbed zero-coupon bonds (that pay no periodic interests but its face value is paid on maturity date) in three tranches—2002 (P7 billion), 2004 (P3 billion) and 2007 (the P12 billion which matured last month). Less the yield to investors and the commissions of issuers, the HGC raised only P12.136 billion from these bond floats or 55 percent of the amount it borrowed. An HGC official, who refused to be named for lack of authorization from management, said that Bongolan’s borrowing binge was a “bad decision” as it merely delayed the pain. The bonds in 2004 and 2007 were issued “out of desperation” as HGC could not pay off its original bond issue in 2003, the HGC official pointed out. Losses understated
The same HGC official said the previous management also jacked up the value of its assets while understating its losses as pointed out by a COA report in 2008—the assets were booked at P2.682 billion while the appraised value was P793 million. Losses were understated by P1.9 billion. Despite facing losses and substantial loan payments, the previous management rewarded themselves with hefty bonuses and perks, the HGC official said. In its 2012 annual audit report released last October, the COA said that HGC had been “continuously incurring losses since 2002 as the prepaid financial charges caused a negative impact on HGC’s earnings as it was forced to pay a low of P241 million in 2002 and a high of P1.313 billion in 2010 to service its debts. The COA recommended that HGC “refrain from turning to the capital market for liquidity through bond flotation as this would generate more losses and deficits for the corporation due to the enormous financial charges that the bonds carry.”
Palace to... ❰❰ 6
safety.”
in the disputed waters, as this could trigger “concerns about civil aviation and nautical
Rules-based approach
These concerns, he said, would be the “practical consequence” of any move that would escalate tensions in the region. “We continue to insist on a rulesbased approach there and take into consideration the welfare of all [the claimants],” Coloma said. “And we join the other Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries in the hope that the promulgation of [a] code of conduct (in the sea) will be expedited in the light of recent developments,” he added, referring to China’s declaration of the East China Sea air defense zone, which Japan, the United States, the Philippines and other countries oppose. President Aquino has not given fresh instructions to the DFA concerning Ma’s statement, Coloma said. “Suffice it to say that the DFA continues to monitor the situation closely and will adopt appropriate actions as needed,” he said.
Japan trip
President Aquino will travel to Tokyo next week for a visit aimed at strengthening relations with Japan and other Asean countries. Besides the United States, Japan is the Philippines’ strategic defense partner and top trade partner. A Palace advisory shows that the President will attend the 40th Asean-Japan “commemorative summit” in Tokyo from Dec. 12 to 15. The summit, which will celebrate the Asean-Japan “Friendship and Cooperation” partnership, is an opportunity for Asian leaders to engage in wide-ranging discussions of issues affecting the region. President Aquino supports the proposed code of conduct in the West Philippine Sea to prevent the rivalry for territory among the claimants from erupting into armed confrontations. Pending conclusion of the code, Mr. Aquino is pressing for adherence to a 2002 agreement for the observance of the status quo by all the claimants to territory in the sea. The United States, Japan and other countries support the proposed code of conduct between Asean and China. ■
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Sinking fund
The COA also noted that had the HGC “religiously adhered” to its commitment to remit annually to a sinking fund administered by the Bureau of Treasury from 2003 to 20011, it could have paid off all its bond dues and still have a surplus of P7.569 billion. Bongolan did not reply to the INQUIRER’s query. He was part of the tight-knit group led by Michael T. Defensor who controlled the housing portfolio in the Arroyo administration. The group included incumbent Marikina Rep. Romero Quimbo, who was Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-Ibig) president from 2001 to 2009. ■
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Philippine News
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 14
Kerry to discuss ‘Yolanda’ plan in PH
cudero said. To dispel suspicions that the fund will be a form of pork barrel under the executive’s control, Escudero said the joint resolution provides that the executive can’t avail of the funds “unless they submit a special budget to the DBM which they have to post in their website and give it tous.” Meanwhile, Lacson said he was looking to tap the the private sector in rebuilding more climate-resilient communities in the Eastern Visayas to avoid delays due to “bureaucratic red tape.” “The role of the government, my role, is as an enabler, to monitor and oversee, to look at funding gaps that could be filled through other donations,” he told reporters at a Chinese Embassy reception. Lacson said involving the private sector would allow a more speedy implementation of the rehabilitation project, as the disbursement of public funds would suffer delays. “If we use government funds, we will have to deal with bu❰❰ 8
BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer US SECRETARY of State John Kerry will visit Manila sometime this month to discuss with Philippine officials how the United States can contribute to the country’s efforts in rebuilding the typhoon-devastated Eastern Visayas and expand further the cooperation between the two allies. In a press briefing in Washington, Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson of the US State Department, confirmed Kerry’s December trip to the Philippines but gave no details on the dates and possible length of stay in Manila. Harf said Kerry recently spoke over the phone with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who expressed the Philippine government’s gratitude for the “overwhelming support” that the United States gave to the relief and recovery operations in the areas of the country devastated
Calamity fund...
US Secretary of State John Kerry. PHOTO BY S_BUKLEY / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” “Secretary Kerry noted that it is an honor to help a good friend and that the United States will continue to stand by the Philippines during this difficult time,” Harf said at the briefing, a transcript of which was posted on the State Department website. “He looks forward to visiting the Philippines later this year to reaffirm our commitment to reconstruction and to discuss awide range of bilateral and re-
gional issues,” she added. Kerry was supposed to visit the Philippines in October in place of US President Barack Obama, who was forced to cancel a tour of Southeast Asia because of the partial US government shutdown. The secretary, however, decided to postpone the trip because of Tropical Storm “Santi,” which was expected to hit the Philippines at around the time of his scheduled arrival. ■
reaucratic red tape. So how fast can I respond to the destruction?” he said. Lacson said has received an “overwhelming” response from foreign donors and the private sector after his appointment was announced. The Philippine government has already received some P531 million of the roughly P22 billion in foreign aid pledges as of yesterday, according to Malacanang’s Foreign Aid Transparency Hub (FAiTH). A senior UN official meanwhile warned that the rehabilitation of the most devastated communities in Tacloban City and Guiuan, Eastern Samar, will not take place overnight. Before reconstruction efforts even begin, the government needs to thresh out several issues, particularly where to rebuild and how, said Yuri Afanisiev, senior recovery adviser of the UN Development Program (UNDP). ■ With a report from Tarra Quismundo
Leviste released; ‘VIP treatment’ hit BY JAYMEE T. GAMIL AND JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer AN ANTICRIME group denounced the release from prison of homicide convict Antonio Leviste and vowed to question the grant of parole to the former governor of Batangas province. Leviste walked out of New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City, a free man again after serving less than half of his 12year sentence for killing his longtime aide, Rafael de las Alas, in 2007. Accompanied by members of his family, Leviste, 73, received his release papers more than two weeks after the Parole and Probation Administration (PPA) granted his application for parole and those of 34 other prisoners. Leviste and his relatives left the prison compound. They were bound for Lipa City in Batangas. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed the grant of parole to Leviste. She said Leviste had com-
plied with all the legal requirements for parole. “I was also told that the family of the victim did not object and [said they had] forgiven Mr. Leviste,” De Lima said in a text message to reporters. But Dante Jimenez, founding chair of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC), condemned the grant of parole to Leviste, who, he said, “was given VIP treatment” in New Bilibid Prison and at one time was caught outside the national penitentiary. “We are outraged and we condemn this parole,” Jimenez said. He said the PPA should inform the public about public hearings involving high-profile convicts like Leviste. “If you recall, the criminal case filed against Mr. Leviste was ‘People of the Philippines vs Leviste,’” Jimenez said. “His crime is against the State so even if he had been forgiven by the family of his victim, the people have the right to be informed and express their objection [to the grant of parole to him].” Jimenez said the VACC would ask the Department of
Justice for documents from the PPA to determine the basis of the parole granted to Leviste. On Jan. 12, 2007, Leviste admitted that he shot and killed De las Alas during an argument in his office in Legaspi Village, Makati City. He was convicted of homicide in 2009 and sentenced to a minimum of six years’ to a maximum of 12 years’ imprisonment in the national penitentiary. Prison Supt. Venancio Tesoro said Leviste was imprisoned for only four years, fivemonths and one day. But with his “good conduct time allowance” and detention in the Makati City Jail during his trial, Leviste had served his minimum sentence, Tesoro said. “His age may have been considered. He is already 73 years old,” Tesoro said. According to Tesoro, the PPA approved Leviste’s parole application on Nov. 19 but prison authorities took two weeks to review Leviste’s records. “If he had [derogatory records] with the board of discipline here, his [application for] parole would have been denied. www.canadianinquirer.net
But there were no derogatory records so we processed his release papers,” Tesoro said. It seems Leviste’s “excursions” out of prison were not considered a violation of his sentence. In 2011, a television network discovered and exposed the special accommodations prison officials were extending to Leviste. On May 19, 2011, National Bureau of Investigation agents found Leviste in his Makati office. They arrested him and took him back to the prison. The discovery created a scandal at the Bureau of Corrections, leading to the resignation of the agency’s head, Ernesto Diokno, and the firing of five New Bilibid Prison officials by the justice department. The corrections bureau brought charges against Leviste, accusing him of evasion of sentence, but Tesoro said the Makati court that heard the case dropped the charges. “Leviste’s argument was that he was given permission by the [corrections bureau] to see his doctor,” Tesoro said. The VACC’s Jimenez said his group would question the
court’s decision to drop the charges against Leviste and might also move for the investigation of the judge. Had Leviste been convicted, he would have been meted out a sentence of two to six years’ imprisonment in addition to his original sentence, Jimenez said. As a result of his caper, however, Leviste lost his living-out privileges and he was transferred to the maximum security compound from theminimum security compound of the prison. Now he is free again, though not totally free. Tesoro said Leviste had to report regularly to a parole officer and maintain his good behavior. He added that Leviste would be under parole supervision “until he serves his maximum sentence of 12 years.” His parole papers, released by the PPA, state that, among other things, he should live in just one place and that he cannot engage in illegal activities or own a firearm. He also cannot socialize with criminals. ■
Philippine News
15 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Solon’s aide tied to fake Saro in hiding BY NANCY C. CARVAJAL AND GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer
Nuño said she did not know that his staff was the “Manny” being investigated in the Saro scam until shewas told by reporters.
AN AIDE to Zamboanga City Rep. Lilia Macrohon-Nuño is in hiding and could be the link to a syndicate in the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) engaged in releasing fake special allotment release orders (Saros), according to a source involved in investigating the scam. A Saro is a document issued by the DBM that allows the release of funds for lump-sum items, such as the Priority Development Assistance Fund, also known as pork barrel. Investigators identified the aide as Manny Raza whom the National Bureau of Investigation is investigating in connectionwith the fake Saro scam upon the request of Nuño. Raza was invited to appear at the NBI office, but was a no-show. “He is the link to the fake Saro scheme and could identify his source from the DBM,” said the INQUIRER source. The source said Raza was linked to the scheme by Joel Badong, a member of the secretariat staff of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. The source said that the fake Saro hand-carried by Enrico Arao, aide to Cagayan Rep. Baby Aline Vargas-Alfonso, to the Cagayan Valley office of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in October came from Badong. Badong had appeared before the NBI and pointed to Raza as the source of the fake Saro. Belmonte said that he had ordered the transfer of Badong, a staff member of the House appropriations committee, to the Office of the Secretary General while the NBI was looking into the case. The committee served as the clearinghouse of all pork barrel fund releases to lawmakers. Belmonte said the “appropriations committee does not issue or receive any Saros” as these were sent directly by the DBM to the implementing agencies. “I’m not prejudging anybody here. He is indirectly under me. I found it prudent to transfer him. This is not a (form of ) punishment,” the Speaker said.
Leave of absence
Saro from secretariat
Arao told the INQUIRER that he “got the Saro from the [House] secretariat staff and I thought it was genuine.” The source also said that “a total of 12 fake Saros are the subject of the inquiry and at least four of the bogus documents have already surfaced.” The widening probe on fake Saros involved P879 million worth of farm-tomarket road projects to be implemented by the DA. Earlier, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said that among the fake Saros for the farm-to-market road projects were
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
meant for Regions II (Cagayan Valley), IVA (Calabarzon), VI (Western Visayas) and XII (Soccsksargen). DA regional officers stumbled upon the fake Saros, prompting Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to order the immediate invalidation of the documents. Jaresco’s aide
The source also said that Aklan Rep. Ted Jaresco had also asked the NBI to investigate a member of his staff, Maryanne Castillo, in connection with a P10million fake Saro. Castillo appeared before the NBI yesterday and admitted that she was the one who had given the fake Saro to Jaresco’s chief of staff, Norman Tayag. Castillo told the NBI that she did not know the person who gave the bogus Saro to her and “could no longer remember his face.” “I did not know it was a fake Saro and I presumed regularity because it came from somebody in the office. I submitted it to the DA in good faith,” Arao said. The fake Saro submitted to the DA was worth P161 million. Arao said he had already provided the NBI the name of the person who gave him the fake Saro.
if they will be the one to investigate,” he added. Holdover staff
Nuño, a neophyte lawmaker who used to serve as councilor, said she was “shocked” that one of her “office clerks,” Raza, had in his possession the Saros meant for Cagayan Valley. Nuño claimed that Raza and three other staffmembers in her Batasan office were holdovers from her predecessor and partymate, Erbie Fabian of the Nacionalista Party. She said she took in Raza, who has been working in Congress since 2007, because he was recommended by Fabian.
House probe
Based on the House’s preliminary investigation, Belmonte tagged Raza as the source of the fake Saro given to Arao, Alfonso’s aide. Belmonte said Raza was in possession of several Saros, including those for Cagayan Valley that the latter had wanted to give to Alfonso’s office. The Speaker said Raza got in touch with Badong, who in turn referred Raza to Bong Pelonio, chief of staff of Alfonso. “Apparently the guy from appropriations (Badong) is a good friend of her (Vargas-Alfonso) COS (Pelonio). They know and talk to each other,” said Belmonte. Belmonte said he was holding any action against the congressional staffers until after the NBI has finalized its probe. “I prefer first of all the NBI get to the bottom of it. I certainly don’t like to preempt them and to appear like I’m protecting anybody. That’s why it is better www.canadianinquirer.net
In a letter addressed to Nuño, Raza requested a month long leave of absence to clear his name and spare her office from “unfair publicity.” Raza wrote that it was “unfortunate” that his name was dragged into the scam but he did not say why he had the fake Saros worth P161 million for Cagayan Valley. Nuño acknowledged that she had a pending request for P20 million farmto-market road projects from the DA this year but she could not say if Raza already had the Saros for this project. The lawmaker said that she was unfamiliar with the Saro process as she had not received any pork barrel since coming into office in July. Like Nuño, Alfonso denied having any knowledge of the fake Saros although two of her staff members, Pelonio and Arao, had been identified as having handled the fake Saros, which serve as proof that a state project poised for bidding had already been earmarked for funding for the year. ■
Opinion
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 16
THERE’S THE RUB
Greatness By Conrado De Quiros Philippine Daily Inquirer “THIS IS one of the countries that had been very successful in overcoming the legacy of colonialism, of poverty, of ignorance, and we stand to gain a great deal by associating with it.” That was what Nelson Mandela said when he came here in March 1997. He was probably just being his normal gracious self. His host country might have been many things, but it wasn’t one that had successfully overcome colonialism, poverty and ignorance. Proof of it is that few Filipinos now even remember, or know, he was here. As it was, even then few Filipinos understood they were in the presence of greatness. Certainly, not the officials who were on hand to meet him, which included President Fidel Ramos, Vice President Joseph Estrada, Senate President Ernesto Maceda, and House Speaker Jose de Venecia. A day or so after Mandela left, he was forgotten. The saving grace in all this was Cory Aquino. Mandela’s remark was in fact induced by what Cory had done for this country. For which Mandela expressed deep admiration, and which Cory in no small measure returned. It takes the great to truly appreciate the
great. That was a wonderful picture of the two of them shaking each other’s hand and beaming at the world when they met. Two of the simplest people on earth, two of the mightiest people on earth. And the exalted shall be humbled and the humble exalted. That picture also offers an opportunity to compare the two. There are of course considerable differences between them. But I’ll leave others to spell them out, I’ll just dwell on what I consider to be one of the most important. That was the difference in their concepts of reconciliation. For them to have embarked on it at all was a feat of character. Both had suffered a great deal. Mandela had been jailed for 27 years, in the course of which he had endured not just tremendous physical deprivation but tremendous spiritual devastation in the deaths of comrades. Cory was never detained, but her husband was for over 10 years, only to come back from exile and be greeted by an assassin’s bullet. When they arose from such abject depths to topple regimes that seemed destined to last forever—Cory came first, which was writing on the wall about tyrants having been weighed and found wanting—they startled the world some more by calling for reconciliation. Mandela’s, though, was by far the
deeper. He might have called for forgiving—he realized, he said, that if he had taken on a more vindictive path, South Africa would have been locked in strife that would assure no end to bloodletting—but he did not call for forgetting. Instead he assured there would be no forgetting by mounting a Truth Commission headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, himself a Nobel Peace Prize winner, whose purpose was not to prosecute those who had persecuted during apartheid but to make even them see the evil of their former cause. And in the
Before forgiveness, there was cknowledgment of the monumental sin. Before reconciliation, there was atonement. process make the people remember. Before forgiveness, there was acknowledgment of the monumental sin. Before reconciliation, there was atonement. That was what we never had, thereby producing contrasting results. Today, despite the many problems that lie in the path of unifying South Africa, nobody will be found there extolling apartheid’s virtues and saying how so much better it was in the past. Today, the Marcoses are saying precisely that
about martial law in YouTube and elsewhere. More to the point, having secured a foothold in government, they are making a bid to wrest it back. Mandela wrought the far deeper change from a far worse situation. In that respect, he is without peer. In many other respects however, he and Cory were the equal of each other. They were both of rocklike and unwavering faith, the kind that moved mountains. Cory with her religious conviction of the providential hand that guides human affairs, Mandela with his humanist conviction of the human capacity to transcend. That was what made them rise from adversity, that was what made them conquer adversity. If people could be taught to hate, Mandela said, they could be taught to love as well, the latter being more natural to the human heart. Wherever their faith came from, it gave them a sense of being part of something larger than themselves, the mover of a grand purpose that lay beyond themselves. Some call it selflessness, some call it prophetic vision, some call it a sense of destiny. Whatever it was, it made them move mountains. All the while imagining themselves to have remained molehills. That was the other thing they had in common, a profound humility, a tremendous
appreciation for others, a sense of being dwarfed by the expanse of human striving and the depth of human talent. It was no small irony that Mandela kept saying, while he was here, that no leader was irreplaceable, at a time when Ramos was contemplating of staying around a little longer than the law allowed. Cory would say the same thing: She had done her part, others could pick up where she left off and do even better. Ah, but the great never see themselves as great, they see themselves only as standing on the shoulders of giants. When Cory died, the world stopped too. This country in particular, Cory having the remarkable distinction of toppling two tyrants during her sojourn on earth, the first while in the flush of life, the second while in the throes of death. It was her passing that sounded the death knell for the past regime too. So has the world stopped for Mandela now. And fittingly so, at a time of year when, whatever your faith, Christian or non-Christian, religious or secular, your thoughts turn to hope. No one embodied hope more than Mandela, in the pain and glory of his struggle, in the depth and richness of his humanity, in the simplicity and grandness of his life. A simple man has gone. A great man has remained. ■
ANALYSIS
1994 election of Mandela remembered By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer AS WORLD leaders mourn the passing of Nelson Mandela, international media are replete with recollections of that historic moment in history, on May 2, 1994, when in an all-race democratic election, South Africa voted Mandela as its first black president, dismantling its globally loathed apartheid policy of racial segregation of blacks, coloreds and whites in a society dominated by the Afrikaner white minority who were descended from Dutch-based European settlers. The watershed election is widely credited for ending years of oppression under apartheid but more so ushered in an era of reconciliation initiated by Mandela after his election, despite his incarceration for 27 years as a leader of the antiaparthied movement. Obituaries on Mandela, who was elected president at the late age of 75 after the prime of his life was stolen by nearly three decades in prison, have claimed, according to a report in London’s Financial Times, that “one of Mandela’s greatest successes was reconciling the Afrikaner community that controlled the military, government and much of the economy, realizing it would be crucial if the country was to make the transition to
democracy and avoid civil war.” The report went on: Once Mandela took office, “he made reconciliation his key priority … he was willing to reach out to the oppressors that jailed him for 27 years, with no signs of bitterness, helped him to attain his iconic status.” As president, he retained the services of the white heads of the police and the central bank. “He knew that South Africa could ill-afford a mass exodus of those who in 1994 had the monopoly on skills and capital, according to this assessment,” the report said. “Mandela’s efforts, including his support of traditionally Afrikaner sports such as rugby, helped overcome the mistrust many white Africans intrinsically felt toward black people. But today, with his death coming at a time of mounting economic and social pressures in South Africa since the end of apartheid almost 20 years ago, many Afrikaners worry about the future without its trusted moral compass,” the report added. The significance of the May 1994 election of Mandela remains vivid to international journalists. Among those who covered the transcendental event was the Philippine observer team, which was sent by the United Nations to South Africa, along with teams from Western Europe, Eastern Europe,
Canada and the United States. The elections were one of the most widely covered in the world after the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution. Alexandra I was posted at a polling station at Alexandra in the Soweto township, a slum suburb of Johannesburg where Mandela lived in his early 20s, as a lawyer campaigning against apartheid. At the break of day on May 2, 1994, my team was roused from bed to be
[T]oday, with his death coming at a time of mounting economic and social pressures in South Africa since the end of apartheid almost 20 years ago, many Afrikaners worry about the future without its trusted moral compass— Report in London’s Financial Times driven to our assigned polling station in Alexandra, a dusty and crime-ridden black community. Mandela is reported to have participated in bus boycotts there. He stayed in Alexandra until 1943, describing the house in his autobiography as “no more than a shack, with a
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dirt floor, no heat, no electricity, no running water,” but it “was a place of my own and I was happy to have it,” the Associated Press reported. Noor Nieftagodien was a coauthor of a book on the history of Alexandra and a teacher at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. “There’s a sense among (Alexandra) residents, that they played such an important role. And people there will say they gave birth to Mandela, the radical politician. It completely transformed him. The lack of development of the old Alexandra is an indictment of the new South Africa,” he wrote. Procession of people I was started to see a procession of people shuffling across the horizon on their way to the polling stations. These were black people, poor and with very little education, who had never voted in their lives, taking their new right to suffrage seriously, without any mentorship on democracy from the apartheid regime. The sight struck me deeply, when I recalled that here was a politically illiterate people who didn’t have to be carted to the polling stations to vote. I was disgusted to realize that in contrast to our system in the Philippines, a free election was taking place where there was no report of tampering of the pro-
cess or irregularities even coming from the apartheid regime, the independent Electoral Commission, or the dominant antiaparthied black African National Congress (ANC) that fielded Mandela against the regime’s candidate. We, foreign observers, were briefed by the Electoral Commission to be strictly neutral. At the polling station, inside the precinct, a black woman voter asked my assistance to write her vote on her behalf. I told her that I was forbidden to do so, so I referred her to the Electoral Commission official. The woman voted and left. The ballot was simple. It carried only two sets of symbols, one for the ANC and the other for the regime’s candidate. The voter had only to tick party symbols, not write names. It was block voting at its simplest form. By contrast, after democratic tutelage since our first election in 1902, Filipinos have to write scores of names on the ballot up until today. Every election since has been marked by charges of election cheating. It shamed me to see the outcome of South Africa’s first all-race election as a clean and free election. It not only elected Mandela. It was more than that. It marked a promising start for its democratic transition from apartheid. ■
Opinion
17 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
VIEWPOINT
‘Green wall’ By Juan L. Mercado Philippine Daily Inquirer They call it—what? “The green wall,” our banker friend said. He oversees banks in the Visayas. Mangroves in Eastern Samar buffered the storm surge that killed thousands elsewhere, his clients stated. That’s correct, noted Neil Chatterjee writing for Bloomberg. In Southeast Asia, replanted mangroves are getting credit for protecting communities against tsunamis and supertyphoons such as “Yolanda” in the Philippines. They trim greenhouse gas emissions. Mangrove regeneration in Northern Samar minimized damage from the Nov. 8 typhoon, Trowel Development Foundation reports. Planting 30 coastal trees, per 100 square meters, may reduce the flow of a tsunami up to 90 percent, the journal Science concludes from a study of the 2004 tsunami that killed 220,000 people in Aceh, Indonesia. We protected mangroves against illegal cutting, e-mailed Leonardo Rosario, a development consultant on the Northern Samar project. Areas surrounding fish farms were planted with native mangrove species. They buffered residents and fish farms from the brute force of Yolanda.
Mangroves in the Philippines, however, are cut or paved over with concrete at a rate of 1 percent a year. They’re “very much degraded,” notes Daniel Murdiyarso, a forestry scientist at the Bogor, Indonesia-based Center for International Forestry Research. Indonesia’s mangrove loss is four times higher than the government’s figure. Had the mangroves in Leyte and Eastern Samar been conserved, the storm surge would have been dissipated by 70 to 80 percent of its strength, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje estimates. The devastation of Tacloban, which faces open seas, was aggravated because no mangroves provided a buffer. Affected coastlines once had extensive mangroves and beach forest areas. But most were converted into squatter settlements, others for projects. President Aquino directed the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to “earmark P350 million for the restoration of the ‘green wall.’” Priority will focus on Leyte. “Tacloban is a major concern given its being a major population center. But the undertaking will cover practically the entire eastern seaboard of Eastern Visayas,” Paje says. Mangroves on marine coasts and estuaries may help low-lying coastal areas adapt to rising sea levels, which could uproot 13.6 million Filipinos by
2050, the Asian Development Bank projected in an earlier study titled “Addressing Climate Change and Migration in Asia and the Pacific.” Countries like the Philippines must redo earlier estimates of a 20-centimeter rise in sea level. It will probably double. And this threat runs “along the Pacific seaboard: from Samar to eastern Mindanao,” Wendy Clavano wrote in “Environmental Science for Social Change.”
Had the mangroves in Leyte and Eastern Samar been conserved, the storm surge would have been dissipated by 70 to 80 percent of its strength, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje estimates. Not everyone agrees. “I’ve been in far too many disaster areas as a member of the Unesco International Tsunami Survey Team,” said Brian McAdoo, professor of science at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. “And I’ve seen too many coastal forests overwhelmed to put much faith in trees being effective defenses against a tsunami.” Article 51 of the Philippine Water Code (Presidential Decree No. 1067) bars people from building in shores of the seas and lakes throughout their en-
tire length and within a zone of three meters in urban areas. That goes up to 20 meters in agricultural areas and 40 meters in forest areas, “along their margins (and) are subject to the easement of public use in the interest of recreation, navigation, floatage, fishing and salvage.” But it is a law honored more in the breach than in the observance. Now, the 5,924—and still rising—Yolanda deaths require political reform. “The onus is on local government officials to restore their mangrove areas and beach forests,” Paje says. It is at the local level where reform takes root or withers. “Better three hours too soon than a minute too late,” Shakespeare once said. Yolanda clobbered us before what the world’s top scientist on mangroves has been insisting all along started to sink in. She is a Filipino, Time Magazine pointed out. In its 2008 cover story on 100 of the world’s top environmental scientists, Time reported about Jurgenne Primavera, former senior scientist at Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center in Panay, campaigning to protect mangrove forests that act as a crucial buffer zone between land and sea. Roughly a fourth of mangrove forests here have disappeared since 1980. Time’s Hanna Beech noted in her re-
port on Primavera: One of aquafarming’s side effects is to wreck mangroves—a plant network that sponges nasty effluents and are a barricade against typhoons and tsunamis. The propensity to introduce exotic seafood species into local habitats—as opposed to farming native species—can also badly damage delicate ecosystems. Save some mangroves so aquaculture flourishes sustainably, Primavera urges in the just-published “Manual on Community-based Mangrove Rehabilitation.” Backed by the Zoological Society of London, the book distills lessons from rearing 58,000 seedlings of a dozen mangrove species in on-site nurseries. Some, 100,000 wildings and nursery seedlings were planted by 4,000 volunteers from nongovernment organizations, church groups, etc. It stitches biophysical and sociopolitical “do’s and don’ts” when trying to build “a green wall.” As interest in rehabilitating mangroves grows in the wake of the devastation from Yolanda, search the Net for this link: https:// www.zsl.org/conservation/regions/ asia/mangrove-philippines/iucnmangrove-specialist-group,2261,AR. html. But then, when did countries ever listen to their own prophets? ■
stops at the quaint villages like Fuschl, St. Gilgen, and Mondsee. The last has a basilica which might look familiar to “SOM” fans as the church where Captain von Trapp married Maria. (Still lingering in memory is the overhead shot showing Maria’s l… o…o…o…ng bridal train). I had fantasized about doing a “Maria” in the opening scenes of the movie, smack dab in the center of a meadow with the Alps in the background, twirling and singing “The hills are alive with the sound of music.” But we were in the dead of winter, and even the lakes were shrouded in fog. When we trekked from church to village shops, snow crunched underfoot, and snow flurries soon covered our coats and caps with a powdery white coating. So much of the scenery playing out in our minds was the fruit of memory, sparked by a familiar-looking tree or stretch of road. *** Salzburg is an old city that has much more than a Hollywood movie to recommend it. It is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and was a competing power center with Vienna during the Hapsburg Empire. The city’s old center has been impressively preserved, and as a con-
sequence, large vehicles are not allowed on the small, narrow streets. Ruy parked our van in a nearby lot, and then we walked to the foot of a bridge to make our way to the historic center. Just as we set foot on the bridge, we were assaulted by a screaming wind and driving flurry; so, much as I wanted to stop and investigate the locks that lovers had attached to prove their undying love, I rushed across to seek shelter. The old city square has since been taken over by shops, cafés and restaurants, all occupying the ground floor of wonderfully preserved ancient buildings. The city gardens where Maria and the Von Trapp children frolicked as they sang “Do Re Mi” were standing in the gray morning light, the formal flower beds little more than the wan-looking green scrub. Perhaps we should have waited to do our “Sound of Music” tour in sunnier climes, the better to hark back to the movie and the bright memories of childhood it evokes. But we needed to do our Salzburg pilgrimage, if only to say we had “been there” and re-lived a more innocent, more optimistic time in our lives. ■
AT LARGE
Out of Vienna By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer VIENNA—One of the joys of visiting this city is that it can serve as a doorway to other parts of Austria and Europe. Thanks to wonderful highways and scenic views, a road trip can transform into a voyage of discovery. During a spare day, and upon the suggestion of the maître d’hôtel who hails from there, we decided to pay a visit to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia, which lies less than an hour’s drive away. The city is largely off the tourist radar even if it deserves more visitors to its ancient, historic center. We were initially armed with written directions and a suggested itinerary. We were assured that we could walk to a nearby bus station and from there take a short ride to Bratislava. But we weren’t warned about the freezing weather, which made every step we took a struggle. Finally, we hailed a taxicab to take us to the station, but when we told the driver about our final destination, he offered to drive us there and wait while we took in the sights. After a number of inquiries and a helpful student who offered to ride with us and show us the way to Bratislava’s old city center (I felt like
a contestant on “Amazing Race”), we finally found ourselves standing on the cobblestone streets of the old town, with the Bratislava Castle looming high up in the mountains, mantled in green. *** We debated whether we should tag behind a tour group and its Englishspeaking guide but decided in the end to wander off on our own. Feeling hunger pangs, we turned a corner and found a narrow lane lined with an antique shop on one side, and a small café on the other. Entering the café, we were led into a tiny atrium, surrounded on all sides by glass windows, and furnished shabby-chic style. Given the time of year, the central square was given over to a Christmas market that featured not just the usual stalls vending Christmas trinkets and gift items, but also an outdoor eating place, the square lined with stalls selling roasted sausages, crepes, sandwiches and breads. We had lunch on our feet, subsisting on sausages with rye bread (apparently, the sausage was a relative of the Polish kilbasa) and Christmas punch, a mix of heated mulberry wine and fruits. Save for the modern garb of the
crowd, we could have been standing in the middle of a medieval fair, with children running about, biting into sugared apples, and babies wrapped up in thick blankets on wheeled carriages, their shining faces peeking through. *** It was a trip back to a more recent past on a day-long outing to Salzburg. Of course we reasoned we wanted to take a look at a different part of Aus-
Salzburg is an old city that has much more than a Hollywood movie to recommend it. It is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and was a competing power center with Vienna during the Hapsburg Empire. tria, but the truth is that memories of “Sound of Music” were playing in our minds. In fact, Ruy, our driver-tour guide would play a CD of the movie soundtrack whenever we would drive past familiar scenery, shifting from English to Spanish as he guided our mixed group. Before entering Salzburg, we took a quick tour of the lake district, with
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FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
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FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS PHOTO BY CLICK IMAGES / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Harper arrives in South Africa to pay final respects to Nelson Mandela The Canadian Press JOHANNESURG, SOUTH AFRICA— A Canadian delegation landed in Johannesburg, South Africa today to pay final respects to Nelson Mandela. The contingent headed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper with a host of notable politicians left the airport in a 14-vehicle motorcade with the prime minister in a silver Toyota SUV. The group includes former prime ministers Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien and Kim Campbell. Opposition leader Tom Mulcair is with them, as is one of Mandela’s former lawyers, Quebec MP Irwin Cotler, representing the Liberals. The delegation includes the premiers of the Yukon, Nova Scotia and Alberta and Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. Alberta Premier Alison Redford worked with Mandela to develop South Africa’s legal system. Former prime minister Joe Clark, Mulroney’s foreign minister when his government pushed South Africa to free Mandela, is already in South Africa. The delegation will join world leaders at a memorial for Mandela in Johannesburg on Tuesday and will be on hand in Pretoria on Wednesday
Prime Minister Harper paid his respects to Mandela by signing a book of condolence at Parliament Hill in Ottawa. PHOTO FROM OTTAWACITIZEN.COM
when the former president’s body lies in state. A state funeral will be held Sunday for Mandela, who died last Thursday at the age of 95. The flight brought Harper and predecessors Chretien, Mulroney and Campbell together in close quarters in an aircraft Chretien once dubbed dubbed the “Taj Mahal,” a reference to the front stateroom installed when Mulroney bought a fleet of the jetliners during his time in office. But the animosity of the past seems to have dissipated, at least on the surface. “I’m not a grumpy politician anymore,” Mulroney said with a smile as he spoke of the significance of being in such close proximity with his former rivals.
“I’m a statesman now.” As Chretien took one of his trademark strolls to the back of the plane, the former Liberal prime minister openly lamented that he never used this particular aircraft during his three terms in office, mainly because of the way he painted Mulroney as a free-spending politician with a taste for Gucci. Chretien also expressed his disappointment that Canada doesn’t put its former prime ministers to work for the country’s betterment and to promote international relations after they leave office. “It’s not our tradition,” he said. “And it’s too bad.” It was a less-than-subtle point that ❱❱ PAGE 35 Harper arrives
15-year-old girl charged in shocking Mississauga murder BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer MISSISSAUGA—What started out as joyful preparations for the coming Christmas season has ended up in grief-filled planning for a funeral for a Filipino family from Streetsville, after the family’s father of two was stabbed to death—reportedly by his 15-year-old daughter.
PUBLIC SAFETY MINISTER ANNOUNCES RCMP UNIT TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING
The crime took place in the quiet suburban neighbourhood near Mavis Rd. and Matheson Blvd., where neighbours are still aghast over the incident. Never could they have imagined the extent of violence that would occur within the walls of the family’s home. Neighbour Claudia SawyersJames expressed her disbelief over the tragic incident. “I’m very shocked,” she said Wednesday, a day after the deadly disagreement
happened in her neighbours’ home. “They’re such a nice family.” Sawyers-James recalled that she was on her way to pick her daughter up from school around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday when she saw the husband with his wife and their 18-year-old son happily decorating the front of their house. She said that “everything seemed fine.” She recounted that upon her re❱❱ PAGE 38 15-year-old girl
MONTREAL—The federal public safety minister has announced the creation of an RCMP enforcement team to help fight human-trafficking. Steven Blaney says significant progress has been made over the past year but that much work remains to be done on what he calls the despicable crime of modern-day slavery in Canada. Blaney also released the 2012-2013 annual report on progress of a national action plan to combat human-trafficking. The plan involves 18 federal departments and is described in a statement as a comprehensive blueprint to guide the government’s fight against the serious crime of human-trafficking. The RCMP unit will work closely with law-enforcement partners in Quebec to fight humantrafficking in Canada and abroad. HOUSING STARTS FALL IN NOVEMBER OTTAWA—Canada’s much-scrutinized housing market showed signs of softening last month, with starts falling a little further than expected but still to levels many analysts consider too strong to sustain. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Monday housing starts declined to an annualized rate of 192,235 in November, three per cent lower than October’s result and about 3,000 fewer than economists expected. PETITION TO DECRIMINALIZE POT COMES UP SHORT VICTORIA—A British Columbia pot activist has come up 100,000 signatures short in his province-wide petition to decriminalize marijuana. Sensible BC Director Dana Larsen has been collecting signatures since the summer in an attempt to eventually propose a law that would prevent police from enforcing simple marijuana possession laws.
World News
19 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Rob Ford tells Conrad Black he’s ready to take urine test to prove he’s clean The Canadian Press TORONTO, ONTARIO—Toronto’s embattled mayor has told ex-media mogul Conrad Black he’s willing to submit to a urine test to prove he has no drugs or alcohol in his system. Rob Ford’s comments have aired in a promotional clip for an interview with Black that was recorded last week and will air on Vision TV on Monday night. Ford has been under scrutiny since May, when two media outlets reported the existence of an alleged video which showed the mayor smoking what appeared to be crack cocaine. After a string of denials, Ford stunned observers last month
by admitting he had smoked crack in one of his “drunken stupors.” The mayor is also facing allegations he offered purported gang members money and a car in exchange for a video—unproven claims contained in police documents that are part of a guns and gangs investigation. Meanwhile Black—who served 37 months in a Florida prison after being convicted in the U.S. for fraud and obstruction of justice— says Ford should be accorded a full presumption of innocence unless he is justly convicted and “beyond that his accusers should put up or shut up.” Black has argued repeatedly that the U.S. case against him was the result of an unfair prosecution. ■
Rob Ford: Under pressure
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World News
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 20
North Korea purges Kim Jong Un’s influential uncle over “depraved life” of corruption, drugs BY FOSTER KLUG The Associated Press SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA— North Korea announced Monday it had sacked leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle, long considered the country’s No. 2 power, saying corruption, drug use, gambling, womanizing and generally leading a “dissolute and depraved life” had caused Pyongyang’s highest-profile fall from grace since Kim took power two years ago. The removal of Jang Song Thaek, once seen as Kim’s mentor, is the most significant in a series of purges the young leader has conducted in an apparent effort to bolster his power since his father’s 2011 death. But worries remained over whether the expulsion of such a senior figure could instead lead to less stability and open up the possibility of a power struggle. The confirmation that Pyongyang had “eliminated Jang and purged his group,” carried in an unusually detailed and lengthy dispatch by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, was seen by some analysts as a warning against dissent. It came about a week after South Korea’s spy agency said that two of Jang’s closest assistants had been executed for corruption. North Korean state TV showed a still image of two uniformed guards holding Jang by the arms at a meeting of the
country’s Political Bureau as dozens of dark-suited officials seated behind rows of long desks looked on. With tensions on the Korean Peninsula still high following a torrent of threats in March and April by Kim’s government against Washington, Seoul and Tokyo, there were fears in Seoul that confusion in the North could lead to a miscalculation or attack. Experts believe Pyongyang has a handful of crude nuclear bombs. South Korea’s defence ministry said there have been no suspicious military movements, however. The allegations against Jang, 67, couldn’t be independently confirmed, and there was no mention of further punishment for him. Jang, seen by outsiders as the North’s leading supporter of Chinese-style economic reforms, has reportedly been cast down before only to return to power. But Monday’s announcement was especially shrill, even by the standards of North Korea’s state media, suggesting this time he won’t be coming back. “I believe it shows Kim Jong Un is firmly in control and confident enough to remove even the senior-most officials,” said Bruce Klingner, an Asia specialist at the conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank in Washington. “Kim has purged hundreds of officials since ascending the throne two years ago. ... Kim originally
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.
focused his wrath against the military, but by removing Jang, a senior Korea Workers’ Party official, the bloodletting may now be directed against real or imagined enemies within the party structure.” Jang—who is married to Kim Jong Un’s aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, the younger sister of Kim Jong Il—was described as “abusing his power,” being “engrossed in irregularities and corruption,” and taking drugs and squandering money at casinos while undergoing medical treatment in a foreign country. The dispatch also said he had “improper relations with several women and was wined and dined at back parlours of deluxe restaurants.” “Affected by the capitalist way of living, Jang committed irregularities and corruption and led a dissolute and depraved life,” it said. The decision to strip Jang of
PHOTO FROM NPR.ORG
all posts and titles and expel him from the ruling Workers’ Party was made at a Political Bureau meeting of the party’s Central Committee on Sunday. The dispatch also said that the purge would extend to supporters of Jang but did not provide details. A recent state documentary in the North that aired Saturday had all images of Jang removed. Referring to North Korea as a “popular democratic dictatorship,” Monday’s state media dispatch said “Jang seriously obstructed the nation’s economic affairs and the improvement of the standard of people’s living.” Kim Jong Un has vowed to lift the country from poverty while also pursuing a nuclear weapons program that has drawn worldwide criticism— and heavy economic sanctions. The announcement also hint-
ed that Jang was trying to build a powerbase of his own to rival that of the party status quo, saying that he committed anti-party, counter-revolutionary acts and “pretended to uphold the party and leader” while doubledealing behind the scenes. Jang has held a string of senior jobs, including membership in the National Defence Commission, the government’s top ruling body. He served as a leading economic policy official in charge of the push to draw foreign investment, travelling in 2012 to China to discuss the establishment of special economic zones. He had also assumed responsibility for North Korea’s burgeoning sports industry, a pet project of Kim Jong Un’s. Kim Jong Un has reportedly overseen other purges of senior officials, though none as high profile as this one. One of the most notable personnel changes was the 2012 firing of military chief Ri Yong Ho, who was once also dubbed a mentor to Kim Jong Un. State media said he was dismissed in July 2012 due to an unspecified illness, but analysts speculated that Ri was purged because Kim wanted to reshape the power structure. The North publicly executed 17 people last year and 40 this year, according to lawmakers in Seoul who were briefed by South Korea’s spy agency last week. ■
UN says nearly 230 million children under 5 around the world have never had birth registered BY EDITH M. LEDERER The Associated Press NEARLY 230 million children under the age of five around the world have never had their birth registered, which often means they will be barred from education, health care and social security, the U.N. children’s agency said. A report by UNICEF to mark its 67th birthday on Wednesday said globally that amounts to
one in three children under five. Last year, it said, only around 60 per cent of all babies born were registered at birth, with the lowest levels of registration in south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. UNICEF Deputy Director Geeta Rao Gupta said birth registration not only acknowledges a child’s identity and existence but is key “to guaranteeing that children are not forgotten, denied their rights or hidden from the progress of their nations.” “Birth registration—and a
birth certificate—is vital for unlocking a child’s full potential,” Rao Gupta said. “If societies fail to count them, and don’t even recognize that they are there, they are more vulnerable to neglect and abuse. Inevitably, their potential will be severely diminished.” UNICEF said failure to count children not only often excludes them from accessing education, health care and social security but affects the development of their communities www.canadianinquirer.net
and countries. It cited many barriers to birth registration, from parents who are unaware of its importance to cultural barriers and fear of the consequences of reporting a birth including the misuse of personal information such as race, religion or birth out of wedlock. It said children living in rural or remote areas, from poor families, and born to uneducated mothers are most likely not to be registered.
UNICEF called for programs to address the reasons families don’t register children, including high fees and lack of awareness of laws and procedures. The 10 countries with the lowest birth registration levels, according to UNICEF, are: Somalia (3 per cent), Liberia (4 per cent), Ethiopia (7 per cent), Zambia (14 per cent), Chad and Tanzania (16 per cent), Yemen (17 per cent), Guinea-Bissau (24 per cent), Pakistan (27 per cent) and Congo (28 per cent). ■
Motoring
21 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
5 Reasons Why You Gotta Love the 2013 Hyundai Elantra THE 2013 Elantra is an immensely important car for Korean automaker Hyundai. Competition with well-established heavy-hitters in the Canadian marketplace, including the Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic is part of the reason why. This is one of Canada’s hottest market segments, and it’s one that Hyundai has tackled with tremendous success since the launch of their latest Elantra model range. With this in mind, check out our 5 reasons why you gotta love the Hyundai Elantra: 1. Design—Originally launched as a sedan, the Elantra badge has since found its way onto a sleek and sporty coupe variant, as well as a high-versatility ‘GT’ 5-door variant. Hyundai’s world-class “Fluidic Sculpture” styling language helps to set the model range apart, conjuring excitement and exclusivity on the visual front. The 2013 Elantra is now easily accessible as a 2-door Coupe and 5-door hatchback regarded as the GT. 2. Value and features—The Elantra’s highly competitive pricing and generous feature content allows it a product lineup that’s hard to beat where value is concerned. That value has become a staple of Hyundai’s market presence, and a major reason why more shoppers than ever are checking out the brand. Shoppers after a high-value compact car demand selection and choices for their money, and the Elantra offers three unique versions in a class where many competitors only offer one. 3 and 4. Trims and technology— With three different options to choose from, Hyundai has the range of possibilities well covered depending on what interests you: Elantra Sedan: as voted upon by a panel of Canada’s top auto reviewers, the AJAC, the Elantra Sedan was recently called the “Canadian Car of the Year.” That’s a two-thumbs-up from dozens of Canadian experts, and a fantastic reason to check the model out. Elantra also earned the prestigious title of
“2012 North American Car of the Year.” Advanced technologies for safety, convenience and communications abound here, including a standard array of computer-controlled driver assist features designed to help keep the Elantra Sedan confidently in control at all times. Elantra Coupe: For a sportier and more personal driving experience, be sure to check out the Elantra Coupe. Designed to give the Honda Civic Coupe a run for its money, this two-door Elantra variant is as roomy and spacious as the sedan, but more aggressively styled and fun to drive. Revised fascias, dual exhaust outlets and exclusive wheels help set the Elantra Coupe apart from the other models. Look for high-tech features including a proximity keyless entry system, push-button start, voice recognition and more. iPod and USB connectivity is standard, and Bluetooth, touch-screen navigation and a backup camera can all be specified. Elantra GT: European-inspired and tuned for driving pleasure, the Elantra GT brings five-door practicality to the segment with active families, outdoor enthusiasts and pet owners squarely in its sights. The Elantra GT is based on the new generation of the European-market Hyundai i30 model, which is internationally acclaimed for its fuel efficiency and handling. A high-tech, variable-output air conditioning compressor trims away at fuel consumption, while the first application of Hyundai’s DSSM system allows for fine-tuning of the driving experience. That “Driver Selectable Steering Mode” system allows drivers to change the calibration of the Elantra GT’s steering system at the touch of a button to match their current mood and preference. 5. Driving impressions—one word. Fun. This compact car offers complete comfort, and a feeling that you are sitting in a luxury car that embodies the essence of sport and class. The frontwheel drive and response time gives the car a very smooth feel. ■
DON’T PAY FOR
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(AMOUNT SHOWN ON THE 2013 GENESIS 5.0L GDI R-SPEC)
ELANTRA
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0
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Limited model shown
DON’T PAY FOR
ONE YEAR
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DON’T PAY FOR
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FINANCING FOR
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ON SELECT 2013 MODELS
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GLS model shown
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OFFER
DON’T PAY FOR
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DON’T PAY FOR
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ENDS ND
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750
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JAN 2
UP TO $ HOLIDAY PRICE ADJUSTMENTSΩ
UP TO $ HOLIDAY PRICE ADJUSTMENTSΩ
5-year/100,000 km Comprehensive Limited Warranty†† 5-year/100,000 km Powertrain Warranty 5-year/100,000 km Emission Warranty
HyundaiCanada.com
TM The Hyundai names, logos, product names, feature names, images and slogans are trademarks owned by Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. ♦Price of models shown: 2013 Elantra Limited/Accent 5 Door GLS 6-Speed Manual/Sonata Limited/Santa Fe Sport 2.0T Limited AWD are $24,849/ $19,249/$30,649/$40,259. Prices include Delivery and Destination charges of $1,550/$1,550/$1,650/$1,760. Registration, insurance, PPSA, fees, levies, charges, license fees and all applicable taxes are excluded. Delivery and Destination charge includes freight, P.D.E., dealer admin fees and a full tank of gas. †Finance offers available O.A.C. from Hyundai Financial Services. Financing example: 2013 Elantra L 6-Speed Manual for $14,999 (includes $2,500 in price adjustments) at 0% per annum equals $145 bi-weekly for 48 months for a total obligation of $14,999. $0 down payment required (without 12 month payment deferral). Cash price is $14,999. Cost of Borrowing is $0. Example price includes Delivery and Destination of $1,550. Registration, insurance, PPSA, fees, levies, charges, license fees and all applicable taxes are excluded. Delivery and Destination charge includes freight, P.D.E., dealer admin fees and a full tank of gas. ΩPrice adjustments are calculated against the vehicle’s starting price. Price adjustments of up to $2,500/$2,500/$750/$750/$3,000 available on 2013 Elantra L 6-Speed Manual/Sonata SE Auto/Accent 5 Door L 6-Speed Manual/Santa Fe Sport 2.0T Limited AWD/ Genesis 5.0L GDI R-Spec. Price adjustments applied before taxes. Offer cannot be combined or used in conjunction with any other available offers. Offer is non-transferable and cannot be assigned. No vehicle trade-in required. ▼0 payments (payment deferral) for up to 12 months is available on all remaining new in-stock 2013 Hyundai models. Payment deferral offer applies only to purchase finance offers on approved credit. Payments for purchase finance offers are paid in arrears. If 12-month payment deferral is selected, the original term of the contract will be extended by 11 months for monthly finance contracts. Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. will pay the interest of the deferral for the first 11 months of the monthly finance contract. After this period, interest will start to accrue and the purchaser will pay the principal and interest monthly over the remaining term of the contract. A minimum down payment in the amount of 10% of the purchase price is required. †Ω▼♦Offers available for a limited time, and subject to change or cancellation without notice. See dealer for complete details. Dealer may sell for less. Inventory is limited. ††Hyundai’s Comprehensive Limited Warranty coverage covers most vehicle components against defects in workmanship under normal use and maintenance conditions.
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Motoring
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 22
The 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander All new style, all new technology, all new adventures
Introducing the All-New 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander, the most technologically advanced, fuel-efficient rendition of this ultra-versatile Sport Utility Vehicle ever. The Outlander’s sleek, redesigned wide and stable physique, enhanced by a bold character line running the length of the vehicle, luxurious chrome accents and available 18” alloy wheels, immediately makes a statement with eyecatching styling and modern design. Powered by a MIVEC 2.4L or 3.0L engine that offers class-leading fuel economy with uncompromised power and performance. A pure driving experience that will leave you wanting to start a new adventure every day. Intelligent interior
The 2014 Outlander’s sleek, redesigned interior is loaded with advanced functionality and available LCD touch panel display audio with rear-view camera, soft-touch controls, dual zone automatic climate control and push-button en-
gine start-stop on select models. The sophisticated interior provides abundant room for up to seven people in most trims, and plenty of space for cargo. Roomy enough for a weekend adventure and boasting an exceptionally sound-proof cabin, you will be in total comfort and fully enjoy the USB, Bluetooth® hands-free phone interface and streaming audio connectivity. From elegant styling, and efficient and powerful performance to a premium opulent interior, the 2014 Outlander is an intelligent choice.
Get the new 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander with 0% Financing 60 month, 0.9% for 72 month, 1.9% for 84 month (On approved credit). Visit the #1 Mitsubishi dealership in BC—METROTOWN MITSUBISHI—a family owned and operated company that has been a member of Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating for more than 30 years! Offering new and used car sales as well as Mitsubishi Service, Parts and Accessories. ■
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Immigration
23 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Burnaby Newcomers Have Stories To Tell In Burnaby, newcomers trained in the ancient art of storytelling discover they have more than a little to say NAOMI STEINBERG is that rare young person who grew up without a TV in the house. Did it affect her? “I think it did,” she says. When, at 17, she happened to meet someone involved with the Vancouver Society of Storytelling, the connection was instantaneous. Transfixed by the idea of being able to tell stories rather than merely watch them, she became the youngest person at the society’s gatherings, and soon summoned the courage to craft a story herself. Now she not only heads the group but works as a storytelling trainer, a role that recently has had her working with immigrants to Canada. That situation came about after members of the Welcoming Communities initiative of the Burnaby Intercultural Planning Table came to the realization that, while there is no shortage of words on paper about the Canadian immigrant experience, the idea isn’t being brought to life through per-
formance—it isn’t something that people can assign a face to. Some members had recently been to a storytellers’ event, and wondered if immigrant storytellers might be a solution. Enlisted and trained, they could enliven community events and touch people in a more direct way by sharing their personal and cultural stories. And so it has proved to be. As project coordinator Jan Taylor explains, Steinberg’s first batch of grads have told their stories on 47 occasions since July (as of November 1), typically travelling in groups of three to community events of all types. Meanwhile, a second group is currently undergoing training. Burnaby is one of only nine Canadian municipalities with a foreign-born population exceeding 50%, so finding immigrant volunteers was hardly a problem. Steinberg’s first group of 12 included participants born in a half-dozen countries scattered all across
David Lee and Wendy Kao, storytellers from Vancouver Society of Storytelling.
the globe. “In most cultures there is some sort of storytelling tradition,” she says. Birth, death, the struggle to be a good person—themes tend to be as universal as the human condition. In many places storytelling becomes a calling; sharing the news and knowledge is the domain of experts who take on the identities of sage, bard or shaman. Then again, this is the 21st
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century, and there aren’t a lot of places where such traditions persist. And, in fact, says Steinberg, “what happened within these groups feels like more of a contemporary phenomenon.” Even in cases where participants chose a traditional story, they found ways to work it back into their personal situation and the realities of being an immigrant. For example, David Lee
has a PhD in economics and worked for a bank in South Korea until it was folded during the economic crisis of the late 1990s. He moved to Vancouver to open the North American arm of a trading company, and is now a semi-retired consultant. A published poet in Korea, he chose a very traditional tale for his story, that of a poor family facing starvation during a drought. The grandmother insists that she be taken to a mountain cave, where she will die, to conserve food for the others, and ultimately her son relents. Spoiler alert: The story has a happy ending. But if audience members find themselves tearing up a little during the telling, it might be partly due to its significance to Lee. In coming to Canada he had to leave behind his own mother, and she has since died. Then there is Wendy Kao who arrived in Vancouver from ❱❱ PAGE 39 Burnaby Newcomers
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 24
FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS: JEATRIZ DE LEON
Knocking Your Socks Off
BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer IN JUNE of 2004, a Filipino couple moved their entire family to a suburb in Toronto, Canada from Paranaque City with the hopes of giving their kids a better education and a safer living environment. With them flew a young Jeatriz De Leon who found herself over 8,000 miles from home. Overcoming Shyness
Like any kid in a new place, Jeatriz found it challenging to adjust to her new home. “The obvious challenges were definitely adjusting to a new environment and living in a culturally diverse society, despite the time change of course,” she recalled. “In my case, coming here at 11 years of age, my main challenge was making friends. But because of the friendly neighbour-
hood here in Mississauga, I slowly overcame my shyness and made many good friends,” Jeatriz shared. By joining after-school activities and sports teams in elementary school and in high school, and also Youth For Christ Canada, Jeatriz enhanced her interpersonal and leadership skills. An Artistic Fascination
“I started drawing at a very young age,” said Jeatriz, also the illustrator of the children’s book “Socks” which is to be released in Spring 2014. “It's always been an interest of mine because I have always been fascinated with images and colours. Watching cartoons and reading Japanese manga comics helped me a lot and became my drive or motivation to draw as much as I could until I had to stop for the day,” she shared. Jeatriz also talked about her sources of inspiration. “Plants helped me get into it ever since my grandma taught me how to
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take care of them since I was 5 to 6 years old; we would take care of mainly the tropical flowers because of their vibrant colours,” she said. And like any kid, Jeatriz’s biggest influences were her parents and relatives. “I also had people draw me pictures when I was little including my aunt and my dad and I took pride in the drawings they gave me, so I always tried to copy them because they were a big influence on me.”
ror, thumbnails, and character designing. My character designs were mostly made up from the top of my head. Some were inspired in combination with many cartoon and anime shows that I used to watch growing up, and other characters were inspired by nieces and nephews,” she smiled at the last part. She also added, “I also made the characters as diverse as possible because Canada is a multicultural country and that was also a source of inspiration for the book.”
Drawing for “Socks”
The book “Socks” is written by Pat Riccardi. It’s about a young girl who embraced being different by simply wearing her preferred socks in school despite the authorities’ calling her out (and even her parents). It’s a great book to teach children that being different, being yourself, is more than okay—it’s what we should all do, young or old. Jeatriz felt more than pleased and honoured to be part of this project that can influence kids to feel better about themselves, because once when she was young, she also had to adjust and fit in and at the same time learn to be herself in a new place. Illustrating for “Socks”—or any children’s book for that matter—requires a lot of whimsical images and vibrant colors, so how did Jeatriz manage to create all those original artwork? “In terms of creating the illustrations for Socks, there was a lot of trial and er-
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A Message of Hope and Courage
A month after Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ (international name ‘Haiyan’) hit the central Philippine islands of Visayas, Jeatriz shares her message of hope and bravery for her fellow Pinoys. “My message for our fellow Filipinos affected by the Typhoon Haiyan is that even though all of you may have lost your properties, the smiles you all carry, hopes, and your positive energy is such an inspiration to many people, and to me personally, and it is very humbling. You are all such strong people and remember that God is always with you all. I wish that I can be there and be of help physically but I can only hope you're all doing well. The author and I will be fundraising as much as we can to help send some money to help out. God gives the strongest battles to His strongest soldiers and you guys are definitely a few of the many strongest soldiers He has.”■
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
25
Happy Holidays
Christmas-ing ala Pinoy: It’s more fun! BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer “IT’S MORE fun in the Philippines!” A catchphrase we have heard perhaps one-too-many times, and one that I—more than often—do not necessarily agree with. Shame on me for admitting this, but if I had a peso for each time I heard it and snorted in derision, it would be “more fun” in my bank account. I have a love-hate relationship with what has unofficially officially become our nation’s slogan. Beautiful beaches, fabulous fiestas, resolute resilience and sincere smiles: Love! Definitely more fun. Stinky streets, chaotic commute, plundering politicians, dastardly disasters: Hate! Way, way, way less fun. Completely non-fun, actually. You get the general gist of my sentiments. Then there is Christmas; a time of year which the Grinch in me must begrudgingly admit remains “more fun” on most of these 7,107 islands. Barring, of course, the crazy traffic the season brings to the streets of the bigger isles (2x as many cars on the road all at once = double the travel time for ½ the distance + padded cab fees x grumpy cabbies. The stuff math equation nightmares are made of.) Mauricio’s Kreesmas
One of the things I enjoy about Philippine homegrown Christmas is the caroling. Not the monstrosity of a hybrid that is the pop-infused carol medley playing on loop at malls (“Gloooo-oooo-oooooooo-Opa, Gangnam style! In excelsis deo....” and other such crimes against humanity), but the street caroling; that is what I enjoy. Although sometimes a bit of a bother (especially when they come to your door every 15 minutes), it is fun to watch young kids (street urchins and neighbourhood kids alike) sing along to the beat of homemade
Why deal with the crazy crowds at these bazaars? Bargains. And good finds. Plus I must admit, it is quite the adventure. Street hawkers get in on the action, as well; peddling an assortment of Christmas oddities: Snowflake-shaped glasses, plastic bauble Santa figurines, lighted Santa hats, Santameets-the-Easter-Bunny furry blinking rabbit ears, and other unique curio items. Eats the season PHOTO BY KEITH BACONGCO / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
instruments. I enjoy the creativity: Hammered down bottle caps, a hole poked through the middle, strung together on wire make nifty tambourines; empty evaporated milk cans, filled with mung beans, and sealed with cardboard are instant maracas; empty cans, bigger in size are perfect drums. It isn’t just the instruments that are creative; the carol lyrics often are, as well. “Mauricio, a Merry Kreesmas! Mauricio, a Merry Kreesmas! Mauricio, a Merry Kreesmas, and a Happy New Year!” Then there’s Silent Night, with its “round John Virgin…” Priceless. Not so Silent Night
Part-and-parcel of Pinoy holiday festivities is the holiday party. Or, in more accurate Pinoy fashion, “party-party.” From classrooms to boardrooms, houses to streets, celebration is the order of the season. The post-bonus holiday mantra: “Eat, drink, karaoke, repeat.” Office employees and students alike go on a mandatory pre-Christmas diet, skipping lunch break to practice for their Christmas party dance routines (so do not wonder if you see groups moving like Jagger in a parking lot or in a closed store after hours.) A fun element of the Pinoy
party-party is the Kris Kringle or Monito-Monita tradition (Westerners know this as Secret Santa.) Small gifts are exchanged throughout a designated period of time, usually in accordance with a weekly theme. Identities remain secret, under the guise of code names, and are revealed only upon giving the final gift at the party-party. A highlight of the season, the party-party, however, takes a back-seat this year. Many companies and schools have opted (and rightfully so) to tone things down a bit, or skip the party-party entirely, and allocate the budgets instead to help those affected by recent natural disasters Happy Hawkers
Shop ‘til you drop in Christmas tiangges and flea markets. The good thing is, you probably won’t hit the floor, thanks to the body-to-body shopping crowd. Flea-markets and makeshift bazaars capitalizing on the spirit of gift-giving offer a variety of merchandise, from dry goods to food items and everything in between. Shopping in a tiangge wonderland. Favourite holiday bargain haunts include the Greenhills Shopping Center, 168 Mall and Tutuban Night Market, and various pop-up bazaars all around the metro.
A Pinoy Christmas would not be complete without the wonderful eats! Whether simply prepared or a lavish feast, holidays a-la Pinoy call for yummy treats, best shared with family and friends. Even religious traditions like Simbang Gabi are marked by appetizing customs. The smell of bibingka and puto bungbung lingers in the air, and chestnuts roast on an open fire at Manong’s corner stand. Noche Buena usually means Queso de Bola and hot pandesal, hamon, lechon, buco pandan or fruit salad, and way more extra pounds than you bargained for. Ah well…Eats the season! Definitely part of a Merry “Eats”mas! Deck the halls, the walls, the streets, the rooftops, the sides of buildings, the trees…
There is no other time of the year in the Philippines during which people pull out all the stops they possibly can to decorate and prettify their surroundings. Lights are everywhere! City streets, humble shanties, big retail establishments, small corner stores are all decked in tiny, twinkling lights and parols blinking in sequence at an almost seizure-inducing frenzy. Nativity scenes, better known as belens, are positioned on rooftops, sidewalks, front doorsteps, and mantle tops, in homage to the first Christmas Night. Bursts of colour are all
around; turning even the most drab locale into a kaleidoscope of glitz and glitter. Among the most attractive of the attractive are the UP Lantern Parade (held every 3rd Friday of December at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City), the Cubao Christmas Tree (the largest of its kind in Quezon City and possibly in all of Metro Manila, standing at 20-plus-feet inside the Araneta Center in the shopping district of Cubao), the light show at the Ayala Triangle Gardens, and the weekend fireworks displays at major retail centers and malls throughout the city. Family ties
And last, but most certainly not the least on this list of Pinoy Christmas cheer is the bond of family that makes the holidays truly special. Filipinos are renowned for their value of the familial bond, and this is even more evident at this time of the year. An endless line of ninongs and ninangs to “mano po”; relatives and friends to beso-beso; these are all hallmarks of the holidays, as well. Whether the extended family of your Tita and cousins twice removed, or your immediate family; the family you have made for yourself among the dearest of friends, or the family into which you were born, Christmas showcases these ties. Or the lack thereof and herein lies the downside. But this is an article of Christmas CHEER, so I shan’t digress into matters not quite as cheerful. Christmas holidays provide the perfect opportunity for stroll through those brightly-lit twinkly parks; or for spending time at the much-loved-bymost-Pinoys, Star City; or for simply kicking back at home to watch Christmas specials on TV. There you have it. My personal Pinoy Christmas fun faves. Maligayang Pasko, at Manigong Bagong Taon! ■
Happy Holidays
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 26
Simplified Chaos BY BOOM DAYUPAY
TO QUOTE the most shoplifted book in the world… 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” A four letter word that defies definition. But when it overflows it is so amazing! A few weeks back when I saw Super Typhoon Haiyan nearing the Philippines, I got on my knees and prayed and started sobbing because I myself have been in the middle of a typhoon and I know the terrible power it can unleash. But this typhoon was off the charts! OMG...Now what? I anticipated destruction, death, tears and the overwhelming feeling of despair. There has
been so many disasters in the world and the world has seen so much of it that people are cynical and in a way, desensitized by images of people suffering because we see it all the time… But you know what… This time it was different. I felt love. I felt proud of my Canadian government and the way it responded. I felt love in my new office at Juan TV as we organized so many fundraising events—from a walkathon, to concerts and even basketball tournaments. I felt a certain unity and love with the fragmented Filipino community in Vancouver. It felt like everyone was all on the same team, the way we were back in the days when we were all Team Manny before the Marquez 4 fight. But Manny is back and love is everywhere. Here are some of the different posters and flyers of different events celebrating love for
the people of the Philippines. People from all over the world did not only watch and look on, but did their part in being one with the Filipino people by raising funds through karaoke to Zumba, people drawing, and fashion shows. Even Justin Bieber himself was moved and wanted to share his love. I know it’s a cynical world and people are questioning if the people who are collecting money will get it to the right people; people also question the Philippine government and whether the money will really go towards the victims. But it’s time to rebuild. In a lot of ways, we were all given another chance to do what’s right this time. As we go towards Christmas and a new year, one thing we all shouldn’t lose belief in is LOVE. God is Love and Amazing things really happen when love overflows. ■
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27 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
The
DAYof the LORD PART 4
The Calling of Moses Do you know how Moses was called? At that time Israel had been under Egyptian bondage for 400 hundred years and they were crying for a Messiah to save them. God heard their prayers and there was a prophecy in the midst of the Israelite camp that a Messiah would come and save them. When Pharaoh heard that there was a savior sent by God to save the Israelites, he ordered his army to kill all the Israelite children aged 2 years and below because he was afraid that one of them would become the savior.
The bible tells us that the decree was carried out and there was wailing and weeping of the mothers of Rama because their male children were slaughtered all over Egypt where the Israelites were camped. Jochebed, Moses’ mother, saw this happening so she built a box, placed a cushion inside, put Moses inside the box and let the box drift down the Nile River. It so happened that the daughter of Pharaoh went down to the river with her maidens, to bathe. Jochebed was horrified when the princess went down to where the box was floating among the reeds.
If you have been blessed by this message, or if you have any questions, comments and prayer requests, you may reach The Kingdom of Jesus Christ through: Email: info@kingdomofjesuschrist.orglwww. facebook.com/ApolloQuiboloylwww.twitter.com/ PastorACQlwww.youtube.com/sonshinemedialwww. smni.comlwww.kingdomofjesuschrist.org Canada Toll Free: 1-888-582-3514lWinnipeg: 204-951-1842lVancouver: 604-727-8025 lToronto: 647-867-1970
She was even more afraid when one of the princess’ maids saw the floating box, retrieved it and then opened it. In dismay, Jochebed thought, “This is it, my son will surely die now.” But a miracle took place. The princess said, “This child will not be killed; I will adopt him so that he will become my own son.” The princess knew that it was an Israelite boy, so she said, “We should look for a maid who is an Israelite, too.” And she saw his mother, who was following them, and she was recruited to take care of the child and raise him. They did not know that she was his mother. See the miracle of the
Father! When He does something, the impossible becomes possible! Moses was brought to the palace and adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter, making Pharaoh his grandfather. Mose lived in the palace and was raised like a prince. Moreover, Moses grew up learning not the paganistic doctrines of Pharaoh, but the doctrine of Israel that there is only one God. Moses grew up under the nurture and care of his own mother, under the very nose of the one who decreed his death. This was God’s orchestration and this was God’s plan.n (To be continued next week)
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Seen & Scenes
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 28
NIGHT OF SOLIDARITY Braving the cold December weather, at least 40 Filipinos and Canadians held lighted candles at the vigil as a demonstration of solidarity with the people of the Philippines last December 7. It was also an occasion to remember the Filipinos who died, were displaced and are homeless and hungry. Lighted candles on the pavement pointed to the cardboard signs that declared: “Relief Operation, not militarization!” and “No to corruption, all aid must go directly to affected communities!” and “No to militarization!” Among the crowd were friends from the Sunnyside United Church, Filipino temporary foreign workers and caregivers, Migrante members, PANCIT art collective, and the members of the organizing groups of the ILPS-Canada, the Alliance for People’s Health, the Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, Migrante BC and supporters from the Solidarity Notes Labour Choir of the Vancouver and Labour District Council.
MISS SAMPAGUITA
ONTARIO FILIPINO MINISTERIAL FELLOWSHIP The officers and Advisors on 11th Anniversary celebration of Ontario Filipino Ministerial Fellowship. Seated from left: Pastors Choi Boto, Marites Fernandez, Vicky Wong, Bishop Leo Alconga (Guest), Teck Uy, Ben Mapa. Standing from left: Pastors Neil Zagala, Junn Lagud, Elmer Manzo, Rod Felomino, Bong Gonzalez, Manny Limpin, Eli Diolanda.—Romy Zetazate, St. Jamestown News Service
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Seen & Scenes
29 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
PEACE BRIDGE Calgary, Alberta, December 9, 2013—Calgary Chinese Community Service Association (“CCCSA”) is now displaying a Peace Bridge made from excess candies collected after Halloween by participating families and local dentists in the City Hall Atrium until December 13.
Western Union with Country Head Chito Gonzales sponsors Annual Christmas Party for caregivers at Georgio’s Caffee last Dec. 9, 2013.
MHHS Sampaguita Seniors crowning of beauties with MLA Don Davies, MLA Mable Elmore and His Worship Mayor Gregor Robertson as guests.
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FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 30
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Happy Holidays
31 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Christmas in Canada BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer CANADA IS way more than snow and below-freezing temperature this time of the year. It’s also a land of whimsical wonder brought about by various activities that you can enjoy with your family and friends. Here are some reasons how The Great White North puts the “white” in White Christmas. Major Canadian cities hold a Santa Claus Parade from November ‘til December. In big cities like Vancouver and Toronto, thousands of spectators line up the streets to get a glimpse of the parade. If you’re not in the mood to rub elbows (and graze buttcheeks) with tens of thousands of people, check out the parades in smaller cities. After enjoying the day with Santa, put on more insulation and head on to the light festival in your area. Ottawa first launched the Christmas Lights Program in 1985 to lighten up the winter in an otherwise gloomy city enduring the rough winter. The city’s Confederation Boulevard in Gatineau is lit up in 60 different sites, when they only used to light up the Parliament Hill ages ago. This beautiful sight is a part of ‘Christmas Lights Across Canada’ together with 12 other provincial and territorial capitals. If you find yourself in Toronto , you can also check out the Toronto Cavalcade of Lights. While in Vancouver, you can bring your family to the Vancouver Festival of Lights at the VanDusen Botanical Garden.
The Winter Festival of Lights is also a delightfully stunning attraction in the world famous Niagara Falls. It starts in November and lasts until the first week of January. The lightshow involves lighting up the 5-km expanse of the falls and fireworks. Sometimes, there are even concerts and various performances to entertain the spectators (as if the ethereal lights aren’t enough). Airdrie is a small town located about 35 km from Calgary. The small township is known of the Airdrie Festival of Lights in Nose Creek Park. Since it’s in a park, it’s a “walk-through” lights display reminiscent of the world of Pandora (‘Avatar’). More than the lights, the park is also equipped with a small locomotive to transport guests, open bonfires to enjoy s’mores and hot cocoa, and a myriad of food choices from food vendors. Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia, people are milling around a town called Forties near New Ross for its annual Christmas Festival. The festival boasts of various attractions from sleigh rides through the woods to hot cocoa and homemade baked goods. And when you’re done savoring Christmas, prepare for Boxing Day on December 26th, where shoppers go through teeth and claws to grab the lowest price on goods. Most shopping centers can afford to give a significant discount in order to get rid of their current stocks and make room for new ones in the coming year. Wherever you find yourself this holiday, we hope it’s with someone you love. Happy holidays! ■
The Winter Festival of Lights at the world famous Niagara Falls.
UP Lantern Parade Ayala Triangle
PHOTO FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF UP LANTERN PARADE
Christmas Lights and Sights in the Philippines BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer NO MASSIVE earthquake or super typhoon can stop the Filipinos from celebrating Christmas—at least in a simple but the most meaningful way possible. Two weeks from now, the jolliest time of the year will already unfold. And we, Filipinos are known for having the world’s longest Christmas season, starting on the first day of September and ending on the feast of the Epiphany. Spectacular Christmas lights and sounds are everywhere, making us feel the merry spirit all-season round. Wherever you may be, you can enjoy Christmas attractions that are most often, free of charge as we join hands in empathizing with our fellowmen in central Philippines. To those who are in Canada who are going home to celebrate Christmas in the Philippines, here’s our list of Christmas events you can go to. Merry Musical Lights at TriNoma mall. For those living in Quezon City TriNoma is the most accessible shopping mall, but if you don’t have budget for shopping you can simply watch their lights and sounds show scattered around the mall’s garden. The show lasts for 8 minutes daily at 7pm, 8pm, and 9pm, until January 5. Animal display at Power Plant Mall. It has been a tradition of Power Plant Mall in Rockwell, Makati to exhibit realistic animatronic animals as soon as the Christmas season ushers. Children can ignite their imagination by posing beside the animals. And this year, www.canadianinquirer.net
these lifelike animals can be found in its various entrances. Fireworks display at SM Mall of Asia. SM Mall of Asia’s main attraction behind its shopping mall is its Pyromusical at San Miguel by The Bay. Every Friday and Saturday, mall goers can enjoy a five-minute fireworks display which is made more fabulous as the Christmas season enters. Lights and Sounds Show at Ayala Triangle Gardens. Another sight to behold in the Makati area is the 800,000 LED bulbs dancing in synchronization with Christmas medleys. This Christmas sight at Ayala Triangle Gardens runs daily, every 30 minutes from 6pm to 9pm, until December 31. Moving Mannequins at Greenhills Shopping Center. In San Juan, you can also watch a lights and sounds show with moving mannequins. It runs daily until January 5, 2014. Each show lasts approximately 15 minutes, from 6:30pm until 11pm. Roxas Boulevard in Manila. By just walking along Roxas Boulevard, you can already feel the spirit of Christmas with its beautifully decorated buildings. Flickering and shimmering Christmas lights and decorations are scattered everywhere in the streets. You might also want to take your pictures with these amazing decorations as you wander along the road. Choco Treats at SM Manila. After savoring the beautiful Christmas sights in Roxas Boulevard, you can directly go to SM Manila to witness the giant display of chocolate treats, including a bathtub sundae, a caramel eclair chair and many more. This Christmas attraction runs from November 15, 2013 to January 6, 2014.
Christmas Bazaars at Shopping Malls. As early as September, discounted items at malls can already be found. You can visit your favorite bazaars to buy selected items at a lower price. You can also buy some items that can be donated to the earthquake and typhoon victims. Fabulous Christmas Decorations at Policarpio St., Mandaluyong. If you want to feed your eyes with spectacular Christmas decorations, you can pass along Policarpio St. in Mandaluyong City. The houses there are decked with lights and decorations from roof to gate, from windowsill to doorframe, from the walls to the trees. Hurry up because they remove the decorations on the first week of January. UP Lantern Parade in Diliman, Quezon City. The annual lantern parade in the University of the Philippines in Diliman is not just for its students, anyone can watch the showcase of lanterns and colorful floats by various colleges and organizations in the university. This year, it will be held on December 18. Giant Lantern Festival in San Fernando City Pampanga. Another lantern parade can be found in San Fernando, Pampanga. Every year, the province exhibits an impressive exhibit of huge lanterns, showcasing spectacular lights, interplay of colors and kaleidoscopic patterns accompanied with lively Christmas music.” This year, the Giant Lantern Festival, also known as “Ligligan Parul” will be held on December 14. Maytinis Festival in Kawit, Cavite. For residents of Kawit, Cavite and nearby provinces, the traditional Maytinis Fes❱❱ PAGE 32 Christmas Lights
Happy Holidays
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 32
Go For the Food: Braving holiday crowds at Rockefeller Center? Here are some fun dining ideas BY BETH J. HARPAZ The Associated Press NEW YORK—Plenty of people brave Rockefeller Center’s holiday crowds to see the famous Christmas tree and take a spin on the ice. But nobody goes to Rock Center this time of year just for the food—unless they also crave long waits and overpriced menus designed for tourists. Fortunately, Manhattan’s food scene is dynamic enough that even amid the holiday madness, interesting dining options abound, from ethnic food to small plates to street carts, much of it reasonably priced. Waiting on line, though—well, there’s no avoiding that. But at least you can get some good food. Here are some ideas, all within a few blocks of the tree. Adventurous eaters should head straight to Xi’an Famous Foods. Anthony Bourdain discovered Xi’an back when the only locations were in Lower Manhattan’s Chinatown and a mall in Queens, but the midtown Manhattan shop makes it possible to visit the tree and eat your noodles within the same hour. Just be warned, Xi’an is crazy-busy at lunchtime, with a line out the door of its tiny quarters even when it’s not Christmas.
Bakery selections.
PHOTO FROM BOUCHONBAKERY.COM
Spicy cumin lamb with Xi’an’s signature long, hand-pulled broad noodles is a crowd favourite; you can watch the cooks stretching and twirling the noodles while you wait. Xi’an does not use the term “spicy” in jest, by the way: We’re talking noserunning, lips-numbing spicy. It’s also messy, greasy and yes, delicious. The large menu has mild dishes if you can’t tolerate heat, along with ingredient options ranging from vegetarian to oxtail. There are only a few seats in the rear, so stake out a spot after you place your order if you don’t want to your food to go. Foodies will also feel right at home at Num Pang Sandwich Shop, which offers Cambodian sandwiches on baguettes, with rich, flavourful fillings like hoisin meatballs, coconut tiger shrimp or five-spice glazed pork belly. The sandwiches
get their crunch from cucumber and pickled carrots; cilantro and chili mayo add to the complex flavours. The vibe is chill and hipster, with graffiti murals, electronic music and handwritten menus on blackboards. The long lines move fast and the informal seating area— with a bottle of Sriracha on every tabletop—accommodates the crowds. Once upon a time, street food at Rock Center meant hot dogs and doughy hot pretzels, but it’s the “halal” or Middle Eastern food vendors who are ubiquitous these days, with carts on every cross street west of Sixth Avenue (that’s Avenue of the Americas for those of you who don’t live here), across from Radio City Music Hall. The most popular halal stand with the longest line is at 53rd Street. Grilled chicken over yellow rice is a crowd favourite, or
cember 1 to 25, hourly from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Location: Event Center, SM Manila
2013 at 5:00 pm Location: Robinsons Otis, Paz M. Guanzon St., Paco, Manila
David Pomeranz at Concert at the Park Date: December 6, 7:00 pm Location: Rizal Park open air auditorium
Hallmark Christmas Showdown An inter-school chorale competition Date: December 8, 2013 at 5:00 pm Location: Robinsons Place Manila, Ermita, Manila
try falafel in pita with “everything on it” (tomatoes, onions, lettuce, tahini sauce, spicy red sauce, hot peppers and who knows what else). Some corners streets have other vendors selling everything from pirogis and schnitzel to meatballs and Korean barbecue. If you don’t object to chains— and bear in mind that momand-pop restaurateurs can’t easily manage midtown rents— Fig & Olive offers a slightly upscale setting for tapas and small plates inspired by cuisines of coastal Spain, Italy and the south of France. Perfect for sharing: olives, cheeses, jamon (ham), beef carpaccio and crostini with delightful topping combos like eggplant, fig, tomato and basil. Heartier fare includes soups, pastas, paella and chicken tagine. Fig & Olive’s dining room has an appealing, sophisticated vibe that attracts
a lot of local business lunches. For a quick sandwich, salad or pastry to go, folks who work in Rock Center swear by Bouchon Bakery, right across from the NBC Today show street-level studios. You can even see the tree through Bouchon’s window while enjoying a chicken sandwich on pretzel baguette. For dessert, pick a mini-macaron ( just 50 cents!) from the colorful array of choices (pistachio is sublime). Finally, just around the corner from the tree, Bill’s Bar & Burger is a casual, friendly sitdown place with good fish tacos and award-winning burgers. If You Go...
BILL’S BAR & BURGER: 16 W. 51st St., http://www.billsbarandburger.com/ BOUCHON BAKERY: 1 Rockefeller Plaza, http://bouchonbakery.com/ FIG & OLIVE: 10 E. 52nd St., Manhattan, http://www.figandolive.com/ HALAL CARTS: Along Sixth Avenue, from 48th to 53rd streets. NUM PANG SANDWICH SHOP: 148 W. 48th St., http://timessquare.numpangnyc.com/ XI’AN FAMOUS FOODS: 24 W. 45th St., http://xianfoods. com/
Christmas Lights... tival is a must-see event. It happens on December 24, wherein it showcases a dramatic recapitulation of St. Joseph and Virgin Mary’s search for a place to stay in Bethlehem. Here are more Christmas attractions that you can enjoy for free: Santa Meet and Greet Have a photo op with Santa as he spreads Christmas cheer! Date: Every Saturday from December 7 to 25, 2013, every hour from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm Location: Event Center, SM Manila ❰❰ 31
Sweet Symphony Chorale Presentation Date: All Sundays from De-
Lani Misalucha with the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra Date: December 7, 2013, 6:00 pm Location: Robinsons Place Manila, Ermita, Manila Seats are on a first-come, first-served basis. Chorale Fest Date: December 7, 15, 21 & 22,
Sing and Joy Manila Seven chorales representing different barangays will serenade mall goers. Date: December 12, 2013, 5:00 pm Location: Event Center, SM Manila www.canadianinquirer.net
Nine Nights of Christmas Carols Chorale performances of traditional and modern Christmas songs to delight park-goers. Date: December 15 to 23, 2013 at 6:00 pm Location: Central Lagoon, Rizal Park, Roxas Boulevard, Manila Some Christmas attractions which can also be enjoyed by children are not for free; nonetheless, paying this price will still not hinder you from helping our fellowmen in need. Disney On Ice What it is: Disney characters come to life in an ice-skating show
Where: Araneta Coliseum, Cubao, Quezon City When: Show starts December 25 and runs until January 5 How much: For schedules and rates, check out www.ticketnet.com.ph Theme and Amusement Parks. Children are so fond of theme parks that you can’t let Christmas pass without letting them enjoy the rides and sights. In Pasay City, you can visit Star City and SM Mall of Asia. While in Tagaytay and Sta. Rosa, Laguna you can visit Sky Ranch and Enchanted Kingdom respectively. May we all have the jolliest and most meaningful Christmas this year! Bangon Pilipinas! ■
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
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Entertainment
Justin Bieber visits young Philippine typhoon victims after launching worldwide aid campaign The Associated Press MANILA, PHILIPPINES— Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber visited young victims of Typhoon Haiyan on Tuesday, travelling to the Philippines after launching a worldwide campaign to help those affected by the deadly storm. Bieber arrived from Australia and flew to Tacloban, the devastated capital of central Leyte province, where he distributed shirts, toys and basketballs to children. The 19-year-old pop star visited a Tacloban elementary school that is being used as an evacuation centre despite being heavily damaged by last month’s typhoon, which left nearly 6,000 people dead and more than 1,700 others missing, and flattened entire towns and villages in the central Philippines. “It was like we were not hit by the typhoon, like Yolanda never came,” one girl told Manila’s TV5 Television, describing her feelings on seeing her idol. Ty-
Justin Bieber hugs children in Tacloban City, which was hardest-hit by Typhoon Haiyan. PHOTO FROM JUSTIN BIEBER’S TUMBLR ACCOUNT
phoon Haiyan is known locally as Yolanda. Bieber took a quick walk around the school and checked a temporary learning space that was packed with about 300 children, including some from the local neighbourhood, before moving to an outdoor stage to sing, said Kate Donovan, a spokeswoman for UNICEF. “He played a very beautiful set,” she said. “He played a series of Christmas songs and
some of his hits as well, including ‘Baby.”’ At another school also used as temporary shelter, Bieber played basketball with some boys and posed gamely for pictures with his fans. “Justin brought a lot of joy, hope and cheer to the hundreds of children who were there,” Angela Kearney, UNICEF’s emergency co-ordinator for Haiyan response, said in a statement. Kearney said the money
Bieber raises “will give some of the children who were caught in the path of Haiyan access to education, vaccinations, better nutrition, clean water and sanitation.” Bieber arrived on a special flight, Immigration officer Jerome Ollet said. Pictures on social media showed fans snapping photos of the star at Manila’s airport. In a video posted on the fundraising platform Prizeo, Bieber asked fans to help him support
victims of Typhoon Haiyan. Bieber is one of the several foreign and local celebrities and VIPs who have helped recovery efforts. Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera and Australian Foreign Minister Julia Bishop flew to Tacloban on Sunday to console survivors and pledge continuing aid. Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys visited an air force base in Manila two weeks ago and distributed crayons and coloring books to children of families who arrived aboard mercy flights by the Philippine and U.S. military from the typhoon-ravaged provinces of Leyte and Samar. The R&B star was in Manila at the time for a concert. Bieber said donors have a chance to win a prize to hang out with him in a studio while he works on his upcoming album. “The moment I heard about the tragedy a few weeks back, I thought I can count on you guys to make a difference,” Bieber said. ■
Marian Rivera returns to TV With a younger leading man to boot BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer
PHOTO FROM INQUIRER.NET
AFTER A long vacation, GMA
7 actress Marian Rivera will finally return to television, in a new drama series tentatively titled “Catarina.” She was last seen in the Ka-
puso primetime series “Temptation of Wife,” which wrapped up in April. ❱❱ PAGE 36 Marian Rivera
Entertainment
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 34
Phil-KC rumor surprises Angel BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer ACTRESS ANGEL Locsin said she’d be hurt if the rumor romantically linking her ex-boyfriend Phil Younghusband to KC Concepcion were true because “it happened too soon” after their split. In a recent event organized by the local clothing brand Folded & Hung, Angel said she had heard of the report and was “surprised” by it. She confirmed her breakup with the Filipino-British football star in October via her Twitter account, but did not reveal the cause. Unconfirmed
“But we know how it is in show biz; not everything we read in the papers or see on TV is true. I’m willing to give it the benefit
of the doubt. It’s just that, as his ex, parang ang bilis,” Angel told entertainment writers. “While I still haven’t confirmed this, I just want to say that I will support whatever makes Phil happy. Come to think of it, it’s his life. I have nothing to do with [Phil] anymore.” Angel said she learned a lot from her two-year relationship with Phil, but refused to elaborate. “After what happened to us, I should already be an intelligent person; I should already be a love expert, but honestly I’m not,” she said. Angel added, “Phil is a good person. We didn’t end our relationship as a result of a big fight. He will always be special to me.” The actress, who will soon play Darna in a coming Star Cinema film, said she just
wanted “to be single first,” to concentrate on her family and work: “I want to give my heart a rest.” Despite what happened, she said, she was sure the right guy would come along. “I’m not looking for him, but I know he’s out there. I just hope that whoever I give my heart to next will be the one.” Ex’s breakup
Asked to comment on the breakup of fellow Kapamilya artist Luis Manzano from Jennylyn Mercado, Angel said she found it sad that a number of popular show biz couples split up this year. Luis is Angel’s exboyfriend. “Out of respect, I will not talk about Luis,” she pointed out. “He’s a good person. Though we hardly talk nowadays, I still consider him a friend.” ■
PHOTOS FROM FACEBOOK
Heart Evangelista is Tanduay’s calendar girl for 2014 BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer
PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF PIOLO PASCUAL
Piolo Pascual wants to celebrate Christmas in Tacloban BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer A NOT-SO-ORDINARY Christmas plan for actor Piolo Pascual. In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, he said that he, along with his family would like to celebrate Christmas with the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.” He says: “My family wants to go there (Tacloban) on or be-
MANILA, PHILIPPINES—Tanduay will have Heart Evangelista as its Calendar Girl for 2014. This was revealed by photographer BJ Pascual through a series of Instagram posts. According to Pascual, Tanduay is very glad that the Kapuso actress, whom he described as one of the “most beautiful faces” in showbiz, accepted the offer.
fore Christmas to personally visit them. “I’m grateful for the success [of the recent Sunpiology race]. It rained but none thought of leaving. There was a free concert afterwards. “Through the event, we were able to raise funds for our friends in the south. This isn’t just for the ‘Yolanda’ victims but also for the earthquake survivors. We’ll try to spread it out,” said the actor. ■
Tanduay, at first, thought Heart won’t agree to pose for their calendar as she is considered as one of the “untouchables” in the industry. In a separate interview, Heart explained why she agreed to go bolder this time. “I was fearful at first. I never really thought of myself as a hot, sexy vixen. It’s funny because it took so much convincing myself to face my fears. I worked out and got the best team and I feel absolutely brave and confident and so much of a woman and after
that, it was liberating! I feel so happy and proud of myself. Crazy, beautiful!” Pascual’s photos of Evangelista showed the latter wearing a halter two-piece, white sando and brown leather jacket; and red half-body suite. While Tanduay is thankful that the elegant and sophisticated actress agreed to endorse their brand, Heart considered it as a blessing. KC Concepcion was Tanduay’s calendar girl in 2013. ■
PHOTO FROM THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT OF BJ PASCUAL
www.canadianinquirer.net
Entertainment
35 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Harper arrives... highlighted the tugof-war style of Canadian politics as the two former PMs reflected on Mandela’s unique consensusbuilding abilities. When Mandela was released from custody after 27 years in prison, many a pundit noted he could have launched his country into civil war. Instead, he chose the path of peace, and eventually saw South Africa’s apartheid regime crumble. As the Canadian delegation flew across the Atlantic, just prior to refuelling in Cape Verde, Harper spoke briefly of Canada’s role in ensuring Mandela’s release from prison. “It really tells you about the long and leading history of Canada from the days of Mr. (John) Diefenbaker on, and the struggle that defined Nelson Mandela’s life—the struggle against apartheid and the transition of South Africa to a modern, non-racial state,” Harper said, flanked by Chretien to his right and with Mulroney and Campbell facing him at the stateroom’s wood- grain table. “It’s something we should all be very proud of and I’m greatly honoured to be joined by Mr. Mulroney, Mrs. Campbell and Mr. Chretien as well as Mr. Clark who will join us when we reach South Africa.” But 30 years ago, it was a huge gamble on Canada’s part to support the fight against the country’s racist policies and to demand the release of Mandela, said Mulroney. The United States and the U.K. were “offside,” he noted, and Mandela’s African National ❰❰ 18
Congress needed a G7 country in its corner. “We knew we were doing the right thing, but on the other hand we also knew that it was a tough battle,” he said, adding that other nations—including Canada— could learn from how Mandela brought people together. “When you just get one look at what president Mandela did in South Africa, you know it was all worthwhile.” “It’s an over-wrought expression, but Nelson Mandela was an iconic figure who was truly a great man.” Chretien, who will celebrate his 80th birthday next month, said there is no true comparison to Mandela among world leaders, because every one of them is different. “We are all people coming from a long way from (South Africa),” he said, adding with a smile: “You know I’m from rural Quebec.” Chretien pointed out that Russia’s Vladimir Putin was an orphan who never met his parents and that Britain’s John Major “was the son of a circus acrobat.” Mandela was a tribal leader’s son who became a lawyer and a prisoner. Former governor general Michaelle Jean said the respect for the man that Canada’s leaders share is what is important, as South Africa shows the world both its pride in Mandela and its pain at losing him. “To see representatives of all political families together going to South Africa to pay tribute to Mandela is totally in the spirit of the man,” Jean said as she prepared to board the plane. “So I’m proud of us.” ■
Marcos victims... The distribution will be done in person and not by mail, he said, so they can be sure the class suit members will actually receive their shares. “This is the second distribution already. We had a distribution of $1,000, or P43,200, to each victim in 2011,” he told the Inquirer in a press conference on Monday. “This is a victory for the victims, and it’s very timely since (on Tuesday) we will be celebrating Human Rights Day,” Domingo said. ❰❰ 1
Last July, Domingo and his American counterpart, Robert Swift, announced they had obtained $10 million from the buyer of Monet’s “Le Bassin aux Nympheas” in exchange for letting him keep the painting and not be dragged into the ill-gotten Marcos wealth cases. The painting, part of Monet’s famous water lily series, was among Mrs. Marcos’ famed art collection that disappeared upon the downfall of her husband, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, in 1986. ■
MTRCB requires TV morning show ‘Unang Hirit’ to apologize BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) has ordered the producers of GMA 7’s “Unang Hirit” to issue a public apology and pay a fine of P20,000 for an
episode where news anchor Arnold Clavio berated a guest. In the Nov. 5 episode of the morning program, Clavio used what the MTRCB deemed was “rude language” in interviewing Alfredo Villamor, counsel for businesswoman Janet LimNapoles. The board said that in response
to a memorandum released on Dec. 4 by its ad hoc committee, GMA 7 promised to air a statement acknowledging that the “Unang Hirit” interview “should have been done differently … and that Clavio … crossed the line of proper conduct.” ❱❱ PAGE 36 MTRCB requires
Film review: Peter Jackson delivers a vastly improved second installment to ‘Hobbit’ trilogy BY JOCELYN NOVECK The Associated Press SLEEPING DRAGONS, as we know from our childhood literature, eventually awaken. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be a story. So it’s hardly news that in the second installment of Peter Jackson’s “Hobbit” trilogy, the dragon rouses from his slumber. What IS news: the franchise wakes up, too. Die-hard fans might disagree, but to many, the first film, last year’s “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” took way too long to get going and then dragged for much of its 169 minutes. “I do believe the worst is behind us,” noted Bilbo Baggins at the end of that film, to which some of us wanted to reply: “Well, we hope so.” “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” is not much shorter—8 minutes, to be exact—but it feels brisker, lighter, funnier. The characters are more varied, more interesting; We’ll take a comic turn by the entertaining Stephen Fry over another Orc any day. There’s even an added romantic subplot. The whole enterprise, it must be said, involves a huge dollop of cinematic hubris. J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” after all, is a book of some 300 pages. With these three films, a prequel to his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, Jackson devotes about two film minutes to each page. Imagine if they did that with Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” The movie would have been 40 hours long. On the other hand, the first “Hobbit” installment brought www.canadianinquirer.net
in some $1 billion. So it’s rather beside the point to argue with Jackson’s approach. Happily, “Smaug” is vastly better from the get-go. Instead of a drawn-out intro, we get right to the action, which is of course the quest of Bilbo (Martin Freeman, himself livelier and funnier) and the band of dwarves, led by Thorin Oakenshield (a suitably noble Richard Armitage) to reclaim the kingdom of Erebor, under the Lonely Mountain, from the frightening dragon Smaug. As always, trouble takes many forms: not only the menacing Orcs, but giant spiders with sticky webs, too. Then there are the elves, who come to the rescue at an opportune time but then imprison Bilbo and his mates. (Gandalf—the always grand Ian McKellen—has other business, and leaves for long stretches.) Lee Pace is fun as the campy and authoritarian Thranduil, leader of the elves. His son Legolas (Orlando Bloom, back from “The Lord of the Rings”) is talented as ever with a bow. And he has a love interest: Tauriel, a newly invented character, played with spunky sweetness by Evangeline Lilly. Tauriel, it turns out, has a soft spot for the dwarf Kili, a rather hunky Aidan Turner. (“He’s quite tall for a dwarf,” she says. “But no less ugly,” retorts Legolas.)
Bilbo, ever bolder, helps the dwarves escape their jailers in a terrific scene—involving barrels, river rapids, and an endless supply of Orcs—that rivals a Busby Berkeley dance number. (Side note: These dwarves are awfully durable.) Further entertainment comes in Laketown, led by a greedy Master (the engaging Fry) and his underling Alfrid (Ryan Gage, also fun). It should be noted that Jackson has again shot his film at 48-frames-per-second, double the standard speed, to make things look sharper. But this time, the fanfare is gone; critics were not even shown the film at the faster speed. Jackson clearly doesn’t want the technique to dominate the discussion. In any case, it all comes down to the climactic confrontation with the dragon; Unfortunately, the film sags somewhat here. It’s fun to hear Benedict Cumberbatch, as Smaug, hurl seething epithets at Bilbo, and Freeman is at his most pluckily adorable. Still, they really could have shortened this confrontation by a good 20 minutes. But what’s 20 minutes when you’re taking nine hours to tell a story? Onward to the third installment. Jackson is back on track. ■ “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” a Warner Bros. release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for “extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.” Running time: 161 minutes. Three stars out of four.
Entertainment
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 36
Jessy Mendiola: Kapamilya’s current ‘It Girl’
Jessy with road manager Peachy Bautista (left) and make up artist Randy Gabin (right) PHOTO COURTESY OF ABS-CBN
cosmetic surgery centers in that country. What are you expected to do as a tourism ambassador? They told me I needed to visit Korea about four times. This was so I’d know what was happening there and I’d be able to share it with the people here. Being an ambassador is so much fun. It doesn’t feel like work. I’ve learned so much about their culture. While I’m tasked to promote Korea here, KTO has also appointed a Korean celebrity to promote the Philippines there. This will surely give you opportunities to collaborate with Korean artists. Are you amenable to this? I’ll just cross the bridge when I get there. Right now, I don’t have offers yet. With the tight work schedule I keep because of “Maria Mercedes,” I don’t think that’s possible any time soon. But given the chance, I’d love to work there.
rified of going under the knife. While Korea is known for this, the country also offers natural treatments as alternative. I also want to say that Koreans practice healthy living. In fact, they’d rather walk 10 blocks from their homes to their offices than ride cars or take the subway. Most of them are lean—to think they have up to 11 courses each meal. For dinner, I was served as much as five different kinds of appetizers, two main courses and about four various types of desserts. Now that you’re single, are you open to the possibility of finding love in Korea? While I was there I kept thinking that Mr. Right could just be around the corner, but I didn’t find him. I did get to meet the all-male singing group Boyfriend. (Laughs.) They’re too young for me. One of them could be perfect for my little sister.
Koreans are very much into cosmetic surgery. What’s your take on that? I’m not against it, but I prefer to go natural. Honestly, I’m ter-
How true is the online report that actor Sam Milby has already won your heart? I’m not ready to commit to anyone just yet. I guess Sam’s name came up because he was the first guy who had made public his interest in courting me. ■
She said that a sit-com was also in the works. “Apart from comedy, it will also show off my dancing (skills),” she volunteered. Although she regards herself as a whiz in the kitchen, a cooking show is not on her wish list. She’s also not keen on hosting her own show for now although there was a plan for her to join
the GMA 7 noontime show “Eat Bulaga.” (She is now managed by Triple A, the same team behind Tape Inc., the producers of “Eat Bulaga”). She insisted that she was aware of her strengths and weaknesses as an entertainer and would rather focus on drama and comedy. ■
Marian Rivera... When she renewed her contract with telecommunications company Smart Talk ‘N Text last October, she hinted that the coming drama show would pair her with a new Kapuso leading man. Marian’s new partner turned out to be younger heartthrob Alden Richards. ❰❰ 33
Also in compliance with the MTRCB order, the statement, which should air for three consecutive days, is supposed to include: “The program likewise offers its apologies to Villamor in particular, the public in general, and especially to all the members of the legal profession who may have been offended by the words and actions of Clavio.” The memo pointed out that the program “failed to take immediate, effective and timely intervention” to prevent the broadcast of the interview “with indecorous language and demeanor.” Thus, it said, the committee was “constrained” to impose the P20,000 fine and required “Unang Hirit” to undergo “a period of close collaboration for one month” to ensure child-sensitive and youth-friendly programming in future episodes. ❰❰ 35
BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer “IT’S HARD to believe that I’m the network’s favorite,” actress Jessy Mendiola said of her status as the Kapamilya network’s current “It Girl.” “Whatever I’ve achieved now is the result of hard work. I’m very dedicated to my craft.” Jessy plays the title role in ABSCBN’s drama program, “Maria Mercedes.” She is also with comedienne Pokwang in the latest Star Cinema film, “Call Center Girl.” The 20yearold actress is likewise among the country’s more popular product endorsers. “If the network indeed plays favorites, I would’ve gotten this big break (‘Maria Mercedes’) some two years ago while I was just starting. I love what I’m doing that’s why I still accept work even with only a few hours of sleep. I guess my bosses took notice of me dahil panay ang segue ko,” she told the INQUIRER during a recent media gathering. In October, she was appointed tourism ambassador to South Korea by the Korean Tourism Organization (KTO). According to KTO Manila office director Sanyong Zhu, Jessy was chosen because “at an early age, she is already one of the most influential celebrities in Philippine society. She has more than 580,000 Twitter followers, who could be potential supporters of Korean tourism like herself.” As tourism ambassador, Jessy spent a week in South Korea recently. She visited palaces and other famous tourist spots, as well as met and interviewed the K-Pop group Boyfriend and 2NE1’s Sandara Park. Jessy was also able to see a number of hospitals, which are known
MTRCB requires...
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Mandatory seminar
The committee required network executives and Clavio to attend a mandatory seminar with MTRCB chair Eugenio Villareal “on media and the legal profession in the context of both audience-sensitivity and the administration of justice.” (The seminar was set Tuesday and Wednesday, at the MTRCB office in Quezon City.) Overboard
During Clavio’s phone interview with Villamor, the news anchor commented: “Pang-sira ka ng araw eh (You’re ruining my day),” and “Tatawa-tawa ka pa (You can still laugh).” Two days later, Clavio issued a statement, admitting he had gone overboard. “I ask for your understanding if I said anything offensive,” he said. Clavio explained that Villamor was the only lawyer with whom he could discuss Napoles’ hearing on the P10-billion pork barrel scam after counsel Lorna Kapunan resigned. The anchor was visibly irritated when Villamor failed to answer certain questions. The MTRCB pointed out the importance of heeding the Code of Professional Responsibility, which states: “A lawyer is prohibited from making public statements in the media regarding a pending case tending to arouse public opinion for or against a party.” The Board added: “Certainly,
neither the program nor Clavio … can insist on eliciting statements from Villamor as regards matters beyond the latter’s professional engagement.” During the interview, Villamor repeatedly told Clavio that he was not in a position to discuss the porkbarrel hearing since he was in charge only of Napoles’ case on serious illegal detention. ‘Bubble Gang’
Meanwhile, the MTRCB also summoned the producers of GMA 7’s gag show “Bubble Gang” to a mandatory conference on the “alleged discriminatory and derogatory portrayal of women” in its Nov. 29 episode. The segment, “D Adventures of Susie Luwalhati,” drew complaints from the MTRCB’s monitoring and inspection unit because it showed the character Susie (Rufa Mae Quinto), “clad in a skimpy, low-neckline tank top,” applying for a job as cook and seller of puto bumbong. In the skit, the stall owner (played by Beethoven Bunagan or Michael V) showed Susie how to cook and remove the puto bumbong from its bamboo tube. This, the MTRCB memo said, “while a group of men ogled, apparently with sexually oriented delight as her breasts shook vigorously [as she handled] the bamboo tube … Susie gave the impression, quite arguably, that she was simulating male self-abuse.” Disrespect
Citing Republic Act No. 9710 or the Magna Carta of Women, the memo added: “It appears that the segment stereotypically portrayed a woman as an object of rather frivolous, albeit carnal, delight. When women are treated as commodities, they are disrespected and degraded … It cannot be helped for one to surmise that even the name of Quinto’s character is from the Filipino word for breasts. This arguably magnifies an overall intent on the part of the program to typecast the woman as a mere sex object.” The conference, attended by network executive Eva Arespacochaga, program director Uro de la Cruz and talents Bunagan and Quinto, was held on Dec. 9 at the MTRCB office. According to a subsequent post on the board’s official Twitter account, the show has promised to ensure gender-sensitive content. ■
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
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Lifestyle
Iloilo food festival becomes feeding program for typhoon victims
Chef Rafael ‘Tibong’ Jardeleza II felt it was more appropriate to extend help to those in need by feeding at least one affected barangay BY VANGIE BAGA-REYES Philippine Daily Inquirer ILOILO HAS always been a foodie’s paradise. If you wish to warm your tummy with an early breakfast treat, there’s freshly cooked pancit molo at the house of Kapitan Ising, with its kaldero- ful (cooking pot) of peppery broth with freshly wrapped pork molo, for only P300 good for 10-15 people, paired with toasted bread from the century-old Panaderia de Molo (Avanceña Street). For a full lunch meal with homey ambiance, Markim’s (Diversion Road) serves a mean barbecue of chicken, pork and scallops—really tender and juicy. Fresh lumpiang gulay, birthday pancit and paella Valenciana complete the deal. If you’re adventurous enough to try the local dishes, go to Breakthrough (Santo Niño Sur) and savor the meaty Managat fish (mangrove jack), prepared either grilled or sinibawan. Another sought-after house specialty is the Imbaw, a sweettasting fatty clam that’s best eaten raw, no seasoning required. Other must-tries are the native chicken inasal, spicy crab, halabos na hipon and crispy lechon. In between breakfast, lunch and dinner, Iloilo prides itself with more enjoyable fare: oversized ham and adobo siopao from Roberto’s (JM Basa Street); pepperoni pizza, pesto pasta and buffalo wings at Afrique’s (San Rafael); ice cream turtle pie, Irish coffee torte, Snickers pie and white cloud strawberry at Maridel’s (Plazuela de Iloilo); and dark chocolate and red velvet cupcakes from Dulgie’s (Valeria Street). Cooking competition
There are more food places
Women and kids partaking of rice, fried luncheon meat and hot soup with pork, cabbage and squid balls.
Chef Tibong Jardeleza prepares relief goods.
in Iloilo worth visiting and exploring. Part of the recently concluded three-day Third Tabu-an Western Visayas Ilonggo Heritage Cooking Competition, held at Amigo Terrace Hotel in Iloilo City, was a food tour on the last day. However, what was supposed to be an extensive, memorable food tour for the competition judges and media became instead an outreach feeding program for victims of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” which also hit the northern part of Iloilo, particularly Estancia and Concepcion. Tabu-an organizer chef Rafael “Tibong” Jardeleza II felt it was more appropriate to extend help to those in need by feeding at least one affected barangay. Iloilo City was largely spared the wrath of “Yolanda,” but not northern Iloilo. About 200plus casualties were recorded in the northern area with about 180,000 families affected. Immediately, the city offered financial aid, relief goods, generators and water containers to Passi and Roxas. “This is probably the reason God spared the city from destruction,” said Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog. “Because if we were to be devastated, we would not be able to
help and reach out to our fellow Ilonggos. We would be like Tacloban and Ormoc City, totally helpless.” The city has canceled its yearly Christmas party and will, instead, use the allocated budget to buy fishing boats for Estancia. Feeding program
Jardeleza tapped Rancho Gloria, an inland resort in Concepcion, as the feeding venue. It’s a three-hour drive from the city. Rancho Gloria is owned by Boy and Ruth Jarantilla. Jardeleza also asked the assistance of Happy Kitchen, Lagaw sa Isla, Smart and Water Quest to sponsor the food, which consisted of cooked rice, fried luncheon meat and hot soup with pork, cabbage and squid balls. About 250 persons were to be fed in Sitio Belen, Brgy. Calamigan, Concepcion. Food writer and book author Angelo Fuentes Comsti also brought several boxes of Fudgee Bars and Tiger Biscuits for the victims all the way from Manila. “I wanted to reach out right away when the storm struck,” said Jardeleza. “But I was so busy with Tabu-an competition. This is my only time to see
Hot meals for affected families in Concepcion, Iloilo PHOTOS FROM INQUIRER.NET
my fellow Ilonggos. My heart goes out to them.” On the way to Concepcion, one could immediately see the damage to the province starting from Brgy. Barrido. All around were fallen trees, toppled power lines and debris from wrecked houses and schools. The powerful winds uprooted mahogany trees and ripped roofs off of houses. Coconut trees and banana plants still littered the side of the highway. Individual containers
We reached Rancho Gloria and immediately set up the long table and prepared the food in individual Styropor containers with plastic spoon and fork. Comsti, Micky Fenix, Felice Sta. Maria, Dolly Dy, Raffy Zulueta, Ige Ramos, chef Myke Tatung Sarthou and Boboi Costas all worked hand in hand to reheat the broth, open the boxes and apportion the food. Children as young as a year
old lined up to get their hot meal together with their parents, some of whom carried infants under the midday sun. Each of them graciously said thank you upon receiving the food. Water and tetra pack juices were also given to them. Lorna Cubita, 31, brought her three kids. She said their house, made of bamboo, was completely destroyed. They are currently housed at Calamigan Elementary School, which was made into an evacuation center. “Nothing was left to us,” said Cubita in Ilonggo. “But, I am happy my family is safe and we are still together.” Unconsumed goods were turned over to the Concepcion municipal hall, where more people were temporarily staying. “It’s so fulfilling to help and make people smile even though you know they’re still struggling with their life and livelihood,” said Jardeleza. ■
Lifestyle
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 38
Gateway Theatre’s The King and I BY MELISSA REMULLABRIONES Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE STRAINS from the overture with music familiar and haunting transported the theatre audience to the grandeur of old Siam: a time when the West played the East, the danger of new ideas threatened the stability of a kingdom, and liberation to a new world was waiting at the wings. In the midst of it all, a king and tradition; a secret plot; and in its wake, death and a love that was just beginning to blossom. And again, music. Beautiful, familiar, classic. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s masterpieces surviving the test of time. Etcetera, etcetera and so forth
The story of King and I is set in the 1800s but it is a story that bears retelling because it still rings true. Tolerance, openness, a meeting of very different minds and a persisting ignorance of similarities and differences between cultures were its main themes. It seemed everything and nothing has changed. It was told thus: It is 1862 in Siam when an English widow, Anna Leonowens, and her young son arrive at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, having been summoned by the King to serve as tutor to his many children and wives. The King is largely considered to be a barbarian by those in the West, and he seeks Anna’s assistance in changing his image, if not his ways. Set amidst the backdrop of modern-day North America
and its embrace of, and sometimes mistrust of, multiculturalism, some of the ideas in this classic rang true and clear. But the weight of this inconvenient truth was dissipated with humor, ably dispensed by Gateway Theatre’s Artistic Director and King and I main actor, Jovanni Sy. Sy played the role of King Mongut masterfully. His comedic timing was impeccable, his thrust and parries and support of all the members of his cast was a beautiful dance to behold. Every note that he belted was sure, confident, full of the complexities and perplexities that only a sensitive king who had a kingdom to run, harem to love, children to guide and a people to rule could. The staccato in the song, A puzzlement! was sung by Sy in character (read: properly accented) and in rapid fire, every word enunciated and punctuating/puncturing, that the audience cannot help but be enthralled. Barbara Tomasic’s Anna was headstrong and emotional and believable; and when it mattered most, light and funny. She sang her best when she was duelling with Sy, their energies feeding off of each other. In moments where they were at the fringes of each other’s personal spaces, afraid to get in, sometimes daring to, it was breathtaking; their dance in Shall We Dance was a subtle play at the love their characters chose forever to hide. And of course, the love songs. This musical had several. Among them: Shall we Dance, Something Wonderful, I Have Dreamed, Hello Young Lovers and We Kissed in the Shadow.
And figuring prominently in some of those songs were the star-crossed lovers Tuptim and Lun Tha, played by Rosie Simon and Justin Daniel Lapena. Barely touching (they could not, the walls of the palace had eyes), their voices touched and soared (tender and hopeful) in I Have Dreamed, and the audience dared to hope with them to the bitter end.
Peel Regional Police report that officers on the scene found a man in his 50s, stabbed several times during an alleged “domestic incident.” “The victim was transported to a local hospital,” Sgt. Matt Small said. “Despite the best efforts of medical staff, the victim succumbed to his injuries.” A teenage girl, who can’t be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was arrested at the home shortly after the fatal stabbing. She was officially
charged with second-degree murder on Wednesday. Police are withholding information, as well, on the relationship between the accused teen and the dead man, choosing to say only that the victim and the accused both lived in the home where the stabbing happened. The deceased man is Peel Region’s ninth murder victim of 2103. Accounts from neighbours show that the murdered man lived in the house for about
Snow
It also spoke of snow, an idea that was tested in the wives’ and the children’s Eastern minds and found wanting (not to see is not to believe). But it was an idea that caught fire (with a dash of faith in Miss Anna, of course) and thus, lace-y snow was beautifully and centrally incorporated in the wives’ presentation to their Western guests of Jerome Robbins ballet, “The Small House of Uncle Thomas”. Run, Eliza, run. It was one of the musical’s best moments. From the amazing score, to the superb singing and dancing of the cast (I especially loved the children!), and the generous sprinkling of humour, Gateway Theatre’s King and I was a truly enjoyable treat. The King and I is currently playing at the Gateway Theatre’s Main Stage until December 31. For ticket inquiries, please go to https://www.gatewaytheatre. com/events/show/king-i or call the Box Office at 604-270-1812.
The King and I—featuring Barbara Tomasic and Jovanni Sy. PHOTOS BY DAVID COOPER
15-year old girl... turn after approximately 30 minutes, the lawn had been decorated with candy canes and reindeer and Christmas lights had been strung from the overhang of her neighbours’ front door. The three family members were no longer outside. Shortly after 5 p.m., however, the neighbourhood was a flurry of panicked activity. Sirens blared, as emergency crews pulled up to the family’s previously idyllic home. ❰❰ 18
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eight years with his wife, their 18-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter. “It’s really sad,” said Tanu Gupta, who lives a few houses away from the family. Gupta admits to not knowing the family well, but says that she would often see the dead man’s wife out walking their dog. “I saw her coming home from a night shift once and she told me she was a nurse,” Gupta said. Other neighbours shared that the husband loved motorcycles,
and that the couple’s son recently started college. Not much is known about the daughter, but Sawyer-James revealed that she “didn’t seem happy.” “She didn’t talk much. She would pass without saying ‘Hi,’ but I figured it was adolescence, the hormones, so I didn’t take it personally,” she said. Police cordoned off the scene of the crime on Wednesday, as forensics officers gathered evidence.
Lifestyle
39 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
It’s A Big World A Giant Inflatable Globe Has Been Travelling Around Burnaby. Next Stop: Skating With Santa AT THE City of Burnaby’s Skate With Santa event on December 21, a plump red-suited fellow will of course be in attendance, but he won’t be the only oversized attraction. Also present will be a giant inflatable globe that is rapidly becoming the symbol of Burnaby’s status as one of only nine municipalities in Canada where more than 50% of the population was born in another country. The globe, which has been visible at many community events since July, is a project of the Burnaby Intercultural Planning Table and its The World In Burnaby initiative. The Planning Table consists of 25 different agencies working together to make Burnaby a more welcoming and inclusive city for immigrants and refugees. Over the years it has organized many initiatives, but most were very user-focussed and smaller in scale, says The World in Burnaby coordinator Jody Johnson. The globe project is different. “It’s meant to have a wider impact, to be interactive and even a little dramatic in getting across the idea that Burnaby is one of the most culturally diverse communities in the world.” The idea came out of a series of planning sessions last spring, says Gina Vesnaver of Curve Communications, which is responsible for the globe’s ground team. “One of the inspirations was the RedBall project,” she
explains. In that project, which has been ongoing since 2001, New York City-based artist Kurt Perschke has installed a giant red ball in often unexpected locales around the world. Crunched between two buildings in Taipei; wedged between girder supports on Sydney’s Harbour Bridge; floating by the Eiffel Tower on a boat—wherever he puts it the ball attracts crowds and gets people talking. He describes the project as an “invitation to engage, to collectively imagine.” So it is with the globe. “It really is huge,” says Johnson. “Everybody notices it. There are even safety issues,” she says with a laugh. Produced by a locally based company, the globe is the height of a two-storey building and requires a two-person team to install and manage it. The team has been trained to respond to the interested onlookers who inevitably gather. One of the most common sights is parents pointing out to children the place in the world that they are originally from. And several additional elements have been built into the project to make it truly interactive. The street team, for example, is stocked with postcards, which are handed out to interested people with instructions to pen a greeting to a Canadian newcomer. To date more than 400 messages have been passed
PHOTO FROM RUFFYBIAZON.PH
along in this way. Another feature is the making of short video clips featuring newcomers talking about their lives in Burnaby, with the globe as a backdrop. A social media component features Welcome Tips such as “Help with rides or offer to babysit!” and “Help with directions. If you can, walk with them to show them the way.”
And on the project’s website there is a Welcoming Pledge, which offers a chance to win prizes for those who make vows from a checklist that includes points such as “hire a newcomer or use my community connections to help a newcomer find a job” and “challenge all racist jokes, generalizations or stereotypes.”
More information about the project can be found at www.worldinburnaby.com. Of course, an even better way to experience it is in person with a visit to the City of Burnaby’s Skate With Santa event, 12:30 to 3 p.m., December 21, at Bill Copeland Sports Centre. The globe will be the attraction that isn’t wearing skates. ■
Burnaby Newcomers... Taiwan as a teenager. Though her big smile belies it, her first years here were not without torment. Today, however, life is good. She is a contented employee of a credit union and a committed backpacker who travels the world every chance she can—a poster child for diversity and the immigrant experience. Kao tells the simple story of a connection made with another immigrant, a customer who speaks no English. Employing her backpacker skills, she helps the woman with a family ❰❰ 23
Naomi Steinberg heads Vancouver Society of Storytelling and helps immigrants to tell their personal stories through storytelling.
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problem, and comes away with an understanding of how fortunate women are in Canada compared to many other places. As well, there’s a shared recognition that, as different as the two may be, both are women in a country that is new to them, and that’s a connection that shouldn’t be discounted. There are storytellers of many other sorts in this Welcome BC-funded program. The drama teacher from Iran with a story in which fish are oppressed by a corrupt ruler. The young mother from Mexico out to get her driver’s license who
discovers that the rules of the road are not precisely the same here. The published writer from China who demonstrates how different life is in Canada with a story about her son’s experiences in a Boy Scouts fundraising campaign. Among the storytellers’ appearances was a performance at the Burnaby Village Museum, which was recorded and can now be heard on the Burnaby Intercultural Planning Table’s website. To hear those, or for more information on the storytelling project and other initiatives, visit the site at www.bipt.ca. ■
Business
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013 40
Promoting B.C.’s advantages in Asia BY TERESA WAT Minister of International Trade and responsible for Asia-Pacific Strategy and Multiculturalism OUR STABLE economy, competitive business environment, and multicultural, highly skilled people who have connections to the world’s fastest growing markets, make British Columbia a natural gateway to Asia for trade and investment. The 2013 Jobs and Trade Mission to Asia, a critical part of British Columbia’s strategy to diversify its international trading partners and secure new investment, propelling economic activity and job creation throughout the province, made it clear that B.C. is open for business. With the largest business delegation to date, Premier Clark led over 120 companies to China, Korea and Japan to deepen British Columbia’s relationships with these priority markets, meet with high-level
decision makers and advance our efforts to develop the liquefied natural gas sector. This trade mission allowed us to get in front of investors and promote British Columbia as an attractive destination not only for investment, but for Asian companies looking to locate head offices for their North American operations. The Bank of China recognized the value of doing business in B.C. as it announced the consolidation of its Canadian trade finance services at its International Business Centre in Vancouver. As we kicked off our trade mission, Premier Clark and I travelled to Nantong and toured the Jiangsu Rudong liquefied natural gas facility. This gasification plant is ready to receive B.C.’s natural gas and support the creation of jobs here at home through its links to a new LNG project in Vancouver. Woodfibre Natural Gas Limited, a newly formed Canadian company, together with Pacific Oil and Gas Limited, is in the early
Power hike... Meralco gets more than 50 percent of its electricity (for distribution) from plants that use gas from Malampaya. The company also gets 11 percent of its power from providers in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, where rates have increased due to tight supply amid scheduled and emergency power plant outages in the Oct. 26-Nov. 25 supply period. The cost of power generation in this period was supposed to be reflected in the December billing of Meralco, which was supposed to be issuing notices to consumers. ❰❰ 11
Timing of outages
However, Meralco officials said they had deferred the billing by about a week because it first wanted ERC guidance on the staggered payment of the increase. Asked whether Meralco saw anything wrong with the timing of power plant outages, Meralco president Oscar Reyes said: “We have no reason to suspect power generators. We were also conscious of not contracting too much capacity since that
stages of developing Woodfibre LNG, a natural gas liquefaction and export project near Squamish. Woodfibre LNG has now officially established its headquarters in Vancouver. While other economies struggle, British Columbia and China are in a position to help each other grow. This trade mission, along with our expanded international trade and investment network, put us in front of investment communities in British Columbia’s priority markets. In Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Hong Kong—places that need and want what B.C. has to offer—I met with high-level decision makers to help secure the investment and the partnerships that will help develop our full potential here at home. As North America’s gateway for Asian trade and investment, businesses and communities in both B.C. and China look to each other for opportunities to diversify our trade and investment mix. As the Minister of
Premier Christy Clark departs today for her Jobs and Trade Mission, leading a delegation of over 120 companies to China, Korea and Japan from Nov. 21 to Dec. 3, 2013 to deepen British Columbia’s relationships with these priority markets. PHOTO FROM NEWSROOM.GOV.BC.CA
International Trade, one of my goals is to build on our connections and deepen our relationships. While our cultural ties and business to business relations are strong, our government to government relations can really make the difference. While in Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai and Guangdong, my ministry signed several
government to government agreements to explore areas of potential cooperation and promote trade and investment partnerships. They set the framework for ongoing relationship building, between our respective governments and business communities, stimulating economic activity and job creation here at home. ■
YAMANG PANGKINABUKASAN also finds its way into the power rates.” It has also been pointed out that while the generation charge does not go to Meralco, the utility firm has posted huge profits over the past few years. The publicly listed company, the country’s biggest power retailer, earned P16.30 billion (in core net income) in 2012, up 133 percent from the P7 billion in 2009. Meralco’s franchise area covers 31 cities and 80 municipalities in Metro Manila, the entire provinces of Bulacan, Rizal and Cavite; parts of the provinces of Laguna, Quezon, Batangas and Pampanga. The service area produces almost 46 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Leave of absence
For her part, ERC Chair Zenaida Ducut said she had not received a formal charge on allegations that she was involved in the P10-billion pork barrel scam of businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles. Lawmakers have called on Ducut to take a leave of absence or to step down. ■
A Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) EVERY CANADIAN has questions about their retirement. Have you once had the same questions yourself? Your home is likely the biggest investment you’ll make in life and it’s no doubt that while you are paying down your mortgage, you are also building equity. Equity that of course could help in retirement, but does your home fit into your overall retirement plan? A Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is designed by federal government to help citizens save for retirement. RRSP is one of the best ways to save for retirement as RRSP contributions are tax-deductible, significant upfront tax savings can result. An RRSP is not an investment, but a type of account that holds investment assets, and it can include different types of funds depending on the investor’s preferences and risk tolerance. It is a powerful tool that you can use to grow your assets tax deferred, and create a nest egg to assist you retire comfortably. Every individual who works, files a Canadian income tax return, and look forward to secure www.canadianinquirer.net
retirement should consider having an RRSP. Contributions to your RRSP are deducted from your gross income, lowering the taxable amount. December 31 of the year you turn 71 year of age is last day you can make a contribution to your RRSP. In other words, it’s eligible for anyone under the age of 71 who has earned income to save for retirement. You can also contribute to an RRSP under which your spouse or commonlaw partner is the annuitant until the end of the year your spouse or common-law partner turns 71. You can deduct previous contributions from 1991 forward, if you did not deduct them for any other year and if they are not more than your deduction limit for 2012. In an RRSP your money is taxsheltered, so it can grow faster. In general, any income you earned in the RRSP is usually exempt from tax as long as the funds remain in the plan; you generally have to pay tax when you receive payments from the plan. Married couples where one spouse earns more income than the other can reduce their com-
bined tax burden through a spousal RRSP. At retirement, an income-splitting strategy can be applied to reduce overall tax when the funds are withdrawn. If you are planning on purchasing your first home or are interested in contributing your education, you can contribute to your RRSP, then use these funds as a source of financing. Also if you anticipate fluctuations in your income because of maternity leave, career change or employment interruption, the funds in an RRSP are always available to you. Plan today for a secure retirement tomorrow. For most Canadians, RRSP will be a key source of your retirement income. That’s why it is important to implement right strategies to maximize your RRSP growth. Live the life you’ve earned. ■ For more information about this topic and other valuable financial information listen to our weekly radio program—”YAMANG PANGKINABUKASAN” every Saturday from 1:30pm to 2pm on JUAN Radio 96.1 FM, hosted by Surrinder Varpaul and Kuya Boy.
Sports/Horoscope
41 FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
Thais whip PH handball bets BY MARC ANTHONY REYES Philippine Daily Inquirer UBON RATCHATHANI, THAILAND—The Philippines showed a lot of spunk against regional heavyweight Thailand before dropping a 34-19 decision in the Southeast Asian women’s handball championships here. With former PH cager Fatima Tolentino carrying the scoring load, the Filipinas, who call themselves Amigas, kept the game close in the first half as the hosts, who have been playing in the Asian Games for years, appeared to hold back their punches. Urged to press the action by coach Joanna Franquelli, the Filipinos opened up the defense in the wings with left back
MGM for Pacman’s next fight; foe unknown BY ROY LUARCA Philippine Daily Inquirer
Aurora Adriano and left wing Michelle Bruzola scoring on daring drives. It was the first international competition for the country with the pioneering team being formed just two months ago. Tentative in offense, the Filipinos needed time to get into the groove and found it only in the first 10 minutes as they breathed down the Thais’ neck at 11-7. Franquelli said the Amigas failed to execute their plays down the stretch and often put their defenses down after getting whistled off on tackles. But the result was a boost for the Amigas, who were expected to be overwhelmed by the hosts at Ubon Ratchathani Sports School. ■
MANNY PACQUIAO will return to MGM Grand in Las Vegas for his next fight on April 12 against a still unknown opponent. “We’ll know before Christmas,” renowned promoter Bob Arum told Filipino sportswriters over the phone. The short list of Pacquiao’s probable opponents is headed by unbeaten American Tim Bradley, who handed the Fighter of the Decade a discredited split decision loss on June 9, 2012 at MGM. Pacquiao’s forgettable season ended when he got knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in the sixth round on Dec. 8, also at MGM. The Filipino ring icon resurrected his career with a lopsided unanimous decision over Brandon Rios last Nov. 24 in
Pacquiao will return to MGM Grand in Las Vegas on April 12, 2014. PHOTO BY LORCEL / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
Macau. Bradley bested Marquez by split last October and announced his willingness to fight Pacquiao again, if only to prove that he’s really the better fighter. Marquez, on the other hand, has nixed a fifth fight against Pacquiao despite a juicy $12 million offer. Also back on Pacquiao’s radar are unbeaten Floyd Mayweath-
er Jr., former sparring partner Ruslan Provodikov and even former victim Miguel Cotto, who was at ringside during Pacquiao-Rios. Arum and Pacquiao are open to a megabuck bout with Mayweather, while Provodnikov doesn’t want to fight Pacquiao owing to the friendship they developed while preparing for Bradley. ■
HOROSCOPE ARIES
CANCER
LIBRA
CAPRICORN
(MARCH 21 - APRIL 19)
(JUNE 22 - JULY 22)
(SEPT 23 - OCT 22)
(DEC 22 - JAN 19)
You may feel like a scatterbrain when you forget where you put your keys and put detergent in the dryer with your freshly washed clothes. Your brain is tossed every which way, and it may be hard to follow through on anything you start. Don’t get too hung up on this. Go with the flow without trying to force yourself into anything that doesn’t come naturally.
TAURUS (APRIL 20 - MAY 20)
Ordering one item from the menu isn’t going to satisfy you today. You need a buffet table where you can try everything - either that or an eight-course meal served with a smile. You’re happy to share your meal with others as long as you can have a bite of what everyone else is having as well. This is your day to skip around, try new things, and explore different perspectives.
It may be difficult to focus. The trick is to not take anything too emotionally. Keep things on the light side, and don’t get too frustrated if you can’t seem to find the tools to dig as deeply as you’d like. You may be more productive if you skim many issues instead of trying to penetrate deeply into one in particular.
SCORPIO
LEO
(OCT 23 - NOV 21)
(JULY 23 - AUGUST 22) Things should be going your way, and you may feel like quite a bit is getting done without your having to lift a finger. At the same time, a nagging voice in the back of your mind is telling you to watch your back. Have all your bases covered. While you may be tempted to go with the most comfortable and familiar, this is a good time to consider other perspectives.
This is a good day to vocalize your feelings. By speaking about a problem out loud, you’ll eventually talk your way to a solution. By externalizing what’s going on in your head, the issue is somehow easier to handle. Keeping it all inside gives it very little room to move around. You’re closer to a solution than you think. Find your voice and the answer will find you.
Your mind is hungry for stimulation, so give it plenty of food to chew on. This food could come in the form of a lively discussion about politics and world events or perhaps an offbeat periodical. Your perspective could change on a dime, so keep your mind open to new ideas. The information that comes your way will be enriching and surprising.
AQUARIUS (JAN 20 - FEB 18)
This is a very climactic time of month on the emotional front, and you may lash out for no apparent reason. This is a time when any emotions that you’ve stored up inside are forced to come out in one way or another. You may feel like you have little control over how you express feelings. The force behind your emotions is tremendous.
You may be in a quagmire of indecision. Your brain is turning in many directions but not coming to any conclusion. Work with this energy rather than become frustrated by it. Feel free to examine every idea thoroughly. By the time you really have to make a decision, you’ll know what you want. For now, you’re better off experimenting.
GEMINI
VIRGO
SAGITTARIUS
PISCES
(MAY 21 - JUNE 21)
(AUG 23 - SEPT 22)
(NOV 22 - DEC 21)
(FEB 19 - MAR 20)
Your current paradigm may get shifted a bit. There’s a good chance that your emotions will go through a significant transformation today. Your mind may be spinning. Don’t get caught up in the mental maelstrom. You can cut through the jargon that your mind may be feeding you by relying on your sixth sense - your keen intuition - for the answers you seek.
There’s plenty to talk about. The hard part is finding a reason to stop talking. Once someone brings up philosophy or religion, it seems like the floodgates open. You’ll be occupied for a few hours as you engage in a discussion. Your mind will jump around, and you’ll be happy to consider many perspectives, although you’ll have the last say about what you believe.
Make sure to take something to read with you. There may be times when you have to wait for someone and you’ll want to be productive. You’ll inevitably get antsy and could get angry with the person holding up your day. Having something to focus on will calm you and make you feel like you’re not wasting your time. You could thoroughly enjoy the time rather than get angry.
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The latest magazines and trends in fashion and movies will catch your attention. There’s a piece of late-breaking news that will matter a great deal to you. Conversations revolving around these topics are likely to come up at dinner tonight. You’ll have a fresh tidbit of information to share with others. Long conversations on current ideas will prove extremely rewarding.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 13, 2013
42
Travel
Quebec town draws thousands of tourists annually for ice fishing BY PETER RAKOBOWCHUK The Canadian Press MONTREAL—A fish tale that began 75 years ago has turned a small Quebec town into an international winter destination. Today, Sainte-Anne-de-laPerade boasts that it’s the world capital for tommycod fishing as it welcomes tens of thousands of visitors annually. As the story goes, it began in 1938, when a local grocer went out on the nearby Sainte-Anne River to cut up blocks of ice which he would put into boxes to keep his meat refrigerated. When he cut through the ice, he noticed small codfish in the river. The word spread and fishing huts soon began springing up every winter, turning part of the river into a small village on ice. During the early days, because roads were closed during the winter, people came by train to fish and scoop up the tommycod, also known as tomcod. Horse-drawn sleigh carriages were used to bring the eager visitors to the fishing chalets. Steve Massicotte, a town councillor and president of the Sainte-Anne River Outfitters Association, says the woodheated chalets were originally quite small. “In the beginning, there were chalets that could accommodate four, six, up to a maximum of eight people,” he said in an interview. “Since the ‘80s, we have chalets that can accommodate 25 to 30 people.” Massicotte says 500 fishing huts are now set up each winter along one-and-a-half kilometres of the Sainte-Anne River and that more than 80,000 eager tourists drop by every year to enjoy the winter fishing. In one period, during the 1950s and ‘60s, as many as 1,200 tiny chalets covered the
ice on the river. The tommycod fishing season officially starts on Dec. 26 and runs until Feb. 16. SteAnne-de-la-Perade is located between Montreal and Quebec City, about a 25-minute drive east of Trois-Rivieres. “People come from everywhere in the world to fish,” Massicotte said, noting that along with Europeans and Russians, much of the clientele comes from China and elsewhere in Asia. “People find it magical, just to be able to walk on a river,” he added. Over the past 10 years, tourists have generated between $4 million and $5 million annually for the Sainte-Anne-de-laPerade economy and its 2,000 residents. For Massicotte, it’s almost like shooting fish in a barrel. “The small fish actually arrive at the beginning of December and there are about 800 million that enter the SainteAnne River and leave at the end of February,” he said. Fishing lines hang from the ceiling of the hut and drop into an ice hole that’s 30 centimetres wide. Each person has two or three lines to watch and as many as a dozen people can fish at a time. They can reel in between 150 and 250 fish in 10 hours. “There’s no permit needed and no limit to what can be taken,” Massicotte said. “People in the cabins can sometimes get 200, 300, 500 fish.” It costs $28 per person for adults to fish on weekends and $25 during the week. It’s halfprice for children 6-12 and free for kids five and under. “For children, it’s a fish that poses no danger, there are no sharp points, no teeth,” Massicotte noted. A tommycod can measure anywhere from 15 to 35 centimetres long.
There are no family rates, but everything is included—even the wood for the stoves that heat the huts. “People can fish in total comfort,” he said. “When the stove really heats up, it can raise the temperature up to 25-30 degrees (Celsius) inside the chalet.” There are also electrical outlets for small appliances like radios. But people have to bring their own food. Massicotte suggests tourists may also want to consider coming to fish during the week because weekends are often all booked. There’s also night fishing which goes on until six in the morning. Visitors can even park their cars outside the chalets. This season, various sporting events are being added to the list of activities held on the ice. There will be a beach volleyball tournament during the weekend of Jan. 18 and a pond hockey tournament—with boots, not skates—the following weekend. The town also holds a big festival, beginning Feb. 1, where a tent set up on the river becomes the focal point for music and entertainment. Massicotte also stressed that people shouldn’t worry about falling through the ice, which has to be at least 30 centimetres thick. In late winter, in February, the ice can get a thick as one metre. “It’s very, very safe,” he said, noting that heavy-duty tractors are used to move the chalets out onto the ice. “We go on the river with tractors (and) they are pretty heavy machines and we wouldn’t do that if the ice wasn’t safe.” Massicotte says finding lodgings nearby should not be a problem. But he cautions to reserve ahead of time. “We have local inns, small bed-and-breakfasts, where people can reserve rooms and
we also have hotels and motels that are situated nearby at Trois-Rivieres and St-MarcDes-Carrieres,” he added. “It’s important to make reservations because we know that between 80,000 and 100,000 people come through, so places
are limited.” If you go
From Montreal take Autoroute 40 East to Trois-Rivieres and then follow Autoroute 40 for another 50 kilometres to the town. ■
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With Careful charitable giving, many philanthropists can give more to important causes and still benefit in the long run BY JOE TABLAN ‘TIS THE season for giving. Charitable giving is a great way to leave a lasting legacy in this world and help many people in the process. While the traditional cash donations are a great way to donate, there may be better scenarios to enhance your donation dollars without spending more while minimizing your annual taxes and still achieve your philanthropic goals. Here are a few great ways to donate.
income and again, the 5 year window applies. On the year of your death, the limit increases to 100% of the FMV. Gifting through your will
While I highly recommend you have a will, bequests through your will help to lower your taxation you’re your final tax return. Do keep in mind that probate fees still apply. One way is to set up a life insurance policy and name the estate the beneficiary. The estate can direct funds equal to the death benefit to donate to the charity. More on this strategy later.
Cash gifts
Let’s start with the easiest way to donate. Giving cash to your favorite charity or church is an easy way to support them. Most charities will issue a receipt for amounts of $10 or over. These proceeds can then be claimed on either you or your spouse’s tax return for a tax credit. The more you give, the more tax savings you can gain in the process. With a tax credit, it is different from a tax deduction since you will not receive a tax refund, but decrease taxes owed on your return. If you do owe money, it can be beneficial since it will lower the taxes you owe to the government. You can save this tax credit during any 5 year term so it will help in future tax owing. Securities
The great thing about gifting qualified securities is that they are only subject to half the capital gains inclusion rate. This means that you are required to claim only 25% of the capital gains as income, therefore, only paying tax on that portion. There are 2 qualifications to this rule. They must be made to a qualified public foundation and must be in the form of the following: Shares, bonds, mutual fund shares of corporations and/or interests in segregated funds. They MUST be given to the charity. Securities gifted to charitable organizations will receive a tax receipt for the fair market value on the date that you make your gift. You can claim an annual tax credit up to 75% of your net
Charitable gift annuities
Charitable gift annuities are irrevocable annuities that charities can either issue themselves or buy from insurance companies. You can use them to give a lump sum to a charity and receive a periodic income on which you’ll pay little or no tax. As the owner of the annuity, the charity will be responsible for any accrued tax. Charitable gift annuities are probably the most beneficial for people age 70 or older who have a sum of money over which they are willing to give up control. It gives you an opportunity to donate now instead of postponing the
gift until after you die.When you contribute to a charity and receive an annuity (i.e. a guaranteed stream of payments for a period of time); the donation is equal to the excess of your contribution over the amount to acquire the annuity. Life insurance policy
A common way to donate to charities is to contribute a whole life insurance policy with cash surrender value. The amount of the donation is based on your health and age and premium amount. This is a great way to take smaller money contributions and enhance them with a much larger death benefit. I find many people are using this strategy to leave a lasting legacy to their favorite charitable organizations. The best way would be to set up a new policy and name the charity as the owner and beneficiary of the plan. Not only do you create more money for them on a tax free basis (the death benefit is flowed through tax free), but it would also bypass probate and you would receive a tax credit on the premiums of the proceeds. Also, in 2013, there is a new FirstTime Donor’s Super Credit (FDSC). To simply put it, it is a 25% increase in tax credit for donations UP to $1000 between the years 2013-2017. It is a little known secret but very beneficial if you are looking to donate and receive a higher credit towards your taxes. Good idea to look into it. For more information, take a look at the CRA website. http://www.cra- arc.gc.ca/gncy/ bdgt/2013/qa01-eng.html While there are many other ways to donate to your charity of choice, the best thing to do is consult a financial advisor to figure out the best way to maximize the use of the contribution amount you have in mind. The bottom line is that no matter how much or what strategy you are using, money you are graciously donating is making this world a better place. Maligayang Pasko! (Happy holidays!) ■
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