Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #96

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VOL. 12 NO. 96

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NEW YEAR SPECIAL ISSUE

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Despite naysayers, Aquino still rates high

Pacquiao’s income not reported properly

Christmas for Yolanda survivors

New Year Wishes

Ringing in 2014

BC teen who won Google prize juggles school work with science fair project

BY DIANA MEHTA The Canadian Press

HAPPY NEW YEAR! LIGHTING THE PATH FOR THE NEW YEAR. Parol Lanterns from the "Light of Unity Lantern Festival of Calgary: Parol Pride" were displayed at the Calgary

City Hall. The event was organized by the Possibilities in Motion Foundation.

Pop culture hits and misses of 2013 Super bids the year goodbye by remembering the good, the bad and the ugly: cronuts, cookie butter, scandals, tragedies and more

BY PAM PASTOR AND TATIN YANG Philippine Daily Inquirer WHEN WE think of 2013, we see cronuts.

And cookie butter. Jars and jars of cookie butter. These were just two of the food fads that hit Manila (and Instagram) this year.

“Selfies” were huge in 2013—everyone’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram feeds were flooded with many self-portraits that the word has made it to the Oxford Dictionaries along with “twerk” (more on that in a bit), “cake pops,” “emoji,” “unlike” and “srsly.”

PAGE 33 BC teen

Firecracker, stray bullet injuries rising–DOH PAGE 8

PAGE 11 Pop culture

ANN MAKOSINSKI is becoming a master of managing her time.

After taking the top prize in her age group at Google’s annual science fair, the high school student has been fielding inquiries from companies interested in her project, juggling homework and extra curriculars with speaking engagements, and still finding time for the occasional pizza night with friends.

“I’ve just been super busy,” said the bubbly 15-year-old. “I’ve just had to be like, ok I already have way too much on my plate, I just have to try and balance what I can manage currently.”

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Philippine News

3 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Despite naysayers, Aquino still rates high, says Palace

BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer

tinue to stand behind him. They believe in his leadership, founded on efficiency, firmness, and foresight,” said Coloma.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The fourth quarter Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on the satisfaction rating of President Benigno Aquino III—which essentially remained unchanged since the previous survey—disproved claims by critics of the administration that he was becoming unpopular, Malacañang said on Thursday.

“In lieu of the usual naysayers trying to promote the impression that there is a general dissatisfaction among the Filipino people, the survey shows that an overwhelming majority in Balance Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, as well as a healthy majority in Metro Manila, are solidly with the President,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma.

The results of the survey conducted from Dec. 11 to 16 make this evident, said Coloma.

Facts from spin

Shoulder to shoulder

“The Filipino people continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Aquino administration,” he said, pointing out that 69 percent of Filipinos “remain satisfied with the President’s performance—a one-point increase from the last survey period—with 21 percent dissatisfied.”

The secretary noted that these past few months, the President had made “tough but necessary decisions” on issues of serious national concern.

He cited the conflict in Zamboanga City in September, earthquake in Bohol in October and last month, the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

“These results serve as a reassurance: The Filipino people, whom he has constantly referred to as his strength, con-

“We are grateful to our people for proving once more that they are on the side of true public service and are unswayed by mere politicking. Their discerning facts from spin means the momentum of inclusive growth and change will continue unabated as we enter the final stretch of the President’s term,” said the secretary.

He said the administration would “continue working overtime” to be able to propel the country along the path to recovery and prosperity.

The quarterly SWS survey on public satisfaction with the President is a noncommissioned item, said the SWS in its website.

Face to face

The survey, which used face-to-face interviews of 1,550 adults nationwide, has a sampling error margins of plus or minus 2.5 percent for national percentages, plus or minus 4 percent for Visayas, and plus or minus 6 percent for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon and Mindanao.

The question posed to interviewees was: “Please tell me how satisfied or dissatisfied you are in the performance of Benigno Aquino III as President of the Philippines. Are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, undecided if satisfied or dissatisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, very dissatisfied, or you have not ever heard or read anything about Benigno Aquino III?” In the latest survey, the President obtained a net satisfaction rating of plus 49 (“good”), which was similar to the one he had in September, but this figure was still down from plus 64 (“very good”) he obtained in June.

President Benigno S. Aquino III inspects the bunkhouse units for internally displaced persons at the Joachin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex in Zamboanga City on December 22.

PHOTO BY GIL NARTEA / MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU

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US help sought on Fil-Am tied to Mexican cartel

BY JEROME ANING, NIKKO DIZON, AND NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer

have yet to be established, he said.

Aside from Torres, police are also hot on the trail of the other conduits of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Merdegia said.

THE PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP) is coordinating with the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to locate the Filipino-American who is alleged to be the conduit of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel here and who has reportedly left for the US, a police official said Friday.

The alleged liaison has been identified as Jorge Gomez Torres, a cockfighting aficionado who leased the Batangas property that was turned into an illegal-drug storage facility that yielded P420 million worth of shabu (or methamphetamine hydrochloride) during a Christmas Day police raid.

“It’s a big possibility that he (Torres) is the contact. He left for the US the second week of December,” said Chief Insp.

Roque Merdegia, the spokesperson of the PNP Anti-IIlegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (PNP-AIDSOTF), in a phone interview.

But Torres’ whereabouts in the US

Not well-entrenched

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In separate interviews, Merdegia and a military intelligence source said the Sinaloa drug cartel was not exactly a well-entrenched syndicate in the Philippines.

Instead, it is just among the several foreign organizations doing business in the international drug trade that has established a business network in the country, a military source said on condition of anonymity.

“It’s one of the groups that enters the country but it doesn’t really have a very big clout here. It is not well-entrenched but it has dealings with the drug syndicates here,” said the source who is an intelligence officer.

Authorities have been hot on the trail of a local drug syndicate that is known to have had connections to the Sinaloa drug cartel since five years ago, the PAGE 14 US help

Philippine News

DECEMBER 31, 2013 4

Pacquiao’s ‘income not reported properly’

BY CHRISTIAN V. ESGUERRA AND FRANCIS T.J. OCHOA Philippine Daily Inquirer

mous finances, said Cabuhat, whose company handled the boxer’s tax returns for about year.

Could have been corrected

ONE MORNING in early 2010, Michael Joseph Cabuhat stood at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, waiting for Manny Pacquiao, then in the thick of training for his welterweight title defense against Joshua Clottey, to wrap up his morning jog.

Cabuhat, chief financial officer of the California-based VisionQwest Accountancy Group, had been trailing Pacquiao to offer his services amid rumors that boxing’s hottest commodity was in a deep financial mess then.

A boxing fan, he said he wanted to help “the only Filipino earning big-time in the US.” Cabuhat finally made his pitch that morning when a friend arranged a quick meeting with Pacman inside a van.

Knowing he was given very little time, he took out a piece of paper and made a rather simple illustration of Pacquiao’s financial situation “like I was draw-

Pacquiao with his trainer Freddie Roach PHOTO BY FREDERICK MANLIGAS NACINO | WIKIMEDIA

ing for a child.”

The problem lay, he quoted Pacquiao as telling him, with income from his prizefights, which, based on the “drawing,” was trickling down from his American promoter, Bob Arum’s Top Rank. “Income is not being reported properly,” he was supposedly told.

“He was aware of it,” Cabuhat recalled in an interview with the Inquirer.

Three years later, the same

issue of income “not being reported properly” surfaced again to haunt Pacquiao, winner of multiple titles in eight different weight divisions and now on his second term as congressman.

US tax liability

The United States’ Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is running after him because of some $18 million in alleged tax liabilities. At home, the Bureau

of Internal Revenue is hounding him for P2.2 billion in purported back taxes.

Pacquiao’s camp said on Wednesday that the IRS liens on his properties and bank accounts had been lifted as of Dec. 20 this year.

What led Pacquiao to this mess could be blamed on “mismanagement of funds” and a “very unprofessional group surrounding him” and which was tasked with handling his enor-

But it was something that could have been corrected, straightened up, if ultimately, Pacquiao himself had wanted to, added Cabuhat. VisionQwest was eventually fired, allegedly after discovering the extent of the mess and telling him what had to be done.

“I’ve told this story so many times, but nothing happened,” he said, sounding frustrated.

Responding to the issues raised by his former accountants, Pacquiao’s camp described these as “recycled,” and which “have been discussed by VisionQwest through the media over the past couple of years in an effort to discredit promoter Bob Arum and Mike Koncz.”

“To date, Representative Pacquiao continues to trust his team of advisers,” his camp wrote in an e-mail to the Inquirer.

PAGE 13 Pacquiao’s ‘income’

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Philippine News

5 DECEMBER 31, 2013

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Philippine News

DECEMBER 31, 2013 6

Senators hail high court order stopping power rate hike

BY NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES— Senators welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision to stop the Manila Electric Co. from implementing within the next 60 days a staggered P4.15 hike in the price of electricity.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes, who sought a Senate inquiry into the unprecedented rate increase, said the congressional probe should continue to ensure a fair collection of charges by the distribution firm.

“It’s a victory for the consumers. We should sustain the pressure so the freeze would permanent,” said Trillanes, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security.

“In the meantime, we shall find ways to avert future spikes in power rates. We will also continue with the investigation and the auditing to make sure we are not being manipulated

by Meralco,” Trillanes added.

Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, chairman of the Senate com-

mittee on energy, said the court’s temporary restraining order was an opportunity for the government to address the issues regarding the steep rise in power costs.

Osmeña presided over the Senate inquiry into the rate hike last week.

“I am very happy about the injunction. I hope the government moves faster to make corrections on this market failure,” Osmeña said.

Sen. Benigno Aquino IV said the Supreme Court’s 60-day temporary restraining order was a welcome development since the investigation of alleged collusion among power generation companies had yet to be completed.

Aquino chairs the Senate committee on trade, commerce and entrepreneurship.

“The decision is welcome as the tri-partite committee formed to investigate collusion is yet to finish its findings on the matter,” Aquino said in a text message.

Trillanes over the weekend threatened to move for an audit

of Meralco’s books if it pushed through with its planned rate increase for January.

“They said there will be no increase in January but it appears that the deception they’re trying to do here is on the computation, that the generation cost will still be based on the December rate of more than P7,” Trillanes said over radio station dzBB. “The point of reckoning should be before the Malampaya shortage when the price was just more than P5.60. They don’t have an increase in January but the basis is still the December rate,” Trillanes added.

Under the terms the Energy Regulatory Commission approved, the P4.15 per kilowatt hour rate hike will be distributed in the months of December at P2.41/kWh, February at P1/ kWh and March at P0.44/kWh. Trillanes was in a quandary why the generation cost would remain at a high level when the demand will be lower and the supply higher.

“The December increase remains in effect in January even if they no longer have the rea-

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Sen. Antonio Trillanes III PHOTO FROM SENATE.GOV.PH

son of the plants shutting down.

Meralco no longer has a reason to buy expensive electricity,” Trillanes said.

“Many of our countrymen in Metro Manila will be on vacation and many companies, offices and factories have also shut down operations because of the Christmas break. So the consumption should be low,”

Trillanes added.

The high cost of power should no longer be reflected in January, Trillanes said.

“They said they won’t increase in January, that they will just collect the generation cost.

So the question here is why the generation remains high at over P7 per kilowatt hour?”

Trillanes said.

Philippine News

7 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Homeless and lacking electricity, Philippine typhoon survivors find little cheer this year

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press TACLOBAN, PHILIPPINES— Christmas lights blink in a handful of restaurants in Tacloban, but at nightfall, much of this city flattened by Typhoon Haiyan slips into darkness.

A few downtown shops have reopened. Roadside vendors peddle fruits of the season: oranges and red apples. There is rebuilding, though much of it consists of residents hammering shelters out of scavenged debris.

The Nov. 8 typhoon killed more than 6,100 people in the eastern Philippines, displaced at least 4 million others and left its most gruesome mark on Tacloban, a city of 240,000 that will need years to recover.

Soon after the storm, Philippine Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla promised to restore power by Christmas Eve or resign, and indeed, electricity has returned to nearly all of the more than 300 towns that lost it. But relatively few people are able to use it. Officials say many storm-ravaged houses and shops will spend the holidays in the dark because their wiring systems are damaged.

City Hall, a seaside hilltop complex surrounded by ruins, buzzes with typhoon relief work, with dozens of staffers and foreign aid workers busy on the phone or huddled in talks.

“I am hoping by a year you’ll see some significant improvements,” Mayor Alfred Romualdez says. But he’s not sure when his city will fully bounce back.

Christmas Day Mass here will be celebrated by the papal envoy. There will be a Christmas Eve dinner for foreign aid workers and local officials.

But mostly, Christmas will be a celebration amid deprivation, in tents, makeshift homes and damaged churches. The smell of death remains in parts of the city. Thousands of people have simply left.

“Many of them, I know, prefer not to spend it here,” Romualdez says. “Maybe a change of scenery first and then come back after the holidays.” *** Fire officer Rolando Unay

Yolanda evacuees spend Christmas in tent city.

PHOTO FROM SOLARNEWS.PH

gently lifts a black cadaver bag left on a roadside by villagers in Tacloban city. “It’s a child,” he tells his team of corpse collectors.

As their orange dump truck cruises along a main road adorned with Christmas trees, motorists and passers-by cover their noses.

More than six weeks after Typhoon Haiyan struck, leaving well over 2,000 people dead in Tacloban alone, this sad work continues. Soldiers, police, firefighters and volunteers have cleared what had been a heartbreaking landscape of bodies strewn across the ruined city, but the stench in scattered mounds of debris means there are more left to find.

Unay, a doting grandfather with five children, says that although the work is difficult he sees the good in it.

“Every time I lift a child’s body, I could feel that the agony of a parent, a family somewhere, is about to end,” he said Friday.

At a corner, a distraught fisherman, Hubert Labanan, waves at Unay’s truck to stop.

He points to the remains of his mother by the roadside. Villagers found her remains under a pile of wood and other debris that they cleared while preparing to repair a house.

Holding back tears, Labanan tells Unay’s crew that he had lost his own home in the storm and was too poor to bury his mother in a cemetery. He begged that she be taken to a mass grave.

As Unay’s team left with his mother’s remains, Labanan waved goodbye, then stood motionless until the orange truck vanished from his sight. *** In early November, Eledio Moro thought he had Christmas figured out. He was going to surprise his 2-year-old daughter, Aubrey, with a pink toy motorbike. For his wife, a gold bracelet, or maybe an expensive Western-brand shirt.

He owned a restaurant and a money-lending business.

His new house was one of the grandest in the poor coastal neighbourhood. Last year, he draped it in the best and brightest Christmas lights.

“We worked hard and were doing well then suddenly, like a bubble that burst, I lost everything,” he says.

Like many in Tacloban, Moro ignored an order from authorities to evacuate as Haiyan approached, thinking his house could withstand the storm.

He and his family were huddled by the staircase when a cargo ship, swept inland by the www.canadianinquirer.net

massive storm surge, smashed into the house, knocking them into the water.

He survived by grabbing a piece of bamboo. Now all that is left of his home is the staircase, a wall and a second-floor balcony beside the huge, steel-hulled ship, still stuck by the road.

Moro, 41, now lives with his sister. Sleeping tablets have helped him get through the worst of the past six weeks, he says.

On Christmas, he will visit the graves of his wife and his daughter, “to ask forgiveness for not having been able to save them.” *** Although its roof got blown off by Haiyan’s wind and it became a burial ground for dozens of typhoon victims, the Roman Catholic cathedral in Palo, near Tacloban, hosted a festive event a day before Christmas: the mass wedding of 98 couples.

Originally scheduled for 147 couples on Nov. 16, the wedding was postponed when the monster storm struck, damaging the church’s interior, breaking its stained glass windows and scattering its pews.

A smaller number registered for Tuesday’s ceremony, apparently because the other couples left the region after the storm, said Monsignor Bernie Pantin, who officiated the wedding.

“I praised them for their strong faith whatever happens,” Pantin said.

Workers draped the roof with tarpaulins ahead of Christmas but part of the altar still got wet from a downpour later Tuesday.

Archbishop Giuseppe Pinto, the papal envoy to the Philippines, was to celebrate a Christmas Eve Mass at the damaged cathedral. *** At night in Tacloban’s dark and dreary downtown, Joseph Bonavitacola’s restaurant is filled with chatter, mostly of foreign and local aid workers.

His brick oven hardly gets any rest.

Red Christmas lanterns, lights and decor adorn window panes and a brick wall at Giuseppe’s, which has the ambiance of fine dining in Manila, the Philippine capital.

It’s hard to imagine how the Italian businessman, who has lived in the city for 20 years with his Filipino wife, reopened the place less than three weeks after Typhoon Haiyan devastated about 4,000 businesses.

Only about 5 per cent have reopened, officials say.

“The water was about this high,” Bonavitacola says, pointing to the chest-high wooden cashier counter. “The bar was down. The chiller was by the door. The doors were broken.

There was lots of mud. Everything was upside down.”

Frightened by a jailbreak and lootings, he left for Manila with his family but returned after three days to start a massive cleanup with 20 employees.

He fixed damaged equipment and got supplies from another branch of his restaurant.

Despite a power outage, he reopened Nov. 24 with candlelit tables. His message, exclaimed on a big sign outside: Rise Tacloban.

He also owns 10 meat shops that were inundated, and has begun to reopen them, keeping prices at pre-typhoon levels.

Outside his crowded restaurant, armed policemen stand guard. Most nearby shops remain shut.

“We try to make it feel as normal as possible,” says Bonavitacola’s wife, Catheryn. “Because outside, it’s still depressing.”

Philippine News

DECEMBER 31, 2013 8

‘Mayor should have been told to go on leave’ Philippine Daily Inquirer SEN. ALAN Peter Cayetano said Vice President Jejomar Binay should tell his son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr., to go on leave to give way to an investigation of his behavior toward security guards at an exclusive residential subdivision in Makati weeks ago.

Weighing in on the controversy, Cayetano said responding to Mayor Binay’s insisting on an exemption from the subdivision’s security rules posed a tough challenge to President Aquino, Vice President Binay and Interior SecretaryMar Roxas. “Since the son of the Vice President is involved— we’ve seen how the President is piqued by abuse and how he loathes [sirens], a Porsche-driving clerk … a mayor who slaps [her] constituents—so what will be the response?” Cayetano said at a press briefing.

He was referring to President Aquino’s good government policy, which includes a prohibition on official display of authority, such as using sirens to get ahead on the road.

Mr. Aquino laid down the policy during his inauguration on June 30, 2010.

Days later, a convoy of vehicles carrying Vice President Binay was caught on television running a red light on Araneta Avenue in Quezon City.

Embarrassed, the Vice President apologized to all the motorists who were inconvenienced.

His press officer, Joey Salgado, said at the time that the Vice President reminded his security escorts that they should obey

traffic rules.

Salgado also said the head of the Vice President’s security, Col. Ferdinand Fraginal, reprimanded the security officers involved.

Now how will the Vice President deal with his own son’s behavior toward three security guards at Dasmariñas Village?

Cayetano asked.

“Will he treat him any differently? Or will he give him special favor? Is this a preview of a Binay administration if he becomes the President?” Cayetano asked.

“If I were the Vice President, I’d do something simple. I’d tell [my son]: ‘Mayor Junjun, go on leave for 15 days. Secretary Mar, remove the chief of police, investigate him. If my son is proven innocent, the papers and TV networks that aired the malicious story should apologize. If my son is liable, charge him,’” Cayetano said.

“If you want to be President of the country and you want an administration that is free of abuse, you have to make a painful decision,” the senator added.

But the Vice President defended his son in a television interview yesterday, saying the Makati mayor deserved “a little courtesy.”

The confrontation

Mayor Binay, riding in a four-vehicle convoy, was leaving Dasmariñas Village around midnight on Nov. 30 and wanted to use the gate at Banyan Road, which is closed to outgoing traffic after 10 p.m. for security reasons.

Residents of the subdivision, including lawmakers, diplo-

mats and celebrities from the entertainment industry, follow the security rules and use the gate at Palm Avenue in going out after 10 p.m.

When the security guards at the gate refused to let the mayor’s entourage through, Binay got off his car and confronted the lead guard.

“Don’t you know me?( Hindi mo ba ako kilala?)” the mayor said, according to a source who told the INQUIRER about the incident.

The confrontation was captured on the subdivision’s security cameras, which showed the guards, apparently unimpressed, standing their ground.

The video showed agitated movements by the mayor’s escorts. It also showed the mayor’s sister, Sen. Nancy Binay, who was in one of the vehicles, getting off, as if to show herself to the guards.

Still unimpressed, the guards refused to raise the security bar at the gate.

The source said the mayor called the police on his cell phone.

The video showed a bodyguard of the mayor loading a clip into a semiautomatic pistol and cocking it.

The cops arrived, raised the security bar to let the mayor’s group out, and arrested the security guards, the source said.

Mayor Binay’s camp said later that the guards were not arrested. They were released after four hours and no charges were filed against them.

The mayor’s camp also said the security guards and their company, Right Eight Security Inc., apologized to the mayor and the matter was considered

closed.

Not for Cayetano, who said he was saddened by the Vice President’s statement that his son should have been accorded courtesy.

“No amount of need of courtesy will justify your willingness to kill people. Remember these security guards are professionals. We all know the Binays, and know that their security men are professionals,” Cayetano said.

“You don’t cock a gun if you have no intention of firing it. Are you saying you’re ready to kill just because you’re barred from passing through?” he added.

DILG probe

Cayetano said Roxas should order an investigation of the incident even without any complaint from the security guards.

“It might seem like a small issue for others. But in the eyes of the poor, this is wang-wang, this is abuse. And the difficult part is you’re ready to kill just because you’re barred from passing through,” he said. “My point is, will we sweep this under the rug just because the Vice President says it’s just an issue of courtesy?”

If another mayor from Mindanao, or northern Luzon was involved, there would have been strident calls for his or her resignation, Cayetano said.

“The issue is not because he is a Binay. The issue is because of the abuse, and my personal information is this is not the first time this has happened,” he said.

There was no reaction from Malacañang and from Roxas, a silence that, according to political analysts, highlighted Fil-

ipino officials’ sense of entitlement.

“It is a sad commentary on the type of leaders that we have,” Prospero de Vera, a professor at the University of the Philippines, told the INQUIRER. “Most don’t want to talk about it because they also do that. Or most of them believe Binay is correct,” De Vera said.

In separate interviews, De Vera and Ramon Casiple, executive director of Institute of Political and Electoral Reform (IPER), said most politicians felt they had the same entitlement that Binay showed when he accosted the guards of Dasmariñas Village who would not let his convoy pass because the gate was already closed.

Asked why there was no condemnation of the incident from government officials, Casiple said the explanation was simple: “Usually, they think they have to be given special treatment as high officials.”

Gate courtesy

Casiple said that normally, subdivisions give public officials “courtesy” at the gates.

“Usually, one just calls (the person in charge) if an official wants to go out through a closed gate. I am puzzled this got out of hand” he said.

Casiple surmised something must have happened that “we don’t know about.”

From the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to the Philippine National Police (PNP) to the Senate to the House of Representatives and even Malacañang, not one voice has been heard to take up the cudgels for the security guards.

Firecracker, stray bullet injuries rising–DOH

BY JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer

PHOTO FROM FIRSTAID.ABOUT.COM

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The Department of Health (DOH) has recorded 140 fireworks-related injuries as of Friday, three percent higher than the fiveyear average but four percent lower compared to the same www.canadianinquirer.net

period last year.

According to the “Aksyon: Paputok Injury Reduction 2013” report of the DOH National Epidemiology Center, 62 cases comprising 44 percent occurred in Metro Manila, followed by 17 cases in the Davao Region. There was one case of firecracker ingestion and five cases of stray bullet injury. No

deaths were reported.

Of the 134 fireworks injuries, 114 were males. Forty-four cases were children under 10.

Forty-two were passive users or bystanders.

Some 118 sustained blast injuries not requiring amputation. There were 11 eye injuries.

PAGE 33 Firecracker, stray

Philippine News

9 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Pinoys still upbeat, says SWS survey Speaker to pursue Cha-cha

BY MARIELLE MEDINA AND MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer THE POSITIVE outlook of Filipinos for the future remained “very high” and rose in the third quarter but the number of those who expected the economy to improve remained the same, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

Forty percent of Filipinos expect their life would improve in the next 12 months, while 6 percent expect their life would get worse, resulting in a “very high” net personal optimism score (optimistic minus pessimistic) of plus 35 points, SWS said.

The figure is 7 percent points up from the second quarter’s net personal optimism score of plus 28 (35 percent optimistic, 7 percent pessimistic).

On the other hand, Filipinos’ outlook on the economy remained the same from hte second quarter’s figure as 33 percent of respondents said it would get better in the next 12 months, while 16 percent said it would get worse, resulting in a net economic optimism score of plus 17 points.

Face-to-face

The survey involving facetoface interviews with 1,200 adult respondents nationwide was conducted on Sept. 20-23, three weeks before the magnitude-7.2 earthquake struck Bohol on Oct. 15, six weeks before Supertyphoon “Yolanda” devastated the central Philippines on Nov. 8, and just over a week after the siege of Zamboanga City broke out and continued until Sept. 28.

The survey had an error margin of plus or minus two percentage points.

It also asked respondents about their quality of life in the last 12 months.

Some 36 percent said their

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer

Malacañang said the latest SWS survey once again demonstrated the Filipinos’ resilience.

quality of life over the previous 12 months had worsened (losers), while 24 percent said it had improved (gainers), resulting in a net score (gainers minus losers) of minus 12 points.

This figure was worse from the previous figure of minus 6 points posted in June.

Personal optimism by socioeconomic group rose 17 points in Classes ABC (plus 49 from plus 32), by 6 points among Class D (plus 33 from plus 27), and by 5 points in Class E (plus 36 from plus 31).

By location, personal optimism rose by 5 points in Luzon outside Metro Manila (plus 37 from plus 32), 11 points in the Visayas (plus 29 from plus 18) and 11 points in Mindanao (plus 35 from plus 24). It however fell 2 points in Metro Manila (plus 35 from plus 37).

Economic optimism

Economic optimism also declined in Metro Manila by 17 points (plus 5 from plus 22). It remained almost unchanged in Balance Luzon (plus 23 from plus 22) and in the Visayas (plus 11 from plus 13). It rose by 8 points in Mindanao (plus 16 from plus 8).

By socioeconomic group, an improvement of 16 points was posted by Classes ABC (plus 28 from plus 12) while it remained almost unchanged in Class D

(plus 17 from plus 16). It however fell by 9 points among Class E (plus 13 from plus 22).

Malacañang meanwhile said the latest SWS survey once again demonstrated the Filipinos’ resilience despite the series of natural and manmade tragedies that hit the country in the second half of the year.

“We salute the optimism and resilience of our people in their steadfast determination to attain a higher quality of life and a better future,” said Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma.

WITH OR without the endorsement of President Aquino, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte will push for the passage of a charter change resolution to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution early next year, for Congress to eventually pass laws to lift foreign ownership restrictions.

“We just feel that we have an obligation to do it here in the House. We are not part of any movement of the government or anything. It’s just that... I think if we just start it in the House, it’s a big move already because it will move the onus to the Senate,” he told reporters.

Belmonte said he hoped to secure the vote for the charter change resolution from threefourths of the House membership by the first quarter of 2014.

The Speaker earlier filed the resolution that appended the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” to the constitutional provision limiting foreign investors’ participation in economic activities in the country.

Attitudes, mindsets

Coloma in a briefing said that “attitudes and mindsets shape behavior and spur people to action.”

“This upbeat outlook spurs us to intensify our efforts to sustain our creditable growth rate that enables many more Filipinos to join the mainstream of economic opportunity,” he said.

Asked to explain the “very high” optimism of the survey respondents amid the tragedies, Coloma said: “That’s what we call remarkable resilience despite overlapping (patong-patong na) disasters. In my view, it is also because of the ‘only in the Philippines’ virtues of compassion (malasakit) and solidarity (bayanihan).”

www.canadianinquirer.net

Act of Congress

But under the Belmonte proposal, foreign ownership of businesses, land and utilities would not be automatic, but would need an act of Congress.

Belmonte said he was confident the proposal will be approved at the committee level when Congress resumes sessions early next year, after which it will be tackled by the plenary.

He acknowledged that the President has apprehensions about the move, especially about the risk that it might open up other provisions of the Constitution to amendments.

But he still intends to pursue the matter and hopes to be able to convince Mr. Aquino to get on board.

Plebiscite

He said the process that the resolution that would follow would be simple. It would have to be approved by three fourths of the House membership and three-fourths of the Senate membership. If approved, it will be subjected to a plebiscite.

Belmonte said that if the House is able pass a charter change resolution limited to the economic provisions, it will show that it is possible to do such a simple thing.

But he said there is no guarantee that some legislators would come up with other proposals to change other provisions of the Constitution, he said.

“There’s no guarantee. It’s our own leadership here and our own sense of what’s possible,” he said.

But then, if other “hodgepodge” proposals are put forward, then the charter change resolution is unlikely to pass, said Belmonte.

Inclusive growth

Belmonte earlier said the amendments were necessary to entice more foreign investors to come in and to allow the country’s growth to be more inclusive.

“What we want is inclusive growth that involves creating jobs and new industries, and I think that’s what we want from FDI (foreign direct investment), not just simpy increasing GNP (gross national product),” he said.

Spreading the wealth

Earlier efforts to amend the Charter have been contentious and gave rise to suspicion that politicians would use it to extend their terms of office.

In the resolution he filed last July, Belmonte noted that the country’s economic growth has not trickled down to the people.

Allowing more foreign investors to come in would help spread the wealth, he said.

Philippine News

DECEMBER 31, 2013 10

Filipino beauty is Miss International No to holiday tax break—BIR

BY ARMIN P. ADINA Philippine Daily Inquirer

BINIBINING PILIPINAS Bea Rose Santiago was crowned 2013 Miss International in the beauty pageant held in Tokyo.

The Masbate-born international model bested 66 other contestants in the competition’s 53rd edition, held at Shinagawa Prince Hotel Hall in Tokyo.

In September, two Filipino beauties won honors for the country: Mutya Datul in the Miss Supranational contest in Belarus and Megan Young in the Miss World pageant in Indonesia.

The Philippines has been most successful in the Miss International beauty pageant in the major international competitions, winning five times.

Santiago’s victory came eight years after Precious Lara Quigaman scored the Philippines’ fourth victory in the Miss International pageant. Three other Filipino women had won the crown: Gemma Cruz (1964), Aurora Pijuan (1970) and Melanie Marquez (1979).

On the eve of the pageant, Santiago posted on her Twitter account (@bearose21): “Lord bless me! Give me confidence and strength for tomorrow. I want to give a Merry Christmas to the Philippines.”

During the final round of the competition, where the five finalists delivered their messages, Santiago said that if she became the next Miss International, she would “uphold international camaraderie and international sympathy. I will continue the message of hope.

Whatever calamity may come to us, as long as we have each other, there will be hope.”

In her victory speech, Santiago thanked Bb. Pilipinas Charities Inc. (BPCI) chair Stella Marquez Araneta, the first Miss International winner, for training her.

Other winners

Nathalie den Dekker of the Netherlands placed second, while Miss Friendship Casey Radley of New Zealand finished third in the Tokyo pageant.

Miss Colombia Lorena Hermida and Miss Hungary Brigitta Otvos were the other two finalists.

BY NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer

Miss International 2013 Bea Santiago took a selfie with President Benigno S. Aquino III during her courtesy call at the Music Room of the Malacañang Palace on December 23.

PHOTO BY BENHUR ARCAYAN / MALACAÑANG PHOTO BUREAU

Santiago earned the right to represent the country in the global tilt when she won the Bb. Pilipinas-International crown in the 50th edition of the Binibing Pilipinas pageant in April.

There, she was also proclaimed Bb. Avon.

Hirofumi Hashimoto, president of the International Cultural Association of Japan, which organizes the Miss International pageant, was one of the judges in the national contest. He also assisted in awarding Santiago her local title.

That competition also produced Datul, 2013 Miss Universe third runner-up Ariella Arida, and 2013 Miss Tourism Queen International semifinalist Cindy Miranda.

Mutya contest

Santiago’s first foray into the local beauty pageant scene was in the 2011 Mutya ng Pilipinas contest, where she represented the Filipino community of Canada. She was proclaimed 2011 Mutya ng Pilipinas-Overseas Communities.

As an international ramp model, Santiago was a stranger in the pageant circuit. Beautyqueen maker and renowned fashion designer Renee Salud plucked her out of the fashion industry and encouraged her to give beauty tilts a shot.

Salud, who also discovered and mentored Marquez, said Santiago’s modeling background gave her an advantage in the Miss International the pageant.

“She’s already adept on the ramp, just like Melanie. You

know what, she’s my second Melanie Marquez,” Salud told the INQUIRER in a phone interview.

“I’m very happy because like Mutya Datul, Bea also came from Mutya ng Pilipinas, and the ladies who came from Mutya have been winning international competitions, like Koreen Medina who recently placed fourth in the 2013 Miss Intercontinental competition,” Salud said.

The fashion designer said Santiago tried to please everybody and never intended to cause any ill feelings from others.

“She always exerted effort to meet me, she never forgets,” Salud said.

Before she left for the competition, Santiago said she would offer her quest for the title to the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

She told the INQUIRER that when she met some teachers who came from the areas devastated by the typhoon, she felt thrilled to bring them happiness with just her presence.

“They were smiling when they saw us. And a simple hug brought them joy. It just gave more sense to my fight for the Miss International crown. I’m going to get that crown for them, for all Filipinos, to give them a reason to be happy even if the situation they are in right now seems bleak,” she said.

Santiago is expected to return to the Philippines next week, after a series of commitments with the organizers in Japan. www.canadianinquirer.net

REVENUE COMMISSIONER Kim Jacinto Henares has put a brake on some senators wanting to play Santa by proposing tax breaks for ordinary wage earners, including one increasing the cap on the amount of 13th month pay and Christmas bonus that can be granted an exemption from the withholding tax.

At a hearing of the Senate ways and means committee, Henares warned that the government stands to lose P43 billion if Sen. Ralph Recto’s proposed measure increasing the the tax-exempt portion of the 13th month pay and Christmas bonus from P30,000 to P75,000 is passed, and P75 billion if all Senate bills on the proposed tax breaks are approved.

Boon to the economy

“The idea is for our workers to have more money in their pockets this Christmas season,” Recto said at the start of yesterday’s hearing on the tax-relief measures.

Recto argued that the higher exemptions on the yearend bonus will be a boon to the economy despite the revenue losses for government.

“By and large, a lot of this money will be spent during the holiday season and thatmoney is spent on many activities. For example, if [people] have their house renovated, that will have a huge multiplier effect,” he said.

“That same one peso will be spent 17 times. Sometimes, it is more efficient to leave it with the private sector, or in this case, the pockets of our workers and let them determine how to spend the money because they know how to spend the money better than the government can,” Recto added.

Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara, the committee chair, recognized the need for more purchasing power for the Filipino worker.

“If you look at how much a typical Filipino individual ismaking, nothing is left after the simultaneous price hikes...

There’s power rate hike, MRT fare hike, Philhealth increase.

What will be left with Juan de la Cruz?” Angara said in a statement.

“We need to balance things.

We’re looking for what society could give them, whether it’s in the form of better services or tax deductions,” he said.

Henares saw the need to keep the existing tax systems intact unless Congress comes up with new measures that will make for the billions that will be lost due to the exemptions if they pass Congress.

Henares indicated that the P33 billion in expected revenues from the recent passage of the sin tax law will be immediately wiped out if the exemptions take effect. She stressed the fact that the sin tax law was passed only after 15 years of lumbering through Congress.

“I’m going to play the bad guy PAGE 13 No to holiday

Philippine News

11 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Pop culture...

Instagram introduced a video function (and now a private messaging feature), but that hasn’t been enough distraction for the selfie-obsessed.

1

Goodbyes

Nelson Mandela (July 18, 1918-Dec. 5, 2013), beloved South African leader and antiapartheid revolutionary, died after battling a lingering respiratory infection.

Actor Paul Walker (Sept. 12, 1973-Nov. 30, 2013), known for his role in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, perished in a car crash.

“Glee” star Cory Monteith (May 11, 1982-July 13, 2013) died from a lethal mix of heroin and alcohol.

James Gandolfini (Sept. 18, 1961-June 19, 2013), “Sopranos” star, died of a heart attack.

Film critic Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942-April 4, 2013) passed away after years of battling cancer.

Actress Bella Flores (Feb. 27, 1929-May 19, 2013), known for her villainess roles on TV and film, died after complications from hip surgery.

Papadom Gamboa (Dec. 19, 1965-Dec. 18, 2013) of the band Tropical Depression died of kidney failure.

Hellos

The Royal Baby watch ended on July 22, 2013 after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge welcomed their son Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge.

A week earlier, rapper Kanye West and reality star Kim Kardashian had their baby girl whom they unfortunately named North. Yes, North West.

Engagements

In a couch potato’s dream pairing, Adam Brody of “The OC” and Leighton Meester of “Gossip Girl” announced their engagement.

Another Adam—Levine, of Maroon 5—was taken off the singles market by Victoria’s Secret model Behati Prinsloo, breaking many hearts in the process.

Beauty queens

It was a great year for Filipino beauty queens. Megan Young bagged the Miss World title; Bea Rose Santiago was crowned Miss International; Mutya Datul won Miss Supranational; and Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Ariella Arida was Miss Universe’s

third-runner up.

Personalities

The boardroom reality show “The Apprentice” got its first Asian version this year via “The Apprentice Asia” on AXN. Chosen winner was Pinoy Apprentice Jonathan Allen Yabut, a go-getter who is now working directly under Air Asia mogul Tony Fernandes.

The Kramers charmed people with their cuteness; Chloe Moretz shone both as “Carrie” and “Hit Girl,” the Teng brothers impressed us not just with their hoop skills but their sibling love; Miley (and her twerking) made our jaws drop; Charice came out of the closet; Robin Thicke blurred lines, Anne Curtis can afford to buy a club; Loki (Tom Hiddleston) stole Thor’s thunder; and Joseph Gordon Levitt and Jennifer Lawrence made us fall in love again and again and again.

Viral stars

SM Olongapo elevator girl Cheridel Alejandrino charmed countless Filipinos with her cheery disposition and dedication to her job. Her YouTube videos, which were shot by mall customers, got her much attention that the show “Maalala Mo Kaya” featured Cheridel’s life story.

Genelyn Sandaga’s YouTube covers of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble” and Pink’s “Just Give Me A Reason” were far from perfect, but people enjoyed them anyway, with each video getting over 500,000 views on YouTube and her securing guest stints on news and game shows.

Kai Langer’s journey to becoming Ellen DeGeneres’ Bruno Mars-loving four-year-old Fil-Czech boyfriend started when his mom posted a video of him singing “Grenade” on YouTube. Since then, he has guested on Ellen’s show a few times, singing a number of Bruno Mars songs, giving Ellen a bracelet, and getting the chance to meet and sing for his idol Bruno on one of his plane rides.

Other videos we loved were woozy Jason Mortensen’s hilarious “Is this real wife?” hospital clip; Seth Rogen and James Franco’s parody of Kanye West’s “Bound” music video and Jean Claude Van Damme’s awesome split for Volvo.

Some people went viral for all the wrong reasons. There were sex videos, but even more

shocking were the photos of Janet Napoles’ daughter “baby gur” Jeane Napoles starring in her very own Bling Ring.

Books

Two much-awaited sequels of huge bestsellers made an appearance in 2013—Lauren Weisberger’s “Revenge Wears Prada,” her follow-up to the hit “The Devil Wears Prada”; and Helen Fielding’s “Mad About the Boy,” the author’s third “Bridget Jones” book.

We enjoyed “Mad About the Boy” a lot more than “Revenge Wears Prada” which, sadly, we couldn’t finish.

“Doctor Sleep,” Stephen King’s sequel to his 1977 hit “The Shining,” was released this year and it did not disappoint. Fans got to see Danny Torrance and his “shining” talent all grown up.

“Allegiant,” the conclusion to Veronica Roth’s “Divergent” series, came out this year. It wasn’t as good as the first two books, but it finally revealed what was going on between the factions and the factionless.

“Inferno,” Dan Brown’s latest novel about the character Robert Langdon, caused a raging inferno on social media as his written portrayal of the Philippines didn’t sit well with Pinoys.

He referred to Manila as the “gates of hell,” as if he has firsthand knowledge of Christmas traffic in the Philippine capital.

After the hype of J.K. Rowling’s post-Potter novel “Casual Vacancy,” the author wanted to release a book that would stand on its own merits, so a pen name, Robert Galbraith, was born along with a whodunit titled “The Cuckoo’s Calling.” The book soared to the bestseller list before she was outed as Galbraith.

We loved “Night Film,” Marisha Pessl’s mystery thriller and how it comes packed with multimedia content. We loved the book’s app, too.

We couldn’t put down “Eleanor & Park,” Rainbow Rowell’s newest book. This may be a Young Adult book but it’s not just for teenagers.

Book lovers in Manila were treated to a beautiful partnership this year between National Book Store and Kobo. The digital e-reader became available in select branches of National Book Store. We’re partial to the Kobo Glo, an E Ink reader which has a front-light system www.canadianinquirer.net

to help you read in the dark without hurting your eyes.

Crafting was huge this year as workshops in rubber stampmaking, paper-cutting, watercolors, fabric-stamping, crochet, knitting and other cool crafts popped up. The handmade movement was really swinging this year and it’s only going to get bigger.

TV GMA 7’s “My Husband’s Lover” was one of TV’s biggest hits in 2013. The drama series, which starred Tom Rodriguez, Dennis Trillo and Carla Abellana, had people riveted for months, with everyone eager to find out if Eric would end up with Vincent.

ABS-CBN’s “Be Careful With My Heart,” which stars Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap, enjoyed continuing success. Fans of the show got a treat this year when they finally got to witness Maya and Sir Chief’s wedding.

The Philippine franchise of the hugely popular “The Voice” singing competition was a success, with Mitoy Yonting being declared its first winner. The show also featured Lea Salonga, Sarah Geronimo, apl.de.ap and Bamboo Mañalac as judges.

“Breaking Bad” fans said goodbye to Walter White this year, as the show ended its fifth season.

“The Game of Thrones” Red Wedding episode shocked TV viewers across the world (and spawned a number of hilarious videos). As author George R. R. Martin told talk show host Conan O’Brien, “But you know, they would know if they’d read the books.”

“Silence of the Lamb” fans got to experience a whole new Hannibal with the NBC show starring Laurence Fishburne, Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen as the cannibalistic serial killer. The show is creepy-creepy cool.

Fans of James Spader got their wish this year as the man returned in a leading role on new show “The Blacklist.” It is this generation’s “Alias,” for those who can still remember the TV show that propelled Jennifer Garner to stardom.

Movies

Cinemalaya had a fantastic lineup this year—our favorites were “Ekstra,” “Babagwa,” “Quick Change,” “Transit” and “Purok 7.”

Other films that kept us glued to our cinema seats were “De-

spicable Me 2,” “Wolverine,” “Before Midnight,” “Gravity,” “Captain Phillips,” “Carrie,” “This Is The End,” “On the Job” and “Catching Fire.”

Celebrity arrivals

endorsements

and

Homegrown brands continued to tap international stars to become their endorsers: Sarah Jessica Parker for SM; Liam Hemsworth, Taylor Lautner and Lee Min Ho for Bench; Josh Bowman, Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder for Penshoppe.

A record number of celebrities arrived in Manila in 2013 and not just for concerts (although there were a lot of them, too). Sarah Jessica Parker for SM, Lebron James for Nike, Kobe Bryant for Lenovo, Liam Hemsworth, Taylor Lautner and 2PM’s Nichkhun for Bench, Mario Maurer and Baifern Pimchanok for Penshoppe, Troian Bellisario of “Pretty Little Liars” dropped by together with off-screen boyfriend Patrick J. Adams of “Suits” for ETC and Jack TV. The new batch of Gleeks—Melissa Benoist, Jacob Artest, Becca Tobin and Brody Weston— were also here for Coca-Cola.

Justin Bieber flew in to bring joy to the Supertyphoon “Yolanda” survivors.

Concerts

2013 was a great year for music fans, with many acts flying in to the country for concerts.

Alicia Keys, Jason Mraz, Tegan and Sara, Rihanna, Bloc Party, The Script, Tony Bennett, Fall Out Boy, Linkin Park and The Killers were just some of them.

Pinoys who were dying to attend a music festival finally got their wish when “Wanderland” happened. The event featured bands like Temper Trap, Neon Trees, Nada Surf, Colour Coding and more.

Disasters and tragedies

2013 was a painful year, too— with a number of natural and man-made disasters and tragedies causing senseless deaths.

Maring. The Bohol earthquake.

The PDAF scam. The Zamboanga siege. The Boston bombing. Typhoon Yolanda.

But these calamities and acts of violence and corruption were met with an outpouring of kindness, acts of compassion, stories of bravery and hope.

We can only wish for a better year ahead.

Philippine News

DECEMBER 31, 2013 12

Petilla quit offer scoffed at

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA AND MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES— Critics see the brouhaha over Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla’s offer to resign as a “self-inflicted wound,” as he never really promised to reenergize all typhoon-ravaged communities in the Visayas by Christmas Eve. All Petilla promised was to reconnect the towns to the power grid, his critics and even his defenders said on Thursday.

As for the homes, there were few to reenergize because Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) flattened entire communities in the Visayas, they said.

As expected, President Benigno Aquino III rejected Petilla’s resignation on Thursday, but the militant women’s group Gabriela said the President should really keep him so he could be held accountable for the P4.15 per kilowatt-hour power rate increase that Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) imposed on its 5.3 million customers in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces just before Christmas.

According to Malacañang, Mr. Aquino commended Petilla for restoring electricity to the communities in the Visayas ravaged by Yolanda last month.

Petilla met with the President behind closed doors in Malacañang and offered to resign for failing to meet his self-imposed Christmas Eve deadline to reenergize all 320 towns flattened by the typhoon on Nov. 8.

As of Dec. 24, three of the 320 towns still had to be reenergized.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a statement that the President rejected Petilla’s resignation because it had been originally estimated that it would take three to six months to restore power to the communities because of the great damage caused by Yolanda.

“The Luzon-Visayas connection was down, the major geothermal plant in Leyte was also down and generation, transmission and distribution lines were down,” Lacierda said. “In the face of these challenges, the accomplishment of Secretary Petilla speaks for itself.”

‘Excellent performance’

Lacierda said Petilla managed to restore power to the communities in roughly 40 days and “within that period he was able to energize 317 of the 320 affected towns, leaving 0.93 percent still to be [reenergized].”

“By any measure, this is an excellent performance. The President noted that foreign observers who had seen the work being done in the Visayas, and in comparison to disasters of lesser magnitude in other countries, pointed out that the repair and rehabilitation of energy infrastructure was done faster,” Lacierda said.

“For all these reasons, the President, in rejecting Secretary Petilla’s offer to resign, reiterated that he had no intention of losing the services of an honorable public servant,” he said.

At an earlier news conference in the Palace, there were no indications from administration officials that Mr. Aquino was letting go of Petilla, a former governor of Leyte province whom he picked in October 2012 to replace Rene Almendras as head of the Department of Energy (DOE). Almendras has since been moved to the Office of the President as Cabinet secretary.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma told reporters that he did not see any immediate change in the DOE, as Petilla traveled with the President on Sunday and that the transcript of their meeting contained nothing derogatory to the energy chief as far as the restoration of electricity to the calamity areas was concerned.

Coloma also made it clear that Petilla had been helpful to the President and to the Cabinet.

Meralco rate hike

Before Malacañang announced the rejection of Petilla’s resignation, militant groups said offering to resign for failing to restore power to all 320 towns ravaged by Yolanda did not absolve the energy secretary from responsibility for the record-high increase in power rates that Meralco began to implement just before Christmas.

Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus said Petilla should be called

to account for the P4.15/kWh power rate increase that Meralco had planned to enforce in three phases but was temporarily stopped by the Supreme Court on Monday.

For failing to stop that rate increase, De Jesus said, Petilla should be investigated by Congress.

The labor coalition Nagkaisa also believed Petilla was equally responsible for failing to stop Meralco from increasing its rates.

But Petilla’s offer to resign underscored what his deputies, who play key roles in the supervision of the energy market, had not done, Nagkaisa said.

The group said Energy Regulatory Commission Chair Zenaida Ducut and Philippine Electricity Market Corp. chief Mel Ocampo should resign.

Being on the front line, Nagkaisa said, Ducut and Ocampo are supposed to be the first to detect market failure and protect consumers’ welfare, but they did nothing as Meralco imposed the first phase of the rate increase this month.

“They therefore should go,” Nagkaisa said in a statement.

Ducut and Ocampo should also be investigated for possible economic sabotage, the group added.

Nagkaisa said Ducut and Ocampo had known about the scheduled maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya gas pipeline but did nothing to prevent economic repercussions.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, however, believed Petilla should stay on the job and set a new date to reenergize all of the calamity-stricken communities.

Petilla should also keep going after those who had allegedly conspired to raise electricity prices, Tinio said.

“He must pursue to the end the DOE investigation into the price manipulation among private power producers and collusion with Meralco that led to the unprecedented power rate hike. There should be no whitewashing or backtracking there,” he said.

Petilla must also proceed with his plan to reform the rules of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market to curb the excesses of the private power producers, he added.

Pete Ilagan, president of the www.canadianinquirer.net

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla.

PHOTO FROM DOE.GOV.PH

National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc., one of the consumer associations fighting Meralco’s power rate increase in the Supreme Court, said Petilla should not resign for failing to deliver on his promise.

Ilagan said Petilla was “a man of his word.” He said he hoped President Aquino would not accept Petilla’s resignation.

No drama

Sen. Grace Poe said President Aquino should keep Petilla, since the energy chief managed to restore power to most towns ravaged by Yolanda.

Besides, Poe said, “[we] need continuity and organization. If Petilla is removed now, we can expect further delays in the rehabilitation process.”

Sen. Vicente Sotto III praised Petilla for keeping his promise to resign if he failed to meet his Christmas Eve deadline.

“He’s a man of his word,” Sotto said.

But Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV said he was baffled that some officials would offer to resign instead of submitting “irrevocable resignations.”

“I don’t really get all these resignation offers. If you truly

believe you failed to accomplish your mission, then you resign irrevocably. No drama!”

Trillanes said.

‘We are not bionic’

Maria Rosario Avestruz, general manager of the Leyte II Electric Cooperative (Leyeco), defended Petilla, who she said promised only to reconnect the towns to the power grid.

Reenergizing homes is not Petilla’s job, she said, as that is the responsibility of the power cooperatives.

That is not an easy job because of the extent of the damage from the typhoon, she said.

Avestruz said Leyeco itself had restored power service to only two percent of its 35,000 customers in Tacloban City because of the many downed electric posts and damaged wiring in buildings and homes.

“We are not bionic [that we can] immediately restore power to the houses,” Avestruz said.

“But we are doing everything we can to energize our coverage areas.”

With reports from Christine O. Avendaño and TJ A. Burgonio in Manila, and Joey Gabieta, Inquirer Visayas

Philippine News

13 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Pacquiao’s ‘income’...

4

ADK Corp., ‘skimming’

A central figure in Pacquiao’s messy financial situation is ADK Corp., a company purportedly put up by Michael Koncz, the boxer’s supposed business adviser and overall assistant.

Before Pacquiao terminated its services, VisionQwest raised the possibility that the boxer, Koncz and Arum might be engaged in “skimming,” meaning concealing true income to avoid higher tax payments.

“We noticed that it seemed that ADK was where they were dumping funds and income at the same time,” Cabuhat said in the interview. “It’s like diversion of income.”

VisionQwest had also warned in a separate document: “Now we get to the skimming part which makes it appear that Manny, Mike Koncz/ADK and Top Rank are transferring funds to a company bank account to avoid tax payments.”

Per VisionQwest’s findings then, ADK was receiving a portion of Pacquiao’s earnings from Top Rank even if it had no formal or legal engagement with either the boxer or MP Promotions USA Inc. “So who are you?” Cabuhat asked, referring to ADK, which, he suspected, stood for “Arum-Dapidran-Koncz.”

Dapidran is Pacquiao’s middle name.

Copromotion as tax strategy

Cabuhat said MP Promotions USA copromoted Pacquiao’s fights with Top Rank, partly as a “tax strategy.” Without copromotion, Pacquiao’s earnings would all be considered “personal income” and could be taxed at the highest rate.

“That’s not tax avoidance or tax evasion. That’s tax planning,” he explained.

The Inquirer tried to contact Arum and Koncz by phone, text and e-mail but has yet to receive any reply.

Suspended

In a 2011 report on The Ring Magazine’s website, Koncz described as “bulls**t” allegations that he was “misappropriating money and stealing money” from Team Pacquiao.

In a July 27, 2011 letter, VisionQwest informed Pacquiao that ADK had been “suspended by the California Secretary of State for nonfiling of informational and business tax returns.”

“Large sums have been transferred to the ADK bank accounts to cover Manny’s expenses,” VisionQwest informed Pacquiao in the letter. It said “only until recently has Top Rank required the signature of Manny to approve the movement of funds.”

Unauthorized fund transfers “All other transfers that were executed by Mr. Koncz and Top Rank had no authorization from Manny,” the company added. It noted that the total amount that had been transferred to ADK was $1,340,678.”

“To this date ADK has not shown a full accounting of the use of these funds transferred.”

And therein lay the problem when it was time to prepare Pacquiao’s tax returns.

Cabuhat said Pacquiao could claim as tax “deductibles” expenses made under ADK because it was a “separate company that has nothing to do with the promotions.”

“Technically, that’s income and expense of ADK,” he said.

“We have to be more organized. The expenses of ADK, I can’t claim [them]

in this committee hearing. Because my general policy is that as of now, we’re still on a deficit.

So if you look at it from an ordinary household, we’re still borrowing to live,” Henares told the hearing chaired by Angara.

“If we look at prudence, you do not eat away funds unless you are already ahead a bit. And then you agree to tighten up on certain things. And of course we’re faced with a P130-billion thing so we’re in between the rock and the deep blue sea,” Henares added.

Henares was referring to the need to bankroll the P130 billion that Congress has allocated in the 2014 national budget for the rebuilding of areas affected by natural calamities, particularly the provinces hit by Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” and giving wage earners some much-needed relief in the wake of the recent increases in the prices of electricity and fuel.

No receipts for big expenses

A major issue in the preparation of Pacquiao’s tax returns was the absence of receipts to support huge amounts in expenses that could have been considered “deductibles,” he said.

For Pacquiao’s income tax return for 2009, the first of two prepared by VisionQwest for their former client, Koncz allegedly submitted a “handwritten” report listing expenses totaling $10,666,003.

Questionable entry

Cabuhat said one questionable entry was a $350,000 interest payment for a $7-million loan. He said the amount fell under “personal loan” and as such, could not be considered a deductible in Pacquiao’s tax report.

On an Aug. 15, 2011, Michael Lodge, VisionQwest president and chief executive officer, reportedly told Pacquiao: “Please understand how important receipts are for business expenses to reduce the tax liability to MP Promotions.”

Supposedly so messy was Pacquiao’s financial setup that money was often

withdrawn from MP Promotions or Pacquiao’s account to cover expenses either personal or business-related.

“So whichever bank account had money, they used it for expenses,” Cabuhat said.

Proper accounting method

Lodge suggested a “solution” in the August letter: “If Manny needs to withdraw funds from the corporation it should be done through the proper accounting method so that everything is recorded properly and a dividend recorded and paid through the corporate structure.”

“The corporation should never be considered a pass through method to obtain cash. It needs to always follow the correct method of accounting and reporting,” he added.

Considering Koncz’s alleged role in Pacquiao’s financial mess, VisionQwest eventually recommended that he be “removed from his role immediately and that no further business that affects Manny Pacquiao or MP Promotions USA Inc. be done by Mike Koncz.”

“This is hereby stated so that our client may be protected from tax or legal liabilities,” Lodge added in a June 30, 2011 letter to Pacquiao.

It was VisionQwest that was later shown the door.

“Attracting and retaining the best international talent to fill skills shortages in key occupations is critical to Canada’s economic success.”

- Hon. Jason Kenney, P.C., M.P.

Minister of Employment and Social Development

Respond to Canada’s need for immigrants.

No to holiday...

10

for Manny Pacquiao,” he recalled telling Koncz in 2011. But he said Koncz insisted that they should be considered Pacquiao’s “expenses” for tax purposes.

Passing grade

Addressing reporters after the hearing, the BIR commissioner said the country just got a passing grade with the credit upgrades it received recently, and the modest economic gains could be reversed if the government gives away its revenues.

The credit upgrades are what encourage lenders to give the Philippines favorable lending rates and terms. This results in savings that the government spends on more services for the benefit of the public.

“We’re still not very good...[And] then we will again give away revenues,” Henares said.

“What will happen to us when we borrow money? Our economy will again fall. If the economy slows down, the first that will be affected are the ordinary workers. They will lose their jobs,” she said.

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Philippine News

DECEMBER 31, 2013 14

US help... source said.

Merdegia said the Mexican drug cartels, not Sinaloa exactly, first offered cocaine to its drug syndicates here.

“But cocaine didn’t sell well here that’s why they shifted to shabu,” Merdegia said.

Shabu, also known as the “poor man’s drug,” appears to be the drug of choice here because of the high cost of cocaine, traditionally known as the “rich man’s drug.”

Merdegia also denied allegations that the police operatives who raided the LPL Ranch at Barangay Inosluban in Lipa City stole chickens from the cock farm.

“Our search warrant only covered the house. I am sure nothing went missing in the compound. We have a certificate of orderly search which was witnessed by two local officials,” he said.

3

Leviste to be questioned

The Department of Justice said it will ask former Batangas Gov. Jose Antonio Leviste, a homicide convict freed on parole last month, if he knew that his property, the LPL Ranch, was being used by a Mexican drug cartel.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said if it’s proven that Leviste knew that his property was being used by the drug syndicate, particularly the Sinaloa drug cartel, he may have to face

charges.

“It could be a criminal offense. It can be a ground to withdraw the parole [given to him],” she said.

State prosecutors are still establishing if the LPL Compound in Lipa City was really owned by Leviste and being rented out to the three suspects who were caught with the shabu during the police raid last Wednesday.

“They (prosecutors) will issue a subpoena duces tecum for the production of lease contract on the property where the alleged shabu laboratory was found,” De Lima told reporters.

According to De Lima, Section 30 of Republic Act No. 9165, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2005, holds criminally liable as co-principal the partners and officials of any juridical entity that “consents to or knowingly tolerates or authorizes the use of a facility to violate the antidrug law.”

De Lima said she also would like to know from the state prosecutors why only the three people who were caught during the raid were charged, “when the Philippine National Police says it’s a Mexican syndicate that’s behind it. They (police) should also charge them (the Mexicans). We’ll be expecting a formal referral from the PNP.”

country of the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, reputed to be the most powerful drug organization in the world today.

“The Chinese triad is nothing compared to this. This is more dangerous. This is more ruthless,” said Sen. Vicente Sotto III in a phone interview.

The Sinaloa cartel kills not only police officials but also judges in Latin America, said Sotto, a former chair of the Dangerous Drugs Board and an anti-illegal drugs advocate.

“The government should prioritize this. Prosecution, enforcement and preventive education should be primordial over all other concerns,” he said.

Sen. Grace Poe, the chair of the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs, wants the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to brief the Senate on the Mexican cartel’s presence in the country so the legislators are informed as to what they would need to “provide our authorities [with] what is needed to respond adequately.”

“This menace needs to be nipped in the bud as it is a real threat to our society,” she said.

Poe said the briefing would be done as soon as the committee can muster a quorum, even before the congressional sessions resume in January.

More dangerous, ruthless

Richer than PH

Senators on Friday expressed concern over the entry into the

Sotto said the P420 million worth of methamphetamine

hydrochloride seized from the Sinaloa cartel’s alleged base in Batangas barely scratched the surface of the multibillion-peso illegal drug trade in the country.

According to Sotto, there are approximately 1.6 million drug dependents in the Philippines, half of whom use shabu.

If 800,000 drug users sniff a gram of shabu a week at P1,800 a gram for one year, “the amount will run into the billions,” he said.

Following Sotto’s formula, shabu sales in the country would reach more than P77.76 billion a year.

“These thugs are even richer than the government of the Philippines,” Sotto said.

The Bureau of Immigration on Friday said it has not been remiss in its duty to keep foreign drug lords away from the Philippines. “[We are] ready to deport any foreign national involved in the illegal drug trade upon orders from the courts or the Department of Justice,” Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison said in a statement.

“Consistent with our ‘good guys in, bad guys out’ policy, foreign nationals who want to stay here in the Philippines must respect our laws; otherwise, they face the consequences of their actions. Drug traffickers are unwelcome in our country. They are a scourge of every country in the world,” Mison said.

Mison said that the bureau was in “constant touch” with the International Criminal Police Commission (Interpol), which provides information on foreign nationals with criminal records in their home countries or those included on the watch list of countries.

Those on the watch list or with criminal records are automatically disallowed from entering the Philippines. They are immediately kept in custody while waiting for summary deportation proceedings against them.

Diplomatic officials are also alerted about the presence of the subject foreign national.

Foreign nationals with criminal records are apprised of their rights and are given counsel by their own diplomatic representatives, said Mison.

Persons included in the international watch list, such as members of international drug syndicates or terrorist groups, are taken into custody until they are turned over to the proper authorities, Mison added.

The board of immigration is the body tasked by law to determine whether to deport a foreign national or not.

Immigration officers are trained and always on alert especially during the holidays when a big influx of foreign visitors and balikbayan are expected to fill most airports and seaports in the country.

Softdrinks tax proposed

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES— Following the higher taxes on “sin” products such as alcohol and cigarettes, could those bottles of cola be next in line?

Higher taxes should be imposed on soft drinks and the like, especially now that the revenue to be collected would go to such an important project as the rehabilitation of calamity-stricken areas, Nueva Ecija Rep. Estrellita Suansing said.

Suansing has filed a bill that would impose a 10 percent ad valorem tax on soft drinks and carbonated beverages sold in bottles and other tight containers.

She said the benefits of the measure would be two-fold: it would provide the government with a source of revenue for the massive rebuilding of the provinces leveled by recent the recent massive earthquake in the Visayas and the series of destructive typhoons, the latest being Yolanda; and it could help lower the risk of people contracting certain illnesses.

Suansing’s bill specifies that the funds to be collected from the imposition of the ad valorem tax would go to the Rehabilitation Fund for calamity victims, and would be used for such programs as livelihood development, mass housing, road construction, and other infrastructure projects.

“Filipinos are resilient and can rise above all these calamities. However, necessary funds and revenues for the rehabilitation are needed,” she said in her explanatory note.

She also touted the health benefits that would come with higher soft drink taxes. An increase in the price of soft drinks and carbonated beverages could help wean consumers from buying these products.

“Aside from the rehabilitation fund, another purpose of the bill is to curb the consumption of soft drinks and carbonated drinks. There have been studies which have shown that consumption of such types of goods increase the risk of developing health problems www.canadianinquirer.net

such as blood sugar disorders, obesity, diabetes and other related diseases like bone fractures, hyperacidity, tooth decay, and heart problems,” she said.

According to her, the Philippines would not be the first to impose more taxes for non-alcoholic drinks.

“Other countries like the USA, France, Netherlands

and Finland have realized the need to impose taxes on soft drinks and carbonated drinks,” she added.

Suansing’s bill notes that the soft drink industry is currently subjected to value added tax, income tax, withholding tax, local and real property taxes, and customs duties.

Flavored and colored syrups that are needed to manufacture soft drinks are not subjected to excise tax, and only to the 12 percent VAT and customs duties if these are imported.

Philippine News

15 DECEMBER 31, 2013

UP unveils new socialized tuition system THE UNIVERSITY of the Philippines recently unveiled a new socialized tuition system that will speed-up the processing of tuition bracket applications, adjust income brackets of student applicants, and increase the stipend of poor students in the premier university of the country.

The Socialized Tuition System (STS) replaces the old Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) established in 1989 which has been criticized for its long and tedious application process, mismatches between assigned brackets and the actual financial capacity of students, and inadequate benefits for those in the lowest income bracket.

UP President Alfredo E. Pascual spearheaded this reform effort when he assumed office believing that the old tuition system is no longer responsive to the needs of UP students.

According to Pascual, “the STFAP was established in 1989 as part of UP’s effort to democratize access to its academic programs while promoting fairness and social justice in the university. It was a program intended to make UP education affordable, despite tuition increases for students, particularly those from poor families.”

However, over the years, implementation problems and conceptual issues have masked the merits of the program.

The major changes in the tuition system include simplifying the basis for assignment of tuition brackets, inflation adjustment of income cut-offs for bracketing, increase in monthly stipend of students belonging to low income households, and streamlining of bracket assignment and appeal process. The changes will initially apply to incoming freshmen for academic year 2014-15.

Using a new model developed by the Marketing and Opinion Research Society of the Philippines (MORES) for socioeconomic classification of Philippine households, the STS will reduce the 14-page application form used in the previous STFAP into 2 pages. To make bracket assignment easier, the STS will, as a second major change, reduce the number of indicators used for bracketing the students applying for STS assistance from four to two: the MORES instrument and the student’s declared household income.

The third major change is the upward adjustment of income cut-offs for brackets A, B, C, and D. The new income ranges of the tuition brackets is adjusted upward by 30% to address the drift towards upper brackets as income rises due to inflation. The rate reflects the extent of inflation between 2006, when the current cut-offs were established, and the end of 2012. This adjustment will lower the tuition bracket assignment of many students. For example, a student with household income

Tuition Rates under STFAP and STS (no change) Comparison of Income Cut-offs between STFAP and STS Tuition Bracket

Socialized Tuition & Financial Assistance Program (STFAP)

Socialized Tuition System (STS)

A

P1,000,000 and above

P1,300,001 and above

B

P500,001 to P1,000,000

P650,001 to P1,300,000

C

P250,001 to P500,000

P325,001 to P650,000

D

P135,001 to P250,000

P135,001 to P325,000

E1

P80,001 to 135,000

P80,001 to P135,000

E2

P80,000 and less

P80,000 and less

of P1,300,000 per year will now be assigned to bracket B instead of bracket A. The fourth major change is the increase in the monthly allowance for Bracket E2 from P2,400 to P3,500 per month for 10 months a year. The allowance may be in the form of cash, meals, dormitory accommodation, and other benefits and services provided by the University.

Finally, the STS will streamline and automate the bracket assignment of students through online application.

The automation will solve the very long processing time, sometimes lasting 10 months, in the STFAP that penalizes applicants who are temporarily assigned to higher brackets and discourages others to apply.

All the changes are designed to benefit the students. While income cut-offs for bracket assignment is adjusted upward for inflation, the tuition rate remains unchanged.

All UP students, including those in Bracket A, are subsidized based on current tuition rates. Based on UP’s annual budget, government subsidy for UP for salaries and operating expenses stands at about P120,000 per student. Bracket A students with a normal academic load pay a total of only P50,000 in tuition and fees annually.

The appeal process for cases will also be faster under the STS through decentralization of the decision to the campus or constituent university concerned.

This replaces the old system where applicants had to wait for the decision of a UP system-level committee that meets only thrice a year.

These revisions, added Pascual, will be supported by proper training of UP personnel, intensified information dissemination, strengthening of control systems through audit or verification, imposing severe penalties for misdeclaration, and improving student financial assistance services (scholarships,

Tuition Bracket

Constituent University / Campus UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, UP Manila (P per unit)

UP Baguio, UP Cebu, UP Mindanao, UP San Fernando, UP Visayas (P per unit)

A

1,500

1,000

B

1,000

600

C

600

400

D

300

200

E1

0

0

E2

0

0

grants-in-aid, more and better paying student assistantships).

According to Pascual, “we have worked on the STS since the start of my administration in 2011 and it is part of our commitment to make sure that no qualified student will be denied a UP education on account of financial need.”

When fully implemented, the new STS will cost UP at least P300 million in

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reduced tuition income and additional stipend payments.

The STS was approved by the UP Board of Regents with no opposing votes in its last meeting and will be implemented starting next semester.

It was the product of close to 2 years of research, verification, and consultation with all stakeholders in the various units of the University.

Opinion

DECEMBER 31, 2013 16

THERE’S THE RUB

Modest proposal

By Conrado De Quiros Philippine Daily Inquirer I THOUGHT I’d round off my articles on “Yolanda” and how it has drawn our attention to the poor by talking about an idea I’ve had for quite some time now. That idea is to launch some kind of “propoor coalition” to thrust fighting poverty to the forefront of national consciousness. What better time to do it than the dawning of a new year?

The idea came from my sudden realization that we actually have several people in our midst today who harbor unassailably genuine, or genuinely unassailable, compassion for the poor and carry an impressive track record of work to go with it. All it takes, as I see it, is to bring them together to initiate or unleash or force a paradigm shift from just achieving growth to ending poverty.

The first is an old hand in it. He is Tony Meloto, founder of Gawad Kalinga, an organization that began as a spin-off of Couples for Christ but has since split from it and forged its own identity as some sort of Carpenter for Christ. It remains staunchly spiritual while mounting a robust effort to meet the secular challenge of plucking out the poorest of the

poor from the clutches of poverty, a thing Couples found un-Christ-like for straying too much into the realm of Caesar. Today, GK has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the most trusted organizations in the country. I won’t bother to say what has happened to the other one.

Proof of it is that several huge international contributors to the relief efforts for Tacloban chose to course their contributions through GK. The organization can be trusted not just to make sure every dollar goes to the survivors but also that it does when it is most needed. It is one organization that actually has organization.

From the start, it was clear to the GK people that they did not just want to build houses, they also wanted to build communities. Housing projects are a dime a dozen, communities are rarer than an honest collector at Customs.

Indeed, even human settlements are a dime a dozen, they’re just billboards that hide stark realities. Real communities are the true wonder, which is what GK has been building almost literally from scratch: It’s the former toughies, dregs of society, and wretched of the earth that have put them up, that are sustaining them and making them flourish with GK’s help.

GK started out building communi-

ties. In the end, it has built more.

Chito Tagle, the highest Catholic Church official in the Philippines today, however Socrates Villegas keeps trying to steal the thunder futilely from him, is an old hand in serving the poor, too, although he was thrust to the limelight only recently.

That was so when the retired previous pope, Benedict XVI, made him cardinal late last year, entitling him not just to vote for the new pope but also to vie to become one himself. A thing he never showed interest in.

You know the genuine ones from their humility and simplicity: That is where their thunder comes from.

You know the genuine ones from their humility and simplicity: That is where their thunder comes from.

Tagle doesn’t have an organization devoted to uplifting the poor but he has an organization, the biggest one in the country, that has the moral power to harness the faithful’s heart and mind in that direction. And most Filipinos remain faithful, however faithless many of their shepherds have been. That in fact is what he has been doing all this time, as priest, as bishop of Cavite, and as a pauper-prince of

the Church: He has been trying earnestly, desperately, to make the poor less poor, in mind as well as body.

He’s the one Church official of late who has been speaking out against the obscenity of poverty, the obscenity of corruption, and the bigger obscenity of the one coexisting with the other. He cannot for the life of him understand how anyone can steal amid the mind-boggling want. He cannot for the death of him comprehend how anyone can snatch the food from the mouth of a hungry child.

The pragmatists, of course, or those who imagine themselves to be so, will ask: But what has he actually done to fight poverty? Well, he has motivated, he has inspired, he has spoken. Sometimes, motivation and inspiration move mountains better than graders and forklifts. Sometimes, in the beginning is the word and the word is made flesh.

The last is not a Filipino, he is Argentine. He also happens to be the Pope. He also happens to be Time’s Person of the Year this year, becoming so for doing so much in so short a time. Not the least of which is drawing the world’s attention to the plight of the poor, not the least of which is drawing attention to the fact that his Church owes its origin and inspira-

tion to someone who was born poor, the son of a carpenter who built more than physical dwelling places.

I can’t think of anyone more resolutely propoor today than Pope Francis. The man lives it, breathes it, finds his life’s purpose in it. I figure if we can get him to bless a propoor project that involves Meloto and Tagle, or—who knows?—get him to visit here and join forces with them, even if only spiritually, we can be off to a good start.

It did occur to me shortly after it struck me that we had these people to inspire, or push, such a project that they are all religious people, and Catholics at that. I’ll leave others to argue whether that’s accidental or providential, incidental or essential.

I myself am sure that if we looked hard enough, we’ll find people of other faiths or completely secular ones who share the same vision, revel in the same spirit, and abound with the same dedication. Who can throw themselves into something like this.

Why should we wait for government to discover the urgent need to begin to end poverty? Why should we wait for government to embark on the urgent task to begin to end poverty? Meloto has not, Tagle has not, Francis has not.

A modest proposal, like I said.

LOOKING BACK

Christmas on the eve of the Philippine Revolution

By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer Christmas gifts have been opened, the sweets digested and the cholesterol delights of noche buena are clogging our arteries—yet many Filipinos are already looking forward to the next feast, media noche, to bid goodbye to the old year and greet the new one with hope. The holidays from Christmas to New Year’s remind us of that wonderful Spanish proverb: “How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterwards.” [¡Qué bueno es no hacer nada y luego descansar!].

What was Christmas like on the eve of the Philippine Revolution?

One primary source would be James Earle Stevens’ “Yesterdays in the Philippines” (New York, 1898) that provided interested American readers with a lively description of the overseas colony that they won after the Spanish-American War. Stevens arrived in Manila in time for the 1893 Christmas and New Year celebrations. Employed by Peabody and Co., a firm that traded in Philippine hemp that then supplied an international demand for cordage, he stayed two years during which time he traveled a lot outside Manila before the situ-

ation got complicated in 1896. In his introduction, he declared that the United States did not need an overseas colony because it was better off looking after its own territory than taking up the administration of an archipelago half the world away. Unfortunately for us, his was a voice in the wilderness, and the Philippines after 400 years in the convent as the cliché goes spent the next 50 years in Hollywood.

Stevens didn’t expect much for the Christmas Eve table in Manila and was surprised to find out that in terms of gastronomic goodies the socalled Pearl of the Orient or Venice of the East was very cosmopolitan.

Aside from the US food he was used to, the Philippines offered a mix of East and West: Filipino, Chinese, Spanish and even French food could be had in Manila if you knew where to go. Escolta, the main shopping street, had shops just like he knew from Washington or Broadway. A keen observer, Stevens left nothing out in his book down to the “unsavoury odors of people who like garlic and don’t take baths.” He first stayed at the Hotel de Oriente to sleep but went out to eat and there found a club down the road where he spent Christmas Eve described as follows:

“Our Christmas dinner at the club has just ended and from the bill of fare one would never suspect he was not at the Waldorf or Parker House.

Long punkahs swung to and fro over the big tables, small serving boys in bare feet rushed hither and thither with meat and drink, corks popped, the smart breeze blew jokes about, and everyone unbent.

“Soups, fish, joints, entrees… hors d’oeuvres, mince pies, plum puddings, and all the delicacies to be

How beautiful it is to do nothing, and to rest afterwards.” [¡Qué bueno es no hacer nada y luego descansar!].

found in cooler climes had their turn, as did a variety of liquid courses.

Singing, speeches, and music followed the more material things, and everyone was requested to take some part in the performance. By the time the show was over the piano

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was dead-beat and everybody hoarse from singing by the wrong method.”

They did not have any shopping malls then but there were many shops in Escolta and Rosario streets outside Intramuros. Stevens went out to buy photographic supplies and was directed to the “Botica Inglesa” which turned out to be more than a pharmacy because Stevens wrote: “Here it is possible to buy anything from a glass of soda to a full-fledged lawn-mower, including all the intermediates that reach from toothbrushes to photographic cameras.”

Then he described the “chit” system where one bought on credit. Then as now, in neighborhood sari-sari stores where people know each other, it is possible to bring home food or condiments by adding items to a list— “i-lista mo na muna”—for payment later. When Stevens went shopping in Manila he realized that the currency in use were Mexican silver dollars that were too heavy to carry about in huge quantities in a shirt pocket. So Stevens could go to any store and sign an “I. O. U.” that was then consolidated and a collector came to call at the end of the month. Today we have credit cards that have sunk many people in debt because they do not feel like they have spent anything. If

you use cash, spending stops when the wallet is empty, but with plastic you can spend a lot and get hit when your monthly bill comes round.

In Stevens’ day they paid their credit notes in cash, in heavy Mexican dollar coins. Collectors went round accompanied by cargadores with wheelbarrows. This made me wonder when we started to use armed security and armored cars. Collectors counted the money first then they bit on the coins or dropped these on the floor to listen for the sound of lead or silver that distinguished the genuine from the fake coins. Today we pay in cash at a Bayad Center or bank; we can also pay online where no physical money is exchanged. Once the Philippines used money that was worth its weight in physical gold, silver or copper coins, then we switched to paper money which makes me wonder: When does a piece of paper become money or why do we value a near worthless piece of paper as money?

To complicate matters, we can pay with credit cards, ATM cards or even on the Internet where no physical money changes hands. “Yesterdays in the Philippines” is an apt title for Stevens’ book because reading it is like going to a foreign country; they did things differently then.

Opinion

17 DECEMBER 31, 2013

VIEWPOINT

Nitwits’ ride

By Juan L. Mercado Philippine Daily Inquirer EDITORIAL AND TV desks are swamped, on Dec. 28, by features on practical jokes. The one fooled is ribbed: Na-Niños Inocentes ka. That jab refers to the feast of the Holy Innocents.

Liturgy readings recall that King Herod went ballistic after the Magi, who had found the Child and His Mother, didn’t report back as asked. His centurions then slaughtered boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem.

“A cry was heard in Rama, sobbing and loud lamentation,” Jeremiah wrote six centuries earlier. “Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”

Bethlehem is dwarfed by the carnage that plays out daily here. Look at the “Under-age-5 child death rates” (U5MR) indicator.

Two decades back, 59 kids out of every thousand births never made it to age 5. In 2011, only 25 under five died, notes Unicef. That’s a cut of more than a half in infant deaths. Take a bow.

But take a second look, too. The UNDP Human Development Report 2013 documents that the U5MR for Filipino kids stood at 29. We are bracketed between Moldovia and Uzbekistan. In contrast, Malaysia has slashed

death rates to 6, Thailand to 13.

The odds are stacked against kids born in penury cesspools. A child delivered in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, once a feeding trough of the Ampatuan clan, has four times less chances to reach his/her fifth birthday than one born in Metro Manila. Factors from polluted wells to lack of medicine cut them down.

The number of Filipino women who die in childbirth quadruple that of Thais. Last year, 15 mothers died every day due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Many infants are borne by ill-fed mothers in job-short families.

Preventable ailments, like pneumonia and diarrhea, are main infant killers. Babies born preterm—or before the 37th week of pregnancy—are especially vulnerable. Almost a third of infant deaths stem from this one cluster.

“The first two years of life are a window of opportunity. Nutrition programs then have an impact on a child’s development, with lifelong benefits,” the International Food Policy Research Institute points out. After age three, the economic benefits dwindle to near-zero.

Lack of micronutrients saps intelligence quotients. The IQs of ill-fed kids can be whittled down by 10-14 percent, an Asian Development Bank

study found. This loss is irreversible.

“Their elevators will never go to the top floor.” That’s layman’s lingo for permanently impaired lives.

These are preventable tragedies, yet there is no outcry. Why? Because death stalks mostly kids in city slum hovels or farm shacks. Their burial shrouds are usually out of sight.

As a result, these tiny coffins blend into the woodwork. The rich man who

Responding to unmet family-planning needs can slash maternal deaths by almost a third. More can be done to save mothers from premature graves or kids from being orphaned. feasts daily never notices the pauper Lazarus scrounging for his leftovers.

Flabby responsible-parenthood programs whittled maternal deaths too slowly. Responding to unmet family-planning needs can slash maternal deaths by almost a third. More can be done to save mothers from premature graves or kids from being orphaned.

“There is unfinished business” such as securing vaccines, adequate nutrition, medical plus maternal care, wrote Unicef executive director Anthony Lake. “[There are] proven,

affordable interventions…. The challenge is to make these available to every child.” Indeed, “life is the threshold at which all other hopes begin.”

“After 25 years of pastoral and social involvement, I see the Filipino family as very much at risk,” Jesuit sociologist John Carroll notes. But the threat does not stem primarily from contraception. The main destructive forces are infidelity, multiple families, drugs, alcoholism—and sheer poverty.

The Bethlehem birth “has unavoidable social implications,” wrote The Washington Post’s Michael Gerson.

“If the deity was born as an outcast, it is impossible to treat outcasts in quite the same way. A God who fled as a refugee, preferred the company of fishermen, and died as an accused criminal will influence our disposition toward refugees, the poor and those in prison.” As Dorothy Day wrote: “He is disguised under every type of humanity that treads the earth.”

“Today, the well-armed empire that judicially murdered Jesus of Nazareth exists only as archaeological digs. The man who was born in obscurity and died an apparent failure is viewed as guide and friend by more than two billion people. Our history, laws and art are unimaginable without his influence. The author of this creed sought a

different victory than politics brings— the kind that ends all selfish victories.”

Here, hard cash is the sole yardstick of value. Doors open depending on your car model, checkbook, or Virgin Island secret bank stash. Ask Imee.

“Net worth equals self-worth.” A society that pegs the worth of a man on his pork barrel will betray the poor.

“Do you know who I am?” Mayor Jejomar Binay Jr. denies he ever snapped that to Dasmariñas Village guards who manned a no-exitafter-10-p.m. gate. The open gate was a block away. Yet, Binay and bodyguards who cocked their pistols stood pat for a time. His Makati cops hauled in the guards and kept them for four hours. “Checking their firearm licenses” was the excuse.

At a Canadian airport, a junior Cabinet member got impatient when the long queue slowed down. He fretted that he might miss his Christmas Eve flight. He became angry, then enraged, and finally snapped at one of the attendants: “Do you know who I am?”

Without missing a beat, the attendant punched the public address button and said: “We have a gentleman here who doesn’t know who he is.

Can someone please help him?”

Na-Niños Inocentes tayo. Translation: We took all you nitwits for a ride.

civic leaders and media. “And I think the reason is that we need to learn lessons from what happened here, apply these lessons, and share them with people like you who can then spread the word around the country and the world.” *** Along with asking Congress people, mayors, barangay heads and other local officials what lessons can be learned after Yolanda, international organizations working with child survivors say that children, too, deserve to be heard from, as their views are not only important, but also different from those of adults.

It is important to ensure that children are involved in the rehabilitation efforts and processes, say the groups Save the Children, Plan International, World Vision and Unicef. “We need to continue listening to the children and working with them to facilitate their participation. They will be part of our response and continue to be (a) source of the resilience they have demonstrated,” says Tomoo Hozumi, Unicef representative in the Philippines.

“Yolanda exacted a huge toll on the services which matter most to children, such as schools, daycare centers, health centers and homes,” say the agencies.

“Yet, as is often the case in disasters in the Philippines and elsewhere, chil-

dren’s views have so far not been sufficiently considered, with their needs often being decided for them.” *** To begin gathering the views of children in Yolanda-affected areas, the agencies gathered more than a hundred children together in a consultation, where they were asked what for them were the top priorities in the period of rehabilitation and rebuilding.

“By taking children’s views into account, agencies and the government can ensure that the decisions being made, which affect children’s lives now and in the future, really respond to their needs. Children play a vital role not only in helping rebuild, but also in reducing risk and strengthening resilience in the long term.”

Among the recommendations made by the children at the consultation were to put in more toilets in evacuation centers, more sanitary napkins in hygiene kits, carpentry tools in shelter kits, and the urgent need to clean up after the oil spill off the coast of Panay Island. One child, Darren, 16 from Dulag, Leyte, said children like him “can plant seedlings that can replace the trees that were toppled in order to avoid flooding in the future.”

And a common plea among the children: “Reopen our schools as soon as possible.”

AT LARGE

The gift of perspective

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer IT’S ENOUGH to make you cry. When they paid a visit to Tacloban, about two weeks after the onslaught of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” “macho men” Manny Pacquiao and Chavit Singson broke down in tears, related Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. “Pati sila humagulgol (even they broke down sobbing),” Romualdez noted, his face still reflecting his incredulity that the boxer-congressman and the “warlord” politician of Ilocos Sur could be so moved by the sights and sufferings of the people of Tacloban and environs.

I didn’t so much cry as feel weighed down and dispirited during my own visit to Tacloban last week. Rep. Gina de Venecia, who found out since her daughter KC’s death that she seems to be extra-sensitive to the spiritual realm, warned us about this “heavy” feeling as we waited for our Cebu Pacific flight in Manila. Indeed, I was not only weighed down by the lingering malaise the palpable tragedy left, but I actually came down with a bad case of intestinal flu upon reaching home.

Still and all, the trip had given me a gift I did not anticipate: the gift of perspective. Suddenly, all the baggage I’d been carrying—a depleted

budget, unfilled items on my gift list, competing Christmas party invitations—was lifted off my shoulders. All these niggling worries, anxieties and unspoken fears suddenly evaporated.

What were they but minuscule concerns compared with what the people of Tacloban had gone through?

Parents had lost children, families were rendered homeless, hunger had become a daily concern, and contemplating the future seemed too painful it turned many of them catatonic.

But the people of Tacloban and nearby towns continue with their daily lives. In ruined marketplaces, one spied temporary stalls vending vegetables, clothes, household items and even sweet small pineapples from Ormoc. The afternoon we were there, the city administrator urged us to drop by Robinson’s Mall, which was reopening even after looters had stripped the stores of most goods. *** “What can we learn from Tacloban’s experience?” De Venecia wanted to know, adding that the greater Dagupan (Pangasinan) area, which she represents, likewise faces many natural threats and impending disasters.

“Knowledge and information is power,” was Romualdez’s immediate reply.

“We all need to know what can befall

us so we can properly plan and react.”

He advocates the preparation of “local” maps and disaster scenarios so that local officials could fine-tune their responses.

Another lesson: “Communication is crucial.” Despite the advent of digital technology and the proliferation of cell phones, Romualdez said all these were rendered useless once the typhoon had knocked down the telecom towers and phone lines. “Satellite phones need to be distributed widely,” he observed,

All these niggling worries, anxieties and unspoken fears suddenly evaporated. What were they but minuscule concerns compared with what the people of Tacloban had gone through? “preferably one in each municipality.”

He had also suddenly discovered “the value of old-style communications,” he said, such as transistor radios, short-wave facilities, and “at least one one-kilowatt radio station in an area, to keep people informed.” Note that it took the rest of the country and the world at least two days before finding out the state of devastation and deaths in Tacloban and nearby areas.

“We survived for a reason,” Romualdez told his audience of other legislators,

www.canadianinquirer.net

DECEMBER 31, 2013

18

Canada News

Lac Megantic disaster chosen as 2013’s Canadian Press News Story of the Year

BY ANDY BLATCHFORD The Canadian Press LAC-MEGANTIC, QUE.—Heading into 2013, Lac-Megantic was known as a quiet holiday town in a Quebec region recognized abroad for its mountaintop observatory and its inky, starry skies.

The community finishes the year remembered for a deadly train crash that horrified people around the world and ignited a fire so big its rage could be seen from space.

Last summer’s Lac-Megantic derailment, which killed 47 people and pushed the issue of rail safety into the spotlight, has been voted Canada’s 2013 News Story of the Year in the annual survey of the country’s newsrooms by The Canadian Press.

Editors and news directors across Canada selected a story that circled the world after a runaway train hauling crude oil careened off the tracks and exploded, levelling dozens of

Tankers exploded after the worst train disaster in Canadian history on July 14, 2013 in Lac Megantic, Canada. 47 people were killed in this humanitarian disaster. In the News Story of the Year poll, it received nearly 31 per cent of the ballots cast.

PHOTO BY MEUNIERD | SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

buildings in the heart of town.

The multiple layers to the July 6 catastrophe attracted interest with its gripping stories of survival and loss, the vast environmental consequences and the stunning images of the devastation. It also launched new

debates about the continent’s boom in oil-by-rail traffic.

In the News Story of the Year poll, the Lac-Megantic tragedy received nearly 31 per cent of the ballots cast.

Voters were asked to either choose a story from a list of candidates or to nominate their own selection.

“The Lac-Megantic disaster was one which caused everyone who lives in a small Canadian city, or town that has freight trains rumbling through it, (to) stop and ponder, ‘That could happen to me some day,’ “ said Murray Guy, assistant managing editor for the Times & Transcript in Moncton, N.B. “From the sheer enormity of the death, destruction and upheaval for a small community’s way of life, to the shaken trust we all have in our rail safety laws, Lac-Megantic will likely become a red-letter day in the world of railway safety.”

Adrienne Tanner, deputy editor for the Vancouver Sun, said, “Disasters PAGE 35 Lac Megantic

Federal parties in year end fundraising frenzy as per vote subsidy nears end The Canadian Press OTTAWA—The major federal political parties are in a headlong rush to extract as much cash as possible from partisan supporters before the end of 2013.

The Conservatives and Liberals have posted running fundraising totals for the fourth quarter as they push their followers toward an arbitrary Dec. 31 deadline.

And the New Democrats are promoting what the party calls a “Boxing Day sale” that highlights taxpayer-funded subsidies of up to 75 per cent on political donations.

Those subsidies—which all parties highlight in their fundraising pitches—are available year-round.

The Liberals are asking donors to

pledge as little as $3 in their latest pitch, the NDP asked for $5 and the Conservatives, in a Dec. 22 missive, suggested $25.

For the first time since Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to power in January 2006, the parties’ publicized figures suggest the Conservative and Liberal fundraising machines are in a dead heat, with each raising more than $1.5 million this quarter heading into the final week.

The Conservatives have been the unrivalled champions of political fundraising for the past decade and Harper moved to accelerate that advantage when he began phasing out per-vote party subsidies in 2011.

The major political parties will get 50 cents in 2014 for every vote they received in the May 2011 election, down from more than $2 per

vote at the time of the campaign.

In the 2015 election year, political parties will be completely weaned from the per-vote subsidy.

The move will save the federal treasury almost $30 million annually, but marks just a fraction of the total subsidies provided to political parties from the public purse.

The government has said it has no intention of eliminating another $80 million in annual subsidies that parties receive from the gold-plated donor tax breaks and from hefty rebates on party expenses.

Fewer than 180,000 Canadians made a donation to a registered federal political party in 2012— less than one per cent of the total 24,257,592 eligible voters for the 2011 election.

NEWS BRIEFS

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

IN CANADA’S POLITICAL CRYSTAL BALL, FUTURE OF SENATE ANYTHING BUT CLEAR OTTAWA—Think you had a tough year at work?

Try being a senator. After a year of unprecedented bad news for the much-maligned Senate and its duly appointed occupants, the crystal ball remains decidedly murky when it comes to predicting the future of the upper chamber. After a tumultuous year of scandal and second-guessing, it now falls to the Supreme Court of Canada to determine how—or even if—the so-called chamber of sober second thought can be reformed or abolished. And its defenders say it’s high time to consider the original purpose of the Senate in the first place.

GG WANTS TO SEE ‘SMARTER, MORE CARING’ CANADA OTTAWA—The Governor General would like to see a “smarter, more caring” Canada in the New Year. In his annual year-end message, David Johnston urged Canadians to give their time, talent or money to build a stronger country.

TOUGH SLOG IN 2013 LED TO MODEST GAIN FOR TSX TORONTO—Expectations for the Toronto stock market were minimal for this year and the TSX didn’t disappoint as Canada’s main stock market closed out 2013 with a modest gain.

But it was a tough slog, taking until October for the TSX to build on last year’s gains. It may be a similar scenario in 2014. Mining stocks continue to suffer from low commodity prices as a result of a sluggish global recovery. Bullion prices are likely to pull down gold stocks in an environment with low inflation. But there are areas that hold promise for investors on the TSX—including banks that hit new highs on the unfaltering housing sector and insurers that finally found traction on global equity markets gains and higher interest rates. Moves Business.

19 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Portion of December 2013 sales will go to Typhoon Haiyan Relief

www.canadianinquirer.net

World News

DECEMBER 31, 2013 20

Boston Marathon bombing voted Associated Press sports story of the year; Armstrong No. 2

BY RACHEL COHEN The Associated Press NEW YORK—The Boston Marathon bombing was selected the sports story of the year Friday in an annual vote conducted by The Associated Press.

Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs.

Authorities say brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens from Russia who emigrated to the United States as children, planned and carried out the bombings in retaliation for U.S. involvement in Muslim countries.

Ninety-six ballots were submitted from U.S. editors and news directors. Voters were asked to rank the top 10 sports stories of the year, with the first-place story receiving 10 points, the second-place story nine points and so on.

The marathon attack received 761 points and 67 firstplace votes. It was also second in AP’s national/international story of the year poll.

The No. 2 sports story, Lance Armstrong’s admission of doping, had five first-place votes and 517 points.

The top five stories were grim: terrorism, performanceenhancing drug use, legal settlements, murder charges. The first on-field action came in at No. 6— the Boston Red Sox’s worst-to-first World Series title, though even that was tinged by the city’s heartache less than seven months earlier.

Here are 2013’s top 10 stories: 1. BOSTON MARATHON BOMBINGS: The throngs of spectators lining the streets at a storied big-city marathon were once a wholesome scene of civic pride and friendly support. April’s attack came as a haunting reminder that the crowds at a high-profile event are also a vulnerable target. Bag searches and metal detectors were a common sight at games the rest of the year. As victims persevere on prosthetic limbs,

1 BOSTON, USA—Locals and tourists left a lot of mementos and messages of courage at several improvised memorials of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing along Boylston St. PHOTO BY MARCIO JOSE BASTOS SILVA / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

2

3 The NFL’s settlement of lawsuits brought by thousands of former players will cost the league $765 million.

In 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency stripped Lance Armstrong of his record seven Tour de France titles.

PHOTO BY RICHARD PAUL KANE / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

the 118th edition of the world’s oldest marathon is set for the spring, with security undoubtedly heightened but runners determined to take part.

2. LANCE ARMSTRONG: The disgraced cyclist was also the No. 2 sports story last year.

In 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency stripped him of his record seven Tour de France titles, releasing mounds of evidence that he used PEDs to win them. In January, after years of defiant denials, Armstrong finally admitted it, telling Oprah Winfrey: “It’s this myth, this perfect story, and it wasn’t true.”

3. NFL CONCUSSION SETTLEMENT: The NFL’s settlement of lawsuits brought by thousands of former players will cost the league $765 million but won’t end the turmoil over head injuries in football— or the litigation. The retirees, who had accused the NFL of concealing the long-term dangers of concussions, will be eligible for compensation for certain neurological ailments.

The league did not admit to any wrongdoing after mediation resulted in a settlement in August.

4. BASEBALL DRUG BANS: Alex Rodriguez’s 211-game suspension was the longest of the 13 announced in August for players connected to a Florida anti-aging clinic accused of distributing banned PEDs. The Yankees’ slugger was the only one to contest the penalty, and the year ends with an arbitrator yet to rule. In July, Ryan Braun, the 2011 NL MVP who had previously denied using banned substances, accepted a 65-game suspension.

5. HERNANDEZ ARREST: On Jan. 20, New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez had nine catches for 83 yards in an AFC championship game loss to Baltimore. Just more than five months later, he was charged with murder. Prosecutors accuse him of shooting a friend to death on a secluded gravel road for talking to the wrong people at a nightclub.

Hernandez awaits trial amid revelations of a history of violence by the player.

6. RED SOX WIN: Boston’s 2011 season ended with a collapse and tales of fried chicken and beer in the clubhouse; 2012 ended with a last-place finish and 93 losses. New manager www.canadianinquirer.net

PHOTO BY MIQU77 / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

John Farrell and his bearded sluggers embraced “Boston Strong” and tied for the best record in the majors in a turnaround few predicted. With timely hits up and down the lineup throughout the playoffs, the Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals in six games for their third World Series title in a decade.

7. RAVENS SUPER: The power came back on, and Baltimore held on. Ravens coach John Harbaugh beat younger brother Jim’s San Francisco 49ers 34-31 in the Super Bowl in an unprecedented sibling showdown. But the game will be remembered most for the 34-minute outage at the Superdome in New Orleans. Baltimore star linebacker Ray Lewis rode into retirement with a ring.

8. AWESOME AUBURN: The Tigers’ turnaround from a 3-9 record to the national title game was stunning enough.

Even more shocking was how they did it. A deflected 73-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds left gave Auburn a 43-38 win over Georgia on Nov. 16.

The play that ended their next game will go down as one of the most memorable in college

football history: Chris Davis’ return of a missed field goal attempt more than 100 yards to beat No. 1 Alabama 34-28.

9. TE’O HOAX: Heisman Trophy runner-up Manti Te’o struggled in Notre Dame’s lopsided loss to Alabama in the national title game Jan. 7. Nine days later, his name became forever linked to a most bizarre sports story. That tragic tale about his girlfriend’s death told over and over as the linebacker starred for an undefeated team? She didn’t exist. Te’o insisted he was duped into believing the woman he never met in person was real.

10. HEAT TITLE: One more free throw or one more defensive rebound, and the San Antonio Spurs prevent Miami from repeating as champion.

Instead, Ray Allen made one of the biggest shots in NBA Finals history, knocking down a second-chance 3-pointer with 5 seconds left to send Game 6 to overtime. The Heat won in the extra period and again in Game 7 to give LeBron James another title.

Projects Editor Brooke Lansdale contributed to this report.

World News

21 DECEMBER 31, 2013

1.3 million Americans losing jobless benefits as emergency program expires after 5 1/2 years

BY BRADLEY KLAPPER The Associated Press WASHINGTON—More than 1 million Americans are bracing for a harrowing, post-Christmas jolt as extended federal unemployment benefits come to a sudden halt this weekend, with potentially significant implications for the recovering U.S. economy. A tense political battle likely looms when Congress reconvenes in the new, midterm election year.

Nudging Congress along, a vacationing President Barack Obama called two senators proposing an extension to offer his support. From Hawaii, Obama pledged Friday to push Congress to move quickly next year to address the “urgent economic priority,” the White House said.

For families dependent on cash assistance, the end of the federal government’s “emergency unemployment compensation” will mean some difficult belt-tightening as enrollees lose their average monthly stipend of $1,166.

Jobless rates could drop, but analysts say the economy may suffer with less money for consumers to spend on everything from clothes to cars. Having let the “emergency” program expire as part of a budget deal, it’s unclear if Congress has the appetite to start it anew.

An estimated 1.3 million peo-

ple will be cut off when the federally funded unemployment payments end Saturday.

Some 214,000 Californians will lose their payments, a figure expected to rise to more than a half-million by June, the Labor Department said. In the last 12 months, Californians received $4.5 billion in federal jobless benefits, much if plowed back into the local economy.

More than 127,000 New Yorkers also will be cut off this weekend. In New Jersey, 11th among states in population, 90,000 people will immediately lose out.

Started under President George W. Bush, the benefits were designed as a cushion for the millions of U.S. citizens who lost their jobs in a recession and failed to find new ones while receiving state jobless benefits, which in most states expire after six months. Another 1.9 million people across the country are expected to exhaust their state benefits before the end of June.

But Obama has no quick fix.

He hailed this month’s twoyear budget agreement as a breakthrough of bipartisan cooperation while his administration works with Democratic allies in the House and Senate to revive an extension of jobless benefits for those unemployed more than six months.

The Obama administration PAGE 36 1.3 million

Lac Megantic... don’t get any bigger. A human tragedy with a lot of political and policy implications going forward.”

The Lac-Megantic story edged the Senate expenses scandal, which received 24 per cent of the votes.

Voters who chose the Senate controversy argued it’s an issue that could bring long-lasting change to Canada.

“The Senate expense story strikes a deep core visceral nerve with readers,” Jim Poling, the Hamilton Spectator’s managing editor, said of a scandal that has swamped the Prime Minister’s Office.

“It’s about the money, but it’s mostly about the entitlement.

It’s a story that has the potential to change the structure of government in Canada and who its leaders are.”

Rob Ford, Toronto’s notorious mayor who admitted to smoking crack cocaine, finished third after amassing nearly 23 per cent of the vote. Those who selected the Ford story, which became the butt of jokes on American late-night TV shows, said they made their choice based on how much attention it grabbed around the world.

“Very tough choice,” said Colin McNeil, web editor for Metro News.

“But ... the Rob Ford scandal caught fire nationally and globally in a way none of the other, more ‘serious’ stories did.”

A media-monitoring firm found that the Ford story generated 1.4 times more international news coverage in 2013 than the Lac-Megantic disaster.

But the world still took notice of the rail tragedy—in a big way.

It remained a top-3 worldwide news item over the first four days following the disaster and reached as far away as Kuwait, India and the Philippines, says a recently released study

by Montreal-based Influence Communication.

“Media organizations are attracted to the dramatic (side of a story),” said Influence spokeswoman Eve Couture, who noted the crash also launched public discussions about oil-by-rail transport and prompted long investigations by authorities.

“It’s a mysterious story that had many mysterious elements: an unmanned train that hurtled down a hill that blew up a village.”

The analysis also says Lac18

www.canadianinquirer.net

Megantic generated more coverage within Quebec than any story since the start of the century, ahead of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The results of the News Story of the Year survey also suggest that geography played a role in the voting. The train disaster was selected by 55 per cent of newsrooms polled in Quebec, but was the top choice of only 26 per cent of the voters based outside the province.

In Lac-Megantic, the mayor believes the crash that struck her community of 6,000 has potential repercussions for people across Canada and beyond.

“I think this tragedy allowed the whole world to reflect on rail safety,” Colette Roy-Laroche told The Canadian Press in a recent interview at the sports centre in Lac-Megantic, about 250 kilometres east of Montreal.

Roy-Laroche hopes all the attention generated by the disaster will inspire governments and companies around the globe to push for improvements to train security.

Trains returned last week to Lac-Megantic, where the economy relies on the railroad, for the first time since the derailment. For now, trains that cross through town will only carry non-hazardous materials.

The community greeted the rebirth of the rail line with difficulty, as people here slowly rebuild their lives amid a prolonged grieving period.

The town’s tranquil region of rolling hills, popular with outdoor enthusiasts, is perhaps best known for the nearby MontMegantic observatory. Stargazing is made easier here thanks to the internationally recognized “dark-sky reserve” that blankets the area, established through local efforts to reduce night-time light pollution.

On July 6, the glow of the fire from the 1 a.m. derailment was so bright it could be seen in a NASA satellite image captured an hour after the crash.

The mayor was among those who witnessed the terrifying blaze from the ground with her own eyes.

Roy-Laroche, who lives outside of downtown, was jolted awake by her ringing phone shortly after that initial explosion.

Someone she worked with at the municipality was on the line

and told her: “Ms. Roy-Laroche, the train derailed downtown and the city is on fire.”

Roy-Laroche said she and her husband quickly rushed toward downtown Lac-Megantic by car, and when they couldn’t drive any further, they moved even closer to the damaged area by foot.

“The flames were so big, so high— we even heard noises, small explosions,” she said of the inferno ignited by the volatile crude oil in the tankers.

“People were crying, people were screaming.”

The blast had obliterated dozens of buildings in the downtown core, including a bustling bar and the library.

Meanwhile, millions of litres of crude gushed from the rail cars into the environment.

The mayor received several disturbing updates from firefighters at the front line—those reports included an expanding list of structures that had vanished. Up to 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes and Roy-Laroche said she quickly began preparations to set up an emergency shelter at a local high school.

All of this, she figures, happened within the first hour.

“We had to think quickly and I didn’t have time to cry,” RoyLaroche recalled.

One of her next challenges was to handle the sudden, intensive media attention amid the unfolding crisis.

The small-town mayor was the first to address a joint news conference, held only a few hours after the derailment, alongside officials from the fire department, police service and provincial government.

As she spoke on a street just outside downtown, an unknown number of residents were still unaccounted for and smashed tanker cars continued to burn in the background.

Roy-Laroche said she was stunned by the number of news cameras that had already descended on her community.

“That’s when my emotions rose—I’d say it was the only time that I truly felt weak,” said RoyLaroche, who later became a household name in Quebec for her poise and calm demeanour while handling the catastrophe.

“When I saw the cameras, that’s when I realized that at least (the entire province of ) Quebec was listening to me.”

Immigration

DECEMBER 31, 2013 22

CBA immigration lawyers So, What Else is in lead pro bono service to boost the Heart of this relief efforts in the Philippines Fil-Canadian?

PANGARAP: SO, OUR JOURNEY BEGINS

BY BOLET AREVALO

FOR ANY one family that has taken their immigration seriously, the day of the oathtaking is THE day. It is that one day that seems to culminate or summarize all that has been given up for and have gone through in the years of waiting. It is that one day that could have made all decisions right despite all the pains and the difficulties.

After the citizenship test, I did not anticipate the oathtaking schedule to take place 6 weeks after. The officer said to wait for 2-3 months for an invitation. But it did come in 6 weeks. When you are finally holding that invitation, you are

looking at the paper but not really being able to read or understand anything. At least, that was how I can describe what happened to me.

When I was looking at the document, I felt a sudden rush of memories in my head. It was like a flash of emotions and thoughts coming back to me, the last 5 years when we were struggling and counting the days to get to this point.

I would admit, I asked myself, “Was it worth everything?”

Having to give up everything and embracing a new, humble start-over? Would I be able to rewrite the book I have written and say the same things all over again? Am I prouder of myself because of this achievement?

During the years that we were waiting, every day I had PAGE 39 So, What

OTTAWA—In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan last month, a group of lawyers from the Canadian Bar Association’s (CBA) National Immigration Law Section is spearheading a pro bono initiative to help families in Canada sponsor relatives living in areas affected by the recent disaster in the Philippines to come to this country.

Lawyers participating in the initiative are offering initial legal consultations and assistance in preparing immigration applications—without charge— for Canadians and permanent residents in Canada.

“We understand that sponsoring a relative can be a complicated process at the best of times,” says Catherine Sas, Q.C., member of the CBA’s National Immigration Law Section.

“Given the challenges families in Canada are facing, we are prepared to review applications to make sure that documents

are in order.”

To facilitate the process, the CBA built an online interactive map for its website that allows users to easily locate and contact a participating lawyer in their province of residence. The Association also created a checklist that explains how to access the special assistance program.

The CBA initiative follows closely on the heels of efforts

by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to fast-track new and existing applications for those who have been significantly and personally affected by the disaster. Information on the federal government program is available on the CIC website.

“To spread the word, we are promoting the CBA special initiative through our social media channels,” says Mario Bellissimo, Chair of the CBA’s National

Immigration Law Section. “The CBA will be reaching out through Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter as well as community newspapers to reach those who will benefit from the service.”

The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to support for the rule of law, and improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,500 lawyers, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.

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Immigration

23 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Reuniting families and reducing backlogs in Canada’s immigration system Parent and Grandparent Program gearing up for re-launch OTTAWA—By cutting immigration backlogs and wait times, the Government is bringing families together more quickly, Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander announced on December 18.

Over the first six months of 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) admitted 45,000 permanent residents to Canada in the Family Class (FC). This represents an increase of 40 percent over the first six months of 2012. This increase can be attributed almost entirely to a doubling of admissions in the Parent and Grandparent (PGP) category over that time period.

Canada has one of the most generous family reunification programs in the world, but growing backlogs in the PGP program meant families could expect to wait eight years or

more to bring their loved ones from overseas. A pause on new applications, combined with high admission levels, has helped reduce the backlog.

The PGP program re-opens to new applications on January 2, 2014. It will re-open with tighter admission criteria and a cap on applications, which will continue to reduce the backlog and improve wait times for families.

According to Chris Alexander, Canada’s Citizenship and Immigration Minister, “Our government understands the importance of spending time with family and loved ones, especially during the holiday season. Our government is making improvements to the immigration system so that families can be reunited more quickly. Because of our changes, Canada is on track to welcome more than 50,000 parents and grandparents in 2012-2013—the highest

number in nearly a decade.”

Fast Facts

• In 2011, under Phase I of the Action Plan for Faster Family Reunification, the Government cut backlogs and wait times for sponsored parents and grandparents. Had no action been taken, it was predicted that the backlog could increase to 250,000 persons, with wait times of 15 years by 2015.

• Of the 45,000 FC permanent residents admitted to Canada in the first six months of 2013, approximately 22,530 spouses and partners were admitted as permanent residents under the FC as well as 1,410 children, 20,700 parents, grandparents and their dependants as well as 360 other relatives and adopted children.

• The Parent and Grandparent Super Visa remains a fast and convenient option for par-

www.canadianinquirer.net

Minister Chris Alexander provides an update on family reunification and the Parent and Grandparent (PGP) program.

ents and grandparents who want to spend longer periods of time with their families in Canada. To date, approximately 28,000 Super Visas have been issued with an approval rate of almost 85 percent. With more than 1,000 Super Visas being issued monthly, this has become

one of CIC’s most popular initiatives.

Application forms, guides and information on how to apply to the new PGP program will be made available online on December 31, 2013, just ahead of the PGP program reopening.

New Year Wishes

DECEMBER 31, 2013 24

FILIPINO-CANADIANS IN FOCUS

Let there be love.....

Let there be respect...

Let there be hope....”

For the coming 2014 d.

Our wishes, please grant, O Lor

Ed and Carmelita

Tapia

ce, joy r more pefa people fo e p o h e o W the heartsray for less and love in and we p atural can everywhere isease andglobe. poverty, dro e th und lamities a

a

dolag r e V e rg

Geo

L-R top Sons Dale & Dustin; (bottom) David and Evelyn

‘Christm ing and givas is about sharing’.

Merry hristmas a Happy NeC nd a w Year!

From,

obias, Senator T ystle, R Rosemer, Enverga eeza Rocel & R

Jhet Van Ruyven “Big Dreams Do Come True When You Believe”

F

Peace, Love and Joy to all Mankind

www.canadianinquirer.net

New Year Wishes

25 DECEMBER 31, 2013

The true spirit of Christmas, which is the spirit of giving, should be in our hearts and minds always. We could do a lot to spread this spirit such as, by way of examples: helping out a new immigrant; buying a panhandler a meal (if you prefer not to give out mon checking up on an elderly neighboey); volunteering for a good cause, and ur; so many more. As Christ said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have don e it unto me.” Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to one and all!

Sending the warmest of wishes from our home to your s this holiday season !

Liz & Rudy Zetazate and family

Evelyn Pagkalinawan

Family Forever.

From,

Lourdes, Elan and Eric Gant

no and From Lixmila Serra

“May the road rise up to et you. May the wind always be at yourme bac sun shine warm upon your fac k. May the fall soft upon your fields. Ane, and rains meet again, May God hold you d until we in the palm of His hand.” Merry Christm as Happy Healthy and Blessed Ne and have a w Year!

Family

ing, caring Christmas is a season of lov yours, may to and sharing. From my family d health. goo h wit you always be blessed s 2014! rou spe Pro a and Merry Christmas

Mark Casafrancisco

www.canadianinquirer.net

DECEMBER 31, 2013 26

GLOBAL FILIPINOS:

Jolly Roger Rogers Crew

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer AS I child, I had always dreamed of running away with the circus, or perhaps joining a caravan of gypsies. Blame it on Ludwig Bemelman and his Madeline books which had the smallest, spunkiest schoolgirl protagonist diligently lining-up in two straight lines, yet somehow managing to get herself into misadventure after exciting misadventure, even under Ms. Clavell’s watchful eye.

For want of a proper circus or gypsy caravan this side of the world, I found myself joining instead a not- so-scurvy crew of pirates. A shared passion for rhum, buccaneering, frilly frocks, and bad-ass hats got me tagging along with the crew of the Jolly Roger Rogers; a collaborative effort of the pirates and wenches of Black Pearl Philippines and the Star Wars aficionados of the Philippine Outpost of the Stormtroopers 501st. In recent years, the crew has expanded to include the caped crusaders of Justice PH, as well as other friends and fiends of the bunch.

But pillage and plunder are not necessarily on these pirates’ checklist; quite the opposite, truth be told. And the sight of the troopers, although awe-inspiring and more than a tad intimidating, does not strike fear in your heart. These scallywags and scoundrels are some of the biggest-hearted, most generous folk you will ever meet on land, at sea, and—if you had a chance to go—in galaxies far, far away.

And this is what keeps me tagging along.

Here I am with first-time attendee, Harold, at the 2013 Christmas party. Harold is 6, and suffers from a degenerative tissue disorder that has left him confined to a wheelchair. But that doesn’t stop this little Batman from smiling!

PHOTO BY KAREN KUNAWICZ

Husband and wife dynamo in command of the Philippine Outpost of the Stormtroopers 501st, Oneal and Regina Rosero (in armour.)

PHOTO FROM REGINA ROSERO’S FACEBOOK PAGE

Class picture of our 2013 Christmas party at the Silahis ng Kalusugan.

Costumed volunteers and kids ham it up for the camera of Regina Rosero.

PHOTO BY REGINA ROSERO

Iron Man dances for—and with—the kids.

PHOTO BY REGINA ROSERO

of the Stormtrooper’s 501st— under the command of husband and wife dynamo, Oneal and Regina Rosero—the local arm of the international Star Wars special interest group. As fate would have it, the pirates and troopers, along with the occasional Darth Vader and C3PO, found themselves doing events together on a fairly regular basis.

Thus the birth of the Jolly Roger Rogers, which—according to the group’s Facebook page—was “a way to combine pirates (who fly flags of the Jolly Roger) and the troopers who always say “Roger, Roger” on their comms.”

A very motley crew

The Jolly Roger Rogers was founded by writer, costume and role-playing fiend, offbeat icon, She-Captain, and all-around amazing woman, Karen Kunawicz.

Karen initially founded the Black Pearl Philippines, a fanbased group of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Her love of all things sea-worthy and Johnny Depp coaxed the inner pirate out of her in ways that have since cannon-balled across the Manila scene.

Enter the Philippine Outpost

Cause-Play

Beyond the fun and inevitably awesome geek factor of cosplay (the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game), the members of the groups involved with the Jolly Roger Rogers are “cause-players” (the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game, BUT for a worthy cause).

The agenda of these costumed characters is not only limited to Toy Cons, Comic Cons, movie premieres, and

special appearance, but also includes charity events, fundraising activities, and care for sick and recovering children.

Recently, several fundraisers were held at malls across the metro for the benefit of the victims and survivors of Typhoon Haiyan: Photo opportunities with characters in costume, for a minimum donation. It was physically taxing (especially for those in full-on armour) to stand, pose, walk around, entice people for several hours to stop and get involved, but wellworth every ounce of effort.

The crew also just wrapped up another successful Christmas party at the children’s wing and in-hospital school, the Silahis ng Kalusugan (literally, a ray or beam of health), at the Philippine General Hospital.

The school is for children too sick to attend regular classes outside the hospital, but well enough to study. On its 7th year, this special activity has become one of the highlights of my own Christmas since I joined the group 4 years ago.

Throughout the year, Karen busies herself collecting funds from private donors, in preparation for the kids’ moving-up or graduation ceremony (usuwww.canadianinquirer.net

ally in March), Christmas, and to support the facility however possible throughout the year.

This year’s Christmas festivities were especially charged with a mood of positivity, fun, and a renewed sense of hope.

The children came in costume, as well, despite battling degenerative illnesses, cancer, and other ailments I can neither properly pronounce nor spell.

They came ready to sing, dance if they could, receive love, and give love in even greater measure.

The good fight

As I stood off to one side of the classroom, watching Iron Man bust out some dance moves—to the delight of Superman, the Flash, Batman, pirates (including a She-Captain-pirate-turned-Ms.Santa), wenches, troopers, children, parents, teachers, and friends—one of the mommy coordinators standing next to me said: ““We are thankful that this year, all the kids made it to the party. No one lost the fight.”

In that instant, I was reminded to count my own personal blessings, all too often forgotten. Also in that instant, I was filled with gratitude and admiration for each of the brave children and their ability to smile through hardship; and for every one of the wonderful volunteers—the costumed crew and

the behind-the-scenes givers.

To me, this bunch of Filipinos is truly global not only because they have stepped-up to worldwide standards of excellence, but more so because they are examples of what should be worldwide standards of excellence. Excellence of character, heart, and purpose, as they help others keep up the good fight.

Life is like a Philippines

That night, plopped down on my couch body drained but spirit full from the day’s affairs, I received a text message from Karen. She was reading through the thank you notes from the kids. One of them, from LJ, read: “Life is like a Philippines, sometimes we are in bad time, and sometimes we are in good time. We’re thankful because now we’re in good time, and good hands.”

I like that.

Visit http://jollyrogerrogers. com/ to learn more about the crew and its activities.

Learn more about the Philippine Outpost of the Stormtroopers 501st at https://www.facebook. com/pinoy501st Climb on board the Black Pearl Philippines at https://www. facebook.com/ blackpearlphilippines Check out the caped crusaders of Justice PH at https://www.facebook.com/justiceph

27 DECEMBER 31, 2013

DAY LORD The

of the

PART 8

What was the message that God gave to me to bring? It is very simple.

He said, “The time will come when the Day of the Lord will take place.”

And this is the message that I am preaching about today. In every city where the Father sends me, I have only one message: “Repent.”

Wherever I go I tell people to repent, to surrender to the will of the Father because it is not the will of man that will be done on the earth anymore; it is the will of God. This is the Day of the Lord! These are no longer the days of man, it is the Day of the Lord.

This means that we are

living in borrowed time.

Pockets of judgment will happen and is happening everywhere. We do not know when or what will happen, but when judgment happens to us, our soul should be ready; we should be ready to face our death.

It was hard for me to explain this in Japan when I went there shortly after the tsunami happened. Missionaries who go there assert that no Japanese will listen to them preach because they don’t believe in Jesus Christ. They do not know that they have souls; they do not know that when they physically die, their soul will face God in judgment; they do not know Revelation 20: 11-15 that says: 11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and And there was found no place for them. 12And I

saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake ond death. 15And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into They do not know this; they do not know that God exists. How will you explain the Day of the Lord to them? When they listen to you it’s as if it is only a myth. But as I said before that in any impossibility, when God is there, the impossible

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becomes possible!

So when I preached to the Japanese, it was like a door was opened to them. They understood what repentance is.

When I said, “We have to surrender our will to the Almighty Father,” they said, “We had surrendered to Hirohito before, who is only human, how much more with this God that you are sharing about?”

Why were they convinced? The message that I brought to them was, “If you don’t believe me, let me ask: who among you believe that we will all die one day?” And because a tsunami had just visited Japan, they all believed in death.

And again I told them, “If a tsunami doesn’t visit you, then you will reach a ripe old age. But when you reach 40 years old, what will happen to you? You will wake up you can barely walk be-

cause of the pain in your reading the newspaper is not as clear as before.

The doctor will tell you that you have a very high uric acid count, that you have gout, you have arthritis, that your creatinine is very high because your kidney is malfunctioning. You are panting because your heart is giving in.

According to Psalms 90:10, we are only given three score and ten years to live—that is seventy years! When you live beyond that, then those are bonus years! But at this moment of your life here on earth, you fail to see where your soul is heading one day. You need to ask yourself: what if you are not heading to a life of 70 years old? It is life eternal whether to the left or to the right; whether in hell or in heaven. That is the issue here. This is why He is sending me into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature.

What is my ministry?

Why had I seen those visions many years ago?

The Father had put me in the midst of His coming to the Day of the Lord. This means that we are no longer in control of the time. Even in the times of Noah, they were eating, they were drinking, being given in marriage (Luke 17:2730), but what is the sin in doing that? In eating and drinking? In getting married? Marriage is normal!

There’s no sin in getting married. So what does He mean?

It means that man’s life is very casual. They do not know that maybe today, tomorrow, later, next month, next year, a catastrophe will visit them and they will leave this life behind.

(To be continued next week)

WATCH

Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy on Gospel of the Kingdom aired all over Canada on JoyTV from 5AM-8AM (Vancouver time) 8AM-11AM (Toronto time) 8PM-11PM (Philippine time)

DECEMBER 31, 2013

28

Happy New 2014!

The Top 10 Philippine Stories of 2013

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer AS 2013 comes to a close, we review headlines that made waves across our 7,107 islands and beyond these local shores. Stories that impacted us, and made 2013 an unforgettable, scandal and disaster-filled year, dotted with the occasional beautyqueen and boxing-champ victories.

1. “Storm surge” enters our collective vocabulary November 08, 2013: A day the Philippines—and the world— will not soon forget. This was typhoon Yolanda’s heyday. Haiyan, by international standards.

She was vicious. She was violent. And she was unstoppable.

She made landfall—all 650 kilometeres of her—in the Visayas region of the Philippines with a fury that has been described as monstrous; catastrophic, and world-record breaking, in fact.

Packing winds of 235 miles per hour, gusts of 275 miles per hour, and a storm surge— a phrase most of us had never even heard of pre-Yolanda—the height of a 4-storey building in the areas she hit hardest, Yolanda was a category 5 natural force of death, destruction, and devastation.

The images of her aftermath can best be described in one word: Horrific. Perhaps, two words: UTTERLY horrific. Yolanda barreled through six central Philippine islands, obliterating buildings, flattening homes, uprooting trees, re-

2

1 The remains of a home destroyed by the storm in Tacloban City.

Janet Lim-Napoles, businesswoman turned reigning Pork Queen gets booked.

PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA

ducing bustling towns to piles of rubble, and leaving dead bodies strewn along her path. Survivors looted stores, in a desperate search for food and drink, amidst a backdrop of seemingly post-apocalyptic ruin.

The hardest hit was the city of Tacloban in the eastern province of Leyte. Next in her line of fury was Samar province. Also hard-hit was Coron in Palawan.

Aid and assistance poured in—and continues to do so— from all corners of the globe, restoring our faith in a sense of shared humanity.

The world was abuzz with the disaster that was Yolanda. It was also abuzz—perhaps louder still—with the remarkable resilience that is Filipino.

As of December 20, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC)has pegged the official death toll from super typhoon “Yolanda” at 6,100; majority of the fatalities are from Eastern Visayas at 5,746 (5,251 in Leyte; 265 in Eastern Samar; 224 in Samar; and 6 in Biliran).

In Tacloban, 2,485 bodies

have yet to be identified.

The number of missing remains at 1,779: 1,671 in Leyte; 38 in Samar; 24 in Palawan; 20 in Eastern Samar; 15 in Antique; 5 in Cebu; 4 in Iloilo and 1 each in Guimaras and Capiz.

The world watches, as the clean-up and recovery continue; the world waits, as rehabilitation gets underway. It is a job that is as enormous as the typhoon was catastrophic. But we shall overcome.

2. A Queen of Pork is crowned All hail the Pork Queen! Janet Lim-Napoles, perhaps unheard of in years past, suddenly became a household name; as popular as royalty, almost, having been dubbed the reigning Queen of Pork.

Napoles purportedly orchestrated the P10-billion money-making scam which diverted funds from the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) to phony non-government organizations. Several lawmakers were also allegedly involved in the scheme.

Citizens groaned under the

PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA

3 Manny Pacquiao defeats Brandon Rios and makes a much-anticipated comeback.

PHOTO BY CHRIS FARINA / FACEBOOK

weight of corruption; on the verge of heaving from nausea deeply-seated at the very core of their national being. The stage was set for something to explode: The people’s collective vomit borne of poisoning from contaminated pork. They took to the streets, in what was the first of several protest movements, on August 26 to decry the pork barrel and corruption in government.

Napoles, who had conveniently gone MIA, was ordered arrested without bail by the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 150, under charges of

serious detention on August 14.

A 10-Million peso reward was set by Malacañang Palace for information leading to the arrest. Barely four hours after the offer, Napoles surrendered to no less than the highest official of the land, “for fear of her life.”

The National Bureau of Investigation filed charges of graft, plunder, and malversation of funds before the Office of the Ombudsman against 38 public officials, including 3 senators: Juan Ponce Enrile, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, and Ramon PAGE 32 The Top 10

Happy New 2014!

29 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Rob Ford is Google Canada’s top trending search of 2013; twerking the top how to

9 tips to start 2014 on the right financial track!

BY LAUREN LA ROSE The Canadian Press

BY JOE TABLAN Special to Philippine Canadian Inquirer

TORONTO—After dissecting the more than 40 billion queries submitted throughout 2013, Google Canada has declared Toronto’s notorious Mayor Rob Ford as search term of the year.

While Facebook was the absolute top search of the year— as it has been for several years running—Ford topped Google’s so-called trending list, representing the search terms that stood out most compared to previous web history.

Ford was followed by the late Canadian “Glee” actor Cory Monteith, who died of an overdose in July; “Fast and the Furious” actor Paul Walker, who was killed in a car crash last month; murder victim Tim Bosma; and the Boston marathon.

Nelson Mandela, royal baby, North Korea, the Harlem Shake dance craze, and Lac-Megantic rounded out the Top 10 list.

“Clearly we were engaged in Toronto’s municipal politics,” said Google Canada spokesman Aaron Brindle of Ford’s search count.

“When we look at searches for Rob Ford we saw search activity spike back in the early spring and then again in November and this was national and in some ways international in scope.”

While Ford didn’t make Google’s Top 10 trending list in the U.S., he was an honorary mention.

Google compiled a list of the trending male politicians based on American web searches and Ford was sixth on the list, behind Nelson Mandela, Ted

Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford PHOTO BY CANADAPANDA / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Cruz, Barack Obama, Hugo Chavez and Rand Paul, but ahead of Kim Jong Un, John Kerry, John F. Kennedy and Joe Biden.

Other trending searches in 2013 for Canadian people included Chris Hadfield, Rehtaeh Parsons, Rita MacNeil, Jarome Iginla, Stompin’ Tom Connors, Alice Munro and Alan Thicke.

While Thicke generated the fewest headlines of the other Canadians on the list, his son Robin had a massive hit with “Blurred Lines” and he frequently found himself being asked about the tune’s risque video.

Robin Thicke was the top trending musician, ahead of Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Lorde, Lou Reed, Macklemore, Bruno Mars, Beyonce, Daft Punk and Eminem.

One of the most interesting annual lists Google releases is a countdown of trending “what is” searches, which reveals what

topics web searchers were keen to learn more about.

“What is twerking” topped the list, and the provocative dance was also the No. 1 “how to” search. Fracking was second on the “what is” list, followed by ricin, bbm, molly, bitcoin, Monsanto, Snapchat, EPO and DOMA. In federal politics, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau got the most searches, followed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Sen. Mike Duffy, Sen. Pamela Wallin and former astronaut turned MP Marc Garneau. NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair was tenth.

As much as Canadians couldn’t get enough of Ford’s antics, he still wasn’t the absolute most searched for person of the year.

“You can’t best the Biebs,” joked Brindle, referring to pop star Justin Bieber’s top ranking among people searched for in Canada in 2013.

HAPPY NEW year! For many of us, it signifies a fresh start while for others, it is a time to reflect on the past year. We are more optimistic and open to new possibilities and aspirations. While it is also a time for RRSP contribution limits and getting ready for the tax season, we must also ensure that we have a chance to realize those goals and possibilities we want to achieve. To do that, here are some tips to help you get started to achieving those goals for the upcoming year.

1. Set CLEAR goals. Paying down debt and saving for our children and retirement is great.

Unfortunately, it isn’t very clear.

Everyone wants to do this and it is ingrained in us to do it. Making them clear and specific makes the world of difference as well as making sure that every dollar you save has a specific purpose.

What type of debt? How much do I want to have in retirement and my kids? Where do I want to go for vacation and how much is it going to cost?

It is critical to not just set these goals, but also to write it down so you will increase your chances of achieving them. It not only clarifies what you must do financially to achieve these goals, but also the timeframe to realize them.

2. Create/review a financial plan. Having a plan in place is crucial to realizing your goals.

If you don’t have a map to get you where you want to go, you will eventually get lost. You may want to seek advice of a financial advisor on this one as

they have many tools to consider covering all aspects of a plan. From investment, insurance, goal setting, and review, they can help make a plan that caters to your needs and wants throughout your life. If not, as previously mentioned, write out a plan to establish your goals and how to get there for the upcoming year and make sure they are SMART. This means that it is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive.

3. Update your budget. Just like a business, create a budget for your year. First, list where all your income is coming from.

Next, make a list of all your FIXED expenses. This is basically expenses that you MUST pay monthly and is a fixed amount without fluctuation.

Rent, mortgage, car payments, etc. are great examples. Next, track your VARIABLE expenses. These are expenses that vary from month to month. Groceries, gifts, shopping are just a few examples. Lastly, find out if there is money left over. If not or not enough, assess what you can eliminate and then take action to plan out how the excess will be allocated.

4. Lessen your Debt. A great goal to have but more importantly, set a time frame to get this done. It may not be this year, but have a goal and making it a FIXED payment more than the minimum will get you there faster. You will be surprised how fast it can be done without even noticing it.

5. Review your insurance coverage (group benefits included). All too often, I see many people who don’t know PAGE 33 9 tips

7 mon to fri 10am-11am sat 11am-3pm sun 9-10am at am 147.0

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DECEMBER 31, 2013 30

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Happy New 2014!

31 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Pale pastels, bold graphics set to colour home decor and fashion in 2014

BY LAUREN LA ROSE The Canadian Press TORONTO—Whether you’re seeking to make a minor ripple or sizable splash in your home or wardrobe in 2014, prognosticators are hoping to help make the new year a stylish one with predictions of noteworthy new looks in decor and fashion.

Suzanne Dimma, editor-inchief of House and Home Magazine, Benjamin Moore colour expert Sharon Grech and Lisa Tant, vice-president, fashion editor at Holt Renfrew share their views on notable trends and suggestions on how to incorporate the changes within your interiors, apparel and accessories.

Home

1. Cool hues. Colour trendsetter Pantone opted for vibrant pop with the selection of Radiant Orchid—a purple hue infused with hot pink—as its colour of the year for 2014.

But the ultra-bold shade seems to be the exception rather than the rule with a sleek yet more subdued palette of colours emerging for home interiors.

Paint manufacturer Benjamin Moore selected Breath of Fresh Air—a pale, sky blue hue—as its colour of the year.

While there were several examples of deep blue, teal and purple featured in its 2014 Colour Trends Guide, the company’s standout hue for the new year was among a vast array of softer shades like Distant Gray, Peach Parfait and Lavender Mist.

Grech said the intention was to create a collection of colours which weren’t specific to one particular style as has been customary in the past.

“Even though it’s often the most economical part of your design project, it takes up a lot of space. And if you get that too strong, that’s what you’ll notice,” she said in reference to paint colour choice. “Even if you spend a ton of money on your new sofa or your Carrara marble countertop, if you get the paint colour wrong, it throws everything off.”

In the vein of paler hues, Dimma suggested opting for a soft grey which she described

as “a new neutral.”

“That’s a huge change from white, and that will imbue everything with so much warmth,” she said.

In its presentation of home, food and lifestyles trends for 2014—which were also featured in its January edition—House and Home Magazine pointed to painted-out trim as a top decorating trend. The publication suggested coating walls, baseboards, trim and crown moulding in the same shade, transforming the space by making “a room feel larger, giving it a sense of full saturation.”

But paint colour change shouldn’t be limited to the walls. Grech suggested infusing colour in unexpected places such as the stairs, bathtub or adding a few coats to refresh a new or preloved dresser.

“Sometimes you just need a little hit of it and I think furniture is great way to do that.”

But before cracking open that paint can, ensure that your colour of choice will work well within your space, Grech noted.

“Even if you see it in your neighbour’s house, you probably have different lighting and your context is different,” said Grech.

“People are always asking: ‘Are accent walls on trend?’ I think if you have open concept spaces they’re going to be, because it’s a great way to make one particular area to define that space with colour, make it feel like a different room even though it’s completely open to the rest of your house,” she added.

2. Pretty patterns. From the walls to tables to floors, there are no shortage of spaces to adorn with colourful prints.

House and Home spotlighted blue and white dishware, painted tiles, whimsical wall murals and geometric wallpaper and fabrics among its decorating do’s for 2014.

For those seeking to make a splash with a fresh print, Dimma suggested seeking out a Persian or Turkish rug.

“That’s an easy thing. Roll out a new rug and you’re going to get a whole new look.”

3. Classic and contemporary.

While rugs and wall coverings are decidedly more bold, there is a more minimalist approach

being seen in other core pieces for the coming year. Dimma highlighted 50s-inspired chairs as well as more contemporary sculptural lighting fixtures both of which conjure a modern vibe.

She isn’t surprised to see the gravitation towards retro-inspired ‘50s and ‘60 era furnishings.

“When you think about it, we always find through cycles in design that we look back and then we make it new again, and it’s probably just at that point in the cycle,” said Dimma.

She said many companies are re-releasing new versions of classic designs, and believes there is also a yearning among many for simplicity within the current ultra-connected environment.

4. The artisanal touch. You don’t need large-scale pieces to lend an ample dose of personality to your space with carefully crafted pieces such as a knitted wall hanging or tabletop pottery.

“Introduce a new lamp and you can completely change the look of your room,” said Dimma. “If you can change up the look of some of your smaller pieces on your table, maybe just do a series of bowls in (a) glazed finish. That’s a really simple thing to do, and pair it with your white dishes, for instance.”

Fashion

1. Twist on the classics.

Whether it’s a basic T or buttondown blouse, these style staples likely already have a home in many wardrobes. But for the coming year, expect to see classics making a comeback with a fresh take on several fashion essentials.

“There’s a really great trend of a new way to wear really good classic pieces,” said Tant.

“A crewneck tee is being worn with everything from suits to jeans. It’s kind of like that essential piece,” she added.

Tant said another prime example is the latest incarnation of crew neck-style sweatshirts showcasing bright, graphic patterns. There are also a variety of options for sporting a classic shirt.

“One of the ones that I really liked was the shirt being worn as a dress with ... a bright, colourful patterned crewneck on www.canadianinquirer.net

top,” said Tant.

2. Pale hues and bold blooms.

When it comes to injecting a little extra colour into the wardrobe, Tant suggested opting for a softer touch in the form of a pretty pastel.

“We saw pale pink, pale blue, mint green,” she said. “It sounds kind of girly and you might think that sounds too sweetie pie for a lot of women. But it’s being cut in really simple shapes like a pale blue trench coat or a pale pink motorcycle jacket, a mint green pencil skirt. It’s really kind of cool colours and classic pieces.”

For those keen to crank the colour or longing for a bolder statement in the form of pattern, blooms are back in a big way. Tant pointed to emergence of large, bright, bold florals and tropical patterns for the coming year.

3. Cool coats. Biker-inspired chic remains a perennial favourite albeit with a fresh twist for the new year, as Tant pointed to the emergence of cropped jackets in softer shades.

“You just can’t go wrong with a style like that, and I always say to everybody you shouldn’t buy something that you can only wear one way,” said Tant. “A pale pink motorcycle jacket you can

wear with jeans, you can wear with white trousers, you could wear with a dress. You can really wear it a lot of different ways, and that’s what I loved a lot about clothes for spring.”

4. Feeling fringe. Expect to see a little something extra in the form of embellishments on apparel and accessories for the new year. The fringe is flowing and in abundance as a stylish addition to many key pieces.

“A really big detail is fringe,” said Tant. “(On) bags where it’s swinging from the bottom, or it’s going back the down of dresses, almost like a horse’s mane.

“It’s swinging from top hemlines,”she added. “You’ve got a T-shirt with a great fringe on the bottom.”

5. In the bag. If you’re seeking to go more spare in your wardrobe additions, perhaps consider a tried and true accessory common for everyday use as a must-have: A leather tote.

But rather than brown or basic black, Tant recommended embracing a more unconventional hue for your tote of choice.

“How amazing would that be in pale blue? It would give your whole wardrobe an instant update.”

Happy New 2014!

DECEMBER 31, 2013 32

The Top Ten...

“Bong’ Revilla Jr. November 7 had the nation watching and listening intently, as Napoles appeared before the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, before which she repeatedly replied “Di ko po alam” (“I do not know”) and “I invoke my right against self-incrimination” to the senators’ questions.

This remains and unresolved issue to date, and is a case that not only holds weighty questions, but also—very possibly— weightier answers.

28

3. The “Comeback King” of Boxing Philippine boxing legend and former eight-title world champion Manny Pacquiao broke a two-in-a-row losing streak in 2012 when he defeated American Brandon Rios in a 12-round clash in Macau on November 24. He was proclaimed victor of the predominantly one-sided bout by unanimous decision.

Pacquaio made good on his vow to comeback from his disheartening defeats against American Timothy Bradley and Mexican rival Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.

The boxing champ lifted the spirits of a nation devastated by typhoon Yolanda, and returned to his hometown of General Santos City to a hero’s welcome after his victory.

On the heels of his victory, however, Pacquiao faced yet another opponent in the form of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

The government agency froze all his bank accounts and threatened to slap Pacquiao with a $50 million bill for unpaid back taxes in 2008 and 2009, and said that it may otherwise seize his assets.

According to the boxer, appropriate taxes were paid in the United States, where the money was earned.

Despite these difficulties, Pacquiao set out on the trip to the Visayas to distribute relief goods, Bibles, and cash to victims of Yolanda.

4. The day history came tumbling down The beautiful, bountiful province of Bohol was rocked by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake in the early morning hours of October 15. The quake originated in the town of Carnen, and was felt throughout the country’s Visayas region, with the heaviest damage suffered

by Bohol and Cebu.

According to quake and volcano experts, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Philvolcs), the shaker is one of the deadliest in Philippine history; killing hundreds, displacing thousands more, destroying homes and infrastructure, and causing centuries-old churches and heritage sites to come tumbling down.

Amidst the ruin and rubble came the outpouring of aid, from local and international sources alike to help rebuild structures and lives.

The churches and heritage sites, however, remain ruined; too costly to rebuild.

5. SEXtra! SEXtra! Read all about it!

In August of 2013, a leaked sex video of Parokya ni Edgar lead singer Chito Miranda and his girlfriend, actress Neri Naig, made a big online debut after the singer’s hard drive (on which the video was saved) was stolen from his house.

The steamy video—which had been unscrupulously uploaded to several sites and blogs—was taken down shortly thereafter under threat of legal action, but the story remained one of the hottest topics online.

A second sex video involving the lovebirds surfaced some time after that, even as Miranda announced that he was marrying Naig.

On the bare-naked rear of the Miranda-Naig scandal was the notorious sex tape involving popular noontime variety show “Eat Bulaga” comedian Wally Bayola and the show’s dancer Yosh. The video spread like wildfire on the internet, going viral in a matter of hours; to the upset of religious leaders and Wally’s management, but to the delight of voyeurs the nation over.

Bayola is married with five children.

6. A deadly Moro-Moro On September 9, fighters, belonging to a breakaway faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) led by its founding chairman Nur Misuari besieged Zamboanga on Sept 9, taking around 200 people from various areas hostage in the process.

The city came to a standstill as fighting raged on, urging the United Nations to declare a “humanitarian crisis.”

Two-hundred nineteen people were killed and 181 others were wounded in what became a threeweek standoff between rebel soldiers and government forces.

There was significant impact on the city’s infrastructure, with over 10,000 homes destroyed and 100,000 displaced by the firefight.

Buildings and establishments likewise suffered heavy damage.

After the conflict came to resolution, the Manila-based Magdalo group—military coup d’état plotters, now party-list lawmakers—claimed that P40 million was spent to finance the armed conflict launched by the group of Moro National Liberation Front fighters in Zamboanga to divert attention from the pork-barrel scam.

7. Philippines is the new Atlantis In August of 2013, the torrential downpour brought about by the habagat (southwest monsoon) and Typhoon Maring caused a flooding of Biblical proportions.

The “Biblical Baha (flood).” Only the Lord was not so much to blame as are poor urban planning, terrible road conditions, obscene amounts of ill-disposed garbage, clogged drainage systems and sewers, deforestation, global warming, and the corruption of more than a handful.

Pilipinas seemed the new Atlantis, sinking under tons of water, literally. Figuratively, sinking under the weight of greedy hearts, and pockets full-to-thebrim with ill-gotten wealth.

Floods reached record-breaking levels, rendering most of Manila impassable, submerged under leptospirosis-riddled waters, and once more testing the nettle of the Filipino spirit.

8. Wisely runs for office— again.

“Vote wisely” was one catchphrase this year, as it is every election year. Election fever spread throughout the islands, as Filipinos geared up in May to vote officials into the Senate, and in October for the barangay (village) positions.

As with elections past, 2013 was not without its share of election-related violence, mudslinging between candidates, vote buying, and reported election fraud.

Highlights of the Senatorial elections include the word-war between Koko Pimentel and rival Miguel Zubiri; the personal relationship issues of Francis www.canadianinquirer.net

5 Chito Miranda and girlfriend Neri Naig’s sex tape scandal heated up the internet; twice.

PHOTO FROM INSTAGRAM

6 Soldiers fight on the streets of Zamboanga City during a three-week stand-off with rebel forces.

PHOTO BY KARLOS MANLUPIG

7 Residents are evacuated from severely inundated areas of Makati City in 2013’s record flooding.

PHOTO BY MARICAR DUARTE-MARTINEZ

“Chiz” Escudero and actressgirlfriend, Heart Evangelista; and the dislodging of the seat of longtime senator, Loren Legarda by newbie Grace Poe. Barangay elections, on the other hand, captured media attention due to election-related violence.

9. A bevy of beauties 2013 was witness to a bevy of beauteous Pinays who garnered places of prestige: Megan Young, who bagged the Miss World title (a first in the history of beauty titles won by a Filipina); Mutya Johanna Datul bested 82 contestant to claim the title of Miss Supranational (one of the newer pageants on the beauty scene); and Ariella Arida, who placed fourth in the Miss Universe 2013 tilt.

10. Heated disputes over disputed waters Beijing lashed out at Manila in July, accusing the Philippines of departing from the

guidelines for discipline agreed upon by the two countries in the issue of territorial sea disputes, and of instigating tensions in the disputed waters.

The accusations came in the midst of the arbitration bid set by the Philippines before the United Nations; a process which has been taken up before the arbitrary body.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying issued a strong statement, giving the Philippines a harsh dressing-down for the country’s “indifference” to China’s position and cast blame on Manila for discrediting Beijing in the eyes of the international community.

Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson, Raul Hernandez, in turn, defended the Philippines’ decision to bring the matter up for arbitration by the UN, in order to put a stop to Chinese intrusion into its maritime zones within the disputed water territories.

Happy New 2014!

33 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Firecracker, stray...

A total of 82 injuries were caused by the piccolo, a banned firecracker, the DOH said.

Two cases required amputation: a 14-year-old boy in Cebu who lost his right hand to a “Super Yolanda” firecracker and a 5-year-old boy in Iloilo City whose right index finger was amputated after an explosion from a camara (small dynamite).

There was one new reported case of stray bullet injury, bringing the total to five.

8

Hit at home

The DOH said a 23-year-old man from Marikina City was hit by a stray bullet in his left flank while watching a fireworks display outside his house. He was admitted to the Amang Rodriguez Medical Center.

The DOH data came from 50 public and private hospitals around the country.

And, despite a crackdown on the piccolo, it is once again the leading cause of firecrackerrelated injuries, especially among children.

Health Secretary Enrique Ona said that

9 tips... more than half of the firecracker injuries reported less than a week before New Year’s were caused by the piccolo.

Parental guidance

He lamented the proliferation of the piccolo in the market despite its being illegal.

But instead of blaming the police, Ona urged parents to look after their children to ensure that they would not have access to firecrackers.

“Children should not be allowed to handle fireworks. We can prevent injuries,” he said.

Ona urged the public to report to the police those selling illegal firecrackers.

The DOH also reported more stray bullet injuries at this time compared to last year.

“To us, this is worrisome because stray bullet injuries are rising,” said Ona. He appealed to gun owners to refrain from firing their guns during the New Year revelry.

With a report from Tina G. Santos in Manila and Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas

how their insurance and/or group benefits work. If something goes wrong, what can you expect? You work hard to create wealth, it is important to make sure you are protecting it. Make sure you are reviewing your coverage with your advisor yearly. Ensure your beneficiaries, wills, trusts, and policies are up to date.

6. Diversify your assets. We have all heard the quote, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

Be sure you are well diversified so that if some of your investments suffer hard times, there are others that are in safer portfolios to get you through those times. But no matter what, start investing!

7. Differentiate savings from investing. Let’s be clear on this.

Savings are monies you want to use for the short term to purchase something you want to get. It can be a vacation, car, or house. There is a short timeline for these funds. Establishing an emergency fund is a savings strategy. Investing is a long term strategy. Retirement is a primary use of these funds.

The reason you want to separate these is because they will be put into accounts that grow your money in different ways.

You don’t want your short term

monies going into risky portfolios for obvious reasons.

Knowing and understanding this will help i n allocating y o u r f u n d s a certain way.

8. Tax shelters. Working with an accountant and a financial advisor is a great way to ensure your investments are being taxed efficiently. It is one thing to get great returns; it is another thing to pay a lot of tax on them, taking away some of that return. Tax shelters are great because they will help defer or even eliminate the taxes on your investments. Something to think about.

9. Know your credit score.

Knowing your BEACON score is another critical component of a financial plan. The big reason is if you are looking to make a major purchase like a home, investment property, or leverage in any way, you will need

to borrow money.

It is also needed for refinancing your home or getting better rates. The amount you need or want depends on this score.

10. Educate yourself. The best way to get yourself ahead is to learn what your money is doing. By learning more about your finances, you will be more motivated and confident where your money is going and what it is used for.

There are many other ways to get on track and can get complicated. These are probably the most important to get you going on the right path toward financial success and freedom.

Happy 2014!

five degree temperature differential to work.

The big win and the interest it has drawn means Makosinski now has to plot her time very carefully to make sure she meets all her commitments.

“I know I only have a certain amount every night and I try to get enough sleep. It doesn’t happen all the time, but I’m trying,” she said with a laugh, explaining that she charts out her time hour-by-hour in a little notebook every afternoon.

The B.C. teen’s public profile continues to grow as well.

She spoke at two TedX conferences after the Google Science Fair, and will be on a panel of judges selecting finalists for Google’s Canadian doodle contest next year. She’s also been asked to make speeches locally about her winning project.

“I was never asked to speak at anything before the Google science fair so it’s definitely

been quite a change,” she said.

“Knowing that people took the time out of their day to listen to what you have to say is just great.”

Makosinski credits her interest in science to her obsession with bugs as a very young child.

That gave way to a habit of gathering garbage from around the house, gluing them together and creating “inventions.”

“This idea of creating things was always there,” she said.

“I’ve always been very curious, I’ve always asked about things, like why does this happen, how does this work?”

That curiosity led her to become a science fair regular, participating in them since she was in Grade 6.

“You can expand and study whatever you want to study in science fair,” said the teen who is now in Grade 11. “Science fair has been kind of a way for me to express my curiosity and hope-

fully helping people out on the way.”

Makosinski points out, however, that winning at science fairs does not mean she is a science whiz.

“I still have the same difficulties that everyone else does,” she said. “With science fair students, people think ‘oh they’re so smart,’ but in reality we’re just really interested and we take initiative with our interests.”

While Makosinski knows she wants to study something science-related at university, for now she’s happy to keep perfecting her inventive flashlight in the hopes that it’s getting others to think of ways to harvest energy from the human body.

“I’m just very glad I’ve been able to inspire a few people,” she said. “I think that’s what really changed my life, now I’m more conscious of my actions and how I spend my time.”

29

BC teen...

Makosinski beat out thousands of young scientists at Google’s international competition earlier this year by inventing a flashlight powered by body heat.

Since then, the Victoria resident has been trying to improve her design while conducting discussions with corporations who have reached out to her.

Makosinski is also trying to start a non-profit company around her flashlight and is attempting to get a patent for her design as well—all efforts which seem pricey and time consuming, but the teen is determined to make sure her invention is available to those who need it.

“This is all from my own pocket, no one’s been paying me to make more of the flashlights or do anything like that,” she explains.

“I would like to keep the rights to my flashlight as I 1

would wish to also distribute it, perhaps for free in emergency kits or to people in Third World countries, which is what I had originally designed my flashlight for.”

Makosinski was inspired to make the flashlight after learning that a friend in the Philippines failed a grade because she didn’t have any electricity to power the lights that would have enabled her to study at night.

“I know lots of people have this problem,” she said. “I wanted something that could help them out and that was always constant, always there.”

The device she calls the “Hollow Flashlight” is made up of special tiles that generate electricity if they are heated from one side—by the palm of the hand—and cooled from the other, by air flowing through a hollow aluminum tube that runs through the centre of the device. The flashlight needs a

www.canadianinquirer.net

DECEMBER 31, 2013

34

Entertainment Jason Francisco and Melai Cantiveros. Married.

PHOTO FROM ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

Megan Young PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF MEGAN YOUNG

A rundown of the juiciest entertainment news of 2013

BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer JUST LIKE stories in films and television, real lives of local and international celebrities are filled with twists and turns; unsurprisingly, these interesting aspects of their lives were the overpowering elements in the top entertainment news in 2013.

Scandals, deaths, breakups, marriages, winning beauties and even advocacies.

These were the stories that invaded the headlines of the entertainment columns of local and international newspapers and websites in the year that is about to close.

And because people always crave for juicy tidbits from their favorite stars, these stories easily became trending topics on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other networking sites, making the news and personalities even more popular.

Scandals

Just when we thought celebrities have already learned their lessons from Hayden Kho’s sex video scandals which revoked the latter’s medical license and placed the ladies involved in very uncomfortable life-situations, we found out that those warnings signs (and bells and

whistles), were, well, still not enough.

Parokya ni Edgar frontman Chito Miranda and his starletgirlfriend Neri Naig’s lives were rocked upon learning that their 7:17-minute intimate video made its debut on YouTube in September.

The video showed the couple making love through different sexual positions. Though the original video was removed immediately, it had already been reposted on various networking sites enabling it to reach a wider audience.

Through his Instagram account, the 37-year-old Miranda apologized to their families, friends and fans about the unfortunate incident.

Despite the deep scandal he and his girlfriend are facing, Chito chose to show the public that their relationship has become even stronger by posting his photo along with the 27-yearold Naig on a beach, with a caption “Di n’yo kami matitinag.”

(You can’t bring us down!)

The second video of the two resurfaced barely a month after the first came out. Miranda also announced that he will marry Naig soon.

If Miranda and Naig faced the scandal together, Wally Bayola and dancer Yosh had chosen to keep mum about their alleged scandal. Netizens were shocked

upon knowing that the comedian-host and noontime show dancer also have a sex video.

While having a sex video released online is already a complicated matter, it has been more complicated because Bayola is married and has five kids. Since the release of the video sometime in September, the two had stopped hosting the noontime show “Eat Bulaga.”

Deaths

The entertainment industry also mourned in 2013 with the untimely deaths of some of the Hollywood and Manila’s respected movie and TV personalities.

The Fast and the Furious star Paul Walker died in a tragic car accident in November. Because of his advocacy to raise funds for the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan), Filipinos showed greater love and appreciation to the late actor.

Glee’s lead actor Cory Monteith also died in 2013 at the age of 31because of alleged overuse of heroin and alcohol.

After battling breast cancer for years, June Keithley-Castro, the voice of Radyo Bandido during the 1986 EDSA Revolution rested in peace on November 24 at 66 years old.

Breakups and Separations

In 2013, many celebrities had chosen to call it quits for vari-

ous or unknown reasons.

On October 24, news had it that Luis Manzano and Jennylyn Mercado, after being together for almost two years, decided to end their relationship due to unknown reasons. Luis, however clarified that there’s no third party involved and it was a mutual decision.

Manzano’s ex-girlifriend Angel Locsin and her former beau Azkals player Phil Younghusband also joined the splitters club. The news was confirmed

by Locsin via her Twitter account on Oct. 25. Younghusband, meanwhile cleared that he is not dating KC Concepcion just like what was previously reported on some news websites.

There appears to be no bad blood between the two as they continue to say good things about each other. Angel even said that she’s grateful to have been in the relationship as she learned a lot from it. Their romance started when Younghusband asked Locsin to go on a Valentine’s date via Twitter.

If the first two breakups rooted from a mutual decision, Billy Crawford and Nikki Gil’s wasn’t.

When Crawford first commented on the issue on September 9, he was in tears, saying that he was confused and that he needed space and time. He went to the U.S. and stayed there for less than two weeks and when he came back, everything seemed to be back to normal again.

Gil, meanwhile, managed to get herself together after news broke out that she became so emotional after the breakup.

Though she admitted that she’s not ready to be friends with her ex-boyfriend again, she cleared that she can be civil with him.

Right now, the two are busy with their respective careers; Crawford, hosting “It’s Showtime and Gil, playing a villain role on “Maria Mercedes.”

Derek Ramsay and Cristine Reyes’ one-month romance ended on October 1; the two explained that they had chosen to remain friends.

Comedienne Ai-Ai Delas Alas’ supposed fairytale love story ended with a nightmare as barely one month after be-

ing married to businessman Jed Salang, she blurted out on national television that her husband was abusing her physically and emotionally.

Couple Cesar Montano and Sunshine Cruz’ love story started to make the headlines in January when the latter left the former due to an alleged affair with starlet Krista Miller.

In August, the rift between the two was aggravated when Cruz filed several cases against Montano, one of which was sexual abuse.

The separation of couple Raymart Santiago and Claudine Barretto has turned into a legal battle. The latest updates were Claudine accusing Raymart of sexual abuse, and Raymart accusing Claudine of drug abuse.

The separation also divided the Barretto family, with the patriarch defending Claudine.

Gretchen Barretto was reported to be testifying against Claudine.

International celebrities who also decided to end their respective relationships in 2013 included Madonna, and Brahim Zaibat; Tom Welling and Jamie White Welling; and Richard Gere and Carey Lowell, among others.

Marriages

On Nov. 22, Freddie Aguilar’s love story with his 16-year-old girlfriend, though highly tested, ended with a Muslim rights wedding. Some criticized the decision of Aguilar, saying that he is ruining the life of an innocent girl.

Some even tried to file a case against him, but this didn’t stop the veteran singer from pursuing what he called as ‘pure intentions’ to his now wife.

Just like Aguilar’s love story, Jason Francisco and Melai Cantivero’s own romance also led to a union of hearts on Dec. 16. Shortly after admitting that she’s pregnant, Melai, along with Jason announced that they’re tying the knot soon.

Some showbiz friends of Melai expressed their worries about the new life that she will enter, but it still turned out that all’s well that ended well.

PAGE 38 A rundown

Entertainment

35 DECEMBER 31, 2013

Oscar watch: Will Vallee and Villeneuve films get Academy Awards nods?

BY VICTORIA AHEARN The Canadian Press TORONTO—The Academy Awards nominations are due out Jan. 16 and the names of two Quebec directors are emerging as strong contenders.

Jean-Marc Vallee and Denis Villeneuve both had cross-border cinematic success in 2013, with 'Dallas Buyers Club” and ”Prisoners” respectively, and it seems likely their projects will get some attention from Oscar.

Here's a look at their careers, their prospects for the golden statuette, as well as a list of other Canadians whose names could be called by the Academy: Vallee and the true-life story of “Dallas Buyers Club”: Vallee: Born in Montreal.

His previous heralded projects include the family drama “C.R.A.Z.Y.”, the Oscar-winning royal portrait “The Young Victoria,” and the love story “Cafe de Flore.”

“Dallas Buyers Club”: Matthew McConaughey surrendered himself to the role of Ron Woodroof, a Dallas rodeo cowboy who embarked on a medicine-smuggling mission after finding out he'd contracted HIV in the mid-'80s. Like McConaughey, who lost an extreme amount of weight for the role, Jared Leto also transformed himself to play a transgender HIV-positive patient.

Jennifer Garner co-stars as a doctor and Steve Zahn plays Ron's brother in the film that's written by Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack.

Praise for the film: “Dallas Buyers Club” is on the short list in the makeup and hairstyling category for the Oscars. Meanwhile, the Toronto Film Critics Association recently gave Leto and Garner supporting actor nods for their parts, and both Leto and McConaughey are up for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. The whole cast is also nominated for a SAG trophy. “I don't think there's any more powerfully emotional film this year than what he's done in 'Dallas Buyers Club,”' says Cameron Bailey, artistic director of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Jean-Marc Vallee's "Dallas Buyers Club" Denis Villeneuve's "Prisoners"

Oscar predictions: Vallee made the film for just $4 million. He got around the low budget by coming up with “really smart” technical ways of shooting, says Bailey noting they used natural light ”and the kind of cameras that would allow natural light to register well onscreen.” Still, Bailey feels “acting is going to be one of the key areas for this film” in the Oscar race. “The performances, obviously especially from Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, are phenomenal. They are so thoroughly transformed in these movies.... It's the kind of performance that I think the Academy often recognizes.”

Villeneuve and the haunting kidnapping thriller “Prisoners”: Villeneuve: The Gentilly, Que., native's 2010 Middle East family saga ”Incendies” was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign language film. His other lauded credits include the surreal 2000 drama “Maelstrom” and his haunting 2009 portrait of the Montreal massacre in “Polytechnique.”

“Prisoners”: In the dark thriller written by Aaron Guzikowski, Jake Gyllenhaal plays an unflappable cop prob-

ing the disappearance of two little girls in Pennsylvania. Hugh Jackman is fierce as the untamable father of one of the girls while Maria Bello deftly plays his depressed wife. Other stars include Viola Davis and Terrence Howard as the parents of the other child, Paul Dano as a seemingly simple-minded suspect and Melissa Leo as his protective mother.

Praise for the film: “Prisoners” was the second runner-up for the audience award at September's Toronto film fest. It also won a best ensemble award from the National Board of Review and a supporting acting trophy for Gyllenhaal at the Hollywood Film Festival. It's Villeneuve's first big-budget U.S.-backed feature (it cost about $46 million) and it proves he's “equal to some of the best Hollywood directors,” says Bailey. “When I saw 'Prisoners,' I came out of the screening last summer thinking, 'This is easily as good as anything else I've seen from David Fincher.”

Oscar predictions: Niv Fichman, who produced Villeneuve's other recent film “Enemy,” says he thinks there's “no doubt” “Prisoners” will get a best picture Oscar nomination. ”I think that the performances www.canadianinquirer.net

in that film are extraordinary, so to me there's no doubt that they should get a bunch of performance nominations. And the film is extraordinary on so many levels. The screenplay is incredible, it could get nominated for that and for some of the technical awards as well.”

Bailey says he thinks the film could get Oscar nominations including best direction: ”Roger Deakins shot 'Prisoners,' he is an extraordinary cinematographer; he's been recognized by the Academy before. I think 'Prisoners' looks amazing, and that's another possible prospect. I would hope that some of the acting cast gets nominated as well.”

Other Canadians who could get Oscar nominations: Toronto's Sarah Polley for her deeply personal documentary “Stories We Tell”: The intimate family tale from the actress-turned-director—who was nominated for an Oscar for writing her 2006 drama ”Away From Her”—has been a critical darling for its unique storytelling style. Already deemed best non-fiction film by the New York Film Critics Circle and best documentary by the National Board of Review, it's now on the short list for a best docu-

mentary Oscar nomination. “I think it's a leading contender for the documentary Oscar,” says Bailey.

Chris Landreth for “Subconscious Password”: Landreth won an Oscar for his 2004 animated short “Ryan.” With the 11-minute 3-D “Subconscious Password,” he directed a journey through the mind as it goes searching for information. “Subconscious Password” is on the short list for an Oscar nomination and seems to stand a good chance at making the final cut. “This film is beautifully directed and (as) smartly designed as 'Ryan,”' says TIFF senior programmer Steve Gravestock. ”He's a great technician and he's very inventive.”

Several other Canadianbased filmmakers are on the short list for a best animated short Oscar nomination: “Gloria Victoria,” by Montrealbased director Theodore Ushev; “Requiem for Romance” by Toronto-born, Montreal-based filmmaker Jonathan Ng and Vancouver-based Irish animator Eoin Duffy for “The Missing Scarf.” The National Film Board of Canada is listed as a co-producer on “Hollow Land.”

With files from Canadian Press reporter Cassandra Szklarski

Entertainment

DECEMBER 31, 2013 36

‘12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Mud’ top The Associated Press’ top 10 movies of the year

BY JAKE COYLE The Associated Press IN SURVEYING the year at the movies, the topography is rich.

From the dusty, dying towns of “Nebraska” to the rooftop Roman parties in “The Great Beauty” to the sleek future Los Angeles of “Her,” 2013 has been a trip. But has it been a great year? Negativity reached a fever pitch in the summer when Steven Spielberg lamented Hollywood’s risk-adverse, finance-driven blockbusterism.

The grim, humourless “Man of Steel” and its careless backdrop of mass destruction was a low point: the epitome of everything bad about movies today.

Yet ambitious films gathered in number as the year went on, and many began calling 2013 a historically excellent year for film, after all. Here are one critic’s top picks of the year, all of them reasons why 2013 was a good year for the big screen: 1. 12 Years a Slave— Steve McQueen’s masterful adaptation of Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir is simply a powerhouse. McQueen, I suspect, will never make a comedy; his three movies (“Shame,” “Hunger”) reveal him a harsh storyteller, drawn down dark rabbit holes. But his lack of sentimentality gives “12 Years a Slave” its clarity: a long overdue correction to cinema’s reluctant treatment of slavery. As Northup, Chiwetel Ejiofor’s soulful eyes carry us through a nightmare odyssey of America’s past.

2. Mud—From the plantations of mid-19th century Louisiana, we travel up river to contemporary Arkansas in Jeff Nichols’ Twain-esque tale of boyhood on the Mississippi. With the wise-beyondhis-years Tye Sheridan as the 14-year-old Ellis, “Mud” is a full-hearted American fable.

3. Frances Ha—Full disclosure: I’m in love with Greta Gerwig. That bias notwithstanding, Noah Baumbach’s lat-

est— co-written by and starring Gerwig—is a lovely ode to its title character (who has much in common with Gerwig, herself ). Frances is an idiosyncratic 27-year-old finding her place in New York; where the “Ha” comes from is answered in the film’s sweet final moment.

4. Inside Llewyn Davis— Like Frances, Llewyn is a striving Manhattanite without an apartment or a steady job. But he’s much angrier about it. The Coen brothers’ melancholy story of a bitter, unfortunate folk singer is a wry commentary on the cruelness of fate, and melody born out of disharmony.

5. The Hunt—In the most haunting film of the year, the weak binds of a seemingly close-knit Danish community disintegrate when a kindergarten teacher (Mads Mikkelsen) is unjustly accused of sexually assaulting a child.

6. The Great Beauty—Fellini looms large in Paolo Sor-

rentino’s portrait of Rome in decadent decay. Sorrentino is an exquisite stylist (the opening minutes of his “Il Divo” are pure, blistering cinema), and “The Great Beauty” is manic and overstuffed. But it’s bursting with life. (Literally. It’s got a giraffe.)

7. Gravity—So simple you could make the case that Alfonso Cuaron’s 3-D spectacle is a bit banal. But, man, is it something to look at. The mov-

ie won’t be remembered for its thin story, but at a time when television’s rise is much discussed, “Gravity” reinvigorated the big screen experience.

8. Blue Is the Warmest Color—Several films this year were fascinating snapshots of lives in motion. The powerful, simply told Bill Moyers’ documentary “Two American Families” kept up with two struggling middle-class families for 20 years. And Richard Linklater has covered two decades in the lives of a Paris woman (Julie Delpy) and American writer (Ethan Hawke) in his day-in-a-life series, culminating in “Before Midnight.” But Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or-winner (also called “The Life of Adele: Chapters 1&2”) is the most memorable for its extreme closeness in portraying a teenager’s awakening to herself and the world. Adele Exarchopoulus’ performance is staggeringly open. The irony is that the infamous sex scenes in this flawed but arresting coming-of-age tale are easily the most artificial parts in it.

9. This Is the End— The jokes just come and come. Nobody had a better time making a movie this year than Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and it’s written all over their self-parodying apocalypse comedy.

10. The Spectacular Now” and “Short Term 12—Movies that honestly represent teenage life are seldom, but both of these films magically move from familiar plot lines to somewhere honest. The high-school comedy of “The Spectacular Now,” starring Miles Teller, smacks up against hard realities. “Short Term 12,” starring Brie Larson, tenderly depicts a foster-care facility and its young supervisors without resorting to cliches.

Also: “Her,” “Nebraska,” “Rush,” “A Band Called Death,” “Elysium,” “Fruitvale Station,” “Captain Phillips,” “Upstream Color,” “Enough Said,” “Blue Jasmine” www.canadianinquirer.net

1.3 million... says those payments have kept 11.4 million people out of poverty and benefited almost 17 million children. The cost of them since 2008 has totalled $225 billion.

At the depth of the recession, laid off workers could qualify for up to 99 weeks of benefits, including the initial 26 weeks provided by states. The most recent extension allowed a total of up to 73 weeks, depending on the state.

Restoring up to 47 extra weeks of benefits through 2014 would cost $19 billion, according to the Congressional Budget office.

House Democrats led by Reps. Sander Levin of Michigan and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland sought to include an extension through March by offsetting the costs with potential farm bill savings. They were rebuffed.

Senate Democrats and some Republicans plan another push in 2014. Sens. Jack Reed, DR.I., and Dean Heller, R-Nev., have introduced a bill offering a similar three-month extension, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has promised to bring it up. But as with much in Congress, an extension is no sure thing.

In phone calls on Friday, Obama told Reed and Heller he was glad they were working together to address the problem.

“It defies economic sense, precedent and our values,” Obama economic adviser Gene Sperling said in a statement.

House Speaker John Boehner spoke with Obama about an extension earlier this month.

Boehner and said his caucus would consider the possibility “as long as it’s paid for and as long as there are other efforts that will help get our economy moving once again.” He said White House has yet to introduce a plan that meets his standards.

For other Republicans, the bar is higher. Many of them look at signs of economic growth and an unemployment rate now down to 7 per cent and expected to drop further as evidence the additional weeks of benefits are no longer necessary.

The effect of jobless benefits on the unemployment rates has been fiercely debated for decades. To qualify, people have to be seeking work. Tea partiers 21

such as Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky argue that the payments aggravate rather than relieve unemployment.

The benefits allow some jobseekers to hold out for higher wages. Without the benefits, they might accept lower-paying jobs, reducing the unemployment rate. Others may be looking for work only to keep the benefits flowing and will drop out of the job market entirely once the checks stop. In theory, that also would push the unemployment rate lower.

The flip side is that the benefits—in addition to alleviating suffering—get spent on consumer goods, stimulating the economy and creating jobs.

Extended unemployment insurance “is really a lifeline to help pay the bills, put food on the table, and put gas in the tank so people can look for work,” argued Maurice Emsellem, policy co-director at the left-leaning National Employment Law Project.

Michael Feroli, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase, said ending the extended benefits will lower the unemployment rate by half a percentage point as the long-term unemployed leave the labour force. While that statistical change may look good on the surface, Feroli cautioned the drop could be accompanied by a similar decrease in consumer spending. That would also hurt clothing retailers, car dealers and other Main Street businesses.

Extending the program, on the other hand, would boost GDP growth by some 0.2 per cent and increase full-time employment by 200,000 next year, the Congressional Budget Office estimated, but at the price of increasing the government’s debt.

Advocates of extended benefits say communities hardest hit by the recession will feel the sudden loss of cash in circulation the most.

They cite a set of their own troublesome figures: three jobseekers still competing for each opening; some 4 million people in the ranks of long-term unemployed; unemployment lasting on average 37 weeks, two months longer than most states provide insurance.

Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Honolulu contributed to this report

DECEMBER 31, 2013

37

Lifestyle

Our biggest losers of 2013 They had different methods—with similar drive

BY ANNE A. JAMBORA Philippine Daily Inquirer LOSING WEIGHT is perhaps one of the most difficult personal goals to achieve for most people. The long days and nights of deprivation are enough to drive anyone crawling helplessly back to the fridge. Because no matter the marketing campaigns of diets that are supposed to make you feel full the entire day, the truth is you will feel devastatingly famished, deprived and eventually cranky.

The hardest part is keeping the excess weight off.

For now we salute these five people who have already achieved so much.

Andres “Andy” Vazquez-Prada

Jackie Aquino

Andres “Andy” Vazquez-Prada

The 6-ft-tall creative director of W17 Home dropped 130 pounds in six months on the controversial Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG). From 314 lbs, he’s down to a trim 180.

The hCG, taken in shots or pills, reportedly regulates the metabolism through the hypothalamus gland. Granting that it does regulate the metabolism, the real deal here is that the hCG dieter is restricted to 500 calories a day. A fruit for breakfast, 100 g of fish or meat for lunch, and 100 g of veggies for dinner.

Today, Vazquez-Prada has adjusted to the diet, eating healthy and keeping to small portions prescribed by the diet.

Geoff Eigenmann

Precious Lara Quigaman

he’s lost 136 lbs. It was a weight loss that exceeded his expectations, he said.

This December, as he is officially off Cohen, Aquino’s resolve to keep the weight off will be put to the test. “My battle plan is simple. Eat smart and stay away from food groups that will make me gain weight.

At this point in the diet, common sense with a good amount of exercise will keep me healthier and happier.”

Jackie Aquino

A year ago, director Jackie Aquino weighed 338 lbs. While his best friend, fashion designer Randy Ortiz, never gave up booking appointments for him at the Cohen Lifestyle Center despite his consistent no-show, it was not until he felt a tightening in his chest that he gave it a serious thought.

After 11 months on Cohen,

Precious Lara Quigaman

When 2005 Miss International Precious Lara Quigaman was pregnant with her first child last year, the svelte 5’6” beauty queen ballooned to over 160 lbs.

A month after giving birth, she ventured out to buy clothes.

A saleslady mistakenly thought she was still on the family way

and asked her about the due date. That fateful encounter became her wake-up call.

Modifying her diet and going through the plateau stage only frustrated her, so she turned to Marie France for solutions.

Four months after doing the Fat Mobilization System and TriPolar and Endermologie, she shed up to 25 kilos.

Geoff Eigenmann

Now here’s a guy who lost weight the “traditional” way— by combining exercise with a low-calorie diet. Actor Geoff Eigenmann looked so heavy at 5 ft 8, 240 lbs that GMA 7 management put him under suspension last May. Eigenmann took up Mixed Martial Arts under trainer Mark Ochoa at the Ultimate Fitness gym, joining classes up to five times a day and burning

Eugene Domingo

as many as 2,500 calories a day.

He cut down on his food, skipping breakfast or eating an apple before workout, eating taco for lunch and fruits for dinner.

In four months the actor lost 40 lbs, and he’s been getting offers to star in a TV series again.

Eugene Domingo

Three years ago, the petite comedienne Eugene Domingo was seen on the big screen in all her 140-lb glory. After opting for healthier greens and fish instead of red meat and fried fastfood, and hiring a personal di-

etitian, the actress now weighs 112 lbs.

Save for an occasional slice of lamb, Domingo has all but eliminated red meat from her diet.

Her decision to lose weight began after the success of the first installment of the film “Kimmy Dora.” The actress said she found it increasingly hard to keep up with the irregular shooting schedules that she was often out of breath after each take. It was the combination of sensible exercise and diet, and lots of patience, that took her to her target weight.

DECEMBER 31, 2013 38

Artists without borders: Global nature of filmmaking puts strain on industry specialists

BY RYAN NAKASHIMA AND NICK PERRY The Associated Press LOS ANGELES—Even as new filmmaking centres help spread Hollywood’s wealth around the world, the boost to local economies comes at a personal cost to the specialists who must follow the work.

As movie production migrates from place to place, friendships get left behind and raising a family can be difficult.

But the life can be exciting for a highly skilled class of adventurers—those not averse to expenses-paid hotel rooms, restaurants and living abroad. Just ask Hiroshi Mori, a 49-year-old pre-visualization artist whose digital scene-setting work has been used in movies such as “The Avengers” and “Men in Black: 3.” In the last several years, the Hawaii native has worked in Sydney, New York and Albuquerque, N.M., not to mention Los Angeles, home of the company he co-owns, The Third Floor.

“If you’re single, it can be a great lifestyle. You’re put up in a hotel. Production pays for it. It’s fun, it’s great,” he says.

“Some people love to travel and some people don’t because of very practical reasons. But that

is the reality of the business now.”

Still, the inherent uncertainty of filmmaking is compounded by globe-spanning moves every few months or years.

“One day, you might be told to travel to London or Hawaii or somewhere, and all of a sudden, a week later, everything has changed,” says Raffael Dickreuter, a 32-year-old freelance pre-visualization artist who was born in Switzerland but lives in West Hollywood, Calif.

“You cannot believe anything until it happens.”

The blog VFX Soldier has become a conduit for film workers frustrations about the chaos caused as locales around the globe compete through tax incentives. “We’re tired of the cycle of displacement,” says Daniel Lay, the 33-year-old hair and cloth special effects director who runs the blog. “The idea that it’s creating a sustainable industry is not true.”

Exacerbating the strain is a contract system that rewards low fixed-price bids. That can force effects houses to absorb the cost of last-minute change requests and push workers hard. High-profile bankruptcies, including that of “Life of Pi” house Rhythm & Hues Studios Inc. in February, point to a

system gone awry.

Jeffrey Okun, chair of the Sherman Oaks, Calif.-based professional group, Visual Effects Society, says his goal is to help members “live at home, and have gainful employment and a thriving career,” he says. “But some of these factors are just outside our control.”

Globetrotting or quitting was the choice Tim Bowman faced.

The 42-year-old compositor’s work matching live footage with computer-generated backgrounds appears in films like “The Hunger Games” and “Gravity.”

He moved from Philadelphia to Adelaide, Australia, two years ago to ride the shifting tide of tax credits. But work dried up in May as a capricious Aussie dollar made tax breaks less appealing.

Bowman could have sought work in nearby New Zealand— likely on “The Hobbit”—or taken his wife and 15-month-old son to Singapore or Vancouver.

Instead, he moved to Charlotte, N.C., close to his wife’s parents.

“The work is awesome and I’ve met a lot of great people doing it. But the way the industry is going, it’s brutal. I don’t know how anyone can make an actual life out of it,” he says.

For the first time, a Filipina was crowned Miss World 2013 via the beauty and brains Megan Lynne Young who was the proud daughter of Olongapo City.

On September 28, the 23-year-old beauty queen, who is also a host and actress bested 24 other aspirants to give the country its first-ever Miss World crown.

A true beauty with a purpose, Young helped in a lot of relief missions to assist typhoon victims in the Philippines.

Mutya Johanna Datul is another beauty that brought honor to the country. Besting 82 other contestants, she was crowned Miss Supranational

on September 7. Her humble beginnings en route to the most coveted crown has also become an inspiration to many.

Ariella Arida’s fourth place finish in the Miss Universe 2013 was enough to somehow boost the morale of Filipinos after several disasters struck the Philippines. After being awarded as 3rd runner-up on Nov. 10, she continued the tradition of Filipina beauties of making it to the top 5 of the prestigious pageant.

Just before the year ended, another Filipina beauty became a beauty titlist in the recentlyconcluded Miss International 2013 held in Tokyo, Japan on

Why we... captains. With every president failing to regulate the upper and lower chambers, and to some extent their own cabinet.

20% of the Philippines overall economy is currently controlled by the wealthy—that’s 20% of wealth that could have gone towards social programs and narrowing the large inequality gap.

Furthermore, in an effort to stimulate economic growth, for years our government has been selling off our land to foreign mining and plantation companies. These mines and plantations continue to wreck extreme havoc on earth’s environment, and is destroying our ecology. Combine this with the defunding of proper waste management systems, this is transforming what we consider as the “Pearl of the Orient” into an ecological wasteland.

46

Hope For Tomorrow

As we know, typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines earlier this year. No one wants to politicize the situation due to the scale of the tragedy. But I believe that public policy and governance has some power and control over these situations. If our politicians just did the jobs they were elected to do, by the people, I won’t go as far as to saying that no one would have died, that would be an ignorant statement.

But I do believe that if our politicians had done their jobs correctly and invested millions of pesos into typhoon readiness

programs, infrastructure readiness programs, and a proper waste management system— instead of stealing millions of pesos for themselves. Then I believe that the absence of such blind greed, would have saved thousands of lives that were tragically lost.

It’s unfortunate it had to take a tragedy as immense as typhoon Haiyan... but hopefully now our leaders will wake up and realize that they could be doing so much more for our land and our people. Maybe now we can start, not only in rebuilding the areas that were hit by the typhoon, but in also rebuilding our nation as a whole.

Towards something that together, we can all be proud of.

I visited the Philippines for the first time in 12 years last May and got to see all of my cousins who I didn’t get the chance to grow up with. Sometimes I wonder, what if the Philippines stayed an economic power in Asia? Would I be there instead of here? Would I have gotten the chance to grow up with all my cousins that I missed out on? How would things be different?

My visit to our homeland inspired me. Unlike before, I now care about the Philippines. I care that I missed out on growing up with my family. I care that our homeland is suffering.

I care about our land and our people.

Our homeland is calling, ladies and gentlemen. The only question I have now is... do you still care??

A rundown...

As of this writing, beauty queen Shamcey Supsup and her fiancé Lloyd Lee are busy preparing for their wedding on December 29.

Director-politician Lino Cayetano, according to the website of entertainment columnist Ogie Diaz, will also marry volleyball star Fille Cainglet this December.

34

Winning beauties

Amid the disasters the Philippines went through, Filipinos still managed to stand tall and proud—thanks to beautiful Filipinas who showed the world the stuff Filipinos are made of.

www.canadianinquirer.net

Dec. 17.

Bea Rose-Santiago admitted that it’s really her dream to be a beauty queen; and that the victory is sweeter because she dedicates it to her fellowmen who were victims of the devastating typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan).

Advocacies

Local and international celebrities around the world joined hands to pledge help to the typhoon victims and advocacy became such a big word in the local entertainment scene.

Actress Angel Locsin, apart from leading various relief missions, decided to sell her vintage car to donate the money to

the typhoon victims.

Several artists also joined hands to put up a fundraising concert for the benefit of the typhoon victims. Basketball tournaments were also organized by various local stars to help in the relief efforts.

Sarah Geronimo and some rock bands pledged a part of the ticket sales of their concerts for the typhoon victims.

Auctions by celebrities were also held to put up additional funds.

Just recently, Justin Bieber visited the typhoon-hit Philippines to provide financial and emotional support to the victims who are also his fans.

39 DECEMBER 31, 2013

So, What... to remind myself that I had come to Canada for the sake of the children. Any good thing or success that comes my way would be a simple bonus. But it was not that simple to accept. I realized that I cannot be happy if I cannot provide well for my kids. I cannot be happy if I do not love the job I am doing. Unfortunately, that did not happen in the 5 years of our waiting.

The jobs I got were decent but not decent enough to provide well, not decent enough to see to my professional growth, not decent enough to make me happy as a breadwinner, not decent enough to see happy faces on my children. For five years, my kids were not getting any birthday gifts or Christmas gifts from me. To a mother, that was painful, really painful. They were eating practically only 2 meals a day. They never had the luxury of exploring much part of BC because we could not afford it.

People who migrate or people who know people who migrate usually have boxed notions and expectations of a migrant’s life.

First, they know that we are not happy. Or, that they expect that we are not happy. Because they say, wala pa ring kasing-sarap sa manirahan sa sarili mong bayan. It is still best to live in your own country. They know that deep within we still long for home. May be not everything about it but everything that we love about it. This is the reason why we keep coming back home. We save or hope to save to be able to visit home.

Second, they know that we are not self-secure. There is always that feeling of having to struggle, having to prove oneself or to compete. It may necessarily be a day-to-day things but certainly there is that desire to be on top of one’s game, or at least to belong. It is tough out there. There is no room for slackers and complacents. We also needed to live up to our own reputation or may be the good reputation of Filipino overseas workers, in general.

And third, they know that we shall never be first-class citizens. No matter how much you achieve elsewhere, you are still a second-class citizen. Para kang nanunuluyan, laging naninimbang.

It was like sharing a home or living on rent. There are rules that you may not agree with but you need to live up to anyway. You need to survive this.

Some of the greatest lessons of migrating will be too painful to learn along the way. But just like any decisions that we make in our lives, this journey has to culminate into something tangible and intangible.

Tangibly, to reach that goal of citizenship. As one of my sons was getting restless and bored of waiting for this citizenship, I admonished him to look at his situation with a more open mind and a sense of gratitude. He was grump22

ing that his classmates back home were already working in the jobs that were in line with their university course, and here he was still unlucky to find a job in the same field. Not that I do not appreciate the luck of his friends, but I had to tell him that all that they have achieved and earned in the three years that he was away from home will never compare to what he will achieve and eventually earn in the three years that he was waiting here. This citizenship is not something that money can buy; you need to decide to earn it.

I remember a friend affirming my decision to hold my ground in “detaining” my son abroad because of the story of her own son whom she was not able to convince to stay. Years after, even if he wanted to come, the mother had to find other “creative” solutions and spend a lot of money to try to bring him back here. It had to take her more effort to get him back.

Intangibly, this migration must make you better off, specifically on the more important aspects of your life—emotionally, socially, psychologically and spiritually. This is a journey that enables you to come face-to-face with the fact that there is more to life than just money.

Of course, who would not want financial success? But if it does not come in this journey sooner, it is not bad to be thankful that you had been there, done that once. You had visited many fine restaurants, had been to many parts of the world, had frolicked in the best local beaches, had worn clothes and shoes and bags that you loved, had lavished friends and families with gifts and giveaways, had travelled in brand-new cars and SUVs, had been pampered by nannies and assistants, had showcased your prowess in boardrooms and convention halls.

What you do not realize is the fact that you earned all of those things in one lifetime that you worked hard for—being an obedient child, getting a good education and inching your way up the ranks at work.

And here you are, two or three or probably five years as an immigrant and you griped

that your past life was better? Remember that many people migrate to better their lives, while here you are, coming already having tasted that better life.

Maybe, appreciation for intangibles is an excuse for failure. Fortunately, it is not my idea of thankfulness. I can’t get slapped in the face. If you cannot be thankful for how much your faith has grown, for example, or the health and safety of your family, or the new friends and new learnings, then your migration did not accomplish anything at all for you.

I have always defined maturity as the ability to postpone self-gratification, to delay your own happiness.

It is not martyrdom.

It is simply how you live this journey. It is simply how you survive this journey.

So, am I happy? I am not as happy as when I was in my past life. But I found a new definition for happiness.

So, am I better? I was far from better

www.canadianinquirer.net

off financially. But I am better as a human being.

So, am I contented? I am not satisfied with what I have achieved. But I am confident that I am going to find what had been meant for me all along. It may not be even what I thought it was. But my faith has grown stronger to believe that the best is yet to come.

Along the way, though, as in the three maggis, keep your eyes focused on the bright star.

Nobody ever said that our journey, will be easy. But as I write and as you read, we share our strengths and we can hold to the promise that “Where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them,” Matthew 18:20.

Bolet is a marketing communications practitioner and dabbles in writing as a personal passion. She is author-publisher of the book: The Most Practical Immigrating and Job Hunting Survival Guide, proven simple steps to success without the fears and the doubts. The book is available in Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, the Reading Room and other online bookshops worldwide, and in National Book Store and Power Books in the Philippines. Please check out https:// www.amazon.com/author/boletarevalo)

Business

DECEMBER 31, 2013 40

Year-end tips, New Year’s outlook

BY BRUCE LOEPPKY INTERNATIONAL STOCK markets outpaced Canada’s through 2013, while interest rates remained low. This has presented some unique challenges for Canadian investors, particularly retirees. But with a little patience, perseverance, and planning, we can still meet our financial goals. So here’s a review of 2013 and some planning tips to help you get a head start in 2014.

When to use tactical investment strategies

The U.S., global, and European markets have all had a very good year, so be cautious about putting in new, large lump sums into those areas. That strategy usually doesn’t end well. Canada’s market has lagged, owing to our weak metals/resource sectors. For those who made big money in precious metals over the past 10 years, congratulations! Latecomers to the party were hammered by 50% declines this year. This continues to be a sector best played by getting in and out at opportune times. Buy after a big correction and sell after big gains, so you’re playing with “house money.”

But use this strategy only for

small and volatile sectors.

Interest rates continue to be very low, which makes it more difficult to earn decent returns in fixed-income, but we need to have money here for volatility and safety reasons. Retirees will need to have a significant portion of their assets in equities, because of the current low interest rate environment.

Safe investments (bonds, GICs, mortgage funds, CSBs) are in a low return window, and that shows no likelihood of changing anytime soon.

Construct a balanced portfolio of equity investments combined with a mixed bag of fixed income for the majority of your portfolio.

Add a few others (infrastructure, real estate, precious metals, or alternative investments) to try and bump returns and increase diversification.

Tax planning/government grants

RRSPs. Look at your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) to see if you can add anything before the deadline of March 3, 2014, to save on 2013 taxes.

TFSAs. Check your Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) limits to see if you can add anything to this great tax-free plan that can be used to supplement retire-

ment income, fund big-ticket purchases not in your day to day budget, and holidays. Younger investors are using the TFSA to help buy a home, so they don’t have to redeem their RRSPs and slow down compounding in those plans.

RESPs. Have you maximized (or put what you can afford) into Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs), so that your children can pursue their postsecondary educational dreams without incurring huge debt?

Hunt for tax breaks

Always be searching for ways to save tax and get all the free government monies that you are entitled to. It’s no secret Canada is a highly taxed nation, so why not do whatever is prudent to reduce your tax burden with some planning?

If you have some investments that have lost money in a nonregistered account, you may be able to redeem that asset, crystalize the capital loss and buy another investment or pay down debt as you see fit.

That capital loss can be used into the future to offset a capital gain.

investors

Many mutual fund companies have reduced fees if you invest $100,000 or more. That threshold was $250,000 minimum previously. Check with your financial advisor to see if you can get into a series with lower MERs if your assets are significant. As your assets grow, you can save substantial amounts of money by investing in these High Net Worth (HNW) series. Studies show there are more and more Canadians whose assets fall within those parameters.

I hope your portfolio has seen a healthy increase this year.

After a decade of moderate returns, it’s nice to get a good year from most parts of the world.

Unfortunately, Canada is one o f

the areas that is currently underperforming, but that won’t last forever. Nothing does.

Have a great holiday season and a prosperous New Year!

Courtesy Fundata Canada Inc. Bruce Loeppky is a financial advisor based in Surrey, B.C. This article is not intended as personalized investment advice.

Investment vehicles mentioned are not guaranteed and may involve risk of loss.

Fund fee breaks for high net worth

CIBC Mobile Banking now lets Canadians deposit cheques with their phones New feature will save individual and small business clients time and provide faster access to funds TORONTO—CIBC, the first bank in Canada to launch a Mobile Banking App, extended its suite of mobile banking innovations with eDeposit, a new feature that lets personal and small business clients deposit cheques to their CIBC account simply by taking a photo of the cheque with their mobile device.

“The convenience of depositing cheques simply by taking a picture with your phone means you can make a deposit where, how and when you would like, which will save CIBC’s 11 million clients time and provide

faster access to those funds,” said David Williamson Senior Executive Vice President and Group Head, Retail and Business Banking, CIBC. “Whether you are a small business owner with a handful of customer cheques at the end of day or an employee getting your weekly paycheque, you can literally make a deposit within seconds.”

This innovation makes CIBC the first of the major banks in Canada to offer Canadians deposit taking where, how and when they would like—in more than 1100 branches, over 3500 ABMs or from the comfort of

their homes using their mobile devices.

The CIBC eDeposit process is simple, quick and easy.

• Just open the CIBC Mobile Banking App and select the eDeposit feature.

• Endorse the back of the cheque.

• Take a picture of the front and back of the cheque.

• Select the account to receive the deposit and enter the amount of the cheque.

• Tap submit, wait for confirmation, and then mark the paper cheque as paid.

• Retain the cheque for 5 www.canadianinquirer.net

days, and then destroy it.

Adding a mobile cheque deposit feature was the top request identified by CIBC clients, who deposit millions of cheques each year. As with all of CIBC Mobile Banking Apps, the CIBC eDeposit feature is safe and secure. None of the financial information is stored on your device and all wireless transmissions are securely encrypted.

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ture after they update the App to the newest version. New users can download the CIBC Mobile Banking App with the new eDeposit feature today from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The CIBC Mobile Banking App works with iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and all 4.x Android smartphones and tablets.

For more information or to view an online demonstration of the new CIBC cheque deposit feature on the CIBC Mobile Banking App, visit cibc.com/ edeposit.

Sports/Horoscope

41 DECEMBER 31, 2013

End of NHL lockout No. 1 in CP’s top moments in Canadian sport in 2013

BY JOSHUA CLIPPERTON The Canadian Press HERE ARE The Canadian Press’ Top 10 Sports Stories of 2013: No. 1—The End of the NHL Lockout Hockey fans rejoiced when the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association reached a tentative deal to end the lockout in the early hours of Jan. 6.

The agreement was ratified by the board of governors three days later, with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman taking the unusual step of apologizing to fans, players and sponsors after the start of the season was delayed by more than three months.

“To the players who were very clear they wanted to be on the ice and not negotiating labour contracts, to our partners who support the league financially and personally, and most im-

portantly to our fans, who love and have missed NHL hockey, I’m sorry,” said Bettman.

It didn’t take the league long to get back on its feet.

Just over five months later, the Chicago Blackhawks capped a memorable playoffs by scoring two goals in 17 seconds against the Boston Bruins late in the third period of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final to win their second title in four years.

No. 2—A Season of Disappointment The Toronto Blue Jays came into 2013 as World Series favourites after a blockbuster offseason that included a 12-player megadeal with the Florida Marlins and the acquisition of reigning National League Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey.

But with the city buzzing at the thought of meaningful September baseball for the first time since the team’s championship years in 1992 and 1993, the cam-

paign was bust from the start.

Perhaps fittingly, one of the lone bright sports from the miserable season that saw Toronto finish last in the American League East was fans’ love affair with eccentric Japanese utility infielder Munenori Kawasaki.

Despite the lack of success on the field, the Blue Jays enjoyed a surge in both ticket and merchandise sales.

“We had a lot of people that thought we were going to win the World Series,” said Canadian third basemen Brett Lawrie said. “But it takes a little bit of time to build chemistry.”

No. 3—CFL Double for Cornish Calgary Stampeders running back Jon Cornish became the first Canadian in 35 years to win the CFL’s most outstanding player award.

Cornish, who was also named the league’s top Canadian for the second straight year, is the first Canuck to be named CFL MVP

since Ottawa Rough Riders tight end Tony Gabriel in 1978.

Cornish finished the 2013 season with 1,813 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns.

To cap off the memorable year, Cornish then captured the 2013 Lou Marsh award as Canada’s top athlete on Dec. 9 to become first CFL player to win the honour since legendary Ottawa quarterback Russ Jackson in 1969.

No. 4—Green Crush The Saskatchewan Roughriders became the third straight Grey Cup host to win the trophy, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23 on Nov. 24.

The Riders won the 101st edition of the CFL championship in front of their rabid fans at Mosaic Stadium in Regina, with Kory Sheets rushing for a Grey Cup-record 197 yards and two touchdowns to help his team to just its fourth title.

“The one thing that led us to a dominant performance

was that the fans were unreal,” said Roughriders coach Corey Chamblin. “It was unreal. From pre-game warmup I knew it was going to be tough for (the TigerCats). I looked at them and said ‘I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes.’ I mean, it was ridiculous.

The whole (stadium) was green.”

No. 5—Raonic’s Rise Tennis star Milos Raonic became the first Canadian to crack the ATP top-10 list.

The Thornhill, Ont., product made the Rogers Cup final in Montreal and was also instrumental in leading Canada to the Davis Cup semifinals.

“The tournament overall was a great thing,” said Raonic after losing the Rogers Cup final to Rafael Nadal on Aug. 12. “There were a lot of situations that I’m very happy with the way I dealt with them, and there were a lot of learning experiences through it all.”

PAGE 44 End of NHL

HOROSCOPE ARIES

CANCER

LIBRA

CAPRICORN

(MARCH 21 - APRIL 19)

(JUNE 22 - JULY 22)

(SEPT 23 - OCT 22)

(DEC 22 - JAN 19)

You might not feel especially motivated today. Nonetheless, whether you want to or not, it's important that you attack the mountain of tasks. Understand and respect the constraints of the ticking clock. As long as you're disciplined about accomplishing one small task at a time, you won't have a problem reducing the mountain to a small pile.

TAURUS (APRIL 20 - MAY 20)

Take some emotional time off today if you feel you deserve it. You're getting so wrapped up in other people's dramas that you're feeling drained when it comes to your own concerns. Calm down and relax physically and mentally. Getting too stressed about a certain issue isn't healthy. You may end up foiling the situation much more than if you left it alone. Come back to it later.

You're having a difficult time getting started today. Don't get discouraged if things don't seem to be working. Your expectations may be too high, and your perfectionism is making it difficult for anyone to live up to your standards. Don't get worked up over every little detail. Perfection isn't demanded of you.

SCORPIO

LEO

(OCT 23 - NOV 21)

(JULY 23 - AUGUST 22) You may be very busy today.

This is a good time to get things done. There's a feeling of discipline that's helping you stay focused. Emotions are stifled, which may work to your advantage.

Keep everything limited to the facts at hand, and work can proceed much more efficiently than if simple issues become big soap operas.

GEMINI (MAY 21 - JUNE 21)

You may get more emotional than usual when it comes to work. Do your best to keep your emotional life separate from daily responsibilities. If you feel overwhelmed by a certain job to the point where you can no longer do it effectively, it may be a sign that you need to make some changes. This is a time of heightened sensitivity. Do your best to stay afloat.

You might need to adopt a stern attitude today in order to be as effective as you'd like to be. When dealing with others, don't make assumptions for which you don't have solid backing. Other people are easily touched off, so keep things limited to the facts. Try not to stir up heavy emotions.

AQUARIUS (JAN 20 - FEB 18)

Be polite and try your best not to impose on other people today. It's important to behave civilly in all circumstances. People may feel like they've been cheated. Although you may not be the source of their discontent, you may feel the consequences. Keep other people's issues separate from yours, and don't let their discomfort seep into your world.

VIRGO

You may not feel like your engine is working today. For some reason, it seems like you're using the wrong fuel. Don't be surprised if it's a bit harder to get in touch with your emotional state. Your feelings are playing tricks on you. Do your best not to be thrown off balance by this energy. It gets easier from here.

SAGITTARIUS

PISCES

(NOV 22 - DEC 21)

(FEB 19 - MAR 20)

(AUG 23 - SEPT 22) You're having a difficult time connecting with your emotions today. Things will run more smoothly if you don't try to force yourself to act cheerful if you aren't. Be honest about your emotions.

If you're feeling restless or negative, keep it to yourself. Go for a walk, preferably near water, and indulge in a good healthy meal.

People are hesitant to deal with deep emotional issues today. They're erecting protective barriers so the things they hear, see, and feel don't hurt them.

Respect these boundaries. Do your best to stay rooted in your inner sanctuary. Try to keep a positive attitude even though the prevailing mood may be somber.

Don't blame everything on others today. It's important to be adult enough to take responsibility for your actions. Understand that things aren't always going to happen the way you want. Realize that sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. There's a somber mood to the day that might overwhelm your normal attitude. Try to stay focused and disciplined.

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You might find your emotions stifled today. You have a great deal to say, but for some reason there's a bit of hesitation when it comes to saying it. Don't be surprised if you feel anxious in such a way that makes it difficult to communicate. Much of today's talk may be filled with fluff and not much substance.

DECEMBER 31, 2013

42

Travel

Top 10 Destinations in the Philippines for 2013

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer 2013 IS surely a year of triumph for the Philippines as the entire world witnessed our strength, resilience, and faith through trying times. Truly, no earthquake nor supertyphoon can extinguish the fiery Filipino spirit.

Through thick or thin, tourists kept pouring into the country with their backpacks and wanderlust. Here are the top 10 destinations in the Philippines for 2013 according to yours truly (as DOT is yet to release their statistics).

Ilocandia

From adventure trails to water sports to UNESCO World Heritage sites to a perennial artistic haven, Ilocos region has everything a tourist could ever hope or think of. Enjoy stretches of unadulterated beach and take a plunge (or try windsurfing) in Pagudpud; go back in time by going to the heritage city of Vigan; explore one of the four UNESCO World Heritage Churches in the Philippines in Paoay; and tour the home of the Marcos family and savor the best Empanadas in Batac. If you’re starting to miss the hustle and bustle of the city and/or looking for an artistic release, head on to Baguio, the country’s summer capital.

Vigan

The author at Mt Kiltepan

sales and award-winning travel blogger “Journeying James” Betia are just some of the personalities who frequent Baler, Aurora to ride one wave after another and “hang ten.” Enjoying its fame in 2013 more and more, Baler is certainly another destination to watch out for in 2014 as the humble provincial capital proves that it is more than just another surfing destination.

Baler, Aurora

Kapamilya actor Jericho Ro-

beaches and natural beauty.

over the world. Is it the powdery white sand? Is it the night life? Is it the unbeatable friendliness of Filipinos? Find out for yourself.

Cebu

Palawan

Boracay

Manila

Whether it is the “Gate to Hell” (see Dan Brown) or not, Manila is certainly teeming with tourists day in and day out.

Locals and foreigners alike love going to malls, which you’ve got hundreds—if not thousands—to choose from. Manila is also best known for the historical walled city of Intramuros.

Mountain Province

Hungry for culture and nature? Willing to enjoy over 10 hours of land travel? Then head north to Mountain Province.

Marvel at the Banaue Rice Terraces (no water skiing, please); soak in the richness of Filipino culture and warmth of tribal bonds in Bontoc; and don’t miss the mystery held in the caves and mountains of Sagada.

Bantayan Island Sunrise

Bohol

It’s business as usual after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake shook the church-laden province of Bohol. A large number of heritage churches are found in this island and almost all of them suffered unspeakable damage after the quake. Talks of rehabilitation, restoration, and preservation are still ongoing, as these procedures can be costly. Nonetheless, tourists keep pouring in to enjoy its

Best known for its uncrowded white sand beaches and diving spots Nemo would be proud of, Cebu surely kept its head held high despite suffering from the same earthquake that almost flattened its neighboring province of Bohol. In 2013, visitors enjoyed their close encounter with the famous whale shark in Oslob.

Panay Island

Panay Island is home to the City of Love: Iloilo and the world famous Boracay. In Iloilo, visit another UNESCO World Heritage Church in Miagao and fill your bellies with warmth from a steaming bowl of genuine La Paz Batchoy; in Boracay, find out what the fuss is all about and what brought millions of tourists from all

With 7,107 islands in our territory, Palawan certainly stands out from the rest. Home to the only “fresh water lake” connected to the sea, Coron is known for Kayangan Lake and Barracuda Lake. In 2013, millions of tourists checked out the unbridled beauty of Coron and vowed to come back for more. But Palawan is most famous of the Puerto Princesa Underground River, the longest underground river to be navigated.

Davao

Once hailed as the “4th safest city in the world,” Davao is no stranger to adventure. It is best known for Mt. Apo, the highest peak in the country, as well as Durian. In 2013, Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte just

upped the ante for all the mayors by patrolling the streets himself (perhaps that’s why it’s so safe there?). Tourists flocked to Samal Island in Davao del Norte as well, which enjoyed its fair share of curious and eager backpackers and honeymooners.

Cagayan de Oro

And what is an article about adventure without Cagayan de Oro? Best known for water adventure sports such as white water rafting, Cagayan also serves as the jump-off point to Camiguin, another mystical island worth exploring.

I’m sure there are thousands of other worthy destinations to be included in this list, but for now, let this list stand as a challenge for all readers to prove me wrong. Book your flight and pack your bags—explore the beauty of the Philippines. Share your own Top 10 Philippine Destinations with us and who knows, 2014 is just a day away.

DECEMBER 31, 2013

43

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DECEMBER 31, 2013 44

End of NHL...

Also making big gains on the court in 2013 were Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil and Montreal’s Eugenie Bouchard, who both shot up the rankings.

No. 6—A Trio of Hockey Stunners The Toronto Maple Leafs made the playoffs for the first time since 2004 and looked set to advance to the second round when the wheels fell off in spectacular fashion.

Toronto led Boston 4-1 with just over 11 minutes to go in the third period of Game 7, only to see the Bruins score three times in quick succession in regulation and again in overtime to send the Maple Leafs packing.

“It’s extremely tough to put into words,” Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf said after the game. “We had a team down and out and we just let them take over the game and climb out of a hole that they never should have came back from.”

There was also misery up Highway 401 in the nation’s captain.

41

Beloved captain Daniel Alfredsson, who had spent his entire career with Ottawa, bolted from the Senators after 17 seasons to sign with the Detroit Red Wings when NHL free agency opened on July 5.

And out on the West Coast, the Vancouver Canucks’ goalie soap opera took an unexpected turn at the NHL draft when general manager Mike Gillis traded Cory Schneider to the New Jersey Devils.

The Canucks had openly stated their intention to deal Roberto Luongo, but were unable to find a suitable trading partner. It’s worked out for both sides so far, as Luongo appears to have regained his form.

No. 7—NHL Concussion Suit More than 200 former players filed a lawsuit against the NHL in November alleging that the league hasn’t done enough to protect them from concussions.

The players want NHL-sponsored medical monitoring for their injuries, as well as damages.

But the hockey community is divided on the issue, with CBC

commentator Don Cherry calling the legal action “a money grab.”

The lawsuit came some three months after the NFL agreed on a US$765-million settlement with thousands of explayers for concussion-related health problems.

No. 8—Canadian Hoops History Anthony Bennett shocked many observers on June 27 when he became the first-ever Canadian to go No. 1 at the NBA draft.

With no clear-cut favourite, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected Bennett, a freshman forward from UNLV, with the top pick.

“I’m just as surprised as everybody else,” the Brampton, Ont., native said moments after being drafted. “I didn’t really have any idea who’s going No. 1 or who was going No. 2. I heard everything was up for grabs.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Wiggins was named the top high school player in the United States after a standout season at Huntington Prep in West Virginia.

The Vaughan, Ont., native— who is in his freshman campaign

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at the University of Kansas and doesn’t turn 19 until February— is expected to declare for the 2014 NBA draft following the season, with most experts projecting him as the top pick.

No. 9—GSP Steps Away UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre successfully defended his title twice in 2013.

But after a bruising and controversial split-decision victory over Johny Hendricks on Nov. 16, the Montreal fighter hinted at retirement in a cryptic a post-fight interview in the cage that included a reference to unexplained personal issues and his need to step away from the sport.

“I can’t sleep at night now.

I’m going crazy,” he added at the post-fight news conference.

“I have issues. I need to relax. I need to get out for a while. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Then on Dec. 13, St-Pierre vacated his title and announced an indefinite hiatus from the octagon, citing the pressures of being champion.

Far and away the biggest UFC pay-per-view draw, the

32-year-old added that his life has become “completely insane” and a “freaking zoo.”

No. 10—Hesjedal Comes Clean In a year that saw American cyclist Lance Armstrong finally admit to doping, Canadian counterpart Ryder Hesjedal did the same.

The Victoria native was forced to make the admission on Oct. 30 after excerpts from a book by former Danish rider Michael Rasmussen said Hesjedal was shown how to use performance-enhancing drugs at the start of his career.

Hesjedal, who was named The Canadian Press male athlete of the year in 2012 after a memorable season that included a victory in the Giro d’Italia, said in a statement that he “chose the wrong path” and made “mistakes.”

“And even though those mistakes happened more than 10 years ago, and they were shortlived, it does not change the fact that I made them and I have lived with that and been sorry for it ever since,” he said.

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DECEMBER 31, 2013 46

Why we never should have left

BY BILL JETHRO BAGUNU I WAS born in Canada, miles away from our native land of the Philippines. Compared to my cousins back home, I grew up in great privilege and took the blessings I had here for granted. Truthfully when growing up, I never really cared much for the Philippines. I adopted Canadian culture despite my parents best efforts to send me to Filipino classes every Friday night in Hamilton. It was an enjoyable experience, one where I have fond memories of, although the only reason I wanted to go was due to the fact that I got to hang out with my other Filipino friends and eat timbits.

It didn’t help that I grew up in Burlington either—where literally 90% of the population descends from WhiteEuropean ancestry. So in a way, Filipino school every Friday night was my first foray into Philippine language and culture. Well... culture at least, because I never really learned the language.

I always knew that the Philippines was a corrupt and poor country. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the reason why your parents immigrated to Canada. After all, you don’t generally immigrate to another nation if your homeland is well off. And I knew that the Philippines was not well off, if it were, then there wouldn’t be 10 to 13 million Filipinos worldwide who live outside of the Philippines. The reason our people move away from our land is simple—for more opportunity. That’s why my parents immigrated here. That’s most likely the reason why your parents, or maybe even you yourself, immigrated here as well.

What if I told you however, that the Philippines never used to be a corrupt and poor country? What if I told you that it never had to be this way? What if I told you that we could have stayed and lived in our homeland? What if I told you that we never should have left in the first place?

Growing up, I heard stories from both my parents and the older generations.

Stories that the Philippines used to be one of the most advanced society’s and economies of the Asian continent. Curious, I began extensive research and grew more inclined to asking the older generations about a time forgotten. A time where the Republic of the Philip-

pines was a model nation for the rest of Asia.

And so the question that persisted in my mind was—how did we go from being an advanced nation to one of the worst?

Yesterday’s Glory

After the conclusion of the Second World War, when the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces, the Philippines who was once occupied by the Japanese during the war, remained in ruins. Our homeland was recovering from terrible

their civil war, with Vietnam entering their own. So what happened to our success? Although I am no expert, I do have my theories.

President Marcos was elected into office in 1965. To be fair, Marcos and his administration initially brought our land to new economic prosperity. He continued balancing the budget into surplus and invested in our social programs well, specifically in education and infrastructure. But somewhere along the line, whether the onus was on him, on his administration, or both... something went horribly wrong.

Today’s Crisis

losses during the war and struggling to combat the threat of communist insurgency (The Huks).

Slowly our nation began to rebuild itself. We signed treaties that ensured the Japanese would pay back large sums of reparations for their wrong-doings during the war. We began to slowly eliminate communist insurgency groups, and began an era of unprecedented economic growth and expansion. It’s hard to believe this now... but from the end of WWII to somewhere in the 1970’s—our people flourished.

We enjoyed years of economic surplus, higher wages; we succeeded to the point where the Philippine Peso and U.S. Dollar were virtually equivalent. We invested more in social programs such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, transportation, environmental policies, and so on.

From Presidents Quezon, Laurel, Osmena, Roxas, Quirino, Magsaysay, Garcia, and Macapagal, we slowly developed from a recovering economy into one of the biggest economies in Asia, only rivalling that of Japan. You have to remember that at the time, China was still a struggling new communist nation, South Korea was still recovering from

At some point during the late 60’s to early 70’s, our government began to spend more than what it was earning. We began an era of serious economic decline and suffered through years of deficit. As a result, the government began to issue heavy austerity measures to try and get the nation out of deficit.

Austerity measures have two detrimental outcomes: (1) a cut-back of public workers and (2) companies are pressured to cut-back on their workforce. Heavy spending cuts were issued on more of our social programs. People’s wages were drastically reduced and our national debt ballooned exponentially out of control.

The Marcos Administration, putting a nail through the coffin, declared Martial Law in 1972. President Marcos remained in office and dictated how things should be for two decades. In 1986, a peaceful People Power Revolution began in our nation on February 22nd and ended on the 25th. Marcos resigned as President and his corrupt administration fell with him.

Unfortunately, by then it was too late.

Corruption, sadly became the political norm of our homeland.

Every seating term of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines—since the fall of Marcos, to Corazon Aquino, to Benigno Aquino III, has engaged in pocketing millions of taxpayers pesos.

The locals call this “Pork Barrelling”, a continued cycle of stealing the people’s money instead of investing in social programs for the betterment of our land and our people. This is engaged in by most Philippine congressmen, senators, governors, all the way down to barangay

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PAGE 38 Why We

Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer Editor Melissa Remulla-Briones editor@canadianinquirer.net Associate Editor Laarni de Paula Correspondents Gigi Astudillo Angie Duarte Maria Ramona Ledesma Katherine Marfal Frances Grace Quiddaoen Agnes Tecson Ching Dee Socorro Newland Lizette Lofranco-Aba Graphic Designer Victoria Yong Photographers Solon Licas Angelo Siglos Danvic Briones Operations and Marketing Head Laarni de Paula (604) 551-3360 laarni.liwanag@canadianinquirer.net Advertising Sales Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 alice.yong@canadianinquirer.net PHILIPPINE PUBLISHING GROUP Editorial Assistant Phoebe Casin Graphic Designer Shanice Garcia Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition Philippine Canadian Inquirer is located at 400-13955 Bridgeport Rd., Richmond, BC V6V 1J6 Canada Tel. No.: 1-888-668-6059 or 778-8893518 | Email: info@canadianinquirer. net, inquirerinc@gmail.com, sales@ canadianinquirer.net Philippine Canadian Inquirer is published weekly every Friday.

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