Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #99

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JANUARY 24, 2014

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More US navy ships needed to deal with China threat

Palace seeks help of public vs graft

PH celebrates Pinay’s victory on Israel’s X Factor

Weather weather lang!

A British Columbian Winter Adventure

Authorities break up int’l pedophile ring that streamed live child abuse in Philippines

BY DANICA KIRKA AND JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press

STORM KITCHEN Survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” who have sought temporary shelter at Rizal Central School in Tacloban City, transform the school’s corridors into a kitchen to cook their food.

PHOTO BY NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

Revilla letter to COA belies forgery claim

BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer AS EARLY as two and a half years ago, Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla acknowledged to the Commission on Audit (COA) that he approved the release of his pork barrel funds to foundations that were later alleged to have engaged in dubious deals and included those al-

legedly controlled by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles.

Revilla made the admission in a July 8, 2011, letter to Assistant Commissioner Arcadio B. Cuenco Jr., a copy of which was obtained by the INQUIRER. The letter debunks his claim that his signature and those of his representatives were forged—his main defense after the ❱❱ PAGE 7 Revilla letter

Philippine government acquires more Marcos jewelry, official says it shows regime’s excesses ❱❱ PAGE 11

LONDON—Child abuse investigators in Britain, the U.S. and Australia have dismantled an organized crime group that streamed live webcam footage of child sexual abuse from the Philippines for paying viewers around the world.

An international investigation broke up the ring, which abused impoverished children as young as 6, Britain’s National Crime Agency said Thursday. Authorities made 29 arrests, including 11 people in the Philippines who had facilitated the crime. Some were members of the children’s families. ❱❱ PAGE 3 Authorities break

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Philippine News

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NPA still the most potent threat–AFP

BY NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer

Authorities break...

Police describe the use of webcams to stream live child abuse—especially from developing countries—as a “significant and emerging threat.”

“This investigation has identified some extremely dangerous child sexual offenders who believed paying for children to be abused to order was something they could get away with,” said Andy Baker, the deputy director of the agency’s command for child protection.

“Being thousands of miles away makes no difference to their guilt. In my mind they are just as responsible for the abuse of these children as the contact abusers overseas.”

The investigation began in 2012 after a routine police visit to Timothy Ford, a registered sex offender in Britain. Police found a number of indecent videos on his computer and contacted child abuse investigators, touching off a global investigation that identified more “customers” and others involved in the ring.

U.K., Australian and U.S. authorities worked together on the case with the International Justice Mission, a non-governmental group. Together, the agencies presented their data to authorities in the Philippines to identify offenders and victims.

The investigation, codenamed Operation Endeavour, spanned 12 countries including France, Germany, Switzerland and Canada. Five people have been convicted in the U.K., including Ford, who was sentenced in March to 8 1/2 years in prison.

The agency said Ford paid to watch the live abuse and had planned to move to the Philippines to set up an Internet cafe.

Ford and another man, Thomas Owen, had discussed travelling to the Philippines together. In one online chat log released by officials, Ford, who uses a wheelchair, suggested to Owen that he could pretend to be his “carer” so they could travel to the Philippines together to avoid detection.

Owen, who was found with nearly 4 million indecent images of children, was sentenced in July to seven years in prison.

Authorities in the Philippines issued three search warrants in 2012, and 15 children aged between 6 and 15 were ❰❰ 1

rescued and placed in the custody of social welfare services.

Operation Endeavour has triggered three other investigations into the issue of live child abuse online. British authorities say those probes have identified 733 suspects internationally, but they declined to provide details because investigations are ongoing.

Stephanie McCourt, of Britain’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center, which is now part of the National Crime Agency, told the BBC that pedophiles should know that the Internet isn’t a “safe place for them.”

“They must also not be under the mistaken impression that this is a crime which carries no guilt because it happens on the other side of the world,” she said. “It is just as bad, just as harmful as though it was happening to the children right here in the U.K.” The arrests underscored the well-established problem of cybercrime rings victimizing children in impoverished communities.

Community support to eradicate the problem is crucial because the crime often is concealed in the privacy of homes away from the attention of authorities, said Mayor Michael Rama of Cebu city in the central Philippines, a region where some of the abuses have been reported.

“When you have some poverty, the availability of information and technology and the attraction for easy money, these abuses happen,” Rama told The Associated Press by telephone. “City hall can fight this but if the villages don’t get involved, what’s going to happen?”

Philippines police Senior Superintendent Gilbert Sosa, who heads an anticybercrime unit, said incidents of abuse have been monitored in Cebu, Manila and Angeles city, north of the capital.

Impoverished parents allow their children to be sexually abused and watched by paying foreigners via the Internet in exchange for $100 to $200, Sosa said.

“We’re continuing with our operations,” Sosa said. “We’ve not eradicated this.” ■ Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this story; Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines.

THE LONGEST-RUNNING communist insurgency in Asia remains the “most potent internal security challenge” to the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military said.

“The Communist Part of the Philippines New People’s Army is still the most potent challenge, it’s a challenge to our internal security and peace efforts,” military spokesperson Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan told a press conference at Camp Aguinaldo.

This was the military’s assessment of its performance last year during a command conference held yesterday presided by AFP chief of staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista.

“I wouldn’t say that they are the biggest strength but it is a threat that we have to contend with really, as far as internal security is concerned,” Tutaan said of the CPPNPA. However, Tutaan said the NPA still “miserably failed in achieving” the goals of its five-year Central Plan that ended last year.

“They were unsuccessful in expanding their mass base support as 16 more provinces were normalized last year.

This makes the latest overall success to 43 provinces out of the 64 NPA-affected provinces nationwide,” a statement from the military said.

Insurgency-free

The provinces already include Pampanga, which on Wednesday was declared “insurgency-free” by the military and the local government.

The military had explained that “insurgency-free” meant that the NPA strength had been reduced to a level where it can be considered a law enforcement problem.

That Pampanga was “insurgency-free” is particularly important to the military because the province was the birthplace of the communist insurgency.

The military said that a total of 824 NPA members were either arrested, killed or have surrendered in 2013.

There were also 425 firearms recovered.

The military leadership also discussed the current external security situation, particularly China’s aggression.

But AFP public affairs office chief, Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, declined to give details, citing “national security.”

Tutaan said that guarding the national territory “is not simply about action on the ground.” ■

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Philippine News

JANUARY 24, 2014

FRIDAY 4

More US navy ships needed to deal with China threat

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer IN THE light of escalating tensions and amid threats from China, armed forces chief of staff General Emmanuel Bautista disclosed on Wednesday that the Philippines wants to acquire two more navy ships from the United States to augment its maritime protection.

The acquisition of the new vessels would be in line with the renewed US military assistance announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry on his visit to the Philippines last month, "Within the last year, we realised that there is a real threat out there in terms of securing, defending our territory," Bautista told ANC television.

He added that ideally, the country needs around six more frigates to effectively guard its long stretch of coastline.

"In fact, we are bidding now for two frigates, hopefully we will be able to acquire them in (a) couple of years," he said.

Bautista likewise emphasized

that he has made "maritime domain awareness" and protection a key area of concern under his leadership, and noted that the funding for the effort to boost maritime defence would come from the $40 million military assistance pledged by Kerry in December 2013.

Over the past two years, two refurbished American frigates have been added to the Philippines maritime fleet , and these vessels now lead patrols of the South China Sea. The Philippines and China have been deadlocked in an ever-escalating dispute over reefs and islands in an area Manila calls the West Philippine Sea. The year 2012 saw a confrontation between flagship BRP Gregorio del Pilar, the first acquired from the US, and Chinese ships on Scarborough Shoal, a small protrusion of rock just off the coast of the country's main island of Luzon.

The Philippines eventually backed down, giving China control of the Shoal; a move which was taken by the Philippine government to the United Nations

PHOTO BY MARC SITKIN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

for arbitration. China decried and rejected the UN arbitration.

Meanwhile, Bautista said the Gregorio del Pilar and another

www.canadianinquirer.net

frigate have been deployed to protect the country's waters.

"There are Chinese fishing vessels in the West Philippine

Sea as we speak," he said, declining to reveal their specific location in the disputed waters Of late, the Philippines – a close US ally - has increasingly looked to the US for help, with negotiations toward a beefedup rotational presence of American soldiers in the country.

China has laid territorial claims of nearly the entire South China Sea, including waters near the coast of its neighbours, Japan and Vietnam.

In recent developments, China declared an "air defence identification zone" over the East China Sea, this time in dispute with Japan.

Kerry has given a stern warning to China not to impose a similar restriction over the South China Sea, and said the US government likewise rejected their zone claim over the East China Sea. China announced last week that it would be setting into motion a new fisheries law requiring foreign vessels to obtain permits for all activity in much of the South China Sea, eliciting angry protests from Manila. â–

Philippine News

5 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

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Philippine News

JANUARY 24, 2014

FRIDAY 6

‘Grave abuse of authority’ COA rejects PhilHealth plea on P88-M bonuses

BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer THE COMMISSION on Audit (COA) is standing pat on its decision disallowing the extra compensation, bonuses and allowances that officials and employees of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) rewarded themselves between 2003 and 2006.

The COA declared as “grave abuse of authority” the P87.79 million in bonuses, allowances and reimbursements that the PhilHealth board granted officials and employees in 2003 and 2004 instead of giving these funds to member benefits.

“The funds kept by the petitioner (PhilHealth) are fiduciary in nature; it is a trust fund intended for the welfare and benefit of the members who pay contributions in exchange for the entitlement to health-

care benefits,” the COA said in its order rejecting PhilHealth’s appeal that was signed late Thursday by COA Chair Ma. Gracia M. Pulido Tan and commissioners Heidi L. Mendoza and Rowena V. Guanzon.

Betrayal of trust

“As a trustee, [PhilHealth] is legally bound to manage the fund in a responsible and productive manner, and is under an absolute obligation to act for the benefit of the beneficiaries.

Charging the trust fund with illegal and unreasonable fees is a betrayal of that trust and confidence reposed by the members to the petitioner,” the ruling said.

The COA disallowed the P54.9 million in welfare support assistance; P27.398 million in labor management relations gratuity; P4.12 million as signing bonus for the collective negotiation agreement; P1.281 million in cost of living allowance granted from 1988 to 1995; P64,490 for reimbursements of

seminar and conference fees; and P18,383.55 for excessive fuel consumption of service vehicles.

PhilHealth’s power to fix its compensation scheme was “not all-encompassing... unbridled discretion to determine compensation of its officers and employees,” the commission said.

DBP board’s whim

In the case of the DBP, the COA canceled P151.7million in extra compensation given to the officials of the state-owned bank.

In separate decisions, Tan, Mendoza and Guanzon said these perks given from 2005 to 2006 had no legal basis and should not have been granted solely on the whim of the bank’s board of directors.

These perks consisted of P54.154 million in economic allowance (EA), P45.1million in amelioration allowance, P38.26million in officers’ allowance (OA) and P14.185-million merit increase.

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Phil Health Insurance Corporation top 30 other GOCC found to have paid bonuses and other benefits to its directors and employees without or in excess of legal basis or without proper authorization.

PHOTO FROM PARTEEANDPLAY.BLOGSPOT.COM

The COA ruled that not even former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s subsequent approval of the DBP board’s powers to peg salaries and bonuses of its officials and employees was enough to negate the COA’s notice of disallowances.

“The grant of additional compensation to the DBP officers and employees clearly lacks legal basis. The contention

that the subsequent confirmation by the President on the [board’s] authority to formulate and adopt a compensation plan rendered the issue moot,” the COA said.

“What is required … is the approval of the President on the grant of additional compensation or allowance [and] not ❱❱ PAGE 12 ‘Grave abuse’

Philippine News

7 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

Church to join fight vs political dynasties

Revilla letter... ❰❰ 1

pork barrel scam was exposed in July last year and he was implicated in the alleged

racket.

“After going through these documents and initial examination, it appears that the signatures and/or my initials on these documents are my signatures or that of my authorized representatives,” Revilla said in his letter.

The letter was part of the special audit conducted by the COA on the congressional Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) releases from 2007 to 2009 during which P503.69 million of Revilla’s pork barrel allegedly went to dubious nongovernment organizations (NGOs).

Revilla, along with Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada, was named in a plunder complaint filed in the Office of the Ombudsman in September in connection with a P10-billion PDAF racket that allegedly diverted state funds into ghost projects and kickbacks purportedly engineered

by Napoles.

Napoles is detained on a serious illegal detention charge involving her personal aide, Benhur Luy. She allegedly had Luy detained to prevent him from exposing her alleged multibillion-peso scam.

The senators and Napoles have all denied any wrongdoing.

Revilla is scheduled to deliver a privilege speech on the Senate floor today at the resumption of its session following the holiday break.

“In the main, it’s to clear his name and affirm his commitment to the truth in the face of false allegations against him,” said Joel Bodegon, Revilla’s counsel. “More importantly, he wants those responsible, particularly the whistle-blowers led by Benhur Luy, prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

The Inquirer.net will post live-blogging updates on Revilla’s speech.

Signatures authenticated

Last October, Revilla filed a civil suit in his home province Cavite accusing former employees of Napoles who had turned whistle-blowers of falsifying documents and forging his signatures on the release of P500 million of his PDAF and demanding that they return the money to the government.

BY JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer

Sen. Bong Revilla named in a plunder complaint in the Office of Ombudsman.

PHOTO FROM BANDERA.INQUIRER.NET

In his July 8, 2011, letter, Revilla expressed gratitude to the COA for reviewing his PDAF releases.

“I appreciate the efforts being undertaken now by the COA and it also gives me the chance and opportunity to ask the various implementing agencies why it took the central office of the commission to initiate this and would not submit their own performance audit and evaluation to me directly every end of the year whether these projects and programs are effective, beneficial and were able to reach more end users and target beneficiaries. I suppose they have their annual audit report and these funds are duly included and audited on those yearly reports,” said Revilla, who requested a copy of the results of the special audit immediately.

Revilla’s letter was in response to the COA’s request that he authenticate his signatures on documents submitted by NGOs implementing his PDAF projects—National Agribusiness Corp., ZNAC Rubber Estate Corp., National Livelihood Development Corp. (NLDC), and Technology Resource Center. The documents included liquidation and disbursement reports, letters to Cabinet officials and implementing agency heads and project proposals and financial plans.

In a counteraffidavit, Alexis Sevidal, head of NLDC Accounts Servicing and Asset Management Group, insisted that his agency’s role in releasing Revilla’s pork was limited to documentation and liquidation as “the responsibilities of ensuring that the NGOs are legitimate and capable of implementing the projects… rest upon the lawmakers.”

Sevidal, who is among those under investigation by the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged Napoles scam, presented as evidence Revilla’s letter to NLDC chair Gondolina

Amata in which the actor identified the projects, their costs (combined P135 milion) and the NGO beneficiaries (controlled by Napoles).

Earlier Revilla letter

In an earlier letter dated Aug. 17, 2009, Revilla said the Department of Budget and Management had already released the Notice of Cash Allotment for these projects and that he had appointed his chief of staff, Richard Cambe, “to monitor and assist in the implementation thereof and act and sign on my behalf all other documents needed.”

Revilla named Agri and Economic Program for Farmers Foundation Inc. (P45 million), Social Development Program For Farmers Foundation Inc. (P40 million), Masaganang Ani Para sa Magsasaka Foundation, Inc. (P30 million) and Agricultura para sa Magbubukid Foundation Inc. (P20 million) “as our partners in the implementation of the program.”

The four NGOs were among the 20 foundations that Luy claimed were bogus and controlled by Napoles.

Sevidal also presented a letter dated Sept. 8, 2009, from Enrile endorsing Revilla’s pet projects. Sevidal said the memorandum of agreements (MOA) signed between NLDC and Revilla’s preferred NGOs showed a “clear pattern” that the identification of the project, determination of the project cost and choice of the NGO is done by the lawmaker and Napoles and only communicated to and imposed upon NLDC, before the execution of the MOA.” He said the MOAs were “done deals” even before NLDC entered the scheme. “Nowhere in these stages did I ever participate, as an employee of NLDC, or in my personal capacity,” Sevidal said. ■ With a report from TJ A. Burgonio www.canadianinquirer.net

IT’S ABOUT time the Church became more involved in the crusade against political dynasties, according to lay Catholic groups.

With the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) set to hold its plenary assembly, the lay organizations are calling on the Church hierarchy to get behind a people’s initiative being organized for the adoption of a national law to implement the antipolitical dynasty prohibition in the Constitution.

According to sources in the CBCP and the lay groups themselves, the antidynasty initiative will be a topic in the assembly, and that they are “almost sure” that the bishops would support a move to start the signature-gathering process and hold the plebiscite for the initiative within the year.

“The Church leaders have already unequivocally stated their opposition to political dynasties way back in their January assembly last year. We are hoping they can support concrete actions by lay groups to conduct the initiative as well as mobilize the faithful to support the initiative,” said one lay leader.

The CBCP issued a pastoral statement on Jan. 28 last year which spoke about the “widening practice” of political dynasties.

“As monopolies in business, monopolies in politics limit the entry that can bring in new ideas and offer better services.

Political dynasties breed corruption and ineptitude. We are aggrieved that lawmakers themselves defy the supreme law of the land by not following the mandate of our Philippine Constitution given 26 years ago to make an enabling law to ban political dynasties,” the CBCP said in the pastoral statement.

The position of the Church, according to the CBCP, is that political authority exists for the common good and should therefore not be exercised “for the sake of private and family interests or simply for the interests of a political party.”

“When political authority is exercised merely for these narrow interests, it betrays the reason for its existence. Moreover, such situation breeds corruption and inhibits general access to political power which is a fundamental mark of democracy. Therefore, we denounce the continued existence of family political dynasties and the continuing delay of passing a law to implement the constitutional provision banning political dynasties,” it said. ■

Lay organizations are calling on the Church hierarchy to get behind the peoples initiative being organized for the adoption of a national law to implement the anti political dynasty prohibition in the constitution.

PHOTO FROM KAGAY-AN.COM

Philippine News

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 8

Palace seeks help of public vs graft Philippine Daily Inquirer THE GOVERNMENT may have taken steps to curb corruption, but allies of President Aquino in the Senate said much more need to be done to eradicate graft and improve the image of the bureaucracy.

Among government institutions, the Senate recorded the biggest rating downgrade (from a good +36 in 2012 to neutral -8 in 2013) in the survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS) of top executives of some 1,000 private companies in the country.

Fifty-six percent of the executives in Metro Manila and other urban centers polled last year said there was “a lot” of corruption in the government in 2013, a 13-point or 30-percent increase from the level in 2012.

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) was the only government agency with a “very bad” net sincerity rating. From -46 in 2012, the Department of Finance-attached agency scored a -63 in the SWS survey.

Acknowledging the results of the survey, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said the Aquino administration was working to “firm up the infrastructure of government to ensure good governance.”

Coloma said Malacañang was open to suggestions from the public on how to improve its performance.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said the results of the SWS survey were “perfectly understandable,” believing that the Senate’s poor figures were temporary.

Outrage over pork scam

“They are a natural consequence of the public’s outrage on the pork barrel controversy, which involved the Senate as among the affected institutions,” Drilon said.

Three senators—Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr.—were among those charged last year in the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Drilon expressed confidence that the Senate would soon reverse the negative perception that he blamed on the pork barrel scam.

Measures to fight graft

He said there were several

bills meant to eliminate corruption in the bureaucracy.

“The Senate will waste no time as it continues its efforts throughout this new year to institute policy reforms within the Senate and pass measures that will stamp out graft and corruption in the bureaucracy,” Drilon said in a statement.

He said that “throughout last year, initiatives like the abolition of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the Senate inquiry into the pork barrel scam and the movement toward the freedom of information bill (FOI) —which is now in advanced stage of legislation— examples of the Senate’s commitment to its anticorruption and reformist agenda.”

He also mentioned various bills to help eliminate corruption such as amendments to the Sandiganbayan law “to expedite the disposition of numerous ongoing cases bogged down in the antigraft court;” amendments to Republic Act No. 6770, or the Ombudsman Act; and the Whistleblower’s Act and Witness Protection Program.

Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV and Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara pushed for their respective advocacies against graft and red tape, with the former proposing to make doing business in the country easier and the latter advocating whistle-blower protection and freedom of information.

Angara said “the battle [against corruption] has not been won yet despite the valiant efforts of P-Noy (President Aquino’s nickname).”

“A change in culture doesn’t happen overnight. We need people who will report incidences of corruption, those whom we call whistle-blowers,” Angara told the INQUIRER. He said this was the reason behind his proposed Whistleblower Protection Act, to encourage insiders to squeal on corrupt government hands and irregularities in the bureaucracy.

“We are also an author of the FOI bill ever since our days as a congressman,” Angara said.

The transparency measure that makes public access to government records particularly those pertaining to the disbursement of public funds mandatory has been repeatedly thwarted in the 14th and 15th Congresses.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he had “high hopes the government’s anticorruption campaign would succeed.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto expressed optimism that steps to reform the BOC and the scrapping of the PDAF would result in a better perception of the government this year.

President Aquino has appointed a new customs commissioner, John Phillip Sevilla.

Common knowledge

Sevilla, who assumed his post only last month, told reporters at the three-day Good Governance Summit that reports of irregularities supposedly involving BOC personnel were not new.

That, he emphasized, was the “reason why the agency is undertaking a reform program,” including measures aimed at making customs procedures more transparent.

Sevilla said at the summit yesterday that transparency would be a key strategy of the BOC in addressing the deeply rooted culture of corruption in the agency.

“We are committed to implementing radical transparency,” he said during the forum.

At the summit, the BOC launched its key transparency initiative—a portal containing transactions in the agency. In particular, the website will show imports processed in all customs districts as well as the corresponding taxes and duties paid.

tent with the Aquino administration’s anticorruption agenda.

Easy data access

“Even before the passage of the freedom of information law, we find value in crowdsourcing the anticorruption effort through a radical change in our data transparency policies for public accountability,” Purisima said in a statement.

On the same note, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said the administration, which has two years left, wants to instill the culture of easy data access in government.

“Experience has taught many of us that securing key government data can be an arduous, complicated process that may take a while, sometimes much longer than necessary ... We’re changing all that,” Abad said in a statement.

Customs ng Bayan

The Customs ng Bayan website (www.dof.gov.ph/customsngbayan) is meant to give the public easy access to information on customs-related transactions and open these transactions to scrutiny, he said.

He said the BOC was inviting people to help the agency police its own ranks.

“By opening the books of an agency that many Filipinos believe is the most corrupt in government, we invite the public to join us in our war against smuggling that defrauds the government of billions of pesos every year,” Sevilla said.

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, Sevilla’s immediate boss, said the implementation of the Customs ng Bayan initiative even before the enactment into law of the FOI bill was consiswww.canadianinquirer.net

Info on donations

Besides importations, the customs portal will also contain information on foreign donations to the Philippines passing through customs, including those meant to help areas affected by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

Despite the perception of widespread corruption by the executives, satisfaction with government efforts to promote a good business environment and business expectations for the next two years peaked in 2013.

In the SWS survey, conducted from July 31 to Nov. 29 last year, 88 percent of the respondents said passing a strong FOI law would have helped reduce corruption. The number was up from 78 percent the year before.

But it remains to be seen if an

FOI law—a campaign promise of President Aquino in 2010— would be finally passed on his watch.

Coloma claimed that the administration was “doing everything to promote the principle of freedom of information” and that “passing a law is the responsibility of our lawmakers.”

Asked why Mr. Aquino, who promised an FOI law during the presidential campaign, had not certified the bill as urgent, Coloma said: “The President has always been circumspect in the use of this power.”

He highlighted the part of the survey indicating that 73 percent of the respondents felt that the government’s efforts to eliminate corruption were “somewhat/very effective.”

The number actually dropped from 78 percent in 2012.

“Hence, it is evident that the perception on seeing a lot of corruption is balanced by the perception that the government is taking steps to eradicate corruption,” he said.

Even without an FOI law, he said the administration had been implementing concrete steps consistent with the principles of freedom of information.

“That’s why perhaps no one could say that this administration does not believe in the principle of freedom of information,” he said a few hours after presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda led the launch of Open Data Philippines.

The project “aims to make national government data searchable, accessible and useful, with the help of the different agencies of government and with the participation of the public.” ■

Philippine News

9 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

Heavy rains delay bunkhouses setup

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer BAD WEATHER in Eastern Visayas has been blamed by the Department of Public Works and Highways for the delay in the construction of temporary shelters for the survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in the region.

Rolando Asis, director of the DPWH office in Eastern Visayas, said “bunkhouse construction activities have been hampered by the continuous rains.”

Another nine bunkhouses were built, bringing to 135 the total number of temporary shelters constructed for ty-

phoon survivors, he said.

The government had planned to put up an initial 222 bunkhouses in the provinces of Leyte and Eastern Samar.

So far, bunkhouses have been built in the following typhoonareas: Tacloban City, 41; Palo town and Ormoc City, both in Leyte province, 22 and 31, respectively; Basey and Marabut in Samar, 10 and 6, respectively; and Eastern Samar, 25.

Only 122 temporary shelters were completed before the Christmas break. Two of them, both in Barangay Candahug in Palo, were turned over to typhoon victims by President Aquino during his visit to the

area on Dec. 22.

But Asis expressed confidence the construction of the remaining 87 bunkhouses “would be finished by the end of January,” weather conditions permitting.

Additional bunkhouse projects in Eastern Visayas would depend on available resettlement sites to be provided by local government units, he said.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson hit back at critics of the agency’s shelter program for typhoon survivors, saying there were “a lot of people claiming to be experts, who are self-styled critics and many more who are plain crazy.” ■

Bunkhouses construction in Eastern Leyte hampered by continuous rains.

UN exec renews appeal for $788-M ‘Yolanda’ aid

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE UNITED Nations’ emergency relief coordinator has renewed her call to the international community to sustain support for typhoon-ravaged areas in the Philippines.

UN Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” still relied on humanitarian assistance despite “good progress” two months since the disaster.

In an appeal issued in New York, Amos noted the low funding for shelter-related programs and how persistent rains in typhoon-hit areas caused even more displacement.

The UN is appealing for $788 million to support relief and recovery programs under its Strategic Response Plan, which aims to support relief and early recovery activities for one year in the areas of food distribution, water, sanitation and

UN is appealing for $788M to support relief and recovery programs.

PHOTO FROM INQUIRER.NET

hygiene, shelter, education, health and livelihood clusters, among others.

Funding gap

Donor contributions have reached $328 million as of Jan. 13, leaving a 58-percent funding gap, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).

“Two months after the storm, the scale and spread of humanitarian needs is still daunting. I am particularly concerned that

just 20 percent of funding has been secured to provide tools and materials so that people can rebuild their homes,” said Amos in her appeal. “[G]ood progress has been made in many areas but people are still dependent on humanitarian support, particularly to rebuild their homes,” she said.

The UN official, who visited the disaster zone in the Visayas twice during the early part of relief operations, also called attention to the impact of recent

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rains on communities where many remain displaced. Ocha had just reported delays in the delivery of aid to Yolanda-hit villages threatened by flooding and landslides.

Approaching rainy season

“The rainy season is approaching fast, and early rains have already led to further displacement. Urgent funding is also needed for tools and seeds so that farmers are ready for the next planting season,” she

said.

“During the next few months, the humanitarian community will focus on ensuring a smooth transition from urgent assistance to long-term recovery and rehabilitation efforts. We count on the continued support of donors for this work,” Amos said.

She noted how the work of government, donors, humanitarian agencies and affected communities themselves “have achieved a huge amount in the past two months,” but Amos noted the “delivery and reach of aid remains uneven.”

She also noted intermittent power supply in affected areas and resource problems in schools.

“Electricity supplies are unreliable in vast parts of the areas affected by the typhoon, hampering recovery efforts and business activities in urban areas including Tacloban. Many schools reopened on Jan. 6, but there are shortages of learning spaces and school materials,” Amos said. ■

Philippine News

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 10

It’s war vs ‘kiddie’ porn Palace vows crackdown on online child abuse

BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC AND NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer MALACAÑANG SWORE to crack down on online child abuse in the Philippines, now one of the top 10 countries in the world where child cybersex is rampant.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Aquino administration would intensify its campaign against cyberpornography, including pouncing on the local protectors of the child cybersex industry.

Speaking on state-run radio two days after Britain announced a global police operation against child cybersex that included arrests in the Philippines, Lacierda said that while the government’s tourism campaign pictured the country as a place where tourists could have “more fun,” its aim was to promote the country as a wholesome destination.

“We don’t want to be identified as a haven [for pedophiles],” Lacierda said.

He said the Philippine National Police had been watching the child cybersex industry for some time and Malacañang had designated Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to lead a campaign to dismantle the trade.

De Lima heads the Inter-

Agency Council Against Trafficking (Iacat), but she said on Friday that the group was not concerned with child abuse alone but also with other forms of human trafficking as well as labor trafficking.

Congress passed an anticybercrime law in September 2012 meant to stamp out cybercrimes, including fraud, identity theft, spamming and child pornography. But the Supreme Court blocked the statute before it could take effect amid a legal challenge that it has yet to rule on.

Opponents objected to provisions that would authorize heavy prison terms for online libel, and give the state the power to shut down websites and monitor online activities.

De Lima said the freeze was hindering the Department of Justice’s fight against cybercrime. Lacierda said, however, that the case was up for resolution.

Lacierda said the law’s provisions were “a ticklish issue,” but expressed hope that telecommunication companies and officials could reach agreement on how to proceed.

Rapid growth

The Philippines has rapidly become a key hub of the billiondollar global child cybersex industry, with operators aided by

widespread poverty and legal loopholes that allow them to remain anonymous, according to Senior Supt. Gilbert Sosa, chief of the anticybercrime unit of the PNP. Paying subscribers anywhere in the world can log in to sites operated from Manila and across the archipelago that stream the abuse of Filipino children on the Internet, Sosa tol a news conference.

“We are the origin, the source,” Sosa said, adding the industry spread rapidly across the country last year.

Police in Britain, Australia and the Philippines announced that they had jointly dismantled a pedophile ring that streamed live sexual abuse of Filipino children as young as 6 over the Internet. In some cases, the victims’ parents were involved.

Among top 10

Fifteen victims aged between 6 and 15 have been rescued in the joint Operation Endeavor in 12 countries, Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said, adding that 29 people had been arrested, including 11 in the Philippines.

Three other ongoing investigations have identified 733 suspects, the NCA said.

Sosa said the Philippines was a “top 10” purveyor of what he

Philippines was a top 10 purveyor of global child cybersex industry.

described as a global “cottage industry [worth] billions of dollars.”

The victims are mostly younger than 18, he said, recounting how he took part in some police raids in Angeles City, Pampanga province, where boys and girls aged between 10 and 14 performed “lewd acts” in front of cameras.

Some of the suspects arrested were Americans or Europeans, with Filipino “cohorts,” he said.

In Manila, he said the streaming was done inside hotel rooms. It is also done in 31 of the Philippines’ 81 provinces, with Angeles, Cebu City and Cagayan de Oro City in Misamis Oriental province being the other main sites.

Sosa said some of the streaming was done inside shanties in the sprawling slums of the country where one in four people live on less than P50 a day,

according to government data.

“The parents themselves facilitate the children’s participation,” Sosa said, adding their earnings help support the families.

Video streaming earned them at least $100 (P4,500) an hour, and photo sessions were worth up to $66 (P3,000), he added.

Sosa said most people who paid to view the activity were from the United States and Europe.

“There is no interest in child pornography in our culture.

So it is mostly production,” he said.

Produced in PH

Tens of thousands of child cybersex images were likely to have been transmitted from all over the Philippines in 2012 alone, Senior Insp. Levy ❱❱ PAGE 12 It’s war

NBI reminded of vow to speed up clearances

BY NORMAN BORDADORA Philippine Daily Inquirer SEN. RALPH Recto reminded the National Bureau of Investigation of its promise to process NBI clearances in just 10 minutes for at least half of over five million applications it expects to receive this year.

Recto made the remarks after NBI clearance applicants— many of whom are job applicants—formed long queues outside the bureau’s offices and even off-site branches to get copies of the required government document.

The agency made the promise to speed up processing time when it asked for a budget of al-

most P1 billion from Congress for 2014 According to Recto, there have been reports of NBI clearance applicants lining up from early morning until very late in the afternoon. Some have even reportedly been staying overnight in front of the NBI offices to assure themselves of a better chance of getting their applications processed the following day.

‘Promissory note’

“When the National Bureau of Investigation asked for more or less a P1-billion budget for this year, it promised to process each NBI clearance within ten minutes,” Recto said in a statement.

“This is the promissory note

it issued to Congress and to the public; that in exchange for receiving this amount, it will process half of the 5,354,000 clearance applications it will receive this year within 10 minutes,” Recto added.

Recto said the NBI’s promise is now part of the law, Republic Act No. 10633 or the General Appropriations Act for 2014 worth P2.26-trillion.

“In other words, NBI is telling us that it you arrive at their office asking for a clearance, you will be gone in 600 seconds,” Recto said.

“The NBI was probably confident of giving quick service that it issued another performance vow, that 50 percent of its clearance clients would rate www.canadianinquirer.net

its service as satisfactory,” Recto added.

Too early to judge

Recto acknowledged that it was still too early to pass judgment on whether the NBI could deliver on its commitment, “despite predictions by those who had experienced queuing before dawn at its headquarters that it won’t.”

“I sincerely hope that whatever delays in the processing of clearance at this stage are birth pains associated with the new system it is implementing because lining up from sunrise to sunset to get a government document must never be allowed to become the new normal,” Recto said.

Recto said the NBI is expected to earn P545 million this year from the issuance of clearances. He said this should be reinvested to make “the long lines disappear.”

“In addition to its promise of a ten-minute processing time of clearances, it has also pledged that 86 percent of the cases it will investigate will be completed within one year,” Recto said.

Recto said he expects the slow processing of NBI clearances will only be temporary considering the reported changes in the bureau’s computer systems.

“I pity Juan de la Cruz if he will line up at the MRT and LRT stations for two hours and then still queue the whole day at the NBI,” Recto said. ■

Philippine News

11 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

FOI bill passage eyed by end-March

BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer TO FAST-TRACK the approval of the proposed Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, Sen. Grace Poe yesterday urged her colleagues to enlist for interpellation with well-prepared questions.

Echoing the view of Senate President Franklin Drilon, Poe expressed confidence that the chamber could pass the controversial measure by the end of March before Congress adjourns for Lent.

She also agreed that the passage of the measure, which grants public access to government records, would be key for the chamber to regaining public trust.

“There’s time to pass it by the end of March,’’ she said over dzBB.

also prepare for these.

Interpellations on the measure resume on Dec. 27.

“I’ve requested the other senators to prepare their questions because the questions seemed like ampao (weak). Some would ask questions this week, and then resume the questioning again next week,’’ Poe said.

She said this early, col-

Sign up early

But Poe, who began defending the measure on the floor in December since she sponsored it as chair of the committee on public information, hoped this would not be tied up by on and off interpellations.

She said her colleagues should sign up early on for interpellation and come up with solid questions so she could

leagues should notify her committee of their decision to interpellate her next week. This way, the interpellation could be wrapped up early.

Support given

But otherwise, there was a bipartisan support for the measure, Poe said.

“But we should pass an FOI law that we are proud of and is beneficial to everyone. We can’t pass one just for the sake of passing it, and then in the end, it comes up short,’’ she said.

Drilon last December predicted that the chamber would enact pieces of legislation, including the FOI, by the first quarter.

The House of Representatives has begun hearing their version of the measure.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. vowed to pass this by the end of his term.

The bill’s approval has been tied up in the previous 15th Congress because of Malacañang’s reservations to some provisions.

Exceptions

President Aquino had admitted that his main concern lay with the measure’s provision making transcripts of Cabinet meetings available to the public, except those pertaining to national security and diplomacy.

With such a provision, a Cabinet official may think twice before saying what he was supposed to say because the meeting was being recorded, Mr. Aquino said. ■

Japan technology bring the Philippines disaster alerts through digital TVs

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer NATURAL DISASTER-RIDDLED Philippines can now breathe a little easier with help from the Japanese government, which has agreed to collaborate with the Philippine government in improving disaster recovery measures through a digital TV system.

The Integrated Services Digital Broadcast-Terresterial (ISDB-T) platform, which Japan started using in 2003, is a broadcasting standard that will allow the country to move

from analog to digital television broadcast. This will not only result in better TV signal for households throughout the country, but—and far more importantly—provide these households with a disaster response system.

According to Presidential Communications Operations office secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr., the technology will have built-in early warning broadcasting systems which will enable people with TV sets to keep abreast of announcements and advisories from the ❱❱ PAGE 22 Japan technology

Philippine government acquires more Marcos jewelry, official says it shows regime’s excesses The Associated Press

Former First Lady Imelda Marcos order to relinquish $100,000 worth of jewelleries, the third collection of Marcos jewelleries ordered to be relinquish to the government, the two others were estimated to be worth $8.4 Million.

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—The chief of the Philippine agency recovering the alleged ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family says a court decision ordering Marcos’ widow to relinquish more than $100,000 in www.canadianinquirer.net

jewelry is a victory for Filipinos and shows that crime does not pay.

The chairman of the Presidential Commission on Good Government, Andres Bautista, said Tuesday his agency is proposing an exhibition of the jewelry to illustrate the excesses of the 20-year Marcos regime, which ended in 1986.

The anti-graft court decided Monday that former first lady Imelda Marcos should relinquish the jewelry to the government after declaring it was ill-gotten.

It is the third collection of Marcos jewelry that the government has acquired. The two other collections are estimated to be worth up to $8.4 million. ■

Philippine News

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 12

‘Grave abuse’... merely the authority of its board to fix the compensation of DBP officials and employees,” it said. ❰❰ 6

Arroyo approval illegal

PHOTO FROM OPENTHELIGHTPROJECT.COM/

Philippines celebrates Pinay caregiver’s victory on Israel’s X Factor

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer A FILIPINA who has devoted nearly half her life as an overseas worker won Israel’s first “X Factor”, to the jubilation of her countrymen across the Philippines.

Celebrations broke out on Wednesday, January 15, 2014, after Rose Fostanes, a caregiver and one of millions of Filipino Overseas Foreign Workers, won the television talent show late Tuesday.

Her rendition of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” sealed the victory, enthralling fans in both Israel and the Philippines.

Local and social media were abuzz with congratulatory messages and praises for the unmarried, admittedly and openly gay 47-year-old who has worked abroad for over 20 years in order to support her family. Six of those years have been spent in Israel.

Even the president of the Philippines chimed in with praise.

Through spokesman Edwin Lacierda, President Benigno Aquino sent this message: “We know the situation she was in and we are very proud that she has again given the Philippines pride in the showcase of her talent. The Filipino has an innate advantage when it comes to the arts.... It clearly shows that the excellence of the Filipino can be expressed anywhere, everywhere, when they are given the opportunity to show their tal-

ent.”

Fostanes has been compared to Susan Boyle, a middle-aged Scottish singer who came to international attention when she appeared as a contestant on the TV program Britain’s Got Talent in April 2009. Boyle – despite her simple appearance and shy demeanor – wowed audiences everywhere with her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables.

Prior to joining Israel’s “X Factor”, Fostanes’ worked as care provider for an elderly employer in Tel Aviv.

Israel’s media said her victory put the spotlight on the country’s low-paid migrant workers – including tens of thousands of Filipinos - who work as caregivers or hold menial jobs.

Fostanes earlier in the show likened her joining” X Factor” to a Cinderella story: “Not all workers and cleaners from the Philippines are in a position like this: It’s like Cinderella, you know,” she said in an interview uploaded on YouTube.

Fostanes, who worried about her weight and “plain” looks, was an audience favourite from early on. She captivated fans and the judges alike with her powerful, soulful renditions of songs by Tina Turner, Lady Gaga, Prince and Christina Aguilera, among others.

Her younger sister, Rose, ecstatically told Manila television network ABS-CBN: “This is my sister’s life dream turning into reality. Who would have thought it would happen abroad?” ■

The COA noted that Arroyo’s memorandum was issued on April 22, 2010, or only 17 days before the national elections in May that year.

“The post facto approval of then President Arroyo… falls within the election period ban and is clearly proscribed under the above provision. Hence, since the approval was illegal, there was thus no approval at all,” the COA said.

The perks were originally disallowed by the DBP supervising auditor in 2007 but the management appealed the decision. The COA’s corporate government sector division upheld the disallowances on the OA, EA and the merit increase but the DBP management rein-

stated the amelioration allowance claiming the employees deserved them.

The COA then reaffirmed its original notice of disallowance for the amelioration allowance because the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) Circular No. 2001-03 had already prohibited the practice of granting inflationpegged perks. “[The] DBP’s patent disregard of [the] DBM circular … and indifference on the settled decision of the executive secretary that the [amelioration allowance] is already considered integrated into the basic salary … were acts contrary to good faith,” the COA said.

Refund ordered

The COA earlier ordered officials and employees of 31 GOCCs to refund the government P2.313 billion in bonuses and allowances that they ille-

gally received in 2012.

The 31 GOCCs were found to have paid the “bonuses, allowances and benefits to the board of directors and employees without or in excess of legal basis or proper authority,” the COA said.

The 10 GOCCs and the corresponding amounts to be returned were: PhilHealth, P1.65 billion; DBP, P216.8 million; Central Visayas water districts, P186.6 million; Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, P54.8million; Philippine Economic Zone Authority, P48.5 million; Home Development Mutual Fund, P37.6million; Butuan CityWater District, P28.2 million; Development Academy of the Philippines, P23.8 million; Philippine National Oil Co. Exploration Corp., P14.5million; and MactanCebu International Airport Authority, P14.4million. ■

It’s war...

Lozada, chief of the PNP Anticybercrime Group Digital Forensic Laboratory, told the INQUIRER. An NCA online map obtained by the INQUIRER showed pins all over the Philippines, indicating the places from where images of child abuse had been transmitted.

Lozada said every pin indicated an Internet protocol (IP) address through which pornographic materials were sent to Western countries.

Part of Operation Endeavor, the map showed four hot spots: Angeles City, Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro City and Metro Manila.

In Manila, Lozada said an IP address had been found to have transmitted 640 copies of lewd videos and photos of children.

Lozada said the NCA collected the data through the transmittals received by subscribers in Britain whom the authorities had been monitoring.

“The production (of the pornographic materials) takes place in the Philippines,” Lozada said.

The materials are then sent to clients overseas, mostly in the United States and Britain.

“We will be updating our data in the first quarter of this year,” Lozada said. “We’ll have an ex❰❰ 10

www.canadianinquirer.net

change of data with [ the NCA’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection command].”

Difficult to trace

In 2012, the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group investigated child cybersex in 18 provinces in Luzon, six in the Visayas and seven in Mindanao.

Lozada said it was difficult to trace the cyberporn streamers because of the Internet’s global reach and the “dynamic nature” of the business.

“You use one IP address, which you could then assign to others,” he said.

He said digital forensics focused on the extraction of data or the recovery of digital information from computers or USBs. Tracing the owners of the IP addresses lies mainly with the telecommunication companies, he said.

“This is why we really need the telcos’ cooperation. When we find out the IP address used to send the pornographic-material, then it is the telcos that can trace the specific user,” Lozada said.

That law is needed

Sosa explained that the crime had spread because of the confidentiality observed by the

telcos, but the anticybercrime law would have dealt with that difficulty.

“Under that law, telcos are required to retain their data or log files within a period of six months. Since there is a temporary restraining order, there is no legal basis for them to comply,” Sosa said.

Ronald Aguto, cybercrime division chief of the justice department’s National Bureau of Investigation, said on Friday that Filipino law enforcers were making do with other laws to go after offenders, including one against child pornography.

But these were not enough, he said.

“In these matters, time is of the essence. We need to swiftly get the data from Internet providers,” he said in an interview over dzBB radio.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan said Congress needed to enact new measures to protect children and women from sexual exploitation.

Ilagan urged the House committees on the welfare of children and women and gender equality to call hearings on pedophilia and child pornography to see what new laws could be enacted to fight child cybersex and the sexual exploitation of women. ■

Philippine News

13 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

PH embassy execs in Kuwait face trafficking raps

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer

PHOTO FROM UNTVWEB.COM

Regular reshuffle eyed to curb corruption at BOC

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer JUSTICE SECRETARY Leila de Lima has proposed a regular reshuffle of Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials and employees every three years to curb corruption at the agency.

But the reassignment of officials at the bureau has proven to be a contentious affair, with some Customs collectors choosing to cling on to their posts and even going to court to prevent their superiors from transferring them to another office.

In her recommendation to the House ways and means committee, De Lima said the continuous transfer of BOC personnel, down to the lowest ranked, to new areas every three years would prevent them from becoming too familiar with their jurisdictions, which could foster irregularities.

De Lima made the recommendations upon the request of the committee, which is tackling several measures seeking to strengthen the antismuggling mechanisms in the country’s Tariff and Customs Code.

“In order to achieve the primary goal of obliterating corruption at the BOC, the sense of familiarity with one customs location should be prevented. It is, therefore, suggested that the tenure of customs officials in one station be limited to a term of three years wherein he will be transferred to another station for another three years, continuously until after his retirement from government service,” De Lima was quoted as saying by a House statement.

Attrition law

House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Romero Quimbo backed De Lima’s suggestion, saying that it was one step to prevent familiarization.

But Quimbo added that more needs

to be done to clean up the bureau, such as implementing the attrition law that seeks to eradicate corruption and penalizes customs officials who fail to meet their collection targets.

“But the corruption is not only with the officials. It’s cultural and deeply rooted in every nook and cranny of the agency. A more out of the box approach is needed,” he said in a text message.

“A wide and extensive retirement program and a full implementation of the customs attrition law should be carried out,” he added.

De Lima also told the House committee that her push for the regular reshuffle of customs personnel was in line with the recommendations of the World Customs Organization and other international groups.

Other proposals by these groups include the adoption of an objective recruitment and promotion process, provision of regular professional training to customs officers, provision of sufficient salaries and social benefits, and granting of incentive payments.

De Lima also said the country needs a new Tariff and Customs Code that would better address the needs of modern trade and commerce.

“And in light of public clamor over rampant corruption in the BOC, a new tariff and customs law that will address the widespread violation of the former tariff and customs code due to the incoherence and inconsistencies in its provisions should be a top priority of Congress,” she said.

One of the pending bills in the House ways and means committee seeks to amend the Tariff and Customs Code by prescribing stronger fines and jail terms for those involved in unlawful importation, with the harshest penalty of reclusion perpetua and a maximum of P50 million in fines for those who smuggle items worth P50 million and above. ■

A TASK force of the Department of Justice has recommended a preliminary investigation and the subsequent filing of charges of human trafficking and illegal recruitment against 12 people, including officials at the Philippine embassy in Kuwait.

The Kuwait antitrafficking task force led by Assistant City Prosecutor Darlene Pajarito submitted last month its report to Justice Secretary Leila De Lima after a three-month long investigation.

Twenty-nine women had initially complained against the embassy officials and their recruiters but in the end only 15 decided to pursue action against them.

Their complaints ranged from their agencies requiring them to work for long hours; maltreatment from their employers; while one complained she was sexually abused by her employer and his son.

Recommended to be charged for violating two counts of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as well as the Migrant Workers’ Act and Expanded AntiTrafficking In Persons Act of 2012 was Ibrahim Daligdig Tanandato, Assistant

to Nationals unit head in the embassy.

Also recommended to be charged were Muamar Mamosion, an Arabic translator at the embassy; Omar Khalil, visa 18 case officer and embassy lawyers Khaled Almas and Ayied Al Subaie, and recruiters Wilfredo Palomar Jr., Mariam Macapudi and Dolores Suarez.

The task force also forwarded to the Office of the Prosecutor of the City of Manila criminal cases for syndicated illegal recruitment were Amor Decepeda and Regina Padiernos, employees of Ascend International Service in Manila; Nora Pilpa Sevillano, a Taclobanbased employee of the recruitment firm; and Leojane Tacang, secretary of Suad Alderbas Manpower Recruitment Office, counterpart agency of Ascend.

The task force also recommended that the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration look into the abuses allegedly committed by the Kuwaiti or other foreign employers/nationals.

“And after conducting the necessary investigation, to study the possibility of permanently blacklisting them from employing overseas Filipinoworkers, or representing them in legal cases,” the task force said. ■

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Philippine News

PH protests vs China anew

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE PHILIPPINES again called on China to respect international law and the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) after Beijing insisted it will regulate fishing in the disputed South China Sea despite protests by neighboring countries.

China’s southern Hainan province has passed a law, which took effect this month, requiring foreign fishermen to seek Beijing’s approval to operate in the South China Sea— which includes parts of the Philippines’ EEZ in the West Philippine Sea—which Beijing claims under its exclusive jurisdiction.

Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, the foreign affairs spokesperson, yesterday said that the Philippines had asked China to clarify the Hainan edict and was told by Beijing that it was “an implementation of China’s fisheries law and that the region is under Chinese jurisdiction.”

‘Strong protest’

“The DFA reiterates its strong protest which we have made on Jun. 28, 2012, since the jurisdiction of Hainan province included Philippine territories and impinges on the Philippine EEZ,” Hernandez said.

“The Philippines calls on China to conform with international law particularly Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea),” he said.

The Philippines, through the

Philippine Embassy in Beijing, last week sought China’s explanation for its new regulation, which requires foreign vessels to seek permission before fishing or exploring South China Sea. The measure has prompted expressions of concern from several nations, citing how the new Chinese law threatens freedom of navigation and violates international law.

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea, putting it at odds with Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan, which also claim parts of the busy waters as their territory.

‘Provocative, dangerous’

The United States has criticized the Chinese regulation as “provocative and potentially dangerous.”

China is implementing the fishing regulation even as the Philippines is pursuing an arbitration bid before the United Nations to nullify Beijing’s “excessive” nine-dash line claim encompassing almost all of the South China Sea, and to halt Chinese’ incursions into the country’s EEZ. Beijing has shunned the arbitration process invoking “indisputable” sovereignty over the waters.

The Philippines also has standing protest against the establishment of Sansha City, a prefecture of Hainan province established in 2012 to exercise administrative powers over the disputed Paracel Islands, Macclesfied Bank and the Spratly Islands. ■

PHOTO FROM VOANEWS.COM

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 14

‘David Tan’ shows up at NBI

BY NANCY C. CARVAJAL AND JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer A 33-YEAR-OLD high school dropout surfaced to deny he is David Tan, but Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said he definitely looked like the wily kingpin behind a multibillionpeso rice smuggling syndicate that had eluded investigators for over a year.

Davidson Bangayan, accompanied by his lawyer, Benito Salazar, presented himself at the Department of Justice and later at the National Bureau of Investigation. He was briefly detained for further questioning—not on rice smuggling but for allegedly pilfering electricity.

Bangayan, who was subsequently released, told the INQUIRER that he had nothing to do with smuggling rice, but admitted he “dabbles in selling rice.”

“No need to smuggle rice because importation has been liberalized,” he said in a brief interview at the NBI headquarters. He said he voluntarily showed up after he saw photographs of David Tan in TV news reports on Monday that looked like him.

“By his looks, he’s really the one in the photo submitted tome by the NBI. Their initial finding is that Davidson Bangayan and David Tan is one and the same person. The one in the photo is really him and he said he also saw his photo on TV that’s why he decided to surface,” De Lima said.

Witnesses identify Bangayan

Abono Chair Rosendo So earlier provided the Senate committee on agriculture chaired

by Sen. Cynthia Villar with information that Tan and Bangayan are one and the same person. The Senate committee a year ago had ordered a manhunt for Tan but had come up with a blank wall.

Customs authorities said that Tan was behind smuggling activities that had cost the government P7 billion annually in lost revenues.

NBI Deputy Director Virgilio Mendez told the INQUIRER that several witnesses had identified Bangayan as the alleged rice smuggling kingpin. Some of the witnesses are members www.canadianinquirer.net

BIGGEST RICE SMUGGLER? Alleged rice smuggler Davidson Bangayan is

escorted by NBI agents after he appeared at the NBI headquarters in Manila on Tuesday with his lawyer.

PHOTO BY NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / INQUIRER.NET

of a rice cooperative, he said.

Mendez declined to give details of his evidence, but said among the documents NBI has was a bail bond document of Tan with mug shots that clearly showed Bangayan.

De Lima said she was surprised by Bangayan’s appearance. “He said he’s engaged in scrap metal and fertilizer sale, and he admits that he also has a little rice business. He said it’s not that big and therefore he can’t be the big-time smuggler [David Tan] and he says he’s willing to cooperate,” she said.

The justice secretary said Bangayan told her he would speak to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to “find out what he knows about this David Tan and whether he knows something about about Tan being Davidson Bangayan.”

De Lima later said Bangayan wasn’t the subject of an arrest warrant for a criminal case pending in Caloocan City for violation of Republic Act No. 7832, or the Anti-Electricity and Electric Transmission Lines/Materials Pilferage Act of 1994.

Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala yesterday said it was a “blessing that what we have been saying all along about a ‘David Tan’ controlling rice smuggling in the country is true.”

Senate hearing

Rosendo So, Samahang Industriya ng Agrikultura presi-

dent and Abono party-list group founder, said: “We look forward to seeing Davidson ‘David Tan’ Bangayan. The Senate has invited David Tan through the DOJ,” said So. “Rice traders, cooperatives and rice millers know him, he is the one selling smuggled rice.

Let’s just wait when they face him in the hearing,” So said.

In a phone interview, Alcala said that Salazar had been doing the media rounds to vilify the Department of Agriculture and National Food Authority and force it to liberalize the importation of rice.

Salazar has argued that his clients were not only willing to pay the 50-percent duty on its rice imports but that the World Trade Organization (WTO), which governed global trading rules between nations including the Philippines, has already lifted quantitative restrictions on imports.

But Alcala stressed that he was just upholding the rule of law as the 18-year old Agricultural Tarification Act (Republic Act No. 8178), which imposed import restrictions on farm products, had not yet been voided by Congress.

“They have to respect the law.

These import restrictions are meant to protect our farmers.

Are we for our farmers or foreign farmers? We have to protect our rice farmers because it is our goal to have self-sufficiency in the most consumed staple of Filipinos,” Alcala said. ■

Philippine News

15 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

SC narrows Meralco debate to just 8 issues

BY JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer THE SUPREME Court has narrowed down to eight the issues that would be tackled in next week’s oral arguments regarding the power rate increase imposed by the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco).

The Court, in a six-page advisory, also instructed Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chair Zenaida Ducut and Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) president Melinda Ocampo to show up in the Jan. 21 oral arguments so they can become resource persons.

The Court said Ocampo, Ducut and Petilla were invited to attend the debate “in view of the complexity of the issues material to the present consolidated cases which may require some technical clarification.”

When called upon, the three officials “are expected to be able to competently and completely answer questions related to, among others, their processes and procedures.”

Last Dec. 23, the high court issued a temporary restraining order on the increase, which were supposed to be enforced in three tranches.

The Department of Energy, ERC and PEMC, along with Meralco and other

power companies, are respondents in the two cases filed by party-list congressmen and a consumers group, both of which questioned the validity of the rate increase.

A third case, filed by Anakpawis Partylist Rep. Fernando Hicap and other militant leaders, was separated because it raised an issue—the universal charge—

that was not raised in the two earlier petitions, which only questioned the generation charge.

The Supreme Court instructed the parties in the case to limit their presentation during the oral arguments to the following issues: Whether or not the remedy that the petitioners availed of was proper; Whether or not the cases and issues raised were justiciable, or can be decided by a court; Whether or not the ERC, in approving the Meralco rate increase on December 2013, committed grave abuse of discretion by violating the petitioners’ rights to due process of law and by violating its (ERC’s) mandate under the Constitution and Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) to protect the public from anticompetitive practices and market abuse; Whether or not the amendment to Section 4(e), Rule 3 of the Epira’s implementing rules and regulations allowing automatic rate adjustments or increases to recover generation costs violated due process and the declared policy of the law; and whether or not ERC Resolution Nos. 10-01, 10-04, both series of 2004, and theDec. 9, 2013 letter of the ERC were valid;

Pinoys in Thailand told to be vigilant; alert level raised

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DEPARTMENT of Foreign Affairs (DFA) advised Filipinos in Thailand to be vigilant and stay away from demonstrations as protesters seeking the ouster of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra continued.

The foreign office also urged Filipinos to defer non-essential travel to Bangkok as it raised alert level 1 over Thailand, the lowest in the Philippines’ emergency system for overseas Filipinos.

“Under alert level 1, all Filipinos in Thailand are advised to exercise vigilance and take necessary precautions such as avoiding the protest sites and refraining from showing support for any of the parties involved. We also urge our kababayan to defer non-essential travel to that country,” said DFA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez.

‘Under control’

Hernandez said the alert level was

raised on the recommendation of the Philippine Embassy in Bangkok even as “the general situation [in the capital] remains peaceful and under control.” He said the alert is hoisted “when there are valid signs of internal disturbance in the host country.”

An inspection team of the Bangkok mission is constantly watching over the situation in Thailand, reporting that much of Bangkok remains business as usual, Hernandez said. “...[B]usiness and commercial activities are undisrupted and modes of transportation remain operational,” said Hernanez, citing the embassy report.

“The embassy is also in constant communication with area coordinators in provinces with significant Filipino populations. The area coordinators reported that there have been no protest demonstrations in their respective areas as of late afternoon yesterday,” Hernandez said.

There are at least 16,300 Filipinos in Thailand as of December 2012, per the Commission on Filipinos Overseas’ latest stock estimate. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

• Whether or not the automatic rate adjustments or increases to recover generation costs amount to a surrender by respondent ERC of its regulatory functions, in violation of Section 25 of the Epira; • Whether or not Sections 6 and 29 of the Epira were unconstitutional in declaring that power generation and supply were not public utilities, and that their charges were beyond regulation by the ERC; • Whether or not the TRO issued against Meralco should be lifted; and, • Whether or not the petitioners are entitled to the relief they are seeking from the court.

• The Supreme Court ordered all parties to submit the names of the lawyers who will argue for them on or before noon of Jan. 20.

In the advisory, the Court gave the petitioners, intervenors, ERC and DOE, 30 minutes each to make their presentations before the justices. Meralco and the group of other respondents, mainly power suppliers and generating companies, were given 40 minutes each to defend their positions.

The interpellation by the justices will immediately follow after each presentation of arguments. ■

Opinion

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 16

THERE’S THE RUB

Vultures too

By Conrado De Quiros Philippine Daily Inquirer CYBERPORNOGRAPHY IS now the No. 1 crime in the country, even worse than drugs. So says the Philippine National Police (PNP) after the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency reported that an international antichild pornography operation cracked a pedophile ring in the Philippines operating in cyberspace.

“The data speaks for itself,” says Senior Supt. Gilbert Sosa, director of the PNP Anti-Transnational and Cyber Crime Division, pointing to the pins swarming the map of the entire archipelago. “We have to act on this.” He lamented the fact that their efforts to run after the syndicates are being encumbered by legal constraints, such as being prevented from getting data from the telecommunications companies.

Well, to solve a problem, you first have to know what the problem is.

The problem in fact is not cyberpornography, it is cyber child pornography. Those are two different things, and not being clear about the difference is an obstacle unto itself.

Pornography where it does not involve minors is legal in many parts of the world though strictly regulated. In the United States, porn actors are required

to undergo regular medical exams and, in some states, to wear condoms to prevent the spread of disease. Employing minors—below 18—however is completely illegal and prosecutable.

Cyberspace is the natural extension of pornography. Of course that creates all sorts of problems for countries about how to make sure pornography doesn’t fall into the hands of minors. A near-impossible task for households that have a DSL. Parents of course can always set all sorts of controls on the programs their kids may see, but that presumes they are computer-savvy, which most of them are not. The opposite is often true: Their kids know more about computers than they do.

The thing is, there’s really not much the authorities can do about nonchild pornography, cyber or otherwise. Nor should they. At the very least because fighting crime is a matter of priority. Given limited resources, go for the bigger crimes, the real crimes. At the very most because you get into all sorts of legal tangles about civil rights and privacy issues.

You end up dissipating your resources over something that may not be a crime at all, or at least that is defensible on legal, if not moral, grounds.

The problem is child pornography, cyber or otherwise, although

cyberspace has magnified the problem monumentally. That is a crime, legally and morally, patently and heinously. Preying on the children is so.

It is a crime against heaven and earth.

It has to be stopped.

It’s a crime that is bound to flourish over time unless drastic action is taken. The first thing the relief agencies, United Nations or otherwise, warned us about in the wake of “Yolanda” was the potential exponential increase in human trafficking, particularly child trafficking. And nothing can be

It’s a crime that is bound to flourish over time unless drastic action is taken. a worse form of child trafficking, notwithstanding that it does not entail physical cross-border transfers, than cyberspace child pornography. That is profiteering of mind-boggling proportions, more vicious than the contractors who overcharge the building of temporary dwellings for the homeless.

I remember again the photographs that appeared on our pages of the tribe of children huddling in the relief centers, who had been made orphans

by Yolanda. I remember in particular the seven-year-old boy who sat quietly

by a corner saying in a hushed voice when he was asked if he missed his family—his parents and two siblings who were swept away by the waters— “yes.” You think of the legions like that who will be lured out of need and desperation by the wolves in sheep’s clothing, by the pornographers in saviors’ clothing, and your blood will boil.

I’m all for doing something against it. I’m all for doing everything against it. But even in that respect, we ought to exercise the utmost caution to see that good intentions do not produce harmful results, or specifically that we do not overstep the bounds of due process. I say that in particular because Sosa’s lament that they could do a better job of fighting cyberpornography if the courts would not hinder their efforts to access telecommunications records sounds ominous. But of course the courts are right to stop them in their tracks. Those are dangerous tracks, far more dangerous than opening bank accounts wantonly to expose, or prevent, hidden wealth.

That won’t make things better, that will make things worse. That is a full-scale invasion of privacy, laying out a welcome mat to all sorts of civil rights violations.

But I sympathize completely with Sosa when he says they can do with

some help from the public, in particular by our alerting them to possible child pornography activities in our neighborhoods. The racket cannot be entirely hidden, involving as it does a number of people. I grant it’s not easy even with that, as parents of the children themselves, quite apart from petty barangay officials, are often willing participants in it.

Of course, at the end of the day, it’s still grinding poverty and desperation that cause things like modern-day slavery, prostitution, and child pornography, to happen, to which we contribute hugely. If our officials themselves can mount prostitution rackets in our embassies abroad, preying on stranded overseas Filipino workers who have sought shelter there, our criminals can certainly mount prostitution rackets preying on the weakest or most helpless of our people, who are our children. Or worse our orphans.

Meanwhile, well, we’re not entirely powerless to lessen the blight, if only at the margins. Forget pornography, run after child pornography. Forget those who screw, run after those who screw the children, in more ways than one. That’s hard enough as it is, but it’s more doable. And right on target: They’re the worst vultures of all. ■

ANALYSIS

Businessmen see ‘a lot’ of corruption in gov’t

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer PRESIDENT AQUINO’S ratings plunged to a new low in opinion poll surveys conducted last December in the wake of widespread criticism of his administration’s slow and chaotic response to the devastation wrought

by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in Eastern Visayas two months ago.

In a survey by Pulse Asia, his performance rating dropped six percentage points to 73 percent in December from 79 percent in September. His trust rating also slumped to 74 percent from 76 percent in September.

More embarrassing and galling to the President was the poll finding that Vice President Jojo Binay had a higher performance rating (80 percent) and trust rating (77 percent).

The fall of the President’s performance and trust ratings pulled down the corresponding ratings of his allies in Congress, a constitutionally independent political institution. The ratings of Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. suffered collateral damage, apparently because of their close association with Mr. Aquino. Drilon’s performance rating fell to 43 percent from 50 percent, and his trust rating

to 40 percent from 46 percent. On the other hand, Belmonte posted 43 percent and 38 percent in performance and trust ratings, respectively. These results deliver the dire message that the public is expressing disapproval of congressional leaders acting as toadies of the chief executive, and it wants them to be more independent of him.

The survey was conducted a month after Yolanda battered the Eastern Visayas, and after the government came under heavy criticism from the international media for its slow response in providing relief assistance to typhoon survivors in the form of food, medicines, and medical services. The President was criticized for playing down the death toll; he said it was closer to 2,500 than to the estimate of 10,000 made by local officials.

As of early January, the death toll stood at more than 6,100, with more than 1,000 still missing and corpses littering the streets of Tacloban City remaining unburied.

In another survey that can only further batter government performance ratings, the Social Weather Stations released results showing that 55 percent of respondents considered themselves poor. It was 50 percent, or 10.8 million families, three months earlier. According to

the survey results first published by BusinessWorld, 41 percent of the households were considered foodpoor, up from 37 percent, or 7.9 million families, in September.

These results show that the government’s antipoverty program has had little impact on alleviating poverty. These also reveal that the economic growth claimed by the government has not translated into jobs that could provide incomes to the poor that would lead them to enjoy

Will the administration move on from the survey data and get the business executives to back their perceptions? the benefits of the economic growth.

These further mean that the poor have been left out of the benefits of the growth strategy aimed at creating “inclusive growth,” under which no one is left behind.

According to 2012 poverty figures released by the National Statistical Coordination Board, 10.7 percent, or about one in five Filipinos, is poor.

The NSCB has placed the number of

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Filipinos living in extreme poverty at 7.5 percent, or about 1.6 million. The SWS survey showed that 55 percent of all respondents, or 12 million households, considered themselves poor.

The administration’s claims of being a squeaky-clean and transparent regime have come under attack from the results of another SWS survey finding that more than half of the executives of some 1,000 enterprises in Metro Manila and six other urban areas said last year that there was “a lot” of corruption in government.

Sixty-six percent of the business executives claimed seeing “a lot” of corruption in the public sector—a 30-percent increase from 43 percent in 2012, according to the 2013 SWS Survey of Enterprises on Corruption. But despite this perception of widespread corruption by the business executives, the results also showed that they expressed satisfaction with government efforts to promote a good business environment and business expectations for the next two years.

The results were presented at a Good Governance Summit where the President delivered the opening address, a report in this newspaper said.

The field work of the survey was done during the height of the pork barrel

scandal.

Thirty-five percent of the respondents said they had extensive knowledge and 57 percent had little knowledge of the administration’s anticorruption drive. The survey also found that 38 percent of the executives had personal knowledge of publicsector corruption in their sector in the last three months—an increase from a record low of 33 percent in 2012.

The percentage of respondents saying government measures to eradicate corruption were effective dropped from 78 percent to 73 percent. Only a fifth believed that the government often/almost punished corrupt officials.

More damning is the finding that 42 percent said that “most/almost all” companies in their business sector had given bribes to win government contracts in 2013—practically unchanged from 41 percent in 2012.

The survey was based not only on the perception but also the experience of businessmen in dealing with government agencies.

Now the question arises: Will the administration move on from the survey data and get the business executives to back their perceptions?

Otherwise, this exercise could lead to a mutual cover-up between the government and the business sector. ■

Opinion

17 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

VIEWPOINT

Beyond hometown cheering

By Juan L. Mercado Philippine Daily Inquirer “DON’T CONSIDER this a promotion or waste money with celebratory parties.” That’s the counsel Pope Francis gave Cotabato’s Archbishop Orlando Quevedo and 18 other prelates who will be elevated as cardinals on Feb. 21.

Francis read the names of the 19 new cardinals last Sunday. There are two each from Asia and Africa, four from Latin America, and one from the Caribbean. Sixteen are under 80 and therefore young enough, in a conclave, to elect a pope, or be elected one. Quevedo is 75, and Manila’s Cardinal Luis Tagle is 56.

Italians and Americans were bypassed. “That’s a reminder to traditional Western powerhouses, like the US, where they stand in the Catholic footprint early 21st century,” noted John Allen, Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter.

“At-long-last cheers” erupted here for a cardinal from Mindanao. “A welcome development,” said Moro Islamic Liberation Front chair Mohagher Iqbal. Historian Datu Michael Mastura cited Quevedo’s efforts for the Bangsamoro peace process and work to redress social injustice. “My

prayer is [Quevedo] emulates the sitting Pope’s character, showing great concern for the marginalized,” wrote Bishop Felixberto Calang of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente.

This is a long way for a kid who used to peddle 50 copies of the weekly Mindanao Cross to earn lunch money. Ordained as an Oblate priest, Quevedo worked in Kidapawan, Nueva Segovia, before his assignment in 1998 to Cotabato. In between, he led the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

He defined his concerns in July 2003, when conflict in Mindanao intensified. The root cause of insurgency in the South is injustice, he told the 27th General Assembly of the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference. Injustice to the Moro identity, political sovereignty and integral development … is “at the heart of the contemporary Moro movement for freedom…”

“Francis uses the cardinal’s red hats to offer a lesson to a global church.” There has been a broad north/south shift in the Catholic population, notes the New York Times. Of today’s 1.2 billion Catholics, two out of three live in the southern hemisphere. That will surge to three-quarters by 2050 in a Church that “shifted southwards” over the

past century.

Secularization has emptied European pews. In contrast, Asia has 130 million Catholics, up from 126 million, the Vatican’s statistical yearbook reports. Latin America’s Catholics will rise to 600 million within two decades. There will be 220 million African Catholics by 2025.

“Is the Vatican now in the wrong location?” asked Philip Jenkins in the New Republic. “It’s 2,000 miles too far north of its emerging homelands.”

Those ‘in developing countries are more consumed with issues of economic disparity—a theme this Pope strongly embraced.’

This disconnect became more glaring during the 2012 consistory. More than half of those in attendance were European. Latin America, which has 400 million Catholics and counting, had just 15 voting-age cardinals, while Europe, where church attendance has slumped, mustered 57 cardinals.

Pope Benedict XVI responded, in his final group of appointments, by choosing cardinals outside Europe— which Francis has expanded far beyond expectations.

The two largest Catholic countries, population-wise, are Brazil and the Philippines. Mexico is third. They’ve long griped about being underrepresented in the College of Cardinals.

The United States has a fraction below 70 million Catholics, and like Italy, it is overrepresented. “Both in 2005 and 2013, cardinals from the US cast more ballots to elect the next pope than Brazil and the Philippines combined.”

Leadership in the US Church focused on gay marriage and abortion, the Wall Street Journal noted. Those “in developing countries are more consumed with issues of economic disparity—a theme this Pope strongly embraced.”

There are currently 107 voting members of the College of Cardinals.

Another three will turn 80 by the end of May. Some expect Francis to choose a larger number of new cardinals—maybe two dozen—to buttress support for his reforms. But he can name another eight by the end of 2014 to replace those turning 80, and almost another several dozen by 2016.

Francis kept the ceiling of having no more than 120 voting cardinals at any time. “This maverick pope has shown himself to be a man of tradition at least on this score,” Allen writes. The choice of cardinals from

impoverished Burkina Faso and Haiti is a vintage touch from the Pope who has said that he dreams of “a poor Church for the poor.”

Francis’ choices mark a departure from Benedict’s tendency to appoint cardinals from Western countries, and resume a decades-long push by earlier popes to tilt the College of Cardinals away from the rich world.

Appointing cardinals is a chance to shape the direction and future of the universal Church. That includes overhauling the less-than-saintly Roman Curia, the bureaucracy that runs the Vatican. Francis has launched a broad debate on the theme of family that will touch on delicate issues like homosexuality and divorce.

The reform trend seems likely to deepen further, writes Candida Moss, a professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame, “The disproportionate representation of wealthy nations in the College of Cardinals is something that Francis is trying to rectify here, in keeping with his general concern for the poor.”

We often forget these sweeping changes were sparked by a man who has only been nine months as leader of an institution that has endured sword and theft for over 2,000 years.

Abangan, as Filipinos like to say. ■

(in Queens), most of them of Korean extraction, and a local McDonald’s where the police have gotten involved. And where, writes the Times, “medium cups of coffee ($1.09 each) have been spilled; harsh words have been exchanged. And still—proud, defiant and stuck in their ways—they file in each morning, staging a de facto sit-in amid the McNuggets.”

Several times a day, police on patrol barge into the “McDo” and gently prod the senior citizens to leave the premises. Most comply, says the report, but they either step out for a smoke, or circle the block several times and reenter the fast-food joint once the police drive away.

“It’s a McDonald’s,” said Martha Anderson, the general manager, “not a senior center.”

The irony is that the area does not lack facilities for seniors, including a Korean community center whose manager even converted the basement into a coffee shop that serves coffee even cheaper than McDonald’s.

But no one bothers to drop by. Neither are other fast-food places like a Burger King or another McDonald’s filled ceiling to floor with neatly dressed and otherwise well-behaved elderly Koreans. No one could explain the particular draw of that particular Mc-

Donald’s, except that the seniors say all their friends gather there. *** Sometimes, being too hospitable and welcoming can be a drawback.

But the case of the McDonald’s in Flushing draws attention to other places that hold a mysterious allure to older people with too much time on their hands and the leisure to make use of that time hanging out and observing the world walk by.

Mornings at malls, I’m told, is a world populated by seniors who saunter by in their uniforms of puruntong or walking shorts, T-shirts, rubber shoes and baseball caps, and end their peregrinations with a cup (or two, or more) of coffee at coffee shops, reading newspapers and debating national issues with their friends. Sometimes, they’re joined by preppy freelancers working furiously on their laptops (I’ve seen many sales conferences conducted in Starbucks and, yes, McDonald’s), or by groups of students planning their group project while huddled over a laptop or tablet.

I have yet to hear of a fracas between management, staff and customers over such table-hogging groups, but I guess stopping free WiFi service is but the shot across the bow in an escalating war. ■

AT LARGE

The Wi-Fi war

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer I WAS at SM Megamall recently, prepared to spend the bulk of a day in the premises: There was a 10 a.m. meeting, after which I was supposed to hold another meeting at 4 p.m. In preparation, I brought my laptop and some materials to write my column in between, since it was a “deadline day.”

Well, guess what, the afternoon meeting was cancelled. I didn’t mind it all that much—more time, less pressure to write my column, right?

After our early lunch, I was left by myself at the restaurant and was elated to discover that I could access free Wi-Fi. Only later, after I had checked and answered e-mail and begun to write my column, did a waiter tell me that the mall-wide free Wi-Fi was “good for only one hour.” You guessed it: The hour elapsed just as I was about to send my column. Arrgh!

I tried all sorts of gambits: exiting my account and logging on again in a vain attempt to “fool” the Wi-Fi gods, accessing other service providers, even using my pocket Wi-Fi (just my luck, my prepaid load had just run out).

Anxious not to miss my deadline, I decided to move to another location which, I hoped, would have its own

Wi-Fi service, even if I had to pay for it. The first place I stopped by was a coffee shop on the third floor from where I had previously accessed the Internet. Good thing I thought to inquire first before ordering anything.

“We used to have Wi-Fi service,” apologized the young barista. “But the owners decided to pull it out because so many students were just hanging out here and working on their laptops.”

The good news is that I moved up to another floor and another coffee shop which provides Wi-Fi, but not for free. I had to buy a membership card (and a cup of coffee) before the barista would give me the password. *** All of which has led me to reflect on the intersection of marketing, customer service, and free Wi-Fi. I mean, shops, stores, theaters, cafés and restaurants in malls—not to mention the malls themselves—spend millions to entice the public to drop by and spend time in their establishments, believing that the more time customers spend in their vicinity, the more they’ll end up consuming and spending.

But there is, it seems, a limit to businesses’ patience and tolerance for the company of customers. You’re welcome to come, sit and stay—but only for a while. Stay longer, or beyond the

time limit before the staff’s patience runs out—and you become an inconvenience, a pest, a disturber of the peace.

Else why limit mall-wide free Wi-Fi for just an hour’s use? Why ask customers to pay for the privilege of using their laptops along with buying your overpriced coffee and stale pastries?

Isn’t free Wi-Fi supposed to entice your customers to drop by and spend time,

At the restaurant where we held our meeting and had lunch, I asked permission to charge my cell phone and was told I’d have to pay a hundred bucks for the ‘privilege.’ on the expectation that the longer they stay within sight of your coffee machines, the more coffee they’ll order?

And, oh yes, at the restaurant where we held our meeting and had lunch, I asked permission to charge my cell phone and was told I’d have to pay a hundred bucks for the “privilege.” So much for customer service. *** I’m writing about this earthshaking issue because in a recent edition of the New York Times is an article about an escalating “war” between a group of elderly residents of Yonkers

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FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

18

Canada News

Battle between Ottawa and provinces over Canada Job Grant not over yet

NEWS BRIEFS

FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS

BY MARIA BABBAGE The Canadian Press OTTAWA—The battle between Ottawa and the provinces and territories over a contentious federal jobs training proposal appears far from over.

The provinces are glad the federal Conservatives are offering more flexibility on how the Canada Job Grant would be funded, but there’s no agreement yet, Manitoba’s jobs minister said Friday after a conference call with her counterparts.

“The provinces are united in their commitment to working together with the federal government,” Theresa Oswald said in a statement.

“We have seen some flexibility ... which is encouraging but there is still work to be done.”

Oswald said she wants a plan that ensures all unemployed Manitobans are able to access programs that will give them the skills they need to get a good job—a sentiment echoed by her more combative Ontario counterpart.

Ottawa’s plan to drain hundreds of millions of dollars from provincial and territorial job training programs to help fund the grant is still a sticking point, Ontario’s training minister Brad Duguid said ahead of the minis-

ters’ call.

He wouldn’t say if it was non-negotiable, or if Ontario was prepared to walk away if the federal government refuses to bend on the issue. But he suggested there is room for the Tories to sweeten their latest offer.

Duguid said the provinces need to make it clear to Ottawa that “there’s still a long way to go, but that we hope that they can continue to address these ongoing challenges.”

Allen Roach, the Prince Edward Island minister who is co-chairing a group provincial ministers responsible for the labour market, sent a letter to federal minister Jason Kenney, saying the provinces continue to have

“fundamental concerns.”

“Ministers are united in their concerns and expressed disappointment that you continue to propose to fund the Canada Job Grant through substantial cuts to (existing labour market) programs,” Roach’s letter states.

“These programs serve our most vulnerable Canadians and have demonstrated positive results.”

The proposed Canada Job Grant is supposed to provide $15,000 to each eligible worker, with the cost divided equally among Ottawa, the provinces and employers.

But the provinces have resisted, ❱❱ PAGE 39 Battle between

Money raised for Philippine typhoon relief still hasn’t left Winnipeg The Canadian Press WINNIPEG—Some members of Winnipeg’s Filipino community are upset that relief money raised for victims of Typhoon Haiyan still hasn’t been sent to the Philippines.

More than $70,000 was raised shortly after the typhoon struck last November, but it still hasn’t been forwarded by the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba.

President Lito Taruc says they’re still waiting for matching funds from the federal government.

Ron Cantiveros of the Filipino Journal says it’s a concern to those who donated to find out the money is still sitting in Winnipeg.

The Mennonite Central Committee says as soon as disaster strikes, money must be sent immediately.

Spokesman Ron Janzen says rapid response is key when people are lacking basic essentials such as

food, water and health hygiene.

Taruc says he inherited many problems when he became president of the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba but pleaded with the community to be patient with the organization.

He says he’s determined to deal all the problems, including getting the money to the Philippines.

The organization owed almost $50,000 in back taxes to the City of Winnipeg last October. ■

NEVER TOO LATE TO QUIT SMOKING, EXPERTS SAY TORONTO—For smokers who made a New Year’s resolution to butt out for good but somehow saw that Jan. 1 deadline come and go, this week National Non-Smoking Week and its Weedless Wednesday—offers an encouraging reminder that it’s never too late to quit. Addiction experts and non-smoking advocates are well aware that overcoming the dependency on tobacco is no easy task, especially for long-time smokers. But they say there are numerous aids that increase the odds of making that forever break from cigarettes a reality.

WEDDING INSURANCE EXPANDS AS NUPTIALS GET PRICIER HARTFORD—Worried about the groom getting cold feet? There’s an insurance policy for that. With the cost of the average American wedding reaching about $26,000, insurers have been selling a growing number of policies to protect against losses from extreme weather, illness and, in one firm’s case, even a sudden change of heart.

WHICH OSCAR-NOMINATED STYLES HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO LAND ON STORE SHELVES? TORONTO—From the ‘20s sleek chic featured in “The Great Gatsby” to the flashy ‘70s looks showcased in “American Hustle,” the costume design contenders vying for the Oscar crown are all distinct period pieces reflecting the styles of their respective eras. But what are the chances that fashions inspired by such films might find their way onto real-life store shelves.

Canada News

19 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

Fatal case of H5N1 bird flu reported in Alberta, first North American case

BY LEE-ANNE GOODMAN AND HELEN BRANSWELL The Canadian Press OTTAWA—Canada has reported North America’s first case of H5N1 bird flu infection, in an Alberta resident who recently returned from a month’s visit to China.

The person, whose name and age were not revealed, was complaining of feeling ill on Dec. 27 when flying from Beijing to Vancouver and then on to Edmonton. The patient was admitted to hospital on Jan. 1 and died Jan. 3.

Federal public health officials said confirmation of the rare H5N1 infection was made Tuesday evening and Canada informed officials of the World Health Organization on Wednesday.

Health Minister Rona Ambrose, who took part in a hastily

assembled news conference in Ottawa, said the case is likely to be an isolated one.

“The risk of getting H5N1 is very low,” Ambrose said. “This case is not part of the seasonal flu, which circulates in Canada every year.”

Contacts of the Alberta resident and the health-care workers who cared for the patient are being monitored for signs of illness but to date there does not appear to have been onward transmission of the virus.

“None of them have symptoms and the risk of developing symptoms is extremely low,” said Dr. James Talbot, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.

“Precautions for health care staff were also taken as part of this individual’s hospital treatment.”

As well, the Public Health Agency of Canada will be contacting passengers who were on the same flights as the person

to check on their health. But Dr. Gregory Taylor, acting chief public health officer, said it was unlikely transmission occurred on the planes.

The person travelled on Air Canada flight 030 from Beijing to Vancouver, and Air Canada 244 from Vancouver to Edmonton. Both flights were on Dec. 27.

There have been roughly 650 confirmed cases of H5N1 since a large and ongoing outbreak of the virus in poultry erupted in Southeast Asia in late 2003.

Human cases have been reported from 15 countries; Canada makes it 16.

While the virus does not often transmit to people, it can cause severe illness when it does. About 60 per cent of known cases have died from their infections.

In this case, it was not immediately clear what the person was suffering from, officials said. The patient had a fever,

complained of headache and quickly developed symptoms of a brain infection. But the person did not have a cough, a common though not always present symptom of influenza.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Taylor said initially it was thought the person had a clot in her lung—a pulmonary embolism—but that was ruled out. And after the first visit to hospital by the person, on Dec. 28, the patient was sent home.

The person’s condition continued to deteriorate and the patient returned to hospital on Jan. 1. The health-care team caring for the patient also thought the person might have meningococcal encephalitis,

an infection of the brain. But a chest X-ray showed signs of pneumonia and the unidentified hospital ran a battery of tests. The influenza A test came back positive.

When Alberta’s provincial lab realized that the flu virus wasn’t one of the seasonal flu strains, they contacted the Public Health Agency and sent a sample for testing to the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Taylor said.

The Alberta lab identified the virus as an H5; it didn’t have the capacity to identify which neuraminidase or “N” number the virus had. Almost simultaneously, the National lab discovered the virus was an H5N1, he said. ■

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World News

JANUARY 24, 2014

FRIDAY 20

Questions and answers about Obama’s plan to rein in NSA snooping on phone records and emails

BY CONNIE CASS The Associated Press WASHINGTON —President Barack Obama is putting limits on the harvesting of Americans’ phone records and seeking revisions to a program that sweeps up email and Internet data around the world, seven months after former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden began divulging the secret spying.

Here are some questions and answers about Obama’s plan:

bulk data to be stored somewhere out of the government’s hands, to reduce the risk that the information will be abused.

Q: Why did Obama decide to make changes?

A: The president has been under pressure since Snowden took an estimated 1.7 million documents from the NSA and gave them to journalists around the world. The U.S. public, Congress and allies overseas were shocked to learn the extent of the NSA’s post-9-11 surveillance. Soon after Snowden’s disclosure in June, Obama promised to review the system that has changed rapidly as technology improved.

On Friday, Obama defended the work of the U.S. spying apparatus as necessary to protect Americans and international allies. He left the programs mostly intact, but added restrictions.

Q: So where will my records go?

That’s not yet decided.

Obama told Attorney General Eric Holder and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to find a solution within 60 days, about the time the NSA surveillance programs are up for their quarterly reauthorization by a secret national security court. That could mean arranging for phone companies to store the records, although the companies already are balking at that. The government could create a new third-party entity to hold the records, or come up with some other plan.

In the meantime, Obama ordered two immediate changes: • Analysts hunting through data will have to stay a little closer to the original suspected terrorist or organization. They will be able to look at communications two steps away, instead of three.

• The administration will require a special judge’s advance approval before intelligence agencies can examine someone’s data. The NSA has been able to decide for itself whether it has reasonable cause to run a query.

Q: Do the changes happen right away?

A: No. Some involve altering the USA Patriot Act, and that requires Congress to draft, debate and pass legislation. Other changes won’t be carried out until the administration resolves big logistics questions.

In some cases, Obama ordered the Justice Department and spy agencies to figure out how to implement new privacy protections, which will take time.

Q: What about the NSA reading my email or watching my online activities?

A: The bulk collection of online data is supposed to target only people outside the United States, as part of national security investigations. But it does end up sweeping up information about some Americans in the process. Obama asked Holder and Clapper to consider whether new privacy safeguards could be added.

Q: Will the government get out of my phone records?

A: For now, the NSA will keep collecting and storing call data.

The program gathers the phone numbers called and the length of conversations, but not the content of the calls. Obama says the NSA needs to tap those records sometimes to find people linked to suspected terrorists.

But eventually he wants the

Q: What about the phone calls and emails of people living abroad?

A: Obama says the U.S. should respect the privacy of nonAmericans, too. He said he will extend to foreigners some of the protections against spying that apply to U.S. citizens. He directed Holder and Clapper to look into new restrictions on how long the U.S. can hold data

publican leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees have all endorsed the bulk collection of phone records as a valuable tool in terrorism investigations.

House Speaker John Boehner said the House would review any legislation proposed by Obama but “will not erode the operational integrity of critical programs that have helped keep America safe.”

A sign displayed during a rally against mass surveillance organized by the group Stop Watching Us in Washington, DC. PHOTO BY RENA SCHILD / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

collected overseas and how that data is used.

The U.S. won’t spy on ordinary people who don’t threaten national security, Obama says.

He issued a directive saying that intelligence-gathering can’t be employed to suppress criticism of the United States or provide a competitive advantage to U.S. companies.

Other changes include a plan to reveal a little more information about the secret national security letters that the government issues to banks, phone companies and others to demand information about certain customers.

Q: What about spying on world leaders?

A: In response to international criticism, Obama is making assurances that the U.S. won’t spy on its allies’ heads of state.

But the White House declined to say which world leaders are on that “friends” list.

Obama noted that other countries, including some who have complained about the NSA, constantly try to snoop on the U.S. government’s phone calls and email. He says there are compelling national security reasons for snooping on foreign governments and the U.S. won’t apologize for being better at it.

Q: Will the changes satisfy critics of the programs?

A: No. Many civil liberties advocates and tech industry representatives say Obama didn’t go far enough.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called it “the same unconstitutional program with a new configuration.” Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., said Congress “must do what the president apparently will not” and take action to “close the era of secret law.”

Several Democratic critics of the NSA said more must be done but applauded Obama’s first step.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said: “I tip my hat to him. This is the beginning of the mission, but he clearly listened.”

Q: What else did Obama do?

A: Obama called for creation of a panel of advocates to represent privacy and civil liberty concerns before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that oversees the spy programs.

The advocates would argue before the court only in certain significant cases, such as those dealing with a new issue.

Congress would have to vote to make this happen, however.

Obama also is asking a senior White House adviser, John Podesta, to lead a broad review of the use of “big data,” with input from technology companies and privacy experts.

Q: So what will Congress do?

A: Too soon to say. Obama’s actions might breathe new life into the major bill to rein in the NSA, which has been blocked so far by congressional leaders in both parties.

Polls show Americans disapproving of some of NSA’s snooping, and many rank-andfile Republicans and Democrats have pushed for changes that go beyond what Obama announced Friday.

Last July, a plan to shut down NSA’s phone call database fell only a few votes shy of passing the House.

Yet the Democratic and Re-

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Q: Will Obama’s changes make it harder to track terrorists?

For months intelligence agency leaders have vigorously argued that their sweeping programs help stop terrorists. On Friday, Clapper said Obama was focused on striking the right balance.

The president’s own review board recommended that the NSA’s bulk collection of millions of phone records come to an end.

The review said the information gleaned from the “metadata” hasn’t been essential to preventing attacks and could have been obtained through more conventional routes. It also noted that not all phone service’s records are collected, reducing the program’s usefulness.

Yet some changes, such as Obama’s new requirement that analysts get a judge’s approval before querying the phone database, could slow investigations.

Q: What happened to Snowden?

Snowden fled the country before his revelations became public. He is currently living in Russia, granted temporary asylum from the criminal charges he faces in the United States for disseminating classified information.

Some supporters call him a hero and want Obama to grant him amnesty or a plea deal. The White House has dismissed those notions.

“I’m not going to dwell on Mr. Snowden’s actions or motivations,” Obama said. “I will say that our nation’s defence depends in part on the fidelity of those entrusted with our nation’s secrets.” ■ Associated Press writers Lara Jakes, Stephen Braun, Alan Fram and Henry C. Jackson contributed to this report.

World News

21 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

Myanmar denies Buddhist mob killed Muslims, but villagers and rights group fear dozens dead

BY ROBIN MCDOWELL The Associated Press YANGON, MYANMAR—Myanmar’s government denied that security forces and a Buddhist mob attacked a village in an isolated corner of the country this past week and killed Muslim women and children. A rights group said more than a dozen people may have died and that hundreds of people have fled their homes.

The United States and Britain called on the government to investigate and to hold those responsible accountable.

“We have had no information about killings,” Deputy Information Minister Ye Htut told reporters Friday on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Myanmar’s ancient city of Bagan.

His comments were echoed by other government officials.

Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist nation of 60 million

MAP COURTESY OF SLASHNEWS.CO.UK

people, has been grappling with sectarian violence for nearly two years. More than 240 people have been killed and another 250,000 forced to flee their homes, most of them Muslims from the western state of Rakhine.

The northern tip of the state, where Tuesday’s violence occurred, is home to 80 per cent of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims, considered by the United Nations to be one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Foreign journalists can-

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not travel to the area and the work of humanitarian aid organizations is restricted.

Chris Lewa, director of the Thailand-based advocacy group Arakan Project, which has been documenting abuses against Rohingya for more than a decade, said details about the violence in Du Char Yar Tan village were still emerging, with many conflicting reports.

The death toll could be anywhere from 10 to 60, said Lewa, whose sources range from a village administrator to witnesses.

One described the slashed-up bodies of three acquaintances— two women and a 14-year-old boy—found in their homes.

Some of the victims also were hit by bullets, the group was told.

Medecins Sans Frontieres, or Doctors Without Borders, which runs a nearby clinic, said it was concerned that residents who are in hiding may not be getting the medical care they need.

“MSF confirms that on

Wednesday it saw two wounded people suffering from injuries inflicted as a result of violence—one from a gunshot wound and the other exhibiting injuries consistent with a beating,” said the group’s Myanmar head, Peter-Paul de Groote.

Tensions have been building in northern Rakhine since last month, when monks from a Buddhist extremist movement known as 969 arrived and started giving sermons by loudspeaker advocating the expulsion of all Rohingya.

One resident said by phone that the flare-up in Du Char Yar Tan village began following allegations by police that residents had abducted, and possibly killed, one of their officers, triggering a security crackdown.

Soldiers and police surrounded Du Char Yar Tan, breaking down doors and looting livestock and other valuables, said the man, who works as a volun❱❱ PAGE 39 Myanmar denies

Immigration

JANUARY 24, 2014

Japan technology...

ON THE MOVE

Sponsorship Program tions, and make it responsive to the government’s immigration goals.

New Criteria for Sponsorship

BY FRANCES GRACE QUIDDAOEN AND LEO MARCO LUI Philippine Canadian Inquirer SPONSORING YOUR parent or grandparent to Canada?

Know more about the newly re-launched Sponsorship Program.

After a two year-pause in accepting new applications for sponsorship of parents or grandparents, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) reopened the program on January 2, 2014. The temporary suspension was granted to pave the way for a new set of regulations that aims to reduce the large backlog, lessen the wait times in processing the applica-

The redesigned program has more stringent financial requirements for a sponsor who must meet the minimum necessary income (MNI) for a lengthened period of 3 years (1 year under the old program). The MNI is 30% more than the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO) which was the benchmark under the old program. For example, a husband with a wife and dependent child who is filing an application this month to sponsor his parents must meet the MNI for a family size of 5 (including his parents) for the 3 previous tax years, 2010 ($60,745), 2011 ($60,905) and 2012 ($62,023).

When assessing the financial qualifications, the immigration officer could ask the sponsor to send in updated proofs of income, which means that during the assessment, the sponsor

FRIDAY 22

respective government agencies before or during disasters.

Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC) minister Yoshitaka Shindo said that the system will include “the activation of television device even when it is turned off. It will be activated to allow viewers to receive emergency disaster-related information via their television screen.”

“By the time when the next typhoon comes in, which will be around July, we are ready to embark on a working level activity in order to materialize on this objective,” he added.

Furthermore, even areas without electricity can benefit from the system, with TVs powered “by combining the system with a solar panel system.”

To boot, this technology has a built-in mobile transmission that can which makes it possible to send early warning announcements to mobile phones and other hand-held gadgets with TV receivers.

President Benigno Aquino ❰❰ 11

must continue to meet whatever MNI has been set for the respective family size.

Also, under the new program, the acceptable proof of income is limited to the Notice of Assessment (NOA) or Option C print out issued by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

The sponsor (and co-signer, when applicable, who is a spouse or common-law partner) must execute an undertaking to provide for the essential needs of the persons being sponsored, such as food, clothing, utilities, shelter, fuel, and other health care not covered by public health, like eye and dental care. The period of undertaking has been lengthened from 10 years to 20 years and begins upon the sponsored persons’ landing in Canada. It is an unconditional promise of support which means that notwithstanding changes in economic situation of the sponsor ❱❱ PAGE 31 Sponsorship Program

has already approved the project, giving the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) the thumbs-up to lay down the groundwork for the ISDB-T system.

Coloma admits that there is a minimal cost to consumers who wish to avail of the system, which will work on digitally-capable TV sets. Nalog TV users who wish to avail of the system but keep their existing TV’s may need to purchase a set-top box for Php 1000 ($22) for the sake of compatibility.

He emphasizes, however, that the benefits by far outweigh the minimal cost given that the country experiences more than 20 typhoons every year.

“The breakdown of the communications system during the aftermath of super-typhoon Yolanda caused a bit of delay in responding to the needs of the people,” Coloma said.

The broadcasting system can also be applied to other facets of daily life, such as e-government, e-education, news, traffic, healthcare, and sports. ■

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23 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

ANG TUNAY NA KALAYAAN AY WALANG HANGGANAN.

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JANUARY 24, 2014

FRIDAY 24

GLOBAL FILIPINO:

Weng Weng Lives!

BY ERIC S. CARUNCHO Philippine Daily Inquirer IN ANY knowledgeable discussion of Philippine movies—at least among non-native cineastes—two films inevitably come up.

The first, of course, is “Maynila: Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag” (1975), Lino Brocka’s tropical noir classic, thus far the only Filipino film to rate mention in the “1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die” movie guide.

The second is the worldwide cult favorite “For Y’ur Height Only” (1981), a secret agent spoof distinguished mostly by the fact that it starred creepy karate-chopping, jet-pack flying, two-foot-nine midget Weng Weng as Agent 00.

To be sure, the two films represent polar extremes in Philippine cinema.

Influenced in equal parts by European art film and the Asian social realism of Satyajit Ray and Akira Kurosawa, “Maynila” exemplifies a strain of serious auteur cinema that demands that movies do more than entertain—they must illuminate social ills for the edification of the viewer.

In contrast, “For Y’ur Height Only” is pure exploitation, with a cheap gimmick (a midget James Bond) at its core, a bad pun for a title, and laughably low production values, ground out for a fast buck by an outfit (Liliw Productions) that epitomized fly-by-night filmmaking, with an ex-S.O.S. Daredevil at the helm, no less.

But while the former remains highly-regarded among chinstroking film academics (and deservedly so), the latter has inspired the kind of hyperventilating fanaticism among cult film aficionados that Brocka in his grave can probably only envy.

At its center is an unlikely hero.

Born Ernesto de la Cruz in 1957, the man who would be Weng Weng suffered from a medical condition called primordial dwarfism. A mutant gene stunted his growth from birth. His parents had another explanation: He had been conceived in the image of the Sto. Niño, to whom his mother had

been unusually devoted during her pregnancy. The size of a Pepsi bottle as an infant, he would eventually reach two feet and nine inches at full maturity (a fact which would later land him in the Guinness Book of World Records as the shortest adult lead actor).

Weng Weng seemed destined for the life of a freak. Indeed, his neighbors in Baclaran would dress him up as the Sto. Niño for the patron’s yearly fiesta.

His affliction proved to be his ticket to show business, however. He appeared in a couple of Dolphy movies as a comic sidekick before being discovered by Pete and Cora Caballes, who ran a mom-and-pop movie outfit and cast him in his first starring role as Agent 00 in “For Y’ur Height Only.”

It was Pete Caballes who gave him his screen name, after a notoriously potent cocktail incorporating several kinds of liquor. (“Weng-weng” is, in fact, Tagalog slang for “totally wasted.”)

Rumors about the diminutive star’s hard-drinking ways inevitably followed, although it is not clear which came first: the name, or the reputation.

In any case, the world, it seems, had been waiting for a midget James Bond all along.

The film found international distribution in an Englishdubbed version, and was soon a surprise global hit from Iceland to Papua New Guinea, even outgrossing “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” in some Third World markets.

Like so many of his ilk in the netherworld of Filipino B movies, Weng Weng’s star rose quickly and plummeted just as abruptly. By the late 1980s, his movie career had evaporated.

He died young, alone, broke and virtually forgotten in the same ramshackle Baclaran home that he grew up in.

But thanks to the unstinting efforts of Australian cinephile, guerrilla filmmaker and No. 1 Weng Weng fan Andrew Leavold, Agent 00 lives again on the silver screen.

Last November, a select group gathered at the UP Film Center for the world premiere of “The Search For Weng Weng,” Leavold’s full-length documentary about his epic quest to bring to

ILLUSTRATION BY RICARDO G. VELARDE

light the untold story of the diminutive movie star.

It was the culmination of seven years of painstaking work that found Leavold running around Metro Manila sifting through tantalizing clues, interviewing celebrities and nonentities alike, digging through moldy film archives, piecing together the flimsy strands of Weng Weng’s short and sad life.

Eventually, Leavold had a hundred hours of footage, which included priceless interviews with Dolphy and other film veterans, documentation of a surreal trip to Ilocos Norte to interview former First Lady Imelda Marcos, and, crucially, interviews with Celing de la Cruz, Weng Weng’s brother and only surviving kin.

An online campaign on Kickstarter.com quickly raised the $30,000 post-production budget: Clearly, there was a lot of anticipation for “The Search for Weng Weng.”

Aside from reintroducing contemporary audiences to a forgotten icon, the film sheds light on the world of Filipino B movies, a hidden realm of Philippine popular culture that has never been given its due.

“This is a film about an underdog, and I associate myself with underdog characters,” says Leavold, who is currently taking his little film about a little actor on the film festival circuit, where it will hopefully generate more momentum and more interest in now largelyforgotten Filipino movies. www.canadianinquirer.net

“The Search for Weng Weng” is also a cautionary tale: Toward the end of the film, we are brought to a nondescript tomb in a Pasay City cemetery, Weng Weng’s final resting place.

At the height of his fame, Weng Weng was even brought to Malacañang to meet then First Lady Imelda Marcos. (She and daughter Imee offer their recollections of Weng Weng in the film.) When the movie offers stopped coming, Weng Weng simply fell back into obscurity. He was only 34 when he died in 1992 following a series of strokes. The producers of “For Y’ur Height Only” had to pay for his coffin.

It is a familiar story, often repeated.

“Look at Palito, look at Roberto Gonzales, two people I knew, whose downfall and quick demise I had witnessed,” says Leavold.

“We tend to canonize the well-known names and stars, the Dolphys and Nora Aunors, but the little guys, the Weng Wengs and Redford Whites and Palitos are the ones people enjoy watching. But we never give them a second thought. And so when they do fall into a downward spiral, they’re already forgotten.”

The film is an attempt to give these forgotten players their due.

“Part of ‘The Search for Weng Weng’ is almost a gentle reminder: Don’t forget about the little guys. That’s why I loved [B movie producer] Bobby A. Su-

arez, who’s pretty much a pariah among Filipino film academics, and [‘Height’ director] Eddie Nicart, again absolutely forgotten. It’s a reminder: These guys did significant work. Even if it didn’t fall into the framework of contemporary film criticism, it still falls into my parameters of being pretty neat.”

What Leavold considers “pretty neat” should of course be viewed through the filter of a peculiar film sensibility that he calls “smart pulp,” a decidedly post-modern film aesthetic that relishes the unintentional art that can be found in genre films, B movies, exploitation cinema, and the cultural collisions that occur when, for instance, Italians make cowboy movies, Americans make ninja movies, and Filipinos make secret agent movies.

“I interviewed [filmmaker] Cirio Santiago shortly before he passed away,” Leavold recalls.

“He said, ‘why would you be interested in my films, they’re rubbish.’ I said, ‘they’re great rubbish!’”

There has always been a significant subculture devoted to grindhouse cinema. Lately, the movement has even made inroads into the mainstream, with A-list directors such as Quentin Tarantino (“Kill Bill”) and Robert Rodriguez (“Machete”) paying explicit homage to their favorite B movies.

Leavold’s penchant for “great rubbish” dates back to the days ❱❱ PAGE 36 Weng Weng

FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

25

Frozen

Hurray for Hot Chocolate!

BY ANGIE DUARTE Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE WEATHER outside may be frightful, what with climate change exacting vengeance all across the globe. Rainier rainy seasons, colder cold snaps, stormier storms, hotter heat waves: You name it, Mother Nature’s going haywire with it.

We could—at this point—spend the next 1,410 words talking about our responsibility and role in causing and reversing this unwanted phenomenon.

We could, but we won’t. Am not quite in the zone for such seriousness at the moment. Except perhaps to say this: It IS serious.

It IS weighty. And we MUST do what we can to change it.

Instead, let us talk of matters more light-hearted in nature.

The delightful “pick-me-ups” in the face of frightful, depressing weather: a good book, a comfy couch, a good book read on a comfy couch. Delightful, but not quite bliss until you add— wait for it—a cup of rich, pipinghot, liquid joy: HOT CHOCOLATE. This is the trifecta that just about guarantees hours happily wiled-away (grammar geek alert: this means the same as “to while-away”) indoors as the psychotic weather rages away.

Cacao Curiosities

Before hot chocolate became the creature comfort drink of choice for curling up indoors during a spell of bad weather, or a as a frigid day treat for pinkcheeked children, it was a drink of the gods.

History credits the earliest cultivation of cacao to ancient Mesoamerica, by the Olmec, living in southern Mexico. In those days, cacao served a religious, financial, and nutritional purpose.

Xocolātl, the drink that was made with cacao, was considered sacred—even magical—by the Mesoamericans. It was used during initiation ceremo-

nies, funerals, and marriages.

It was also consumed for added virility and strength. If you ask me, this gives credence to a belief many of us have steadfastly held: Chocolate is spiritual in essence and we are validated for worshipping at its altar.

Cacao beans were also used as currency (the precursor to today’s chocolate coins, perhaps?) during those days.

Hence, eating or drinking chocolate was like scarfing or gulping down your cash and was a luxury mainly enjoyed by the elite.

Cacao was cultivated and consumed by the Olmecs and Mayans, but is most famously associated with the Aztec civilization. The Olmec passed the chocolate drink on to the Maya civilization, which in turn passed it on to the Aztecs.

It is recorded in the annals of history that legendary Aztec leader Montezuma II demanded cacao beans from conquered peoples as tribute, and that he—in a show of power and opulence—drank goblet after goblet of chocolate every day. It is also of curiosity to note that the Aztecs commonly drank it as a cold beverage and often mixed wine or chili peppers into it.

The Aztecs, like the Mesoamericans, valued chocolate as a sacred liquid; much like blood, which was also deemed sacred. Cacao seeds were used in their religious ceremonies as a representation of the human heart. The connection between blood and chocolate was especially strong for warriors and it was served at their solemn initiation ceremonies.

Apart from his own chocolate indulgence, the only other people Montezuma allowed to drink the beverage were those who served in a military capacity, that they would stay strong and alert; qualities which they believed were enhanced by chocolate consumption.

By way of a side note, Montezuma was not the only who incorporated hot chocolate in

the military. During the Revolutionary War, medics gave the beverage to wounded, sick, or tired soldiers to speed-up the process of recovery. Hot chocolate was also included in military rations given to soldiers, so that they could make the drink themselves. Again, proving what I have long believed: Chocolate is healing.

Years later, Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs and brought the popular drink to Spain, where it was (not surprisingly) a big hit, spreading throughout Europe and, eventually, the world.

Hot Chocolate Cocoa?

versus

Hot

Whereas most of us think that hot chocolate and hot cocoa are the same thing, technically, they are not. Chocolate starts off as cacao seeds (most commonly known as cocoa beans) from pods on the bark of the Theobroma cacao tree.

After a process of fermenting, drying, and roasting the seeds, the shells are removed, leaving the cacao nibs. The nibs are then crushed into a thick paste (called chocolate liquor, which despite the name, contains no alcohol), which is made up of cocoa solids and cocoa butter.

The ancient peoples of Mesoamerica used to mix this paste with water to make the highly regarded drink.

Chocolate was made this way and consumed almost entirely as a drink for many years until 1828, when Dutch chemist Coenraad Johannes van Houten developed a process to separate most of the fat—the cocoa butter—from the chocolate liquor, turning the mixture into a desiccated cake, which was then pulverized into cocoa powder. In this process known as “Dutching”, the nibs are treated with alkaline salts to neutralize their acidity, mellow the flavor, and improve the cocoas’ solubility in warm water.

Hence, the powder known as “Dutch cocoa.” “Natural cocoa”

does not undergo the Dutching process.

From here, quality solid chocolate is made by re-adding cocoa butter to the chocolate liquor, together with other ingredients like sugar, vanilla, milk, various flavours, nuts, etcetera, go into the particular chocolate.

To get our terms straight (and to exponentially increase your chocolate geek quotient): Hot cocoa is made with cocoa powder, be it Dutch or natural, whereas hot chocolate is made with little pieces (such as choco chips) or shavings of solid chocolate. Yummy however way you prefer to have it.

Good AND good for you? My Goodness!

Now here’s a hard and fast fact that I have definitely known and have chosen to believe 100% since the dawn of time: Chocolate is not only good, it is good FOR you. Contrary to what many may ever so erroneously think, real chocolate is not “junk food.”

Research shows that real chocolate (not the stuff that says “chocolate flavoured”, or with “added chocolate”) is a highly complex substance, made up of 400-500 different compounds, many of which contain mind and body boosting benefits:

• Caffeine – a stimulant, which is present in small amounts, varying according to the type and quantity of chocolate ingredients.

• Theobromine – another kind of mild stimulant, from which chocolate gets most of its kick. Theobromine energizes without greatly activating the central nervous system like caffeine does. It is known to help with mood, dilate blood vessels, lower blood pressure, relax the smooth muscles of the bronchi in the lungs (hence, it is also the active ingredient in asthma medications), and can also be used to treat coughs.

• Tryptophan – which is responsible for activating serotonin—your body’s “feelgood” neurotransmitter—in the brain.

• Phenylethylamine – works like an amphetamine in that it releases norepinephrine, responsible for heightened excitement, alertness, and decision-making abilities.

It also activates dopamine, which releases endorphins (natural painkillers) and enhances mood.

• Flavonoids – these antioxidants improve blood flow to the heart and brain, prevent ❱❱ PAGE 27 Hurray for

Frozen

JANUARY 24, 2014

FRIDAY 26

Winter Wonderland: Making the Most of Winter

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer THE NORTHERN and southern hemispheres have been experiencing a unique meteorological phenomenon the past few weeks and it’s what experts call “polar vortex.”

We’ve got our share of the chilly weather here in the Philippines, too. It’s no polar vortex, but it’s definitely colder than the tropical climate we’re used to. There are times that it’s even chillier to take a walk outside that to stay inside an office with airconditioning. I personally am donning a cardigan inside the house at 12 noon. It’s that cold.

Since winter’s about to leave to make room for spring, here are a few activities and recipes to help you make the most of what’s left of winter.

HERE’S A simple yet zingy winter salad courtesy of FineCooking.com.

SPICY CARROT RIBBON SALAD

5)

1 lb. medium carrots (about

2 Tbs. fresh lime juice Kosher salt 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup) 1 tsp. coriander seeds, crushed 1/8 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

Strap on your snow boots and zip up your parka! Take the kids out for an afternoon (or morning) of “snow-tivities” (that’s snow + activities, in case you’re wondering). Let your little ones experience and enjoy the abundant snow—make snow angels, snow men (and women, or even snow animals), build a fort and have a snow ball fight. You can even take your kids sledding!

All you need is flat piece of plastic big enough to cover their bum, a well-padded winter attire, lots of snow free of rubble, and you’re good to go.

This is also a great time to get ready for the holidays. Yep, you read that right. Gather the family in your most adorable winter attire and strike a pose for your Christmas cards and greetings.

You can also turn ordinary

and otherwise mundane winter chores into something fun and incredibly informative by trying out these two experiments from LiveScience that require— what else—snow!

You can try freezing bubbles by basically blowing bubbles outdoors when the temperature is around 9-12 degrees Fahrenheit (roughly -11 degrees Celsius). Make sure that you blow the bubbles high up so they’d have time to freeze while they’re floating in midair.

Mom, dad, and kiddos alike will enjoy this next experiment.

You just need to inflate a balloon indoors (make sure no air is escaping from the balloon) and when you take it outside, it’ll slowly deflate; then watch it re-inflate once you bring it back inside the house where it’s warm. This is a good experiment to teach gas volumes and interaction.

1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil

Don’t forget that there are also tons activities that you can do indoors in the warmth of your electric blanket and fireplace, like game nights, movie marathon, and cooking sessions.

Recipes to Warm the Heart (and

Tummy)

After a day of snowy fun, bellies will be grumbling for sure. And what better way to ease those aching muscles and rumbling tummy than to serve a hearty meal that’s easy and quick to prepare.

ONLY HAVE 15 minutes to make the main course? No problem! Amber of AZ shared a super easy and yummy pumpkin stew recipe on www. food.com.

Peel the carrots and shave them with the vegetable peeler into long, thin ribbons; you’ll have about 4 cups. In a medium bowl, toss the carrots with 1 Tbs. of the lime juice and 1/4 tsp. salt and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the onion with the remaining 1 Tbs. lime juice, the coriander seeds, pepper flakes, and 1/4 tsp. salt. Let sit for 10 minutes then add to the carrots along with the parsley.

Toss to combine, drizzle with olive oil, and serve.

PUMPKIN POSOLE

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces 1 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup sliced carrot 1 cup sliced celery 1/2 chopped red bell pepper 1 3/4 cups solid pack pumpkin 1 3/4 cups chicken broth 1 1/4 cups hominy 1/2 cup sour cream ( I prefer fat free) 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (Parsley may be substituted) 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (I prefer freshly ground) 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I promise this is good) Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken, onion and carrot; cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Add celery and bell pepper; cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in pumpkin, broth, hominy, sour cream, cilantro, salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, and nutmeg. Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes or until flavors are blended. This recipe will feed about 6 to 8 people.

OF COURSE a hearty meal wouldn’t be complete without a sweet ending. Here’s a classic dessert with a twist courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens and Yahoo! Australia.

PHOTO FROM YUMSUGAR.COM

www.canadianinquirer.net

BLUSHING BREAD BUTTER PUDDING

AND

Olive oil cooking spray, for greasing 1 loaf day-old white bread, thickly sliced

100g unsalted butter, softened 2 Tbsp cinnamon sugar 500g stewed rhubarb 6 eggs ❱❱ PAGE 31 Winter Wonderland

27 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

PHOTO FROM SINCEDUTCH.WORDPRESS.COM

A look at British Columbia's biggest earthquakes The Canadian Press BRITISH COLUMBIA has a history as Canada’s hub of seismic activity, with fully half of the country’s top 10 temblors taking place in that province. Here are the five most significant earthquakes to hit the area: 1700: When a quake believed to have a magnitude of nine rolled through B.C.’s Cascadia Subduction Zone, the technology didn’t exist to document it thoroughly. But the tsunami generated by the temblor was chronicled in Japan, placing the exact date on Jan. 26. First Nations folklore suggests the tsunami destroyed an entire village on Vancouver Island’s Pachena Bay, leaving no survivors.

1946: Chaos reigned on Vancouver Island when a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck on Jun. 23, killing two people.

There were reports of extensive property damage as chimneys toppled and building facades crumbled. The quake

also triggered landslides across the central part of the island.

1949: On Aug. 22, Canada registered its largest earthquake since Confederation when a magnitude 8.1 tremor struck along the Queen Charlotte Fault (Canada’s closest equivalent to the infamous San Andreas Fault in California).

Although the quake was felt as far north as the Yukon, the sparse population of the affected area meant there were no casualties.

1970: The Queen Charlotte Fault struck again on Jun. 24, causing a magnitude 7.4 quake to hit the offshore Haida Gwaii region. Once again there were no fatalities.

2012: When a 7.7-magnitude temblor rolled through the Haida Gwaii region on Oct. 27, it was felt across most of north-central B.C. including Prince Rupert and Quesnel. The earthquake triggered tsunami warnings and serious social media chatter, but resulted in little property damage and no known fatalities. ■

Hurray for... clots, improve cardiac health, and have anti-inflammatory properties.

• Chocolate has also been long-held as possessing aphrodisiacal qualities.

I don’t know about you, but all this talk of hot chocolate has left me with ❰❰ 25

a serious hankering for a nice big cup of healthful happiness. And since I’ve reached my word count limit, it’s off to the kitchen I go (grabbing some marshmallows along the way). Cheers to chocolate! ■

CHECK OUT this internet favorite recipe for hot chocolate.

Drew's World Famous Triple Rush Hot Chocolate

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup milk 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 dash hot chili powder 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules 1/2 cup cold milk

Combine the chocolate chips and milk in a glass or plastic dish, and microwave on high, stirring every 20 to 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Mix in the coffee, cinnamon, and hot chili powder until the instant coffee has dissolved. Stir in the cold milk. Strain into 2 mugs. Thin with additional milk, if desired.

Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/drews-world-famous-triple-rush-hotchocolate/ www.canadianinquirer.net

Seen & Scenes

JANUARY 24, 2014

CHIKANG PINOY @ JUAN RADIO Contract signing between Juan Radio’s Ms. B and the Producer and Hosts of Chikang Pinoy’s Pam Gervacio and Lita Nuguid, The program is heard on Farrchild Radio 96.1 FM every Saturdays from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

FRIDAY 28

WORLD VISION SUPPORTS PHILIPPINE’S DISASTER RELIEF OPERATIONS The cheque presentation at World Vision in the amount of $86,466.00.

This is a combined total of all monies raised from various fundraisers two (2) months since the Typhoon Haiyan/Ylanda disaster. All money raised were given to the World Vision typhoon relief fund.

Photo shows from left to right include Michael Messenger, EVP World Vision; Philippine Consul General Junever M. Mahilum-West, Dave Toycen, President, World Vision; Pastor Julius Tiongson, Gateway Family and Community Centre; MP Brad Butt of Missauga Streetville; and Paulette Kinmond, Supporter Engagement, World Vision St. Jamestown News Service

SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF VANCOUVER During their first Board Meeting of the year, members of the Soroptimist International of Vancouver, with some guests, welcomed its new member, Dominique Machefert. Soroptimist is a global women’s organization whose members volunteer to improve the lives of women and girls through programs leading to social and economic empowerment. For more information, please visit: www.soroptimistvancouver.org.

FILIPINO SENIORS CLUB OF BC Filipino Seniors Club of BC Dinner and Dance and Birthday Celebration for Mrs. Domeng Bagunu was well attended. FSCBC Past President Freddie Bagunu hosted and provided a dance entertainment together with his Chiquitita Dancers.

WINTER ESCAPADE

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

Participants to this year’s Winter Escapade are surely having fun in the Philippines. In photos among others are : Phil Consul General to Vancouver Frank Neil Ferrer, Annette Beech, Chris and Natie Sotana, Alan and Jhynette Juanillas-Yong, Carmelita Tapia and Chito Gonsalez of Western Union.

www.canadianinquirer.net

29 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

www.canadianinquirer.net

Frozen

JANUARY 24, 2014

FRIDAY 30

Cover up: Frostbite can do more than nip at fingers, toes and nose, doctors say

BY SHERYL UBELACKER The Canadian Press

were worse than he’d realized.

“When I got home, my hands started throbbing, the pain was really bad, and I knew something else needed to be done,” says Zebarth, who was sent by ambulance to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.

“They were terrible,” he says of his fingers. “They were very swollen, very colourful—black, purple, yellow—and they were losing a bit of skin. I started getting blisters that started bleeding.”

Depending on how low the temperature plunges, frostbite can start developing even within seconds in exposed body parts like the nose, earlobes, fingers, hands and toes, explains Dr. Marc Jeschke, director of Sunnybrook’s burn unit, where Zebarth spent a week being treated.

As with burns, there are different degrees of frostbite, ranging from superficial—often called frostnip—to extremely deep freezing that can even destroy bone.

Exposure to bitterly cold temperatures causes blood and other fluids in the tissues to crystallize, “almost like a freezer,” says Jeschke.

TORONTO—It seemed to Karl Zebarth like a good idea at the time: he had just left a friend’s New Year’s Eve party and decided to dash through the park to his nearby home in Georgetown, Ont., a quick shortcut taken before without incident.

But Zebarth, dressed only in a light sweater and jeans, slipped on the slick surface left by the pre-Christmas ice storm and cut his hands, which he’d thrown out to break his fall.

He couldn’t get up.

“I had drunk a little, but not a lot. It was just the ice,” says Zebarth, 24, who was rescued by a young couple walking by who heard his calls for help and summoned an ambulance.

The temperature with the wind chill was close to a frigid -20 C that night, and within minutes frostbite had begun to set in on his gloveless hands.

He was treated for hypothermia and frostbite at a nearby hospital and discharged, but the next day he realized his hands

“At the beginning, it’s painful,” he says. “We all know this when we go out and shovel snow, all of a sudden it’s painful. Then after a while, because of the crystallization and the cold, it has an anesthetic effect.

It means you don’t feel it.”

“So all of a sudden, your warning signs are gone. So then you don’t know something bad is happening. When the pain goes away, usually that’s a very bad thing.”

If someone suspects they have frostbite, they should get indoors and bathe the affected area in lukewarm water— not hot, as that can cause more damage—and take ibuprofen for pain and inflammation, says Jeschke.

While frostbite can result in amputation, the condition has a much better regenerative capacity than serious burns, and doctors start with less aggressive treatment.

That includes first warming the patient with special blankets and perhaps warm intravenous fluids, covering the skin with aloe vera and applying antibacterial agents to ward off infection.

But in severe cases, frostbite can lead to complications, from gangrene requiring amputation to organ failure from the body’s inflammatory response to sepsis from unchecked infection. “You can actually die from it,” he says.

“Don’t do anything stupid, be cognizant,” he says. “Put lots of layers of clothes on, protect your face, wear hats. Don’t go swimming and stand outside with wet hair, which increases conduction.”

One patient who was admitted to the unit last year was pumping gas into his vehicle without wearing gloves and spilled gasoline all over his hands. The temperature was about -10 C and it took only about 10 seconds for him to get frostbite.

“It was ridiculously short because gasoline conducted the cold extremely well. All 10 fingers, both hands and arms were involved.

But he luckily healed very nicely,” Jeschke says of the man, who was in hospital for two weeks.

Some people are more susceptible to the cold and in greater danger of frostbite, including children, the elderly and those with circulation problems, doc-

tors say.

Drinking alcohol also can make a person more vulnerable to frostbite if they go outdoors with inadequate winter clothing.

“You only get frostbite or burned when you’re unreasonable, when your brain doesn’t tell you: ‘Man, I’m doing something wrong or stupid.”‘ As for Zebarth, his fingers are healing and he’s been given exercises to help recover muscle strength and control. While he’s able to move his hands, he doesn’t yet know if skin grafts will be needed or whether he has permanent damage.

“I certainly learned my lesson of dressing properly when it’s this cold,” says the recent Acadia University graduate. “It scared the heck out of me.”

“And a lot of college, university kids make the same mistake.

I see it all the time, you know, ‘I just live down the road. I’m just going to go home. I don’t really need a sweater.’”

When the temperature plunges, “you’ve got to bundle up,” Zebarth warns. “You’ve got to expect the unexpected and just always dress prepared.” ■

SERBISYONG

PA N G M ATA G A L A N TEAM

TEAM

TEAM

West Broadway 604-736-6121

MCE Warehouse 604-279-1544

Richmond 604-279-1542

TEAM

TEAM

Surrey 604-588-1975

Main Street 604-874-5571

HANDANG MAGLINGKOD SA INYO NG MATAGALAN Edmonton Northtown Mall (inside T&T) (780) 478-7352 Winnipeg 1(888) 947-7376

Manila Express R E M I T TA N C E

A N D

Isabel St. (204) 947-5888

C A R G O

www.manila-express.ca www.canadianinquirer.net

Calgary 1 (877) 502-7376 5th Street (403) 264-1100 Westwind Cres (403) 387-0022 36 St (inside T&T) (403) 452-3600

Toronto 647-352-7376 North York 416-635-7376 Scarborough 416-299-8282

New Regina Office 1201 Osler St. 306-352-9922

Frozen

31 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

Sponsorship Program... or sponsored persons, divorce, separation or breakdown of relationship or moving to another province will not cancel the undertaking. If the sponsored person receives social assistance from the government, the sponsor (and co-signer) will be considered in default of his undertaking and required to pay back the financial assistance received.

In addition to the abovementioned requirements, a sponsor must be at least 18 years of age, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and living in Canada and is not otherwise ineligible for criminality, is not in default of his undertaking with the government regarding a relative he has sponsored in the past or of his immigration loan, is not an undischarged bankrupt and not receiving social assistance from the government of Canada.

Sponsored parents and grandparents and accompanying member of their family class will undergo medical, criminal and background checks. ❰❰ 22

Cross Country Skiing.

PHOTO BY PETAR MILOŠEVIĆ ON WIKICOMMONS

A British Columbian Winter Adventure

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer BRITISH COLUMBIA is home to various winter activities for thrill seekers and adventurers. From dogsledding to cross-country skiing, BC has ‘em all. In fact, mountain resort Whistler Blackcomb is one

of the highest rated ski resorts in North America and was the host of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. According to Hello BC’s website, it is “one of the world's best powder and heli-skiing, head to the Bugaboos in the Kootenay Rockies region.” ❱❱ PAGE 43 A British

PHOTO FROM LIFESTYLE.YAHOO.CO.NZ

Winter Wonderland...

600ml pouring cream 150g caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla paste Zest of 1 orange Icing sugar (optional) Ice-cream, to serve For the Stewed rhubarb: 2 bunches rhubarb, trimmed, washed 300g caster sugar (plus extra, if required) For the pudding, preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 24 x 15cm casserole dish with oil spray. Cut crusts off bread and cut into triangles. Spread both sides of each with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Put rhubarb in prepared dish.

Whisk eggs, cream, caster sugar, ❰❰ 26

Cap in New Applications

vanilla and zest in a large bowl.

Dip bread into mixture, layer on top of rhubarb, then pour over remaining custard. Bake for 45 minutes or until just set.

Set aside for 5 minutes. Dust with icing sugar, if you like, and serve with ice-cream.

To give it a little kick, don’t forget the stewed rhubarb! Cut rhubarb stalks into 3cm lengths.

Weigh sliced rhubarb. For every kilo of rhubarb, you need 300g caster sugar, so adjust sugar as needed. Combine rhubarb and sugar in a large saucepan and set aside for 10 minutes. Put pan over a low heat and cook, stirring regularly, for 40 minutes, or until rhubarb is a deep red colour and sauce is thick. ■

The program was relaunched with a 5,000-cap in new applications to be processed each year. Only complete applications received at the Case Processing Center in Mississauga (CPC-M), Ontario after January 2, 2014 (before the cap has been reached) will be processed. Incomplete applications will not be placed in the queue and will be returned.

Re-submitted applications will be reviewed for completeness based on re-submission date.

Application Wait Times

It was foreseen that if no action had been taken, the backlog could increase to more than 250,000 persons and the wait times for processing of applicawww.canadianinquirer.net

tions could exceed 15 years by 2015.

CIC has issued acknowledgement receipts for all sponsorship applications received and accepted by CPC-M before the Temporary Pause on Family Class Sponsorship Applications for Parents and Grandparents came into effect in November 2011. The length of time of processing of these applications is posted on the CIC

website and updated regularly.

Currently, the total waiting period for processing of application is 43 months to assess the sponsor’s qualification at Mississauga plus up to 65 months to assess the sponsored parent or grandparent by the visa office outside Canada. In the visa office in Manila, Philippines, the estimated processing time is 58 months. The CIC office in Mississauga is working on applications received on or before May 28, 2010.

In terms of processing priorities, new complete applications received under the 2014 relaunch will be placed in queue behind the old applications for parent and grandparent sponsorship.

Fees and where Applications

to

send

Applications for sponsorship of parent and grandparent and the sponsored persons application for permanent residence must be submitted at the same time to the CPC-M. After the

qualifications of the sponsor have been assessed, the package will be sent to the applicable visa office outside Canada for processing of the sponsored persons’ applications.

Fees are as follows: $75 for the sponsorship application, $475 for the principal applicant, $150 for a dependent child of the principal applicant (under age 22 and not married or in a common-law relationship), and $550 for a family member of the principal applicant (including their spouse or common-law partner) who is 22 or older, or who is under 22 and married or in a common-law relationship. Fees are payable by credit card, which should have at least 9 months validity when the application is submitted or by certified cheque to the Receiver General in Canadian funds (the fee payment form for sponsors of parents and grandparents). Other forms of payment will not be accepted. These fees do not include the Right of Permanent Residence Fee, which will be collected at a later time.

How to avoid delay or return of your application

Submit a complete application to avoid return or delay and will be eligible for placement in the queue for processing. Thus, make sure that you are providing accurate and true information. The forms should be completely filled-out. Indicate ‘Not Applicable’ when an item is not applicable to you.

Be consistent with date format.

Don’t forget to sign and date the forms. Be sure there are no missing documents. The documents should be clear and legible and the proper translations are included when applicable.

The correct fees should be paid in the required manner and the complete individual package (paying in bulk will not be accepted) must be sent to the Case Processing Center in Mississauga. ■

FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

32

Entertainment

FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT, CANADA!

Ascending to higher notes BY SOCORROBABES NEWLAND

THERE’S SOMETHING abuzz about British Columbia’s homegrown recording artist and 2013 Variety’s Got Talent Grand Champion, Jerrica Santos. Now becoming popularly known as JERRICA, she typifies the word “eclectic”. Not wanting to get stagnant in one place, Jerrica reinvents not only her good looks but continues to get noticed in mainstream music scene.

“Private Party”

Jerrica wrote the song “Private Party” and produced

by Vancouver-based Rapper Swisslizz. Attended by luminaries in Vancouver musicdom, she held her Release Party of this song at the Annex at the Queen's Republic on Friday Jan 17. “I couldn’t contain my elation”, Jerrica quipped at seeing audience response to her songs.

She performed “Private Party” and a medley of other originals and hits like her first electronic dance music, “Illuminate” to an SRO crowd.

Ryan Seacrest Cover Contest

It just started with an idea, vision and arrangement to whip up a cover song in the summer by prolific musician Trevor Hoffman. And the song: Ellie Goulding’s smash hit “Burn”.

The collaboration amongst Trevor, herself and the Simpson Brothers Band was beyond belief. Highest paid DJ-Host Ryan Seacrest’s Team contacted them a few months later during Christmas and they were chosen to compete on Seacrest’s Cover Contest for Ellie Goulding’s ditty. The group suddenly found themselves an international exposure with 85,000+ hits on YouTube and a feature on Ryan Seacrest’s website.

Trevor Hoffmann is a Vancouver Based Composer, Producer and Musician. He is currently the Vocal Producer for the Hit Show "My little Pony" and currently the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra's Official Composer at only 22 years of age.

The Simpson Brothers are the front men twins of the Simpson Brothers Band based out of Vancouver. They were finalists on the CBC's show "Cover Me Canada". They currently have released their EP "It's Easy" available on iTunes. You can find out more about them here-- https://www.facebook. com/Simpsonbrothersband Dru Hill Live In Concert

It will be another “hot” milestone for Jerrica as she opens Vancouver concert of R&B icon Dru Hill on February 27th at the Gossip Night Club. She’d surely kill this one with her signature highly charged performance. Jerrica is managed by Powerhouse Station Entertainment of Vancouver, BC. ■

CLOCKWISE: Jerrica with the Trevor Simpson bros, with Trevor, poster of the

release party for “Private Party.”

Entertainment

33 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

Vilma Santos bags best actress award in Dhaka Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Valentine’s Show Canadian Tour: Celebrate love with True Faith, Wency Cornejo LET TRUE Faith and Wency Cornejo warm your hearts with their classic love songs at the “Valentine‘s Show Canadian Tour” on February 22, 2014 (Saturday) at the Global Kingdom Ministries, 1250 Markham Rd., Scarborough, Toronto.

The serenade will start at 5 p.m.

True Faith and Wency Cornejo are coming to Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver as part of their Canadian Tour, including Montreal.

True Faith, one of the most accomplished OPM bands, will serenade the audience with their hit songs like “Perfect,” “Awit para sa kanya” (Song for her), “Kung OK lang sa’yo” (If it’s okay with you), “Sumasarap ang gising” (Waking up is sweeter), and “Dedma” (I don’t care).

Expect nothing but the best of OMP love songs from balladeer Wency Cornejo like “Habang may buhay” (While there is life), “Forevermore,” “Without You,” and “You Made Me Believe.”

There will be a press conference as well as a meet-and-greet with prime ticket holders and sponsors on February 21, 2014. They are also scheduled to visit several Filipino establishments in Toronto. Details will be announced.

The audience will also witness Toronto talents like LCPD, Uppercase, Inah Patrizia, Partida, Kate Jose, and the JDL Performers.

The Canadian Tour will continue with “Spectacle de la Saint Valentin” in Montreal on February 23, 2014 at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall inside the Concordia University Loyola Campus.

Doors will open at 3 p.m. Additional entertainment will be provided by bands Addictive Remedy, Frozen Flame, and Kontrapelo.

This won’t be the first time for True

Faith and Cornejo to entertain FilipinoCanadians. Their past performances were marked with warm welcome and success prompting their return to the Canadian stage. They promise an evening filled with love and entertainment.

Concert organizers Pinoy Times Entertainment and Benchmark Management Group are holding an early bird promo—a 10% discount for every ticket purchased until January 31, 2014. Those willing to answer a short survey will automatically get the discounted price on their purchase.

Tickets are $95 (reserved seats with meet-and-greet privileges on Feb 21), $65 (mid-section on first come, first served basis), and $45 (general admission on first come, first served basis).

Tickets for the Toronto concert are available at J&J Ent and Bon Bon at the Oriental Centre at Sheppard and Brimley; FV Foods outlets at Lawrence and Warden, Bathurst and Wilson, and Mississauga; Cusina Lounge at Bathurst and Wilson; and Manila Bakery at 20 Ceremonial Drive, Mississauga. Tickets may also be purchased online at www. ticketgateway.com or by calling 1-877616-0101.

Event organizers wish to thank the presenting sponsor TFC: The Filipino Channel, major concert sponsors Ria Money Transfer, Cuisine Sante, Kubo Magazine, FV Foods and Cusina Lounge, Souvlaki George and Marc Cortez and partners JDL Performing Arts, Action Honda, FilCore Support Group, Radio Insect Records, and all media partners.

For more information regarding sponsorship and ticket sales, you may contact Cheryl Cantonjos of BMG at 647-9622002 or ccantonjos@gmail.com. ■

FABULOUS. This was how the Bangladesh-based newspaper Dhaka Tribune described Batangas Governor Vilma Santos in her portrayal in the award-winning film “Ekstra,” directed by Jeffrey Jeturian.

Held in the capital city of Bangladesh on January 10 to 18, the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival recognized Santos among 21 other nominees, giving her the coveted Best Actress award.

In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Santos said, “I am very happy. Apart from the prestige, it’s a great bonus for our hard work.”

Luis Manzano—in his ABS-CBN Sunday variety show “ASAP”—also expressed his joy for his mom’s recent feat.

“Congratulations, Mom. I love you, I’m proud of you,” Luis said.

Prior to the 13th Dhaka International Film Festival, Santos already bagged the Best Actress award in the Directors’ Showcase section in last year’s Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ABS-CBN

“Ekstra,” one of the entries to 2013’s Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, is about a struggling bit player on television soap operas.

Meanwhile, Iran dominated the festival, winning major awards, including Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Children Film.

Best film was not awarded to any of the 23 entries.

Jury members included Iranian filmmaker Rasul Sadr Ameli, Liberation War Museum trustee Mofidul Haq, and Busan film fest executive programmer Kim Ji-seok. ■

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Entertainment

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 34

John Lloyd ventures into comedy

Angel Locsin, Luis Manzano wants to patch things up

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY KATHERINE MARFALTEVES Philippine Canadian Inquirer

AWARD-WINNING DRAMA actor John Lloyd Cruz didn’t find it hard to shift to comedy for his latest sitcom “Home Sweetie Home.”

Cruz said his first venture into comedy “didn’t require too much adjustment” since he was paired with Toni Gonzaga, whom he had already worked with in the past. Cruz and Gonzaga first worked together in the 2010 film “My Amnesia Girl.”

“I don’t think it would be this easy if I’m paired with someone else. I learned a lot from her, as well as from Direk Bobot (Edgar Mortiz),” he said during a recent press conference for the sitcom. “Tita Linggit [Tan], (TV production training and content development head) told me to just be myself.”

No pointers needed

The actor also said he did not ask for pointers on how to do comedy from girlfriend Angelica Panganiban—a fellow ABSCBN artist and a mainstay of the gag show “Banana Split.”

Cruz said Panganiban had no qualms about his playing Toni Gonzaga’s husband in the series that premiered on Jan. 5.

“I’m thankful that I have a very understanding girlfriend.

We are able to separate personal problems from work-related issues,” he said.

“Angel (Panganiban’s nick-

name) and I don’t discuss work when we’re together. Besides, Angel has no reason to feel jealous or insecure,” he added.

“Home Sweetie Home” is about the struggles of young married couple Romeo and Julie, who live in one house with the latter’s family. Each day, Romeo has to deal with a disapproving mother-in-law, as well as Julie’s snotty teenage sister and importunate little brother.

Cruz said: “This project is challenging in the sense that I play Toni’s husband. I’m thankful for Toni’s trust in me. If not for it, and our commitment to our craft, I don’t think we would be effective in portraying our respective characters. The fact that I have her full trust helps a lot when we work on our scenes as a couple.”

Asked whether or not he thought the role was in preparation for his possible marriage to Panganiban, Cruz said: “Wala pa sa isip ko ang pag-aasawa. Angel and I still have a lot to accomplish as actors.”

He declined to describe what to him was the ideal wife.

“You’ll just know it when she’s finally there. You will eventually forget the standards you’ve set for yourself because you’ll know in your heart that she’s the one for you.”

“Home Sweetie Home,” which airs Sunday night, also features Sandy Andolong, Rico J. Puno, Miles Ocampo, Clarence Delgado, Jason Gainza and Mitoy Yonting. ■

PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF JOHN LLOYD CRUZ

ANGEL LOCSIN still loves former flame Luis Manzano.

This, she revealed in the recent press conference of her latest teleserye “The Legal Wife”.

“Oo mahal, mahal naman.

Andiyan yung love, hindi naman nawala eh,” she said. (Yes I love him. Love is there, it didn’t go away).

In a separate interview, Manzano said, “We’re slowly talking again so sana pupunta dun sa patching things up and maybe rekindling.” (so, I hope that if it will reach the patching things up and maybe rekindling).

Not rushing things

Though they both declared their eagerness to patch things up, the award-winning actress said, “Kailangan pag-usapan muna ang napakaraming pinagdaanan namin…depende yun sa amin kung magiging okay kami ulit.” (We need to talk about it first, it depends on us if we will be okay again).

Angel also admitted that for

PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF ANGEL LOCSIN

almost three years, she and Luis had intentionally avoided each other, while in separate relationships with Phil Young husband and Jennylyn Mercado respectively.

In an interview with ‘Bandila’, the 28-year-old actress added that Luis went to her house on New Year’s day, but cleared that they weren’t able to talk as she was not home.

Being honest

In the same interview, Angel, in near tears, said she just wanted to be honest about her feelings that’s why she announced on national television that she’s still in love with Luis Manzano.

While she’s aware that not everyone will understand her decision, she still did it because it’s quite tough for her to conceal it. ■

Dia Frampton talks about life and songs Philippine Canadian Inquirer ‘THE VOICE’ runner-up Dia Frampton is in the Philippines to promote her upcoming album, which according to her described her not-so-good experiences.

Just recently, she was Boy Abunda’s guest on his segment on “Bandila” where she narrated how she writes songs and deals with life’s experiences.

On writing songs, she said, “It’s just about being honest.

Lots of people out there write about being strong and independent, and I’m kind of the opposite.”

She added that it is crucial to trust one’s instincts, as she believes that a person’s gut feel is right, most of the time.

Memorable experience on ‘The

www.canadianinquirer.net

and Miranda Lambert.

“That was one of the performances where I really let myself go, because I feel like I was singing with a friend,” Frampton recalled.

Her songs

PHOTO FROM FACEBOOK PAGE OF DIA FRAMPTON.

Voice’

If there was a single performance on ‘The Voice’ that she would never forget, it would be singing alongside Blake Shelton

Being a songwriter allows Frampton to express herself more on stage. In one of the episodes of the ‘The Voice,’ she sang one of the songs she cowrote, “Inventing Shadows,” which tells a story of a person who chose to look at the negative side of things despite a myriad of good things waiting for her.

“I know a lot of people like that. I was one of them, you are surrounded with amazing things yet you’re still wanting more, you’re still ungrateful.

That’s a terrible way to live,” she said. ■

Entertainment

35 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

21 Seasons of ‘Parks & Rec’? Dogs love Duhamel Tidbits from the Sundance Film Festival

BY RYAN PEARSON, ALICIA RANCILIO AND SANDY COHEN The Associated Press PARK CITY, UTAH—Associated Press reporters at the Sundance Film Festival open their notebooks: MORE PARKS: For Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan, there’s plenty more life— and acting work—after “Life After Beth.”

The two busy young actors pair up for the zombie romantic comedy that premiered this weekend at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

It was on Park City’s Main Street that Plaza found out that her NBC series “Parks & Recreation” had been renewed for a seventh season.

“Jim O’Heir screamed at me and was like, ‘Seventh season!’ So that’s how I found out,” she said.

How many more are in the works?

DeHaan, 27, suggests 21 seasons total, “So you’re a third of the way through.”

“I mean, I just don’t see a world where NBC would ever let Amy Poehler go. I mean who would want to let that one go?” Plaza said.

Neither actor is a Sundance newbie—

DeHaan was there last year with “Kill Your Darlings” and Plaza was there two years ago with “Safety Not Guaranteed.”

“The first time I was here with that movie it was overwhelming because I didn’t know and I just felt used,” the 29-year-old Plaza said, smiling. “But now I feel like I’m using everyone else.

So I win this time.”

DeHaan—who appears in this summer’s “Amazing Spider-Man” sequel— has been preparing for months now for the difficult task of playing James Dean in the indie film “Life,” which starts shooting next month.

“It’s really intimidating, yeah. But that’s kind of why I did it,” he said. * SHELTER DOGS AT SUNDANCE: Josh Duhamel had lots of admirers at one Sundance party—but this time they were of the four-legged kind.

The actor mingled with dogs of different varieties at an event to promote adoption of shelter dogs. * MOTHER-DAUGHTER TIME: Glenn Close and her daughter, Annie Maude Starke, made an after-hours appearance at a gift lounge on Main Street.

PHOTO FROM SCREENED.COM

Two hours after the Variety Studio shut its doors, Close and Starke sneaked in for some private shopping and bonding.

The two actresses laughed and chatted as they tried on winter coats Monday night, each leaving with a leather jacket and a fur-trimmed, long puffer coat.

Close is in Park City to promote the film “Low Down.” Starke just came for fun. * FAMOUS GAMERS: Stars looking for

www.canadianinquirer.net

a break from the film-focused action at Sundance were able to indulge in some video-game action.

Elijah Wood laid down and flexed his abs to play the “Core Luge” game at the Nintendo Chalet. Kate Hudson kicked off her shoes to play a game called “Hose Down” that involves countless lunges.

Other stars that took time to get gamey were Aaron Paul, Joe Manganiello and Christina Hendricks, who played a ski game with her husband. ■

Entertainment

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 36

Fil-Am may take home Oscars for ‘Frozen’ theme

BY CHING DEE Philippine Canadian Inquirer FILIPINO-AMERICAN songwriter Robert Lopez and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez are the ones behind the hit song from latest Disney blockbuster “Frozen.”

The song entitled “Let It Go” is giving acclaimed composers a run for their money as the song continues to catch on, earning its spot as a nominee for the “Best Original Song” category in the recent Golden Globe Awards and now for the Academy Awards.

“Pinch us!” Lopez exclaimed when he and his wife found out that “Let It Go” was nominated.

"We've been listening to Alan

Menken and all the other Disney composers. We really wanted to join the canon. We're really, really glad that the song caught on like this. The album is now No. 1 in the country," Lopez said, giving credit to years of watching beloved Disney animations.

A win at the Oscars might spell EGOT for Lopez—a term in the industry that means a grand slam win: An Emmy, A Grammy, An Oscars, and a Tony.

There are only 11 members in the EGOT circle.

39-year-old Lopez won a Tony in 2004 for his work in “Avenue Q.” In 2011, he bagged a Grammy for “The Book of Mormon.” In 2008 and 2010, he got two—yes, two—Daytime Emmy awards for “Wonder Pets.”

“Let It Go” was performed by veteran stage and movie actress Idina Menzel. It bested music industry’s biggest names like U2, Coldplay, Pharrell Williams, Lana del Rey and Justin Timberlake, and Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver when it won in the recent Broadcast Film Critics Association’s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

‘Frozen’ is set to take Broadway, but no dates have been posted.

It’s also giving “The Lion King” a run for its money as the topgrossing Disney film of all time.

The Academy Awards will be held on March 2, 2014 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. ■

Weng” (http://andrewleavold. blogspot.com).

“I’m the type of person who loves to dig and see what little mutant mushrooms we can dig up,” says Leavold.

“I’ve since watched thousands of Filipino films, and I can tell you that I would struggle now to make a list of less than a hundred films which I adore and try to tell people about, any chance I get. It’s gone from an interest to an obsession to a life-changing tidal wave, almost. The research that I had started in my ‘Search for Weng Weng’ led me to so many different parts of Philippine cinema history that I can now tell you I love Danny Zialcita films, I love Eddie Romero’s ‘The Passionate Strangers’ as one of his finest films, and ‘Aguila’ of course, with FPJ. FPJ westerns I’m obsessed with at the moment: I’ve seen about 20. Let’s keep going—Joey de Leon, Rene Requiestas, Redford White, Palito…”

Leavold’s obsession with the forgotten byways of Philippine cinema spawned another blog, “Bamboo Gods and Bionic Boys” (http://bamboogodsandbionicboys.blogspot.com), in which he explores not just homegrown obscurities but also foreign productions shot in the Philippines, often with Filipino actors and crews. (For the longest time, the Philippines was the favored location for making a movie on the cheap.)

“A lot of these are B films of

course, but I love the A films as well,” Leavold continues. “I don’t see a stark contrast between the A and B films; there’s a lot of gray in between. Every country has its pulp culture and there are some very interesting examples of A directors working within the pulp genre.

Some of my favorite examples of that would be Eddie Romero’s ‘Blood Island’ films or Gerry de Leon’s ‘Lilet,’ on the surface an incest-ridden Freudian psychological horror film, but an incredibly dense film.”

Aspiring to international status, many contemporary Filipino filmmakers would rather forget that such a world ever existed. When they’re not creating updated poverty porn a la Brocka and Bernal or formal art experiments, today’s “indie” filmmakers seem to prefer catering to more middlebrow tastes, with Korean-inspired rom-coms and Guy Ritchie caper film rip-offs.

“If you have a short list that begins with Lino Brocka and ends with Brillante Mendoza, that’s a very limited sliver of Philippine cinema that you’re going to be exploring,” says Leavold. “It’s usually going to be considered art or experimental, and anything that doesn’t fall within that narrow paradigm tends to be pushed to the side or is dropped off everyone’s radar.”

The milieu that allowed “For Y’ur Height Only” to come into

With reports from Carlo Ramoran, Ruben V. Nepales, and ABSCBN News

PHOTO FROM DISNEY INSIDER ON WIKIPEDIA

Weng Weng... when he ran Trash Video in Brisbane.

“It was a specialist shop dedicated to old forgotten classics, psychotronic cinema, silent films, Australiana, anything that was off the beaten track.”

It was through his shop that Leavold discovered “For Y’ur Height Only.”

It was, to say the least, a lifechanging moment.

“The film itself is so absurd, a party favorite. You can sit there with a group of 5 to 10 people, a couple of six-packs and a bowl of popcorn and have the best night of your life watching ‘For Y’ur Height Only,’” he recalls.

What began as a laugh soon turned into a full-blown obsession, not just with Weng Weng, but with the entire milieu from which he sprang, fully ungrown, as it were. Where Weng Weng came from, there had to be more, he surmised. He soon discovered the other movies in Weng Weng’s filmography, including “D’ Wild Wild Weng” and “The Impossible Kid,” the inevitable sequel to “For Y’ur Height Only.” (Weng Weng made as many as 11 movies, half of which may have been lost.)

From there it was just a short leap to the wild, wild world of Pinoy exploitation films from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

Leavold started spreading the word about this heretofore unexplored realm through his blog “The Search For Weng ❰❰ 24

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being is also now long gone: With dwindling theater attendance, the fly-by-night producers that ground out exploitation quickies have moved on to less risky ventures. The mass market—the so-called “bakya” crowd—that kept Filipino films afloat during their heyday is now pretty much captive to television with its endless telenovelas and variety shows.

As if to underscore that fact, many of the people Leavold interviewed for the film, including Dolphy, Cirio Santiago and Bobby Suarez, have since gone on to join Weng Weng in that big production lot in the sky.

Production resources are now largely concentrated in media conglomerates, for whom movies are simply vehicles for their stable of talents, farmed like tilapia in network TV shows.

There seems to be no room in today’s show business for a freaky little guy like Weng Weng.

“Forty-plus years ago, the term ‘indie’ expressed a film company’s position in the studio pecking order; it was one of pure economics. Back then a smaller company may have resorted to exploitative elements (sex, violence, anti-social themes) to sell their film, but then so did the bigger companies; film was star- and genredriven, not auteur-centric, and if a film happened to be ‘artistic,’ it was nevertheless a com-

mercial release for a mass audience, like all films released in cinemas (whether an audience attended or not was another issue),” notes Leavold.

“The art-versus-commerce schism happened only recently, and has created an us-versusthem mentality which I find unsettlingly elitist and borderline offensive. I mean, many of the indie kids are being funded by the major conglomerates,” he adds. “Still, I think all films have a right to exist alongside each other, as I believe in cinemas, plural, and in diverse audiences who have different expectations from film—the mainstream, the artistic, experimental, the genre stuff. I love the very punk, DIY attitude of guys like Lav Diaz and Khavn de la Cruz, and I can also see in today’s indie circles a return of the pulpier of genres—gore, gun action, sexploitation—alongside the artier, higher-brow dramas. For me that’s a positive sign. Less teen rom-coms and screeching caricatures and more ‘On The Job’s and ‘The Road’s, please!”

Continues the Australian filmmaker: “The last thing I want to do is appear to be lecturing everyone on what they should or shouldn’t be watching,” he adds. “What I’m saying is, all of the forgotten stuff, the stuff that was never considered important enough to discuss, let’s shine a light on them and let’s try and rephrase the discussion.” ■

FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

37

Lifestyle

Bugs will travel: Public health watches foreign outbreaks because diseases move

BY HELEN BRANSWELL The Canadian Press TORONTO—A Toronto grandmother came home from Hong Kong with SARS. A Colorado woman visited a Ugandan cave and brought back to the United States an alarming souvenir— Marburg fever, a cousin of Ebola. And now H5N1 bird flu has jumped the Pacific in the body of an Alberta woman.

If you ever wonder why public health officials worry about far-flung diseases—the latest bird flu, the new MERS coronavirus—the incidents above pretty much explain it.

Bugs travel. Or as public health folks like to put it, infectious diseases know no borders.

Sometimes they hitch rides in the lungs of unwitting and unwilling carriers, people like the unfortunate Alberta woman who contracted H5N1 flu in China during a visit to Beijing and died last week, or the Toronto woman who in 2003 stayed in the Metropole hotel at the same time as a doctor from China who was about to die from SARS. Sometimes they travel in infected domestic animals. The movement of ducks and poultry in Asia certainly fuelled the spread of H5N1 throughout Southeast Asian poultry flocks in the mid-2000s.

They can even move in food: Canada’s last foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, in 1952, is believed to have been started when an immigrant farm worker tossed the remains of a dried sausage he brought from Europe into a pig pen.

We humans move pathogens around, which means we don’t have the luxury of dismissing an outbreak in some far off spot as “someone else’s problem.” It

could too quickly be our problem too, experts say.

“We breathe the same air. We drink the same water.

We fly on the same planes.

And an infectious disease outbreak anywhere is a potential risk and threat to all of us,” said Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the center for global immigration and quarantine at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

“And we just have to constantly pay attention and stay vigilant.”

Some diseases do not spread well beyond the geographic regions where they are found. To date, Ebola and Marburg have largely plagued countries in parts of Africa. But the Colorado tourist and a Dutch woman who contracted Marburg after visiting the same Ugandan cave both travelled home after becoming infected. The American survived, but the Dutch woman died.

And then some diseases, like HIV, explode across the globe.

An outbreak of in 1981 is a perfect example of how travel can spread disease. That year, an outbreak of acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis zipped around the globe along airline routes, says Dr. David Morens, a medical historian with the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

“It went from one airplane hub to another airplane hub and hopscotched all around the world and the outbreaks were right near where the airports were,” Morens says.

Even before the dawn of air

travel, the pattern of people taking diseases along with them on their travels was well established.

In the 1300s, an outbreak of the plague—the Black Death— moved from likely the current Mongolia along trade routes to Turkey and into Europe, says Morens.

It is estimated the disease wiped out 60 per cent of the population of Europe at the time.

“These diseases that spread geographically from country to country spread by the prevailing means of travel of human beings of the time,” he says.

“The pandemic of flu in 1957 was (moved about) mostly by boats. But 11 years later, in 1968 the next pandemic was mostly by airplanes.”

“It’s a recurring theme. In almost any era you go back to for the last few hundred years you’ll find the same. The routes are different, the diseases are different, the mechanisms of conveyance of human beings are different, but the principle’s the same.”

The modern expansion of airline travel has increased the potential for disease spread. As more and more people travel more frequently, the territory

that could accurately be described as “remote” is shrinking, Cetron suggests.

“We’re much more closely connected than the distance on a map would argue,” he says.

“There are very few places in the world where the dots cannot be connected within 72 hours. And that is getting pretty short. That is inside the incubation period of most diseases....

So the speed with which people move and the degree to which the globe is connected, even from remote, rural locations to the nearest urban airport to the next big hub is striking.”

Interestingly people who follow H5N1 cannot recall another case where the virus moved this far from a source country.

People from Hong Kong have been infected in China. But this is probably the first Transpacific voyage for this bird flu.

Still, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, the World Health Organization’s assistant director-general for health security and environment, says watching for this type of movement is critical.

“From the public health perspective, what we’re always looking for with these kinds of viruses is evidence that whenever somebody gets sick that

mayb e we’re seeing the tip of the iceberg, that they’re the first case that we’re picking up and maybe the signal that we’re going to see a lot of other people be sick because the virus has gained the ability to go from personto-person,” he says.

“We treat each new infection in the same way. We’re always a little bit concerned: Is this the first sign of a change in these viruses’ ability to infect a lot of people?”

Another reason is one Canada learned the hard way in 2003. Travelling pathogens can cause a lot of trouble once they land in a new locale.

The Toronto grandmother who stayed in Hong Kong’s Metropole Hotel in February 2003 caught the bug that was about to kill the Chinese doctor; it claimed her life too after she brought it home. The chain of transmission she started resulted in about 438 probable and suspected cases of SARS in Canada, and 44 deaths.

If any country gets why far off disease outbreaks are a domestic threat, it’s Canada, Fukuda says.

“What happened with Canada in terms of SARS being imported ... and then causing a major problem in Canada is one of the textbook lessons in modern public health,” he says.

“So I think that Canada is really one of the countries that understands that even though something may have been happening over there in this world, over there means it may be on your doorstep really quickly.” ■

Lifestyle

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 38

Cost of flying keeps climbing: Airfares rise 12 per cent in 5 years, not counting extra fees

BY SCOTT MAYEROWITZ The Associated Press NEW YORK—The price to board an airliner in the United States has risen for the fourth straight year, making it increasingly expensive to fly almost anywhere.

The average domestic roundtrip ticket, including tax, reached $363.42 last year, up more than $7 from the prior year, according to an Associated Press analysis of travel data collected from millions of flights throughout the country.

The 2 per cent increase outpaced inflation, which stood at 1.5 per cent.

Airfares have risen nearly 12 per cent since their low in the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, when adjusted for inflation, the analysis showed.

Ticket prices have increased as airlines eliminated unprofitable routes, packed more passengers into planes and merged with one another, providing travellers with fewer options.

Today, 84 per cent of seats are filled with paying passengers, up from 82 per cent in 2009.

“Anyone travelling today will know that those flights are full,” said Chuck Thackston, managing director of data and analytics for the Airlines Reporting Corp, which processes ticket transactions for airlines and more than 9,400 travel agencies, including websites such as Expedia and Orbitz.

“Just through supply and demand, those fares will go up.”

And none of this factors in the bevy of extra fees travellers now face for checking bags, getting extra legroom or even purchasing a blanket, meal or pair of headphones. The typical traveller pays an additional $50 roundtrip to check a single suitcase.

Those fees, introduced in

2008 to offset losses from rising fuel prices, now bring in $3.4 billion a year for U.S. airlines and have helped them return consistent annual profits for the last four years.

Airlines pay just over $3 a gallon for jet fuel, up from $1.89 in 2009. Another $2.7 billion a year is collected in reservation-change fees, with airlines charging up to $200 to revise an itinerary.

“I love to travel, but they’re making it more difficult,” said Brian Kalish, a frequent flier from Arlington, Va. “Maybe I’ve been spoiled that it used to be so cheap to fly. It just feels like they are charging more and giving less.”

The AP reviewed data from 6 million annual flights taken in the U.S., analyzing fees and government on-time records along with fare data from the Airlines Reporting Corp.

Jean Medina, spokeswoman for Airlines for America, the airlines’ trade and lobbying group, said over the long-term fares have not climbed as fast as inflation and that flying “remains a great bargain.”

“Carriers continue to invest in their products with new planes, new services and new destinations,” Medina said.

“It’s a great time to fly.”

Airlines are able to push fare and fee hikes because there is less competition.

“You get some pricing power as a result,” said airline consultant Robert Mann.

A wave of consolidation that started in 2008 has left four U.S. airlines—American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines—controlling more than 80 per cent of the domestic air-travel market. Discount airlines such as Allegiant Air and Spirit Airlines have grown at breakneck speed but still carry a tiny fraction of overall passengers.

“Even with the presence of a number of strong, sizable low-fare airlines, you are still seeing airfares go up sizably,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst with Hudson Crossing.

Starting July 1, fliers will also face higher taxes. The government’s security fee is currently $2.50 each way for a nonstop flight, capped at $5 each way if a traveller has a connection. This summer, that fee will be $5.60 each way whether or not there’s a connection. The fee hike is estimated to cost travellers an extra $1 billion a year.

Higher fares did not mean better service for passengers last year.

During the first 11 months of last year, 19 per cent of flights failed to arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled time. That’s up from 16 per cent during the same period in 2012, according to data kept by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

The number of flights cancelled in those 11 months also jumped nearly 15 per cent to 81,265. The government has yet to release data for December, but the numbers won’t be pretty. A series of snow and ice storms led to thousands of additional delays and cancellations.

“If we’re paying more,” Kalish said, “we should get more in return.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Facebook adds trending topics to site to tell users what people are posting about

BY BARBARA ORTUTAY The Associated Press NEW YORK—In a move that echoes Twitter, Facebook is adding a feature to its service that lets users know the topics of discussion that are trending among the site’s 1.2 billion users, whether it’s the death of a world leader or the Oscars.

Users in the U.S., U.K., India, Canada and Australia will begin seeing a list of trending topics on the right side of their Facebook pages in coming weeks. It will be available in more countries later on.

Trending topics won’t be available on the mobile version of Facebook, but the company said it is testing the feature in its app for smartphones and tablet computers.

Facebook, which signalled last year that it would introduce trending topics at some point, said Thursday that the topics people see will be tailored to the user’s interests and location.

On Thursday afternoon, two users saw topics that included the Academy Awards, American Idol and Republican Sen. David Vitter from Louisiana.

Unlike Twitter, which simply lists topics, Facebook’s trending section explains why a particular topic is trending. In this case, the 2014 Academy Award

nominations were announced, American Idol named new judges and promised a new attitude and Vitter introduced a bill that would require people show photo IDs to make purchases with food stamps.

Chris Stuhar, a software engineer at Facebook who works on the site’s news feed, said the feature is designed to uncover the most interesting content across the site and fits into the company’s broader effort to make Facebook “your personal newspaper.”

Facebook is already seen as a place where users go to find out what their friends and family are up to. Stuhar said learning that a friend got married or discovering what his friends are doing on a Friday night is “certainly news,” but Facebook has a “much broader vision of where we want news feed to go in the future.”

Facebook’s new feature represents another move onto Twitter’s turf. Right now, Twitter is seen as the place people go to have public conversations about events as they happen, whether that’s live TV, sports or news. Mirroring Twitter, Instagram and other services, Facebook in June introduced hashtags, the number signs that identify topics being discussed and that allow users to search for them. ■

39 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

Battle between... saying it would divert millions of federal dollars from programs the provinces already run, while asking them to pony up another $300 million to match funds for the grant.

Kenney, who is responsible for reaching a deal with the provinces, recently offered to cover the provincial portion of the proposed grants, raising their contribution to $10,000.

“The provinces have been offered the flexibility to cover a significant portion of the funds for the Canada Job Grant from the Labour Market Development Agreement,” which provides funds to help the EI-eligible unemployed, said a federal government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Duguid said while Kenney’s counteroffer covers the additional $300 million that the provinces would have to find, it would still take $300 million in federal money out of existing provincially run programs for youth, aboriginals and disabled people—workers the Tories have promised to help.

“Proposing a $300-million cut across the country—and in Ontario, $116 million cut—to programs that serve our most vulnerable workers without replacing that funding in any way of those programs is a funny way of showing concern for vulnerable workers and marginalized groups,” he said in an interview.

“That’s our major sticking point.”

The money comes through the Labour Market Agreements, which are meant to help the unemployed who don’t qualify for employment insurance, as well as low-skilled or poorly educated workers who do have jobs.

But the federal Tories say they do provide other money to help youth, aboriginal and older workers, as well as ❰❰ 18

$2.2 billion a year through two other labour agreements— including the Labour Market Development Agreement—that help workers who are eligible for EI and people with disabilities.

Although the Tories are offering to increase their contribution to the Canada Job Grant, they’re not offering any additional funds. Some groups say that will cut the number of grants and reduce the program’s impact.

“What it means is that there’s less money to provide to individual employers, but there would be fewer employers that would benefit from the grant, and that would be unfortunate,” said Jayson Myers, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.

The federal and provincial governments should be working together to address the lack of skilled workers and find out which training programs are working, he said.

“The issue around training and skills development is much broader than simply the issue around the jobs grant,” Myers said.

“And I would hope that the provinces and the federal government would be able to speak about or able to discuss a wide variety of issues ... what has to be done in terms of changing the way we do training, as well as the funding part of it.”

The Tories touted the plan in last October’s throne speech and have spent millions of dollars advertising it, all without the agreement of the provinces and territories. Kenney’s first sit-down with his counterparts was in early November.

Kenney has said he’s cautiously optimistic an agreement can be reached before the plan is scheduled to go into effect April 1. ■

Myanmar denies... teer English teacher. Worried they would be arrested, all the men fled, leaving the women, children and elderly behind, he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals.

That some of the victims appeared to have been stabbed with knives, not shot or beaten, “would clearly indicate the massacre was committed by (Buddhist) Rakhine villagers, rather than the police or army,” the Arakan Project wrote in a briefing Thursday.

The U.S. and Britain put out a joint statement Friday condemning the violence.

“We are particularly disturbed by reports that security forces used excessive means and thus perpetuated some of the violence,” the statement said, calling on Myanmar’s government to do more to address the root causes of ongoing violence, lawlessness and rights abuses in ❰❰ 21

the state.

Ye Htut, the deputy information minister, said the reports of deaths this week “might be a coverup, because of the policeman going missing.”

Shwe Maung, a Muslim Lower House lawmaker who represents Buthidaung Township for the Union Solidarity and Development Party, told the local news agency Irrawaddy he had received conflicting reports about the numbers of casualties.

“A lot of people are missing,” he said.

“Normally when they are missing family members, Rohingya people think they are dead.”

Some of the Rohingya in northern Rakhine descend from families that have been there for generations. Others arrived more recently from neighbouring Bangladesh. All have been denied citizenship, rendering them stateless. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Business

JANUARY 24, 2014 FRIDAY 40

Planning your mortgage

BY ROSE L. AMI Philippine Canadian Inquirer

AT THE beginning of each year, most of us have our new year’s resolution in our minds or written on paper. Late last year, we were too busy shopping for Christmas gifts starting Black Friday and even waited for bargains during Boxing Day to buy a gift for ourselves like a 65-inch TV or a last-minute New Year vacation.

Most likely, we purchased these items using our hard-earned savings or high-interest credit cards.

When you spend money from your high-interest credit card, you probably know that the interest on that credit card compounds every 28 to 30 days. For example, if your current credit card debt is about

$10,000 with an interest of 28.00% a n d y o u p a y about $250 per

month, it will take you 117 months or 9.8 years to pay it in full and you just made the credit card company richer by paying $19,352.00 in interest.

If you own a home, you can borrow from a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) to transfer over that $10,000 with an interest rate of minimum 3.50%. If your payment is $250.00 per month, you will pay your debt in 42.6 months or 2.5 years while paying only $649.00 in interest.

Now can you see the difference when it comes to the cost of borrowing? What about your other debts? Are you drowning in debt because of high interest rates that result in a negative cash flow every month? Whatever situation you maybe in, there’s always a solution. Here ❱❱ PAGE 44 Planning your

World Bank remains bullish on PH

BY PAOLO G. MONTECILLO Philippine Daily Inquirer THE ASIA-PACIFIC region likely remained one of the fastest growing regions in the world despite the improvement of developing markets that is pushing capital back to countries like the United States.

The Philippines, for its part, is seen keeping in stride with the region’s expansion due to an ongoing construction boom in the real estate and infrastructure sectors, which may have been enough to offset the devastating effects of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in the Visayas.

In a report, the World Bank said the Philippine economy likely grew by 6.9 percent in 2013, near the top end of the government’s 6to 7-percent target range.

“Despite the damage caused by the natural disasters, output in the Philippines is estimated to expand,” the multilateral lender said in its Global Economic

Prospects report released.

The World Bank added that growth in remittances likely expanded in November and December of 2013 as migrants sent home more money than usual to aid in reconstruction efforts in the Visayas.

“Remittances expanded by an estimated 5.8 percent in 2013 and will likely accelerate in the wake of the typhoon,” it said.

Countries that export products and services are also expected to benefit from improving conditions in advanced markets, benefiting countries like the Philippines.

The country’s growth was slightly slower than the expected average for the Asia Pacific region of 7.2 percent for 2013, pulled up by heavyweight China, which likely expanded by 7.7 percent last year.

For 2014, the region’s growth is expected to slow “insignificantly” to 7.1 percent. The forecast for this year is more than double the projected expansion for the global economy of 2.4

percent in 2013 and 3.2 percent this year.

The Bank noted that after several years of weakness, advanced economies, particularly the United States, Japan and the eurozone, have started to show signs of sustainable recoveries. As a result, the bank said 2014 would likely mark a turning point for the global economy, with growth expected to accelerate for the first time since the 2008 financial crisis.

Asia’s growth, the multilateral agency said, would be slower by 2 percentage points than pre-crisis levels, mainly reflecting China’s plans to shift to more inclusive economic policies that focus on empowering its middle class at the expense of high and investment-driven expansion.

In 2015, the Philippines’ growth is expected to peak at 7.1 percent due to the effects of reconstruction efforts in the Visayas, which is expected to fuel demand for construction goods in the affected areas. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Others may follow RBC rate cut, but change isn’t precedent setting

BY ROMINA MAURINO The Canadian Press TORONTO—A MOVE by Royal Bank to slightly decrease a number of fixed mortgage rates may prompt other banks to follow suit, but such changes shouldn’t be a major consideration for home buyers, mortgage experts said Monday.

“From a mortgage broker’s perspective and probably from a lot of homeowners’ perspective, the real question is not necessarily interest rates,” said Jason Scott, a mortgage broker with The Mortgage Group in Edmonton.

“It’s got more to do with what the finance minister and the department of finance will do visa-vis making it harder to qualify for a mortgage if they don’t like the fact that rates are low and they’re concerned about a possible housing bubble.”

RBC (TSX:RY) quietly lowered its rates on several fixedrate mortgages by 10 basis points over the weekend, bringing its five-year closed rate to 3.69 per cent.

It was a small drop to the discounted rate offered by the bank until the end of the month, but one that went against the general trend of rising rates. It also came about two weeks after Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz spoke in an interview about the likelihood of rising long-term fixed rates.

To Scott, however, a small change in rates isn’t likely to have a huge impact on buyers at a time when rates are already so low, with fixed-rate, five-year mortgages (a popular choice for homeowners) hovering around about 3.5 per cent and variable mortgage rates (a floating rate based on prime) around 2.5 per cent.

“At the end of the day, whether rates move a decimal one per cent or a quarter of a per cent, the reality is that from a historical perspective we’re in a lowrate environment,” said Scott.

Andrew Bodnar, a real estate salesman with Re/Max Condos Plus Corp. brokerage in Toronto, said the government

already tightened regulations around qualifications for mortgages earlier this year, adding he would be surprised to see any dramatic moves in interest rates.

“It’s fairly steady right now and there are natural forces of supply and demand going on,” Bodnar said.

“Canadians are pretty conservative. Most people don’t have a new car with a big payment and they’re also looking to buy a house that’s well outside their bounds.”

While a push to lower rates by other big lenders is possible, especially as they compete for mortgages going into the important spring real estate season, the weekend change simply brings RBC closer to those already being offered by some other lenders.

Scotiabank (TSX:BNS) already has a lower discounted rate of 3.59 per cent for fixed, five-year mortgages, while CIBC (TSX:CM) and TD Bank (TSX:TD) are at 3.79 per cent and the Bank of Montreal (TSX:BMO) is at 3.89 per cent.

Other mortgage lenders, such as Dominion Lending Centres, offer a rate of 3.25, according to RateHub.ca.

RBC said in an email Monday that rates were lowered to match competitor pricing.

“Competitors have been pricing at lower rates for several weeks and this rate change now puts us in line,” the bank said.

Any fallout from the change is also unlikely to have the effect major cuts have had in a past—like when BMO lowered its five-year rate to 2.99 per cent and created a price war.

And in the end, Scott said, homeowners trying to get a sense of how rates will impact their mortgage payments would be better served by keeping an eye on the strength of the U.S. economy and changes in bond markets.

“In the grand scheme of things, minor variations of interest rates are not that critical,” he said. “What’s more important is getting the right mortgage for that person’s situation.” ■

Sports/Horoscope

41 FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

Team Canada names Sidney Crosby as its captain for Sochi Olympics

BY STEPHEN WHYNO The Canadian Press SIDNEY CROSBY is the face of the NHL and hockey in Canada, so it’s only natural that he’ll be the country’s captain at next month’s Sochi Olympics.

The Pittsburgh Penguins captain, who scored the goldmedal-winning overtime goal against the United States in Vancouver four years ago, got the nod to wear the “C” this time around.

Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators were named alternate captains, Hockey Canada announced Sunday morning.

“Sidney, Jonathan and Shea have been leaders on the international stage in the past, as well as with their NHL teams,” coach Mike Babcock said in a

statement. “These three players will be at the forefront of our efforts in Sochi, but we are confident we have 25 players on our roster that will lead in their own way and allow our team to be successful.”

There will be no shortage of leadership in Sochi given the presence of six NHL captains, but it starts with Crosby.

“Playing for Team Canada, playing in the Olympics is a great opportunity,” Crosby told reporters at Penguins practice.

“But being able to be named the captain is definitely an honour.”

Crosby was made the youngest captain in NHL history when he got the “C” for the Pittsburgh Penguins six and a half years ago. In 2009 he raised the Stanley Cup as captain.

At the 2010 Olympics, Crosby was an alternate along with defenceman Chris Pronger and winger Jarome Iginla. The

26-year-old Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, native doesn’t expect his mind-set to change much.

Veteran defenceman Scott Niedermayer captained that team and said before his Hockey Hall of Fame induction in November that he had no doubt Crosby is ready to assume that role.

“He’s very mature,” Niedermayer said. “He was probably ready when he was 16. He was probably ready in 2010, and the thinking was he’s going to have enough pressure on him just from who he is and things like that that he doesn’t need one more thing to worry about, give it to some old guy that’s just trying to figure things out out there. I’m sure he would do very well.”

Toews seemed like the only other logical option, based on performing in 2010 and leading the Blackhawks to two Stanley Cups. Last week he acknowl-

Sidney Crosby of the Penguins discusses a play with his teammates in a game against the Devils PHOTO BY DANIEL M. SILVA / SHUTTERSTOCK

edged the possibility of being named captain.

“I’m ready for any role,” Toews said in Montreal. “Last time, I played five, six, maybe seven minutes at the start of the tournament in Vancouver.

By the end of it, the coaches had more confidence in me. They put me in more defensive situ-

ations. This time around won’t be different. Whether I’m captain—or not—whatever. I’m going to Russia to win a gold medal like everyone else.”

This will be the second Olympics for most of the core, including the leadership group.

“Honestly, it doesn’t get old,” Crosby said in Vancouver of just making the team. “That feeling doesn’t get old. The appreciation and being proud to represent your country, it’s the same for everybody.”

Asked if he preferred “Captain Canada” over his current nickname of “Sid the Kid,” Crosby said: “I’ll let you guys worry about that.” Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers has that moniker, and Crosby expects it to stick with the Hockey Canada mainstay despite this announcement. ❱❱ PAGE 44 Team Canada

HOROSCOPE ARIES

CANCER

LIBRA

CAPRICORN

(MARCH 21 - APRIL 19)

(JUNE 22 - JULY 22)

(SEPT 23 - OCT 22)

(DEC 22 - JAN 19)

Today the people around you could seem much more serious than usual, Aries. You could even decide to get away from them and go hide out just for the day, for example, in a movie theater watching an afternoon film. But you won’t find the movie you want to see. Don’t try and run away from the gravity of the moment; you may become even more serious than the people you are running away from.

Today begins an exciting period in your personal life, Cancer. It’s time for new beginnings in your relationship. You may be ready to make the changes you and your partner have been considering for quite some time. Moving in together, doing some construction on your house, buying a summer home, or perhaps even having a child - start making those plans that symbolize the stability of your relationship.

You probably pay a great deal of attention to what other people think of you, Libra. It may often be hard for you to make decisions in delicate situations for fear of being misjudged, even if you know you must. You may run into this dilemma as you go about your day today. Trust your own good judgment. It may be much more important to be decisive today than you can even imagine.

Over the last few weeks, you may have made some good progress in learning to express your emotions, Capricorn. The great thing is that you probably didn’t even notice! But if you aren’t careful, there may be some bullheaded person around you today who may try and destroy all the progress you’ve made. Don’t confuse controlling your emotions with repressing them.

TAURUS

LEO

SCORPIO

AQUARIUS

(APRIL 20 - MAY 20)

(JULY 23 - AUGUST 22)

(OCT 23 - NOV 21)

(JAN 20 - FEB 18)

You could find the atmosphere today a bit oppressive, Taurus.

The time has come to deal with some of the important questions you may have been avoiding for quite some time. It could be especially important to take a look at your life at home and see what you can do change the negative atmosphere that has come into your life over the past few weeks.

If you have been having problems in your relationship or love life in general, Leo, don’t expect things to get any better today. The people around you might find you extremely irritable! It may seem that anything anyone says gets on your nerves. Even the sweet nothings that your sweetheart whispers in your ear seem like a bunch of hot air! Not every day can be as passionate and loving as you’d like it to be.

Yet today you may need to be a bit more rational. In your personal life, you may feel as if you’ve been beaten at your own game and this has weakened you.

Why not take advantage of this to bring your partner with you on one of your voyages inside yourself?

There’s no need to go pounding your head against a wall, Aquarius, your day will be challenging, but it’s nothing you can’t handle. The planetary configurations today will push you to lay the foundation for the projects you’ve been planning over the last six months. Go with the flow. People sometimes think that you are good at lighting fires but lousy at keeping them going.

GEMINI

VIRGO

SAGITTARIUS

PISCES

(MAY 21 - JUNE 21)

(AUG 23 - SEPT 22)

(NOV 22 - DEC 21)

(FEB 19 - MAR 20)

You may be a specialist at manipulating concepts and ideas and using your analytical skills to understand any problem that comes your way. If this is true, Gemini, people have probably already told you that thinking is fine, but there is a moment when you have to put all that thinking into practice! The position of the planets today invites you to think about this.

This could be a very studious day for you, Virgo; actually, it might be better to call it laborious. But you love to work, and you will get all the work you can handle today. It’s a good day to work on all those things in your life that still need a little attention in order to stand on their own, the things that haven’t quite found a permanent place in your life, like some of your relationships, for example.

On days like today it’s important to take time out to reflect upon the events of the past few days, Sagittarius. Is it possible you’ve decided to change certain things about yourself and your behavior? If you could just devote a few minutes a day to all the little details in your personality, the changes will go much more smoothly. The atmosphere today may help you think about this.

www.canadianinquirer.net

Today, you may find you have a certain gift for productivity.

Everything you touch turns to gold, yet you may be under the impression that you can’t provide everything you need for yourself. So what do you do? You start buying everything in sight! Today you might want to think about this bad little habit of yours, Pisces. You may be tempted to go on a big shopping spree.

FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

42

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The ideal candidate should be enthusiastic and possess professionalism, great listening and closing skills. Must have a positive attitude and the availability to work from 11am until 7pm Mondays to Fridays and weekends. Basic computer skills, communication skills and phone skills are a must!

Interested candidates please submit your resume with cover letter to hr@timestelecom.ca.

www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY JANUARY 24, 2014

43

Travel

A British Columbian Not Eiffel Tower, not Taj Mahal.

Winter Adventure World’s most ‘Instagrammed’ place is a Thai shopping mall

Speaking of the Kootenay Rockie region where cat- and heli-skiing originated, one can also find this spot the perfect place to get some snowmobile action. Two of the most famous snowmobiling areas are Mackenzie in Northern British Columbia and Sicamous in the Thompson Okanagan region.

Aside from snowmobiles, BC is also a great place to rough around and try cross-country skiing. You can choose from more than 50 dedicated Nordic skiing hot spots—from world-class trails to seemingly uncharted backcountry terrain, any skiing enthusiast will certainly have a blast in British Columbia. According to Hello BC, just some of the most notable ski areas include Sovereign Lake and Whistler Olympic Park, Nipika Mountain Resort (where you can take cross-country skiing lessons from a former Olympic coach), Strathcona Provincial Park, a ranch near Williams Lake, and Manning Park. ❰❰ 31

If you’ve never tried dogsledding before, then come on over to BC! As the name suggests, dogsledding is riding on a sled pulled by a team of trained Siberian or Alaskan huskies.

Most ski resorts offer dogsledding tours with a trained guide who can also teach you steering commands so you yourself can “drive” the team of dogs pulling your sled. While most resorts offer dogsledding to any tourist—“no experience is needed,” according to the Hello BC website—the ‘Gold Rush Trail Dog Sled Mail Run’ gives you the opportunity to have your mail delivered via dogsled. The dog couriers travel along a “62-mile route from Quesnel to Wells” carrying souvenir envelopes for recipients.

Whichever activity you choose to engage, spending time in British Columbia is definitely one for the books.

Stunning white landscapes and majestic snowy mountains are complimented by the warmth of British Columbians that will make your trip unforgettable. ■

Dogsledding.

PHOTO FROM DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE ON WIKICOMMONS

BY JOCELYN GECKER The Associated Press BANGKOK, THAILAND—Sure, the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal and the Grand Canyon have inspired many photographs. But a shopping mall in Bangkok has claimed this year’s crown as the world’s most photographed location on Instagram.

In its Top 10 year-end list, the photo-sharing app dubbed Siam Paragon as the planet’s most “Instagrammed” spot in 2013. It edged out No. 2 Times Square and No. 3 Disneyland in California on the list that also includes New York’s Central Park and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Paris’ iconic steel tower got bumped off the list. And if Siam Paragon seems like an improbable winner consider this: last year’s most “Instagrammed” place was again from Thailand—Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, which this year was at No. 9.

Instagram spokeswoman Tiffany Testo said in an email response that the Californiabased company does not release data on how many pictures were taken.

The luxury mall in the heart of Bangkok is not exactly a world-famous landmark. Sightseeing visitors to the city typically head first to the majestic Grand Palace or take in the serenity of Buddhist temples like Wat Pho. The mall is a trendy meeting place in Bangkok that claims to have more than 100,000 visitors a day. But why is it so avidly photographed?

“All the celebrities come here and post photos of themselves,” said Sayamon Srichai, a 33-year-old Bangkok office worker walking past Paragon’s tropical Christmas garden

SIAM PARAGON BY NIGHT. The luxury mall in Bangkok, Thailand is 2013’s most

photographed location on Instagram.

PHOTO FROM WIKIPEDIA

with an outstretched arm as she smiled for her smartphone.

“Regular people like me want to walk in their footsteps.”

Thailand has long been called the Land of Smiles, but it could also be called the Land of Selfies. Thais love taking pictures of themselves, documenting their daily activities and uploading the images instantly so friends know what they’re up to. The Southeast Asian country is also one world’s biggest users of social media, which could explain why a building that may not be the most photographed in the world still ends up as the most visible on Instagram.

“Taking Instagram pictures is sort of like a daily ritual,” said Jitlada Mahan, 18, another shopper posing for her phone outside the sprawling five-floor complex. “This is how I communicate with my friends. Now they know where to find me.”

Combine that passion with Thailand’s love of shopping malls, which offer air-conditioned refuge from the steamy outdoors, and the photo ops are endless.

Many shoppers treat Paragon like their personal catwalk: Visitors pose for pictures everywhere—at the aquarium, at the cineplex, the bowling alley, the

outdoor Christmas garden and inside its hundreds of shops and restaurants.

Diners in the food court pause before eating to photograph their food.

“I take photos of food here all the time. Almost every day,” said Jirathip Khajonkulvanich, an 18-year-old student who has 1,035 Instagram followers and has learned how to boost her online popularity. “When you take photos of food, people press ‘like’ more than with other pictures.”

Jirathip was having lunch with a group of fellow students from Chulalongkorn University, one of the country’s most prestigious and a short walk away from the mega mall.

Historical sites can’t compete when it comes to uploads, said one of the students, Suthasinee Tilokruanochai, who said her friends upload multiple pictures from every visit to the shopping mall.

“If you go to the Eiffel Tower, you go once. You take a picture and you leave,” said Suthasinee, a 22-year-old engineering student. “We come here every day after school.” ■ Associated Press Writer Jinda Wedel contributed to this report.

JANUARY 24, 2014

Planning your...

FRIDAY 44

Team Canada...

are some tips that can help you plan your money for 2014.

1. Sit down with your spouse and prepare a monthly budget.

Account for all your monthly expenses; from your rent or mortgage payments down to your groceries and coffee money. You will be surprised how fast your expenses accumulate especially when you are not monitoring them.

2. Assign a “money person” between you and your spouse.

Who’s better when it comes to handling the finances? Who’s in charge of the operations at home? Make that individual the master budget person. Whoever is not handling the money should have an allowance. Place the grocery money, gasoline money, coffee money, eatingout money, and other non-fixed expenses in an envelope. If the envelope is emptied out, it means you have to be smarter in prioritizing your spending habits next month.

3. If you think you are in the negative, cut down or cut off on ❰❰ 40

non-important expenses. Do you really have to go to a nail salon every month? Do you really have to go to LCBO and spend $30 every week on alcohol? Do you really have to smoke two packs of cigarettes every week?

Do you really have to go to Tim Horton’s for a large coffee every day? Think of ways on how you can save some money. After all, it is for your future.

If you do not own a home, there are ways to also save. In fact, if you don’t own a home, you have more money to spare since you don’t have to pay for property tax and home insurance.

If you have bigger debts and your situation is now affecting your credit because of late payments, then you really need a professional to help you deal with your situation. If you need a personalized budget plan, we can help you and your spouse prepare a budget that will work well for both of you.

I HAVE been a mortgage agent since 2009 and I have accumu-

lated a solid base of clientele.

Throughout the years, I have been meeting my clients and prospects at coffee shops or restaurants and sometimes it can be difficult to maintain privacy. In order to serve people better, I am happy to announce that I’ve established a permanent office at 797 Wilson Avenue Suite 102 (southwest of Dufferin Street) North York, ON. You can get in touch with us at (reception) 647 872 9977 and (direct line) 647 367 9860.

I hired a team of competent office staff to ensure that we become more effective in answering your mortgage needs.

Whether you need a conventional or high ratio mortgage, home equity line of credit or a private mortgage, we can help you out. We also have a secured credit card product that can help you build or re-build your credit status.

Before you go to a bank about your situation, why don’t we talk about your needs first?

Always remember, I work for you—not the bank. ■

2013

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ment. “The players we have selected as captain and alternates in Sochi have shown their dedication and commitment to the team and its end goal throughout a long season, and we feel they are the ideal choices to lead our team through the Olympic experience.”

Canada’s women’s team opens play Feb. 8 against Switzerland.

Greg Westlake was named captain of Canada’s sledge hockey team. Brad Bowden and Adam Dixon are the alternates.

“This is the leadership team we have had in place since 2011, and we have the utmost confidence in them leading our team into Sochi,” sledge team coach Mike Mondin said in a statement. “Greg, Brad and Adam have worn the Team Canada jersey with pride every time they have put it on, and have earned the right to wear a letter on the game’s biggest stage.” ■ With files from Kelsey Patterson in Montreal and Joshua Clipperton in Vancouver.

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Russia already named Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings as captain. It’s Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins for Slovakia and Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens for the Czech Republic.

The United States has yet to name its captain, though general manager David Poile singled out Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, Dustin Brown, Ryan Callahan and David Backes as the U.S. leadership group.

The men’s ice hockey tournament in Sochi begins Feb. 12.

Canada opens against Norway on Feb. 13.

Caroline Ouellette was named captain of Canada’s women’s team. Haley Wickenheiser will be a permanent alternate, while Jayna Hefford and Catherine Ward will rotate the second “A.” “There is a tremendous amount of experience in our dressing room, and there is no shortage of qualified candidates to wear a letter,” women’s coach Kevin Dineen said in a state❰❰ 41

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The Hyundai names, logos, product names, feature names, images and slogans are trademarks owned by Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. †Finance offers available O.A.C. from Hyundai Financial Services based on a new 2013 Accent 5 Door GL 6-Speed Manual/ 2013 Elantra GL 6-Speed Manual/2014 Tucson 2.0L GL FWD MT/2014 Santa Fe 2.4L FWD with an annual finance rate of 0%/0%/1.9%1.9% for 72/84/96/96 months. Bi-weekly payments are $113/$111/$119/$139. $0/$0/$250/$1,500 down payment required. Cost of Borrowing is $0/$0/$1,811/$2,114. Finance offers include Delivery and Destination of $1,550/$1,550/$1,760/$1,760. Registration, insurance, PPSA, fees, levies, charges, license fees and all applicable taxes are excluded. Delivery and Destination charge includes freight, P.D.E., dealer admin fees and a full tank of gas. Financing example: 2014 Tucson 2.0L GL FWD MT for $23,259 at 1.9% per annum equals $119 bi-weekly for 96 months for a total obligation of $25,070. $250 down payment required. Cash price is $23,259. Cost of Borrowing is $1,811. Example price includes Delivery and Destination of $1,760. Registration, insurance, PPSA, fees, levies, charges, license fees and all applicable taxes are excluded. ♦Price of models shown: 2013 Accent 5 Door GLS 6-Speed Manual/2013 Elantra Limited/ 2014 Tucson 2.4L Limited AWD/2014 Santa Fe 2.0T Limited AWD are $19,249/$24,849/$35,359/$40,659. Prices include Delivery and Destination charges of $1,550/$1,550/ $1,760/$1,760. Registration, insurance, PPSA, fees, levies, charges, license fees and all applicable taxes are excluded. ΩPrice adjustments are calculated against the vehicle’s starting price. Price adjustments of up to $3,340/$4,540 available on 2013 Accent 5 Door L 6-Speed Manual/2013 Elantra L 6-Speed Manual (on cash purchases only). Price adjustments applied before taxes. Offer cannot be combined or used in conjunction with any other available offers. Offer is non-transferable and cannot be assigned. No vehicle trade-in required. †Ω ♦Offers available for a limited time, and subject to change or cancellation without notice. See dealer for complete details. Dealer may sell for less. Inventory is limited, dealer order may be required. ††Hyundai’s Comprehensive Limited Warranty coverage covers most vehicle components against defects in workmanship under normal use and maintenance conditions.

TM

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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

PHOTO FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Alumni Homecoming: An open letter to PLM’s 1st Batch Class of 1967

BY WILLIE JOSE DEAR FRIENDS and beloved alumni, We are happy to know that in the next few days, most of you, the First Batch Class of 1967, will be visiting our alma mater once again—the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM)—to hold a heartwarming homecoming. It is a great chance to renew your close and warm bonding and to meet some overseasbased friends you haven’t seen for years.

Belonging to Class ‘67 ourselves, my wife and I would really like to join you there. How we wish we could be with you in reminiscing the wonderful memories we had back then when we were still young men and women struggling to survive as “Iskolar ng Bayan”.

Though we cannot be there physically, surely we are with you in spirit. Currently, there are pressing matters we have to attend to and we’ve been experiencing freezing weather here in Toronto.

Just like the reunions we’ve had before, we’re certain this gathering will be another occasion where we can feel young again. Looking back to the days when we were in our teens, we were full of dreams, hopes, and ambitions.

When PLM formally opened its doors on July 17,1967 to the less privileged but exceptionally talented graduates of Manila’s public high schools, we were so blessed to be part of the pioneer students. At the same time, we had to prove to all that we were worthy of the free education given to us by our alma mater.

In remembering our good old days at PLM, how could we forget the bur-

den of having to maintain our scholarships? All those nights of burning the midnight oil and giving everything in our power to maintain high grades. Of course, occasionally, we would really be sweating blood—especially at the end of every semester because of too much worry about getting low or failing marks from some terror professors.

The danger of being kicked out for failing to keep our grades was a reality we had to face. It was just like the sword of Damocles hanging over our heads every time the school year ends—seeing how the other classes get decimated as years passed by.

At that time, we all had one all-consuming dream—to escape from poverty—and that was the main driving force that spurred us to give our best. We knew then that education is our only chance, a chance of a lifetime. It was our families’ way to get through poverty.

Most of us are children of carpenters, drivers, dressmakers, office workers, vendors, laborers, and even soldiers.

Our parents worked hard all day so they could give us our daily baon (allowance), while they themselves dreamt that someday their children would provide them respite from life’s adversities.

How happy we are today that we have not failed both our parents and our alma mater.

Look at ourselves now and what we’ve become—company executives, school deans, journalists and writers, accountants, professors, lawyers, nurses and doctors, engineers, public officials, all hardworking professionals. After living in small houses along the railroad tracks

and shanties in Tondo, Sampaloc, Paco, and Sta. Ana, Manila, many of us moved to affordable subdivisions in Metro Manila while others migrated to US, Canada, and Australia.

In our own ways, we haven’t forgotten to give back to our alma mater through scholarships programs, book drives for the library, medical equipment for Ospital ng Maynila, donations to the Enterprise Center, and even a bust of Gatpuno Antonio Villegas.

A few years ago, when my wife and I attended our reunions, we were happy to see that despite the prominence and status you’ve reached, you still acted like teenagers—eagerly enjoying the company of one another, dancing, engaging in never-ending kuwentuhan—everybody was unaffected by the temporary trappings of titles and status in life.

Why did we behave that way? Simply because that’s the kind of education we received from PLM—not puffed up with pride, always reminding ourselves of our humble beginnings.

Whatever little comforts and success we PLM alumni enjoy now, we can all say with certainty that poverty should not be a hindrance. Instead, it should be a spur for intelligent and less privileged students to keep on dreaming until they reach their goals.

Wherever we may be, our beloved Pamantasan will always be part of our lives and we’ll be forever grateful for the education that our alma mater bestowed upon us.

Best wishes, Willie and Lilia ■

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