Philippine Canadian Inquirer #235

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

VOL. 9 NO. 235

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House speaker: Whose interests are you serving?

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet

Gordon files for declaration of state of emergency

On 15th anniversary of 9-11, ‘the grief never goes away’

Fukuoka laureate Ambeth Ocampo

B.C. court hears differing diagnoses on prescription to cure medicare ills President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (middle, in white) joins hands with top business leaders in the region during the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Vientiane, Laos on Tuesday (September 6, 2016). The President is attending the three-day ASEAN summit in Laos.

KING RODRIGUEZ / PPD / PNA

Philippine leader riles at Western colonial powers at summit THE ASSOCIATED PRESS VIENTIANE, LAOS — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took a thinly veiled dig at the United States on Thursday, complaining that colonizers who killed many Filipinos are now raising

human rights concerns with him.

President Barack Obama was among several world leaders who listened to Duterte’s brief speech at the East Asia Summit in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.

Fil-Can in Focus: Frances Samson

BY GEORDON OMAND The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Advocates on both sides of a legal debate over the future of public health care in Canada are offering opposing diagnoses on how to rejuvenate what many consider an overburdened medical system.

Jonathan Penner, a lawyer for the British Columbia government, told B.C. Supreme Court on Monday that a lawsuit proposing to revamp the rules around how medicare operates may undermine the principle of equal medical access for all, to the detriment of the majority of residents in the province.

Cambie Surgery Centre, a private clinic in Vancouver, is suing the B.C.

❱❱ PAGE 22 ❱❱ PAGE 7 Philippine leader

❱❱ PAGE 16 Federal consultations

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Philippine News

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Philippine News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

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SWD assures 4Ps beneficiaries now ‘in near poor status’ will not be delisted PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) reiterated on Tuesday that beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) who have now been categorized as “nonpoor” will not be delisted from the program.

“The families who are now under the non-poor status will remain in the program and will receive proper interventions so that their status will continue to improve,” assured Assistant Secretary Hope V. Hervilla for the Protective Services Bureau of DSWD.

Based from the updated Listahanan survey, there are 1.5 million 4Ps families who are now under the “near poor category.”

Listahanan is the DSWD’s information management system that identifies who and where the poor are. It it made available to national government agencies and other social protection stakeholders as basis in identifying potential beneficiaries of social protection programs and services Hervilla made the assurance after around 40 members of the “Samahan ng Nagkakaisang Pamilyang Pantawid” (SNPP) trooped to the DSWD Central Office in Batasan Hills, Quezon City on Tuesday, Sept. 13, to

clarify the alleged plans of the Department to delist 4Ps beneficiaries who have transitioned to “non-poor status.”

Hervilla, who met with the beneficiaries, explained to them that “transitioning 4Ps families will continue to receive the services provided by the program until they can stand on their own feet.”

She also encouraged the beneficiaries to formally set a dialogue with DSWD and 4Ps officers in order to clarify other concerns such as the basis for the list of beneficiaries who have moved out of poverty, removal of health grants, rice subsidy, and other pressing matters.

Currently, the DSWD is plan-

Two men carrying large sacks and plastic bags containing recyclable materials are on their way to sell their wares at a junk shop in Marikina City.

JOEY O. RAZON / PNA

ning to develop a program that will ensure that 4Ps beneficiaries will not slide back to poverty after their transition to self-sufficiency.

Sliding back to poverty can happen anytime, like exposure

to man-made and natural calamities, sickness, losing jobs or forms of livelihood, inability of one of the family members to earn due to some sort of sickness or disability, death, among other factors. ■

Sueno says federalism is viable option to peace success in Mindanao

BY AIRA MAY D. DIZON Philippines News Agency MANILA — Interior and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno on Tuesday said that federal system of government is a way to revive Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) on its new version under Duterte administration to achieve peace success in Mindanao.

“I think federalism is a viable option for the country. Our Muslim brothers want autonomy. In Mindanao, the only solution is federalism if the BBL fails.” Sueno said in a media interview.

Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza once declared that President Rodrigo Duterte eyed BBL as a model for “pilot” for a possible Philippine federal www.canadianinquirer.net

government after it failed to pass in the Aquino administration.

Sueno apprised that there would be a refiling of the new version of Bangsamoro Basic Law under the Duterte administration following better provisions for the peace process in Mindanao.

“We will refile the BBL in the 17th Congress minus the unconstitutional provisions.”

Sueno said.

Sueno added that peace situation in Mindanao has now improved because of new leadership regained from its residents.

“We have very good understanding and trust now in terms of peace process because of the new leadership composed mostly of Mindanaoans,” he said. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

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Duterte hits US for PH abuses De Lima to leave ethics complaint against her to Senate panel

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer

JAKARTA — President Duterte on Friday said he spoke on Thursday about American human rights violations in the Philippines because colonizers who killed many Filipinos were now raising human rights concerns with him.

US President Barack Obama was among several world leaders who listened to Mr. Duterte’s brief speech at the East Asia Summit in Vientiane, Laos, on Thursday.

Obama earlier canceled a meeting with Mr. Duterte after the Philippine leader called him a “son of a bitch” and warned him not to discuss the deaths of thousands of suspects in the Philippine campaign against illegal drugs.

Speaking to a group of Filipinos at Shangri-La Jakarta hotel during a visit to Indonesia on Friday, Mr. Duterte said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s raising the human rights issue in passing in a speech at the East Asia Summit made him ditch his prepared speech and make remarks about American human rights violations in Mindanao during colonial times.

“It’s an illegitimate statement. But me, because of the pressure to stop it, I said since human rights was mentioned, I produced a few pages with pictures in the pacification campaign by the Americans at the turn of the century,” he said.

Mr. Duterte said there were about 600,000 Muslims in Mindanao when the Americans occupied the island. He said the colonizers killed 6,000 Muslims.

‘Statement of fact’

“They were just buried in a common pit. The soldiers stomped on the breasts of naked women. This is human rights? What do you intend to do?” Mr. Duterte said.

“Do not tell me that is water under the bridge. A human rights violation, whether committed by Moses or Abraham, is still a violation of human rights,” he said.

Mr. Duterte said he made the “statement of fact” when only the Southeast Asian leaders and their allies were left in the room.

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippines News Agency

President Rodrigo R. Duterte is welcomed by Indonesian officials at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta.

KING RODRIGUEZ / PPD / PNA

He said among those in the room were National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, presidential legal adviser Salvador Panelo and two generals.

“They were squirming at first.

Nobody knew I wasn’t reading my speech ... I asked when was this philosophy about the human dignity and the human rights evolved? Now or during this time? They were quiet,” he said.

He said he was ready at that point to confront anybody who would raise human rights concerns with him, including Obama.

“I was ready, I was waiting for Obama to respond. This will be lawyer to lawyer, because we are both lawyers,” he said.

Obama did not respond, he added.

An Agence France-Presse (AFP) report about Mr. Duterte’s speech said that officials at the East Asia Summit were “quiet and shocked” when the Philippine leader showed a picture of the killings by American soldiers in Mindanao from 1898 to 1946.

According to an Associated Press report, two Philippine Cabinet officials said Mr. Duterte did not criticize any country or leader by name in his speech.

Other diplomats who heard the speech, however, felt he was referring to the United States, which colonized the Philippines after defeating its former ruler, Spain.

Yasay disagreed with AFP’s

report, saying Mr. Duterte’s statements “were received well by many.”

“I will affirm that Obama was there, but he did not react. He just sat there and listened to the President attentively,” he said.

Yasay said Mr. Duterte left the summit ahead of the other leaders because he had a bilateral meeting with Russia, but still had the opportunity to “meet with Obama, chat with him and the shaking of hands [was] warm.”

There were reports, however, that Obama did not shake hands with Mr. Duterte.

ABS-CBN News, quoting a source, said Obama went the rounds at the summit, shaking hands with each leader except Mr. Duterte.

Fed up

Mr. Duterte said he was fed up with and wanted to end all talk about human rights.

He said the US Department of State was “like a fool” who joined human rights groups in criticizing his war on drugs.

“If we are in violation [of human rights], they are not?

What about the people killed by their police while lying on the ground?” he said, referring to police killings involving black people in the United States.

Mr. Duterte said that even if the human rights groups were right, he would still thumb his nose at them.

“Even if it is true that I killed them all, son of a bitch, I will not answer to you. I don’t care.

Who are you? Do you think I’m puny? What about the rest?” he said. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

that she has already filed her verified answer in relation to the electoral protest of former Metropolitan Manila DevelMANILA — Faced with an eth- opment Authority (MMDA) ics complaint, Senator Leila de Chairman Francis Tolentino Lima said on Tuesday she will who ran for senator in the May leave it up to the Senate Com- 2016 elections and placed 13th, mittee on Ethics and Privileges behind De Lima in 12th. to decide what steps to take The Senate Electoral Tribuin relation to the complaint nal (SET) has formally taken against her. cognizance of Tolentino’s pro“I respect my colleagues, I re- test. spect the Ethics Committee so “I already filed my answer, I’ll leave it to their good sense, my verified answer, originally, their sense of fairness, their to the original protest,” De sense of judgment,” De Lima Lima said, adding that she had said in an interview. no intention to file a counter Meanwhile, the Senate Com- protest since it was costly. mittee on Ethics and Privileges The neophyte senator likopened the first hearing on De ened the protest to the vice Lima’s case on the same day. presidential protest of former A complaint was previously vice presidential candidate filed by lawyer Abelardo de Je- and Senator Ferdinand R. Marsus against De cos against Vice Lima in relation President Maria to her culpability Leonora “Leni” in the reported Robredo. illegal drug op“Kung nakita erations inside I don’t niyo po yung prothe New Bilibid want to be test niya, halos Prison. construed parang pareho During the as trying to rin ng grounds ng hearing on the influence my protest against complaint, colleagues. the vice presiwhich was dent, na dahil nga chaired by Senadaw dun sa unautor Vicente thorized change “Tito” Sotto III, of that hashcode senators discussed whether by Smartmatic, na may dayaan form and substance of the cause na daw (If you observe, it is alshould be prioritized over juris- most the same grounds as the diction. protest against the vice presiThis was also the first time dent which is because of an unthat lawyer Karen Jimeno, authorized change of the hashspokesperson for the defense code by Smartmatic, that there team during the impeachment is alleged cheating),” she said. trial of former Chief Justice ReDe Lima reiterated that the nato Corona, appeared to be the Commission on Elections committee’s general counsel.

(Comelec) has cleared several De Lima said that she will times that there was no irreguhave wait until the preliminary larity which resulted from the action of the committee before change in hashcode. she could relay her thoughts.

She also said that the fabri“Ayaw ko naman basta-basta cation of evidence done by her na lang nagko-comment diyan political opponents has so far (I don’t want to comment on been a “failure.” it). I don’t want to be misinter“I’m not gonna give them that preted, and I don’t want to be opportunity or the pleasure of construed as trying to influence seeing me ‘defeated’ because I my colleagues,” she said. have done nothing wrong,” she De Lima, meanwhile, said said. ■

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Philippine News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Fire hits Port Area, renders 400 families homeless

BY KRISTINE FELISSE MANGUNAY Philippine Daily Inquirer ARSON INVESTIGATORS are looking into the cause of the fire that left around 400 families homeless, and one person injured on Friday.

SFO4 Jan Joseph Jalique, arson investigator, said, however, that the angle of arson was “not given so much weight” in the fire that began in the house of Maritess Abanes on 16th St., Barangay 654, Pier 5, in Port Area at 8:35 p.m.

Jalique said this was because according to a barangay official, there was no talk of demolition to be conducted by the local government in the slum area, where informal settlers had been living for “more than 10 years.”

“That’s where the residents had their grandchildren already, on that government property. Although the angle is not discounted, I don’t give it that much weight,” Jalique said.

According to the arson investigator, he was giving more weight to “negligence” but had yet to determine what in particular caused the fire.

According to Jalique, the blaze which

reached the Task Force Alpha took some time to be put out because of another fire earlier in Tondo.

A report to Supt. Jaime Ramirez, Manila fire marshall, said the Tondo fire started past 7 p.m. in the two-story house of Ricardo Cardinez on Tedoro St., Gagalangin.

Jalique said a candle left unattended was the possible cause of the fire based on information he got from some of the residents.

That blaze reached the third alarm and was put out at 8:50 p.m.

Ramirez said there were no reported injuries in the Tondo fire, which saw around 10 houses damaged and around 20 families homeless.

Damage to property was pegged at P200,000.

According to Jalique, responding firemen to the Port Area blaze also took time penetrating the affected area.

The fire in the Port Area was put out at 4:03 a.m., Saturday, or around eight hours after it started.

The report to Ramirez said around 200 houses—or property worth P6 million—were damaged in the fire.

Around 400 families were left homeless. ■

North Avenue lies in between SM North and Trinoma.

JUDGEFLORO / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Light rail firms finally agree to put up common QC station

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer BUSINESS EXECUTIVES from SM Prime Holdings, Ayala Land Inc., San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and the Manuel V. Pangilinan group or Metro Pacific are poised to seal a deal that will pave the way for a common station linking the Light Rail Transit (LRT) and Metro Rail Transit (MRT) in Quezon City.

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade told lawmakers on Friday that he discussed the matter with top executives of these corporations on Thursday and agreed to meet them again tentatively on Sept. 28 for the signing of a formal agreement.

Tugade identified the executives as “Mr. Zobel, Mr. Ramon Ang, Mr. Pangilinan, Ma’am Tess Sy-Coson and her sibling.”

Said the transport official of the meeting: “All of them saw the importance of one single station (and having) connectivity between LRT and MRT. All of them saw the difficulty of making people walk. All of them agreed that there’s got to be connectivity.”

The Cabinet official was at the House of Representatives to defend the Department of Transportation’s proposed P55.4-billion budget for 2017.

Tugade said he was aware of the pending injunction case with the Supreme Court involving the dispute between Ayala Land Inc. and SM Holdings Inc., on whether the common station should be located at Ayala’s Trinoma Mall or SM North Edsa. Construction of the common station has been halted since July 2014.

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No final word on agreement

But the Cabinet member did not say what agreement had been reached with respect to the court battle.

SM is controlled by the Sy family, while Trinoma is under Ayala Land Inc. of the Zobel de Ayala clan.

The Light Rail Manila Corp., a venture between Ayala and the Pangilinan group, operates LRT 1 that connects Baclaran to Quezon City via Monumento in Caloocan and Edsa. It is envisioned to go all the way to North Avenue on Edsa, which is also the Quezon City terminal of MRT 3. Meanwhile, Ang’s SMC is building the MRT 7 line from Quezon City to Bulacan that will eventually connect to the common station.

Overpass or underpass?

Tugade said the Sept. 28 meeting will address several technical issues, including whether there would be an overpass or underpass for the project. “That’s one, but connectivity is a given point,” he said.

He stressed that the DOTC was talking to “the people who can make the decisions,” and thus hoped that the agreement could be finalized soon.

Metro Pacific and SMC officials confirmed that an agreement in principle was in place. The SM Group, which would need to withdraw its lawsuit against Ayala Land, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

SMC president Ramon Ang, in a text message, said stakeholders are in agreement while Metro Pacific president Jose Ma. Lim confirmed that “progress has been made between the principals.”

“They are now working on the technical details,” Lim said. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

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Speaker raps transport execs: Whose interests are you serving?

BY DJ YAP Philippine Daily Inquirer

about this,” Alvarez said.

Vested interests

HOUSE SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday sharply reminded transportation officials to serve only the interest of the people and to be wary of big corporations that put their representatives in key government positions to protect their interest.

“I want to know whose interest you are serving in the Department of Transportation (DOTr) because it seems that in every administration, big corporations put their people where their businesses are,” Alvarez said during the hearing on the DOTr’s proposed P55.4-billion budget for 2017.

“After the administration of one President, these [officials] would return to their mother corporation,” said the former transportation secretary under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who named former Aquino Cabinet officials Jose Rene Almendras, Rogelio Singson, Joseph Emilio Abaya and Cesar Purisima who were connected to private companies before being appointed to government.

“We will look at your budget and see if it’s clean and clear of any interest of your principals. Let’s be frank and blunt

Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade assured the Speaker that he had personally picked the team in the DOTr and was confident about their expertise and integrity. “I need them to guide me,” Tugade said. “But if I ever see any conflict of interest, I will not wait for an investigation. I will fire them immediately because I am here to serve the nation and the President,” he added.

“I will not surround myself with people who have vested interests. If I see conflict of interest, I will not take that sitting down,” Tugade said.

Grilled officials

Alvarez also grilled other transportation officials, including Undersecretary for Aviation and Airports Roberto Lim who admitted to visiting only one airport more than two months since assuming his post.

When Lim, in response to Alvarez’s question, said that the country has 80 airports, the Speaker asked how many he had visited.

“I have been to Davao, so far,” Lim had answered and said he has been in office for “about 70 days” when Alvarez asked how long he had held his position.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

License plates

“Seventy days and Davao only? How will you address the problems of the airports if you have not visited them?” asked a visibly irked Alvarez.

A contrite Lim replied: “As of now, what I am doing now is I’m in the office.”

“We are deliberating your budget. You should know the status of every airport in this country,” the Speaker said. He later added: “It’s better you visit the airports so you get a clear picture.”

Undersecretary for Rails and Toll Roads Noel Kintanar and Undersecretary for Roads and Infrastructure Anne Lontoc also got an earful from Alvarez who com-

Philippine leader...

Obama earlier cancelled a meeting with Duterte after the Philippine leader referred to him in comments to reporters as a “son of a bitch” and warned him not to discuss the deaths of thousands of suspects in an anti-drug campaign.

Two Philippine Cabinet officials said Duterte did not criticize any country or leader by name in his speech. Other diplomats who heard the speech, however, felt he was referring to the United States, which colonized the Philippines after defeating its former ruler, Spain.

An Indonesian diplomat said Duterte held up a picture of Filipinos killed in colonial times to underscore his point.

The diplomat spoke to reporters on condition that he not be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Philippine officials refused to release Duterte’s remarks, which were not included in his prepared speech. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said the president provided an explanation of how human rights records should be assessed in the context of the historical record.

“In the passionate intervention of President Duterte, he underscored the need to take a long historical view of human rights, mindful of the atrocities against the ethnic people of Mindanao,” the department said in a statement, ❰❰ 1

referring to the southern Philippine region where American forces were involved in deadly clashes with Muslim Filipinos in the early 1900s.

Duterte, who assumed the presidency in June, has had an uneasy relationship with the U.S., his country’s longtime treaty ally. He has said he is charting a foreign policy that is not dependent on the U.S., and has moved to reduce tensions with China over rival territorial claims.

The tough-talking president has also blasted U.N.-appointed human rights experts and rights watchdogs who have expressed concerns over the extrajudicial killings of more than 2,800 suspected drug dealers and users since Duterte took office. More than 600,000 others have surrendered, apparently out of fear of being killed.

After the flap over Duterte’s earlier remarks, he and Obama met briefly on the sidelines of the Laos meetings and shook hands.

One Cabinet member, Jesus Dureza, said he asked Duterte how his talk with Obama went. “It was OK,” Dureza quoted Duterte as saying. “He told me, ‘we can talk some more at another time.’”

The summit ended with Laos turning over the chairmanship of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations to Duterte, whose country will host the annual diplomatic gathering next year. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

PAGEONE.PH

plained about the delay in the release of official receipts for car registration and license plates, among other services.

Not pleased

Speaking to reporters after the budget hearing, the Speaker said he was not pleased with the answers he got.

“I’m not satisfied with their performance so far. They are in their first 100 days. We should be experiencing changes already, like in the release of licenses and plates. But there are no commitments so far,” he said.

“The time frame should be yesterday.

They should have done this yesterday,” Alvarez added. ■

Philippine News

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FRIDAY

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Member

President Rodrigo R. Duterte arrives at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta on Sept. 8 for a one-day working visit to Indonesia after attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Vientiane, Laos.

KING RODRIGUEZ / PPD / PNA

You ain’t seen nothin’ yet

BY GIL CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer

leaders in criticizing human rights abuses in his war on drugs while turning a blind eye to the atrocities committed by American soldiers against Moros when they occupied Mindanao at the start of the 20th century.

“I said many issues were raised so I took the initiative of raising the issues.

You’ve been mentioning my name [so] it’s bannered all around the international scene so I took the initiative of saying I have some, a few things on my mind about human rights,” he said.

Mr. Duterte told reporters he could not give them a copy of the picture he showed during his presentation at the East Asia summit because he could not remember who took it from him after his presentation.

shake hands with the US leader, he said.

Mr. Duterte’s first foreign trip was marred by a diplomatic debacle that he himself had caused by spewing the Filipino expletive putang ina (son of a bitch) when asked by reporters before his departure what message he had for Obama.

Foreign media reported that he called Obama a “son of a bitch,” angering the White House, which canceled a planned meeting between Obama and Mr. Duterte on the sidelines of the Asean summit.

But they met and chatted briefly before the Asean leaders’ gala dinner on Wednesday. Mr. Duterte said he told Obama that he never called him a “son of a bitch” and he could check it out.

“My men will talk to you,” Mr. Duterte quoted Obama as saying to him.

JAKARTA — President Duterte thinks his first foreign trip as the new leader of the Philippines is just a dry run for his debut on the world stage.

“This is not [an international debut], this is just regional. You wait for the international,” said Mr. Duterte, who apparently enjoyed his trip to Laos last week for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit and to Indonesia for talks with President Joko Widodo.

He spoke to reporters before flying back to the Philippines, where he was due to arrive early on Saturday.

“This is just, if it’s a birthday, this is just the 16th birthday, not the 18th,” Mr. Duterte said, referYou’ve been mentioning my name [so] it’s ring to the comingbannered all around the international scene so of-age introduction I took the initiative of saying I have some, a few of Filipino women to things on my mind about human rights. society.

Apec summit in Peru

Although he did not mention any potential trips that would take him out of the region, his next foreign engagement would be the summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders in Lima, Peru, on Nov. 19 and 20.

When asked to assess his first foreign trip, Mr. Duterte said he was able to get his message across to the other leaders at the Laos meetings well.

“Well, I suppose that I delivered my piece every time and I’ve made an extemporaneous speech inside,” he said, referring to the East Asia summit where he spoke about the hypocrisy of Western

The picture reportedly showed American soldiers with the bodies of Moros they had massacred.

Diplomatic debacle

In the audience during Mr. Duterte’s presentation were US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon both of whom had expressed concerns over extrajudicial killings in the Philippine war on illegal drugs.

Mr. Duterte said he left the event ahead of Obama because he had to go to a bilateral meeting with Laos. That explains why he didn’t have a chance to

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Popular in Japan

Mr. Duterte had admirers at the Asean summit, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said that the former mayor of Davao City was popular in

Japan.

But Mr. Duterte avoided contact with the media during his three-day stay in Laos and chose which meetings to attend and which to snub (the meeting with the United Nations).

His maiden foreign trip ended on a high note, with a warm reception from Widodo in Indonesia.

Mr. Duterte emerged from his talks with Widodo wearing a batik — the traditional Indonesian men’s shirt — and he showed it off to reporters, a sign that his meeting with the Indonesian leader went well. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

9

DOH confirms two more cases of Zika virus infection

BY LEILANI S. JUNIO Philippines News Agency MANILA — The Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday that two more persons from Iloilo City tested positive for Zika virus, bringing to eight the number of confirmed Zika cases in the country.

In a press briefing held at the DOH Media Relations Unit in Tayuman, Sta. Cruz, Manila, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean B. Rosell-Ubial said the two new cases have been staying in the same house in Iloilo City, where the sixth confirmed Zika case detected earlier this month, is living.

The age, sex, and relationship of the patients have been withheld to protect their privacy.

According to Dr. Ubial, the two additional cases were confirmed through the samples of specimens of urine and blood tested at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

“Both cases presented with mild skin rash and not accompanied by other signs and symptoms, unlike the index

case (45-year-old female) who presented with skin rash, joint pains and red eyes,” Secretary Ubial said.

She said the two yielded positive results out of the 12 households tested to find if they were positive for the virus through the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing kits.

She added that the two patients are now undergoing “home quarantine measures” wherein they stay inside the house and are advised to use and apply self-protective measures such as using mosquito nets and repellants so that they will not be bitten by mosquitoes.

The sixth index case involving a 45-year-old non-pregnant woman from Iloilo City was recorded this year as the first case of Zika virus transmitted or acquired locally — not from any Zika endemic country.

The first case of local transmission happened in 2012, involving a teenage boy in Cebu City.

With the additional two confirmed cases, the number of local transmissions in the country totaled to four.

The other cases involved for-

PNA

eign nationals — an American and three Koreans who traveled in the Philippines. There was no direct basis of acquiring the said virus in the country, the reason why their cases were not considered to be “locally transmitted.”

All the previous cases, including the sixth case, have been classified as “healed or have recovered” from the virus.

According to the DOH, protecting one’s self from mosquito bites is also a way to protect others from acquiring Zika virus in the process.

Dr. Ubial said that 88 house-

holds near the place of the Zika cases in Iloilo City were visited to check if they have containers that serve as breeding sites for mosquitoes.

The containers were found to be positive with Aedes aegypti — the principal mosquito vector for the Zika virus. This mosquito is also the carrier or has the ability to transmit dengue and chikungunya.

In line with this, the DOH Chief called on the public anew to implement intensive mosquito control campaigns in a bid to prevent Zika virus infection.

“Individuals who present symptoms of rash, joint pains, and red eyes must visit health facilities to confirm the diagnosis,” Dr. Ubial added.

Pregnant women and those planning to get pregnant are also being advised to visit their doctors for any illnesses they would develop.

The Health Chief also urged all local government units (LGUs) to implement mosquito campaigns to stop the spread of Zika virus.

As for Iloilo City, Dr. Ubial said they have already ordered the distribution of insecticidetreated mosquito nets, insecticides, and information and education materials to the residents.

At the same time, she also called on the public not to panic.

“We are asking the public not to panic, actually because these are really..., shall we say, isolated cases. And we are now doing contract-tracing and evaluating the situations in the area indeed if there is a spread (of Zika virus) to other parts. So as of now, there is no cause for alarm,” she stressed. ■

PRRD cites reduction ‘I cried on hearing of Sara’s loss’ in street crimes

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Monday said his administration was able to reduce crime on the streets to the barest minimum, and is positively addressing some of the toughest issues such as the country’s insurgency problems.

The President made the statement at Malacanan Palace during the oath-taking of his latest appointees to several government agencies.

“I do not promise you perfect peace because this is not heaven. But I commit myself to do everything, not to compromise the next generation,” he said.

“I’m the President without reelection. I might as well just do it my way, bahala na sila. But kayong (na)sa gobyerno I appointed you, then you must understand

how it is to me (I’m the President without reelection. I might as well just do it my way, let them be. But those of you who I have appointed into the government, then you must understand how it is to me),” he added.

That’s why early on he sought to have peace with the communists, saying: “We are talking, maybe in the fullness of God’s time we will succeed.”

“We have connected with the MI(Moro Islamic Liberation Front), they are talking. As a matter of fact, they are helping us in the war against drugs,” he said.

“I declared war sa droga, kasi hindi ito madala ng pulis-pulisan lang (I declared war on drugs because it cannot be solved by mere police intervention). So I raise that to the level of a national security threat, which it really is, and called upon the military to assist.

The MI is assisting us, we should be thankful for that,” he said. ■

PRESIDENT DUTERTE shed tears when he heard the news that his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, had lost two of the triplets she was carrying.

Sara on Thursday announced the loss of two of the triplets she had been expecting.

The third fetus was “doing well and fighting for life,” the mayor had said.

The President, in a press conference early Saturday on arrival at Davao City International Airport, said he heard the news while in Laos attending the leaders summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

“When somebody called me, I went to the bathroom, sa labas kasi… nasa lobby kami (we were www.canadianinquirer.net

outside… we were in the lobby). I cried, I cried,” he told reporters.

last month to explain her absence from Davao City’s Kadayawan Festival.

‘You have to heal yourself’

He said he was sad because he knew it took his daughter a long time to get pregnant and she had to undergo medical intervention.

“These are the things in life

You have to heal yourself.

that cannot be assuaged by just… you have to heal yourself,” the President said.

The people had the right to be informed of her condition, he said. “She’s a public (official), an employee of government… we’re just workers in government.”

Sara conceived the triplets through in vitro fertilization (IVF).

She announced that she was finally pregnant with triplets

Difficult pregnancy

She said her doctors advised her to avoid crowded places to minimize the risk of infection.

She also said she was having a hard time with the symptoms and complications of a multifetal pregnancy.

The mayor said she learned of the loss of two of the fetuses during a recent checkup. Her doctor informed her that two of the fetuses, the identical twins, ceased to have heartbeats.

That day, Sara had attended the wake of one of the 14 people killed in the Sept. 2 blast at the Roxas night market in the city—the one for Kristia Bisnon who had been her private nurse when she was hospitalized in July. ■

Philippine News

10

Jokowi: Duterte gives go-ahead to Mary Jane’s execution

BY KATHERINE PADILLA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — Indonesian president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said on Monday that Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has given approval to the execution of Filipina death-row inmate Mary Jane Veloso.

Contrary to Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. statement on September 9 where he clarified that Veloso’s execution was not discussed when Duterte met with Widodo in Indonesia, Widodo told Antara news agency that he ‘explained’ to Duterte Indonesia’s case against Veloso and the status of her execution during Duterte’s state visit to Indonesia.

“I have explained to [Duterte] about Mary Jane’s situation and I told him that Mary Jane [has been found guilty] for carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin. I also told him about the delay in the execution during the meeting,” Widodo was quoted as saying in an Antara News report.

“President Duterte has given the go-ahead to proceed with the execution,” Widodo said.

Veloso was arrested in Indonesia in April 2010 for car-

rying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in her suitcase. In October of the same year, she was found guilty of drug smuggling and was sentenced to death by firing squad.

Veloso was granted a stay of execution on April 29, 2015.

She has maintained innocence since her arrest.

In an attempt to save Mary Jane, her family recorded an audio message on July 31 where she pleaded to Duterte for help.

“Matagal na akong nagtitiis dito sa Indonesia, nagtitiis sa lahat ng ito gayong wala naman akong kasalanan (I’ve been suffering for so long here in Indonesia, suffering for all these when I’m not guilty),” Veloso told Duterte who is known for his campaign against illegal drugs.

“Kayo lang po ang pag-asa ko (You are my only hope),” she added.

“Yun lang po ang hinihiling ko sa inyo — na bigyan niyo ako ng katarungan (That’s all I’m asking from you, that you give me justice,)” she said.

The legal process of Veloso’s execution will be handled by Indonesia’s Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo, Jokowi said. ■

Indonesian president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

DoJ indicts Australian national, 7 others for online sexual exploitation of children

BY CHRISTOPHER LLOYD T. CALIWAN Philippines News Agency MANILA — The Department of Justice (DoJ) has ordered the filing of string of criminal charges against an Australian national and seven others in connection with online sexual exploitation of children in Cagayan de Oro City and Surigao City.

In a memorandum, prepared

by Assistant State Prosecutor Jinky Dedumo and approved

by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II directed the filing of 69 information before the courts in Cagayan de Oro City, Surigao City and Malaybalay City against suspects Peter Gerard Scully (Australian), his former live-in partner, Liezyl Margallo; Ma. Dorothea Chia; Haniel Caetano de Oliveira; Alexander Lao; Christian Johann Rothe and Marshall Ruskin.

The respondents will be charged for eight counts of qualified trafficking in persons committed by a syndicate, five counts of syndicated child pornography, nine counts of child abuse, five counts of indecent shows, obscene exhibitions and publications, four counts of Child pornography under the Cybercrime Prevention Act, 25 counts of photo and video Voyeurism and 13 counts of rape.

The complaints were filed by the National Bureau of Investigation last year and were submitted for resolution in December also last year.

The case is about the sexual and physical abuse of eight Filipina girls ages 1 to 13 in Cagayan de Oro City from April 2011 up to September 2014. The abuses were recorded with the use of a digital camera and uploaded on a porn website.

In a resolution, the DOJ said Scully and Margallo “in conspiracy with the other accused procured, recruited, hired, maintained, harbored, provided, offered, transported, obtained and received the child victims for the purpose of exploitation such as prostitution, www.canadianinquirer.net

pornography or the production of pornography or other forms of sexual exploitation.”

It said that the modus operandi of Scully and Margallo would be to recruit, hire and or obtain minor children, including the victims under the guise of adopting them to give them better lives and to send them to school when in fact, they would intend to “sexually exploit or abuse them and specifically to engage them in prostitution, pornography or the production of pornography in exchange for money, profit or any other consideration.”

The resolution likewise said that they also used physical force, play, deception, threats or other forms of coercion to engage the said minor children and maintain their silence.

Aside from sexually abusing the victims, the respondents also offered, peddled, promoted and advertised the victims through the web or cyberspace, including an online chat with customers from other countries with their nude or pornographic images or videos viewable and accessible within and outside of the country.

“Apparently, these videos have been known to the international law enforcement community for quite some time. Inquiries... to foreign law enforcement officers revealed that the said [videos] contained serious sexual abuses and physical torture on children believed to be from the Philippines by an unidentified Asian-looking woman and her unidentified male Caucasian accomplice,” the DOJ added.

In the same resolution, the DOJ also ordered the NBI to coordinate with the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and take custody of the still unrescued minor victims and provide them with post-care treatment. “[The NBI is ordered] to conduct further investigation as to the other involved conspirators/cohorts whether local or foreign nationals/residents, tagged and/or implicated, directly or indirectly in the evidence at hand including the

possible identification of the cybernames (usernames/user IDs, email addresses); contact numbers; cyberlocations (including Internet Protocol addresses and recorded places/ sites if any); websites and e. web applications,” the DOJ said.

The DOJ noted that based on the NBI-Cybercrime Division Digital Forensic Reports, there are still a lot of unrescued cybertrafficking victims that needed immediate assistance.

The DOJ added that the cyber pornomarket was still feasting on the nude videos of at least five minor victims including that of an 18-month old.

The DOJ said the case for murder for the death of their 12-year old victim found buried in the kitchen of their house in Surigao City has been absorbed in the qualified trafficking in persons case.

It will be recalled that the NBI and the DOJ Office of the Cybercrime began its investigation on the case after foreign law enforcement counterparts informed the Philippine contingent of a so-called “Daisy Video Case” during an INTERPOL Human Trafficking Conference in Bermuda in October 2014.

Philippine authorities were then assisted by the National Police of the Netherlands, which had earlier investigated the “Daisy Video Case” and already possessed a case file containing photographs of the victims, the male and female suspects, and the interior of the houses where the abuses took place.

The DOJ investigation was helped by the fact that Scully has a pending case before the Cagayan de Oro Regional Trial Court Branch 37 for the sexual and physical abuse of two Filipina girls, aged 9-year old and 12-year old, dubbed as the Apovel case for reportedly having been committed at Apovel Subdivision in Barangay Buluan.

Scully was arrested by the NBI last Feb. 20, 2015 by virtue of the outstanding arrest warrants issued by the Cagayan de Oro RTC, inside a house in Purok 2, Barangay Violeta, Malaybalay. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

11

Sen. Gordon files bill pushing for legislative-led declaration of state of nat’l emergency

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippines News Agency MANILA — Senator Richard Gordon offered on Tuesday a Congress-initiated reform package that would help the current administration eradicate the two pressing problems of drugs and terrorism.

Gordon, in a privilege speech, stressed President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s seriousness about eradicating illegal drugs and terrorism by recently declaring the country under a state of national emergency.

He said that while there is a need to declare a state of national emergency, the state should protect its people using emergency powers but under the rule of law.

“We, in the Congress, should help the President solve many

of the problems plaguing the country because it is good for the country, it is good for our people,” Gordon said.

He filed Senate Bill No. 1134 or the National Emergency Against Drugs and Terrorism Act of 2016, which seeks to declare a national emergency against illegal drugs and terrorism.

It also seeks to grant President Duterte emergency powers, in accordance with the Constitution, to resolve illegal drugs and terrorism and propose a reform package that should help the President in solving the country’s problems.

Gordon stressed that while the President can unilaterally declare a state of national emergency under Article 7, Section 18 of the Constitution, the dignity of every person and human rights will be better pro-

Attendees of the 1st Summit on Drug Rehabilitation and Prevention for MultiSectoral Planning and Localization of the Global Goals listen as the effects of drug abuse and addiction to the youth, civil society, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academe, and the PNP were discussed.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

tected if the declaration would be Legislative-led under Article 6, Section 23.

He said his proposed law would “allow the government some slack when there are ex-

traordinary emergencies occurring.”

Moreover, he added the Legislative Power to declare a state of national emergency will provide checks and balances to the emergency powers to be granted to the President.

He said that the Congress would set the restrictions and limitations of the emergency powers.

Article VI, Section 23 (2) states that “in times of war or other national emergency, the Congress may, by law, authorize the President, for a limited period and subject to such restrictions as it may prescribe, to exercise powers necessary and proper to carry out a declared national policy. Unless sooner withdrawn by resolution of the Congress, such powers shall cease upon the next adjournment thereof.” ■

Duterte rejects joint patrols, eyes China weapons

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he won’t allow government forces to conduct joint patrols of disputed waters near the South China Sea with foreign powers, apparently scrapping a deal his predecessor reached with the U.S. military earlier this year.

Duterte also said he was considering acquiring defence equipment from Russia and China. The Philippines has traditionally leaned on the U.S., its longtime treaty ally, and other Western allies for its security needs.

The remarks were the latest

from a Philippine president who has had an uneasy relationship with the U.S. but also has tried to mend relations with China strained over South China Sea disputes.

Duterte said he wanted only Philippine territorial waters, up to 12 nautical miles offshore, to be patrolled by Filipino forces, but not other offshore areas that are contested. He added he opposes Filipino forces accompanying foreign powers like the U.S. and China in joint patrols which could entangle the Philippines in hostilities.

“We do not go into a patrol or join any other army from now because I do not want trouble,” Duterte said. “I do not want to ride gung-ho style there with China or with America. I just

want to patrol our territorial waters.”

Like other security pronouncements, Duterte did not provide details, but his rejection for joint patrols apparently goes against such an arrangement announced in April by the U.S. and the Philippine defence chiefs.

While visiting Manila, U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter disclosed for the first time in a news conference with then Philippine Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin that U.S. ships had carried out sea patrols with the Philippines in the South China Sea, a somewhat rare move.

Carter insisted that the U.S. did not intend to be provocative and was “trying to tamp down

www.canadianinquirer.net

tensions here.” But Gazmin said he expected that U.S. forces, “with their presence here, will deter uncalled-for actions by the Chinese.”

On Monday, Duterte said he wanted U.S. military forces out of the southern Philippines and blamed America for inflaming local Muslim insurgencies, in his first public statement opposing the presence of American troops in a part of the country.

Washington later said it had not received a formal request to remove U.S. military personnel.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Duterte had a tendency to make “colorful comments” and drew a comparison with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In an apparent aim to prevent potential damage in relations, Philippine officials said Duterte wanted the Americans out of the south for fear of their safety.

“He desires that our American counterparts should be eased from harm’s way,” the Philippine military said, adding about 100 U.S. military personnel were in the south to provide counterterrorism advice support to Filipino forces.

“We assure our people and allies that Philippine-U.S. defence relations remains rock solid,” the military said in a statement. It added that joint combat training and other activities by U.S. and Filipino forces this year and beyond “remain on track.” ■

12

Philippine News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

Predecessor slams Maza for firing of consultants

Congress lukewarm to writ suspension

BY DJ YAP AND LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer A PROPOSAL to suspend the writ of habeas corpus—which protects against warrantless arrests—to boost President Duterte’s war on drugs has gained no traction in Congress, with members of the Senate and the House of Representatives saying on Friday there was no basis for it to happen.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a bosom buddy of the President, said the declaration of martial law “will never happen” under the current administration, even as he said congress should carefully study what sort of emergency powers it may grant him following last week’s bomb blast in Davao city that left 14 dead.

“Let’s not think about martial law. It will never happen under a Duterte administration,” the Davao del Norte representative told reporters on the sidelines of the budget hearing of the Department of Transportation.

Asked what gave him the confidence, Alvarez only said: “I know President Duterte. He will never do that.”

Asked what he thought of Sen. Richard Gordon’s proposal to allow Mr. Duterte to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, the House leader said it required further study.

“We need to study the proposal if that is a proper thing to do,” he said.

Others objected to the Gordon proposal, including Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, who described it as “constitutionally flawed.”

Under the 1987 Constitution, he said, the privilege of suspending the writ of habeas corpus and declare martial law was

BY JAYMEE T. GAMIL Philippine Daily Inquirer

JESS M. ESCAROS JR. / PNA

to be granted not by legislative authorization but only “in case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it.”

Lagman added that the suspension of the writ should “apply only to persons judicially charged for rebellion or offenses inherent in or directly connected with invasion,” and not to drug related cases.

“Gordon’s proposal falls into the perceived calibrated scheme of the President increasingly exercising emergency powers, from a declaration of a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence to possibly culminating in a declaration of martial law,” he said.

Unwarranted

Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said Gordon’s proposal was “unwarranted” as it could lead to more human rights violations.

“The fight against drugs and terrorism should go full steam ahead but not at the expense of human rights and civil liberties that our countrymen have fought for so hard to attain,” he said.

Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque, a human rights lawyer, warned that suspending the writ was a “slippery and dangerous path” to the imposition of martial rule.

FRIDAY

The writ of habeas corpus— literally “you have the body” in Latin—is issued by a court in “all cases of illegal confinement or detention” and requires the arresting authorities to produce the person in question.

The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos suspended the writ, and used martial law to round up thousands of activists and political opponents during his brutal term.

In the upper chamber, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said government’s antidrug campaign must be grounded on law and on a strong human rights framework. She said the writ “is one of the key legal devices to prevent unlawful detention and other human rights violations, such as torture, enforced disappearances and other ill-treatment.”

Minority leader Sen. Vicente Sotto said he believed Gordon’s proposal would not move forward given the unfavorable view of lawmakers.

“At the moment, I doubt if most members of Congress will agree and admit to its necessity,” Sotto said.

Gordon’s proposal comes amid continued concerns raised over human rights violations in the Duterte administration’s war against illegal drugs, as the bodies of drug suspects continue to pile up. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

FORMER NATIONAL AntiPoverty Commission (NAPC) lead convenor Joel Rocamora has taken to task incumbent NAPC convenor Liza Maza for firing consultants hired during his time, calling the move a “vengeful campaign” that could only hurt the agency.

“If Liza Maza paid more attention to doing the NAPC work instead of looking for ways to accuse me of corruption ... she might have discovered that far from being a drain on NAPC resources, the consultants she has dismissed added resources to the NAPC’s meager budget and extended the agency’s services to the poor,” Rocamora said in a statement sent to the INQUIRER. Maza last week terminated the contracts of 155 consultants who she said was costing the agency more than P5.8 million a month in professional fees, in line with President Duterte’s directive to remove all holdover officials from the previous administration.

When she took over in July, the NAPC had 161 consultants and 107 contract of service employees. The NAPC is only granted 50 plantilla positions—meaning the number of consultants and contractuals far outnumber the NAPC’s regular employees.

“This is an insult to the NAPC’s mandate to serve the interest of the poor, which is why we are terminating the contracts of 155 of these consultants whose number became bloated particularly in the last six years, with equally bloated compensation package,” Maza had said in a statement.

But Rocamora said there was a “simple explanation” to the high number of consultants. He said it was impossible for the NAPC to accomplish its task with its limited workforce.

“Thus, the large number of consultants and contract of service staff. It should also be pointed out that NAPC does not have local offices; thus, it has to hire people, often consultants, to undertake local work,” Rocamora said.

In explaining the large salaries, Rocamora pointed out the “difficulties to contract nongovernment organizations” in the aftermath of the pork barrel scam, prompting the NAPC to directly administer local projects. “The large sums paid to some consultants actually represented allowances for several organizers,” he said.

Rocamora pointed out that the consultants’ fees were not draining the funds of the NAPC, as they were hired through projects from other government agencies and the World Bank, which had “augmented the meager budget of the NAPC by around P110 million or more than 50 percent of the agency’s budget in 2016.”

Among others, these programs included a joint project with the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for organizing fisherfolk for the building of fish landings in 520 sites throughout the Philippines, which had hired 75 consultants, and a community vegetable and fruit garden project in 309 municipalities, funded from the bottom-up budgeting this year. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

PH, Indonesia team up vs piracy, kidnappings

BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer

he and the Indonesian leader agreed to increase cooperation to fight piracy and kidnapping in the Sulu Sea. “We agreed to encourage the earliest and effective implementation of cooperative frameworks to address security issues in maritime areas of common concern,” he said.

“We expressed commitment to take all necessary measures to ensure security in the Sulu Sea and maritime areas of com-

piracy,” he said.

Mr. Duterte said the agreement on maritime security cooperation would also be signed with Malaysia.

“We hope that there will be no more security issues in the Sulu Sea in the future, and we will conduct joint patrols to ensure security,” Widodo said, hailing the neighbors’ “cooperation in guaranteeing security in the Sulu Sea.”

JAKARTA — The Philippines and Indonesia on Friday agreed to join forces in combating crime on the high seas, after a surge of kidnappings by Abu Sayyaf bandits in waters between the two countries.

President Duterte and Indonesian President Joko Widodo agreed to joint coast guard operations to chase ‘Hot pursuit’ and destroy piTalking to a rates fleeing into group of FilipiPhilippine terrinos in Jakarta tory in the south.

I am very sorry, Mr. President earlier on Friday, At least 25 In(Widodo), that sometimes the Mr. Duterte said donesian sailors shipments of even the coal that is the agreement and a handful of needed by the power plants of my would allow InMalaysians have country are hampered when crossing donesia’s Navy been kidnapped that area there because there is a lot and Coast Guard this year by Abu of piracy. to continue “hot Sayyaf bandits pursuit” of piwhile traveling rates into Philipin the Sulu Sea pine waters. between Indo“If you are a pinesia, Malaysia and the Philip- mon concern,” he said. rate, you can be arrested by any pines.

Mr. Duterte said he was sorry nation because piracy is a crime The Abu Sayyaf, notorious for that piracy in the Sulu Sea was against humanity. If the chase beheading captives whose gov- hampering commerce between began in Indonesia here, then ernments fail to pay ransom, Indonesia and the Philippines. crosses, the chase continues in take their victims to strong“I am very sorry, Mr. Presi- the international waters and holds in southern Philippines. dent (Widodo), that sometimes if they are really fast enough the shipments of even the coal also, inside now the Philippine Increased cooperation that is needed by the power waters, they can go ahead and In a speech after his meeting plants of my country are ham- blast them off. That’s the agreewith Widodo at Istana Merka- pered when crossing that area da in Jakarta, Mr. Duterte said there because there is a lot of ❱❱ PAGE 23 PH, Indonesia

13

Senator de Lima denies ‘yellow’ plot to oust Pres. Duterte

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippines News Agency MANILA — Senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday denied that the Liberal Party (LP), whose political color is yellow, has any plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte, who earlier blamed the party’s members for making him look bad in the public eye.

President Duterte earlier criticized former president Benigno Aquino III and his allies for the alleged efforts to destroy his reputation following the backlash on his statements against US President Obama and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“Diyos ko, saan na naman kaya nanggaling yan? Kasi malaking kasinungalingan ho yan (My God, where did they get that? It’s a big lie). It’s just, again, a figment of their wild imagination,” de Lima, an LP member, said.

“Walang ganung plot (There is no such plot to oust him),” she said, noting that the President was perhaps blaming the party for questioning his intensified anti-drug campaign which has been linked to extrajudicial killings.

De Lima previously said that

the Senate inquiry into extrajudicial killings will resume on Thursday.

“Ang ginagagawa ko, magreresume tayo ulit o magre-resume na ho tayo ng ating Senate inquiry sa summary killings, sa EJKs. Tapos siyempre, nagsasalita po ako sa mga isyu na mga katulad niyan, yung may nagpapanukala bang suspension of the habeas corpus, and then siyempre, itong Mary Jane Veloso case, and then a few other issues na kailangan ko naman talagang magsalita (What I am doing is, we will resume the Senate inquiry into summary killings, EJKs. Then of course, I talk about issues on the suspension of the habeas corpus and then on the Mary Jane Veloso case and a few other issues that require me to speak out),” she said.

“Since yellow ako, ang interpretation nila may plano akong i-oust o i-impeach ang ating Pangulo. So, saan naman po nanggagaling yan? (Just because I am ‘yellow’, their interpretation is I plan to oust or impeach our President. Where is that coming from?)” she said.

She further said that the LP does not frequently meet and in the rare occasion that they do, she said that they do not plan of such plots. ■

Retired…. but Not Loving It?

BY MYLENE LIM, AMP Mortgage Specialist EVENTUALLY. When it comes to money matters, this is a word that you’ve held on for very much most of your life. Eventually, your children would not need your financial support.

Eventually, your mortgage will be paid for. Eventually, you can retire from work and be free of all its pressures. Eventually, you would be able to live off your savings to relax and take life leisurely – see more of the world, spend time with the grandkids, sit back and enjoy life.

Life expectancy for seniors has steadily risen. And as with many Canadian seniors, you’ve overestimated how long your money will last, in part due to your longer-than-expected lifespan and in part due to the increase in cost of living. So now, instead of being able to enjoy the fruits of your labour, you are beset with worries on how you will make ends meet and what quality of life are you looking forward to.

If over and above your savings, investments and supports — Old Age Security (OAS), the Allowance, Canada Pension Plan (CPP), and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) — you are still short on funds, what other options do you have avail-

able for you?

Have you considered taking advantage of the increased equity of your current property by selling that and buying a smaller one that will be free of mortgage? Or at least, lessen your mortgage amount? This may also be an opportunity to get property better suited to accommodate some physical setbacks you may already be experiencing as you’ve gotten older.

Another option that is gaining more interest amongst the baby boomers is CHIP Reverse Mortgage. CHIP Reverse Mortgage from HomeEquity Bank has been available in Canada for over 25 years but isn’t being widely utilized by the growing seniors www.canadianinquirer.net

population as of yet. So, what is Chip Reverse Mortgage? Simply put, it is a loan secured by your home, with a big difference. With CHIP, you do not have to make any payments (interest or principal) for as long as you and or your spouse live there. Depending upon your and your spouse’s age, you can access up to 55% of your home value.

What are some additional benefits of a CHIP Reverse Mortgage?

1) You can opt to get the money in one lump sum or go for planned advances over a period of time (to mimic periodic income).

2) You can save on taxes as

proceeds are not taxable income 3) Your government benefits are not affected 4) Your home is still your home and your remaining equity is still yours Overall, the CHIP reverse mortgage is a risk-free way to access the equity of your home to make the most of your golden years! Consult with an accredited CHIP mortgage professional if you would like to explore this option. ■ For more information, please feel free to contact me 604 783 9097 | mylene. mortgage@gmail.com | www.BestOptionMortgages.ca | FB: Mylene Lim, AMP

Opinion

14

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

ANALYSIS

Drug war: Backlash on investors

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer CANBERRA — When President Duterte flew to Laos last week to attend the Asean summit on his first foreign policy trip, he had a fearsome international reputation as the emerging butcher of Asia in the wake of his bloody war on drugs in the Philippines.

He departed after declaring a national emergency following a bomb explosion on Sept. 2 in his hometown, Davao City, that killed 14 people and wounded 70 others.

Mr. Duterte declared the emergency on account of “lawless violence” in Mindanao, the country’s second-largest region. The declaration triggered fears nationwide that he opened the way for the imposition of martial law and a militarybacked dictatorship modeled on the authoritarian rule clamped down by then President Ferdinand Marcos on Sept. 21, 1972.

When he returned from the Laotian capital of Vientiane, Mr. Duterte tried to dispel the worst fears of the Filipinos, with the surprise announcement that there was no need for additional powers for the President after he had declared a state of lawlessness.

He said he would use only the powers at his disposal as President to prevent and suppress violence in the country.

“We are in a state of lawlessness.

I do not need any additional power,” he said. “If you use the word, that is just to instill fear. I do not need anything except that you know that there is lawlessness in the country, period,” he told a press briefing in Davao City on his arrival from Indonesia.

He said there were laws and measures he could use to keep the country safe.

“I will just exercise the powers of the presidency the natural way—law and order, stricter measures,” Mr. Duterte said.

Security measures He made the statement in response to a proposal by Sen. Richard Gordon to give him the power to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and to help fight terrorism and illegal drugs.

The President also defended the security measures that would come with the declaration of national emergency on account of lawless violence, such as checkpoints and more stringent security procedures at places like airports.

He noted that some people objected to the checkpoints, as lawyers had been warning the police could be committing violations.

But opposing random checkpoints could mean a person was hiding something, he said.

In a state of lawlessness, “I feel that I have to to do some extra mile of putting things in order,” the President said.

Airlines could advise passengers to be at the airport earlier than usual to allow more time to go through time stringent procedures.

Open-ended emergency The national emergency proclamation empowers the President to call out the military, along with the police, to suppress violence in Mindanao and prevent it from spreading across the country.

Under the guidelines of the proclamation, the military and the police would be deployed to major throughfares and crowded places, such as airports, shopping malls and transport terminals.

What worries civil liberty activists is the fact that while the one-page proclamation does not suspend any of the people’s basic rights, it remains in force until lifted by the President,

i.e., it is open-ended with the duration at his discretion.

As of this writing, Malacañang has not released a hard copy of the proclamation, although a Palace assistant communications official had disclosed its salient points.

The proclamation commands the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to undertake measures permitted by the Constitution and laws in order to suppress all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao and prevent these from escalating elsewhere.

The military and the police should perform these tasks “with due regard to fundamental and civil political rights,” the Palace official said.

“There is no loss of civil or political liberties, so there is no suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. There is no declaration of martial law. It is simply a call to the military and police to help,” he added.

Damaging investments Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said the basis of the proclamation was terrorism, citing the escape of prisoners, the beheading of hostages, and the Davao City night market blast that killed 14 people.

He emphasized that there was no time limit for the proclamation.

“This is not martial law that has a 60day limitation,” he said.

The national emergency declaration and the war of words between US President Barack Obama and Mr. Duterte over insults unleashed by Mr. Duterte at Obama over the extrajudicial killings by the Davao Death Squad protected by Mr. Duterte when he was Davao City mayor came under fire from American investors in the Philippines.

The American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines warned that Mr. Duterte’s brutal war on drugs and foul-mouthed tirades, including one branding Obama a “son of a bitch,” could hit foreign investments.

The chamber issued a statement that noted that while the crackdown on illegal drugs had seen Mr. Duterte’s domestic popularity soar, it had prompted widespread international condemnation from the United Nations and human rights watchdogs. It was also damaging investor sentiment.

The “increased number of killings during the heightened antidrug campaign is harming the country’s image … some investors are now asking if this campaign is reducing the rule of law,” the chamber said. ■

AT LARGE

Zombies and our reality

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer THERE IS one scene in “Train to Busan,” the blockbuster international hit from Korea about a passenger train overrun by zombies, that suddenly yanks the audience back to Philippine reality.

In the scene, hedge fund manager Seok-woo (K-drama stalwart Gong Yoo) and his small group of fugitives from the marauding zombies finally manage to gain entry to a train car where survivors have barricaded themselves. Seok-woo makes straight for a businessman who had convinced the other passengers to prevent their entry, and while he beats him up, the businessman (Kim Eul-sang) cries out: “Help me! He’s a zombie! Look at him! He’s been infected, too!”

Seok-woo stops and stares at the other passengers, and after a beat, the passengers make up their minds and side with the businessman. “Get out! We’re not safe from you!” the other panicked passengers cry out, pushing at the newcomers and deciding to expel them from the compartment into a gap between the cars, even if the group includes a little girl, Seok-woo’s daughter Su-an, and a heavily pregnant woman (Jung Yu-

mi). They then likewise barricade the doors against them.

So this is how mass hysteria is created, I thought. All it takes is one man, or a few, declaring somebody else is a zombie or otherwise a menace to society, and the populace would instantly fall in with the diagnosis and the drastic action taken against the accused.

This is how the Duterte administration and its minions have managed to convince otherwise decent and rightsloving Filipinos that not only is it “right” for the police and military (and sundry assassins-forhire) to shoot down suspected addicts and pushers, but also to conduct door-to-door operations in poor and affluent neighborhoods alike, creating an environment of general fear and trepidation.

Friends from around the country report that such is the atmosphere of intimidation and paranoia in villages and barangays that people are afraid to speak out or even hang yellow banners or ribbons from their doors. Really, all it takes is for a neighbor or an enemy to report you to the barangay office as a drug user or pusher and you’d be in mortal danger.

You don’t need zombies to live in dire fear in the Philippines these days. ***

SO maybe we do need a movie like “Train to Busan” to take our minds off the murder and mayhem taking place in our streets and in the minds of our elected officials.

In stark terms, the plot of “Train to Busan” is simple and straightforward enough. What is presumed to be an hour’s ride by bullet train from Seoul to Busan is turned into a nightmare scenario when the train is boarded by a zombie. She is a young woman who first infects two crew members, and they in turn prey on most of the other passengers.

The movie, directed by Yeon Sangho who had previously made his name with madcap, violent animated films, doesn’t bother about examining the origins of the outbreak.

Although, sometime in the middle of the film, we find out that the outbreak has been traced to a laboratory funded by the hero’s hedge fund firm.

Instead, Yeon wisely concentrates on the impact that the zombie marauders have on the human passengers, who make up a cross-section of modern Korean society. There is Seokwoo, the workaholic fund manager who reluctantly, and somewhat resentfully, leaves his work to accompany his young daughter on her birthday to visit his estranged wife.

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On the train the pair meet the thuggish Sang-hwa (mainstay gangster villain portrayer Ma Dong-seok) and his pregnant wife Sung-kyu (Jung Yu-mi), a pair of elderly sisters, a homeless vagrant, and a teenage couple who have joined their school’s baseball team for a tournament. *** THE rest of the movie, punctuated now and then with TV news footage of the anarchy taking place across the country, is all about how the surviving, uninfected passengers manage to escape from the zombies and make their way to Busan.

The zombies are the most remarkable special effect in the movie. They are portrayed as staggering, bloodsoaked creatures, with eyes that have clouded over, and driven by a sort of madness that compels them to feed on their prey.

A most astounding scene comes near the end, at the Busan train station where the heroic train conductor, along with Seok-woo, his daughter, and the pregnant lady (and, unknown to them, the infected businessman, too) have managed to clamber aboard and get the car moving. At once the zombies try to join them, clinging to the railings as hundreds of their kind pile on. We are given an

aerial shot of the train, with a ribbon of zombie-humanity hanging on and following its trail until they are finally kicked off.

Almost from the beginning, “Train to Busan” sets off echoes of “The Host,” another Korean scifi movie hit about a sea monster mutated from radioactive material thrown into the Han River in the center of Seoul. The two films abjure the temptation to turn the plot toward a scientific investigation and instead focuses on the impact of the monsters on ordinary citizens who fight back with their meager resources and wit. It’s the human element that’s truly heroic. *** ONE final note. On a whim, we decided to watch “Train to Busan” in a special effects cinema in Greenbelt 3, where the seats follow the action on the screen, and mist and mysterious movements scurry across your feet.

Watching the movie was so exhausting because, not only was it truly terrifying, it was also quite an effort to try to stay in one’s seat, as one felt like flying off any second.

It is, indeed, an added dimension to one’s movie-going experience, but make sure you’re with someone you can hold hands with and who will keep you in your seat! ■

Opinion

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

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PUBLIC LIVES

Speech and the written word

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer IN EVERYDAY life, we tend to assign less weight to oral speech than to the written word. The spoken is presumed to be “ephemeral,” liable to be misheard, reinterpreted, or denied. The written word, in contrast, is thought to be “indelible,” its meaning cast in stone.

But, the literary scholar Roland Barthes, in his classic essay, “The Death of the Author,” reverses this equation. He argues: “[I]t is ephemeral speech which is indelible, not monumental writing…. Speech is irreversible: a [spoken] word cannot be retracted…”

Nowhere, perhaps, is this insight truer than in international gatherings of heads of state or foreign ministers, where diplomatic language is the norm. Participants studiously avoid giving off-the cuff remarks in order not to be misinterpreted. Most speak from detailed notes or simply read a prepared speech. At the end of such meetings, a carefully crafted communiqué is typically agreed upon and issued to make sure there is no room for misunderstanding.

In such gatherings, words do matter. Utmost cordiality is observed even among representatives of rival

nations. That is why presidents, prime power to determine foreign policy existing alliances. If it is, our people ministers, and monarchs bring with and to conduct foreign relations with deserve to know. them a staff of seasoned diplomats other states. He alone can negotiate The President cannot say one and writers who prepare the ground treaties on behalf of the country, al- thing and then, immediately after, for their principals long before the though, under the 1987 Constitution, his staff scrambles to redescribe latter actually meet. A strong opinion such treaties are subject to ratifica- what he actually said. If done too ofloosely uttered by one head of state tion by the Senate. A 1988 Supreme ten, it can undermine the President’s in the presence of another could be Court ruling denying media access credibility. In an era where speeches taken as a slight. The consequences to minutes taken at a treaty negotia- are instantly recorded, transcribed, that follow could be costly, and unfor- tion (G.R. No. 84642) made this very and retrieved, there is hardly any tunate because unintended. clear: “The President alone has the room for widely differing interpreIt is one thing for a nation’s leader power to speak or listen as a repre- tations. Fortunately, the rules of dito speak and act in a calibrated way sentative of the Nation. Congress plomacy give parties enough leeway in the pursuit of a to offer or demand clear and coherclarifications of In an era where speeches are instantly recorded, ent foreign policy. controversial statetranscribed, and retrieved, there is hardly any room for It is quite another ments—precisely widely differing interpretations. to allow oneself, because words have especially on the contexts and coninternational stage, to be a captive itself is powerless to invade it. The sequences. Parties at the receiving of the contingencies of oral speech. President is the sole organ of the Na- end of strong statements often want “Speech can be a stream of conscious- tion in its external relations, and its to know if there is a hidden message ness, with unfinished utterances, sole representative with foreign Na- behind these utterances. half-formed thoughts, and a healthy tions.”

I think it was right for President smattering of messy slang. You don’t This responsibility makes it im- Duterte to seek out US President have to know how a sentence will perative for any president to always Barack Obama at the Asean leaders’ end before you start it.” (Chi Luu, “Is speak with caution. Whether it is to gala dinner to tell him that the widely writing a technology or language?”) communicate a substantive shift in reported slur he had uttered on the It is from this that extemporaneous foreign policy, or it is simply to re- eve of the summit was not meant for speech draws its charm and power, iterate time-honored principles in the American president. Obama himas well as its inherent risks. This is foreign relations—such as sovereign self had said: “I don’t take these comparticularly so if one happens to be a equality and noninterference—it is ments personally because it seems head of state. important for any administration to as if this is a phrase he’s used repeatUnder our system of government, clearly state if it is veering toward a edly—including directed at the Pope the President is vested with the radical rethinking of the country’s and others—a habit, a way of speak-

ing.” Still, the US side firmly canceled the bilateral meeting with the Philippine president. One can be gracious without being a pushover. That’s the way of diplomacy.

The other day, it was Mr. Duterte’s turn to relate his fleeting encounter with Obama to a group of Filipinos in the course of his visit to Indonesia after the Asean summit. “I told him in a holding room, ‘President Obama, I’m President Duterte. I never made that statement. Check it out.’” Obama’s response, according to him, was: “My men will talk to you.” To which Mr. Duterte replied, “OK.” One could be courteous without being obsequious, or forthright without being offensive.

That, too, is the way of diplomacy.

Obama, who is winding down his second term as US president, would have been the last person to let this issue rankle and dominate media reportage of his final official visit to Asia. He was, above all, concerned to show the world that there is solid support for the US pivot to Asia. He wanted assurance that AsiaPacific nations continue to see America’s presence in the region as a stabilizing factor and as a necessary counterweight to China’s assertive presence in the South China Sea. If we disagree with this view, we should say so, without being hostile. ■

LOOKING BACK

Rizal the ‘little bad boy’

By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer EEKLO, BELGIUM—I am here in this small town known for Unescodeclared heritage structures. It is off the beaten track of tourist destinations like Brussels or Bruges, but I was brought here from the airport to stay with Lucien Spittael, a retired Nato officer and now a Knight of the Order of Rizal.

Spittael’s charming home, outside the town center, does not look any different from the neighbors’ except that his driveway has a tarpaulin showing the chronology of Rizal’s life and works. Inside the home he shares with his Filipino wife Madeline Acosta Abordo is a veritable Rizal museum with pictures, busts, memorabilia, etc. Rizal started as a hobby for him and has grown into an obsession, such that I am sure he knows more about our national hero than the average Filipino.

This weekend I will deliver a lecture at the Ghent Town Hall to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the publication of “El Filibusterismo” (1891), on the invitation of Philippine Ambassador to Belgium

Victoria Bataclan and the sponsorship of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. I will be joined by former INQUIRER publisher Raul Pangalangan, who is commuting from The Hague for the event.

Spittael and I have been corresponding by email for some time now, and finally having the opportunity to meet him and go beyond pleasantries taught me a great deal about the details of Rizal and his stay in Belgium, which should lead to some revision of what we know. For example, all historians studying Rizal have long accepted that he had a girlfriend in Belgium named Suzanne Jacoby. She does not look very attractive in an extant photograph; some people have even commented unkindly that she could have passed for a man!

There were about a dozen letters of “Suzanne Jacoby” in the prewar National Library, according to a footnote in Rafael Palma’s prewar “Biografia de Rizal,” but only three have survived in compilations of Rizal’s correspondence. I have always wondered why T. M. Kalaw did not include these letters in the “Epistolario Rizalino.” You will understand whywhenyou read the letter to Rizal

from “Petite Suzanne” (Little Susan), posted from Brussels onWednesday, Oct. 1, 1890: “My dear Mr. Rizal: “You may not have received yet my letter and I am writing you this one because the young gentleman from Madrid came to our house. He arrived at Brussels at one o’clock and came to the house at night. As it was a little late (10:00 o’clock), we had gone upstairs to bed. Aunt Suzanne and I were both in bed. Aunt Marie was still up. When he first rang, we thought it was a street urchin, but at the second time Aunt Marie went to open the door and let him in. Then she woke up Monsieur Fernand for whom I believe Monsieur Baudrio has brought a letter. All three were in the kitchen and I could hear very well all that he said. When we heard him speak, we thought it was you and then the name of Monsieur Rizal puzzled us.

“I had a hard time holding back Aunt Suzanne. She maintained that you had returned, that it was you who were in the kitchen, but we did not see you. Monsieur Fernand gave himmuch information and placed himself at his disposal for other things. All I know about him is that he is taller than you and combs his

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hair in a different way. But I will see him better, for Aunt Marie has invited him to come again. Then I will ask to talk again about you. He must learn French at once. Aunt Marie asked him if you have become stout, what you were doing, and if you liked Madrid very much.

“Monsieur Baudrio replied that you have become stout ... and I believe he also said that you were counting on coming back, which made me so happy that I could not sleep.

“Here is already one of your compatriots. Come quickly and bring with you some twenty more and you can hold picnics, too, here in Brussels.

“I hope your courts are open and I shall not have to wait a long time for your decision.

“Don’t delay too long writing us because I wear out the soles of my shoes for running to the mailbox to see if there is a letter from you.

“Waiting impatiently for your letter in which you will tell me all that I want to know, the whole family sends you regards with wishes for your return. “Your Petite Suzanne “P.S. There will never be any home in which you are so loved as in that in

Brussels, so, you little bad boy, hurry up and come back. Tell us a little about the kind of house in which you are lodged and how the people are there.”

Such an innocent letter on the surface, but on rereading you may ask: why is Rizal called a “little bad boy”? What does she mean by Rizal leaving his courts open? All the Rizal biographers have identified this Belgian woman as Suzanne Jacoby, but Spittael has consulted the municipal archives and found that there were two Suzannes in the house where Rizal stayed: Suzanne Jacoby, aged 46 at the time, and her niece Suzanne Thill, aged 18. Of the three letters in Rizal’s collected correspondence, two are signed “Petite Suzanne” and one “Suzanne T.” Spittael pointed out the obvious. These letters are not from “Aunt” Suzanne but from her niece Suzanne Thill! Obviously, Rizal chose youth over age, and now the quest for Suzanne T. continues.

Present Rizal research continues abroad, undertaken by adoptive Filipinos like Lucien Spittael, KarlHeinz Wionzek, and many others who put Pinoy researchers like me to shame. ■

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Canada News Live-in caregiver says government promises for foreign worker program aren’t enough

BY NICOLE THOMPSON The Canadian Press TORONTO — With Parliament poised to look at changes to how temporary foreign workers are treated, people who came as livein caregivers are speaking out about what they call injustices within the federal programs.

Kristina Torres, 28, came to Canada from the Philippines under a federal live-in caregiver program that she said has left her feeling “disposable” and less than human. Torres joined other caregivers in Toronto on Sunday to discuss allegations of exploitation in the program.

The federal initiative allowed families to hire someone from another country to live with them and provide care for children, seniors and people with medical needs or disabilities. After two years in the program, the caregiver could then apply to become a permanent resident.

The program was changed in 2014 so new applicants were no longer required to live in their employers’ homes. But people already employed through the live-in program would continue in that stream, and couldn’t apply for so-called “live-out”

jobs. Along with that amend- are let go, they lose their liv- outside of her job description. ment, caregivers lost the right ing place and can’t accept a job She said she thinks her refusal is to apply for permanent resi- elsewhere without jumping what triggered her termination. dent status. through bureaucratic hoops.

Torres had to apply for a new Federal programs involv“If we don’t have an employ- work permit, and said she was ing temporary foreign workers er, we don’t have a home,” Tor- rejected several times before have been no end of embarrass- res said. finally being accepted. ment for the government.

She said workers’ hands are The process was completely They’ve been criticized for tied when their employers ask different from what she exgiving Canadian jobs to foreign them to work unpaid overtime pected, she said. When she first nationals, and leaving those or do tasks that are outside applied for the program — years foreign nationals in precarious of their job description. They ago — she was promised a “pathwork situations. can’t decline without risking way to permanent residency.”

Reforms were made after a their job. Torres said she’s had But no such pathway existed series of controversies, includ- to agree to work that doesn’t for her. ing reports of “You just colfast-food reslapse from all taurants favourthose expectaing temporary tions that you foreign workIf we don’t have an employer, we have, hoping that ers over local don’t have a home. you’ll have a good employees. The life in Canada,” Royal Bank also she said. “And came under fire then you’re treatfor cutting Canadian jobs while fall within the scope of her job, ed as less than a human being.” a new supplier it hired to pro- including fixing the caulking on On Sunday, Immigration vide technical support brought an employer’s bathroom floor.

Minister John McCallum told in foreign workers.

“It was lucky I knew how to CTV’s Question Period that he A Commons committee stud- do it,” she said. hopes to reform the system to ied potential reforms to the proBut in 2014, when the pro- bring back that “pathway to grams this spring, and is expected gram was in the midst of its over- permanent residence.” to release its report after MPs re- haul, she was less lucky. She had But Torres said that’s not good turn to Parliament Hill next week. been working for someone for a enough. She’s part of an advocaMany workers in the pro- while, but she said she was let go cy organization called the Caregrams, such as Torres, are tied a short time after she declined givers Action Centre, which is to the employer who brought to help her employer renovate — calling for temporary workers them over — if they quit or something that was completely and their families to be given

permanent resident status upon their arrival in Canada.

Torres said that’s the best way to get rid of employers’ attitudes that foreign caregivers are disposable.

“Any two-step process or path to permanent residency is really a path to exploitation.

It’s a minefield: we need permanent status on arrival,” she said.

She said exploitation is rampant in the program.

“We’re expected to be robots,” she said. But the work is hard and emotional.

In her experience working with people who are gravely ill, Torres said, she has to do the physical work of helping her client, but she also has to navigate the shifting family dynamics that come near the end of life. And there’s no respite at the end of the day, as workers are fully immersed in their employer’s family.

And she said live-out programs aren’t much better.

She said that even if someone says they’re looking for a live-out caregiver, many still expect their employees to live with them.

“A lot of employers won’t hire you,” Torres said, “because they’re looking for that willing candidate to be abused.” ■

ity of care that British Columbians receive is among the best in the world and that when urgent or emergency care is needed it is almost invariably provided without delay,” he added.

“In terms of the overall provision of health care in British Columbia, the patients who are waiting too long are the exception and not the rule.”

Last week, a lawyer for Cambie Surgery Centre argued that a public-private system would help B.C. curb skyrocketing health-care costs by reducing pressure from the public system, freeing resources and shortening wait times.

health care.”

Penner dismissed the suggestion that the Chaoulli case applied to the B.C. situation, arguing that circumstances in the two provinces are different.

For instance, he argued that the article referenced in the Chaoulli case is defined more broadly than the section being referenced in the B.C. suit.

“The evidence before this court will not be the same and will tell a very, very different story,” Penner said.

Federal government lawyers are expected to provide input in the trial that is scheduled to run through to February. ■

B.C. court... government for using the Medicare Protection Act to prevent doctors from providing medically necessary treatment in both the public and private systems and to forbid private insurance for core medical services.

Penner said in his opening remarks Monday that upcoming evidence from proponents will probably show that some British Columbians wait longer for surgery than they would like or than what would be considered ideal.

“The evidence will show, however, that overall the qual❰❰ 1

Penner countered by saying privatization “would create perverse incentives for physicians and would introduce a private system that would depend on abandonment of present efforts to reduce wait times in the public system.”

“The health-care system is highly complex and the repercussions to various components of that system of striking down those prohibitions are uncertain and problematic,” he said.

Along with the Cambie Surgery Centre, plaintiffs include several patients who argue that forcing people onto wait lists www.canadianinquirer.net

for medically necessary procedures violates Canadians’ charter rights.

Penner made repeated references to the Chaoulli case, a lawsuit decided in 2005 at the Supreme Court of Canada in favour of allowing some private health-care coverage in Quebec.

While that ruling was based on Quebec’s Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms and thus applied only in that province, privatization proponents in B.C.’s lawsuit point to a conclusion included in the court’s written decision that “Access to a waiting list is not access to

17

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18

Canada News

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

It’s official: Alberta puts $15 hour minimum wage in regulations for 2018

BY DEAN BENNETT The Canadian Press

WORAWEE MEEPIAN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Montreal taxi industry to meet Tuesday to discuss Uber deal THE CANADIAN PRESS MONTREAL — Representatives of Montreal’s taxi industry are scheduled to meet Tuesday to draft a response to the recent deal between the provincial government and ride-hailing company Uber.

Taxi drivers are almost unanimously against the agreement, which allows Uber to continue operating during a one-year pilot project.

While they oppose the deal, cabbies don’t agree on how to pressure the government to reverse course.

Taxi lobby spokesman Guy Chevrette said the province’s various cab companies and their drivers will “no doubt” come up with a unified front after Tuesday’s meeting.

Chevrette said he will suggest the lobby take legal action against the government, but refused to give details about other possible measures, such as strikes.

The lobby met on Monday with the province’s transport minister, Laurent Lessard, but Chevrette described the get-together as disappointing.

“It’s clear for (Lessard) that everything is legal, despite all the proof that we offer him,” Chevrette said, referring to the fact Uber continues to operate outside the law because the pilot project hasn’t yet come into effect.

“The government thinks it is right,” he continued. “It considers that Uber is operating within the law. It’s discriminatory and not equitable.” ■

EDMONTON — It’s now on the books and in effect: Alberta’s minimum wage will be $15 an hour by 2018.

Labour Minister Christina Gray says cabinet has passed the required regulation to not only raise the rate to $12.20 an hour this October, but also to boost it by $1.40 an hour again in October 2017 and finally in October 2018.

The changes can only be rescinded by Premier Rachel Notley’s cabinet or by a successor government.

The move aligns with promises made by Notley and Gray to hike the wage.

“One of the things we heard strongly from many of the stakeholders, including business, was the desire for certainty, to know what was coming,” said Gray in an interview.

“In July we laid out the plan for all three years, and now we’ve enacted that plan for all three years.”

Gray said it’s critical to pay lower-end earners a fair wage, adding the money will be reinvested into the economy.

“We are committed to supporting to our low-wage Albertans, people who are working full-time jobs and are still not able to make ends meet,” she said.

“We know that Alberta has the highest percentage of food

bank use (for) working people.”

Business and industry groups and opposition critics have been urging Notley’s government to rethink the hike or at least further investigate its implications on the economy before acting.

They say the wage hikes are too much too fast and threaten to further cripple businesses still reeling from the protracted slump in oil prices.

Notley has repeatedly said her government won’t relent, and earlier this summer dared opposition leaders to take action.

“I want to hear the opposition promise they’ll take it away, that they’ll roll back the minimum wage to where it used to be (which was) the lowest in the country,” Notley told party members at the NDP Calgary convention on June 11.

As of Oct. 1, Alberta will have the highest minimum wage amongst all provinces. The territories — Nunavut ($13/hour) and the Northwest Territories ($12.50/hour) _remain higher.

The changes were promised by the NDP in the 2015 election campaign and began later that year with the wage rising from $10.20 to the current rate of $11.20 per hour.

On Oct. 1, it will rise by $1 to $12.20 an hour, then will rise to $13.60 a year later, until reaching $15 on Oct. 1, 2018.

The province is also making changes to the minimum wage paid to servers, bartenders and

others whose main job is to dispense liquor.

Those workers have traditionally been paid $1 an hour less than minimum wage to compensate for what was accepted to be more money in tips.

In 2015, the province closed the gap from $1 to 50 cents an hour. As of Oct. 1, the gap will be gone completely and liquor servers will receive the same minimum wage as everyone else.

Gray said the gap needed to be closed because there had been too much variance in tips for liquor servers to make it reliable.

By 2018, compared to when Notley took office, the minimum wage will have risen 63 per cent for liquor servers and 47 per cent for everyone else.

The Edmonton and Calgary chambers of commerce, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and the industry group Restaurants Canada have said a steep hike will hurt businesses already dealing with a recession economy and tens of thousands people losing their jobs.

The province estimates that 305,000 employed Albertans earn less than $15 an hour, twothirds of whom are women.

Of those figures, it estimates one in four are students, onethird are in retail, one quarter in food services, 40 per cent are heads of households, and five per cent are working single parents. ■

Rotary Foundation marks centennial year of service THE ROTARY Foundation (TRF) will reach 100 years of service to humanity in 2016 to 2017. Among the millions of people and communities the Rotary has helped during these years, the Philippines stands out as the start point of one of its greatest achievements.

In 1979, the first two drops of the Sabin polio vaccine were administered to children in Guadalupe Viejo, a district of

Manila by the then president of Rotary International. This led to a project of global significance, the eradication of polio, made possible by a grant from Rotary.

The foundation pledged in the early 1980s to strive to eradicate polio from the world.

From an incidence rate of almost 1,000 reported cases a day, that has now been reduced by over 99.9 percent to just 21 in 2016. That work continues

today, but only in three remaining countries. The government of Canada continues to be a strong supporter of this work, investing many millions of dollars over the years.

“Without that initial investment by TRF and the Philippine government of US$750,000, polio might very well continue at pandemic levels in many parts of the world.

This is truly something for Rotarians to celebrate,” said Gorwww.canadianinquirer.net

don Dalglish of past district governor of Rotary.

TRF in partnership with governments and non-governmental organizations across the world have worked tirelessly to achieve the objective, which is now well within reach.

“The Philippines has remained a vibrant and exciting country, but not without its challenges. TRF together with its many partners such as Rotary World Help, Firefight-

ers Without Borders, Caring Hearts Dentistry and others, has maintained and expanded that relationship started back in 1979. We celebrate these achievements and recognize the part played by these organizations during 100 years of “Doing Good in the World” – the centennial motto of the Rotary Foundation. We thank you for joining with us as we embark on our second centennial,” Dalglish said. ■

19

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

www.canadianinquirer.net

World News

20

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Oxford English Dictionary adds over 1,000 updated entries PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY LONDON — The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added more than 1,000 revised and updated entries, including 1,200 new senses, to its September update for people to explore.

Squee, an exclamation expressing delight or excitement, was added to the updated list, along with YOLO, moobs, gender-fluid, yogalates and Westminster bubble, to name just a few.

YOLO is the acronym for “you only live once,” while moobs refer to male boobs.

Gender-fluid means a person with a fluid or unfixed gender identity, while yogalates is yoga combined with Plates. Westminster bubble indicates an insular community of British politicians and civil servants who are out of touch with the experiences and concerns of the wider public.

Besides online slangs, some of the new entries have been introduced from other languages, including food terms like spanakopita, or Greek spinach pie, and kare-kare, a traditional Filipino stew.

The OED is updated every three months, and what makes the September update unique is that this month marks

the centenary of the birth of Roald Dahl, a British author and screenwriter widely known by his famous children’s book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

To mark this occasion and the publication of Oxford’s Roald Dahl Dictionary, September’s quarterly update to the OED contains a range of revised and newly drafted entries described by another newly added word “Dahlesque.”

“Oompa Loompa” is one of the newlyadded words with a sense of “Dahlesque delight in the bizarre.” In the 1971 film adaption of Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Oompa Loompas are featured as kneehigh beings with green hair and orange skin working in the factory run by Willy Wonka.

“Ever since the release of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, while a person may be likened to an Oompa Loompa in stature or industriousness, such comparisons are now much more likely to allude to the Day-Glo effects of some fake tanning products,” said Jonathan Dent, a senior editor for the OED. Some readers may say the updated entries and new words are “splendiferous (full of splendor),” but if they don’t make any sense, just “fuhgeddaboudit (forget about it)!” ■

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Bridge of No Return at the border between North Korean and South Korea.

AMY NICHOLE HARRIS / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

US flies bombers over S.Korea in show of force against North

BY LEE JIN-MAN The Associated Press OSAN AIR BASE, KOREA, REPUBLIC OF — The United States on Tuesday sent two nuclear-capable supersonic bombers streaking over ally South Korea in a show of force meant to cow North Korea after its recent nuclear test and also to settle rattled nerves in the South.

The B-1B bombers, escorted by U.S. and South Korean jets, were seen by an Associated Press photographer as they flew over Osan Air Base, which is 120 kilometres (75 miles) from the border with North Korea, the world’s most heavily armed. The bombers were likely to return to Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, without landing in South Korea.

Such flyovers are common when always high animosity rises on the Korean Peninsula, which is technically in a state of war as there has never been a peace treaty to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War. South Korea does not have nuclear weapons and relies on the U.S. “nuclear umbrella” as a deterrent to North Korea. Washington also stations more than 28,000 troops in the South, and tens of thousands more in Japan.

North Korea is keenly aware of the U.S. presence on the peninsula and of what it considers the U.S. nuclear threat. It uses such flyovers and the American military influence in the South in its propaganda as alleged proof of U.S. hostility that it claims as the reason it needs a nuclear bomb program.

Last week’s nuclear test, the North’s fifth, was its most powerful to date. Pyongyang’s claim to have used “standardized” warheads in the detonation makes some outsiders worry that it is making headway in its push to develop small, sophisticated warheads that can be mounted on missiles that can reach the U.S. mainland.

Nuclear expert Siegfried Hecker, who has regularly visited the North’s nuclear facilities, estimates the North may have enough nuclear fuel for about 20 bombs

www.canadianinquirer.net

by the end of 2016 and the ability to add about seven new bombs a year.

“Left unchecked, Pyongyang will likely develop the capability to reach the continental United States with a nuclear tipped missile in a decade or so,” Siegfried wrote on the North Korea-focused website 38 North. He said that more troubling was the recent test successes may give Pyongyang a false sense of confidence.

International diplomatic efforts to rid the North of its bombs have been stalled since the last round of meetings in late 2008. Since then, Pyongyang has ramped up both its ballistic missile and nuclear bomb development, despite an increasing raft of sanctions.

After the test, the North’s nuclear weapons institute said it will take unspecified measures to further boost its nuclear capability, which analysts said hinted at a possible sixth nuclear test.

South Korea’s Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang Gyun said Monday that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities believe North Korea has the ability to detonate another atomic device at any time at one of its tunnels at its main Punggye-ri nuclear test site, where the five previous atomic explosions took place.

Moon refused to say what specific evidence pointed to another possible nuclear test. But the South’s Yonhap news agency, citing unidentified Seoul government sources, reported Monday that there were signs the North had finished test preparations at one tunnel that has never been used. Yonhap did not elaborate.

Seoul, Washington and their allies have vowed to apply more pressure and sanctions after the test, the second this year.

“The United States and (South Korea) are taking actions every day to strengthen our alliance and respond to North Korea’s continued aggressive behaviour,” Gen. Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said in a statement. ■ AP writers Foster Klug and Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this story.

World News

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

21

On 15th anniversary of 9-11, ‘the grief never goes away’

BY JENNIFER PELTZ AND VERENA DOBNIK The Associated Press NEW YORK — The U.S. marked the 15th anniversary of 9-11 on Sunday, with victims’ relatives reading their names and reflecting on a loss that still felt as immediate to them as it was indelible for the nation.

“It doesn’t get easier. The grief never goes away. You don’t move forward — it always stays with you,” Tom Acquaviva, who lost his son, Paul Acquaviva, said as he joined over 1,000 victims’ family members, survivors and dignitaries at ground zero under an overcast sky.

For Dorothy Esposito, too, the 15 years since she lost her son, Frankie, is “like 15 seconds.”

James Johnson was there for the first time since he last worked on the rescue and recovery efforts in early 2002, when he was a New York City police officer.

“I’ve got mixed emotions, but I’m still kind of numb,” said Johnson, now a police chief in Forest City, Pennsylvania. “I think everyone needs closure, and this is my time to have closure.”

Nearly 3,000 people died when hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001. It was the deadliest terror attack on American soil.

The 15th anniversary arrives in a country caught up in a combustible political campaign, keenly focused on political, eco-

In New York, ceremony organizers included some additional music and readings Sunday to mark the milestone year.

But they kept close to what are now traditions: moments of silence and tolling bells, an apolitical atmosphere and the hourslong reading of the names of the dead. Pictured is the 9/11 Memorial Park in Manhattan.

nomic and social fissures and still fighting terrorism. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Sunday news shows that the United States is safer now than it was in 2001 against another 9-11-style attack but continues to face the challenge of potential attacks by solo and homegrown violent extremists.

President Barack Obama, speaking at the Pentagon memorial service, praised America’s diversity and urged Americans not to let their enemies divide them. Some victims’ relatives at ground zero pleaded for the nation to look past its differences.

“The things we think separate us really don’t. We’re all part of this one Earth in this vast universe,” said Granvilette Kestenbaum, who lost her as-

trophysicist husband, Howard Kestenbaum.

Others expressed hopes for peace or alluded to the presidential race: “Guide America’s next commander-in-chief and help make America safe again,” said Nicholas Haros, who lost his mother, Frances Haros.

Still, the nation tries to put partisan politics on hold on the anniversary, and both Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican rival Donald Trump were at the anniversary ceremony at theWorld Trade Center. Politicians have been allowed to attend the ceremony, but not speak, since 2011.

Clinton and Trump also followed a custom of halting television ads for the day.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people gathered for a name-read-

ing observance at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked planes crashed 15 years ago.

In New York, ceremony organizers included some additional music and readings Sunday to mark the milestone year. But they kept close to what are now traditions: moments of silence and tolling bells, an apolitical atmosphere and the hourslong reading of the names of the dead.

For relatives, it’s an occasion to keep their loved one in the public’s consciousness, while also having a tone of personal remembrance. Some speakers updated their lost loved ones on weddings and grandchildren or described how their loss had moved them to do something for others.

Ryan Van Riper said he planned to honour his slain grandmother, Barbara Shaw, by serving the country. Jerry D’Amadeo, who was 10 when he lost his father, Vincent Gerard D’Amadeo, said he worked this summer with children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, where 20 children and six school staffers were massacred in 2012.

“Sometimes the bad things in our lives put us on the path to where we should be going — to help others as many have helped me,” he said.

Financial and other hurdles delayed the redevelopment of the Trade Center site early on, but now the 9-11 museum, three of four currently planned skyscrapers, an architecturally adventuresome transportation hub and shopping concourse and other features stand at the site. A design for a long-stalled, $250 million performing arts centre was unveiled Thursday.

The crowd has thinned somewhat at the anniversary ceremony in recent years. But some victims’ family members, like Cathy Cava, have attended all 15 years.

“I will keep coming as long as I am walking and breathing,” Cava said, wearing a T-shirt with a photo of her slain sister, Grace Susca Galante.

“I believe most of her spirit, or at least some of her spirit, is here. I have to think that way.” ■ Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo and Deepti Hajela contributed to this report.

Woman in iconic V-J Day Times Square kiss photo dies at 92 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — The woman in an iconic photo shown kissing an ecstatic sailor in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II has died. Greta Zimmer Friedman was 92.

Friedman, who fled Austria during the war as a 15-year-old, died Thursday at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, from complications of old age, her son, Joshua Friedman, said.

Greta Friedman was a

21-year-old dental assistant in a nurse’s uniform when she became part of one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.

On Aug. 14, 1945, known as V-J Day, the day Japan surrendered to the United States, people spilled into the New York City streets from restaurants, bars and movie theatres, celebrating the news.

That’s when George Mendonsa spotted Friedman, spun her around and planted a kiss.

The two had never met. In fact,

Mendonsa was on a date with an actual nurse, Rita Petry, who would later become his wife.

The photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt is called “V-J Day in Times Square,” but is known to most simply as “The Kiss.”

Mendonsa said that in some photos of the scene, Petry could be seen smiling in the background.

Another image from a different angle was taken by U.S. Navy photographer Victor Jorgensen but it was Eisenstaedt’s photo that became seared in www.canadianinquirer.net

people’s minds. His photo was first published in Life magazine, buried deep within its pages. Over the years, the photo gained recognition, and several people claimed to be the kissing couple.

In an August 1980 issue of Life, 11 men and three women said they were the subjects. It was years before Mendonsa and Friedman were confirmed to be the couple.

Joshua Friedman said his mother recalled the events happening in an instant.

“It wasn’t that much of a kiss,” Friedman said in an interview with the Veterans History Project in 2005. “It was just somebody celebrating. It wasn’t a romantic event.”

Both of Friedman’s parents died in the Holocaust, according to Lawrence Verria, co-author of “The Kissing Sailor: The Mystery Behind the Photo that Ended World War II.” Friedman will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, next to her late husband, Dr. Misha Friedman. ■

22

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS:

Frances Samson: Dancing for Her Star!

BY BOLET S. AREVALO Philippine Canadian Inquirer IT IS not very often that one gets to talk to young people of Filipino descent and find them freely speaking of their own dreams, sans the influence of their Filipino parents.

Or, may be being born and or having lived on this side of the world has seen a development of a totally different mindset and sense of independent thinking to pursue what one strongly feels about.

Way back in the Philippines, it is not surprising for kids to follow the career paths their parents had taken, pursue their parents’ lost dreams, or obey parents’ sound advice as to what course to take up in school or what profession to get into. And many Filipinos do not consider it a bad idea, especially if our kids have no plans or passion about something and thus, needed a guided plan to their future.

It could still be true anywhere in the world where Pinoy families are but in the case of aspiring dancer, Frances Samson, she dreamed her dream, plans its own course and definitely out to run the race on her own through her passion for dance.

19-year old Frances had just been through her first year as a Bachelor of Fine Arts student, majoring in Performance Dance at Ryerson University but her plans for herself are years ahead of her.

New York it is, in the short range.

While Frances recognizes the emerging popularity of dance as

a performing art in Toronto, she sees New York as the right place to be to get the experience she deserves. She, however, credits her dance company for the exposure she got, the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre (CCDT) since 2013. She was a competitive dancer with the Sean Boutilier Academy of Dance and also toured with CCDT. “I used to be a competitive dancer, doing 4 tours a year with CCDT. And the rest of the year is spent practicing and training at least 20-24 hours a week after school work. CCDT had an amazing training program and structure,” informed Frances.

Starting ‘Em Young

She remembers she was merely 5 years old when she was brought to dance classes as part of her after-school activity. An activity she would even do on weekends and for long hours.

This went on until high school.

Frances attended Missisauga’s Cawthra Park Secondary School, a special school for the performing arts. Here, a teacher singled out her ability and suggested for her to join CCDT. CCDT enabled her to hone her skills by studying ballet and the Limon modern dance technique. CCDT also gave her the opportunity to perform.

Her love for dancing sort of became official when she decided to enrol at Ryerson University’s Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Performance Dance.

Though as a university student, she did not get to perform much, she filled in the gap by continuing to dance and travel with CCDT as a guest artist.

This kept her close to her dancing shoes.

It is a t this point, or may be even much earlier, she already knew that dancing is her passion.

Who inspired her? Who is her greatest influence?

Surprisingly, Frances could not think of anyone when asked spot on. Or maybe, she said, the dance artists of her dance company whom she keenly observed for their techniques and movements in order to get better.

Dancing, thus, is more organic to her.

Not even her parents, she confessed, have a hand in her decision to be a dance artist.

They simply support what their unica hija wants. They never had to tell her what to wish for.

Frances believes that dance was where her heart is. From her parents’ point of view, it was as simple as acceding to what Frances wanted and then believing in her.

“Anyone who wants to go into dance has to be passionate and committed. Do not dwell on what you do not have to succeed,” admonished the young dancer.

Frances, for example, knows she does not have the tall-andlean feature that dance performers are normally expected to have. But at 4’11’’, she displayed her own ability to jump higher, pirouette effortlessly, move faster. Frances is the only company dancer of Filipino descent in both CCDT and Limon, according to her.

Bigger Dreams with Limon

It is, thus, Limon Dance Company that made Frances www.canadianinquirer.net

dream bigger.

An account on its official website records that Limon Dance Company is “hailed as one of the world’s greatest dance companies. It has been at the vanguard of American Modern dance since its inception in 1946. The Company is the living legacy of dance theater developed by José Limón and his mentors, Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman, whose innovative works revolutionized the American dance . Founded in 1946 by José Limón and Doris Humphrey, the Company was led by Carla Maxwell, who worked closely with Limón, from 1978 until 2016 when Colin Connor assumed artistic leadership as the 5th Artistic Director in the Foundation’s history.”

Canadian-British Colin Connor “ is a renowned contemporary choreographer and dance educator, Connor will succeed the legendary Carla Maxwell on July 1, 2016 to become only the fifth Artistic Director in the Company’s 70-year history and the first man to lead the Company since Limón himself.”

“I had heard about the audition in New York City, but never looked into it thinking it was above my technical standards. I attended the audition, realizing I had nothing to lose. After days of auditions, the unimaginable came true. At age 19, I was asked to join one of the most established dance companies in the world.”

It was surreal. Limon was never in her radar. But as the old Pinoy folk tale says, “Kung ukol, bubukol.” Translated, “when it is meant to be, it is

bound to happen.”

Proud Filipino Families

Speaking of encounter with Filipino tales, in Frances’ 19 years, however, she only got two chances with Pinoy culture in the Philippines. First was when she was 2 years old which of course she does not remember, and then 5 years ago when the family visited relatives in Quezon City. She was 14 then and got to appreciate bonding with relatives in cool Baguio weather or enjoying the white sands of Boracay.

While nobody else in the family is into performing arts, except may be for an uncle who is into architecture, Frances loved the fact that in both her parents’ families, she is celebrated and recognized for her passion for what she is doing.

No, she did not hear any of the stuff dance artists like her usually hear — that dancing is unstable and an unsuitable career choice for one who should be earning a living.

“Any career choice is a valid option,” Frances emphasized.

She would rather see parents, like her own parents and their families, become supportive of whatever it is that their kids want to do.

May be for someone like Frances who has just been asked to join a renowned dance company, it is a valid statement to assume that passion will always bring the big results that one has wished for oneself.

Or, may even bigger results than what one had hoped to have as in the case of Frances Samson, who is now validly dancing her way to her star. ■

Community News

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

23

Construction society to aid 10 PH coeds A LOCAL based construction society founded 10 years ago by some prominent Filipino Canadians plans to provide scholarship financial support to as many as 10 students in Philippines Polytechnic University (PUP) in Manila starting as earlier as this year.

The fully functioning and licensed society composed of as many as 400 members during its peak years plans to unveil this ambitious program and highlight the society’s decade of accomplishment when it celebrate its 10 years anniversary dinner dance event on Sept. 24, from 6 p.m. to 12 mn at Santa Monica Parish Church located at 12011 Woodhead Road, Richmond, BC. The Filipino Canadian Construction Society (FCCS) is composed of Fil–Can contrac-

tors, small business owners and professionals with a selfmandate of providing value to the construction community through education and training, networking, and political advocacy. One of their famous program is mentoring newlylanded immigrants and assisting them to locate engineeringrelated jobs.

In the year 2009, under the leadership of one of its founding member Amado Mercado Jr., FCCS successfully contributed $6,000 cash to the construction of the new Multicultural Helping House Society’s headquarter in Vancouver. Mercado also added that in its 10 years of existence, the society was able to assist in various ways approximately 60 immigrants to settle here in lower mainland.

The group in various oc-

Back row (from L) Greg Domrique, Arman Perez, Ferdie Lontok, Nisha Lalwani, Ed Nicolas, Joe Dumrigue, Romy Pareja, Alexander Yalong and Alejandro Pascua. Front Row (from L) Philip Loro, Charlie Valle, Amado Mercado, Jun Custodio, and Felizardo Odango.

casions also represented the Filipino community in various federal and provincial consul-

tation sessions to help improve the welfare of Filipinos in Canadian society.

In 2015, FCCS received the prestigious Professional Immigrant Network Leadership Award from the Immigrant Employment Council of British Columbia (IECBC). Its current President Ed Nicolas, a registered professional engineer (P.Eng) and a certified home inspector, labeled the award as a testament of the group’s dedication to help newly landed immigrants integrate themselves into Canadian society through its various programs and activities.

Everyone is invited to join FCCS 10th year celebration.

If interested to attend or be a sponsor of the event, please contact Ed Nicolas at 778-3787637 or Amado Mercado at 604786-6801.

Visit www.fccsbc.wix.com/ org or FCCS Facebook page for more information. ■

Annual community health fair returns in September

The association known as Pinoy in Canada Patriotic Movement held its summer get-together at Earl Bales Park on Sept.

11, and showed their support for President Duterte. This event was attended by delegates from many cities of Canada such as Montreal, Vancouver, Hamilton, Niagara, Ajax, Brampton, Markham and Toronto. Senator Tobias Enverga and Philippine Press Club of Ontario President Rose Tijam attended the event. The three most active officers of this group are Ron Culianista, Joey Abrenilla and Ricky Cruz.

ARIEL RAMOS

PH, Indonesia... ment. Blow them up,” he said.

But if the pirates have a hostage, Mr. Duterte suggested that the Indonesians arrest the pirates first and kill them later.

“Just feed them to the sharks... it would make them fat, good for sashimi also,” he said.

He later clarified his statements in a talk with reporters.

“Entering the Philippine waters, we have agreed really to just coordinate and if there is a pursuit, in the meantime, they can radio or call our forces ❰❰ 13

nearby to take over because we are entering your jurisdiction,” he said.

Aside from maritime security and law enforcement, the Philippines and Indonesia also agreed to broaden their cooperation in fisheries and aquatic resources, shipbuilding and air and sea services.

China aggression

Mr. Duterte said Widodo shared the Philippines’ concerns about China’s aggression in the South China Sea. “We called on parties to respect the rule of law and wel-

comed the support of partners in efforts to ensure security and stability in the region, especially in the peaceful settlement of disputes, in accordance with international law,” he said.

Mr. Duterte expressed his gratitude for Indonesia’s support in ending the secessionist movement in Mindanao with the revival of peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front.

He said he and Widodo also agreed to work together in going after terrorists and illegal drugs. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

THE ANNUAL health fair reprises this year on Sept. 18, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. at Bonsor Recreation Complex (6550 Bonsor Ave, Burnaby, B.C.) The opening ceremony is scheduled at 11:30 am. Everyone is welcome to attend this one-day free event.

Health Fair 2016, with the theme of Optimum Health, is jointly organized by S.U.C.C.E.S.S., Chinese Canadian Medical Society BC (CCMS) and Chinese Canadian Dental Society of BC (CCDS) with support from the UBC InterCultural Online Health Network (iCON) and the Ministry of Health, BC. “Through this community event, we are able to provide the current and accurate information on a variety of health related topics to the community thanks to the continuous support and dedication of CCMS and CCDS for a quarter of a century,” said Paul Cheng, cochair of Health Fair 2016.

“Canadians are not only concerned about longevity, but also quality of life. We hope to provide people some tips in maintaining optimum health, which in turn allow them to achieve

a better quality of life. Some topics we will address include ‘Rheumatological diseases,’ ‘Understanding Diabetes’ and ‘Everyday Brain Boosters,’’ said Dr. Brian Xinyong Wang, president of Chinese Canadian Medical Society and co-chair of Health Fair 2016.

Dr. Jonathan Wu, director of Chinese Canadian Dental Society, looks forward to the fair as they can take this opportunity to promote oral care and oral health. CCDS will present two talks and offer free oral screening during the fair.

“The Health Fair is a key event for S.U.C.C.E.S.S. in our strategy to promote population health,” noted Queenie Choo, CEO of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. She also stated that while the seminars are catered to the Chinese community, the exhibitions and check-ups are provided in English as well. It will benefit the community at large.

First launched in 1991, Health Fair has hosted more than 300 seminars and attracted over 34,000 participants. More than 1000 people are expected to attend this year’s event. ■

24

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Entertainment Officials: Reality TV dad Historic First: arrested on child rape charge PH film wins Golden Lion in Venice Film Fest

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NASHVILLE — Officials say the father of reality TV’s “The Willis Family” has been arrested and charged in a child rape investigation.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says in a new release that agents arrested Toby Willis of Ashland City on Friday in Greenville, Kentucky, where he had gone to avoid officers.

The release says the 46-yearold was charged with one count of rape of a child and was being held without bond on a fugitive from justice warrant. It was not known whether he has a lawyer who could comment on the

BY JANE MORALEDA Philippine Canadian Inquirer

BRITTUNTERSALMBERGER / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

case.

The TBI says an investigation that began Aug. 29 found information that Willis had a sexual encounter with an underage fe-

male about 12 years ago.

The family’s TLC reality show focuses on their musical group, which includes 12 Willis children. ■

Hollywood Reporter lauds Pepe Smith, new film’s ‘quiet splendor’

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer FILIPINO ROCK legend Pepe Smith scores a rave review from industry trade paper, Hollywood Reporter, for his latest film, Bradley Liew’s “Singing in Graveyards,” which debuted in the International Critics’ Week section of the recent 73rd Venice International Film Festival.

Critic Clarence Tsui describes “Malaysian-born and Manila-based” Liew’s debut film, as a “visually poised and emotionally searing character study of a man’s engagement with a lost past and harsher present.”

The reviewer says the “slow, sparse drama [oozes] with deadpan humor [and] tremendous sadness.”

He gives a lion’s share of the credit to Smith, who delivered “a brazen, nuanced and gamely self-deprecating [portrayal] as a very haggard version of himself.”

In the film produced by Filipino Bianca Balbuena, Smith portrays a washed-up rock singer who impersonates Pepe Smith —a winking inside joke that sends up the performer’s iconic image.

Two other actors/characters also get a chance at self-parody, Tsui points out: indie fixture Mercedes Cabral, who plays a caregiver/aspiring actress, and acclaimed filmmaker Lav Diaz, who portrays a sleazy, ethically challenged manager.

Although the film “sags [at] attempts to overplay the meta-humor,” Tsui notes that “at its best… [it] evokes (American filmmaker) Jim Jarmusch in its remarkable observation and rendition of alienation and ennui.”

Tsui recounts that Smith earlier had a successful turn in another Balbuena production, Pepe Diokno’s “Above the Clouds” (2014), which he calls a “prime example of a rebel rocker’s graceful embrace of old age.”

In Liew’s new film, however,

the “pioneering rocker” “has certainly channeled all the fear of falling he might have had all along, turning in a performance rife with angst and contradiction.”

His character’s struggles form the film’s “central leitmotif,” Tsui opines: “A man becoming more aware of, and confused by, his earthbound existence and his own sagging mortal coil.”

Tsui also hails director of photography Larry Manda’s “measured camerawork.” The “long takes and tracking shots,” Tsui points out, “highlight Pepe’s floating life, a dreaminess central to the film’s quiet splendor.”

“We are so happy,” Liew, who was in Venice, told the INQUIRER via Facebook Messenger on Thursday. “It’s wonderful news to wake up to. Pepe is thankful, too.”

Liew recalled that “Pepe had been buzzing up and down the whole morning,” after the review’s release on Wednesday.

Smith kept saying: “Wow! Venice! We did it!” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

MANILA — A first for the Philippines, renowned director Lav Diaz’s latest film “Ang Babaeng Humayo” (The Woman Who Left) received the Golden Lion or top prize in the Main Competition of the recently concluded Venice International Film Festival.

“This is for my country, for the Filipino people, for our struggle, and the struggle of humanity,” Diaz said as he thanked the jury.

Winning the highest accolade in the world’s oldest festival did not come out as a surprise, though, as the Charo Santos Concio starrer received positive reviews from international critics as well.

“I really wanted to work with this director… I wanted to understand the aesthetics behind his cinema… He doesn’t manipulate the audience. He doesn’t

Lav Diaz.

manipulate the characters.

He allows the characters to go through the journey and to feel the journey,” Santos Concio said in an interview with Reuters.

Co-produced by Diaz’s Sine Olivia and ABS-CBN’s Cinema One Originals, the nearly four hour-long film also cast awardwinning actor John Lloyd Cruz.

Diaz’s winning streak in Venice started in 2007 after his movie “Death in the Land of Encantos” won special mention in the Orizzonti section. And in 2008, his film “Melancholia” won the Orizzonti award.

His Golden Lion film, “Humayo,” revolved in the struggle of a teacher who was wrongfully convicted of murder. Locked up for 30 years, she sought for revenge.

Winning in the world’s most prestigious film festivals in Venice, Cannes and Berlin this year, Filipino independent films prove to be promising as ever. ■

WISE_KWAI / FLICKR

Entertainment

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

25

GUILD STUDY:

Hiring of women, minority TV directors lags

BY LYNN ELBER The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — The expanding world of TV series is creating more opportunities for female and minority directors, but they remain a fraction of those hired, a Hollywood guild report said Monday.

Women directed 17 per cent and minorities 19 per cent of the more than 4,000 episodes produced last season for broadcast, cable and high-budget streaming series, the Directors Guild of America said in its annual survey.

For both groups, that represents a 1 per cent increase over the year before.

“These numbers shine a light on the lack of real progress by employers in this industry, plain and simple. Of particular concern is the precedent being set by the fastest-growing category, streaming video,” said Paris Barclay, the guild’s president.

The number of episodes from streaming services including Netflix, Amazon and Hulu increased by 120 per cent last year, but just 8 per cent of episodes were directed by minori-

ties, the study found. Women directed 17 per cent.

Among the other findings: • The “pie” of available work continues to increase along with the number of platforms, although more slowly.

The 4,061 episodes in the 2015-16 season represented a 4 per cent increase over the previous one, although that’s less than half the 10 per cent growth from 2013-14 to 201415.

• That reduced expansion still yielded more opportunities for women and minorities, with women directing 85 more episodes than the year before and minorities directing 89.

• Thirty series hired no women or minority directors, four more than in the previous season. Among them were NBC’s “Aquarius,” FX Networks’ “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and ABC’s “Galavant.”

• Series that hired women or minority directors for at least 40 per cent of episodes increased 28 per cent, to 73 series.

• CBS, Twentieth Century Fox, NBC Universal and DisneyABC were ranked at the top

of major TV studios and their subsidiaries in diversity hiring for directors. Sony and HBO lagged at the bottom, the study found.

Sony Pictures Television, which three years ago implemented a program to increase hiring of female and minority directors, declined comment.

HBO didn’t immediately respond to a request for com-

‘Saturday Night Live’ adds 3 players for its 42nd season THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES — “Saturday Night Live” is adding three new players for its 42nd season.

NBC said Monday that Mikey Day, Alex Moffat and Melissa Villasenor will be on board as featured performers for the show’s Oct. 1 season premiere.

Villasenor, of Whittier, California, will be one of the few Latino cast members in the history of the show, which has come under fire for a lack of diversity.

She’s an impressionist and stand-up comedian who’s appeared on the club and college circuit nationwide. Villasenor

also performed with Mas Mejor, a comedy studio and network launched by “SNL” producer Broadway Video and aimed at finding new Latino talent.

Day, from Orange County, California, joined “SNL” as a writer in its 39th season and was a co-head writer and cast member on NBC’s variety show “Maya & Marty.”

Moffat is from Chicago and was a regular performer at iO Chicago and The Annoyance Theatre.

Last month, “SNL” said goodbye to two cast members, Taran Killam and Jay Pharoah. The long-running show is known for its changing slate of performers. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

ment.

In a study released last month, the guild found that hiring of minorities and women for crucial stepping-stone TV directing jobs was failing to advance. Overall progress won’t be made until the pipeline of new minority and female directors becomes more robust, the guild said.

Looking at the period encom-

passing the 2009-10 through 2015-16 seasons, men represented 81 per cent of first-time episodic directors, with women making up 19 per cent, the guild said. Whites represented 86 per cent, with minorities at 14 per cent, the guild said in August.

Among guild members, female directors make up 14.3 per cent and minorities are 8.7 per cent. ■

26

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Lifestyle Prince William, Kate to bring children on upcoming Canada tour of B.C., Yukon

BY LINDA GIVETASH The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — The youngest royal will arrive in British Columbia later this month for her first international appearance alongside her brother and parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Princess Charlotte will be 16 months old when she and three-year-old Prince George begin a week-long trip starting Sept. 24 in Victoria, where they will be based.

“The fact that’s where they’ve chosen to take their daughter for the first time outside their humble abode, that’s pretty special,” said Monique Goffinet Miller, chairwoman of the Victoria branch of the Monarchist League of Canada.

Kensington Palace released full details of the family’s itinerary on Monday, including a long list of engagements in B.C. and Yukon, particularly for Prince William and his wife Kate, who are scheduled to go fishing and bear watching.

The family will spend the first

full day of their trip in Vancouver at a civic welcome before visiting the Downtown Eastside charity Sheway, which helps mothers fighting addiction.

The couple also plans to stop at the newly reopened Kitsilano coast guard station and at the Immigration Services Society of B.C., where they’ll meet with staff and volunteers who help thousands of migrants moving to Canada each year.

“These are not things you’d generally see world leaders even doing,” Goffinet Miller said, adding the couple’s itinerary speaks to their charitable and social justice efforts.

“They’re a royal couple, born into the position and affluence of it, but they’ve chosen to do something with it that actually serves the people.”

In addition to trips to Bella Bella and the Great Bear Rainforest, the royal couple is also scheduled to spend a day in Kelowna before flying to Whitehorse on Sept. 27.

The announcement of the itinerary came on the same day B.C. Premier Christy Clark announced the Great Bear

Rainforest has been named as Canada’s commitment to the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy, part of a network of forest conservation initiatives involving all 53 countries of the Commonwealth.

Before leaving the islands of Haida Gwaii off the northern coast of B.C., the royals will travel in a traditional Haida canoe, open a hospital and experience some world-class fishing on the waters of Hecate Strait.

In Yukon, they are set to stop at the MacBride Museum and its telegraph office, following in the footsteps of the Queen and Prince Philip, who toured the same office in 1959.

Events for Prince George and Princess Charlotte are also planned, with the youngsters and their parents scheduled to attend a children’s party in Victoria on Sept. 29.

“They have received so many wonderful messages from Canadians since the birth of their children and look forward to having the chance to introduce their young family to the country,” the statement from Kensington Palace says.

MR PICS / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The couple will also be attending various cultural performances, government receptions and even a wine tasting in B.C.’s Okanagan.

Organizing officials say there will be glimpses of the children, but the only official confirmed opportunities for the public to see them will be at the family’s arrival and departure.

The young family’s visit has brought a newfound interest to Canada’s ties with the monarchy and highlights the couple’s

role as public servants rather than just figureheads, Goffinet Miller said.

Clark said the tour presents a unique opportunity for the duke and duchess to learn more about the province’s diverse urban, rural and remote wilderness regions.

“I know all British Columbians will extend a warm welcome to their royal highnesses as we share the very best of our province,” she said in a news release. ■

Facts on tobacco use in Canada as government eyes new packaging rules THE CANADIAN PRESS OTTAWA — Health advocates said Monday that Canada's efforts to force tobacco manufacturers to use plain packaging will get a boost from a recent

decision on similar measures in Uruguay.

Here are some facts on tobacco use in Canada: • Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in Canada, including about 30 per cent of all can-

cer deaths.

• Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Canada.

• Smokers are about 20 times more likely to develop lung cancer than non-smokers.

• Among women, the number

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of lung cancer deaths is double the number of breast cancer deaths.

• More than 250 Canadians die from lung cancer every year as a result of long-term exposure to second-hand smoke at home, at work and

in public.

• Smoking kills 37,000 Canadians annually.

• The 2014 Canadian Community Health Survey found that 18 per cent of Canadians — or more than 5 million people — are smokers. ■

Lifestyle

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

27

Fukuoka laureate Ambeth Ocampo: ‘My task is to bring history down from the ivory tower’

BY LITO B. ZULUETA Philippine Daily Inquirer

of the FP are National Artist for Architecture Leandro Locsin (1992), filmmaker Marilou Diaz-Abaya (2001), historian Reynaldo Ileto (2003), and filmmaker Kidlat Tahimik (2012).

FILIPINOS HAVE often been pilloried for their short historical memory, so it may come as a surprise that the Fukuoka Welcome news Prize, probably Japan’s biggest Fr. Harold Rentoria, OSA, head international cultural prize, of the subcommission on culturwill be awarded this week to al heritage of the National ComAmbeth Ocampo, popular his- mission for Culture and the Arts torian and probably the only (NCCA), welcomed the news. historian familiar to the social “It is a well-deserved award media-crazy but otherwise wit- because [Ocampo] has contribderelict millennial generation. uted a lot in terms of educating In announcing it would be young minds on history and culgiving 2016 Academic Prize to ture,” said the Augustinian friar. Ambeth Ocampo.

Ocampo, the Fukuoka Prize “He made history an interesting (FP) Committee cited his subject to people through his QUIRER. “After all, the names: “achievement in reclaiming writing and teaching.”

Benedict Anderson, James history as the property of orFormer NCCA commissioner Scott, Anthony Reid, Clifford dinary citizens, for his contri- Regalado Trota José likewise Geertz and Wang Gungwu are bution to promote an open- praised Ocampo. in standard postgraduate readminded nationalism and global “He made many people con- ing lists on Southeast Asia.” sensibility in the Philippines, scious of the approachability of “While the honor pleased me and for his great service to in- history, especially to those who at first,” he added, “the feelternational cultural exchange.” otherwise would be negative to ing later turned to fear when I The prize covers Ocampo’s history like certain officials of asked myself not so much what popular history writing, his high government,” said José, a did I do to deserve this, but scholarship and teaching, as church art and architecture his- what do I for an encore?” well as his stint in the cultural torian and archivist and CulturThe award comes with a cash bureaucracy as chair of the Na- al Heritage Studies professor at prize that the amount of which tional Historical Commission the University of Santo Tomas. Ocampo did not disclose. of the Philippines (NHCP) and “Also he made us aware of the “Why is everyone so fixated concurrent chair of the Nation- Rizaliana treasures in the Na- on the cash prize?” he comal Commission for Culture and tional Library, such as Rizal’s plained. “It’s not always about the Arts (NCCA). third novel ‘Makamisa,’ which money you know, but then unOcampo will be formally at that time the custodians like previous awards I have rebestowed the FP in glitter- didn’t even know they had it.” ceived whose medals, plaques ing ceremoand trophies I nies in Fukuoka cannot pawn, City, Japan on this comes with Sept. 16, along a modest cash with two other We cannot return to the past, we cannot prize.

“What Asians: Pakistani undo the past, we cannot change the will I do with it? architect Yaspast so the choice is to look back on it I don’t know yet, meen Lari, who from the lens of anticolonial struggle, but it will probwill receive the or to try and see how the encounter ably fund my Arts and Culture between the colonizer and the legacy research award; and Incolonized, for better or worse, formed projects, books dian musician us into the Philippines and Filipinos we I want to write A.R. Rahman, are today. when I retire winner of the from teaching in 2009 Oscars for a few years.” original song and music scoring of “Slumdog Mil- Unnerving Best-selling books lionaire,” who will receive the That he would now be taking The man behind the popuGrand Prize. his place among Ileto and other lar biweekly column, Looking Formerly known as the Fu- FP Academic Prize laureates Back, in the Opinion page of kuoka Asian Cultural Prize, the unnerves Ocampo. this paper, Ocampo has periodFP is turning 27 years old this “I’m not feigning false mod- ically collected his columns in year. Although not as old as the esty or fishing for compliment best-selling books. That some Ramon Magsaysay Award, the when I tell you I felt undeserv- of them have been reprinted “Asian Nobel Prize,” FP now ri- ing of the award after brows- several times should defy dire vals the Manila-based interna- ing the impressive, or should I predictions of the alleged death tional award-giving body. stay stellar, roster of previous of books.

Previous Filipino recipients awardees,” Ocampo told the INThe minatory rants seem www.canadianinquirer.net

BUTCH DURIAS / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

misplaced since books have, after all, just been shifting mediums —from print to electronic-so they’re not going exactly extinct.

What may be in danger of extinction is critical reading, which the best works of history try to foster.

But alas, critical historical intelligence presupposes historical memory and literacy, and as Ocampo’s former colleague in the Op-Ed page, Conrado de Quiros would say by way of his column title, “There’s the rub.”

Once relegated to pure rote and memorization, history in Philippine classrooms has even gone downhill. Millennials not only have failed to go beyond memorization and hackneyed declarations of historical guideposts; they’ve forgotten them or are ignorant about them altogether.

Last year when the historical movie “Heneral Luna” became the biggest-selling Filipino independent movie, a millennial gushed over the movie and asked actor Eppie Quizon, who played Apolinario Mabini in the movie, why he was sitting

all throughout what was essentially an action movie.

It turned out that the poor guy didn’t even know the textbook cliché about Mabini—that he’s known as the “Sublime Paralytic.” The no-brainer could have been worsened if he hadn’t known about the other cliché about Mabini—that he is called the “Brains of the Revolution.”

Ocampo teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in history at Ateneo de Manila University, and even his popular history writing presupposes that his readers have a fundamental historical literacy that should have been acquired in basic education. His scholarship can be of use only in adding depth or in correcting fallacies in history; it cannot provide historical memory itself.

K-12

The Filipinos’ short—or altogether absent—historical memory appears to have been abetted because of the clumsily assembled K-12 curriculum, which adds two more years to the 10year basic education system.

Harvard-trained historian and former Central Bank deputy governor Benito Legarda Jr. has questioned the Philippine history curriculum, which he indicated is nativist and glosses over the Spanish heritage that went into the building of the Philippine nation.

“The narrative is cast as a simple fight for freedom, against imperialism and colonialism, a binaural scheme, on the premise that we were already a nation seeking to restore our nationhood,” said Legarda, also a former NHCP commissioner.

“I find the premise shaky and ❱❱ PAGE 30 Fukuoka laureate

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28

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Business Market enters ‘corrective’ consolidation

BY DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA Philippine Daily Inquirer

Nomura eyes sustained drop in PHL unemployment rate

BY JOANN S. VILLANUEVA Philippines News Agency MANILA — A Japanese-based financial services group has attributed the sustained drop in the country’s unemployment rate to the continued improvement of the Philippines’ economic fundamentals, and not just election spending.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Sept. 9 reported a drop in the country’s unemployment rate to 5.4 percent in July 2016 from the year-ago’s 6.5 percent.

During the same period, employment rate rose to 94.6 percent as against the 93.5 percent in July 2015.

Nomura, in a research note issued Sept.

13, said the unemployment rate posted a big drop from the 6.1 percent last April.

“This, we believe, reflects not just election-related effects but is a continuation of an unemployment downtrend in recent years due to sustained economic growth, which is becoming increasingly investment-led,” it said.

The research note said growth in employment is broad-based since the number of those belonging to the manufacturing sector has risen, along with those from the construction and services sectors.

The PSA data show that based on the three broad sectors, workers from the services sector remain the majority as they account for 55.3 percent of the total. They are followed by those from the agriculture sector, 26.9 percent, and industry, 17.8 percent.

Workers in the industry sector are composed mostly of those with the construction sub-sector at 48.1 percent, followed by those from the manufacturing sub-sector, 46.4 percent.

“This is likely to continue as the government is focused on making growth more inclusive and on accelerating infrastructure spending,” the research note said.

“These, along with further reforms in the pipeline, should, in our view, help attract more foreign direct investment,” it added. ■

LOOKING FOR A JOB?

THE LOCAL stock market has entered a period of “corrective” consolidation this second semester but the main stock barometer is seen exploring uncharted territory and posting new highs at around 8,400 level by next year, according to leading online stockbrokerage COL Financial.

In a recent briefing, COL chief technical analyst Juan Barredo said that as the PSEi had recently broken below its seven-month trendline, a “corrective” consolidation was activated. He said short-term rallies might be limited to 7,950-8,055 with some possibilities of revisiting the PSEi’s all-time high of 8,136 before yearend.

COL Financial head of research April Lynn Tan said the recent bombing in President Duterte’s bailiwick Davao City, which prompted the declaration of a “state of lawless violence,” would only dampen sentiment in the short-term.

“Over the long term, there’s no significant impact assuming this is put under control,” she said.

Although the online stockbrokerage was much cautious on the stock markets six months ago, Tan said the risk factors highlighted at the start of the year failed to materialize while the country’s economic growth surprised positively.

At the beginning of the year, she said that most people were expecting the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates— a development that could curb fund flows to emerging markets—four times this year. But as it was turning out, she said the Fed was likely to raise interest rates only once—if at all—this year.

“We expect the Philippine economy and the stock market to do well in the next six years under the new Duterte administration,” she said.

The analyst noted that the Duterte administration had inherited a very strong balance sheet from the Aquino administration as well as a rich pipeline of infrastructure projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) framework that would only need to be executed. These consisted of 14 PPP projects in the bidding stage and five for approval of the National Economic and Development Authority.

“The government also announced a very action-oriented 10-point socioeconomic agenda, showing plans on how it

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will capitalize on the numerous growth opportunities in the country,” Tan said.

COL’s favorite in Mr. Duterte’s 10-point agenda, she said, was the plan to raise infrastructure spending to at least 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

Tan also noted that in 2015, the country just entered the demographic window, a period of rapid economic growth driven by the entry of majority of the population into working age. Such period of rapid economic growth as a result of demographic dividends is expected to last for 40 years or until 2055.

The Philippines is also seen less vulnerable to external developments, being largely a domestically driven economy.

Tan said added that the country had significant room to grow investments coming from very low levels compared to its peers in Southeast Asia.

Nonetheless, Tan said the market was vulnerable to a correction in the short term. “Given the Duterte administration’s plan to cut taxes and increase spending on infrastructure, there is a possibility that the country’s budget deficit would balloon and this could lead to a downgrade in the country’s creditrating,” Tan said.

At the same time, she said valuations were no longer attractive as investors were now paying 20 times the amount of money they expect to make this year.

“Moreover, potential upside to our end-2017 target of 8,400 is limited. This makes the market vulnerable to selloffs assuming that companies come out with disappointing earnings results. It also increases the likelihood of share placements as companies take advantage of their high levels of valuation,” Tan said, adding that government spending might also grow at a slower pace in the shortterm as the new administration would still be in an adjustment phase as what usually happens when there is new leadership.

COL’s key stock picks are in line with infrastructure, tourism and consumer themes. On infrastructure, it favors Metro Pacific Investments Corp. as well as top lenders BDO Unibank and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. For tourism, which is seen to benefit from five airport PPP projects in the pipeline, COL’s top picks are Cebu Air, Ayala Land Inc. and Robinsons Land Corp. On the consumer theme, it favors SM Investments, D&L Industries, Century Pacific Food and Concepcion Industrial Corp. ■

29

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

Sports Medina wins bronze in table tennis at Rio Paralympics PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY

The Philippines won its first medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics courtesy of table tennis player Josephine Medina in the women’s singles Class 8 division. Medina pulled off an 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 victory over 2015 European Para Championships silver medalist Julianne Wolf of Germany to improve her fourth-place finish at the 2012 London Paralympics four years ago.

JEAN T. MALANUM / PNA

MANILA — The Philippines won its first medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics courtesy of table tennis player Josephine Medina in the women’s singles Class 8 division on Monday.

Medina defeated pulled off an 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 victory over 2015 European Para Championships silver medalist Julianne Wolf of Germany to improve her fourthplace finish at the 2012 London Paralympics four years ago.

Reigning champion Mao Jingdian of China pocketed the gold medal after beating Thu Kamkasimphou of France, 11-6, 11-8, 11-2.

“I have been praying to God that one day the Philippines would win a medal; the last

time in London, I came so close I finished in fourth place,” said Medina in an interview with the International Table Tennis Federation.

“Here the competition has been really tough but as I told you before when I beat Aida Dahlen and qualified for the main draw, for God nothing is impossible!” she added.

“When you play, you must believe and you must give absolutely everything; now the Philippines will not go return home without a medal,” said Medina.

“Today I did not win for myself, I won for my team, for my country, I won for the Philippines!”

Playing table tennis served as therapy for Medina, who was a polio victim.

“My father was on the national team. I was sick as I was a polio victim and table tennis is

my therapy. I used to compete with able-bodied athletes and qualified for the national team but they told me you cannot be in the national team for the able-bodied as you are disabled.

The rejection has become my inspiration and I train hard and I just want to prove that disability is not a hindrance in achieving your goal. It’s just an instrument in reaching success in your life,” she said.

Medina, a gold medalist in the 2015 ASEAN Para Games in Singapore, also dedicated her victory to her father, who died of heart attack, while working as coach in Saudi Arabia in 2004.

The Philippines won its first medal in the Paralympics in 2000 when powerlifter Adeline Dumapong bagged the bronze in Sydney, Australia. ■

PHL’s first female chess GM

Philippine karate team eyes stint in 2020 Tokyo Olympics

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY

BY JEAN T. MALANUM Philippines News Agency

Janelle Frayna becomes

MANILA — Janelle Frayna became the Philippines’ first female chess grandmaster after achieving her third and final norm during Round 9 of the World Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan on Sunday night.

The 20-year-old distaff woodpusher drew with Mongolian foe Davaademberel Nomin-Erdene after 33 moves using the French Winawer Defense Poisoned Pawn Variation, giving her six points after nine matches, which was enough to hand her the norm. NominErdene, already a women’s GM, entered the tournament with a 2422 ELO rating, virtually making her a men’s IM. Apart from Nomin-Erdene, Frayna took on three other opponents with very high ELO ratings — even making the cut for the men’s GM — while also

battling two WIM’s.

After nine rounds, Frayna amassed six points on four wins and four draws, which was enough to give her the WGM norm.

“I’m proud to announce that WIM Janelle Mae Frayna achieved the third and last result to become the first woman grandmaster from the Philippines,” GM Jayson Gonzales, Frayna’s coach, said in a statement.

The draw, however, was not enough for the Filipinas to steal the win from the Mongolians after falling, 1.5-2.5, in the said round.

Jan Fronda, another WIM chasing a WGM norm, bowed to WGM Tubswhintugs Batchimeg, who like NominErdene achieved a men’s IM rating entering the tournament.

Catherine Secopito and Shania Mendoza settled for draws against their respective opponents in the other matches. ■

and 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia will be selected.

“We are strengthening our junior ranks. But the main tarMANILA — The Philippine karaget now is the Olympics. That’s te team is setting its sights on the the directive from our presi2020 Summer Olympics in Jadent. We have started our propan. Karate has been included in grams for 2020,” Reyes said. the calendar of the Tokyo Games The PKF said among the along with baseball, softball, potential qualifiers are Filsurfing, skateAmerican Joane boarding and Orbon, Rexor sport climbing.

Romaquin of “We have a Davao and 2014 chance in kaBut the main target now is the Asian Games rate. That’s why Olympics. That’s the directive from bronze medalist we have to qualour president. We have started our Mae Soriano. ify our athletes,” programs for 2020.

The 21-yearsaid Philippine old Orbon, who Karatedo Fedhas Filipino pareration (PKF) ents, is a member President Jose of the US junior Romasanta during Tuesday’s going to be. But we will do our karate team. She has expressed Philippine Sportswriters As- best to qualify our athletes,” he her intention to represent the sociation (PSA) Forum at said.

Philippines in the coming inShakey’s Malate.Also present At present, 30 athletes com- ternational events. were PKF secretary general prising 21 seniors and nine ju“We are preparing early,” said Raymund Lee Reyes, coach Ric niors make up the PKF pool, Reyes. The Filipino karatekas Maanao and national athletes from which the athletes for the will be training either in Turkey Leigh Cuadra, OJ delos Santos 2017 SEA Games in Malaysia or Holland by November. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

and Sarah Kimejo Pangilinan.

Reyes said it will be tough to qualify for the eight events lined up at the 2020 Olympics — three each in men’s and women’s kumite and one each in men’s and women’s kata.

“Only 10 entries from around the world will qualify in each division. That’s how difficult it’s

30

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Technology Apple is shifting the focus of its secret car project

I AM NIKOM / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Samsung tells Korean customers to stop using Galaxy Note 7 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, KOREA, REPUBLIC OF — Samsung Electronics on Saturday recommended South Korean customers to stop using the new Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, which the company is recalling worldwide after several dozen of them caught fire.

In a statement posted on its website, the South Korean technology giant advised local users to visit the company’s service centres to receive rental phones for temporary use. Samsung plans to provide Galaxy Note 7 devices with new batteries in South Korea starting on Sept. 19.

“We again express our sincere apologies to our customers

who value our products,” the company said in a statement.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday warned airline passengers not to turn on or charge Galaxy Note 7s during flights and also not to put the smartphone in their checked bags.

Samsung last week announced plans to recall 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 phones worldwide after its investigation of the device fires found rechargeable lithium batteries manufactured by one of its suppliers at fault.

The company has confirmed 35 cases of its devices catching fire, most of them occurring while the battery was being charged. Samsung released the jumbo smartphone on Aug. 19. ■

BY BRANDON BAILEY The Associated Press

automotive ambitions. But Elon Musk, the chief executive of electric-car maker Tesla, has said that Apple has hired hundreds of engineers, including some from Tesla, to work on an automotive project. Local officials in the San Francisco Bay Area say Apple contacted them last year about using a former naval base that’s been converted into an automotive testing ground.

More recently, the New York Times and Bloomberg News have reported that Apple’s ini-

yers, pharmacists, engineers, theologians, prize-winning artists, the highest wages in Asia (higher than industrial Japan), etc. These compare favorably with the Dutch, French, and British colonies in Asia.”

the rightness of their actions (none of the others even bothered to ask),” Legarda pointed out. “Prelates like the Dominican Bishop Domingo Salazar defended the Filipinos against abuses of encomenderos. The Augustinian Martin de Rada was another friar who defended and protected the Filipinos.

“They organized defenses in towns against Moro slave raiders,” added Legarda. “And they contributed to Philippine philology with 17 grammars of native languages. Unfortunately they obstructed the seculariza-

or a computer.

But the tech industry has increasingly ventured into the automotive sector, where ApSAN FRANCISCO — Apple may ple, Google and other firms are not become an automaker, but competing to develop software it still wants to develop its own that can help manage — at least self-driving technology.

— the information and enterThe iPhone-maker’s automotainment systems inside totive project, long an open secret day’s vehicles. Google has made in Silicon Valley, is shifting to no secret that it’s also working focus on creating the technolon self-driving technology, but ogy for an autonomous vehicle says that it is more likely to that doesn’t require a human partner with an established audriver. The new direction aptomaker. parently doesn’t foreclose the Analysts say tech companies possibility that want to be inApple might volved in autosomeday build mobiles because its own car, but they want people it opens the door Google has made no secret that it’s also to keep using to partnering working on self-driving technology, but their products with other car says that it is more likely to partner with and services, companies. an established automaker. even while drivThe new eming. Meanwhile, phasis was conmost of the leadfirmed Friday ing auto-makers by a person with have opened reknowledge of the project, after tial efforts to design its own search labs in Silicon Valley, in the New York Times reported car have suffered from man- part to work on the software that Apple is “rethinking” its agement turnover and techni- and the physical systems — inautomotive strategy. The per- cal delays. Industry experts cluding sensors and other comson spoke on condition of ano- say building a car is an incred- ponents — that are needed for nymity because they weren’t ibly complex challenge for any autonomous driving. authorized to discuss the proj- company, even one with the Uber, the giant ride-sharing ect. engineering prowess of Apple. company, has also hired experts Apple had no official com- Automobile manufacture also in robotics and has begun testment Friday and has consis- poses more regulatory and legal ing cars with self-driving capatently declined to confirm its issues than building an iPhone bilities. ■

Fukuoka laureate... the approach too reactive.”

Legarda recommended a “more productive approach” that “would focus on the building of the nation, culminating in the great achievement of Rizal and his generation in defining Filipino nationhood.”

“This approach,” he explained, “would start from a base line of independent chiefdoms practicing personal rather than territorial jurisdiction (barangays as distinguished from villages) in a social am❰❰ 27

bience of slave holding, slave trading and slave raiding, practicing the quaint custom of killing slaves to accompany their deceased mothers in the next world.”

“Our history,” Legarda further explained,” should portray how we evolved from this base line to the Filipino national personality that blossomed with Rizal and his generation— a nation that was active in world trade, had advanced learning with standards (according to Gunnar Myrdal) second only to Japan, producing doctors, law-

‘Omissions’

Legarda likewise pointed out “omissions” in the history curriculum and protested the negative focus on the friars who reportedly “egged on” the imperialists.

“But... the Spanish were the only colonialists who questioned www.canadianinquirer.net

tion of parishes and the aspirations of the Filipino clergy and provoked the criticism of Rizal and his associates.”

Not ‘navel-gazing’

Without referring to the K-12 curriculum, Ocampo said his history is not one of “navel-gazing,” but more open. “It makes for a confident and open nationalism that is relevant in a global and globalizing world,” he explained, “rather than the xenophobic me-against-theothers type of history I learned in school.” ■

Technology

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

31

Facebook allows postings of ‘napalm girl’ photo after debate Facebook says it will allow postings of an iconic 1972 photo of a naked, screaming girl running from a napalm attack in Vietnam, after a Norwegian revolt against the tech giant

BY JAN M. OLSEN The Associated Press FACEBOOK ON Friday reversed its decision to remove postings of an iconic 1972 image of a naked, screaming girl running from a napalm attack in Vietnam, after a Norwegian revolt against the tech giant.

Protests in Norway started last month after Facebook deleted the Pulitzer Prize-winning image by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut from a Norwegian author’s page, saying it violated its rules on nudity.

The revolt escalated on Friday when Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg posted the image on her profile and Facebook deleted that too. The brouhaha is the latest instance in which Facebook’s often opaque process for deciding what stays and what goes on its network has spurred controversy.

“It’s an interesting dilemma because you’ve got a newsworthy historical image that has been published by traditional news media that was effectively censored by a social network,” said Steve Jones, University of Illinois at Chicago communications professor.

Initially, Facebook stood by the decision, saying it was difficult to create a distinction between allowing a photograph of a nude child in one instance and not others. But late Friday it said it would allow sharing of the photo.

“In this case, we recognize the history and global importance of this image in documenting a particular moment in time,” Facebook said in a statement. “Because of its sta-

tus as an iconic image of historical importance, the value of permitting sharing outweighs the value of protecting the community by removal, so we have decided to reinstate the image on Facebook where we are aware it has been removed.”

Politicians of all stripes, journalists and regular Norwegians had backed Solberg’s decision to share the image.

The prime minister told Norwegian broadcaster NRK she was pleased with Facebook’s change of heart and that it shows social media users’ opinions matter.

“To speak up and say we want change, it matters and it works.

And that makes me happy,” she said.

The image shows screaming children running from a burning Vietnamese village. The little girl in in the centre of the frame, Kim Phuc, is naked and crying as the napalm melts away layers of her skin.

“Today, pictures are such an important element in making an impression, that if you edit past events or people, you change history and you change reality,” Solberg told the AP earlier Friday, adding it was the first time one of her Facebook posts was deleted.

Solberg later reposted the image with a black box covering the girl from the thighs up. She also posted other iconic photos of historic events, such as the man standing in front of a tank in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, with black boxes covering the protagonists.

Like its Scandinavian neighbours, Norway takes pride in its freedom of speech. It’s also a largely secular nation with re-

laxed attitudes about nudity.

Several members of the Norwegian government followed Solberg’s lead and posted the photo on their Facebook pages.

One of them, Education Minister Torbjorn Roe Isaksen, said it was “an iconic photo, part of our history.”

Many of the posts were deleted but Isaksen’s was still up Friday afternoon. The photo was also left untouched on a number of Facebook accounts, including the AP’s.

It would be physically impossible for the company to comb through the hundreds of millions of photos posted each day, so it relies on user reports and algorithms to weed out pictures that go against its terms of service.

A Facebook spokeswoman said that content will not be removed, no matter how many people report it, as long as it does not violate the company’s standards. Facebook usually does not proactively remove photos, with some exceptions, such as child pornography.

Facebook sometimes reinstates reported photos after removing them.

It can also adjust its standards depending on the response.

Breastfeeding and mastectomy photos used to be deleted, but after much outcry the company adjusted its policy on nude photos to allow most of such photos.

In another case, a court ruled Facebook could be sued after a man’s account was suspended after he posted “The Origin of the World,” by Gustave Courbet, an 1866 French painting of a nude model exposing her genitalia.

The issue in Norway “points out there’s very little transparency,” Jones said. “We really

www.canadianinquirer.net

The Pulitzer Prize-winning image by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut was deleted by Facebook from a Norwegian author’s page.

MANHHAI / FLICKR / AP

don’t know how these decisions are made so there’s not a lot of accountability either necessarily.”

Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten published the Vietnam photo on its front page Friday and also wrote an open letter to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in which chief editor Espen Egil Hansen accused the social media giant of abusing its power.

Hansen said he was “upset, disappointed — well, in fact even afraid — of what you are about to do to a mainstay of our democratic society.”

The uproar also spread outside of Norway, with the head of Denmark’s journalism union urging people to share Hansen’s open letter. Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas, who has previously clashed with Facebook over its failure to remove hate speech deemed illegal in Germany, also weighed in, saying “illegal content should vanish from the Internet, not photos that move the whole world.”

Facebook’s statement said it will adjust its review mechanisms to permit sharing of the image going forward.

“We are always looking to improve our policies to make sure they both promote free expression and keep our community safe, and we will be engaging with publishers and other members of our global commu-

nity on these important questions going forward,” it said.

Paul Colford, AP vice-president and director of media relations, said: “The Associated Press is proud of Nick Ut’s photo and recognizes its historical impact. In addition, we reserve our rights to this powerful image.”

Before it was published 44 years ago, AP also had a discussion about the image because it violated the news agency’s policy on full-frontal nudity.

Hal Buell, then AP’s executive news photo editor in New York, said he received a message from Saigon photo editor Horst Faas saying a “controversial picture” was coming up.

“Maybe we discussed it on the desk for 10-15 minutes,” said Buell, who is now retired.

“But there is nothing about this picture that is prurient. How can we not publish this picture?

It captures the horrors of war.

It captures the terrible situation of innocents caught in the crossfire of the war.”

AP published the image and media worldwide used it, though some chose not to, Buell said. ■ Associated Press writer Karl Ritter in Stockholm and AP Technology Writers Barbara Ortutay and Mae Anderson in New York contributed to this report.

32

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Travel Alexandra Cousteau takes after her grandfather Jacques’ love of the sea Places like El Nido ‘are increasingly like museums...

They remind us what the oceans used to be everywhere; now they are just a handful of places left’ PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER ALEXANDRA COUSTEAU was seven when her grandfather, France’s diving legend Jacques Cousteau, taught her to dive.

Bonding time was spent literally under the sea pretending she was a mermaid princess while he was the steward king of their underwater universe.

It wasn’t surprising, therefore, to see Cousteau, now 42, married with two children, become the senior adviser of Oceana, the largest global nonprofit dedicated to ocean conservation.

The filial-inspired love for fish is so strong that Cousteau hardly eats anything taken from the sea. Even her fiveyear-old daughter Clementine never considered aquatic creatures as food until Cousteau’s mother-in-law brought the girl to a market where she was “devastated” to see dead fish and octopi sold as such.

The ex-mermaid has maintained her diving skills. After being chosen as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, she now continues the family’s storytelling tradition, using a camera to record stories about the ocean, water issues and the people who rely on water for livelihood.

Sustainable practices

Cousteau arrived in Manila late August to promote sustainable fisheries management and met with national and local officials as well as environment authorities, coastal communities and other concerned sectors.

Foremost in the agenda was to remind people that the ocean that makes up three-quarters of the planet requires the same concern as the thinning ozone layer, melting polar ice caps and

Moalboal, Cebu.

El Nido, Palawan.

numerous endangered species.

Before she leaves on Sunday, Cousteau’s itinerary would have brought her to the Tañon Strait Protected Seascape between Cebu and Negros islands, the country’s largest marine protected area. Oceana is campaigning for an end to illegal commercial fishing in the area to ensure that local fishers would benefit most from the municipal waters.

Cousteau also went diving in Moalboal, Cebu, where the yearround presence of sardine shoals attracts tourists; then to Apo Island in Negros Oriental to rally behind community leaders protecting their marine resources.

Cousteau also appeared in Silliman University in Dumaguete City and University of Cebu /Banilad Campus to discuss Oceana’s “Save the Oceans, Feed the World” global campaign.

The excursion she was most excited about however, was the diving trip to El Nido in Palawan, where her grandfather explored the waters in his boat

“Calypso” in the early 1990s.

But instead of touristy stuff, Cousteau examined the impact of climate change and illegal fishing practices in its coral reefs and the livelihood of small-scale fishers. Cousteau brought Clementine to this trip, where the young girl went snorkeling for the first time.

Memorable

In a huddle with lifestyle reporters prior to Palawan, Cousteau said bringing her daughter along would be memorable given Grand-père Jacques’s experience there.

“She’s [at] the right age to go see the underwater world for the first time. Hopefully she would understand that people eat fish and that’s a good use of fish, (especially) if we are able to protect them and conserve them and restore fisheries,” she said.

Despite a personal preference to use only sustainablysourced fish, Cousteau still believes “we should eat fish.”

However, she noted the red flags in government data showwww.canadianinquirer.net

ing that 75 percent of the country’s fishing grounds are “overfished.” Given that 60 percent of the country’s population lives on coastal waters and 60 percent of the people’s protein supply comes from fish, these figures should prompt people to reconsider the conduct of fishing in the country.

Oceana Philippines drew attention to the case of Tañon Strait between Cebu and Negros islands, where a “strong monitoring mechanism” is needed given the presence of commercial trawlers and destructive forms of fishing.

The group’s vice president, lawyer Gloria Estenzo Ramos, noted that despite the strait’s protected status under the law, “many challenges persist, including overfishing, conversion of coastal habitats to industrial uses and pollution. These activities destroy fish habitats and populations, and adversely affect the livelihood of artisanal fishers.”

Heartbreaking

Cousteau said stories like this are recorded all over the world.

“I’ve seen places I’ve known as a child disappear. For me, that’s particularly heartbreaking because as a child of the ocean, someone who’s learned to swim before [she] could walk,

SHANICE GARCIA / PCI

I realize I’m standing at a point where there was an abundance [in the ocean] when my grandfather was my age.”

“But when my five-year-old daughter [becomes] my age, there could be very little [resources] left for future generations. The time to act is now...

The window of opportunity to bring the kinds of changes that would bring back a diverse and abundant ocean is closing,” she warned.

Cousteau said places like El Nido “are increasingly like museums, they remind us what the oceans used to be everywhere.

Now they are just a handful of places left.”

She singled out Benham Rise, a mineral- and marineresource-rich environment in eastern Luzon, as a natural wonder that needs to be taken care of before business and bureaucracy exploit it.

“It is extraordinarily important to explore before we exploit. We are losing places before we even know what’s there.

Oceana went to Benham Rise and sent divers down with a remotely operated vehicle. They saw 100 percent coral cover.

That’s amazing! Think about the ocean floor as a living seafloor. Before we smash it up, we really should understand what we are sacrificing,” she explained. ■

Travel

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

33

Montreal prepares for year-long 375th birthday bash in 2017

BY MORGAN LOWRIE The Canadian Press MONTREAL — Giant puppets, street parties and social media-savvy bridge lights are just some of the ways Montreal is planning to celebrate its 375th birthday next year.

The date coincides with the 150th anniversary of Canada’s founding and, to celebrate, the city is throwing itself a $100-million bash that includes cultural and historical events, festivals and shows to run throughout 2017.

The commissioner of the group organizing the festivities says the city can do with a good party after a recent tough six or seven years that included the Charbonneau Commission looking into corruption in the construction industry.

“We needed that breath of fresh air,” Gilbert Rozon said. “We needed to give some love back to Montreal, and also to bring some tourism to Montreal.”

The year-long celebration, which will actually kick off in December, making it 375 days long, includes more than 200 events both lavish and local.

On the grander side of the scale is a $39.5-million plan to light the JacquesCartier Bridge beginning May 17, the same date in 1642 when a group of missionaries and French colonists founded what was then a mission called Ville-Marie.

The bridge will be fitted with 2,800 lights that will change colour according to the season.

The speed, movement and intensity of

the lights can also be changed to reflect the current traffic, weather forecasts or what Montrealers are discussing on social media, in order to “reflect the energy of the city” in a subtle way, Rozon said.

The events kick off in December with a variety show, televised on several French-language networks and where the programming will be unveiled.

Highlights of the first months include outdoor winter games, a gathering of 50 top chefs and lighting shows to illuminate the frosty months.

The summer will feature daily outdoor theatre performances, a carnival in each of the city’s 19 boroughs and a specially created performance by the giant marionettes of the Royal de Luxe street theatre company.

Outside the budget for the celebrations, the city has also earmarked about $300 million for a series of “legacy” infrastructure projects including renovations to Saint-Joseph’s Oratory, improvements to green spaces, public art and a 3.8-kilometre pedestrian walkway to connect the St. Lawrence River to the foot of Mount Royal.

On a smaller scale, the city has also approved some 100 neighbourhood projects run by community organizations.

The projects are scattered throughout the city, and two-thirds of them have a historical component.

These are wide-ranging, from podcast walking tours of Notre-Dame-de-Grace to a country music festival in HochelagaMaisonneuve to the temporary revival of Belmont Park, a long-closed amuse-

Jacques-Cartier Bridge.

ment park in Ahuntsic-Cartierville.

Not all Montrealers are on board with the lavish celebrations, and some of the anniversary projects have been met with criticism.

A planned series of sculptures on Mount Royal have been likened to granite tree stumps, and a petition against the project has garnered more than 2,600 signatures.

Others have criticized the $40-million price tag to illuminate the bridge, suggesting the money could be better invested in fixing the city’s crumbling infrastructure.

But although the budget far exceeds the amounts spent by cities such as Toronto and Vancouver to celebrate various anniversaries, Rozon believes the event will turn a profit.

He says the $100-million budget has already generated more than $300 million worth of projects, by funding them partially and asking organizers to find private sponsors and other levels of government to fund the rest.

He says hotels are already selling out, restaurants will be full and jobs will be created.

“It’s not just a party — it’s a business,” he said. “It’s more tourism, more sports, more tax, more employment.

“Let’s showcase what we do best, let’s put Montreal on the radar, and let’s make sure the tourists who come will be blown away.”

If you go

Check out the event’s website at www.375mtl.com. ■

Taiwan tourism workers call for help as Chinese numbers fall THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Hundreds of Taiwanese workers in tourism-related businesses rallied in the capital Monday to draw attention to a sharp decline in Chinese visitors that is putting their industry under heavy strain.

Workers marched down a central street in Taipei before gathering outside the Presidential Office Building. They called for the preservation of jobs and assistance to the industry, including allowing the owners of tour buses to delay their loan payments.

“We only want the right to work. If (Chinese tourists) do not come, we cannot work. This is just our need,” said tour guide Debby Huang, 41.

Workers also urged the government to encourage domestic tourism and al-

low visa-free entry for travellers from the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations as an inducement to visit.

The number of Chinese visitors has fallen since Beijing began discouraging travel to the island following the May inauguration of independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen.

Tsai has refused to endorse Beijing’s concept that Taiwan is part of a single Chinese nation, and reducing tourism is seen as one of the easiest and least risky ways of pressuring her government.

Accidents and an unwelcoming attitude among some Taiwanese are also blamed for contributing to the decline in Chinese visitors.

Government figures say the number of visitors from China has fallen by 22 per cent since Tsai’s election compared

to the same period last year. Chinese made up about 40 per cent of tourist arrivals last year.

www.canadianinquirer.net

The government has already offered almost $960 million to bail out the industry. ■

Events

34

YUKON

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

NUNAVUT

CANADA

BRITISH COLUMBIA

EVENTS

ALBERTA MANITOBA SASKATCHEWAN

ONTARIO

NEWFOUNDLAND

View all events by scanning this QR code or visiting

http://bit.ly/ PCI-Events

QUEBEC

NOVA SCOTIA To have your events featured on PCI, please email events@canadianinquirer.net

VANCOUVER Temporary Foreign Workers Uncontested Divorce Clinic

By Law Courts Center WHEN/WHERE: Saturdays from 2 to 4 p.m., at the Justice Education Society at the Provincial Court of BC Room 260 800 Hornby St., Vancouver B.C. MORE INFO: To book an appointment, call/text 778-3222839 or email: tfw.divorce@gmail. com Skills Now: Project-based Training for Immigrants in Retail and Administration

By ISS of BC WHEN/WHERE: Call or email at 604-684-2581 (ext 2193 Nanki) skillsnow@issbc.org MORE INFO: Receive a certificate or skills training in retail or administration; job search workshops; and strong employment opportunities.

Mentoring Programme for Immigrant High School Students: Breakfast & Baon 101

By Mentorship & Leadership for Youth Programme WHEN/WHERE: 10 a.m. to 12 nn at Corpus Christi College (near UBC) 5935 Iona Dr. Vancouver BC. Free pick up and drop off service.

MORE INFO: Meet young professionals plus learn to cook.

Call/text Anna de Quito 604-7632210.

Free Counselling Support Group

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., every last Monday of the month, at Mosaic Burnaby Centre

for Immigrants, 5902 Kingsway, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call Darae (604)2549626 Seniors Club Knitting Circle

By Mosaic WHEN/WHERE: 1–3 p.m., Tuesdays at Mosaic Burnaby Centre for Immigrants, 5902 Kingsway, Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Call (604)438-8214 Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

By Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden WHEN/WHERE: 5:30 to 10 p.m., Sept. 16, at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden Collected, Traces, and Still Here

By Co. Erasga WHEN/WHERE: 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., till Sept. 17, Scotiabank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St., Vancouver, B.C. Job Fair

By ISS of BC WHEN/WHERE: 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., or 3 to 5 p.m., Sept. 16, Vancity Rooms (Rooms 201 to 203) ISS of BC Welcome Centre, 2610 Victoria Drive, Vancouver, B.C. Information Session at Bayanihan Centre

By Pathway to Canada WHEN/WHERE: 1 to 4 p.m., Sept.

18, at the Bayanihan Centre 1321 Blanchard St. Suite 301 Victoria, B.C. MORE INFO: Admission is free.

Bamboo 2016 The Oven World Tour

By UMAC, Mabuhay Enterprise and Bonifacio Family WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 p.m., Sept.

18, at Massey Theatre, 735 Eight Ave., New Westminster, B.C. Annual Health Fair

By S.U.C.C.E.S.S. WHEN/WHERE: 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Sept. 18, at Bonsor Recreation Complex, 6550 Bonsor Ave, Burnaby, B.C. MORE INFO: Opening ceremony is scheduled at 11:30 am.

Everyone is welcome to attend this one-day free event.

Tini(g) Tipon WHEN/WHERE: 8 to 10 p.m., Sept.

21, ScotiaBank Dance Centre, 677 Davie St., Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: $20/$30 Visit: brownpapertickets.ca 3rd International Babaylan Conference

By Kathara Pilipino Indigenous Arts Collective Society in Canada and Center for Babaylan Studies WHEN/WHERE: Sept. 23 to 25, at theYMCA Camp Elphinstone in Gibsons, B.C. MORE INFO: The conference will feature the theme Makasaysayang Pagtatagpo (Historic Encounter): Filipinos and Indigenous Turtle Islanders Revitalizing Ancestral Traditions Together Filipino Canadian Construction Society Fundraising Event

By FCCS WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m to 12 mn., Sept. 24, at St. Monica Parish Hall, 12011, Wood Head Rd., Richmond, B.C. MORE INFO: Call Amado Mercado at 604-786-6801 Autumn Dance

By Foreign Workers of Canada

www.canadianinquirer.net

Cooperative WHEN/WHERE: 5 to 11 p.m., Sept.

24, St. Mary’s Ukrainian Church Catholic Centre, 3150 Ash St. cor.

W. 16th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Come in best costumes and win a prize!

October Fest Dinner & Dance

By Negrenses Association of British Columbia WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m., Oct. 1, St. Patrick’s Hall 2881 Main St., Vancouver, B.C. MORE INFO: Tickets at $25.

Proceeds go to sustainable projects in Negros Occidental Masskara Festival Fundraising 2016

By United Masskara Cultural Society of B.C. WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m., Oct. 8, at Vancouver Alpen Club, 4875 Victoria Dr. Vancouver, B.C.

TORONTO New WelcomePack Canada Distribution Centre

By WelcomePack Canada Inc. WHEN/WHERE: 1 to 5 p.m., Mon, Tues, Thu & Fri at the Filipino Centre Bldg., 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, On. MORE INFO: Call (416) 928-9355 Tagalog Class

By Filipino Center Toronto WHEN/WHERE: 10 to 11 a.m., every Saturday, Filipino Centre Toronto, Toronto Homework/Tutorial Class

By FCT WHEN/WHERE: 11a.m. to 12 nn, every Saturday, Filipino Centre

Toronto, 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, ON MORE INFO: For registrations, call 416-928-9355. The office, at 597 Parliament St., Suite 103, Toronto, is open on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 6 p.m.

National Coaching Certification Program 2

By Halton Region Basketball Association, Inc. WHEN/WHERE: Sept. 24, at Haber Recreation Centre, Burlington, 3040 Tim Dobbie Dr. Burlington, On. (Dundas & West of Appleby Rd., Burlington)

EDMONTON Bamboo 2016 The Oven World Tour

By UMAC, TFC, XYZMYNDS WHEN/WHERE: 7 p.m., Sept. 16, at The South Pointe Community Centre, 11520 Ellerslie Road SW Edmonton, AB MORE INFO: General Admission: $55 Erik Santos & Angeline Quinto: King & Queen of Hearts

By GSP Great Smile Promotions WHEN/WHERE: 6 p.m., Oct. 15, at South Pointe Community Centre 11520 Ellerslie Rd., Edmonton, AB

SASKATOON Himig ng Pag-Ibig Concert Tour

By Lolita Carbon WHEN/WHERE: 9 p.m., Oct. 9, Ukranian Orthodox Auditorium, 919 20th St., W. Saskatoon, SK

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

35

Food Gardening: growing blackberries without the blood

BY LEE REICH The Associated Press FOR THE past couple of weeks, I’ve been picking and eating what are arguably the best fruits I have ever tasted (a belief I often hold when a particular fruit is ripe). They are blackberries, but not just any blackberries: Because my plant is a cultivated variety and grown under garden conditions, its berries are especially swollen with sweet, aromatic juice.

Wild blackberries grow abundantly throughout much of the world, but these cultivated ones have the edge in size, juice and flavour.

Ripeness is important Most important is that each blackberry hangs on the plant just beyond its showy, glossy black stage, until it is dead ripe.

At that point, blackberries are dull black, as if sullenly crying out to be plucked, an impression reinforced by their readiness, at the slightest suggestion, to part from their stalks and stain the fingertips.

To withstand the rigours of shipping, commercial blackberries are picked when black but still firm — and tart. Fruit allowed to develop full flavour on the plant cannot tolerate being carried more than about 3 feet, the distance from hand to mouth.

Easy to grow Growing blackberries can be intimidating because of their thorns. Most blackberry plants are thoroughly armed, even on their leaves, with ferocious thorns that grab, stab and hold you.

Many gardeners are willing to put up with the pain because the fruit is so delicious.

Not I. I grow thorn-less varieties of blackberries, horticultural wonders with pretty much all the qualities of their thorny relatives except the thorns.

Some good varieties of thornless blackberries are Chester and Doyle, the latter not coldhardy in the coldest regions, but making canes long enough to be laid on the ground and insulated under a blanket of leaves from January to March. Other good varieties include Triple Crown and Hull, which are erect varieties like Chester, and Thornless Boysen and Marion (thorny), both with trailing canes.

Whether your blackberries are thorn-less or thorny, growing them well requires choosing a good site and pruning the plants annually.

As for site, don’t be fooled by blackberries that grow wild along the edges of woods.

Blackberries tolerate some

shade but, like blueberries and pawpaws, fruit and grow better in full sun. The best soils will be well-drained and blanketed with an organic mulch of leaves or straw to keep them consistently moist and rich in humus.

Pruning There’s no art to pruning blackberries, just a straightforward recipe: Remember that individual blackberry canes are biennial, fruiting and dying after their second season, and fruits are borne on side shoots.

Let’s make believe it’s late winter: Step 1 in pruning is to cut away at ground level any cane that fruited the previous summer. You’ll recognize these canes by the remains of fruit stalks still clinging to them.

Step 2 is to remove — again, to ground level — some of the new canes, which will fruit this summer. Too many canes results in

www.canadianinquirer.net

crowding, so limit each clump of plants to about six new canes annually.

That’s all that’s needed for the long, willowy canes of trailing blackberries. With a single-wire trellis you can lift the remaining canes and tie them to the wire, while letting new canes, which will fruit the following season, trail along the ground.

Now let’s jump back into summer for the fourth step in pruning erect varieties: Throughout summer, whenever a young cane reaches a height of 3 to 5 feet, pinch out its growing tip. This pinch stimulates the growth of side branches on which will hang next year’s luscious berries.

Year after year, all this pruning keeps any blackberry planting productive, healthy and easy to harvest — and all the more fun if the plants are thorn-less. ■

36

Food

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

Beef, cheese, poblano and beer an addictive burger emerges

BY SARA MOULTON The Associated Press THE ANCESTOR of this recipe was a beloved burger on the menu of a bar where I was a cook back in my college days.

Working on a flattop grill (the same surface used in diners to cook hash browns), we’d top the burger with a special mix of veggies, top the veggies with a slice of American cheese, douse the whole concoction with beer, then cover it with a dome lid and steam the burger until the cheese melted.

It was addictive — and I don’t even like beer.

This recipe repurposes that burger with fresher ingredients and sharp cheddar. I call for ground chuck because it’s not too lean. The higher percentage of fat makes the burger juicier and more flavourful. Whenever you add fat to a recipe, it’s just going to taste better.

The poblanos are roasted for three reasons: to soften the chili’s texture, to make it easier to remove the tough peel, and to develop a slight char taste.

I recommend roasting them under the broiler, but if you have gas burners, you can place them right on top of a burner and char them over a low flame. If you want to skip this step to save time, you can swap in canned chilies instead.

These burgers need to be cooked on a burner on top of the stove — not on a grill. That’s so the juices that accumulate in the bottom of the skillet can be deglazed with beer and turned into a “sauce” (more like drippings) to pour onto the burger at the end. If you’re a beer lover, choose a robust brand, which will amp up the burger’s flavour.

I can’t pretend that this is a low-cal dish, but I do think it’s a justifiable (and delicious) end-of-summer indulgence.

Chile cheeseburgers steamed in beer

Start to finish: 1 hour (40 active) Servings: 6 • 1 large poblano (about 4 ounces) or one 4.5 ounce can chilies • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided plus extra oil for oiling the chili • 2 cups sliced onion • salt and black pepper • 1/2 cup mayonnaise • 1 teaspoon minced garlic • 1 1/2 tablespoons minced chipotle in adobo • 1 1/2 pounds ground chuck, divided into 6 patties (shape them so that all

of them will fit into one large skillet without touching) • 6 ounces sliced cheddar cheese • 1/2 cup beer • 6 toasted buns Preheat the broiler. Lightly oil the chili on all sides and set it on a shelf about 4 inches from the heat source. Using tongs, turn the poblano often, until the skin is blackened on all sides, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer the chili to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set it aside until it is cool enough to handle. When the chili is cool, peel and seed it and cut it into thin strips: put it back in the bowl.

In a large skillet cook the onion in 1 tablespoon of the oil, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is golden brown, about 8 to 10 minutes.

Add the cooked onion to the bowl with the chili and add salt and pepper to taste.

Wipe out the skillet and set it aside.

In a small bowl stir together the mayonnaise, garlic and chipotle.

In the skillet, heat the remaining oil over medium high heat. Season the burgers on both sides with salt and pepper and add them to the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook them for 2 minutes a side.

Transfer the burgers to a plate and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the fat

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from the pan. Return the burgers to the pan and top each burger with one-sixth of the chili mixture, followed by a slice of cheese.

Pour the beer into the pan on top of the burgers and cover the pan with a lid. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let the burgers steam for 2 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the burgers are cooked to the desired degree of doneness (you can nick and peek inside one).

While the burgers are cooking, spread chipotle mayonnaise onto the bottom and top of each bun. Transfer the cooked cheeseburgers to the bottom half of the buns. Turn up the heat in the skillet and boil the liquid until it thickened. Spoon some of the reduced cooking liquid over each burger. Top with the remaining bun half.

Nutrition information per serving: 558 calories; 317 calories from fat; 35 g fat (11 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 96 mg cholesterol; 828 mg sodium; 27 g carbohydrate; 2 g fiber; 5 g sugar; 34 g protein.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sara Moulton is host of public television’s “Sara’s Weeknight Meals.” She was executive chef at Gourmet magazine for nearly 25 years and spent a decade hosting several Food Network shows, including “Cooking Live.”

Her latest cookbook is “Home Cooking 101.”

Seen & Scenes: Vancouver

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

ZODIAC CIRCLE Bottom: At the Zodiac Circle affair with Forever Young Seniors Society President Romy Mercado, Coney Mercado and Virginia Archie.

Right: Virginia Archie, Coney Mercado and Narcy Vinluan (Photos from Narcy Vinluan’s FB).

MONSAY NORTH AMERICA The international association of Ramon Magsaysay High School alumni in North America held their fourth grand reunion from Sept. 2 to 5, in Vancouver, B.C. Eula Buan-Stein, president of Monsay North America Inc., welcomed members and supporters to breathtaking Vancouver and enjoined everyone to embrace their theme, “Connect, Collaborate, Commit to Make a Difference”. A dinner banquet was held Sept. 4, at River Rock Casino to cap the reunion activities (Photos by Eula Stein).

ADAMSON ALUMNI Adamson University Alumni Association BC Chapter led by its president, Rudy Antonio, recently enjoyed their dinner-dance gala in downtown Vancouver (Photos by Jay Razon).

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Seen and Scenes

SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

FRIDAY

MABUHAY FEST Mabuhay Festival spearheaded by Philippine Independence Day Council Toronto (PIDC), was held Sept. 3 and 4, at Nathan Phillips Square (Toronto City Hall). Norma Carpio, PIDC president invited special guest speakers such as Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, Toronto Mayor John Tory, MP Marco Mendicino, Miss International 2013 Bea Santiago, and Consul General Rosalita Prospero. Sid Ikeda of the Japanese Canadian Community Centre also graced the event (Photos by Ariel Ramos).

TALAKAYAN Talakayan Radyo Filipino staff poses with Miss International 2013 Bea Santiago after an interview at Pinoy Radio.com in Toronto. Shown from L are Producer Jess Cabrias; Roving Reporter Joe Damasco; Political Commentator Tony A. San Juan; Bea Santiago; Administrative Coordinator May Cabrias; Special Coordinator Nelson Galvez; and Technical Coordinator Bobby Achacon (Photo by Nelson Galvez). RIGHT: Miss International 2013 Bea Santiago, a Filipino Canadian, strikes a pose with Talakayan Radyo Filipino's Administrative Coordinator May Cabrias at Pinoy Radio.

Com station in Little Manila, North York, Toronto, Ont. (Photo by Nelson Galvez).

TOWN HALL MEET

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

Officers and members of the Filipino Catholic Parents Association in Catholic Education (FCPACE) with community leaders strike a pose with Senator Art Eggleton and Member of Parliament -York Centre Michael Levitt after the Second Town Hall Summit held Sept. 11, at Grandravine Community Centre, North York, Toronto, Ont. The Summit, participated in by Ward 10 Toronto City Councillor James Pasternak and other ministry and school board officials also tackled relevant community issues and concerns impacting residents, parents, youths and students in York Centre Ridings within the city of Toronto (Photo by Joseph Redoblado).

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

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CANADA

I'm looking for a Filipino surrogate mother, who currently lives in Edmonton, or is willing to relocate to Edmonton, to carry my baby.

You will need to be between the ages of 21-35, and have given birth to at least 1 child. You also need to be in excellent physical, emotional and mental health. You have never had abuse of drugs/alcohol and you are a non-smoker.

If interested, please send a brief introduction of yourself, with your contact information, to

nathanlee6766@gmail.com

Retail Assistant Manager for Cascade Gift Store - Banff, AB.

Responsibilities: Plan, direct and evaluation the operations of the store; manage staff & assign duties; study market & determine consumer needs; determine merchandise & services to be sold; develop & implement marketing strategies; assist in planning budget & expenditures; resolve customer(s) complaints; determine staffing requirements & hiring, etc.

High School graduate, with 3 yrs of related retail experience at increasing levels of responsibility required.

F/T Permanent: $26.50/hour; 40 hours/week.

Subsidized staff accommodation & Extended health benefits.

Send resume to: Cascade Gifts, P.O. Box 2428, Banff, AB T1L 1C2

elaine@cascadegifts.com

RETAIL SALES SUPERVISOR for Cascade Gift Store - Banff, AB.

Responsibilities: Supervise and Coordinate sales staff and cashiers, Assign duties, Authorize merchandise return, Sell Merchandise, Resolve customer complaints and supply shortages, Maintain specified inventory, Prepare reports on sales volumes,merchandising, personnel.

High School graduate, with 2 yrs Retail Supervisory experience.

F/T Permanent: $18.25/ hour. 40 hours/week.

Subsidized staff accommodation and Extended health benefits.

Send resume to: Cascade Gifts, P.O. Box 2428, Banff, AB T1L 1C2 info@cascadegifts.com

WANTED: ELDERLY CAREGIVER Full Time. Pays $14/hr., 40Hrs/wk.(Mon.To Fri)Education: At least Secondary Education graduate.Must have at least 1 to less than 2 yrs of experience.Duties: Monitor the elderly on the needs of medication,Food preparation. Companionship,perform minor Household cleaning.

EMPLOYERS: Ric Abenoja of 205-44 Valley Woods Rd. TORONTO ON. raabenoja@yahoo.com (647-996-2273) Adriana De Luca.51 Dybal St.Woodbridge ON. supremeccc@yahoo.com (647-996-2273) Resty Ragragio # 602 Weyburn SQ. Pickering ON. restyr480@yahoo.com (647-996-2273) Jocelyn Langcay#139 Purvis Cres.Toronto ON. osielangcay@gmail.com (416-335-7538) Elena Oligo #141 Erskine Avenue Toronto ON. elenaoligo@yahoo.com (647-677-1948) O’Neil Family #4640 11th Concession Rd Maidstone ON. supremeccc@yahoo.com (647-996-2273) Mario Roncali #240-10211 Keele St. E. MAPLE ON. supremeccc@yahoo.com (905-832-9831)

WANTED: NANNY (LIVE OUT) Full Time. Pays $11.40/hr., 40Hrs/wk.(Mon.To Fri)Education: At least Secondary Education graduate.Must have at least 1 to less than 2 yrs of experience.Duties: Take care of child/children.Feeding, meal &snack prep,indoor/outdoor companionship,Lighthousekeeping, reading,playing and organize games.Education: At least Secondary Education graduate.

EMPLOYERS: Mark Polanco#77 Winter Ave.Scarborough ON. polancomark@yahoo.com (647-686-6341) Purvaiz/Harris At 88 Attridge Dr. Aurora ON. supremeccc@yahoo.com (647-996-2273) Farah Simon.#51 Vettese Ct. Markham ON. supremeccc@yahoo.com (647-680-5403) Carina Marquez.#24 Earlton Rd. Scarborough ON. cminacay70@yahoo.com (647-284-5725) Musbah Farhat.#820 Stargazer Dr. Missisauga ON. mufa668@yahoo.com (647-996-2273) Amisha Sirpal #24 Jacob Brill Cres Brampton ON. supremeccc@yahoo.com (647-996-2273) Judy Liou #11 Yarden Dr. Maple ON. judy.liou@gmail.com (905-553-3014) Marion #21 Roywood Dr. North York supremeccc@yahoo.com (416-418-4129) Marina P. #25 Diploma Dr. Brampton ON. jenklandingin@gmail.com (905-913-0624) Fe Gutgutao #514 Speedvale East Guelph ON. fegutgutao@yahoo.com (519-760-4639) Davina Lopez#86 Northdale Rd. Willowdale ON. davinalopez996@yahoo.com (416-879-7441)

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SEPTEMBER 16, 2016

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FRIDAY