Philippine Canadian Inquirer #254

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER FEBRUARY 3, 2017

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VOL. 2 NO. 254

LIVING A DREAM

Newly crowned Miss Universe Iris Mittenaere of France says every girl wants to win the title and thanks the "exceptional" Filipino hospitality. Story on page 24.

EDWIN BACASMAS / PDI

‘Trumponomics’ seen a threat to PH growth

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BY DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA Philippine Daily Inquirer

2 top BI officials in bribery/ extort lying, say senators

THE PHILIPPINES remains on a solid macroeconomic footing that will enable it to grow by 6.3 percent this year but vulnerability to “Trumponomics”—or policies to be implemented by newly inaugurated US Ppresident Donald Trump —is high, investment house Nomura said.

In a research note dated Jan. 27 writ-

ten by economists Euben Paracuelles, Lavanya Venkateswaran and Brian Tan, Nomura said navigating the rough seas of geopolitics posed the biggest risk to an otherwise strong macroeconomic outlook for the Philippines.

The research said the Philippine economy was starting this year with a strong position, supported by structural reforms that were boosting investment spending that, in turn, would push po-

16 Trump ousts acting attorney general as outcry grows ❱❱ PAGE 19

❱❱ PAGE 10 ‘Trumponomics’ seen

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS:

FILIPINO-CANADIAN IN FOCUS InFocus.canadianinquirer.net

Lone mosque suspect, Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, faces six murder counts

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Philippines: Airstrikes killed 15 IS group linked militants

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Philippine airstrikes have killed 15 Muslim militants linked to the Islamic State group, including a suspected Indonesian militant, while one of Southeast Asia’s top terror suspects was seriously wounded in the country’s south, the military chief said Sunday.

Military Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Ano said the body of the suspected Indonesian militant, known by his nom de guerre Mohisen, was recovered by troops along with three dead Filipino followers of militant leader Isnilon Hapilon, who was seriously wounded in the hilly outskirts of Butig town in Lanao del Sur province.

Eleven other militants were reportedly killed, Ano said, citing intelligence, but added their bodies have not been found.

Hapilon was wounded in the arm and was losing blood after air force aircraft, including FA50 supersonic fighter jets, dropped six 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs Wednesday night and Thursday on a militant encampment in an ongoing offensive, Ano and another air force official said. It was the first time that the FA50s, which were acquired from South Korea in late 2015 as the military’s only fighter jets, were deployed in a combat mission.

Four FA50s have been delivered and the rest of 12 jets are to be delivered by July, air force officials said. President Rodrigo Duterte has criticized the FA50s as being inadequate for

counterinsurgency operations and good only as fly-by aircraft for ceremonies.

Hapilon was being moved around by his men on a makeshift stretcher but could not escape from Lanao, about 830 kilometres (520 miles) south of Manila, because artillerybacked troops have blocked possible exit points, Ano said.

“We’re making it very difficult for them to move around and survive,” Ano told The Associated Press by telephone.

The military will ask Indonesian authorities for help in confirming the identity and background of Mohisen, who was not among the foreigners previously monitored as having joined Filipino militant groups in the south.

Hapilon reportedly was designated to lead an Islamic State group branch in Southeast Asia and is on the U.S. Department of Justice list of most-wanted terrorists worldwide with a reward of up to $5 million for his capture. He moved to Butig from his stronghold on southern Basilan island a month ago with about 30 fighters to look for a base, Ano said.

IS group commanders apparently wanted Hapilon to set up a base in Lanao, a vast region that offers more security than his mountain base on Basilan island, so foreign militants could have a springboard to expand their influence, he said.

The ongoing offensive “is significant because it will derail their plan to expand the IS presence to mainland Mindanao,” said Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, referring to the southern Philippine region,

the scene of decadeslong uprisings by minority Muslims.

Duterte has repeatedly warned the emergence of Islamic State-influenced militant groups is fast looming as a major national security threat. While pursuing peace talks with two large Muslim rebel groups in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation, he has ordered the military to destroy smaller but brutal extremist groups like the Abu Sayyaf, which is dreaded for cross-border kidnappings, beheadings and bombings.

Duterte has asked the two Muslim rebel groups in talks with the government not to help extremists under attack by troops, warning that may bring them in a new conflict with Manila.

The elusive Hapilon, an Arabic-speaking Islamic preacher known for his expertise on commando assaults, pledged allegiance to the IS group in 2014.

He then organized an alliance called Dawlatul Islam Wilayatul Mashriq, which is now believed to include at least 10 small militant groups including some Abu Sayyaf factions and the Maute armed group, which he was meeting in Lanao when the military launched the airstrikes using the FA50s and OV-10 bomber planes.

The Maute and the Ansar Al Khilafah Philippines, another group under Hapilon’s nascent alliance, have been linked to a Sept. 2 bombing of a night market that killed 15 people and wounded 69 others in southern Davao city, the president’s hometown, and a failed bombing at Manila’s popular Rizal Park and a promenade near the U.S. Embassy last year. ■

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

PUJ stops eyed as traffic solution MMDA hopes fixed loading bays on Commonwealth Avenue-España Boulevard route will discipline motorists

BY ERIKA SAULER Philippine Daily Inquirer TRANSPORT LEADERS have agreed to the establishment of loading and unloading bays for public utility jeepneys (PUJ) plying Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City to España Boulevard in Manila and vice versa to help improve traffic on the busy route.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) General Manager Tim Orbos said on Sunday that the agency held a meeting with several PUJ groups on Friday as part of the Inter-Agency Council on Traffic’s efforts to ease congestion in the metropolis.

“We need to end the days of picking up and dropping off passengers anywhere,” Orbos said in a statement, noting that this was one of the causes of

heavy traffic.

The location of the jeepney stops will be identified in coordination with the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and local government units concerned.

Leaders of Pasang Masda, the Land Transportation Organization of the Philippines, Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines and Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines attended the consultation meeting, the MMDA said.

The Commonwealth-España corridor has one of the heaviest concentrations of passenger jeepneys in Metro Manila, servicing mostly students and workers, according to Orbos.

He added that the designated stops were also aimed at instilling discipline in motorists and commuters. ■

Pinoys in peril abroad if death penalty is OKd

BY DJ YAP AND JULIE M. AURELIO Philippine Daily Inquirer MORE FILIPINOS on death row abroad face a greater threat of being executed if the Philippines restores capital punishment, minority lawmakers and Catholic bishops said on Thursday after a Filipino maid was

hanged in Kuwait.

“It saddens us to say that once Congress reinstates death sentences here, and once President Rodrigo Duterte makes good his threat to execute five to six malefactors every day, there’s a high likelihood we would have more Jakatia Pawas,” Buhay Rep. Lito Atienza said.

Jakatia Pawa, a mother of two, was executed on Wednesday for

the murder of her Kuwaiti employer’s 22-year-old daughter 10 years ago. She maintained her innocence to the end.

Atienza said the President’s plan to reimpose the death penalty would “emasculate” the government’s efforts to save the lives of overseas Filipino workers sentenced to death in other countries.

“Once Congress reinstates www.canadianinquirer.net

the cruel and inhuman punishment, it would be highly problematic for us to plead with other governments for compassion, if we ourselves are killing our own citizens here,” Atienza said in a statement.

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas expressed sadness over Pawa’s

fate and “abhorrence at the death penalty.”

Bishop Ruperto Santos of Balanga, Bataan, said the death of Pawa, a Muslim, affected all Filipinos.

“Whatever region or religion, she is a Filipina. She is one of us,” said Santos, chair of the CBCP’s Episcopal Commission for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. ■

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Looking at the numbers behind death penalty

BY ANA ROA Philippine Daily Inquirer DOES THE death penalty deter crime? It’s an issue that’s long been debated and remains under dispute, but that has not stopped Congress from scheduling this coming week the plenary debates on House Bill No. 4727, a consolidated version of seven bills on capital punishment.

When Republic Act No. 7659 imposed the death penalty for heinous crimes more than 20 years ago, the crime rate—the number of crime incidents per 100,000 population—decreased from 145.7 in 1993 to 98 in 1998.

In 1999, however, when six of the seven executions under the Estrada administration happened, the crime rate rose to 111.

After 2006, when the death penalty was abolished, data showed that the crime rate inched up in 2009, while a “downtrend” was seen from 2010 until 2012. It rose again in 2013.

The fluctuations, however, can be traced to changes in the system of crime reporting and inconsistencies in recording crime, not to actual spikes or dives in the number of crimes committed.

Beginning 2009, carnapping and cattle rustling were added to index crimes, which are defined as crimes that are “serious in nature and occur with

sufficient frequency and regularity such that they can serve as an index (or measure) of the crime situation.”

incidents.

A validation by the police national headquarters meanwhile revealed several flaws: underreporting of crime incidents and statistics; failure to submit crime incidents recorded in police blotters in the barangay; discrepancies in crime data visá-vis the data validated by the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management; failure to reconcile incidents recorded in barangay blotters, and the tendency to report to police stations only those crimes that were solved.

can criminality be solved?

A question that legislators should be asked is: Would someone contemplating murder be discouraged to commit Barangay blotter the crime because he knows he The shift from the old system could be executed? of crime reporting known as However, another equally Police Regional Office Period valid question is: Would someReport to the Unit Crime Peone contemplating murder riodic Report (Ucper) in 2009 hesitate if he knows that he also meant that total crime volcould get away with it? ume would be sourced not only It’s a question prompted by a from the police blotter but also previous Amnesty Internationfrom the barangay blotter and al Philippines report that concrime reports from other law cluded that it was not just fear enforcement agencies like the of the death penalty, but also National Bureau the certainty of of Investigation, arrest and conPhilippine Drug viction, that inEnforcement fluences crime.

Agency and the When the numbers do not capture Records show Department of the true crime situation in the country, that in the past Social Welfare how then can criminality be solved? decade, the numand Developber of cases of ment. heinous crimes This might pending in the explain why the lower courts had crime rate soared from 74.7 in Fear of retribution been reduced from 16,461 at the 2008 to 552.3 in 2009.

This and other memoranda end of 2006, to 10,986 at the When a validation of 2012 showed that the police had end of last year, a 30 percent decrime statistics in police blot- been perennially confronted crease within a 10-year period. ters in Metro Manila was con- with problems in crime recordducted by the Philippine Na- ing. Add to this the likelihood Error rate tional Police, it appeared that that victims were not reporting While the current conviction, only 45 percent of the crime crimes due to fear of retribu- acquittal and dismissal rates for incidents were reflected in the tion or lack of resources. Simi- heinous crimes could not be imUcper. larly, the accuracy of the body mediately determined, one tellWhen the Regional Inves- count in President Duterte’s ing statistic from 10 years ago is tigation and Detective Man- war on drugs, which has so far the error rate in the death penagement Division conducted exceeded 6,000, has been re- alty sentence under RA 7659. another validation of crime peatedly challenged.

A review of 907 capital punstatistics from January to FebWhen the numbers do not ishment cases from 1993 to ruary 2013, the review found capture the true crime situa- 2004 resulted in the modificaa discrepancy of 16,282 crime tion in the country, how then tion of penalty for 555 cases,

acquittal for 65 cases and dismissal for 26.

Meanwhile, 31 cases were remanded while only 230 were affirmed. This means that seven in 10 of the cases reviewed did not deserve the death penalty.

On the other hand, an analysis of data from the Department of Justice showed a steady prosecution disposition rate for rape, murder and kidnapping cases from 2010 to 2016.

Beyond the efficiency of the judicial system, economic factors were also been identified as among the determinants of crime. Again, it has been asked: Is criminality lower in places where economic conditions are better?

A comparison of crime rate, poverty incidence and gini coefficient—a measure of income inequality within a population—showed a direct relationship between poverty and crime rate. The three regions in the top eight poorest regions in the country—Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Bicol—were also among the top eight when it comes to the most number of reported crimes.

Central Visayas and Northern Mindanao, along with Western Visayas, are also among the regions with higher income inequality as well as a higher crime rate.

Given such reports and varied factors behind crime, shouldn’t the government look at the numbers first before turning to death penalty in its campaign for safer communities? ■

‘War on drugs now just cover for cops’ crimes’

BY JAYMEE T. GAMIL Philippine Daily Inquirer THE COMMISSION on Human Rights (CHR) and leftist coalition Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) are in agreement: the abduction, extortion and killing of Korean Jee Ick-joo, by no less than police officers, has shown that the Duterte administration’s “war on drugs” has just worsened the culture of impunity.

“Amid the rising toll of extrajudicial killings in the country, the so-called ‘war on drugs’ has become a convenient cover for rogue elements within the Phil-

ippine National Police to commit other crimes, such as kidnapping for ransom of foreign nationals,” the human rights agency said in a statement.

In a protest rally outside the PNP headquarters on Friday, Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes made a similar observation: “The war on drugs is now just being used [as an excuse] to commit other crimes like kidnapping for ransom and murder, and no one is being held accountable.”

“We call on the President not to give a blanket endorsement for the ‘war on drugs’ as justification for killings, because now the police think it’s

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte offers P1 million for the capture of each of the three accomplices tagged in the kidnap-slay of Korean national, Jee Ick Joo, during a press conference.

REY BANIQUET / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / PNA

okay to commit crimes because they won’t be held liable for it,” Reyes said in Filipino. www.canadianinquirer.net

In a statement, Reyes ran down the instances of police overstepping boundaries the

past year: “They think they can get away with the killing of a drug suspect inside a jail cell. They think they can kidnap and murder a foreigner inside the police camp. They think it’s OK to run over unarmed protesters with a police van. They think they can plant evidence, coerce witnesses and cover up all their crimes.”

“Unless the socioeconomic basis for the proliferation of illegal drugs is addressed, the drug problem will persist and the drug war will continue to target the poor. Impunity will only further erode whatever little is left of the credibility of ❱❱ PAGE 10 ‘War on’

Philippine News

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PNP starts war on bad cops

BY CYNTHIA D. BALANA Philippine Daily Inquirer

PNA

NUMBERS SAY OTHERWISE

Too many TROs? SC chief debunks Duterte claim

BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer CHIEF JUSTICE Ma. Lourdes Sereno has debunked President Rodrigo Duterte’s oft-repeated, sweeping claim that the courts have abused the issuance of temporary restraining orders (TRO) that have been the bane of government infrastructure projects.

In a speech before the Management Association of the Philippines, Sereno presented data to “debunk a persistent myth that courts are issuing too many restraining orders against infrastructure of the government.”

Sereno said that the high court and the Court of Appeals have issued only one TRO each against infrastructure projects since 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Sereno said that in 2015, there were 2,039 petitions for TROs filed with the appeals court but only 50 or 2.45 percent were granted and none concerned government projects.

Sereno said the high court was still gathering data for TROs issued by lower courts.

“But our initial impression is that the TROs being issued by lower courts are not against government infrastructure

project,” said Sereno who noted that the Supreme Court has issued seven circulars reminding lower courts on the prohibition on issuing TROs against government projects.

The President recently signed an executive order to “pressure the Supreme Court to finally resolve the two-year TRO on the reproductive health law, which has hampered the government’s program to promote and distribute contraceptives for its family In various speeches during the campaign and after the election, President Duterte has harped on the corruption in the judiciary with their propensity to issue TROs for a fee just to stop the award of government projects.

Sereno assured businessmen that the high court was looking at ways to ensure fair and speedy resolution of legal gridlocks, specifically land disputes and controversies involving government projects.

Sereno said the tribunal was moving to streamline these cases by consolidating different cases relating to the same property—either for possession or ownership or damages—and creating Special Infrastructure Courts for disputes involving government projects.

THE CHIEF of the Philippine National Police on Monday suspended controversial antinarcotics operations to make way for a cleansing of the ranks, after President Duterte admitted that the police force prosecuting his brutal war on drugs was “corrupt to the core.”

Speaking at a news conference at PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City, Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Mr. Duterte gave the order to suspend the war on drugs at 3 a.m., after a series of scandals in which officers were caught committing murder, extortion and robbery while using the antinarcotics operation as cover.

“The President said we need drastic actions and this is the drastic action we are taking right now,” Dela Rosa said.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch dismissed the suspension of the war on drugs as a public relations stunt, unless Mr. Duterte “seeks meaningful accountability” for the wave of drug-related killings unleashed after he took office seven months ago.

More than 7,000 people have been killed since the President launched the campaign after taking office at the end of June last year.

About 2,250 were killed during police operations. The remainder are under police investigation.

AIDG disbanded

Dela Rosa announced the disbandment of the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG), which was involved in the kidnapping for ransom and murder of a South Korean businessman last year.

At a news conference in Malacañang late Sunday, Mr. Duterte named the head of the AIDG, Supt. Rafael Dumlao III, as the mastermind of the abduction of Jee Ick-joo, who was taken from his home in Angeles City, Pampanga province, on Oct. 18 last year and killed inside PNP headquarters.

The killers demanded P5 million in ransom from Jee’s wife even though the businessman was already dead.

Choi Kyung-jin paid the ransom, but her husband never www.canadianinquirer.net

came home.

She asked the government for help, leading to an investigation that resulted in the discovery of the crime and the exposure of “tokhang for ransom,” the police kidnapping for ransom operation carried out under cover of Mr. Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.

“You policemen are the most corrupt. You are corrupt to the core. It’s in your system,” Mr. Duterte said as he railed against Dumlao.

The President said he would form a new interagency antinarcotics unit that would be headed by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

“This time, because of the sordid incident, let me reorganize the system,” he said. “Our enemies here are policemen who are criminals.”

Facing charges

Dumlao, SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel—the alleged killer of Jee— and several other policemen, and civilians are facing kidnapping for ransom and homicide charges in the Angeles City Regional Trial Court.

On Nov. 5 last year, a group of policemen raided a jail in Leyte province and killed the mayor of Albuera town, Rolando Espinosa Sr., who was detained on drug charges. Another inmate was killed.

The policemen claimed Espinosa fought back to prevent a search of his cell and was shot dead, but a Senate investigation found that the killing of the mayor was “premeditated.”

Twenty-four officers, including the regional commander of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas, Supt. Marvin Marcos, are facing multiple murder charges.

Breakdown in discipline

At his news conference on Monday, Dela Rosa admitted a “breakdown of police discipline,” but said he was launching a cleansing process to restore professionalism in the ranks and regain public trust.

“Yes, I agree that there is a breakdown in police discipline, otherwise things like these would have not happened,” he said, referring to crimes involving officers.

Dela Rosa said Mr. Duterte had ordered a review of PNP

records to determine how rogue officers who had been dismissed managed to return to the service. The review of the reinstatements and of scheduled reinstatements will be given priority, he said.

“I want to find out why they still come back. Do you want to change or do you want to make money again?” he said.

Dela Rosa said he had ordered the Directorate for Investigative Management, Internal Affairs Service and Directorate for Personnel Records Management to work together to produce a list of rogue officers who had been reinstated.

The PNP blamed the reinstatement of some dirty cops on the Regional Appellate Board (RAB).

“This is our problem, why scalawag policemen are able to return. Sorry, RAB members, but since the RAB was put up, many scalawag policemen had been able to return [to the service],” Dela Rosa said.

The top cop admitted that the kidnapping and murder of Jee had shaken the PNP and undermined its gains in the war on drugs.

‘Momentary’ suspension

He said the suspension of the campaign was just “momentary” and would resume after the PNP had cleansed its ranks.

“To the drug lords: You have your day. This is your day. You may [have achieved] victory right now, but there is always a time for reckoning,” he said.

He said he was sorry for the good men in the AIDG who were affected by the dissolution of the group.

“Most of them are performing very well and I am very [sorry] that they were affected because of the foolishness of [a few bad ones],” he said.

Dela Rosa announced the formation of a counterintelligence task force that would oversee the purge of the ranks and “police the police.”

He said he would make sure the composition of the task force would be above par to avoid another black eye for the PNP. Dela Rosa said he wanted to spend his remaining 11 months at the helm of the PNP restoring the good name of the police.

With reports from Marlon Ramos, The Wires

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Lacson exposes more police scams Senator shows video of a policeman planting ‘shabu’ (crystal meth) in an office during a shakedown operation disguised as a raid in President Duterte’s war on drugs

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer CLOSE CIRCUIT television footage of a police officer planting “shabu” (crystal meth) in table drawers inside an office was presented by Sen. Panfilo Lacson on Thursday to show that the kidnapping and murder of South Korean Jee Ick-joo was not an isolated case of “tokhangforransom,” or police extortion under cover of President Duterte’s war on illegal drugs.

During a Senate hearing on Jee’s grisly slaying, Lacson cited other similar cases of officers demanding money from people allegedly being pursued in the government’s war on drugs.

Lacson told Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa that he did not want to put the PNP on the spot by showing the video “but to impress upon you that this is not an isolated case.”

The chair of the Senate committee on dangerous drugs and public order said the video was

given to him by a “very scared” source whose office was raided by policemen on Oct. 26, 2016.

Lacson said that according to his source the planting of shabu was done by a man with a cap and backpack who also robbed the office the equivalent of P7 million before the raid. He said his source also had to “cough up P2 million” following the raid.

The former PNP chief said he decided to present the video because there was no case graver than that of Jee as well as “to [put] it on record that this was not isolated and many similar cases are happening.”

Dela Rosa asked Lacson where the supposed police raid happened. Lacson said he would disclose details “in confidence” but added the source would not file any complaint out of fear.

Lacson said the officers who raided the office were from the PNP Special Operations Task Group.

Dela Rosa said the faces of the men in the video were clear and that he would act immediately to investigate the case.

Lacson also said anticrime

advocate Teresita Ang See had told him there were 12 other cases of police arresting people for alleged involvement in illegal drugs and demanding money for their release but that the shakedown “did not prosper.”

But he cited the case of a 46year-old Chinese-Filipino who was kidnapped by eight policemen who demanded money from him in exchange for being cleared of alleged involvement in illegal drugs. The man’s uncle gave P1 million to the policemen, who also were able to get money from his ATM account at a bank on Ongpin Street in Binondo, Manila, Lacson said.

Later, he said, the policemen demanded an additional P3 million.

In spite of the payoffs, he said, an illegal drug case was filed against the victim.

Lacson said another man, taken from Muntinlupa and brought to Pasay City by the police last Oct. 24, was also charged even after his family was able to produce P200,000 of the P500,000 demanded.

The man remains in jail. Lacson said there were other simi-

A Senate panel began the inquiry into the alleged ‘tokhang for ransom’, particularly the murder of South Korean trader Jee Ick Joo..

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

lar cases in Bulacan and Makati.

“These are incidents to show that there are excesses committed by our policemen and if this is not monitored and the PNP doesn’t know about it and no action is taken, then you cannot arrest the situation,” Lacson said.

Lacson urged Dela Rosa to strengthen counterintelligence efforts as he underscored the need for a special unit or composite team to “check on our people.”

The team—which can have 100 members—can come from various PNP units that can conduct counterintelligence and pounce on people committing shenanigans, he said.

Lacson said Ang See did not go to the police to report the cases.

“Trust is something you must earn, it cannot be demanded,” he said. “I hope you know where I am coming from, I love the PNP and I want you to succeed for obvious reasons.” ■

Philippine police stop Ambassador says US not anti-drug crackdown building arms depot in PH amid scandal THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippine police chief stopped the use of the national police force in anti-drug operations Monday and disbanded all police anti-narcotics units after the president’s brutal crackdown was used as a cover by rogue officers to kidnap and kill a South Korean man for money.

Police Director-General Ronald Dela Rosa told police officers he would use the indefinite halt of anti-drug operations to launch a massive purge of police involved in crimes.

A counter-intelligence force would be formed to catch rogue

officers and records of those previously implicated in crimes would be reviewed.

“No more drug operations now,” Dela Rosa told police officers at the main police camp, without indicating how long the ban would last.

An estimated 7,000 drugrelated killings have occurred since President Rodrigo Duterte started his anti-drug crackdown in July, and more than 2,500 of those involved suspects who allegedly fought back and were gunned down in clashes with police, the national police said, adding 35 policemen and three soldiers had been killed. ❱❱ PAGE 12 Philippine police

MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The United States is not building any weapons depot anywhere in the Philippines, the U.S. ambassador said Tuesday, denying the basis on which President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to abrogate a 2014 defence pact that allows U.S. forces to temporarily base in local camps.

Ambassador Sung Kim said that nothing is being planned now that even closely resembles a weapons depot.

“I think perhaps some misinformation was given to the president and that is why he made the statement expressing concerns about a possible weapons depot,” Kim told a forum of business leaders. “The fact is, we are not building a www.canadianinquirer.net

weapons depot anywhere in the Philippines.”

Projects being pursued under the 2014 Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement have to do with disaster relief and humanitarian assistance, he added.

Kim also pointed out that the agreement “provide for us to build facilities and structures in 5 Filipino bases” and it is “hard to imagine that we would be able to do anything on Filipino bases that are not acceptable to the Filipino people, Filipino leadership.”

Duterte on Sunday identified three areas where U.S. forces were supposedly bringing in armaments, including the western province of Palawan, which faces the disputed South China Sea. He said he would not allow the Americans to store weapons in local camps under the

two countries’ defence pact because the Philippines may get entangled if fighting erupts between China and the U.S. “I’m serving notice to the armed forces of the United States, do not do it, I will not allow it,” Duterte said in the televised news conference after meeting top military and police officials.

He said if the U.S. builds a depot “I will consider a review and maybe ultimately abrogate” the pact all together.

Duterte has moved to rebuild once-frosty relations with China and has vowed to make Philippine foreign policy less dependent on the U.S. He has repeatedly threatened to scale back military exercises with American troops and stop agreements that allow U.S. forces to visit. ■

Philippine News

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Palestinian refugee now a Filipino

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AT THE most serious moment of his life, Maher Mohammed Al Raee cracked up the room as he fumbled through the oath he had waited so long to take.

“Swear to God,” he ended his oath, improvising as he followed the judge’s words “So help me God.” He spoke better Filipino than English.

His family, along with court staff members who had seen for years how much Al Raee wanted to reach this moment, suppressed their laughter, hands covering their mouths.

It was not that they were laughing at Al Raee; they were taken by the joyfulness of the occasion. For even at that solemn moment, the man of the hour was his usual self: effortlessly funny.

For Al Raee, a jovial man with an almost permanent smile on his face, the struggle through the final few polysyllabic words—“fidelity,” “Constitution,” “reservation”—did not matter. It was what the words meant.

New Filipino citizen

In that courtroom in Las Piñas City on Jan. 25, Al Raee, a Palestinian refugee who fled his war-torn country seemingly a lifetime ago, finally became a Filipino citizen.

“You are now a Filipino citizen,” Las Piñas Regional Trial Court Judge Ismael Duldulao told Al Raee as they shook hands.

The new Filipino citizen could not help hugging the judge.

“Of course, I amcrying,” the barongclad Al Raee said, as he wiped tears off his face.

“Out of happiness, of course,” he said later in an interview, speaking in the English-Filipino mix he had acquired during his 37 years in the Philippines.

Al Raee is only the seventh refugee to be granted Filipino citizenship under the Philippines’ stringent naturalization laws.

Only four refugees from Iran and two others from Palestine have been naturalized in the Philippines, according to data from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Manila.

Four-decade wait

For the 64-year-old Al Raee, who raised four children here with his Filipino wife, Raquel, it was the culmination of a painstaking seven-year legal process and nearly four decades of waiting to become a citizen of the Philippines.

“My children are all Filipino. If I have stayed 30 years in the Philippines, of course, I am happy. I really want to become a Filipino,” Al Raee said.

Leaving behind everything they owned, Al Raee and his parents and el-

Maher Mohammed Al Raee takes his oath as a Filipino citizen before Las Piñas Judge Ismael Duldulao, becoming only the seventh Palestinian to be granted the nationality status under the Philippines’ stringent naturalization laws.

JOAN BONDOC / PDI

der sister fled Gaza Strip in 1967, amid the raging Arab-Israeli war. The family first settled in Yemen.

“We wanted to go back but we were no longer allowed,” he said.

Al Raee came to the Philippines by himself in 1980 to study, arriving when the country was still under the grip of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“Because in the Philippines, education is good,” he said, explaining why he chose the Philippines.

He left briefly, then returned in 1990, securing refugee status. He never left.

“I was supposed to take my master’s but, accidentally, I had a wife, and accidentally, I had children,” he joked.

Legal process

It was only in 2010 that Al Raee started his naturalization process, having belatedly learned that it was possible.

“I didn’t think about doing it because I did not know until someone tipped me about it,” he said.

In December 2010, he filed his petition for naturalization. He won a grant in August 2014, after a trial where he had to prove that he had been residing in the Philippines, had adopted local customs and had raised his children here, according to his lawyer Ferdinand Navarro.

His oath-taking on Jan. 25 was the formalization of his citizenship grant, after a twoyear probation showed that he was consistently a good Philippine resident.

These days, Palestine is far from his mind: he no longer follows news about his original home. His parents, who stayed in Yemen, have long died, while his elder sister has long been living in Saudi Arabia.

“I don’t care anymore. We left our big house there, we left our land there … But for as long as my children are safe here, that’s OK with me. No need for anything else,” he said.

Four children

“For as long as I see them (his children) in front of me when I wake up in the morning, that means more than bil-

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lions for me,” he added.

The children accompanied him to the proceedings. He joked with them, kissing one, putting his arms around another and then fixing the hair of his only daughter.

He proudly introduced them to most everyone the family met: the eldest, Kalid, is 23, next is Abdullah, 22, then Sabrine, the only girl, 20, and the youngest, Ibrahim, 17.

“We are close, very close. Up now, he’s my baby because he is the youngest,” he said, referring to Ibrahim.

He told the judge: “I teach them good … I give them good education. [We’re a] very good family.”

Duldulao, who called Al Raee’s oathtaking “historic,” had a piece of advice for the new Filipino citizen: “Prove that you deserve to become a Filipino citizen, of course by obeying our laws.”

Doing good

Indeed, Al Raee has been a good resident and shown love for his adoptive country by his nature and not by obligation.

In 2013, he initiated relief operations on his own in Tacloban City in the wake of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan), which devastated Eastern Visayas and left more than 3,000 people dead. He had a special affinity for the region, as his wife is a native of Leyte.

“I went there three times, we took a truck and other vehicles, we were in the ferry for 24 hours … When I came there, it reeked of the dead,” Al Raee said.

“I helped because in my mind, they’re family. My family. You just help, and that will come back to you twofold,” he said.

He said he did not coordinate with relief organizations working in the region at the time. Wherever he saw people in need, he stopped and gave food and other relief items.

In 2009, he gave rice to victims of ❱❱ PAGE 13 Palestinian refugee

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9

CBCP: Protect SC protects kin of drug war democracy against victims dictatorial rule

BY GIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY JULIE M. AURELIO Philippine Daily Inquirer CATHOLIC CHURCH leaders on Wednesday called on Filipinos to protect democracy, human rights, the sanctity of the family and prevent the return of dictatorship in any amendment to the Constitution being pushed by President Duterte.

“Let us continue to maintain the safeguards against dictatorial martial rule that our present Constitution contains,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said in a pastoral letter following its weekend assembly.

The CBCP president, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, signed the pastoral letter on behalf of the bishops.

The President has said that the martial law provisions in the 1987 Constitution were an “almost reckless reaction” to the dictatorial rule of the late President Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted in the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution.

Mr. Duterte said a flaw in the constitutional provisions on martial law could lead to a major conflict between two major branches of government if Congress supports martial rule but the Supreme Court rules against it.

Consistent with Gospel

The CBCP urged Filipinos to get involved in Charter change “so that all its provisions will be consistent with the Gospel, and the gains of the 1987 Constitution will be preserved and enhanced, instead of being removed.”

“The process of amending the Constitution should not be left to politicians or to those who either by election or appointment will be tasked to draft the amendments,” the bishops said.

“The Constitution is the single most important document of our country,” they added.

The pro-Duterte “supermajority” in the House of Representatives plans to convert Congress into a constituent assembly, arguing that this will save money that would be spent by the government for the elec-

tion of members of a constitutional convention.

The major revision being proposed by the Duterte administration is the change in the form of government from the current unitary to a federal system. Other proposals include changes in the economic provisions purportedly to encourage more foreign investments.

Federalism

The bishops said the clamor for federalism “stems from the dissatisfaction of many people with the lack of equitable distribution of benefits, power and financial resources in our present unitary system.”

“Do we need to change from our present unitary system to a federal system of government?

Or will it suffice to introduce amendments and laws which will make the present unitary system responsive to the needs of disadvantaged regions?” the bishops asked.

The CBCP said it was not endorsing or disapproving moves to amend the Constitution but to offer only pastoral guidance.

The bishops said the Bill of Rights, particularly the right to life, liberty and property and equal protection of the laws should be preserved. Filipinos also should ensure that the constitutional provisions that uphold human rights and the sanctity of the family as a basic institution are kept intact.

“We must be vigilant and watch over, and even suggest ideas and formulations that enter into the Constitution. We have to make sure that the resulting document embodies ‘our rights, our ideals, our aspirations, and our dreams,’” the CBCP said.

In a separate statement, the CBCP also expressed opposition to plans by majority lawmakers to reduce the age of criminal liability from 15 to 9 years.

Proponents said crime gangs used children in their activities to evade prosecution.

“The correct response, we believe, is vigilance on the part of parents and stiffer penalties for those who exploit the young in the perpetration of crime,” the CBCP said. ■

THE SUPREME Court came to the aid of relatives of four slain drug suspects a day after the Philippine National Police suspended its bloody war on drugs.

The Supreme Court barred PNP Director General Ronald dela Rosa and his men from harassing the relatives and from entering within a one-kilometer radius from their homes in Payatas, Quezon City.

The high court en banc on Tuesday granted the petition for a writ of amparo filed by the families of Marcelo Daa Jr., Raffy Gabo, Anthony Comendo and Jessie Cule—alleged drug suspects killed on Aug. 21 last year by the police in Group 9, Area B of the former garbage dump.

The relatives feared police harassment and intimidation for being the first among thousands of victims of the “Operation Tokhang” antidrug campaign to seek justice for their loved ones.

Writ of amparo is a legal remedy under the 1987 Constitution available to any person whose right to life, liberty and security is violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission of a public official or employee, or of a private individual or entity.

The Supreme Court referred the petition of the Tokhang victims for raffling to justices of the Court of Appeals, which the tribunal ordered to immediately conduct a hearing on the petition.

Appellate court

The high court has given the appellate court 10 days from submission of its decision to decide on the case.

The case was filed by the drug suspects’ relatives—Efren Morillo, Martino Morillo, Victoria Morillo, Ma. Belen Daa, Maria Daa, Maribeth Bartolay, Lydia Gabo, Jennifer Nicolas and Marilyn Malimban.

They were represented by the Center for International Law, which believed that with this first case against Oplan Tokhang more victims would be emboldened to seek the www.canadianinquirer.net

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte offers his hand to a daughter of a newlyappointed Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Officer before they pose for a photo session during the oath-taking ceremony.

RICHARD MADELO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / PNA

court’s help in stopping the extrajudicial killings.

More than 7,600 people, mostly users and small-time dealers, have been killed since President Duterte took office at the end of June, vowing to crack down on drugs.

So far, these operations have predominantly been carried out by police in a campaign that has caused international alarm due to the high death toll and disputed circumstances of many of the killings.

A total of 2,555 people have been killed in police operations since the crackdown started seven months ago, the PNP said. The PNP said that the police killed the suspects all in self-defense and that the other killings were carried out by vigilante groups or were unsolved murders.

Human rights groups said the extrajudicial killings were frequent, as were “hits” by assassins that they said were linked to the police, claims that the PNP and Mr. Duterte denied.

‘Trumped-up’ charge

One of the petitioners was charged by the police with direct assault upon agents or persons in authority. Their lawyer called the charge “trumped-up” and part of efforts to cow the families of the victims into silence.

Just five days after the case was filed, the high court agreed

to provide protection to the families of the victims by “prohibiting the respondents and any of their agents from entering within a radius of one kilometer from the residences and work addresses of the petitioners.”

Named respondents were Dela Rosa, Senior Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar, Quezon City Police Director Lito Patay, Quezon City Station Commander Emil Garcia, Police Officer 3 Allan Formilleza, PO1 James Aggarao and PO1 Melchor Navisaga and their agents.

‘Moot and academic’

Sought for comment on the petition for the writ of amparo, Eleazar said he had yet to receive a copy of the order.

But he said the petition might now be “moot and academic” because of the President’s order to stop the antidrug operations.

The PNP suspended the antidrug operations on Monday to rid the ranks of “scalawags” after the President said that the PNP was “corrupt to the core” and that 40 percent of the force members were dishonest.

Mr. Duterte lashed out at the PNP on Sunday for the kidnap and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo by rogue officers. Jee was kidnapped from his home under the pretense of an antidrug operation. ■

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FEBRUARY 3, 2017

Aquino blames Napeñas for Mamasapano

BY NIKKO DIZON Philippine Daily Inquirer THE INSURBORDINATION of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (SAF) commander led to the clash with Moro rebels that left 44 elite police commandos dead in Mamasapano, Maguindanao province, two years ago, former President Benigno Aquino III said on Thursday.

“If I had a fault as President at the time, it would be this: It never occurred to me that [Director Getulio] Napeñas [the SAF commander] would lie to the President of the Philippines,” Aquino said in a statement in Filipino he issued in response to fresh questions about the botched counterterrorism operation on Jan. 25, 2015, that ended with government security forces sustaining their biggest single-day battlefield loss.

“I trusted a two-star police officer whom I had promoted.

I believed that this [ Philippine Military Academy] graduate would adhere to the school’s values of ‘Courage, Integrity, Loyalty,’” Aquino said.

Sacked

Napeñas was sacked after the loss of nine officers of the SAF strike force, the 84th Special Action Company (SAC), also known as Seaborne, and 35 officers of the blocking force, the 55th SAC, in “Oplan: Exodus,” the police operation to get Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir, alias Marwan, and his Filipino aide, Basit Usman.

Marwan, who had a $5-million price on his head offered by the US government, was killed in the police raid on his hideout in Tukanalipao village, Mamasapano.

Usman got away, but was killed in a subsequent military operation with the cooperation of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the main secessionist rebel group in Mindanao that had signed a peace agreement with the government but whose fighters got involved in the Mamasapano clash despite a ceasefire.

The Ombudsman has brought graft and usurpation charges against Napeñas and former

PNP Director General Alan Purisima, who planned the operation and directed its execution, although he was suspended at the time over a graft case.

Aquino offered no explanation for allowing Purisima to direct the police mission, but explained Purisima’s role in his response to charges filed against him over the Mamasapano massacre in the Office of the Ombudsman.

Relatives of the slain commandos, despite receiving assistance from the government, brought the charges, insisting that Aquino was responsible for the deaths of the policemen.

Mamasapano commission

President Duterte on Tuesday announced the formation of a commission to take a fresh look at the massacre, and challenged Aquino to answer lingering questions about the covert police operation that ended in debacle.

Mr. Duterte wanted Aquino to explain why the SAF and not the Army was deployed when the police commandos were trained to combat urban terrorism.

He also wanted to know why Oplan: Exodus was kept a secret and why Aquino concealed the fact that it was a US Central Intelligence Agency operation apparently carried out with the former President’s blessing.

Mr. Duterte also asked who got the $5-million US bounty for Marwan.

In his statement on Thursday, Aquino said the SAF was not only an urban security force but also a rapid deployment force that could operate “anywhere in the country.”

He said he instructed Napeñas to coordinate with the military for armor, artillery, air and troop support in the event the mission was discovered and the Moro rebels responded in force.

But Napeñas, he said, informed the military about the mission only when the commando raid was already under way, instead of “days before” to give the military time to prepare.

Law enforcement

Aquino said the PNP carried out the mission because it had the “actionable intelligence” on

the whereabouts of Marwan.

“A reminder: This was a law enforcement operation, and we were acting on the warrant of arrest for Marwan and Usman.

We know that the PNP has the police power and has the duty to implement the arrest warrant,” Aquino said.

On the role of the United States in the operation, Aquino said: “I never talked to any American about the mission before and during the operation. As I understand it, the United States helped with the equipment, hardware and intelligence used in the mission.”

Aquino said his adviser on the peace process, Teresita Deles, did not stop him from ordering the military to intervene to save the trapped SAF commandos.

Deles, he said, had no role in the mission, as it was a law enforcement operation.

As for possible repercussions on the peace process, Aquino said it was the MILF that informed the government side about the clash in Mamasapano.

He gave no details, but the joint government-MILF ceasefire group worked to halt the fighting, which lasted nearly the whole day.

FRIDAY

‘Trumponomics’ seen... tential growth higher.

“We think reforms will continue under the administration of President Duterte, particularly on reducing corruption and red tape and implementing tax reforms designed to support an ambitious infrastructure agenda. FDI (foreign direct investment) inflows are also rising, supported in part by a full liberalization of the foreign ownership in the banking sector,” the research said.

Under its baseline scenario, Nomura expects some moderation in Philippine gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year to 6.3 percent from 6.8 percent in 2016, as the boost from the 2016 presidential election fades but partly mitigated by more progress on infrastructure spending.

Nomura also cited risk of GDP growth easing albeit to a still “relatively resilient” 6.1 percent amid increased fiscal stimulus, with the government running a larger-than-expected fiscal deficit breaching 3 percent of GDP versus an assumed cap of 2.7 percent.

Nomura also cited a number of channels through which the Philippines could be affected by “Trumponomics.” ❰❰ 1

“The Philippines runs a merchandise trade surplus with the US of 0.7 percent of GDP. If the US tightens its immigration policies—which leads to fewer migrant workers —this could impact remittances inflows back to the Philippines,” the research said.

The research pointed out that the US was hosting 34.5 percent of the total overseas Filipino population, which it estimates to account for about 31 percent of total worker remittances.

“Trump’s commitment to bring jobs back to the US may also affect the increasingly important BPO (business process outsourcing) sector, which caters mostly to US corporates,” Nomura said.

Foreign revenue from the BPO sector has been projected to equal total overseas Filipinos’ remittances or about 9 percent of GDP in the next few years.

“Most importantly, regional security issues related to the South China Sea puts the Philippines on the front line. The potential for further disputes between China and the Philippines may have eased with the Duterte government seeking stronger economic ties with China,” the research said. ■

Orders to military

Aquino denied that he sent in the commandos to be slaughtered, saying he had witnesses who could testify to his insistence on coordination between the police and the military.

In Zamboanga City, where he received a briefing on the fighting, Aquino said he gave orders for military intervention, expecting the provision of ammunition for the commandos as the least military action.

On who got the bounty for Marwan, Aquino said: “I don’t know, because it was not our reward. Truth be told, we had no involvement in the reward.”

On the question why only two commandos were given the PNP Medal of Valor, Aquino said: “The conferment of the medal goes through a process.

This is based on the recommendation of a PNP board.”

But if President Duterte could find a way to award the medal to all of the commandos, he said, “we will agree with that.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Ernesto Pernia (holding microphone, seated) stresses a point in a press conference on the Performance of the Philippine Economy for Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2016 BEN BRIONES / PNA

‘War on’... the police force. Impunity will only generate resistance from the people,” Reyes warned.

The CHR underscored it is now an “imperative” to revisit the antinarcotics campaign, and called on the government to “respect human rights and abide by the principles of due process.”

“The Commission reminds the PNP to strictly adhere to its ❰❰ 4

Police Operational Procedures, the UN Code of Conduct of Police Officers, and to remember that the PNP must promote and protect human rights because this task lies at the very core of maintaining peace and order, ensuring public safety and upholding the rule of law in the country as contained in their PNP Guidebook on Human Rights Based-Policing,” the CHR said. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

11

2 top BI officials in bribery/extort lying, say senators

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer

Lima told Argosino and Robles.

Displeasure

INCENSED AND incredulous, several senators on Tuesday confronted two former Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials for sticking with their story that they had split and taken home P50 million in bribes as “evidence” in a supposed investigation and case buildup, calling their narration outright lies.

At a Senate blue ribbon committee hearing, lawmakers pounced on what they described as the incredible version of why former BI Associate Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles, both fraternity brothers of President Duterte and other top administration officials, took home the cash purportedly from fugitive Chinese gambling tycoon Jack Lam. The now dismissed BI officials maintained their story that they took the money as evidence, angering several senators who called their narrative fiction.

The committee chair, Sen. Richard Gordon, at one point shouted at Robles, urging him to tell the truth.

Argosino also broke down in tears, pleading for understanding.

In yet another point, Sen. Manny Pacquiao invoked God as he told the two men not to lie.

As Sen. Leila de Lima cited in her interpellation, the two former officials had been “caught red-handed.”

“It’s either both of you are too stupid or too corrupt. Stupid!

Carrying bags, when you know that the CCTVs (closed circuit television) in that particular area are all over? You will play along just because you are investigating and you really have no authority to investigate?” De

Sen. Joel Villanueva could not hide his displeasure, especially at Argosino, noting that he never spoke about his supposed “investigation” of Lam— if his alibi were indeed true— when he called for a hearing of the Senate labor committee on Senator Richard Gordon (right), chairperson of the Senate Blue Ribbon Dec. 7, 2016, to tackle the arrest Committee, presides the public hearing on the alleged PHP50-million of the tycoon’s illegal workers bribe from gambling operator Jack Lam implicating two former Bureau of at the Clark Freeport in Pam- Immigration officials.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA panga province.

Argosino and Robles were captured on CCTV carrying money, is that correct? So stop vestigation.” bags of cash at a Parañaque City lying!” Gordon shouted at Ro“Are you trying to make me hotel in the early hours of Nov. bles. believe you’re stupid? Are you 27. trying to convince me you’re The money handed over to Companion stupid and that you’re not a rethem by retired police official Robles maintained that he luctant passenger? Tell me!”

Wally Sombero were allegedly knew nothing about the money Robles struggled for a rein exchange for the release of and he just went to the hotel to sponse: “Uh… I want to say… more than 1,300 illegal Chinese accompany Argosino. He even What will I say if you…Mr. workers at Lam’s gaming firms. brought along his brother.

Chair, he told me he was con“We would not ducting an inhave reached vestigation. … He this point if, durmentioned he ing the Dec. 7 was conducting hearing, you disWhat would convince us all that an investigation closed this inforyou did not know what was going of Jack Lam for mation,” Villanon? It goes against human nature. violation of the ueva said, noting You won’t do that unless you knew human traffickthat BI officials something. ing (act) because do not have the there are several authority to unminors that were dertake investiarrested.” gations of the nature that Argo“… [Y]ou were the reluctant “And you don’t want to report sino had described. partner, weren’t you? You don’t it? Come on! You are beginning In one of the most tense mo- wanna be involved, don’t you? to be a sap here. I’m not insultments of the hearing, a ballistic So you really didn’t want to ing you, I’m trying to help you.

Gordon censured Robles for get involved because you knew If you know what’s going on, say giving testimony that he could something was going on?” Gor- so because malinaw na sumanot believe. don told a seemingly scared sabay ka lang (you are just goHe said Robles was allowing Robles. ing with it)! Dapat magsalita ka himself to be played with, de“You knew what was going on, na (You should start talking)!” ferring to his fraternity senior you didn’t do anything about Gordon said.

(San Beda’s Lex Talionis) even it,” an infuriated Gordon said, when “a crime was being com- in disbelief that a lawyer like Long hours of waiting mitted.”

Robles could be taken for a fool.

Sen. Francis Escudero also “You know damn well and Explained Robles: “I was ask- questioned the two men why good, after you took the mon- ing him, he had control. I was they would spend long hours ey, the following day, Argosino deferring to him, according to waiting for someone when they asked you to give him back the him he was conducting an in- were not sure of the agenda. At

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Robles, he asked: “You didn’t know who you were meeting.

You didn’t know why and you waited for more than six hours?”

“How do you explain the interest, determination and strength to do that?” said Escudero, noting Robles’ earlier testimony that he had had a long day and was already tired when Argosino purportedly called to meet with him.

“My intention was only to accompany him. I didn’t want to just leave him,” Robles responded.

To which the senator replied: “What would convince us all that you did not know what was going on? It goes against human nature. You won’t do that unless you knew something. You were waiting for someone, or you wanted to get something,” he said.

When Escudero asked the same to Argosino, the latter got emotional.

CCTV footage

Argosino said he never expected to be offered money, even challenging senators to check the CCTV footage.

“Notice that I did not even carry the bags … I just let him (Sombero) put it in my car,” he said.

Argosino tried in vain to suppress his emotions, eventually breaking down.

“I am very sorry… Nobody filed a case against Jack Lam during the past administration… I hope you understand what we’re doing….We filed a case. We gave back evidence (alleged bribe money) we have,” he said.

“Sana naman ho ‘wag ‘yung ganitong lumalabas sa public na guilty na (I hope it won’t be like this where we already appear to be guilty),” he said, apologizing for letting his emotions out. ■

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FRIDAY

Drug lord’s bank accounts frozen BYGIL C. CABACUNGAN Philippine Daily Inquirer THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has ordered the freezing of some 160 accounts and insurance policies in 16 banks and three other financial institutions that convicted drug lord Peter Co and his associates allegedly used to facilitate more than P10 billion in transactions over the past decade.

The order, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer, came after the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) petitioned the appellate court on Jan. 17 to freeze the accounts and policies.

The freeze order was issued on Jan. 20 by Associate Justice Stephen C. Cruz and concurred in by Associate Justices Jose C. Reyes Jr. and Ramon Paul L. Hernando.

Named respondents in the case were Chinese nationals Co, Ronnie Chua, Jiangbo Wu Yang, Arthur Sy Ong and Yiyan Su alias Su Yiyan; Filipino citizens Concepcion Magtira Chua, Carmen Sy Cu, Rogelyn Ann Floro Zhuang, Roger Tan Teodosio, Ferdinand Parina Cajipe, Lovely Castro Aguilar and Jojo Rondal Baligad; and, dummy firms Blue Oceanic Textile Marketing and Tencent Import and Exporting Corp.

Six-month freeze

The CA said there was probable cause to issue the six-month freeze order based on evidence presented by the AMLC that the bank accounts and financial instruments were used in violation of Republic Act No. 9160, or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act, and that Co and his associates were involved in money laundering.

“Validation by the AMLC of the transactions in the Forensic Extraction Report, involving more than P500,000 each, proved the report to be accurate and that the transactions actually occurred,” the CA said.

The 164 bank deposits and insurance policies of Co and his syndicate members were spread over 16 banks and three other financial institutions—Banco de Oro (BDO), East West Bank, Philippine Bank of Communications, United Coconut Planters Bank, Bank of the Philippine Islands, BPI Family Savings Bank, China Banking Corp., Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co., Philippine National Bank, Bank of Commerce and Philippine Savings Bank.

HSBC Savings Bank, Maybank Philippines, Philippine Business Bank, Union Bank of the Philippines, Asia United Bank Corp., Philippine AXA Life, Sunlife of Canada and Esquire Financing Corp.

8 BDO accounts for payments

The AMLC cited eight specific bank accounts where the drug distributors pay for the drugs delivered by Co’s group— BDO Waltermart Guiguinto, BDO Quezon Avenue Fisher Mall, BDO Tagaytay Mendez junction, BDO Paso de Blas North Expressway and four BDO accounts under the name of Cu, Chua, Sy and Aguilar.

“The aforesaid banks, insurance companies and financing company are directed to submit to this court and to the AntiMoney Laundering Council within 24 hours from receipt of the freeze order, a detailed return on the freeze order specifying all pertinent and relevant information on all frozen bank accounts, including all related accounts wherever the same may be found,” the CA said.

Co, or Wu Tuan Yuan, 51, is from Fujian, China, who runs drug operations inside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City, where he has been serving a life sentence since 2002.

“Through call and messages to associates, Wu Tuan Yuan manages to control the sale and distribution of drugs in numer-

ous areas (Laguna, Cebu, Cotabato, Butuan, Ozamiz, Zamboanga, Salvador and Marawi City),” the CA said.

Deals on iPhones, Blackberry The transactions, mostly done through consignment, were traced by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s forensic extraction team from two iPhones and a Blackberry confiscated from Co when the Bureau of Corrections conducted a surprise search at NBP on May 25, 2016.

Co’s drug syndicate and the involvement of Blue Oceanic, Roger Chua, Yiyan Su and Rogelyn Trading were confirmed by Kerwin Espinosa, a confessed drug dealer in Central Visayas.

In an affidavit, Espinosa said that Co was the first to use him as distributor when he was jailed in Cebu City in 2005 and that his first transactions were coursed through a BDO account of a hog and poultry supply firm.

A year after he was released in 2010, Espinosa said that he resumed his drug dealings with Co and that he was referred to Co’s cohort Chua using Blue Oceanic and Rogelyn Trading’s bank accounts to launder drug money.

This was further corroborated by a government asset inside NBP, Nonilo A. Arile, and fellow NBP inmate Engelberto A. Durano, a friend of the late Central Visayas drug lord Jeffery “Jaguar” Diaz.

Arile claimed that Co was the third biggest supplier of “shabu” (methamphetamine hydrochloride) in NBP. Durano claimed that he was the one who introduced Co to Diaz.

AMLC castigated

The AMLC asked the CA to freeze the accounts after President Duterte castigated council officials, led by its chair, Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., for refusing to cooperate with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s investigation of the drug lords in NBP. ■

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JOEY O. RAZON / PNA

Philippine police...

The scale of the anti-drug campaign has been unprecedented, with officials reporting that more than 7 million houses of drug suspects have been visited so far, prompting more than 1.1 million mostly drug users to surrender and agree to undergo rehabilitation programs.

Human rights watchdogs have suspected extrajudicial killings of drug suspects may have been covertly carried out by police or at their behest.

Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, said the temporary stoppage in police antidrug operations to allow an internal police purge “is nothing less than an empty public relations gesture unless he seeks meaningful accountability for the more than 7,000 Filipinos killed” in the crackdown.

While Dela Rosa has suspended police operations, Duterte has declared his crackdown would continue up the last day of his six-year term.

“We have to focus our effort toward internal cleansing and by the time we have cleansed the national police, the president will determine that and he will instruct us to go back to our war on drugs,” said Dela Rosa, warning wrongdoers they face dire punishments.

“You policemen involved in syndicates, let’s see what happens now, fight back so you’ll end up dead,” Dela Rosa said.

❰❰ 7

“You will be killed by this counter-intelligence task force.”

With the police essentially taken out of the crackdown, most of the work would shift to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, which has a much smaller number of enforcers, Dela Rosa said.

As to how the police crisis affects drug lords, “this is a momentary victory on your part,” the police chief said, expressing fears that use of methamphetamine, locally known as “shabu,” may rise again. “Go ahead and enjoy, but there is always a time for reckoning.”

The crisis was sparked by the kidnapping and killing of a South Korean businessman, who was snatched by police officers for ransom using a fake warrant for his arrest for a purported drug offence. But the victim was killed at the main police camp in metropolitan Manila, and the officers collected the ransom without telling his wife he was dead, according to police. He was allegedly cremated, his ashes flushed down a toilet bowl, according to an angry Duterte.

Two of the officers suspected of carrying out the crime were on a key anti-drug force. Dela Rosa resigned amid the scandal but Duterte asked him to stay on. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

13

Evidence strong cop killed S. Korean

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer FROM WITNESS accounts to video footage, there is “overwhelming evidence” pointing to SPO3 Ricky Sta. Isabel as the man behind the abduction and murder of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo.

Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa said this at the opening hearing of a Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs inquiry on Thursday, triggered by the “tokhang-for-ransom” incident that has brought shame to the force and led to other complaints of the emerging extortion racket under the cover of President Duterte’s drug war.

“The evidence against him is very overwhelming,” Dela Rosa told the hearing presided by Sen. Panfilo Lacson, the committee’s chair.

5 key points

Dela Rosa pointed out five key points tagging Sta. Isabel, from the time Jee was taken at his home in Angeles City last Oct. 18 to his killing, even up to the time Sta. Isabel allegedly withdrew money from the victim’s bank account through an automated teller machine (ATM).

These were: • The positive identification of his Toyota Hi-Lux, which his wife said he was using.

• Testimony by Jee’s housemaid,

Marisa Morquicho, that Sta. Isabel abducted her and her employer and that Sta. Isabel went up to the second floor of the house to steal valuables.

• The closed circuit television footage captured Sta. Isabel and his accomplice, one alias “Jerry,” taking cash from an ATM account traced to Jee. • Statement by SPO4 Roy Villegas detailed how Sta. Isabel abducted Jee, transported him to Camp Crame and there strangled the Korean inside his car, and his conversation with Supt. Raphael Dumlao of the PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group (AIDG).

• Statements by two guards who saw Sta. Isabel at Jee’s subdivision in Angeles days prior to the abduction, giving a different name and using the same car.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III reminded Dela Rosa of a sixth element: Sta. Isabel’s presence at Jee’s cremation.

Sta. Isabel denied the allegations, saying he was just framed. But Dela Rosa would have none of it, saying later in an interview: “That’s how good he is.”

“Imagine, he was already caught in the CCTV withdrawing money, and he is still denying it? Now, he is seeking a reopening of the case to invalidate the previous investigation of the AKG,” Dela Rosa said, referring to the PNP AntiKidnapping Group.

‘Just allegations’

The senators heard testimony that Sta. Isabel earned P8,000, but has a net

worth of P14 million, which he said was because his wife was good at managing the family’s businesses.

“I have nothing to do with the case.

Those are all just allegations,” said the AIDG operative, formerly a driver at the National Police Commission who entered the force in 1996.

Jee’s wife sat through the hearing, breaking down in tears at times and dabbing her eyes with her handkerchief.

Sta. Isabel reiterated his claim that Jee’s abduction and murder were orchestrated by Dumlao and Senior Supt.

Allan Macapagal of the PNP AntiKidnapping Group.

“They went to my house with a list of police officers to be killed. They said these are the ones I will identify to make it appear that they are the ones who kidnapped the Korean,” he told the senators. Sta. Isabel said he refused, saying “I can’t identify those who I did not see.”

Dumlao denied Sta. Isabel’s claims.

To counter Sta. Isabel’s claims, Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked Morquicho to identify the officer. Morquicho confirmed Sta. Isabel was the man who entered the house and the one who made the ATM withdrawal.

Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (international name: Ketsana) in Metro Manila.

Now, like any other Filipino citizen, Al Raee can vote and apply for a Philippine passport.

“I will get a Philippine passport … I’ll bring my family to Singapore … go on a trip … for a happy family,” he said.

Also like any other Filipino, there is one thing he wishes could soon happen in the Philippines.

“First of all, the traffic. The President has already done well in cleaning up drugs and corruption. I am already happy for that,” he said.

Facilitated naturalization

The UNHCR underscored the import of the citizenship grant to refugees like Al Raee, as it pushed for the Philippines to allow a “facilitated naturalization” that could speed up the process for refugees and stateless people.

“It’s very significant for the UNHCR because refugees deserve to have another chance in life, and being able to acquire citizenship is a durable solution

Under Sen. Grace Poe’s questioning, Morquicho spoke of hearing Sta. Isabel speaking to someone on the phone at Jee’s house whom she said he called “boss.”

“I heard he asked if it’s positive or negative … He said negative (no drugs were found),” said Morquicho, who appeared at the hearing with her face fully concealed.

Dela Rosa conceded that the incident happened just as the AIDG’s top officials led by Senior Supt. Albert Ferro were out of the country, fetching confessed drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, who was captured in Abu Dhabi in October.

“In that case I admit that there was no control,” Dela Rosa said. “That’s why at the time, Dumlao and Sta. Isabel were able to pull off their misdeeds.”

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new power plant in Sarangani on Thursday, Mr. Duterte said the government had identified the killers of Jee. “I can assure you those responsible are known to us already and they will have to go to prison, and I will see to it that they are sentenced to the maximum,” he said. ■ With a report from Leila B. Salaverria

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that we consider in the office,” said Maria Ermina Valdeavilla-Gallardo, assistant protection officer at the UNHCR office in Manila.

The Philippines has a long history of accepting refugees and asylum seekers, among them White Russians in the 1920s, Jewish refugees in the 1930s, the Vietnamese boat people for two decades starting in the 1970s and refugees from East Timor in 2000.

Naturalization proceedings even for refugees, however, remain a tedious undertaking, one that the UNHCR hopes will change, in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention, which lays down guidelines on the treatment of refugees.

The Philippines is a signatory to the convention.

“In UNHCR, we have been advocating all over the world for signatory states such as the Philippines to allow facilitated naturalization. Facilitated means that refugees, as well as stateless persons, should be given an opportunity to be able to ease up the process of being able to acquire citizenship,” Gallardo said. ■

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1114

Opinion

14

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

AT LARGE

A full plate for Tugade

By Rina Jimenez-David Philippine Daily Inquirer Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade offers a quote from Abraham Lincoln in his presentation on his first months in office. It goes: “If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

Indeed, judging from Tugade’s experience, it seems that the nature and conduct of politics and governance have not moved much in the centuries since Lincoln penned these words. Then as now, political differences and vested interests still pit officials against

other officials, even if they serve the same government. And public interest, and those pursuing it, still comes under siege from those promoting their private, selfish ends.

Judging from his full plate, Tugade would seem among the most beleaguered of the members of the Duterte Cabinet. Daily, he and his Department of Transportation must surely figure in the curses of commuters facing hours-long delays on their way to and from work due to traffic and road mishaps. Every snag, every accident that takes place in the daily busy routes of the overhead commuter trains, railways and national highways end up on his desk. And his name must surely cross the lips of passengers confronted with delays and execrable service in airports, seaports and other hubs.

If the late former senator Miriam Defensor Santiago bragged that she ate “death threats for

breakfast,” Tugade could surely say that his daily diet includes not just threats to his survival and welfare but also calls for his eternal damnation.

But the gruff and no-nonsense Cabinet member doesn’t seem all the worse for wear given the public ire he faces daily. In fact, in a recent lunch with members of the media, he seemed oddly optimistic, even cheerful, given that the brickbats have been met, not with harsh words from him, but with accomplishments meant not just to silence critics but, more so, to better serve the public.

As the lunch wore on, Tugade would post questions to his guests, asking for the feasibility of some projects he had in mind, probing the public’s possible reaction or reception.

“I have a 30-year roadmap on transportation and traffic,” he said, adding that the plans are there for the relief not just of residents in

traffic-riddled Metro Manila but for “all Filipinos, all around the country.”

Among the recent achievements he is most proud of, Tugade mentioned the Common Station Project that, after seven contentious years, is finally getting off the ground—literally.

The Common Station is meant to link the LRT Line 1, the MRT Line 3, and the proposed MRT Line 7, serving a great many rail commuters who can now interconnect seamlessly in a station to be built overhead between SM North and Ayala-run Trinoma. It is, to be sure, a feat of diplomacy and compromise, as much as of governance.

The project is set to start by this first quarter.

After many years’ delay and litigation, the DOTr has also been able to issue drivers’ licenses. As part of the same drive to speed up the implementation of pending projects, the DOTr will also

soon start bidding for the information technology services that Stradcom used to provide to the Land Transportation Office. After Stradcom won a TRO when its contract expired, essential services were severely affected, but favorable court decisions now allow the DOtr to start bidding for these services.

There are many more projects waiting for completion, if not just action. Regional airports to serve hubs in key regions are either being upgraded or started. Radar technology in local airports, which would allow the landing of aircraft even at night, is being put in place.

Tugade is also bent on activating rail projects, and not just the President’s dream of a rail system in Mindanao, but also commuter rails to ease traffic on the road.

Indeed, a full plate awaits Tugade at the start of the year, and not just the proverbial death threats. ■

to produce any credible account of for them. money.’” the nature of these “deaths under This is what Swiss journalist Stories like this sound almost investigation.” But, they know what Karin Wenger has found out from surreal. But, that’s how the counis happening here. An authorized an interview with one such profes- try is depicted nowadays by nearly police raid is tedious to mount. Not sional killer she met recently just every report on the war on drugs in every policeman is ready to kill a outside Davao. We don’t know if mainstream media abroad. James defenseless humanbeing in cold her informant was merely bragging Fenton’s essay, titled “Murderous blood. Somebody in the team has to and had told her a fictional story fit Manila: On the Night Shift,” which be designated to fire the fatal shots. for a thriller, or she had stumbled appears on the latest issue of The In a large number of the cases, the upon a plausible explanation for New York Review, is a vivid account killing happens at night while the the 2:1 ratio in extrajudicial kill- of the morbid normalcy of killing in intended victim is asleep with his ings. Her chilling account of that the dimly lit alleyways of Manila. I family. If witnesses see the faces interview with a hired gunman cite it here for the way it somehow of the police killers, there could be who kills drug suspects for money confirms the outsourcing of murlegal suits later. Or, any of the vic- was broadcast on Swiss National der in this war on drugs. tim’s relatives or friends can take Public Radio.

“An EJK I covered went like this. revenge one way It was the middle It’s “EJK.” Those three letters have become shorthand or another when of the night and for the war on drugs, plus all its complex and unintended things have settled the family was consequences. down. asleep.

Masked It thus makes men barged in. sense to outsource murder. AsHere are some excerpts from ‘Where is Fernando?’ said an insassins could be recruited from that report: “Since Duterte’s drug truder. Awomananswered: ‘There’s police forces assigned in remote war began, he received moreorders. no one called Fernando here.’ At areas, so they are not known in the ‘I get all through middlemen, from this point, an eight-year-old girl neighborhoods where they have to the police. They have the odds, but woke up her father, Ernesto. As he do the killing. But even this has its they do not want to kill themselves. awoke, Ernesto said ‘Oh.’ He was complications. Given the long list Someonecould see and accuse shot immediately in the middle of targets, culled from the names them. That’s why they hire me.’ of the forehead. The intruders esof those who had initially surren- P30,000 per contract killing, that caped.” dered or from the information was the last deal with the police.

Never too soon, scene of the given by the latter, the police have Previously he was promised even crime operatives appear to take their hands full. With every police more. ‘This is what really makes photos, pick up slugs, and go district under pressure to show me angry. They have never kept through the motions of gathering results, it would be easier to hire their promises. Instead of money, evidence. But they never seem to contract killers from the criminal they give meshabu and say: ‘Go sell be in a hurry to go after the killers. underground itself to do the work the drugs, that’s howyoumake your “At one such scene in the north of

Manila,” Fenton writes, “a man had been shot in a warren of a building, where the passageway was almost too narrow for two people to pass.

And there was only one exit, a set of awkwardly constructed steps. I was examining these steps and thinking what confidence it showed on the part of the killers, to choose a place that was so difficult to get out of, for their planned murder.”

That “confidence”—or brazenness—makes sense only in the light of the hidden public script we assume each time someone is shot by unknown assailants. It’s “EJK.” Those three letters have become shorthand for the war on drugs, plus all its complex and unintended consequences. People say these letters in whispers to communicate a knowingness that wishes to be spared the burden of explaining.

And that is how this entire killing culture has become a cover for all kinds of malevolent intentions: for settling personal scores, for extortion, or for the sheer desire to sow fear.

As I reflect on what has happened to us since the last election, I am struck by the words of Elias Canetti: “That which can kill is feared; that which does not directly serve killing is merely useful. It is those who devote themselves to killing who have power.” ■

PUBLIC LIVES

Outsourcing murder

By Randy David Philippine Daily Inquirer The ratio is about 2:1. For every drug suspect killed in an acknowledged police operation, at least two others are killed by unknown assassins. Why this seeming preference for anonymous murder in a campaign that has been authorized by no less than the country’s president?

Both types of killings are taking place mainly in the slums, targeting persons who are without the means to seek justice in a flawed legal system. In the usual “buy-bust” operation, the police routinely justify the killing as an act of self-defense. In the socalled “deaths under investigation,” the police shrug their shoulders, vaguely hinting that these killings are done by the drug syndicates themselves in the course of cleansing their ranks and fighting for turf.

No one believes this yarn. The police find bodies, contact funeral parlors, and record these events in their logbooks—as though these killings were normal happenings in their daily work. They have shown no concern that anonymous gunmen attack residents in neighborhoods that are supposedly under their protection. After more than 7,000 such killings, they have yet

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Opinion

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

15

COMMENTARY

‘Fortress America’

By Amando Doronila Philippine Daily Inquirer CANBERRA—In his inaugural speech, US President Donald Trump warned the world: “From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this moment on, it’s going to be America first.”

The speech reverberated around the globe and unsettled US allies, as well as adversaries, arousing anxieties over what the world’s most powerful democracy is up to under a president who is a billionaire businessman and who never held political office or high military rank.

During the presidential campaign, Trump promised to make America “great again,” and “protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs.”

The speech depicted America as a nation under siege from predatory states that have left it in a state of carnage, and therefore a na-

tion that should now be repaired once-in-a lifetime change.’ them abroad. Even if a sense of by protectionist policies.

“But there is a difference. On exceptionalism stopped presiThe “America First” theme the eve of the vote, Reagan de- dents from signing up to outfits echoed what Adolf Hitler called scribed America as a shining ‘city like the International Criminal “Festung Europa” (Fortress Eu- on a hill’. . . . he dreamed of a coun- Court (ICC) and the UN Conrope), which he built on the Atlan- try that ‘is not turned inward, but vention on the Law of the Sea tic seaboard to protect Germany outward—toward others.’ Mr. (Unclos), America has supported from imminent invasion by Allied Trump, by contrast has sworn to the rules-based order. By backing armies during World War II. put America First. Demanding global institutions that staved off Isolationism from Europe was respect from a freeloading world a dog-eat-dog world, the US has a dominant policy in America that takes leaders in Washington made itself and the world safe until President Woodrow Wilson for fools, he says he will ‘no lon- and more prosperous. . . . The sent an American last time America expeditionary turned inward Nobody could doubt the patriotism of his postwar force to France was after the first predecessors, yet every one of them endorsed America’s to help fight the world war and universal values and promoted them abroad.

German invasion the consequences to make the world were calamitous. safe for democracy. ger surrender this country or its You do not have to foresee anyIn a Nov. 19, 2016, article, The people to the false song of global- thing so dire to fear Mr. Trump’s Economist warned that with ism.’ Reagan’s Americawas opti- new nationalism today. At home his call to put “America First,” mistic, Trump’s is angry.” it tends to produce intolerance Trump was echoing the cam“Mr. Trump’s populism is a and to feed doubts about the virpaign of Ronald Reagan in 1980: blow to civic nationalism,” added tue and loyalties of minorities. It “Back then voters sought renew- The Economist. “Nobody could is no accident that allegations of al after the failures of the Carter doubt the patriotism of his post- anti-Semitism have infected the presidency. This month, they war predecessors, yet every one bloodstream of American politics elected Mr Trump because he, of them endorsed America’s for the first time in decades.” too, promised them a ‘historic universal values and promoted The America First doctrine of

Trump’s foreign policy has left a sense of unsettlement among Asian leaders. News services based in Tokyo have reported reactions from Asian leaders: While they expressed hopes in their congratulatory words for his inauguration, that Trump will deepen alliances and further common interests , their messages carried a strong undercurrent of unease over the pugnacious America First approach he had spelled out in his speech.

The speech provoked a series of rallies across the region where people spoke out against the hate speech, xenophobia and misogyny that had characterized Trump’s election campaign.

More than 10,000 people took part in the rallies in such cities as Sydney, Melbourne, Wellington, Tokyo and Manila. “We hope people will raise their voices to demand fair treatment regardless of gender, color of their skin or sexual orientation,” a housewife in Tokyo told the Sunday Times. ■

LOOKING BACK

‘Lumpia’ because it resembles a roll of money

By Ambeth R. Ocampo Philippine Daily Inquirer CHRISTMAS in the Philippines is truly the longest in the world.

From the time Christmas carols are aired in shopping malls and radios in the “ber” months starting in September, to the Feast of the Three Kings (Epiphany) on Jan. 6, that covers over four months of cheer that should divert our attention from stuff like the extrajudicial killings reported daily. In our home we don’t take down the Christmas decorations until the Chinese New Year, which will descend on us a bit earlier than the usual February.

I see all sorts of Rooster figurines being sold in the malls to greet the Rooster Year that begins on Jan. 28, as if we had recovered already from the start of the Gregorian New Year last Jan. 1.

While I am not married and technically exempt from distributing little red envelopes with money, I have been doing so as an extension of Christmas. I was

told that angpao should be given only know him from the vague Day, family meals should include to parents, relatives, employees, recollections of relatives who these auspicious foods: prawns and children you encounter in can’t even remember his name. I or shrimps to bring happiness the Chinese New Year. A friend was told he spoke Chinese, sport- (because the sound of the Chiwe refer to as “The Empress” ed a ponytail, and met his end af- nese word for prawn, “ha,” is like says the contents should range ter a quarrel with a boatman who laughter); fish to usher in a year anywhere from P120 to P240, hit him on the head with an oar. of plenty (because the sound of P360, P480 and so on, dependThat makes me about one- “fish” in Chinese, “yue,” means ing on one’s means. A friend from eighth Chinese, so to make up I “left over”); lumpia (because it Hong Kong says there is no hard follow CNY customs more than resembles a roll of money); meat and fast rule for the amount in my Chinese friends do. Before or chicken or fish or squid balls the envelopes, (because they are adding that the round like coins); With another year gone, everyone wishes that the Rooster P120, P240, P360, the Spanish dish year will be better than the Monkey year just passed. etc. were a Tailengua (because wanese custom. the sound of the Both friends Chinese word for are amused that I put different the eve, I shower and scrub my- tongue, “lei,” is like that of the amounts in the envelopes and self clean, the last rinse with wa- word for profit); awhole chicken, that when I offer angpao I spread ter infused with pomelo leaves including the head and feet (nothem out like a fan, in the manner to wash away the past year’s bad body seems to knowwhy except of a magician telling someone to luck. Wegather as a family ( just that it is a staple at the festive tapick from a deck of cards. There as we do in the Gregorian New ble); and cooked rice, more than is an element of chance here be- Year) around a hot pot or fondue what can be eaten (because there cause the envelopes can contain dinner—logical in a cold climate will be leftovers—again an indianywhere from P20, P50, P100, but not in our tropical climate— cation of abundance).

P200, P500, or P1,000. to foster closeness in the coming The number of dishes served My paternal great-grandfather year. must never be 7 (not counting was a Chinese from Amoy who Our friends suggest that on the rice), the lucky numbers besettled in Guagua, Pampanga. I New Year’s Eve and New Year’s ing 6, 8 and 9. The meal ends with

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tikoy, preferably received as a gift rather than bought. The stickiness is for closer family bonding, the sweetness for good relations between and among family members. For the New Year’s Day meal, you add radish cake or tikoy because they are dishes that rise, just like fortune. A vegetarian dish with lettuce is also served because in Chinese it sounds like “growing money.” There seems to be no set rules for the drinks, and we often have pitchers of sangria that we nurse through New Year’s Day because we have to stay up as late as possible for the long life of our parents.

New Year’s Day starts by eating something sweet and having any of the lucky fruits at the table: Mandarin orange, pomelo, banana, red apples, pineapple, etc.

No bathing or sweeping or cooking or using sharp utensils until midnight.

With another year gone, everyone wishes that the Rooster year will be better than the Monkey year just passed. ■

16

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

Canada News Lone mosque suspect, Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, faces six murder counts

BY COLIN PERKEL The Canadian Press A SUSPECT in the massacre on a mosque in Quebec City has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder, police said on Monday.

Alexandre Bissonnette, 27, a Laval University student, is also charged with five counts of attempted murder, court documents show.

Police have offered no information on what they believe motivated Sunday’s shooting.

According to what appears to have been his Facebook account, Bissonnette was a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump, French far right leader Marine Le Pen, the separatist Parti Quebecois and the Israeli armed forces.

Le Pen, leader of the National Front in France, is known for her anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant positions and has won the endorsement and admiration

of white supremacists.

The U.S.-based Site Intelligence Group called it “unlikely” that Bissonette had any Jihadi ties in light of the postings.

According to police and witnesses, a man entered the mosque and opened fire without warning during evening prayers, sowing death, injury and panic.

Six worshippers were killed and 19 wounded — all men. Of the five victims who remained in hospital, two were in critical condition, authorities said.

The horrific act, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denounced as terrorism, prompted several vigils across the country and expressions of sympathy from around the world.

Bissonnette, who according to his Facebook account was from Cap-Rouge, Que., was enrolled in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universite Laval said in a statement. He had now been banned from all studies or research activities until the

court process is over, the school said. The student directory lists him as pursuing an undergraduate degree in political science.

Among groups to which he belonged, according to the Facebook profile which has since been taken down, was the Laval chess club and a birding group.

The Facebook account had numerous selfies of the neatly groomed young man, who appeared to be a blues fan. One picture shows a boy dressed as an army cadet.

Bissonnette was in the cadet program in the Quebec City area between 2002 and 2004, Canadian Cadet Organizations said in a statement. The national program focuses on developing leadership and citizenship skills as well as physical fitness.

Cadets are not members of the Canadian Armed Forces and do not receive military training.

Another Facebook post refers to the Bissonnette family’s military service — a grandfather

According to what appears to have been his Facebook account, Bissonnette (pictured) was a fan of U.S. President Donald Trump, among other figures.

FACEBOOK

apparently served in France and Germany in the Second World War. Another “like” was for the Parti Quebecois association in Louis-Hebert, a riding in Quebec’s national capital region currently held by a Liberal member, and another for H.G. Wells, author of the 1890s science-fiction novel “War of the Worlds.”

Francois Deschamps, who runs a French-language web group called Bienvenue au refugies — Welcome Refugees — said Bissonnette was always making hateful comments, La

Presse reported. However, the Facebook posts offer few clues to the mass shooting he is accused of carrying out.

In addition, he followed a news site called The Badside, which features among other things scantily-clad women and tabloid-style “news” stories tilted toward the right.

His favourite citation, according to the Facebook page, was taken from the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato: “For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.” ■

Toronto Real Estate Board foresees another year of double digit price increases THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO — The Toronto Real Estate Board is expecting another year of double-digit price increases and a similar number of property sales to those last year.

It says the average price for

all types of housing is expected to rise to about $825,000 — up from $730,472 in December and $729,922 for the 2016 calendar year.

The board says the highest year-over-year price increases will be for low-rise types of housing such as detached, semi-

detached and townhouses.

It estimates there will be between 104,500 and 115,500 home sales this year through its MLS system — more or less similar to the 113,133 recorded last year, despite a shortage of property listings.

The group is repeating its call for the private, public and

not-for-profit sectors to seek solutions to increase the supply of properties for sale in the Toronto region rather than attempting to reduce demand from would-be buyers.

The board says the active listings at the end of December in the Greater Toronto Area were at their

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lowest level since before 2000.

“It is unlikely that the shortage of listings will improve to any great degree over the course of the next year,” Jason Mercer, the board’s director of market analysis, said in a statement Tuesday. “This will put a ceiling on sales growth.” ■

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FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

17

‘It’s wrong on all levels’: Toronto pastor Hawkes Canadians affected by found not guilty Trump’s travel ban speak out of gross indecency, indecent assault

BY LAURA KANE The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — The only reason Athba Samarai and her husband moved thousands of kilometres from their homes in Iraq, she says, was so their children could grow up happily and safely in Canada.

But this week, the 35-yearold financial manager found herself struggling to explain to her young kids why U.S. President Donald Trump wants to temporarily ban people born in Iraq from crossing the border.

“We lived through an era of oppression and we came all the way here to let our kids live in harmony and peace,” said Samarai. “We never thought that this could happen here.”

Samarai, who lives in Calgary, is among scores of Canadian permanent residents from the seven countries affected by Trump’s executive order who say their ability to travel to the U.S. is in limbo.

Although the Canadian government has assured permanent residents they will be allowed to cross the border, Samarai and others say U.S. authorities have been less clear and they fear they will be detained.

She said she had planned to fly via Seattle on Saturday to her sister’s wedding, but had to rebook her flights to avoid the U.S. Her in-laws, aunt, uncle and cousins all live in the U.S. and now she and her husband can’t visit them, she said.

Her father-in-law has a green card and can’t leave the U.S. because he fears he won’t be allowed back in, she added, while her grandmother had to rebook a flight at the last minute to avoid a U.S. connection because the 82-year-old feared being interrogated.

“It’s wrong on all levels,” she said.

Samarai said she’s happy and grateful to live in Canada, but was dismayed by hateful Facebook comments in response to her family’s story, and devastated by Sunday’s attack on a Quebec City mosque.

BY ALY THOMSON The Canadian Press

A protest at John Glenn International Airport against Donald Trump's travel ban against refugees from 7 Muslim majority countries.

CHRISTINE RUDDY / SHUTTERSTOCK, INC.

“I just want to ask every single person who is born here, who is not challenged in any way about where he came from or which God he prays to. ... If this happened to you, if you were displaced because of who you are or where you were born, how would you react?”

Danny Ramadan, 32, said he had been looking forward to promoting his upcoming novel, “The Clothesline Swing,” in the U.S. His publisher had planned for the Syrian-born Canadian permanent resident to attend literary events south of the border.

“It is important to me to be able to celebrate my achievement,” he said.

But he said despite the Canadian government’s assurances, he won’t risk crossing the border.

Ramadan, an LGBTQ activist in Vancouver, said his boyfriend had bought him Britney Spears tickets in Las Vegas in March, but they’ve decided to go to Mexico instead.

He said having to change his vacation plans was a “firstworld problem,” but he noted the irony of his situation, given that Trump said the executive order was aimed at keeping out potential terrorists.

“I’m a gay guy who wants to see Britney Spears. How much less of a terrorist could I be?” he asked with a laugh.

Wyle Baoween, a permanent Canadian resident in

Vancouver who was born in Yemen, launched a company, HRx Technology, which aims to eliminate discrimination in hiring. He has a wife and an 18-month-old daughter, and typically travels to the U.S. two or three times a year.

He said he feels “helpless” and the travel ban goes against his company’s goals.

“It is our belief and mission ... to treat people equally, no matter their gender or race,” he said. “To find myself a target for this, it’s very frustrating.”

The University of British Columbia has launched a task force to assist the estimated 80 faculty or staff and 350 students who are from the affected countries.

Mohammad Rafatinasr, a 32-year-old Iranian mechanical engineer who earned his PhD at the University of Saskatchewan and is now on a postgraduation work permit, said he was blocked from boarding a flight in Vancouver on Saturday to a research conference in Las Vegas.

Despite applying for a U.S. visa three months ago and receiving it last week, he was told when he tried to check in that he was “inadmissable.”

“I was hearing the news, but I didn’t expect that it would apply right away, or even to me,” he said. “I’ve lived in Canada for five years. I went through a very strong security check. Suddenly, I’m inadmissable.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

nied the allegations.

Outside the courtroom, Hawkes thanked his supporters, family and the judge for his KENTVILLE, N.S. — Promi- decision. nent Toronto pastor Brent “I’m so glad this is over so Hawkes has been found not that I return home and serve guilty of gross indecency and and my church and my commuindecent assault in a Nova Sco- nity as best I can,” he said, readtia case that involved allega- ing from a small piece of paper. tions stemming from events in Defence lawyer Clayton Ruby the 1970s. said in his closing argument in Provincial court Judge Alan November that the entire case Tufts handed down the verdict will be remembered as weird, Tuesday in Kentville, N.S., say- amid “an abundance of eviing he found significant incon- dence” that the testimony of sistencies in the testimony of the witnesses was unreliable. the witnesses.

Ruby said the Crown had Hawkes, a high-profile rights “many problems” proving activist who officiated at for- its case beyond a reasonable mer NDP leader Jack Layton’s doubt, noting the alleged ofstate funeral, was at the time fences happened more than 40 a teacher in his years ago and mid-20s in Nova that some witScotia’s Annaponesses testified lis Valley. they were drunk A man told the It’s easy to at the time. court he was 16 speculate, The Torontoyears old when but that’s not based lawyer Hawkes led him something said the comdown a hallthat’s plainant initially way naked durpermitted told police he ing a drunken here. was coerced into get-together at going to the trailHawkes’ trailer, er, but on the and forced oral witness stand he sex on him in a bedroom. admitted he had no memory of Two other men testified they that happening. attended the get-together as Crown lawyer Bob Morrison teenagers, and one said he wit- called that level of detail “exnessed Hawkes performing oral trinsic,” saying the complainsex on the complainant. ant recalled the important On Tuesday, the judge said memories clearly. it’s not clear what happened in Morrison also said Hawkes the bedroom that night. contradicted himself, noting “It’s easy to speculate, but that he said he didn’t serve althat’s not something that’s per- cohol to any students and was mitted here,” Tufts said. concerned w students drinking, The judge said the complain- but the evidence showed he alant’s testimony was vivid and lowed students to drink while compelling, but “there are sig- they were at his trailer. nificant inconsistencies in the The complainant did not testimonies of the various wit- speak as he left the courthouse. nesses, particularly the testiOriginally from Bath, N.B., mony of the complainant.”

Hawkes is a high-profile rights The complainant held his activist who has been senior pashead down as the decision was tor at the Metropolitan Comread. munity Church of Toronto for Supporters of Hawkes 38 years. He is known as a vocal clapped and smiled when he proponent of same-sex marriage, was declared not guilty. and in 2007 was appointed to the Hawkes had categorically de- Order of Canada. ■

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World News

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

Thousands remain without power as cleanup continues in New Brunswick THE CANADIAN PRESS LAMEQUE, N.B. — More than 14,000 customers remained without power in New Brunswick on Tuesday, a week after a powerful ice storm devastated parts of the province’s northeast.

NB Power says they are dealing with about 1,440 outages in an area stretching from Miscou in the north to West River in the south.

“We’re optimistic that soon the vast majority ... will be getting their power back,” Premier Brian Gallant said during a news conference in Neguac.

But he warned some people will still be without power through Thursday.

“It’s going to be harder and harder,” he said. “Getting the last ones (customers) their power ... is more complex, and more one-on-one attention will be needed.”

The military was in the area going door-to-door for a second day Tuesday to check on residents, while cleaning debris from streets and delivering goods as the region recovers from the storm that has been linked to two deaths and almost three dozen hospitalizations from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Major Turmel Chiasson said in an interview his 200 troops

Prince Edward Island signs health deal with additional $45.1 million THE CANADIAN PRESS

The snow storm disrupted service for many areas in New Brunswick.

INSET: SCREENSHOT FROM YOUTUBE

from Canadian Forces Base Gagetown are spread through Lameque and Miscou islands assisting residents.

The provincial government has asked the Red Cross to do a needs assessment of the most vulnerable cases to determine what types of assistance are required.

Gallant said food banks are stocking up on donations, and he is urging people not to hesitate to throw out food that may have gone bad during the lengthy outage.

He said the province will provide $100,000 to help food banks restock and repair storm damage.

Gallant said he recognized many citizens won’t have the

means to replace lost food and repair damage to their homes, and the province will provide some disaster relief.

He said families should call their insurance companies to see what they are eligible to receive, but he also encouraged people to keep receipts and contact the province’s disaster financial assistance program.

The premier said if people have damage to their homes preventing hookups, the province will provide a list of certified electricians for residents to contact.

Gallant said without repairs carried out by a certified electrician to the hookup masts, NB Power crews can’t go ahead with a hookup. ■

FRIDAY

CHARLOTTETOWN — Prince Edward Island has become the latest province to sign on to a health deal with Ottawa, agreeing to an additional $45.1 million over the next 10 years.

P.E.I., the last of the four Atlantic provinces to ink an agreement, made the announcement Tuesday.

The targeted funding would see $24.6 million for home care and related infrastructure requirements and $20.5 million to support mental health initiatives. The funding is to begin in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

“They’ve got some great plans there about how they want to make sure they expand access to home care,” federal Health Minister Jane Philpott told reporters in Ottawa. “And of course they have significant issues like everyone else in the country as it relates to mental health.”

Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut have also agreed to deals.

Philpott said communications were ongoing with the five hold-out provinces.

“We’re determined,” she said.

“We are continuing conversations and we hope to have good

news very soon.”

But only last week Manitoba launched an online ad campaign critical of the federal plan to limit annual increases in health transfer payments.

It was the sticking point that originally broke up talks on a pan-Canadian deal in December. The provinces and territories walked away from Ottawa’s offer of a 3.5 per cent annual increase in health transfer payments and another $11.5 billion over 10 years in targeted funding primarily for home care and mental health.

The provinces and territories had been pushing for an annual increase of 5.2 per cent in overall funding.

That solidarity was fractured in late December, when New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant became the first to break ranks. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador reached separate agreements a few days later.

As part of the P.E.I. announcement Tuesday, the federal government said performance indicators and a system of annual public reporting would be developed in the coming weeks, along with a detailed plan on how the additional funding will be spent over and above existing programs. ■

Former Manitoba minister ousted from NDP caucus after harassment allegations THE CANADIAN PRESS WINNIPEG — A former Manitoba cabinet minister accused of sexual harassment has been kicked out of the NDP caucus.

Caucus chair Tom Lindsey read a terse statement announcing that Mohinder Saran no longer sits with the official Opposition.

“In order to respect the confidentiality of all parties in-

volved, no further comment will be made regarding this decision,” Lindsey said following a closed-door meeting Tuesday.

“The NDP caucus stands against all form of sexual harassment.”

Saran was suspended from caucus meetings in November following a formal complaint that he had harassed someone in the workplace.

He is not facing any criminal

charges.

The NDP and Saran have not disclosed any details, but a party source told The Canadian Press that Saran was accused of making inappropriate comments and overtures to a subordinate.

Saran has never spoken publicly about the allegations but his lawyer, Bill Gange, has said the Winnipeg MLA expected a full reinstatement.

The legislature’s human rewww.canadianinquirer.net

sources branch investigated and Gange said Saran agreed with the branch’s recommendation to undergo sensitivity training.

Earlier in the month, the caucus said Saran could come back to the fold if he apologized to the complainant and agreed to take part in some sort of reconciliation with her.

Saran was first elected in 2007. He played a key role in 2015 in helping then-premier

Greg Selinger survive an internal revolt led by five cabinet ministers and was minister of housing and community development.

Saran helped deliver 117 delegates to Selinger’s leadership campaign from his constituency in The Maples in north Winnipeg. At the ensuing leadership convention, Selinger hung on to his job by 33 votes and, weeks later, elevated Saran to cabinet. ■

World News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

19

Trump ousts acting attorney general as outcry grows

BY ALICIA CALDWELL AND CATHERINE LUCEY The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Defiant in the face of an international backlash, President Donald Trump pressed into his second week in office defending his sweeping immigration ban — and then fired a Cabinet head who refused to enforce it.

Acting Attorney General Sally Yates earlier Monday ordered Justice Department lawyers to stop defending the executive order, which temporarily suspends the U.S. refugee program and bars all immigration for citizens of seven majorityMuslim countries for 90 days.

By Monday night, she was out.

“The acting Attorney General, Sally Yates, has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States,” the White House press secretary’s office said in a statement.

Trump named Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to serve in Yates’ place until Sen. Jeff Sessions, his permanent pick for the position, is confirmed by the Senate.

The Yates decision came as Trump pressed into his second week in office defending his sweeping immigration ban.

Protests persisted at major airports, and concern mounted from U.S. diplomats and members of his own party.

Trump denied that his order was to blame for weekend chaos at the nation’s airports, instead pointing to computer glitches, demonstrations and even the “fake tears” of Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer.

The president publicly shifted his focus, signing an executive action aimed at cutting reg-

ulations for small businesses man Kevin Lewis alluded to but and teasing his plans to unveil did not specifically mention his Supreme Court pick Tues- Trump’s order but added that day night.

Obama was “heartened” by the But the immigration ban civil engagement being seen remained at the forefront of across the country. his first fortnight in the White Obama has said he will give House — and officials were Trump room to govern but will pondering more actions mov- speak out if his successor vioing forward. lates basic U.S. values.

According to a draft docuWhite House press secretary ment obtained by The Associ- Sean Spicer said Trump’s order ated Press, Trump is consid- was “about the safety of Amer- A sign during the Womens March protesters in downtown Seattle, Washington. ering an executive order that ica,” while the new president SEARICK1 / SHUTTERSTOCK, INC. would target some immigrants played down its impact, saying for deportation if they become on Twitter that just 109 people the travel ban’s implementaA number of U.S. diplomats dependent on government as- were detained and held for tion. also prepared a memo critisistance. questioning. White House ofTrump’s order, which also cizing the order. In a “dissent The draft order calls for the ficials have said that was during halts all refugee admissions cable” being drafted for State identification and removal “as the first 24 hours after the ban. for 120 days, does not address Department leadership, the expeditiously as possible” of But nearly 400 legal perma- homegrown extremists already diplomats said the ban runs any foreigner who takes certain nent residents were delayed in America. And the list of coun- counter to American values and kinds of public welfare benefits. upon their arrival back in the tries it applies to — Iraq, Syria, will fuel anti-American sentiSuch immigrants have been United States between the time Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and ment around the world. barred from the U.S. for the bet- the travel ban was signed and Yemen — doesn’t include Saudi The cable originated in the ter part of a century and they Sunday evening, according to Arabia, where most of the Sept. State Department’s Consular can already be deported. The a federal law enforcement of- 11 hijackers were from.

Affairs bureau, which handles proposed order appears to sig- ficial. All of those people were Growing numbers of Repub- visas. nal a Trump administration ef- ultimately allowed back into lican lawmakers expressed Unfazed, Spicer retorted that fort to crack down on such wel- the country. concerns about Trump’s action. if “career bureaucrats” have a fare cases.

Sens. Marco Ru- problem with the order, “they Another draft bio of Florida should either get with the proorder under and Tim Scott of gram or they can go.” consideration South Carolina The president also mocked would make In a “dissent cable” being drafted said in a joint Schumer, the New York Demochanges to sevfor State Department leadership, the statement that crat who grew emotional as he eral of the govdiplomats said the ban runs counter “the manner called the ban “un-American.” ernment’s forto American values and will fuel in which these Said Trump: “I’m going to ask eign worker visa anti-American sentiment around the measures were him who was his acting coach.” programs. The world. crafted and imTrump blamed an airline White House plemented have glitch for much of the disorder did not immedigreatly contrib- at the nation’s international ately respond to uted to the con- airports that dominated the requests for comments on the The official said one other fusion, anxiety and uncertainty weekend’s news. Though a Deldraft orders. green card holder is now fac- of the last few days.” ta systems outage Sunday night Trump immigration order ing deportation after an extra Washington state’s attor- led to departure delays and canprompted predecessor Barack background check done after ney general said he would sue cellations of at least 150 flights, Obama to wade into politics for the executive order was signed Trump, making Washington the chaos started the day before the first time since leaving of- revealed a criminal conviction. the first state to announce a as protesters packed some of fice.

Details of that person’s case legal action against the admin- the country’s major airports. ■ A spokesman for the former were not immediately avail- istration. Democrat Bob Ferpresident said Monday that able. guson was one of 16 state at- Lemire reported from New York.

Obama “fundamentally disThe official spoke on the con- torneys general who released AP writers Josh Lederman, Aliagrees” with discrimination dition of anonymity because a statement Sunday calling cia Caldwell, Jill Colvin and that targets people based on the person was not authorized Trump’s action “un-American Steve Peoples in Palm Springs, their religion. Obama spokes- to publicly disclose details of and unlawful.”

California, contributed.

Search continues for missing in boat accident in Malaysia PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY KOTA KINABALU, MALAYSIA — Search efforts continued

Tuesday for those who have gone missing in the boat accident off Malaysia’s Sabah state in North Borneo.

Ahmad Puzi Ab Kahar, director general of the Malaysian

Maritime Enforcement Agency, said the operations would cover 3,000 sq. nautical miles with planes and ships of his agency, as well as the Malaysian navy and air force. www.canadianinquirer.net

Neighboring Brunei also sent two aircraft to join the efforts, he said, adding that the aircraft entered the search area at six in the morning.

A total of 20 Chinese tourists

and two crew members have been rescued so far, after their boat sank off Sabah on Saturday. Malaysian authorities said five people remain missing — four tourists and a crewman. ■

20

World News

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

Iran refuses to confirm conducting missile test

BY NASSER KARIMI The Associated Press TEHRAN, IRAN — Iran’s foreign minister on Tuesday refused to confirm whether his country recently conducted a missile test, saying the Iranian missile program is not part of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The White House said on Monday that it is studying the details of an Iranian ballistic missile test.

During a joint news conference with visiting French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was asked if Iran had conducted a recent missile test.

“The missile issue is not part of the nuclear deal. As all signatories to the nuclear deal have announced, the missile issue is not a part of” the deal, he said.

Iran’s missiles, he added are,

“not designed for the capability of carrying a nuclear warhead ... Our ballistic missile was designed to carry a normal warhead in the field of legitimate defence.”

A U.S. defence official said Monday that the missile test ended with a “failed” re-entry into earth’s atmosphere. The official had no other details, including the type of missile.

State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the U.S. was looking into whether the ballistic missile test violates a 2015 United Nations Security Council resolution.

Zarif on Tuesday said he hopes the issue is not used as, “an excuse for some political games by the new U.S. administration. The Iranian people would never allow their defence to be subject to the permission of others.”

Iran has long boasted of having missiles that can travel 2,000 kilometres (1,243 miles),

placing much of the Middle East, including Israel, in range.

Iran says its missiles are the key to deterring a U.S. or Israeli attack.

In a video posted on his Facebook page Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he planned to discuss Iran in his upcoming meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.

“I intend to raise with him the renewal of sanctions against Iran, sanctions against the ballistic missiles and additional sanctions against terror and also to take care of this failed nuclear agreement,” Netanyahu said.

In May 2016, Iran’s Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan issued a vague denial after a media outlet close to the Revolutionary Guard reported that the country had test-fired a ballistic missile with a 2,000-kilometre range. The powerful Revolutionary Guard is in charge of

Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Deghan said that no missile had been tested “with the range that was published in the media,” but he did not deny that a ballistic missile had been tested.

In March, Iran test-fired two ballistic missiles — one emblazoned with the phrase “Israel must be wiped out” in Hebrew — setting off an international outcry.

A 2015 Security Council resolution adopted after Iran reached its nuclear deal with world powers calls on Iran not to take any actions related to ballistic missiles “designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”

Zarif has said that its ballistic missile launches are not banned under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 because the prohibition only applies to missiles specifically designed to carry nuclear warheads. Iran has long argued that general missile tests are

not banned, nor are those applying to ones capable of carrying nuclear warheads — so long as that was not their designated purpose.

The U.S., which still maintains its own set of sanctions against Iran, has argued that previous ballistic missile launches are in defiance of the ban.

Meanwhile, the European Union called on Tehran to “refrain from activities which deepen mistrust.”

EU foreign policy spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said that a ballistic missile test would not be a violation of the nuclear deal with world powers.

However she said it was “inconsistent” with Resolution 2231.

“Whether it constitutes a violation is for the Security Council to determine,” she said. ■ Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Brussels and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Trump, Putin set for phone call; GOP concerns on sanctions

BY JULIE PACE The Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s first conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin since taking office is causing concern among European allies and consternation among fellow Republicans about the future of U.S. penalties imposed on Moscow.

Trump was noncommittal before Saturday’s scheduled telephone call about whether he was considering lifting the economic sanctions. “We’ll see what happens. As far as the sanctions, very early to be talking about that,” he told reporters.

Trump made those remarks Friday alongside British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose country — as part of the European Union — also has punished Russia for its provocations in Ukraine. Voicing the view of many in Europe, May said, “We believe the sanctions should continue.”

Vice-President Mike Pence was expected to join the call, but

not others that Trump planned Saturday with the leaders of Japan, Germany, France and Australia.

Two Republican senators — Arizona’s John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Ohio’s Rob Portman, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee — also warned the White House about easing any punishments on Moscow and they pledged to turn the sanctions into law.

“I hope President Trump will put an end to this speculation and reject such a reckless course,” McCain said in a statement. “If he does not, I will work with my colleagues to codify sanctions against Russia into law.”

Portman said lifting the sanctions “for any reason other than a change in the behaviour that led to those sanctions in the first place would send a dangerous message to a world already questioning the value of American leadership and the credibility of our commitments after eight years of Obama administration policies.”

Russia’s security chief, Niko-

ID1974 / SHUTTERSTOCK, INC.

lai Patrushev, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying he had high hopes for the call.

“Everything will be positive,” Patrushev said.

During his talks with the leader of Japan, Trump invited Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to meet in Washington on Feb. 10, the White House said. Trump also affirmed the “ironclad U.S. commitment” to the security of Japan, an ally, and the leaders pledged to consult and cooperate on the threat posed by a nuclear-ambitious North Korea, the White House said.

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Moscow meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump become president. www.canadianinquirer.net

Obama in late December ordered sanctions on Russian spy agencies, closed two Russian compounds and expelled 35 diplomats that the United States said were really spies. The new penalties add to existing U.S. sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, which have damaged Russia’s economy but only limited impact on Putin’s behaviour.

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea in Ukraine, drawing widespread condemnation in Europe and the United States and a raft of penalties.

McCain has emerged as a frequent critic of Trump among Capitol Hill Republicans. He takes a dim view of trying to reset relations with Moscow and

says Trump should remember that Putin is “a murderer and a thug who seeks to undermine American national security interests at every turn.”

“For our commander in chief to think otherwise would be naive and dangerous,” McCain said.

McCain and Portman are part of a bipartisan group of senators who have introduced legislation designed to go beyond the punishments against Russia already levied by Obama and to demonstrate to Trump that forcefully responding to Moscow’s meddling isn’t a partisan issue.

The bill would impose mandatory visa bans and freeze the financial assets of anyone who carries out cyberattacks against public or private computer systems and democratic institutions.

The legislation also mandates sanctions in Russia’s allimportant energy sector and on investments in the development of civil nuclear projects to rebuke Moscow for its provocations in eastern Ukraine and military support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. ■

World News

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

21

Syria, Yemen top targets for 2017 Co-defendant UNICEF emergency aid appeal in French art heist

says he destroyed paintings

PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY WASHINGTON — Syria, Yemen and South Sudan are the top three targets among 48 countries of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) appeal for humanitarian aid in 2017, UNICEF’s Regional Communication Chief Simon Ingram told Sputnik.

UNICEF announced on Tuesday that it is seeking to raise USD3.3 billion in emergency assistance for children living in conflict-torn countries or affected by other crises, such as natural disasters, climate change and disease.

“The largest single requirement is, of course, going to the people and families affected by the conflict in Syria, whether inside the country where we’ve got about over 14 million people affected, or those living as refugees in countries surrounding Syria in places like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey,” Ingram stated. “The next one in terms of its scale is Yemen where there’s been a very brutal war waged in one of the poorest countries in the region.”

Ingram said that the Fund aims to raise some one-quarter of a billion dollars for children in Yemen.

“The next one after that is South Sudan, also another conflict which has been dragging on for a long time and where the needs of the civilian population, of children are particularly large,” the spokesman added.

“Then, there’s Iraq, there’s Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. These are really the top handful of appeals, national appeals which we’re targeting.”

Ingram explained that UNICEF hopes to raise money for both the essential daily needs of children, including shelter, immunization, and clean water, and for their longer terms needs, like education.

“That’s recognizing really that unfortunately we don’t see any immediate chance that the conflicts in those countries will be resolved and that we must look to the longer-term needs of the children and of their societies and communities,” he

BY PHILIPPE SOTTO The Associated Press

TOLGA SEZGIN / SHUTTERSTOCK, INC.

added.

The spokesman noted UNICEF’s goal in 2016 was USD2.8 billion targeting 76 million people, including children, in 63 countries, while USD3.3 billion in 2017 are targeted for 81 million people in 48 countries.

“Last year, we were still very much impacted by the Ebola crisis which enlarged the number of countries that were requiring assistance. This year, Ebola is not part of the appeal,” Ingram said. “The focus is very much on, I would say, countries in conflict, countries where we see not only the wars continuing, but we’ve seen the scale, and the type of conflict has changed.”

“We see very sadly, very worryingly the incidents where children and their homes, their schools, their playgrounds have come under attack, and sometimes under deliberate attack, where we see that the normal rules of war are not being applied and this is something that we’re extremely concerned about. And where it adds complications to the way in which we as a humanitarian organization go about our work in those countries,” he added.

Ingram also noted that half of the funding requested in 2016 was for only war crises in Iraq, South Sudan, Syria and the neighboring countries, and Yemen.

“Things haven’t changed radically I would say in that sense.

Those conflicts still remain extremely important and the very center of the work that we do,” he stated.

Ingram concluded that the UNICEF is optimistic about reaching its USD3.3 billion goal

this year, stressing that it is grateful to its donors, key ones of which are the United States, the government of Germany, the government of the United Kingdom, the European Commission, Japan, Canada, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden.

The UNICEF is paying special attention to malnutrition issues in its 2017 appeal for humanitarian aid with particular focus on Yemen, Nigeria, and South Sudan, Ingram told Sputnik.

“Nutrition is a very important part of our appeal. We’re looking to reach something like 3.1 million children, in almost every country of those 48 countries, but particularly focusing on some like Yemen and Nigeria and South Sudan,” Ingram said.

The spokesman stressed that UNICEF is increasingly concerned that in world conflicts children are unable to get a good diet, which is having a severe effect on their nutritional intake and has very long-term consequences.

“Children who do not get the right foods, particularly very young children, if they’re not fed in the right way, this impacts their development, their brain development, their ability to learn. It will have a lifelong impact on those children,” he explained.

“Very large civilian populations are living in very difficult circumstances, where young children are not getting the kind of food they need, so UNICEF provides food supplements to these countries to ensure that those young children can get the highly fortified food that helps them grow and learn in that critical phase of their development as young children.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

PARIS — A co-defendant in one of the world’s biggest art heists testified in court Monday that he destroyed and threw away five art masterpieces worth more than $100 million that were stolen by a thief nicknamed “the spider-man.”

Yonathan Birn was among three people who went on trial in the case Monday. The five paintings stolen in 2010 from the French capital’s city Museum of Modern Art — a Picasso, a Matisse, a Modigliani, a Braque and a Fernand Leger — have never been found.

“I threw them into the trash,” Birn repeated three times at the court bar, in tears.

“I made the worst mistake of my existence.”

Neither the investigating judge nor other defendants at the trial believe Birn’s claims.

The investigators are convinced the five paintings have been taken out of France, but they have not been able to prove that, court documents show.

Birn’s co-defendants testified he was “too smart” to destroy the masterpieces.

Lead suspect Vjeran Tomic, dubbed “the spider-man” by French news media, has been convicted 14 times in the past, notably for thefts. Authorities found climbing gear at his home: gloves, ropes, harness, climbing shoes and suction cups.

Tomic testified that around 3 a.m. on May 20, 2010, he broke into the museum near the Eiffel Tower with apparent ease, taking advantage of supposed failures in the security, alarm and video-surveillance systems.

“Spider-man” removed the glass from a bay window without breaking it, cut the padlock of the metal grid behind it, allowing him to then move from one room to another without arousing the guards’ suspicions.

Tomic was there to steal a painting by Fernand Leger and

possibly a Modigliani ordered by a third defendant, 61-yearold antiques dealer Jean-Michel Corvez, who confessed to being a receiver of stolen goods. Tomic said that when he came across the Picasso, the Matisse and the Braque paintings, he decided to take them as well.

Several hours after the headline-making burglary, Tomic said, he offered the five paintings to Corvez, who said he was “totally stunned” by them.

Corvez said he initially gave Tomic a plastic bag containing 40,000 euros ($43,000) in small denominations just for the Leger because he was unsure he would get buyers for the other paintings.

Corvez became worried about keeping the artworks in his shop after several months and showed them to his friend Birn, a 40-year-old expert and dealer in luxury watches. Birn said he agreed to buy the Modigliani for 80,000 euros ($86,000) and to store the others in his studio.

The Modigliani was hidden in a bank safe, he said.

Birn said he panicked when police began investigating and finally one day in May 2011 he retrieved the Modigliani from the safe, returned to his workshop to break the stretcher bars on all the canvasses with fierce kicks and then threw them all into the building’s trash.

Tomic is charged with stealing public cultural property, while Corvez and Birn are accused of receiving stolen goods.

The three men are also accused of taking part in a criminal conspiracy to commit the thefts.

Both Corvez and Birn can be sentenced up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Tomic faces up to 20 years in prison as a repeat offender. The trial is expected to resume later this week.

After he was questioned, Tomic said he was sure Birn didn’t destroy the paintings and wants him to say where they are located. “These are my artworks,” he said. ■

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Community News

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

Philcongen Toronto participates in ASEAN festival THE PHILIPPINE Consulate General in Toronto participated in the ASEAN Festival organized by the Malaysian Student Association at the University of Toronto (MASAT) on Saturday, January 21, 2017.

The inaugural festival held at Kerr Hall Gymnasium of the neighboring Ryerson University in downtown Toronto was organized by students in line of their goal of promoting Southeast Asian culture in Canada.

Toronto Councillor for Ward 41-Scarborough- Rouge River, Mr. Chin Lee, graced the occasion in support of the students’ endeavor.

Lee said that he would be happy to meet with the Consul General as a lot of his constituents in Scarborough are Filipinos.

Folklorico Filipino Canada, a pioneering traditional Filipino dance group in Toronto, was much applauded by the audience especially when it featured a Bagobo Tribal Dance Suite.

The ASEAN Festival also featured a sampling of ASEAN food.

Tinuno Foods, a Filipino restaurant which is located close to U of T, and a favorite restau-

Consul General Rosalita S. Prospero makes a presentation on the final itinerary and schedule of activities to Manila, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte and Coron Island of the WE 4 participants.

Members of Foklorico Filipino Canada led by Michael Doroja and Kaye Penaflor with Deputy Consul General Bernadette Fernandez of the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto.

Deputy Consul General Bernadette Therese Fernandez and Consul Edna May Lazaro.

Toronto Councillor for Ward 41-Scarborough-Rouge River Mr. Chin Lee pose with ASEAN colleagues.

rant of the students, was invited to sell pancit bihon, barbeque and turon during the event.

The Philippine Consulate General in Toronto will endeav-

or to promote and participate in more activities that will enhance the image of the Philippines and Southeast Asian here in Toronto. ■

Dr. Eileen de Villa appointed Toronto’s new medical officer of health DR. EILEEN de Villa will take over as the city’s new medical officer of health in March after her appointment was approved by city councillors at Tuesday’s meeting.

In a news release issued by the city, Villa is described as a “distinguished scholar and physician” who studied medicine and public health at the University of Toronto.

She also holds a Master’s degree in Health Science, a Master’s in Business Administration and a certificate in health law from Osgoode Law School.

Dr. de Villa replaces Acting Medical Officer of Health David McKeown, who took over the position after Dr. Barbara Yaffe’s retirement.

Mayor John Tory and Coun.

Joe Mihevc, chair of the Board of Health, both issued written statements on Tuesday afternoon expressing their confidence in the city’s new top doctor.

“Throughout the selection panel process, she demonstrated solid leadership and man-

agement skills, in-depth understanding of public health issues and a passion for public health promotion that will surely benefit the residents of Toronto,” Mihevc said.

Dr. de Villa will officially start her new position on March 27. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

PHL Consulate General in Toronto conducts Winter Escapade 4 pre-departure orientation meeting IN PREPARATION for the forthcoming PH Team Canada’s Winter Escapade 4 - It’s More in the Philippines (WE 4-IMFIT) Tour to the Philippines scheduled on February 6-14, 2017, the Philippine Consulate General in Toronto held a PreDeparture Orientation Meeting on Friday, January 20, 2017.

Twenty-one of the 37 participants from Toronto and other areas within Post’s jurisdiction attended the meeting. Some of the participants left Canada and proceeded to the Philippines in advance.

The meeting began with a power point presentation by Consul General Rosalita S. Prospero where she discussed the final itinerary and schedule of activities in Manila, Ilocos Sur, Ilocos Norte, and Coron Island of the WE 4 participants who are divided into Groups A

and B. Consul General Prospero cited that the activities of the two groups are exactly the same only with a reverse schedule.

Group A will start their leg in Ilocos and end in Coron island while Group B will start their leg in Coron Island and end in Ilocos.

On hand to assist the Consul General in providing information regarding WE 4 domestic flights, accommodation, hotel grouping, and important travel advisory, as well as introduction of the tour participants, were Deputy Consul General Bernadette Therese Fernandez and Consul Edna May Lazaro.

The event served as a briefing session and a venue responding to the queries and concerns of the tour participants prior to their departure from Toronto or any point of origin. ■

23

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

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24

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

Entertainment What’s next for Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach?

BY KATHERINE PADILLA Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Miss Universe 2015 Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach will pass down the crown on Monday after a year of reign. While she may be stepping down her throne, Pia’s life after reign wouldn’t be far from the organization that crowned her Miss Universe.

Pia is set to return to New York to fulfill her new role as ambassador of the Miss Universe Organization.

“I’m ready to pass on the crown to the new winner, and I’m happy and relieved that I’ll

still be working closely with the organization even after I pass on the crown. I’m excited because I’m ready to move forward,” Pia said in an interview with ABS-CBN News.

But before that, Pia will devote her time in fulfilling commitments to brands that she endorses.

She will also be flying to neighboring Asian countries for Asia’s Next Top Model where she will appear as one of the judges of the Asian franchise of the hit American reality television series.

The 27 year-old beauty queen also plans to spend time with her family whom she had been

PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS OPERATIONS OFFICE

away from since her move to New York City.

She also plans to auction off some of the clothing she has ac-

cumulated during her reign.

Reflecting on her journey as Miss Universe, Pia said: “I think I did my job pretty well. A lot of people would have opinions and say ‘You should have done more of this and less of that. It should have been this way or that way.’ Or ‘You’re not acting like a beauty queen parang naglalaro ka lang. But the thing is I answer to my bosses at Miss Universe and if they’re happy then that’s all that matters to me. I know I’m going in the right direction.”

“I’ve had a fun year and there’s really nothing more that I could ask for,” Pia said in a separate interview. ■

France takes the Crown, Cdn documentary on indigenous PH lands at top 6 musicians wins award

BY PHOEBE BALUBAR Philippine Canadian Inquirer MANILA — Iris Mittenaere, Ms. France is the new Ms. Universe.

Eighty-six women competed for the prestigious title in the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Monday.

The competition went down thirteen candidates then to nine for the evening gown competition, six for the question and answer and then the final three.

France, Kenya, Colombia, the Philippines, Thailand and Haiti made it to the top six.

The top six were asked questions predominantly about

world politics and international relations. And the top three picks were France, Colombia and Haiti where they answered one single question.

“Name something over the course of your life that you failed at and tell us what you learned from the experience?”

Colombia discussed error on judgement, while France talked about missed opportunities while Haiti talked about her experience surviving the devastating earthquake that hit the country.

Iris Mitternaere is the second title holder from France following Christiane Martel who won in 1953. ■

Maxine Medina, the Philippines' bet to the 2016 Miss Universe, walks confidently on stage during the preliminary competition of the prestigious pageant.

AVITO C. DALAN / PNA

at Sundance Film Festival THE CANADIAN PRESS PARK CITY, Utah — Montrealbased filmmakers Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana have won an award at the Sundance Film Festival for their documentary “Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World.”

The film — which explores the often-unheralded contributions of native Americans in shaping popular song — won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Masterful Storytelling on Saturday.

The power chords from Link Wray’s 1958 banned-by-radio instrumental “Rumble,” which was an inspiration for rock guitarists who followed, kick off the documentary. Wray was a Shawnee native American but few people were aware of his background.

Like him, many of the musicians profiled in “Rumble” either kept their heritage secret or downplayed it, fearing racist backlash. www.canadianinquirer.net

“Rumble” had its world premiere a week ago in competition at Sundance and will air on The Movie Network later this year.

In accepting the award, Bainbridge gave a shout out to “all the indigenous experts and historians and musicians involved in making this film.”

“It was not just us,” Bainbridge said.

In the film, guitarist and songwriter Robbie Robertson of The Band shares childhood memories of time he spent on the Brantford, Ont.-area Six Nations of the Grand River reserve with his mother’s family.

He was advised: “Be proud you are Indian; but be careful who you tell.”

Whether the musicians in “Rumble” talked about their

backgrounds or not, their heritage influenced the work, including 1920s Delta bluesman Charley Patton, “Queen of Swing” Mildred Bailey, rock legend Jimi Hendrix and guitarist Jesse Ed Davis, who worked with blues musician Taj Mahal, John Lennon and the Rolling Stones.

Many of them agreed to appear in “Rumble” because of their friendship with the film’s executive producer, guitarist Stevie Salas.

Salas said he had no idea there were so many indigenous musicians until he was interviewed by Canadian writer Brian Wright-McLeod for his 2004 book “The Encyclopedia of Native Music.”

Through archival footage and powerful performances, indigenous artists are acknowledged as influences by more than three dozen marquee performers, including crooner Tony Bennett, funk father George Clinton, Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and proto-punk legend Iggy Pop. ■

Entertainment

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

25

Indie Films will soon be available in SM Cinemas all-year round

BY PHOEBE BALUBAR Philippine Canadian Inquirer

HELGA ESTEB / SHUTTERSTOCK, INC.

Lily Tomlin accepts SAG Life Achievement Award with humour

BY SANDY COHEN The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Lily Tomlin offered advice to young actors and a hearty dose of humour as she accepted the Screen Actors Guild’s Life Achievement Award.

“Don’t leave the house when you’re drunk,” she said to riotous laughter from her fellow actors at the Shrine Auditorium.

“And if you’re already out there, well, you must learn to tell when you’ve had too much to drink.

Listen to your friends when they stop talking to you and start talking about you, saying things like, ‘Did she have a purse?’

“Don’t be anxious about missing an opportunity,” she continued. “Behind every failure is an opportunity someone wishes they had missed.”

Dolly Parton presented Tomlin with the statuette at Sunday’s SAG Awards, which features the classic drama masks of comedy and tragedy. As Tomlin accepted it, she turned the trophy so that the sad face was pointed toward the audience.

“Live your life so that when you are being honoured for your achievements, the people called upon to make laudatory remarks can feel reasonably

honest about their comments,” Tomlin said. “Otherwise, in these times, all their words or phrases might be perceived as alternative facts — or worse yet, fake news.”

Jane Fonda was previously announced as a co-presenter with Parton, but SAG Awards officials said Fonda wasn’t feeling well Sunday.

A clip package from throughout Tomlin’s five decades in television and film played before she accepted her award.

“Ironically, this award makes you feel not that you’ve done so much,” she said, “but more that you wish you had done so much more to receive an honour like this.”

Asked backstage what she knows now that might have benefited her at the outset of her career, Tomlin said, “I wish I’d known to just be more myself instead of trying to stretch my face, my voice, everything into a character.”

She said that she always knew to use sunscreen, though, even as a youngster, because she used to read her mother’s beauty magazines.

“I think using sunscreen is good advice for men and women, not just women,” Tomlin said. “I don’t want to make that a women’s issue.” ■

After the successful run of independent films in the recent Metro Manila Film Festival, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) raised the stakes on a whole new level when it entered on a three-year partnership with SM Cinemas.

The agreement signed Saturday is expected to help local independent films to further venture into the commercial film market. The agreement will take effect on the first half of the year with eight participating theaters namely: SM North EDSA, SM Fairview, SM Iloilo, SM Southmall, SM Cebu, SM Bacoor, SM Mall of Asia, and either SM Davao or SM Lanang.

Edgar Tejero, President of SM Lifestyle Entertainment,

Inc. mentioned that the partnership is the institution’s way of giving support to the local film industry.

“We believe in nurturing our independent movie producers and recognize the effort and creativity they put in their work despite the financial challenges. This is our way of helping them to show their films to a wider audience because we believe in their talent and the work that they do for the local movie industry,” Tejero said.

In a statement released by FDCP, Chairperson Liza Diño stressed the need to “nurture and support” independent filmmakers.

“It is a known fact that independent filmmakers face many challenges including preconceived notions but everyone agrees that many of our talented directors and actors started

out in independent and so there is a need to nurture and support them by giving their films more exposure, more venues to reach more people,” the statement read.

She added that the general goal of the council is to take the country’s film industry to new heights and improve it on different levels.

“From the very start, FDCP’s approach is engaging the entire film community through collaboration. FDCP believes that all sectors from the filmmakers to the audience are stakeholders in the growth of our creative industry,” Diño said.

This venture would not only help expand the coverage and accessibility of independent films but to also change the moviegoer’s perspective towards these works of art and the stigma that surrounds it. ■

Justin Bieber gets hit, bounces back in celeb hockey game

BY DAN GREENSPAN The Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Justin Bieber got a taste of NHL hockey and the Staples Center glass Saturday, courtesy of NHL great Chris Pronger.

The pop star responded by showing off skills that would not have looked out of place in his native Canada during a celebrity exhibition game.

Bieber was driven into the boards in the first half by a laughing Pronger, who spent 18 years in the league as a hardnosed defenceman. The singer responded with an empty-net goal and an assist as Team Gretzky beat Team Lemieux 5-3 in the 2017 NHL All-Star Celebrity Shootout.

Bieber did not look out of place while sharing the ice with current NHL stars Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and the Chicago Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane, along with a host www.canadianinquirer.net

JACK FORDYCE / SHUTTERSTOCK, INC.

of retired greats and hockeyloving entertainment figures.

Although he did miss two penalty shots, Bieber scored a goal as time expired, prompting actor Cuba Gooding Jr. to joke, “Twenty-five shots later, thank God he made it.”

“I was shocked at how good the kid can play,” said Gooding, who scored the winning goal.

“He really has nice skills, and he’s a real sweet kid, too.”

Pictures posted to the NHL’s Instagram account showed

a smiling Bieber with Wayne Gretzky in the locker room.

Bieber will be back at Staples Center on Feb. 12 as he is nominated for four Grammys, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year.

Local Southern California favourites including Luc Robitaille and Teemu Selanne wore patches on their jerseys honouring Canadian actor Alan Thicke, a longtime fan of the Los Angeles Kings who died in December while playing hockey. ■

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FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

Lifestyle A commuter’s dream: Entrepreneurs race to develop flying car

BY JOAN LOWY The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Even before George Jetson entranced kids with his cartoon flying car, people dreamed of soaring above traffic congestion. Inventors and entrepreneurs have long tried and failed to make the dream a reality, but that may be changing.

Nearly a dozen companies around the globe, including some with deep pockets such as European aircraft maker Airbus, are competing to be the first to develop a new kind of aircraft that will enable commuters to glide above crowded roadways. A few of the aircraft under development are cars with wings that unfold for flight, but most aren’t cars at all. Typically they take off and land vertically like helicopters.

Rather than a single, large main rotor, they have multiple small rotors. Each rotor is operated by a battery-powered electric motor instead of a conventional aircraft piston engine.

It’s no sure bet that flyingcar dreams will turn into reality. There are many obstacles, including convincing regulators that the aircraft are safe, figuring out how to handle thousands of new low-flying aircraft over cities without collisions and developing batteries that will keep them aloft long enough to be useful.

But entrepreneurs are moving forward. They see a vast potential market for “air taxis” and personally owned small

aircraft to transport people from the fringes of metropolitan areas to city centres as urban areas grow more congested and people spend more time stuck in traffic. They envision tens of thousands of one or twoperson flying taxis delivering passengers to the rooftops of office buildings in city centres and other landing pads during rush hours.

“In as little as 10 years, products could be on the market that revolutionize urban travel for millions of people,” said Zach Lovering, the leader of Airbus’ project to develop an autonomous flying taxi called the Vahana. The name means the mount or vehicle of a Hindu deity.

Uber released a 98-page report in October making the business case for air taxis, which the company sees as the future of ondemand transportation.

Uber doesn’t have any plans to develop a flying car itself, but the online transportation network is advising several companies that have aircraft in the works.

“The role we want to play is as a catalyst for the entire industry,” said Nikhil Goel, an Uber project manager for advanced programs.

Some of the aircraft are drones that will be preprogrammed for each flight and monitored or operated from the ground or a command centre. Others are designed for human pilots.

It’s unclear yet how much the aircraft will cost, although

prices are likely to vary significantly. Some of the aircraft are designed to be individually owned, while others are envisioned more for commercial use. Designers hope that if demand is high, prices can be kept affordable through economies of mass production.

Several recent developments could make these aircraft possible. Advances in computing power mean the rotors on multicopter drones can be adjusted many times per second, making the aircraft easy to control.

Drones have

also benefited from advances in battery and electric motor technology. Some companies, like Chinese dronemaker EHang, are scaling-up drones so that they can carry people.

Another aircraft under development, Santa Cruz, California-based Joby Aviation’s S2, looks more like a conventional plane except that there are 12 tiltrotors spread along the wings and tail. And some, like the Vahana, a cockpit mounted on a sled and flanked by propellers in front and back, don’t re-

www.canadianinquirer.net

ally look like any aircraft in the skies today.

“In terms of what you can make fly in a reliable manner, the solution speed gateway that (computer) chips have gone through recently have literally opened the door to a whole new world of flying machine possibilities,” said Charles Eastlake, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor emeritus of aerospace engineering.

But he also cautioned: “My best engineering guess is that people actually using autonomous air taxis in the next 10 or 15 years is possible, but definitely not certain. The challenges are big.”

Key for many of the designs will be the development of longerlasting lightweight batteries. Currently available batteries could probably keep an air taxi aloft about 15 to 30 minutes before it would have to land, experts said. Depending on how fast the aircraft flies, that probably isn’t quite enough to transport passengers between nearby cities or across metropolitan areas, experts said.

Another hurdle will be winning Federal Aviation Administration certification for any radical new kind of aircraft when approval of even small changes in aviation technology can take years.

The FAA said in a statement that it is taking a “flexible, open-minded, and risk-based approach” to flying cars. FAA officials have discussed with several manufacturers the cer-

tification of aircraft that will be flown with a pilot in the beginning, and later converted to an autonomous passenger aircraft.

While further research is needed to ensure that autonomous aircraft are safe, “we believe automation technology already being prototyped in lowrisk unmanned aircraft missions, when fully mature, could have a positive effect” on aviation safety,” the agency said.

Reducing noise is another challenge since air taxis will be taking off and landing in densely populated areas. So is creating enough landing pads to handle lots of aircraft at the same time. A new air traffic control system would also likely be needed.

“It’s pretty clear that the existing air traffic control system won’t scale to the kind of density at low altitudes that people are talking about,” said John Hansman, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who chairs the FAA’s research and engineering advisory committee.

NASA is developing an air traffic control system for small drones that perhaps could be expanded to include flying cars.

“There’s no question we can build the vehicle,” Hansman said. “The big challenge is whether we can build a vehicle that would be allowed to operate in the places where people want to use it.” ■ Associated Press videographer Rodrique Ngowi in Boston contributed to this report.

Lifestyle

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

27

The Horse and the Sheep could be led into extramarital affairs The Horse and the Sheep could be led into extramarital affairs

BY CATHY CAÑARES YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer NOT ALL persons who share an animal sign in the Chinese zodiac will have the same experiences in the lunar year, feng shui master Marites Allen asserts.

There is Heaven’s Luck consisting of the circumstances a person is born into, such as wealth and social standing and family genes.

There is also Man-made Luck which is the effort a person exerts to get what he desires.

There is Feng Shui Luckwhich can be gleaned from his animal signs (birth year, birth month, birth date and birth hour) and howhe deals with the energies and positions of the Flying Stars. This means a person with lucky stars in a lunar year would still not succeed if he is lazy or does not take advantage of the opportunities that come his way.

Allen, dubbed as “The Philippines’ Feng Shui Queen,” has provided a general outlook, based on a person’s year of birth, in the Year of the Fire Rooster: RAT There is no special affiliation between the Rat and the Rooster. Although there is windfall luck, 2017 will be an average year so the Rat should also be prepared for losses and damage.

Romance: Rooster years bring “Peach Blossom Luck” for the Rat, especially if he frequently attends happy celebrations such as weddings and birthdays. This year is good for a Rat’s wedding.

Wealth: Despite conflict with the Tai Sui star, the Rat can still make both ends meet this year but he must avoid borrowing money or gambling.

Health: Hectic day-to-day activities will leave the Rat burned out so he must create a balance between work and play to avoid health issues.

Career: Promotions and career growth are in the stars.

Best months: February, May,

July, September, November OX An exciting year due to affiliation with the Rooster. With plenty of opportunities for career growth comes the tendency to dwell on emotional weakness. Balance is the key.

Romance: Great news for love and career—intimate relationships. Love and romance are sure to flourish with no worries about interference. An excellent time to meet a new partner.

Marriage luck is highly possible for committed Oxen. Married ones can get pregnant this year.

Wealth: Grab unexpected opportunities as they come and try to save for untimely expenditures.

Health: Engage in activities to recharge energy and release tensions especially when mood swings occur.

Career: A good year to plan a new business. Unique opportunities abound for the hardworking.

Best months: March, April, May, July, September, December, January 2018 TIGER An average year but it would be good to take advantage of opportunities to learn a new skill.

Attend seminars and trainings or go back to school. Determination and focus are needed.

Romance: Very strong chances for love and romance.

Despite challenges, there are travel opportunities.

Wealth: A huge possibility of major financial losses either due to impulse purchases or risky investments. Master the art of self-control.

Health: No major health issues but it is possible that a recurring condition will rear its ugly head.

Career: Stiff competition in the workplace is due to jealousy and politicking. Be prepared and armed with good working skills. Villains are out to stain your reputation.

Best months: March, April, May, July, September, December, January 2018 RABBIT Hardships abound, so main-

tain good relations and stay grounded.

Be open to constructive criticism. Staying low key is the best strategy this year because things may not be as good as expected.

Romance: The Romance Star is on your side which could mean opportunities for travel, marriage, a baby or academic success. Unmarried ones could find good love prospect in the workplace or a social event. A Rabbit wedding is the best way to decrease negative energy.

Wealth: Be extra careful in dealing with people, lest financial losses happen. Avoid making risky investments.

Health: Rabbits are prone to accidents and illnesses during Rooster years. Donating blood or other means to help sick people would help.

Career: Those in the corporate realm could face transfers to new environments. Beware of relatives or friends borrowing money because they might not be able to repay you.

Best months: February, April, July, August, September, January 2018 Favorable blessings

DRAGON Favorable blessings all around. This is a good year with less worry. Best to take advantage of the gifts from auspicious stars.

Romance: Good mood prevails in marriage and family life. Married Dragons will enjoy bliss, peace, good fortune and improved wealth luck. The opportunity to be noticed could draw the single Dragon to his one true love.

Wealth: Finances will be very good. Those employed in a company could enjoy a promotion or increased income. Do not get into gambling and risky investments.

Health: Bad luck in health could bring that lingering cold or on-and-off fever. They may be minor discomforts but lingering symptoms could eventuwww.canadianinquirer.net

ally pose threat to health.

Career: Colleagues and bosses will take note of your abilities and reward you accordingly. But having your own business will double your luck in the wealth department.

Best months: April, May, June, August, October, December SNAKE A very busy year so learn to prioritize and do not make too many commitments. An opportunity to acquire more wealth is possible. Also a great chance for travel and more time with loved ones.

Romance: The Snake will feel like the luckiest person in the love department as he naturally attracts people. Opportunities for the single Snake to find the right one are very strong.

Wealth: Possible financial losses. Money may come from various sources but hovering bad luck may let hardearned cash slip right through your fingers. Do not spend on things beyond your means.

Health: Energy to spare means you would be willing to try new activities. Do not strain yourself lest injuries or accidents happen. Consider safety first.

Career: Snakes will be open to job relocation. But if you are under a lot of pressure, you will feel helpless.

Best months: March, May, August, September, October, December HORSE Horses will go into a lot of things that will leave them little time to enjoy life. Inauspicious stars are present so the Horse must be proactive, do things on his ownandmake the best out of a situation.

Romance: There will be conflicts in intimate relationships. Marriage or other deeply committed relationships could face challenges that could result in a major crisis. Married Horses should be careful not to get tempted to enter extramarital arrangements. Better to spend more time with family or friends.

Wealth: Good fortune and opportunities abound but finances could suffer because of a family member. Not a good year to seek loans or enter into major investments.

Health: Be vigilant because past health issues could recur.

Have regular check-ups. A family member or an elderly relative may require special attention.

Career: Think twice before moving to another job. A change of environment could be disastrous. Carefully study each opportunity before grabbing it. Learn to be a team player. There is no room for ❱❱ PAGE 28 The Horse

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Lifestyle

Blood and gore: Brussels asks how far street art can go

BY JUSTIN BERGMAN The Associated Press

It is almost as shocking to think they were painted on a few bitterly cold nights in Brussels while dangling down a rope BRUSSELS — A struggling child and staying out of sight of auwith a blade to his neck await- thorities. ing slaughter. A gutted body The mural depicting a hanging upside down as blood lynched De Witt brother can be seeps out. In Brussels these seen far and wide, including by days, it’s called street art — and hundreds of thousands of comnames far less flattering. muters on Belgium’s busiest “Hellish and awful,” Nicole stretch of railway.

Brisard grumbled as she walked Many art insiders suspect the her dog, Max, past the bleed- painter behind the murals is ing corpse rendered in paint the same one who created huge on seven stories of a low-rent frescoes of human genitalia a apartment building. “And all few months ago. we wish for is to The pubhave something lic outcry that better, out of greeted those respect for the in-your-face people.” anatomical parts The two muSo he actually may have inrals that apsays with these spired the artist peared last last two works to try again with weekend have that if you still a historic twist, made their anonthink these said Bjorn Van ymous artist the are shocking, Poucke, curator talk of the Euplease be of the Crystal ropean capital, aware that it Ship, a major Euposing a familiar is inspired by ropean street art question about two historical festival on the art expressly paintings over Belgian coast. created to pro400 years old.

“The artist is voke: how far can trying to give the it go before the public an answer outrage becomes to all of these unacceptable? people talking Both the wall painting elicit- in the press,” about the genital ing Brisard’s ire and the com- murals, Van Poucke said. “So panion mural across town of a he actually says with these last child facing death are oversized two works that if you still think adaptations of details from these are shocking, please be well-known 17th century art aware that it is inspired by two works, “The Corpses of the De historical paintings over 400 Witt Brothers” by Dutch mas- years old.” ter Jan de Baen and CaravagDespite the murals’ many gio’s “Sacrifice of Isaac.” critics, they also have attracted The originals, respectively attention due to the mystery of based on a historical, political the artist’s identity. Van Poucke murder and the Old Testament, said remaining anonymous is are held by Amsterdam’s Rijks- probably wise. What is art for museum and the equally hal- some is trespassing and abuslowed Uffizi in Florence. ing and damaging property for Some parents in the grimy, others, infractions that could gentrifying neighbourhood carry fines and other costs of up where the basketball court- to 25,000 euros ($25,000.) sized mural of Isaac howling in So even if they are strictly ilfear is located have complained legal, the murals do give the city that children are having trouble a certain amount of the street sleeping because of the terrify- cred it craves. Brussels wants to ing sight outside their windows. be “this creative, artistic, urban “Lots of parents would not city that people want to come like that,” Brussels alderwoman Ans Persoons said. ❱❱ PAGE 32 Blood and

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

The Horse... arrogance.

Best months: March, May, August, September, October, December ❰❰ 27

SHEEP Tremendous new opportunities in business, career and even relationships that could balance out the negativities in the environment. Everything will be fast-paced so there is no time for the Sheep to be idle and take his time.

Romance: You will have your hands full attending social events and parties. Casual pleasantries could lead to something deeper, which could lead married Sheep to fancy having an affair. The best thing is to keep your distance.

Avoiding flirtatious moves will prevent relationship crises and protect loved ones.

Wealth: Only a few lucky Sheep will be financially blessed. Bonuses or cash gifts are expected but keeping a tight budget will help the Sheep survive. Find other means to supplement the income.

Health: High levels of stress at work or home could deprive the Sheep of relaxation and lead to overfatigue, lack of sleep, improper diet, depression and anxiety. Worse, these could lead to hypertension, nervous disorders, diabetes and obesity, among other things. Spend more time doing things that uplift the mood.

Career: Inauspicious stars are threatening to rob the Sheep of luck. Those who belong to the corporate world will often feel overworked. Unexpected work-related problems could surface and add to the stress. Be flexible and motivated.

Best months: March, June, July, August, October and December Liberating time

MONKEY A liberating time as things improve. Blessings from an auspicious star will usher positive things for relationships, career and wealth aspects.

Romance: Expect harmony and positivity in personal relationships. A more active social life could lead to romantic relationships. Singles will have opportunities. Marriage and baby plans are possible for those in committed relationships.

Wealth: Stable finances are opportunities for increased www.canadianinquirer.net

income. Patience and determination can help solve challenges. Monkeys will have luck in sales and marketing. The goal should be to pay off all loans and save for the future this year.

Health: Issues will surface in the first half of the year. A very busy 2017 will bring pressure. Tensions are expected so the Monkey has to provide time to recover by engaging in relaxing activities.

Career: Improved relationships between colleagues and loved ones due to auspicious stars. But impaired judgment and impulsive ways might hurt luck and affect career development.

Best months: March, June, July, August, October, December Good fortune

ROOSTER Good fortune lands on those who are daring and resourceful.

The best time to recalculate options and try new ideas. Pursuit of plans will bring fulfillment.

More opportunities to socialize.

Romance: Roosters may experience an emotional crisis and become easily irritated, suspicious and moody. Marriage plans should be set next year due to an inauspicious star.

Wealth: Those with a stable income will reap financial gains from investments. But choosewhich oneswisely. Remain conservative with finances as any radical action could result in a downfall. Do not spend onwhat is not valuable.

Health: There might be motor- or traffic-related accidents or extreme sports mishaps.

Avoid engaging in dangerous activities especially on the road. These accidents could adversely affect loved ones.

Career: A sudden decision to move to another company or office would only bring more bad luck.

Best months: February, March, April, June, August, November, December, January 2018 DOG Juggling work and personal life will take a toll on personal interests and happiness. A great financial breakthrough could be a pleasant surprise.

Romance: There is good luck in attracting the opposite sex

especially for unattached female Dogs. Be careful though as this could ruin it for Dogs in existing relationships. Married females should be careful not to send the wrong signals because these would confuse the menwho are interested.

Wealth: Practice discipline in spending. This is a year for self-control and good financial management. Greed and the loss of one’s innate sense of goodness will jeopardize the ability to prosper.

Health: Expect to feel tired, down and restless which will result in lack of interest in activities. Anxiety and depression could lead to imaginary fears, affecting behavior. Start having daily physical activities.

Career: There will be opportunities to develop great work relationships. New sets of people will help in your promotion or career development.

Best months: February, March, May, July, October, November, December, January 2018 BOAR Good luck will help the Boar deal with difficulties in interpersonal relationships in the latter half of the year. But there is also the possibility of losing a family member due to a lingering illness.

Romance: Boars will have a hard time finding their match because potential partners don’t measure up to their ideals.

Wealth: Practice caution in making major investments.

Study and weigh the consequences before engaging in any major expenditure to avoid financial losses. Business owners must think twice before spending on new equipment or expansion.

Health: A digestive disorder could affect overall health.

Consider changing eating habits. Those traveling often should take more precaution when driving. They must thoroughly inspect the vehicle for road-worthiness.

Career: Learn to be humble and accept shortcomings. Find a way to resolve misunderstandings with superiors. Those employed should not consider moving to another department.

Best months: February, March, May, July, October, November, December, January 2018 ■

29

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

Sports Federer savors unexpected title over long time rival Nadal

BY JUSTIN BERGMAN The Associated Press MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA — Roger Federer always believed he had more Grand Slam titles left in him.

He just didn’t think it would happen like this, playing in his first tournament following a six-month injury layoff. Or against his biggest rival in the game, Rafael Nadal.

“I said that also before the finals: if I were to win against Rafa, it would be super special and very sweet because I haven’t beaten him in a Grand Slam final for a long, long time now,” Federer said after beating Nadal in the Australian Open final 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

A decade, to be exact. Federer’s last win over the Spaniard in a major final came at Wimbledon in 2007. Nadal had beaten him in four consecutive slam finals since then.

Both Federer and Nadal also didn’t expect to be in this position at the Australian Open, coming off long layoffs last season to recover from injuries.

Federer has rarely missed significant stretches with injuries throughout his career. This is the man, after all, who played in a record 65 consecutive Grand Slams — a streak that was broken when he withdrew

from last year’s French Open with a back injury.

In recent years, however, he’s acknowledged making mistakes by playing through pain instead of taking time off to heal.

Last year, he did things differently — he took an extended break for the first time. And after six months off to fully heal his knee, he came back stronger than ever.

“What I’ve just come to realize is when you don’t feel well, you have too many problems going on, you just won’t beat top-10 players,” Federer said after his semifinal win over Stan Wawrinka.

“That’s where both, I guess, Rafa and myself said, ‘OK, enough of this already. Let’s get back to 100 per cent, enjoy tennis again, enjoy the practice.”‘ Hoisting his first major trophy in five years, Federer is certainly enjoying the tennis again.

Here is what else we learned from the 2017 Australian Open:

who holds the record for most major titles? She doesn’t know, and doesn’t want to talk about it yet. The elusive calendar year Grand Slam? “I don’t think about that either,” she said.

“Just one at a time.”

three women to reach the final four in Melbourne in the Open era. The old guard did well on the men’s side, with 30-somethings Federer, Nadal and Stan Wawrinka all making the semis, too.

Serena’s next goal?

The 30-fun factor

Djokovic’s slide

Serena Williams felt like it took a “really long time” to win her 23rd Grand Slam title and break her tie with Steffi Graf on the all-time major winner list, so she wants to enjoy the victory and not look ahead. How about winning No. 24 and pulling even with Margaret Court,

Grand Slam since 2008. And he was tight-lipped afterward, too.

Asked what he takes away from the loss, he responded: “Take my bags and I go home.”

Second chances

Roger Federer.

Serena proved it’s possible to keep winning majors at 35 — or as she likes to call it, “30-fun.”

Indeed, the 30-somethings were having fun at the Australian Open this year. Venus Williams, 36, and Mirjana LucicBaroni, 34, joined Serena in the semifinals, becoming the oldest

NEALE COUSLAND / SHUTTERSTOCK, INC.

Novak Djokovic hasn’t been himself since capturing last year’s French Open. Just what’s bothering him, though, remains unclear. The six-time champion seemed to lack intensity in his defeat to Uzbek wild card Denis Istomin in the second round, his earliest loss at a

It was the slam for heartwarming comeback stories. Lucic-Baroni had Rod Laver Arena in tears with her emotional interview after returning to the semifinals of a slam for the first time in 18 years. Mischa Zverev, not his highly touted brother Alexander, pulled off one of the biggest upsets, stunning No. 1 Andy Murray. And then there’s Venus Williams, back in an Australian Open final after 14 years. “She’s my inspiration,” sister Serena said. Few could disagree.

Young Americans

There was much to be excited about for American tennis fans.

Nine American men advanced to the second round — the most since 2008 — including promising young players Frances Tiafoe, Ernesto Escobedo and Noah Rubin. On the women’s side, CoCo Vandeweghe had the tournament of her life, upsetting former major winners Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza and reaching her first slam semifinal. In a postWilliams world, the future certainly looks bright. ■

Tenorio explodes to bring Ginebra to quarterfinals PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY MANILA — Ginebra crawled back from 17 points down to clinch the seventh PBA Philippine Cup quarterfinal spot via a 90-80 win over NLEX at the Cuneta Astrodome on Sunday night.

LA Tenorio tallied a conference-high 30 markers to lead the Barangay, who appeared to

be heading to a blowout upset loss to the Road Warriors early on.

NLEX opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 37-20 lead.

But Ginebra finished the period on a 12-0 run of its own to cut the lead to four, 46-42, at halftime.

The rally continued in the second half and eventually took the lead for good, stretching it to as much as 15, 85-70, in the

fourth quarter.

The Road Warriors tried to mount a comeback, cutting the lead down to seven, 87-80, but they failed to score in the last two minutes of the game, letting the Barangay escape.

Tenorio came close to a double-double as he grabbed nine rebounds while dishing four assists and getting three steals.

Joe Devance also flirted with a double-double with 19 points and eight rebounds with six aswww.canadianinquirer.net

sists and one block.

Scottie Thompson even came near a triple-double after tallying 11 points, eight rebounds, and nine assists with two steals.

Kevin Alas and Enrico Villanueva each tallied 14 points for NLEX, which finished its stint in the conference at 2-9.

The latter highlighted his vintage performance with two blocks alongside three rebounds and one steal.

Box Scores

Ginebra 90-Tenorio 30, Devance 19, Mercado 13, Thompson 11, Aguilar 7, Marcelo 4, Ellis 2, Taha 2, Cruz 2, Ferrer 0, Caguioa 0 NLEX 80-Alas 14, E. Villanueva 14, Guinto 10, Lanete 8, Lastimosa 7, J. Villanueva 7, Khobuntin 7, Taulava 6, Rios 5, Camson 2, Gotladera 0, Baracael 0 Quarterscores: 20-28, 42-46, 72-64, 90-80 ■

30

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

Business Should you borrow to invest in your RRSP?

BY SAMANTHA PRASAD THE DEADLINE for 2016 contributions to your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is March 1, 2017, so you don’t have much time to make a decision. Those who wait to the last minute instead of contributing regularly through the year often skip the contribution because they can’t find the funds, but that need not be the case. Last time, I suggested looking at contributions in kind or retiring allowances as sources for funds. But there are also other options to consider, including borrowing the money and reducing source deductions.

Should you borrow to make an RRSP contribution?

Borrowing to invest in an RRSP might seem counterintuitive to most people. Why not use the funds to pay down your mortgage instead? When you think about it, though, by making an RRSP contribution instead of paying down your mortgage, you are in effect borrowing to contribute to your RRSP – that is, by leaving your mortgage outstanding.

So borrowing may make sense if you think you can make a bet-

ter return on your RRSP than the interest you pay, especially if you expect your tax bracket to drop when you retire (this includes borrowing to make a catch-up contribution). In figuring whether your tax bracket will drop after retirement, watch out for hidden taxes, such as Old Age Security and other items that are subject to “clawbacks” as income increases.

Although there is something to be said for borrowing to contribute, it is not necessarily at the top of my list. Yet the big marketing push by some financial institutions at this time of the year would lead you to believe that it’s a no brainer. But much of that advertising focuses on your short term-position – leaving out the tail-end tax effects of the RRSP loan gambit, thus conveniently omitting the biggest downside of the strategy.

The bottom line is that while this may not be a bad idea if you can pay down your loan in the not-too-distant future, longerterm loans may not make much financial sense unless you are

confident you can sustainably earn more on your investments than your

ongoing interest charge.

As this generally rules out interest-bearing investments, it means you’re levering yourself up in the hope that your mutual fund or equity returns will defray your interest charges, and then some. But as we know, equity investments are getting up there on the risk scale – particularly if levered. By levering your RRSP nest egg on a longterm basis, you’re betting the farm, which is usually not a good strategy.

Slash your source deductions

Another source of cash for

R R S P contributions could be the source deductions withheld on your paycheque. Many people regularly get tax refunds because of deductions such as support payments, carrying charges on investments, and so on. While this may give you a good feeling when you file your tax return, the truth is that you have really been lending the government your money on an interest-free basis. In fact, by the time you get your refund, the Canada Revenue Agency might have had the use of your money for up to a year and a half — money that could come in handy this time of year to pay for holiday spending, winter vacations, and the like.

If you’re in this situation,

simply fill out Form T1213, which can be found on the Canada Revenue Agency website, and file it with the Client Services Division of your local CRA Tax Services Office. If the feds approve your request, they will notify you in writing, which will take four to eight weeks (note that the CRA will most likely not approve your request if you owe tax or have a tax return that is overdue for filing). Once you receive written notification, present it to your employer, who should then reduce withholding tax accordingly.

You usually have to file this request every year. However, if you have deductible support payments that are the same or greater for more than one year, you can make this request for two years.

Most tax offices are quite cooperative when it comes to this procedure. According to the CRA, there is no specific minimum amount below which they will not consider an application. (Occasionally, the personal exemptions on which your source deductions are partly ❱❱ PAGE 32 Should you

What businesses will have fantastic luck Those that use fire or bear metal elements face good prospects

BY CATHY CAÑARES YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer INDUSTRIES THAT use fire or have elements that exhibit its characteristics will have “fantastic luck” this year, according to feng shui master Marites Allen.

Foremost would be the food industry, specifically restaurants and food processing.

Businesses involved in fuel,

gas, oil, petroleum, solar energy, electricity, lasers, lighting, movie productions, entertainment “or anything that utilizes heat or light” will also be successful this year, she added.

Metal industries have “excellent prospects,” Allen said. “The Metal element is the strongest and the most dominant in 2017.

This bodes well for the finance and banking sectors,” she added. Other businesses that use metal are car manufacturing,

hardware, moulding, mechanical engineering, the technology industry, architectural firms and mining. Allen included government offices in this group. Water industries such as marine and naval businesses, aquarium makers, cold beverages, tourism and travel, air-conditioning manufacturers, transportation, cleaning services, healing businesses, the beauty industry, spas, shipping and hauling “will www.canadianinquirer.net

do well,” Allen said.

Wood industries such as agriculture, carpentry, fashion, textiles, publications, gardening, office supplies and floral businesses will have “limited prospects.”

Earth industries such as pawnshops, ceramics, marble, pottery, landfill and recycling, storage, constructions, real estate and “anything to do with earth, soil and land like car parks and rentals will be heav-

ily challenged,” the feng shui master said.

Reading the stars, Allen said: “Wood is scarce and is being attacked by Metal (from) all directions, which symbolizes fear and suggests cash flow problems.”

She added that the Metal element will be negatively affected by the Rooster’s fire so expect “another year when destruction and strong competition will be a mind-set for all.” ■

Business

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

31

2017 growth hinges Canadian tech community on infra spending issues call for visas for people displaced by Trump

BY DORIS DUMLAOABADILLA Philippine Daily Inquirer

tance inflows increase amid the stronger US dollar. The agri (agriculture) sector, a drag to GDP growth on the supply side, is seen to recover this year, while AFTER A presidential election the industry and services sector year, the Philippine economy is will continue to post positive seen to expand at a slower but expansions,” she said. still robust pace that will enable With a budget deficit cap of 3 it to outperform most of its re- percent of GDP this year and an gional peers this year. economy buoyed by strong conThe country’s gross domestic sumer and business sentiment, product (GDP) growth this year HSBC economist Joseph Incalis seen to grow by 6.3 percent, caterra said economic growth easing from last year’s full-year would likely remain resilient growth of 6.8 percent, based at 6.5 percent this year through on market consensus. Because 2018. the fourth quarter GDP growth ING economist for Asia Tim came in just within expecta- Condon said the Philippines tions at 6.6 percent, there was would retain the top growth no upgrade just yet in most in- spot this year if the governstitutions’ 2017 forecasts, espe- ment’s growth forecast of 6.5cially in the light 7.5 percent were of the continuing to materialize. uncertainties in ING, for its part, and challenges to sees the Philipthe global econopines growing at my, and the ab6.2 percent this sence of extraorThe plans year, close to the dinary spending for massive consensus forethat boosted last infrastructure cast of 6.3 peryear’s output. spending by cent.

“The solid the Duterte Based on conperformance of administration sensus forecast, the Philippine is seen to Condon said that economy in 2016 further boost only China was highlights the investment expected to outcountry’s sound spending pace the Philipfundamentals growth. pines’ growth. even amid the Forecasts point highly volatile to China growing global economy by 6.4 percent last year,” said this year.

Metropolitan Japanese inBank and Trust Co. research vestment house Nomura exanalyst May Ann Revillas in a pects the Philippine GDP to research note issued on Thurs- come in at 6.3 percent this year day. but it sees potential for upside “The plans for massive in- surprise. frastructure spending by the While the fourth quarter Duterte administration is year-on-year GDP growth was seen to further boost invest- within consensus at 6.6 percent, ment spending growth. The Nomura said that on a quartersustained expansion in Invest- on-quarter seasonally adjusted ment spending is expected to basis, growth picked up to 1.7 shield the domestic economy percent from 1.5 percent in the from negative externalities and third quarter, “which implies form the backbone for a more a momentum gain after an alinclusive growth,” Revillas said. ready stellar third quarter.”

Revillas said that for 2017, The contribution from doMetrobank’s full-year project- mestic demand remained solid ed average range of 6.5-7.5 per- at 9.6 percentage points (pp), cent was largely hinged on the although this was lower than realization of the government’s the average 11.7 pp contribuinfrastructure spending plans. tion in the first three quarters, “Consumption spending will which reflected a boost from still be positive as the value of election-related spending, Nooverseas Filipino worker remit- mura said. ■

BY ROB DRINKWATER AND ALEXANDER PANETTA The Canadian Press WATERLOO, ONT. — An open letter signed by members of Canada’s tech community is calling for the federal government to offer visas to people whose lives have been left in limbo because of U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration ban.

The letter is organized by the group Tech Without Borders and it praises Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s message that Canada will remain inclusive to all nationalities.

But the letter calls for further action, and requests a visa that would allow displaced people to live and work in Canada, with access to benefits until they can complete the application process for permanent residency, if they choose.

Jennifer Moss, who cofounded a tech company based in Waterloo, Ont., and speaks for Tech Without Borders, said the visa could help people who work in the tech sector in the U.S. but can’t get back to their jobs.

The group said the letter has been signed by senior Canadian leaders at Shopify, Google and Facebook.

“If you’re not interested in keeping people that are extremely talented, intelligent, brilliant minds from all around the world, and turning them away at the borders, we’re happy to take those people in our country,” Moss said about the immigration order, which blocks people who hold passports from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said the Canadian government has been getting clarification from the U.S. about the new policy, and will monitor developments before making decisions on actions such as visas.

“We have always been welcome to those coming to Canada to add their skills to our economy and to our society,” Hussen told a news conference www.canadianinquirer.net

The letter calls for further action, and requests a visa that would allow displaced people to live and work in Canada, with access to benefits until they can complete the application process for permanent residency, if they choose.

on Sunday.

There is already evidence that some tech workers are interested in coming to Canada.

One Canadian tech entrepreneur, Kaz Nejatian, said he received over 50 CVs overnight Saturday after he put out a call on social media looking for people affected by Trump’s travel ban.

He’s forwarding them to the CEOs of Canadian companies, and said he’s chatted with 14 of them about hiring workers hurt by the policy. Google has reportedly sent an internal email saying 187 of its employees were stranded by the order.

“Many of these people cannot get back into the United States.

These are people with homes in the United States, with jobs in the United States, with cars in the United States, who have been security-checked and approved by the U.S. government,” said Nejatian, who splits his time between Toronto and San Francisco, where he has an office for his retail-services application Kash.

“Some have been stranded at the border. I just said, ‘Hey, look, there are lots of Canadian tech companies looking to hire. Let me see if I can connect them.”‘ Mark Organ, founder and CEO of Influitive, a Torontobased marketing software firm with 150 employees, said even if Trump reverses the policy completely, the damage has already been done. His company

recently hired a new director from India who opted to come to Toronto instead of accepting offers in the U.S., and has been receiving applications from Canadians in Silicon Valley who want to come home.

“The current situation is anything but stable, and I expect that the steady flow of talent coming to the technology centres in Canada will become a flood,” Organ said in an email.

The U.S. State Department initially said the ban applied to dual citizens, but the Canadian government declared later that it had received a guarantee from Trump’s national security advisor that Canadians would be spared.

For Nejatian, who was born in Iran, it was a confusing weekend of mixed messages and he said he’s awaiting clearer written instructions.

He said this could be a golden opportunity for Canada. A former federal immigration official who worked for former minister Jason Kenney, Nejatian said successive federal governments have spent years trying to attract smart high-tech talent.

“We’re conservative on immigration issues. We believe in secure borders. But there’s an opportunity here for Canada to take advantage of, if the U.S. is closing up. And there’s lots of smart people who will want to start companies. There’s no reason those companies can’t be started in Canada.” ■

32

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

Technology Uber CEO challenged for Trump connection after immigrant ban

BY JOSH BOAK The Associated Press WASHINGTON — Uber found itself in hot water on two fronts related to President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on immigrants from seven Muslimmajority countries: for allegedly exploiting a taxi protest against the ban and for CEO Travis Kalanick’s relationship with Trump.

Kalanick said in a Facebook post that the 90-day ban could hurt “thousands” of Uber drivers and he will raise his concerns directly with the president during a Friday business advisory group meeting in Washington. But the co-founder of the ride-sharing service is being criticized for agreeing to sit on the advisory panel. Twitter users are encouraging riders to #DeleteUber.

Kalanick defended his participation on Trump’s panel in his

Saturday Facebook post, saying he joined out of the “belief that by speaking up and engaging we can make a difference.”

On Sunday, Kalanick said he was emailing Uber drivers telling them he would “urge the government to reinstate the right of U.S. residents to travel — whatever their country of origin — immediately.”

Uber also was criticized for charging less than it could at JFK Airport in New York City as taxi drivers had halted service for an hour on Saturday to protest the ban. The move was perceived of by some on social media as an effort to profit off the protests as more passengers would need to seek alternatives to cabs. But the company said on Twitter that it had not “meant to break the strike.”

Trump’s business advisory group was announced in December as a “strategic and policy forum” that would share its views on “how govern-

Blood and... and visit of course,” Persoons said.

But the complaints keep pouring in.

“Some people say, ‘Yeah, it really has to stay,’ but then you ask them ‘What would you think if you had the same violent image in front of the school of your children or in front of the bedroom of your children?’ and they say “Ooh, I would not like it,’” she said. “And that makes it interesting art.” ❰❰ 28

ment policy impacts economic growth, job creation and productivity.” Chaired by Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the investment firm Blackstone, its listed members also include the heads of Disney, Wal-Mart, IBM and Tesla.

Immigration policy will likely be a dominant theme at the Friday meeting for the advisory group.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk asked his 6.9 million Twitter followers on Sunday to read Trump’s order on the temporary ban and then send the entrepreneur “specific amendments” that the panel could present by consensus to the president.

Kalanick has said the company will find a way to compensate and provide legal support to Uber drivers who are stuck overseas for the next three months because they cannot return to the U.S. The company also has said it would create a $3 million legal defence fund to

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.

JOE SEER / SHUTTERSTOCK, INC.

help drivers with immigration and translation services.

Trump aides, appearing to reverse course, said on Sunday that citizens of the banned countries who hold permanent U.S. residency “green cards” will not be barred from re-entering the country.

Rival ride-sharing company

Lyft responded by saying it will donate $1 million over the next four years to the American Civil Liberties Union, which successfully requested an emergency order approved by a federal judge Saturday that temporarily bars the U.S. from deporting people from the countries subject to Trump’s travel ban. ■

will compound tax-sheltered sooner rather than later.

One word of warning, though.

If your refund is based on something you don’t want the feds looking at, you may want to think twice before you apply for a source-deduction cut. It is possible that your application could result in scrutiny of the items on which your claim is based. So if you are making aggressive claims, it may be best to leave well enough alone.

Consider an advance on your inheritances

Should you...

Caught between the love of art and the concerns of citizens, Persoons favours keeping them on show. “For now on we are going to let it be,” she said.

Brisard took another look at De Witt and disagreed.

“The mentality of madmen,” she scoffed before walking off with Max. ■ AP Video Journalist Mark D. Carlson contributed to this article.

based may change. If so, you should fill out Form TD1 with the revised exemptions and give it to your employer who will adjust your source deductions in accordance with the revised information – in this case, CRA approval is not required.)

One item that may get you a source-deduction slash is an early RRSP contribution for 2016. Contributing early in the year also means your earnings ❰❰ 30

www.canadianinquirer.net

It’s worth noting what you should do if you receive an advance on an inheritance as a gift rather than a loan, and you are married when this occurs.

If this is the case, the advance should be documented, so that the gift, and subsequent income earned on it, are not subject to a spousal claim in the event of marital difficulties. ■

Technology

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

33

Diversity in tech: Lots of attention, little progress

BY BARBARA ORTUTAY The Associated Press NEW YORK — The tech industry brought us self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and 3-D printers. But when it comes to racial and gender diversity, its leading companies are no trailblazers.

Despite loudly touted efforts to hire more blacks, Latinos and women, especially in technical and leadership positions, diversity numbers at the largest tech companies are barely budging.

In 2014, 2 per cent of Googlers were black and 3 per cent were Hispanic, numbers that have not changed since. The picture is similar at Facebook and Twitter . Microsoft is slightly more racially diverse (though not when it comes to gender) and Apple even more so, though still not reflective of the U.S. population. Amazon is more racially diverse still, although it counts a large, lower-wage warehouse workforce in its totals.

Women, meanwhile, make up less than a third of the workforce at many companies — even less in engineering and other technical jobs.

Tech companies themselves tend to blame a “pipeline problem,” meaning a shortage of women and minorities with technical qualifications. But a number of academic experts, industry employees and diversity advocates say there’s a bigger problem. Silicon Valley, they argue, has failed to challenge its own unstated assumptions about what makes for great tech employees.

“The people who are doing the hiring are not changing their thinking around what they view as qualified,” says Leslie Miley, engineering director at the message-service startup Slack. Hiring managers, he says, spend too much time worrying that applicants who don’t fit techie stereotypes aren’t “Google-y enough or Facebook-y enough or Apple-y enough or Twitter-y enough.”

Miley, who is African-American, previously worked as an engineer at Twitter, Apple, Google and Yahoo.

The industry is trying

Companies are spending a lot

of time and money on improving diversity. Two years ago, Intel splashily set itself the goal of achieving full representation in its workforce by 2020. Despite committing $300 million to the effort and making some early progress , Intel acknowledges there is “a great deal of work to be done.”

Similar programs are in place throughout the industry, from outreach at high schools and historically black colleges to internship and mentoring programs and sponsorships for coding boot camps. So far, to Silicon Valley startups like to talk about “culture fit” — in theory, the question of little avail.

Why? Interviews with more whether a job candidate’s attitude and behaviour meshes well with a company. than 30 tech workers, executives and diversity advocates filters that contorted facial At Intel, fewer than 5 per cent suggest the blame lies with subfeatures into bucktoothed of hires were black and 8 per tle biases in hiring, unwelcomAsian caricatures or black- cent were Hispanic. Numbers ing work environments and a face. One was later with- at other tech companies are paucity of diverse role models drawn after public outcry. comparable. in top positions.

The other “expired,” and the Major tech companies have Aniyia Williams, founder company said it won’t put it a long tradition of hiring apand CEO of the startup Tinsel, back into circulation. plicants from top-tier universays companies should focus on • Airbnb initially took no steps sities — and those universitheir own culture rather than to prevent hosts from dis- ties also have a problem with blaming external factors they criminating against guests diversity, even if they’re doing can’t control, such as limited whose profile photos showed slightly better than the compacomputer-science education they were black. The practice nies. Some minority applicants, in U.S. schools. It’s not enough was corrected after an outcry. meanwhile, earn their computto release diversity reports and • Twitter took nearly a decade er-science chops through comsay, “Oh, not a lot has changed, to tackle the harassment of munity colleges or coding boot but it’s the world, not us that’s women and minorities on its camps instead — places often the problem,” she says. service. overlooked by recruiters.

Williams, who is AfricanIn a New York Times opinThe few minorities hired into American, says she has made ion piece, Microsoft researcher big tech companies can often sure to hire women as well as Kate Crawford urged compa- feel alienated in overwhelmunderrepresentingly white ed minorities. (and sometimes Tinsel makes Asian) environtech jewelry tarments. Unsurgeted at women.

They can’t help wondering if they prisingly, they would be taken “more seriously” if are sometimes Why it matters they were whiter and male, Williams reluctant to recDiversity isn’t says. ommend their just about fairemployer to ness. It’s about friends, classhaving designers mates and forwho reflect the mer colleagues, diversity of the people they are nies working on artificial in- furthering the cycle of underdesigning for. For tech compa- telligence to address diversity, representation, Williams and nies hoping to reach millions warning that otherwise “we will others say. or billions of users, a lack of di- see ingrained forms of bias built versity could mean their prod- into the artificial intelligence of When the culture doesn’t fit ucts “will not appeal to a large the future.”

Silicon Valley startups like population,” says Lillian Cassel, to talk about “culture fit” — in chairwoman of computer sci- Into the pipeline theory, the question of whether ences at Villanova University.

Some 11 per cent of computer a job candidate’s attitude and Diverse perspectives can also science graduates were black behaviour meshes well with a help prevent grievous errors — and 9 per cent were Hispanic company. In practice, though, such as a problem that arose at in the 2013-14 school year, ac- it can mean that since a lot of Google in 2015, when a photo- cording to the latest data from people are white and male, they recognition feature misidenti- the U.S. Department of Edu- “hire what they know,” says fied black faces as gorillas. cation. Yet only 4 per cent of Dave McClure, a prominent anSome related missteps: Google’s 2015 hires were black, gel investor in Silicon Valley.

• Snapchat released two photo and 3 per cent were Hispanic.

Larger companies such as www.canadianinquirer.net

Facebook publicly eschew discussions of “fit,” although the notion can unwittingly seep into hiring practices. For example, a 2013 study found that words used in engineering and programming job listings could serve to discourage women from applying. Words like “competitive,” “dominant” and “leader,” can make a job seem less appealing to women in a field that is already maledominated.

Some companies, including Facebook, offer training on “unconscious bias” to combat the problem. But they don’t make such training mandatory for all employees.

And once hired, people can get lost in the shuffle given the lack of role models and mentors in higher ranks — and thus find it difficult to advance.

At many places, women and minorities face constant questions about their technical knowledge. They can’t help wondering if they would be taken “more seriously” if they were whiter and male, Williams says.

Making change happen

Nancy Lee, the Google official in charge of diversity efforts, says the gorilla face-recognition incident was a “wake-up call” for the company.

“We need to include all voices from a multitude of backgrounds and experiences (when it comes to the) technology we create,” she says. “We firmly believe that good ideas don’t come out of echo chambers.”

Lee says things are getting better, slowly, but that it can be “demoralizing” to those working on diversity issues to be pressured to do things quickly.

“We want to solve this for the long haul,” she says.

But Miley, the former Twitter and Google engineer, can’t understand why diversifying the industry’s workforce “seems to be such an intractable problem.”

“I wonder if it is coming up against...the deep-seated belief that the people in these organizations are special and they want to keep out people who are not special,” he says. “In our country, increasingly the people who are not special are the people who are underprivileged.” ■

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

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35

Travel Zamboanga’s pink sand beach in National Geographic’s list of best beaches

BY AZER N. PARROCHA Philippines News Agency MANILA — US magazine National Geographic has listed the pink sand beach in the Great Santa Cruz Island in Zamboanga as among the best beaches in the world.

“Hardly lacking in gorgeous beaches, the Philippines claims a pink-sand variety, too,” an article by National Geographic writer Kimberley Lovato read.

Lovato cited how the beach claimed to fame for its “blush color” which “comes from billions of pieces of crushed red organ-pipe coral, seen in every handful of sand.”

She also pointed out that the number of visitors to the island is regulated, and suggested readers who want to see the island for themselves that they should make advanced arrangements through the tourist office in Zamboanga.

Last December, Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Wanda Teo visited the island to see the pink sand beach for herself and assure tourists that tourism in the Zamboanga Peninsula is safe regardless of the old stigma attached to its name.

PNA

“I personally came here because I want people to know that because ‘the Secretary of Tourism was here’, the more they should come here. I would like to show the world that Zamboanga is safe,” Teo said.

Teo, meanwhile, vowed to spearhead efforts to develop the island seeking funding from an agency that used to handle operate it—Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority

(TIEZA).

The island is a 3,425-hectare marine reserve which is believed to be bigger than the country’s 24/7 party island, Boracay. It used to be operated by the TIEZA until it was turned over to the Zamboanga City government in 2011.

Other islands on National Geographic’s best beaches in the world list include: • Playa del Amor in Marieta Islands, Mexico

• Cathedrals Beach, Ribadeo, Spain • Anse Source d’Argent, La Digue, Seychelles • One Foot Island, Aitutaki, Cook Islands • Sunset Beach, Brunswick Islands, North Carolina • Lazy Beach, Koh Rong Island, Cambodia • Bowman’s Beach, Sanibel Island, Florida • Shell Beach, Shark Bay, Western Australia • Lyme Regis, England • Cannon Beach, Oregon • Carmel City Beach, Carme-by-theSea, California • Noordwjk Beach, The Netherlands • Papakolea Beach, Hawaii • Reynisfjara Beach, Iceland • Pink Beach, Great Santa Cruz Island, Zamboanga, Philippines • Pelican Beach, South Water Caye, Belize • Blue Bay, Mauritius • Cas Abao Beach, Curacao • Sleeping Bear Point, Sleeping Bear Dunes, Michigan • Piscinas Beach, Arbus, Sardinia • Corniche Beach, La Teste-De-Buch, France ■

DOT: Bicol among PHL’s top five tourist destinations

BY RHAYDZ B. BARCIA Philippines News Agency LEGAZPI CITY — A top official of the Department of Tourism (DOT) in Bicol said the Bicol Region has emerged as one of the top five tourist destinations in the country compared to its “sluggish” performance during the early ‘90s.

“Bicol is now a promising and rosy tourist destination compared to the other areas in the country as the number of visiting tourists, particularly foreign tourists, has tremendously increased annually, said Maria O. Ravanilla, DOTBicol director.

She said the region has been attracting more foreign and domestic tourists as shown by the latest records of the agency.

DOT-Bicol records showed that domestic and foreign tourist arrivals in all the six Bicol provinces and six cities

in the region, that were recorded from January to June 2016, increased by 26.6 percent compared to the same period in 2015.

The total number of combined domestic and foreign tourists was 2,202,003 million from January to June 2015, while for the same period, the total arrivals in the region was 2,787,719 million.

In the first half of 2016, Camarines Sur, which is famous for its Caramoan group of islands, recorded the most number of combined domestic and foreign tourist arrivals with 613,062 in 2016. Albay which is known for the majestic Mayon Volcano was second with 352,483 arrivals.

Camarines Norte which has become known for its powdery white sand beaches such as Bagasbas Beach and the Calaguas Group of Islands, was third with 249,988 arrivals during the first half of 2016.

The records showed that for the same period, Catanduanes had 105,557 tourist arrivals, Sorsogon — 86,735 and Masbate — 40,651.

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Among the five Bicol cities that include Legazpi City, Naga City, Iriga ❱❱ PAGE 36 DOT: Bicol among

36

Travel

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

Historic San Juan ranger cabins opening to public THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DOLORES, COLO. — Two historic U.S. Forest Service outposts in southwestern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains should be ready for public use by summer 2018.

The Cortez Journal reports that it took nearly a decade to get the former ranger housing near Mancos and Dolores ready for public use.

Tom Rice, recreation staff officer for the U.S. Forest Service’s Dolores district, said after years of renovations, the agency is ready to find a contractor to operate the outposts as rentals.

“One of my goals is to get the rental program going so they don’t melt back into the forest,” Rice said. “It’s an important part of forest history.”

The Aspen Guard Station, at 9,200 feet in the Mancos Valley, was built by the Civilian Con-

servation Corps nearly 80 years ago, and over the years, it has housed rangers and work crews.

In 1995, the Forest Service began using the cabin as part of an artist-in-residency program for nearly 15 summers, with painters, poets, writers, historians — to name a few of the eclectic users — taking advantage of the isolated location.

Soon after, the service received Recovery Act funding, which was able to cover the cost of installing a safer groundwater well, among other muchneeded fixes.

The Glade Guard Station, which includes an early 20thcentury ranger house, a barn and a couple other structures, had fallen into complete disrepair, members of the renovation team said in 2009.

“When I saw the buildings the first time, they were in terrible condition,” Rich Hildebrand, a

Boracay welcomes first cruise ship for this year PHILIPPINES NEWS AGENCY

Cagban Port.

Ati-atihan dancers also entertained the guests during their arrival at the port.

BORACAY ISLAND, AKLAN The cruise passengers have — This resort island welcomed the option to experience island passengers and crews of MS hopping tour, a visit in different Seabourn Sojourn, the first sites in the island or to just enluxury cruise ship to dock here joy the beach. this year.

For their send-off, a rondalya Visiting for presentation will the third time, entertain the MS Seabourn cruise passenSojourn carried gers.

436 cruise pasMS Seabourn After Boracay, sengers comSojourn carried the cruise ship posed of Euro436 cruise will sail to Mapean, British and passengers nila and PalaAmericans; and composed of wan.

320 crew memEuropean, British The cruise bers. and Americans... ship also docked The cruise in Hundred Isship started to lands in Pangasdock in Boracay inan prior to its at 10 a.m. SaturBoracay visit. day. They will stay in the island After the Philippines, it will until 6 p.m. sail to its final destination, The passengers were wel- which is Kota Kinabalu in Macomed by representatives from laysia. the Department of TourismAt least 15 cruise ships are Boracay and from the local gov- scheduled to visit Boracay this ernment and tour operators at year. ■

from the nearest paved road.

In the mid-1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps built a camp next to the original guard station, constructing a woodshed and outhouse, which both stand today.

However, the ranger’s residence was moved to Dolores, and while the guard station remained as a work centre in the

1970s, it fell victim to weather and vandalism over the years.

A three-year project to renovate the site ended in 2011.

Since, the two outposts have laid dormant. The Forest Service said last year it intended to find a contractor, but that effort was delayed, Rice said.

Regardless, he expects the two guard stations to be popular destinations because of the surrounding outdoor opportunities, such as hiking and motorized uses.

The two guard stations have a capacity for about 12 visitors — five at Glade and about seven at Aspen. Revenue from tourism will help pay for long-term maintenance of the buildings and should deter vandalism, Rice said.

He said there’s also a push to list the two guard stations on the National Register of Historic Places. ■

have been working together to build more infrastructure projects to be able to create new tourism hubs.

She cited that among the five Bicol cities, Legazpi City posted the highest growth rate of 27.7 percent of combined foreign and domestic tourist arrivals in the first half of 2016, compared to the first half of 2015.

Legazpi City recorded 569,527 total arrivals compared to total tourist arrivals of 445,867 for the same period in 2015.

“Naga City followed with a 16.47 percent growth rate for the two periods, with 560,586 arrivals for the first half of 2016, compared to 481,304 arrivals for the same period in 2015.

Ravanilla said the Legazpi City government under Mayor Noel Rosal has “fast tracked” the construction of a coastal road known as the 4.08-kilometer Legazpi City Boulevard.

“The boulevard, which passes through barangays (villages) Victory, Dapdap, Puro and Lamba, contributed to boosting such growth rate,” she said.

Barangay Lamba in Legazpi City connects to the Bicol International Airport in Barangay Alobo, Daraga. The groundbreaking of the new airport was attended by President Rodrigo

Duterte early in December 2015.

Ravanilla said this has meant more jobs, investments and more tourists for the Bicol region as a whole.

“This coastal road now serves as an alternate route to decongest traffic jam from the city proper and likewise provides commuters safe access and easy transport of their marine, livestock and agricultural products to the city’s newly built commercial centers,” she said.

Ravanilla said foreign investors are now eyeing Legazpi as the “most promising business and ecotourism hub in the country.”

She added that in the six provinces in the Bicol region, local government officials, from congressmen, to governors and mayors, have been working together to make tourism a vibrant industry in the region.

DOT-Bicol has acknowledged the private sector, specifically Bicolano business tycoon Elizaldy S. Co, chief executive officer of the Sunwest Group of Companies, who has been putting in more investments in Bicol, particularly in Albay province, so that new corridors could be developed along the coastal and upland areas of Legazpi. ■

Colorado’s San Juan Mountains.

member of the National Smokejumpers Association crew that led renovation efforts, said at that time. “A few more years, and the only solution would have been to burn them.”

Around 1916, a ranger’s quarters and barn were built for seasonal occupancy at the remote site, about 13 miles northwest of McPhee Reservoir and 18 miles

DOT: Bicol among...

City, Masbate City and Sorsogon City, Legazpi City, a component city which is the capital of Albay province had the most number of combined foreign and domestic tourist arrivals during the first half of 2016.

The combined total tourist arrivals from January to June in 2016 in Legazpi City was 569,527, while Naga City was a close second with with 560,586 total arrivals. Masbate City was third with total tourist arrivals of 106,882.

But as to domestic tourist arrivals in the five cities, Naga City ranked first with 468,045 tourist arrivals during the first half of 2016 compared to Legazpi City with total visitors of 367,022.

According to the tourism department, the increasing tourist arrivals in Bicol has contributed multi-billion pesos in gross receipts to the Bicol economy and generated jobs for Bicolanos in various tourismrelated industries in the region, specifically in hotels, restaurants, resorts, transportation, handicrafts and entertainment sector.

Ravanilla attributed the rosy tourism industry in Bicol to the joint initiatives of the private and government sectors who ❰❰ 35

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FRIDAY FEBRUARY 3, 2017

37

Food To channel the flavour of New Orleans, make a shrimp etouffee THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA EVEN IF you’re not familiar with the name Paul Prudhomme, it’s likely you’ve enjoyed the benefits of his long and celebrated career. Prudhomme was a Louisiana-born chef who gained celebrity for his culinary expertise and larger-than-life personality.

Prudhomme thrust Cajun and Creole cuisine into the national spotlight. He introduced Americans to the bold flavours and rich roux-based dishes of his childhood, and with his commercial seasoning mixes, numerous cookbooks, and television appearances, brought these dishes into homes across the country.

The cuisine of New Orleans is distinct, combining the rich culinary traditions of those who settled the area long ago.

The city’s food is a reflection of the people who still live there today, with influences from France, Africa, and Spain ( just for starters) and the stronglyrooted traditions of the Cajun and Creole cultures.

In this Shrimp Etouffee recipe, The Culinary Institute of America channels the spirit of Prudhomme. Flavourful and vibrant, this rustic dish is meant to be shared around a table of family and good friends. Meaning “smothered,” an etouffee coats the shrimp (or crawfish, as you’ll often find it in New Orleans) with a spice-packed gravy worthy of Chef Paul himself.

This recipe calls for homemade shrimp stock, but you can use store-bought if you prefer.

Making it from scratch is quite easy, though, and a great way to use leftover shells. You’ll need about 1 pound of shells, which comes from about 2 pounds of shrimp. Remember that shells freeze well, so anytime you have leftovers, freeze them until you have enough to make a stock. Use the stock for shrimp bisque or as the base for a pasta

sauce.

The fragrant and flavourful Creole Seasoning mix comes together in minutes, so make some extra to stock your pantry. Sprinkle it in soups, use it as a rub for chicken or fish, or keep it on hand for other New Orleans-inspired recipes.

Shrimp etouffee

Start to finish: 4 hours (Active: 1 hour 10 minutes; inactive: 2 hours 50 minutes) Servings: 10

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter • 2 yellow onions, chopped • 2 red bell peppers, chopped • 6 stalks celery, chopped • 2 tablespoons minced garlic • 4 Roma tomatoes, seeds removed, diced • 2 dried bay leaves • 2 teaspoons kosher salt • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper • 2 tablespoons Creole Seasoning (recipe follows) • 1 quart Shrimp Stock (recipe follows) • 3 pounds large shrimp (21/25 count), peeled and deveined, shells reserved for stock • 1/4 cup chopped parsley • Spinach and Roasted Pepper Tian (recipe follows) • 2 scallions, thinly sliced Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.

Add the onions, peppers, celery, and garlic. Cook until the vegetables have softened, stirring often, about 10 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, bay leaves, salt, cayenne, and 1 tablespoon of Creole seasoning. Cook until the tomatoes have released their juices, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the shrimp stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened and flavourful, about 45 minutes.

Season the shrimp with the remaining 1 tablespoon of Creole seasoning and add to the pot, nestling them into the hot liquid. Cook until the shrimp are cooked through, about 6

minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley.

To serve, place a spinach and red pepper tian in a shallow serving bowl. Spoon the hot etouffee around the tian and garnish with scallions.

Creole seasoning

Servings: 10

• 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika • 2 tablespoons kosher salt • 1 tablespoon minced garlic • 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper • 1 tablespoon onion powder • 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme Combine the ingredients and stir to combine. Set aside until ready to use.

Shrimp stock

Servings: 10

• 1 pound (about 1 quart) shrimp shells and heads • 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped • 1 stalk celery, chopped • 3 carrots, chopped • 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed • 1 bay leaf • 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, cracked • 2 tablespoons tomato paste • 2 tablespoons brandy • 2 teaspoons kosher salt Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the shrimp shells and heads on a baking sheet.

Bake until they begin to char on the edges, about 30 minutes.

Remove the shrimp from the oven and transfer to a stock pot.

Add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, and tomato paste, and stir to combine. Cook until the tomato paste has darkened slightly, about 6 minutes. Add the brandy and simmer until the liquid has reduced, about 4 minutes.

Add two quarts of water and

bring to a simmer. Skim to remove any foam that rises to the surface.

Reduce the heat to mediumlow and simmer, uncovered, until reduced by about half, about 45 minutes, skimming occasionally. Season with salt.

Remove from the heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Set aside until ready to use Spinash and roasted pepper tian

Servings: 10

• 5 red bell peppers • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter • 4 shallots, sliced • 5 cloves garlic, sliced • 2 pounds, 8 ounces baby spinach • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt Roast the red peppers over a flame until charred all over. Alternately, cut around the core of the pepper to remove the seeds and stem. Lay the pepper flat, skin side up, on a baking sheet and broil until charred, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a sealed container or covered bowl until cooled, about 15 min-

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utes. Rub the charred skin from the pepper, using a clean towel, if needed. Cut the peppers open and remove the seeds. Use a 2 1/2-inch round cutter to cut circles from the peppers. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the butter, shallots, and garlic.

Cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the spinach and cover. Cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Work in batches, if necessary. Stir in the salt, then transfer to a strainer and use the back of a spoon to press out as much liquid as possible.

Using a 2 1/2-inch cutter as a mould, place one piece of cut pepper in the cutter. Add a layer of spinach and top with another piece of cut pepper. Add another layer of spinach and top with a third cut pepper. Compress the layers and remove the cutter to reveal a three-layer tian.

Repeat the process until you have 10 individual portions. Set aside until ready to use.

Nutrition information per serving: 254 calories; 64 calories from fat; 7 g fat (3 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 184 mg cholesterol; 1868 mg sodium; 21 g carbohydrate; 7 g fiber; 7 g sugar; 23 g protein.

38

Food

FEBRUARY 3, 2017

FRIDAY

For pizza crust with a big dose Amped Up Beef of vitamins, try cauliflower Stroganoff is ideal dish for Valentine’s Day

BY MELISSA D’ARABIAN The Associated Press CAULIFLOWER IS a wonderveggie. No longer relegated to boiling and covering with a bright orange cheese sauce (sorry, Mom), cauliflower is stepping out in the place of starch like rice in stir-fries or instead of wheat flour in pizza dough.

Cauliflower is mild, so it takes on whatever flavours you throw at it, which helps it be the convincing chameleon that it is.

Cauliflower is as healthy as our moms told us, providing a hefty dose of vitamins, including C, K, B6 and folate, as well as smaller doses of other vitamins and minerals, plus filling protein and fiber. All in about 25 calories per cup.

So, it’s a worthy vegetable, and now that it is available in “riced” form in mainstream grocery stores across the country, it’s time to take a look if you haven’t already. Let’s start with pizza crust. Steamed, riced cauliflower is mixed with a binder (usually egg and cheese), and then shaped into a pizza crust shape, baked and then topped with traditional pizza toppings.

Bake up a few of these crusts and keep in the freezer for last minute pizza night that is healthier than takeout.

Since my daughter is gluten-intolerant, I’ve been making pizza crust for years with cauliflower, resulting in a few key pieces of advice from the trenches. The biggest challenge with cauliflower crust is keeping it together, since there is no stretchy gluten working for you.

But, no problem, if you follow my tips: First, once you cook the cauliflower, make sure to squeeze out as much moisture as possible. Excess water will keep the crust from staying together. In fact, I like to go a tiny step further and add just a little bit of absorbent flour — just a tablespoon or two of coconut or oat flour make a big difference.

Next tip: bake the crust and flip it over before adding any toppings. If you aren’t flipping it, you can’t get the firm crusty texture to form, and that really helps the crust taste and feel pizza-like.

BY SARA MOULTON The Associated Press

Final tip: make smaller pizza crusts instead of one big huge one. They are just easier to manage and keep intact. Top your pizza crust with whatever toppings you like — lots of cheese and meat if you simply eating low-carb, or load up with roasted veggies and a light sprinkling of part-skim mozzarella if you want to stay low-cal.

But for the crust, follow my recipe for the no-fail step-by-step.

Foolproof cauliflower pizza crust

Start to finish: 40 minutes Servings: 4 small pizza crusts, 1 per serving

• 4-5 cups “riced” cauliflower (buy it riced, or pulse in food processor until rice-sized) • 1 egg • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese • 1/2 cup grated part-skim mozzarella cheese • 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated garlic • 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning • 2 tablespoons of coconut flour (or other absorbent flour, such as oat or quinoa flour) • fine cornmeal for sprinkling, optional • salt and pepper Heat oven to 400 F. Place the riced cauliflower in a microwave-safe dish with 2 tablespoons of water, cover and cook in microwave for 4-5 minutes, or until tender but not mushy.

Remove from microwave, drain off water, gently pressing out

excess moisture with a spoon, and cool.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the egg with the cheeses, garlic and Italian seasoning.

Place the cooled cauliflower in several paper towels, or in a thin clean dish towel, and gently but firmly squeeze out excess moisture. (You may be surprised by how much liquid you can squeeze out.)

Add the squeeze cauliflower to the egg and cheese mixture.

Sprinkle in the coconut flour, salt and pepper and mix well.

Mixture will not stick together like regular dough.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick spray. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 mounds, and gently shape them into pizza crusts, doing your best to push the dough together to make clean edges. Bake until dark golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Flip with a spatula. If using, sprinkle the bottom of the sheet with a little cornmeal when you flip the crusts.

Top the crusts with any sauce, cheese, toppings and bake until melted, about 10 more minutes.

Tip: You can bake extra crusts without toppings and freeze them for future use.

Nutrition information per serving: 157 calories; 70 calories from fat; 8 g fat (4 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 70 mg cholesterol; 495 mg sodium; 12 g carbohydrate; 4 g fiber; 3 g sugar; 11 g protein. www.canadianinquirer.net

PRIMED TO romance your certain someone on Valentine’s Day? Nothing says “I love you” more persuasively than a homecooked meal. This one-pot noodle dish, a variation on Beef Stroganoff, is the ideal messenger.

Although the roots of the classic recipe are certifiably aristocratic — a French chef working for Count Pavel Stroganoff, a Russian, created it in the early 1800s — Beef Stroganoff was being treated pretty roughly in America by the 1960s. At that time, when “convenience” trumped every other value, home cooks loved being able to whip up a fancy main course using canned gravy, canned mushrooms, canned minced onions and canned roast beef.

We’re gonna treat it with a little more respect in this recipe for Amped-Up Beef Stroganoff.

To start, the basics remain unchanged — thin slices of beef fillet topped with a sauce of fresh mushrooms and sour cream, all of it ladled over noodles.

But I’ve beefed up the umami — and intensified the taste — with dried mushrooms, tomato paste and Dijon mustard. Also, we cook the noodles in the sauce, which makes them that much more delicious.

What to serve alongside this love offering? A nice refreshing salad involving citrus will provide the perfect contrast. And don’t forget the stagecraft! Set a proper table with cloth napkins and mats, a candle or two, and a bottle of robust red wine.

Amped-up beef stroganoff

Start to finish: 1 hour Servings: 2

• 1 1/2 ounces dried porcini, rinsed • 1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef or chicken broth • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil • 8 ounces filet mignon cut into 1-inch cubes • Kosher salt and black pepper • 1/4 cup finely chopped shallot or onion

• 4 ounces sliced fresh mushrooms (white, cremini, exotic or a mix) • 2 teaspoons minced garlic • 2 teaspoons fresh thyme • 1 tablespoon tomato paste • 1 tablespoon flour • 1/3 cup dry red wine • 4 ounces egg noodles • 1/2 cup sour cream • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice • Chopped fresh parsley for garnish In a small saucepan combine the porcini mushrooms and the beef broth and bring the mixture just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and let the mushrooms steep for 15 minutes. Strain the liquid through a fine strainer, reserving it, and chop the mushrooms.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium- high heat. Season the meat with salt and pepper and add it to the pan. Sear the meat quickly on all sides and transfer it to a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium, add the shallot to the skillet and cook stirring until softened; add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms are lightly browned. Add the garlic, thyme, tomato paste and flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

Add the red wine, reserved broth, 1 1/2 cups water, the chopped porcini and the noodles to the skillet. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are just al dente, about 10 minutes, adding additional water if necessary to keep the noodles partly submerged. Stir in the sour cream, Dijon and lemon juice; adjust the seasoning if necessary. Add the beef and beef juices and simmer just until the meat is heated, about 1 minute. Serve right away, sprinkled with the parsley.

Nutritional information per serving: 871 calories; 338 calories from fat; 38 g fat (14 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 203 mg cholesterol; 419 mg sodium; 65 g carbohydrate; 7 g fiber; 9 g sugar; 53 g protein.

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