Philippine Canadian Inquirer #362

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MARCH 15, 2019

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VOL. 3 NO. 362

LA MESA DAM Aerial photo of La Mesa Dam taken this March 2019, showing the lowering water level as its waters dry up amid the El Niño. Story on page 8.

MARIA FRANCES M. MARFIL

Criticism of FAA mounts as other nations ground Boeing jets

BY RICHARD LARDNER AND TOM KRISHER The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is facing mounting

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Filipino workers are industrious: Palace

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criticism for backing the airworthiness of Boeing’s 737 Max jets as the number of countries that have grounded the aircraft grows in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash over the weekend.

Ambassador Petronila Garcia: Role-Modelling Integrity, Excellence and Simple Living

❱❱ PAGE 22 Criticism of

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SNC-Lavalin & the need for fresh thinking around independence and interference

Philippine News

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MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

Lacson urges gov’t to build up cases vs. ‘narco-politicians’

BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES Philippine News Agency MANILA — Senator Panfilo Lacson on Friday urged the government to build up cases against politicians allegedly involved in illegal drugs as he

cited several consequences in releasing the so-called “narcolist.”

In a radio interview, Lacson said unveiling the political figures on the list would give them a chance to take a backseat and lie low, which would give authorities a more difficult time in their surveillance and pro-

cess of building up cases.

“Ang mas masama, maalarma ang mismong nasa lista at kung totoo involved sa droga, alangang magpapatuloy yan, magiingat yan. So mas mahirapan ang kapulisan at PDEA na surveillance yan kasi conscious siya minamanmanan pala siya dahil may intel report kung siya tala-

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gang involved (What’s worse is, those on the list, especially with real drug links, would stop for a while and be more careful. So the police and PDEA [Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency] would have a difficult time in the surveillance because those [narco-politicians] would be more conscious that they are being monitored since there is an intel report that they are involved),” he said.

Lacson noted that if the police kept the information to themselves, they could build up a case, gather evidence and witnesses, and file the appropriate charges in court.

He also warned against the release of the narco-list, especially if not validated, as it would be a means to shame these officials, and could eventually serve as death warrants for them.

“Pangalawa hihiyain mo yan.

Pangatlo pwedeng mapatay yan ng kung sinong eager beaver na gusto magmagaling. Halimbawa mali pala, nangyari yan in the past, si Governor Espino napangalanan. Tapos binawi, paano ang iba na di involved na hindi nabawi? (Secondly, you are shaming them. Thirdly, they could be killed by some eager beaver who wants to set things right. For example, like what happened in the past,

Governor Espino was wrongly named. That was already retracted, but what about those who were wrongfully included in the list but were never corrected?)” Lacson said.

He also stressed that wiretapped information from foreign sources linking Filipinos to crimes, such as illegal drugs, is a violation of Philippine law and the State’s policy to protect its citizens.

He contested Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra’s reported pronouncement that if the wiretapped conversation came from a country where wiretapping is not illegal, it “may be passed on to the Philippine government and considered admissible in Philippine courts.”

“Mr. Secretary, possession of wiretapped material is also an offense,” Lacson said in a post on his Twitter account.

Under Republic Act 4200 or the anti-wiretapping law, it is unlawful for any person not authorized by all the parties to any private communication or spoken word to secretly record such communication.

Section 2 of the law adds it is also unlawful “to knowingly possess” records or copies of any communication or spoken word secured via wiretapping. ■

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Philippine News

MARCH 15, 2019

Palace will take Mahathir’s advice on Chinese loans

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — Malacañang on Monday welcomed the advice of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to be “very careful” when relying on loans from China to finance the administration’s infrastructure projects.

“Of course, we will take his advice,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing, assuring that government is reviewing these loans.

“The economic managers are evaluating all kinds of loans that we are having with the Chinese government,” he added.

Panelo, however, assured anew that the Philippines-China loan agreement for the Chico River pump irrigation project did not give the Philippines a short end.

“With respect to the Chico Dam, I think the eco managers have already explained that we are not at the disadvantage,” Panelo said.

The Chico River pump irrigation project aims to provide a stable supply of

water to around 8,700 hectares of agricultural land, benefit 4,350 farmers and their families, and serve 21 barangays in the provinces of Kalinga and Cagayan in Northern Luzon.

Other projects for Chinese loan financing include the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project, the Philippine National Railways’ South Long Haul Project, and the Davao-Samal Bridge Construction Project.

In a TV interview before meeting President Rodrigo R. Duterte in Malacañan Palace on March 7, Mahathir warned against heavily relying on Chinese loans.

“If you borrow huge sums of money from China and you cannot pay, you know when a person is a borrower, he is under the control of the lender, so we have to be very careful with that,” Mahathir said in an interview over ANC. China has committed to support the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program through Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans and grants.

China will also build for free the Binondo-Intramuros and Estrella-Pantaleon bridges along Pasig river. ■

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RCBC slaps Bank of Bangladesh with defamation suit

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer

other officials who are in the Philippines this week.

It can be recalled that in February 2016, $81-million was stolen by unidenRIZAL COMMERCIAL Banking Corpo- tified perpetrators from the account of ration (RCBC) has charged the Bank of Bangladesh central bank at the Federal Bangladesh with a defamation suit for Reserve Bank of New York. The money its “baseless” accusations that the ex- was then reported to be transferred to ecutives of the Yuchengco-led bank are an RCBC branch on Jupiter Street in involved in the $81-million cyber heist Makati City, which was later on withlast 2016. drawn and laundered through local caIn its statement sinos. on Tuesday, March Last month, the 12, the RCBC said it Bangladesh bank filed a complaint on filed a complaint beMarch 6 before the The money was fore a United States Regional Trial Court then reported to (U.S.) court in Man(RTC) in Makati City, be transferred to hattan against RCBC stressing that its repan RCBC branch over its alleged parutation “has come on Jupiter Street ticipation in the 2016 under the vicious and in Makati City, Bangladesh Bank public attack by Banwhich was later heist gladesh Bank since on withdrawn and The RCBC, how2016.” laundered through ever, denied such ac“It is public knowllocal casinos. cusations, saying that edge that Bangladesh the lawsuit slapped Bank has embarked against it is “nothing on a massive ploy more than a political and scheme to extort stunt.” money from plaintiff RCBC by resortThe Makati Regional Trial Court ing to public defamation, harassment, (RTC) Branch 149 in January 2019 conand threats geared towards destroy- victed former RCBC Jupiter branch ing RCBC’s good name, reputation, and manager Maia Deguito of money launimage, all with the intention of getting dering in connection with the multiRCBC to pay Bangladesh Bank money million-dollar bank heist. She was senthat RCBC does not have in its custody tenced to four to seven years in prison or possession and which it does not owe for each of the eight counts of money to Bangladesh Bank,” it added. laundering and ordered to pay a fine of The local bank’s suit was served to $109-million.

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Abu Deguito has appealed to reverse the Hena Mohammad Razee Hasan and the court’s ruling. ■

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Philippine News

MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

Filipino workers are industrious: Palace

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — Filipino workers are industrious, Malacañang said on Monday contrary to a recent tweet made by special envoy to China Ramon Tulfo that Filipinos are “lazy.”

“Ang tingin natin siyempre, ang mga Pilipino talagang masisipag; in fact, ang impression sa abroad eh masisipag talaga (Of course we think Filipinos are industrious; in fact the impression abroad is Filipinos are really industrious),” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“Talagang magaling ang mga Pilipino. If we put our hearts into it, magagaling talaga ang mga Pilipino (Filipinos are really good. If we put our hearts into it, Filipinos are really good),” he added.

Panelo, however, acknowledged that there are some Filipinos who are lazy.

“Pero depende rin eh, mayroon

namang tamad na worker. Pero ang general impression talaga masisipag tayo (But it depends, there are some lazy workers.

But the genera impression is we’re industrious), we are preferred in other countries,” Panelo said.

Panelo said the special envoy was entitled to his own opinion since it was part of freedom of expression.

“That is freedom of expression, everyone is entitled to make his opinion on any matter concerning the country or the people or anybody,” Panelo said, noting that it was Tulfo’s call to apologize.

Panelo said he was not concerned that Tulfo’s remark would endanger the employment opportunities of Filipino workers since the special envoy was simply relaying what developers told him.

“I don’t think that is the opinion of Mr. Tulfo, I think he was just relaying what he heard or what was said to him by the de-

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velopers. Pakinggan—tingnan ninyong maigi iyong statements niya, so hindi galing sa kaniya (Listen–check his statements properly, it’s not his own),” Panelo said.

“Let’s not put words into his mouth unless he restates it and

say ’hindi (no), that’s also my opinion,’” he added.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has also defended Filipino workers’ work ethics saying he “violently disagrees” with Tulfo’s statement that they were less efficient than

Chinese workers.

Bello emphasized that Filipinos were the most sought after employees abroad.

Last week, Tulfo, in an interview over CNN Philippines, said developers prefer Chinese workers over Filipino workers since they were more hardworking than Filipino workers.

“You know why developers prefer Chinese workers?

They’re hardworking. When Filipino workers go to a job site, that’s only when they will start preparing their tools, whereas Chinese workers are already prepared. Filipino workers always smoke and keep talking,” Tulfo said.

On his Twitter account, Tulfo also called Filipinos “lazy” and “slowpoke” and refused to apologize for his remark.

“To the Filipino construction workers: Why should I apologize to you for telling the truth that you’re basically lazy and a slowpoke? Does the truth hurt?” Tulfo said in his tweet. ■

DPWH to take advantage of El PCSO chief resigned, Niño in dredging Manila Bay not fired: Palace spox

BY FERDINAND PATINIO Philippine News Agency

us because the waves and underwater current are not that strong. The excavator could go farther. The tidal effect is lower than if there’s no El Niño),” he said in an interview.

Ilao reported that as of Monday, they have collected approximately 3,000 cubic meters of silt and garbage, including 44 rubber tires.

Currently, he said they are

erating from Monday to Saturday.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar visited the area located near MANILA — The Department the US Embassy in Manila to of Public Works and Highways personally see the progress of (DPWH) is looking to take adthe dredging and desilting opvantage of the El Niño by conerations. tinuing its dredging and desiltLast week, the DPWH, toing operations in Manila Bay, gether with the Department of an official said Tuesday.

Environment and Natural ReDPWH-Bureau of Equipsources, the local government ment (BOE) Diof Manila and rector Toribio other stakeholdIlao said though ers, launched the effects of the Desilting Opsuch weather DPWH Secretary Mark Villar visited erations dubbed condition for the area located near the US “DPWH Sagip some are damagEmbassy in Manila to personally Manila Bay” to ing, for them it clean the 1.5-kisee the progress of the dredging is advantageous lometer stretch and desilting operations. as the waves and of the Bay from underwater curthe Manila Yacht rents are manClub breakwater ageable to continue the clean- operating with three trucks as to the US Embassy. ing activities. maximum but they are looking The desilting activities will be “Mas maganda sa amin dahil at adding 20 to 30 trucks in the divided into five sectors, each hindi ganun kalakas ang alon next two weeks. ranging from 200 to 300-meter As for the machines, Ilao said long, until the entire 1.5-kiloand underwater current. Makakalayo ang excavator, ang tidal they have four amphibious ex- meter is finished. Each sector effect mas mababa kaysa kung cavators and one land-based will be desilted approximately walang El Niño (It’s good for crawler excavator that are op- within 90 to 120 days. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Alexander Balutan has indeed resigned from his post, Malacañang said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this clarification, apparently retracting his statement on Friday that Balutan was fired over corruption allegations.

“We wish to clarify that former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Alexander Balutan has indeed tendered his resignation through a letter submitted to the Office of the President,” Panelo said in a statement.

Panelo, however, explained that the OP received Balutan’s resignation letter only after it announced his sacking.

“The said written communication was, however, formally received by the OP only af-

ter the Palace has already announced his cessation from office,” Panelo said.

“We hope this sets the record straight on the timeline of what transpired,” he added.

According to Panelo, Balutan stepped down out of delicadeza because of corruption allegations in relation to being accused with spending PHP10 million for a “lavish” Christmas party in a five-star hotel in 2017.

Balutan, one of the many exmilitary appointees of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, has denied these accusations.

“Mr. Balutan resigned out of delicadeza because of, as we have said, serious allegations of corruption in the PCSO. He has requested the President for a fair and impartial investigation to ferret out the truth on the matter,” Panelo said.

On Saturday, Balutan took to social media to explain that he resigned from the agency, contrary to Panelo’s initial claim that he was fired. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

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SWS: Majority of PH condoles with kin of Filipinos satisfied Ethiopia plane crash victims with Duterte admin in Q4 of 2018

BY JOYCE ANN L. ROCAMORA Philippine News Agency

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer A LATEST survey released by Social Weather Stations (SWS) on Monday, March 11, showed that majority of Filipinos are satisfied with the performance of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.

Among 1,440 respondents in the pollster’s Fourth Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey, 76 percent of adult Filipinos said they are “satisfied,” nine percent said they are “dissatisfied” and 15 percent said they are “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” with the general performance of the government under Duterte.

This latest figure resulted to a net satisfaction rating of +66, which the SWS classified as “very good.”

“This is a 16-point increase from the very good +50 (65% satisfied, 15% dissatisfied) in September 2018,” the SWS said.

Geographically, the government’s net satisfaction rating rose from “very good” to “excellent” in Mindanao at +75, while it climbed from “good” to “very good” in Visayas, Metro Manila, and Balance Luzon at +63, +60, and +65, respectively.

The Duterte administration’s net satisfaction also rose from “good” to “very good” in urban areas at +68, while it remained “very good” in rural areas at +65.

Governance Report Card

The latest survey also disclosed the respondents’ score on the government’s performance on several issues.

Of the 17 specific performance subjects rated, the government got an “excellent” net satisfaction ratings on promoting women’s rights at +71 and building and maintenance of public works at +70.

It was “very good” on helping the poor at +68, protecting human rights at +62, reconstructing Marawi City at +60, fighting terrorism at +55, transparency in government activities at +54, and deciding quickly at +50.

Meanwhile, the respondents said the Duterte administration was “good” at fighting crimes at +44, reconciling with Muslim rebels at +43, eradicating graft and corruption at +42, defending Philippine sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea at +40, reconciling with communist rebels at +39, fulfilling commitments in international treaties at +39, and foreign relations at +38.

It was, on the other hand, “moderate” on ensuring that no family will ever be hungry at +28, and fighting inflation at +14.

The Fourth Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey was conducted from December 16-19, 2018. The SWS used face-toface interviews of its survey respondents who are 18 years old above nationwide; 360 each in Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. ■

ULYSSES NEMENO / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

MANILA — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Sunday night sent condolences to the families of those on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.

“The Philippines expresses its condolences to Ethiopia after 149 passengers and eight crew members were killed when an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max-8 crashed while en route to Kenya on Sunday,” the department, through Assistant Secretary Elmer Cato, said in a statement.

“The loved ones of those who perished in the crash of Ethio-

pian Airlines Flight ET302 are in our thoughts and prayers,” it added.

The DFA is currently verifying whether Filipino nationals were among the 33 foreign nationalities on board the ill-fated aircraft.

The plane took off early morning from Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport and lost contact shortly afterwards near the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu.

In a statement on Sunday, the airline confirmed that its scheduled flight ET 302 to Nairobi “was involved in an accident.”

The Boeing 737 Max-8 is the same type of aircraft as Lion Air Flight JT610, which crashed in October en route to the Indonesian city of Pangkal Pinang and

killed all 189 people on board.

On Monday morning, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres likewise sent his thoughts to the victims’ kin.

“Deeply saddened by the news this morning of the plane crash in Ethiopia, claiming the lives of all on board. My heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims — including our own UN staff — who perished in this tragedy,” he said on his official Twitter account.

The Italian aid group International Committee for the Development of Peoples (CISP), a partner of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund in Africa, confirmed that one of its founders, Paolo Dieci, was among the fatalities in the crash. ■

Austria, Sweden vow ‘active’ campaigns vs. VAW in PH

BY JOYCE ANN L. ROCAMORA Philippine News Agency MANILA — The embassies of Austria and Sweden in Manila on Friday vowed to assist the Philippines in its campaign to end violence against women (VAW) through a series of activities this year.

Last November, the Sweden embassy launched the “Respeto Naman” campaign against gender-based violence, which was followed by the ongoing “Don’t Tell Me How To Dress” movement, an exhibit of clothes worn by rape and VAW victims displayed in malls in Manila.

“We found that the response was so strong that we want to extend it. We’re now looking at bringing it nationwide not only in Manila,” Sweden Ambassador Harald Fries said, referring to the exhibit displayed at the Gateway Mall in Cubao, Quezon City “I’m looking at a one-year campaign with the message of stop violence against women and girls,” he added.

While not part of the “Rewww.canadianinquirer.net

speto Naman” campaign and the “Don’t Tell Me How To Dress” movement, the Austrian embassy in Manila said its activities geared toward raising awareness on gender equality and fighting VAW are continuous.

“Austria is not part of this project but fight against VAW is one of the thematic priorities of the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

We are very active here in the embassy in awareness raising campaigns to end VAW,” Austrian Ambassador Bita Rasoulian told reporters on the sides of the International Women’s Day Summit 2019 in Taguig City.

“This year, we have an expert on human trafficking from Austria and she met with immigration authorities and the National Bureau of Investigation and with all those who can help fight VAW and human trafficking,” she added.

Rasoulian stressed the need to continue conducting dialogues and campaigns to address the root of gender inequality, which is one of the reasons behind VAW. “There is so many different

perceptions of gender, we have to address that. Women talk gender, whereas men often do not, they don’t even see that there is inequality among men and women,” she said.

“Legislation alone cannot do the job, we have to change the mindset, we have to change the heart, we have to see what the core problem is– that the traditional gender stereotypes have existed for so long. We have to educate the women, yes, and we have to educate the men the same way we have to work with the women,” she said. ■

Philippine News

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MARCH 15, 2019

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Napolcom launches search for ‘model PNP families’ Correspondent/Hosts Bea Kirstein T. Manalaysay Joanna Belle Deala Gianna Llanes Arianne Grace U. Lacanilao Violeta Arevelo Babes Newland Graphic Design Shanice Garcia Ginno Alcantara Arlnie Colleene Talain Singca Account Manager Kristopher Yong Director/Producer Boom Dayupay Photographers/Videographers Ginno Alcantara Maria Crizandra Baylon Sales Aireen De Asis Paul Acosta Dennis Cruz Operations and Admin Victoria Yong Amelia Insigne Management Alan Yong Victoria Yong For photo submissions, please email editor@canadianinquirer.net For General Inquiries, please email info@canadianinquirer.net For Sales Inquiries, please email sales@canadianinquirer.net or contact 778-788-4998 Philippine Canadian Inquirer is located at 11951 Hammersmith Way, Suite 108 Richmond, B.C. V7A 5H9 Canada

Email: info@canadianinquirer.net, sales@canadianinquirer.net Instagram: @pcinewsofficial Twitter:@pcinewsofficial Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ channel/UCGvCxcZGXZVbAWhNLRJIfTw Philippine Canadian Inquirer is published weekly every Friday.

BY CHRISTOPHER LLOYD CALIWAN Philippine News Agency MANILA — The National Police Commission (Napolcom) launched its "2019 Search for Model PNP Families” in a bid to uplift the image of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Napolcom vice-chairman and executive officer, lawyer Rogelio T. Casurao, said Wednesday the nationwide search is intended to help uniformed personnel induce positive change in the community by serving as role models.

“Moreover, the search aims to highlight the image of the police as a family man or woman and emphasize the importance of having strong family ties that is consequential to the overall success of preventing crime in the communities,”Casurao said in a statement.

Interior Secretary and Napolcom Chairman Eduardo M. Año said the search aims to strengthen and encourage partnership between the community and the police by highlighting the PNP’s capability as a leader and partner of the community in the maintenance of peace, order and security for an improved socioeconomic system.

The search is open to all uniformed members of the PNP with legitimate or legally adopted child/children, legally married and living together with his/her spouse for at least five years, and have been in the police service for at least five years at the time of the search.

For a Muslim nominee with more than one family, all families will be evaluated.

PCI reserves the right to reject any advertising which it considers to contain false or misleading information or involves unfair or unethical practices. The advertiser agrees the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of error in any advertisement.

Member

The family with the highest rating will be considered.

Candidates may be nominated by members of the local government units (LGUs), non-government organizations (NGOs) or fellow police officers who are not related within the third degree of consanguinity and affinity. Nominees from previous years who were not declared winners at the national level may still be nominated.

Nomination forms may be downloaded from the Napolcom website at www. napolcom.gov.ph or from the PNP website at www.pnp.gov.ph. Deadline for

submission of nomination is on April 26.

Casurao stressed that nomination must be based on community services or volunteer work in their place of residence, as well as area of assignment.

“Prior to final evaluation and validation, and for purposes of contestability, the names of qualified regional nominees shall be published in the newspapers of general circulation in their respective regions and posted on the Napolcom and PNP websites where the public may give comments/objections on the nominated PNP families,” Casurao said. ■

La Mesa Dam goes below critical level

BY MA. TERESA MONTEMAYOR Philippine News Agency

Copies are distributed free throughout Metro Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, and Greater Toronto.

The views and opinions expressed in the articles (including opinions expressed in ads herein) are those of the authors named, and are not necessarily those of Philippine Canadian Inquirer Editorial Team.

NATIONAL POLICE COMMISSION

MANILA — Water at the La Mesa Dam dips to its critical level as El Niño or the dry spell, triggered by the warming of the ocean, continues to intensify.

Manila Water, which gets its supply from La Mesa Dam, on Monday said the water elevation of the dam has dropped to 68.93 as of 6 a.m. on Monday. This is lower than the recorded 69.02 meter level on Sunday.

It added that the figure is at a critical level as most businesses and households in Metro Manila depend on the dam’s water supply.

Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Adminis-

tration (PAGASA) hydrologist Richard Orendain said the normal water level at La Mesa Dam is 79.30 to 79.60 meters while its normal high level is at 80.50 meters.

“If nothing’s done to conserve La Mesa’s reserve, water level there can dip to about 65 meters or 66 meters by April 2019’s end,” he said, adding that the projection is below La Mesa’s lowest 2018 water level of 70.16 meters on June 6 last year.

He also advised the public to conserve water to ensure that the dam’s water would be available for a longer period of time.

Jeric Sevilla, Manila Water head for corporate communications, said normal flow of water supply may be felt by residents beginning Tuesday as the agency’s

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technical teams continue to work on the improvement of its water supply system.

“Ang mangyari po noon hindi lang sa Mandaluyong, kung hindi para po sa lahat ng lugar. Gusto nating ibalanse ’yung tubig po (This will be in all areas, not only in Mandaluyong. We want to balance the water supply),” he said.

On Sunday, Manila Water released an updated list of areas, which will have little to no water supply in the coming days.

The agency said the water supply interruptions are caused by the operational adjustments they have been conducting to address the continuous decline in the dam’s water level.

La Mesa Dam is part of the Angat-Ipo La Mesa System, which is the leading source of water supply in Metro Manila. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

9

ICC violating own provisions: Palace

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency

Viral photo of the 16-year-old victim.

DEBBIE JEAN BANCALE / FACEBOOK

Several of Cebu teen’s internal organs missing — PNP Crime Lab

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer ASIDE FROM the face skinned to the bone, some internal organs of the teenage girl who was gruesomely murdered in LapuLapu City, Cebu were also missing.

This, according to Superintendent Benjamin Lara, MD, a medico-legal officer of the Philippine National Police (PNP) Crime Laboratory in Central Visayas on Wednesday, March 13.

Speaking to reporters, Lara said, “Nung in-examine natin (‘yung katawan), we noted na wala na ‘yung trachea ’yung daanan ng hangin, ‘yung esophagus wala na ‘yung ‘pag kumakain tayo doon dumadaan ‘yung food papunta sa stomach, and ’yung entire musculature ng neck dito sa right side (When we examined the body, we noted that the trachea where the air passes is gone, her esophagus where the food passes going to the stomach is also gone, as well as the entire musculature of the right side of the neck).” “‘Yung cervical vertebra kita mo na (You can already see the cervical vertebra),” he stressed, adding, ”‘Yung tongue wala na rin (Even the tongue is miss-

ing).”

Lara, however, said he cannot conclude whether or not perpetrators took the victim’s organs since her body was dumped in a vacant lot with ‘many animals.’

“May possibility rin na baka kinagat (‘yung organs) or kinain ng mga hayop na nandoon (There is a possibility that the organs were bitten or eaten by the animals in the area),” he explained.

The lifeless body of Christine Silawan, a Grade 9 student, was recovered in Barangay Bangkal, Lapu-Lapu City on Monday.

She was found half-naked with multiple stab wounds and her skull exposed because of the face being skinned.

The Lapu-Lapu City Government, also on Wednesday, offered a P1-million reward to anyone who can provide information that will lead to the arrest of the people behind Silawan’s killing; following the police announcement on Tuesday that it will be giving a P100,000 cash reward. It was also reported by a local media in Cebu that P500,000 was offered by a former soldier who now resides in Eastern Visayas as an addition.

As of writing, another P200,000 was added to the reward by the Cebu government according to a DZRH report.

MANILA — If the International Criminal Court (ICC) will force its jurisdiction over the Philippines to investigate the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, this would mean that it would be violating its own provisions, Malacañang said on Monday.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo shrugged off reports that the ICC may announce its decision to move its investigation on the drug war before March 17, the same day the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC takes effect.

“It does not matter to us because they have no jurisdiction over us. If they force itself to acquire jurisdiction, it only shows that from the very start talagang hindi dapat pumapasok diyan sa ICC (you should not join the ICC) because it’s violating its own provisions,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

It was lawyer Jude Sabio who floated the possibility that ICC may open an investigation before March 17 in a TV interview.

He is the same lawyer who filed a communication before the ICC, accusing President Rodrigo R. Duterte of committing

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crimes against humanity.

Panelo, who is also Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, explained that Duterte’s decision to withdraw the Philippines’ ratification of the Rome Statute, a United Nations (UN) treaty that created the ICC in 2018, was meant to inform the ICC that it never had jurisdiction since the country was never a part of the ICC. Duterte’s decision came after the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor bared in February 2018 that it would begin preliminary examination on the crimes against humanity linked to the administration’s drug war.

“We didn’t even withdraw.

We said from the very beginning, we were not under its jurisdiction. That letter was only to inform them as a matter of courtesy that ‘excuse us, we have not been under your jurisdiction from the very start’,” Panelo said.

Citing Duterte, Panelo said international laws only become effective in the Philippines upon its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation but failed to accomplish the legal required publication.

“As argued by the President, there is a requirement of pub-

lication and that was never published and hence there is no jurisdiction over his person and for that matter over any person in this country,” he added.

Moreover, Panelo, who described the Philippine justice system as “robust,” said courts are willing and capable to investigate the President.

Panelo also cited the law stating that investigation by the ICC can only proceed when there is a preliminary investigation prior to the withdrawal.

However, he said the ICC only launched a preliminary examination, which was different from a preliminary investigation.

“We have been pointing out that the ICC itself has been violating their own provisions, because under the law you cannot proceed when… assuming that there is a withdrawal, because they are saying we can proceed with the investigation even if there is withdrawal,” Panelo said.

“But under the law it says that they can proceed only when there is a preliminary investigation prior to the withdrawal; but there was no preliminary investigation, there was only preliminary examination,” he added. ■

Philippine News

10

MARCH 15, 2019

Valentine’s Day... ❰❰ 26

3 Philippine priests say they, Catholic bishops under threat

A different taste

White Day may be heavily influenced by the gesture of giving but for Beng, a Filipina who works in Japan, White Day is more about spending time with her beau through dates or drinking.

Despite not having Japanese roots like her boyfriend, the celebration of love in both Valentine’s Day and its response day is very much alive for her.

“Alam mo ang mga Pinay or Pinoy, ‘di pahuhuli sa romantic moments (You know, Filipinas or Filipinos will not back down when it comes to romance),” she beamed.

She also said that though it is mainly a response day to V-day, she still considers White Day as like any other day to celebrate; that is why Filipino-style: she cooks and also celebrates the day with her daughter through good food on the table.

Expectations vs reality

Though White Day seems to be like a part two of Valentine’s Day, there are some misconceptions that have to be cleared out in this thick air of pink (or white).

Regine Barabat at 22 who has been staying in Japan for five months as a student/caregiver, shared how ‘exclusive’ the event could be.

“Kung sino lang ‘yung nagbigay sa lalaki ng chocolates, ‘yun lang din ang bibigyan pabalik ng lalaki. ‘Di niya pwedeng bigyan ‘yung ‘di nagbigay sa kanya nung Valentine’s Day kasi ang White Day is giving back sa mga girls na nagbigay sa kanila nung Valentine’s Day. (Whoever were the women who gave chocolates to men, they are the only ones who should receive gifts from the guys. Men cannot give back to those who did not give them presents back in Valentine’s Day because White Day is giving back to these girls who prepared something on that day),” she explained.

FRIDAY

BY JIM GOMEZ The Associated Press

MRHAYATA / FLICKR, CC BY-SA 2.0

She also added that though men received chocolates, they are not really limited to giving out chocolates as a ‘response’ because on White Day, they are also allowed to hand out other gifts like cosmetics.

Contrary to the previous observation that the celebration may have declined especially in the more adult sector, according to Regine, it is really lively.

She shared that even before White Day (which is around the season of Valentine’s at least), stores already have displays of possible return gifts such hand creams, lotions, lipsticks, and many more – that the products are almost sold out already.

Regine, herself, is waiting for her return gifts this year.

She jested, “At syempre nage-expect akong may babalik sa White Day, namuhunan ako eh (And of course, I do expect that I will receive something on White Day, since I invested).”

This will be the young lady’s first-ever celebration so she is really, really excited.

For 25-year-old Janus Troy Bonete though, this year will be his third celebration and the sparks of joy will still be ringing in him.

Since he has been a fan of the Japanese culture even before his three-year stay in Japan,

White Day for him used to be something that was studied and merely understood by words and media. But being able to experience it, he realized that “sobra pala siyang masaya (it was actually really fun).”

When it comes to events like this, people take it differently, and no matter how joyous an event could be, some may still find it real challenging to squeeze in to their busy schedules. However, Janus believes otherwise.

“Para sa’kin ‘di siya hassle, kasi nag-effort ‘yung mga babae o mga ka-work ko na magbigay sa amin so dun pa lang sa thought na nag-effort sila, gaganahan ka na mag-prepare para sa mga ibibigay mo (For me, it is not a hassle to prepare because women or my co-workers exerted effort in giving us so just in that thought that there was effort, you will really feel excited to prepare to give something in return),” Janus shared.

White Day is not celebrated in the Philippines and will probably remain to be just another culture to look at, but for Filipinos (and Filipinos at heart) who have experienced it, it remains to be something memorable. ■

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MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Three Philippine Catholic priests said Monday they and some church leaders who are critical of the president’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs have received death threats from unknown people.

Father Robert Reyes and two other priests told reporters that they are hesitant to seek protection from the police because they are behind the anti-drug campaign that has left thousands of mostly poor drug suspects dead, but are considering seeking court protection.

The three vowed they would not stop speaking out against the drug killings, which have been condemned by many Western governments and human rights groups and sparked at least two complaints of mass murder against President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court.

Duterte, a former prosecutor and mayor known for his tough anti-crime approach, has denied ordering extrajudicial killings but often publicly threatens drug suspects with death and encourages police to shoot those who threaten law enforcers.

“We’re not safe now,” said Reyes, an activist priest prominent for running long distances to publicize campaigns for human rights, democracy and civil liberties. “After this, the death threats may become real.”

Another of the priests, Albert Alejo, said the cellphone messages included one on Feb. 10 that said, “Your days are numbered you animal.”

“You’ll be celebrating your last Masses because the next Mass for the dead will be for you,” the priests quoted another message as saying.

Reyes said the killings of three priests, including one who was about to celebrate Mass, and threats against several bishops and priests underscore the alarming number of attacks on the clergy under Duterte. He said there is no evidence linking Duterte to the threats but that the president’s verbal assaults against church officials could encourage attacks.

“The deadly words of Duterte against Catholics are like a dagger pointed at us,” Reyes said.

“The message is clear. It’s not only people that he wanted dead but our faith as well.”

Duterte’s unprecedented broadsides against the Catholic Church, which has criticized the drug killings, have put the influential institution that helped lead two “people power” revolts against two past presidents in a quandary over how to respond. Opinion polls show Duterte has remained popular despite his attacks on the church.

He once called Pope Francis a “son of a bitch” for sparking a huge traffic jam in Manila during a visit and regularly lashes out at Catholic bishops over sex abuses by the clergy.

Duterte mocks the Catholic faith and sparked anger in the country, Asia’s largest Catholic-majority nation, by calling God “stupid.” ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

11

DepEd slams gruesome slay of Grade 9 student in Cebu

BY MA. TERESA MONTEMAYOR Philippine News Agency MANILA — The Department of Education (DepEd) on Tuesday condemned the barbaric murder of a Grade 9 student in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu City and urged authorities to hasten the perpetrators’ arrest.

The victim, a 16-year-old student of Maribago High School, was found dead on a vacant lot on Monday after serving as a tithe collector for church on Sunday.

According to police reports, the victim was raped, murdered before being skinned to the skull.

In a statement, DepEd said its Schools Division Office of Lapu-Lapu City already issued a memorandum reminding all public and private elementary and secondary schools to strengthen their existing rules and policies on school safety.

It included security measures such as: restricting practices for school presentations and other school-related activities until 5 p.m. only; instructing school heads to advise learners to bring packed lunch or snacks instead of buying food outside school premises; ensuring that fully functional CCTV cameras are installed in strategic areas; requesting additional presence of police or barangay tanod (village watchmen) in the area;

and advising students to always go in groups when out on the streets, especially when it is already dark.

“As the Department calls on the local government unit and the police to swiftly bring to justice the cold-blooded criminals, it likewise enjoins the public in the shared responsibility of protecting children from all forms of abuse, violence, exploitation, and threat,” the statement read.

The DepEd expressed its deepest condolences to the grieving family and requested its community for “voluntary contribution to provide the bereaved with adequate financial assistance.” ■

Solon respects Duterte’s opposition to marijuana legalization

BY FILANE MIKEE CERVANTES Philippine News Agency

purposes,” Ejercito said.

“We have to respect the President’s decision on medical marijuana. It’s the prevailing situation and circumstances probably that made him change his position. He has access to intelligence and other info, he should have a better grasp of the situation than us,” he added.

Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Duterte is

PDP-Laban campaign rally in Victorias City, Negros Occidental on Friday, Duterte said considering marijuana as a medicinal drug equates to condoning MANILA — Senator Joseph wrongdoings.

Victor Ejercito on Monday said “I am ignorant of that kind he respects and understands of research, I must admit. And President Rodrigo Duterte’s I do not read it and I do not indecision to oppose the legalizatend to legalize it. Ayaw ko (I do tion of medical marijuana in not want to). Gawain mo lang the country. excuse ‘yan eh (Legalization In a text meswould be used as sage, Ejercito, an excuse). Magchair of the Sentatanim ka ng ate committee iyo. Sabihin mo, on health, said ‘medicinal man It’s the prevailing situation and Duterte’s change kaya ‘to (People circumstances probably that made of heart on medimight cultivate him change his position. He has cal marijuana it and say it is for access to intelligence and other may have been medicinal purinfo, he should have a better grasp borne out of his poses),” he said. of the situation than us. “frustration” on The President the drug war, as said drug traders it can be used for can use this meaother purposes, particularly by “on the right track” with his re- sure as an excuse to continue drug traders, to further expand cent pronouncement to thumb their illegal businesses. down the proposed legislation. their businesses.

“Sabihin medicinal. Lahat na Sotto earlier said there is no lang mag-medicinal na. (They “Though I am open to talks on medical marijuana, I under- need to pass law legalizing mar- say it’s medicinal. Suddenly, stand the change of position of ijuana for medical use because everything will become medicithe President. Because of his Republic Act 9165, or the Com- nal.) That would be an excuse. frustration on the war against prehensive Dangerous Drugs Hindi ako pumayag (I did not drugs perhaps he is not taking Act, already has a compassion- agree). Not in my time. Not in any chances on the possible ate use provision for marijuana my time. Some other president, substance abuse on use of can- and other dangerous drugs. maybe,” he said. ■ During his speech at the nabis in the (guise) of medical www.canadianinquirer.net

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte leads the distribution of Certificates of Land Ownership Award (CLOAs) to the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries (ARBs) at the Balay Kauswagan in Sagay City, Negros Occidental.

TOTO LOZANO / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO

PRRD vows to give government-owned lands to people PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY MANILA — President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Friday vowed to distribute government-owned lands to the people for the remainder of his term.

“For my remaining three years, I will give away all government-owned lands to the people. They are of no use to the government anyway. The mountains are very vast. Except for the military reservation. Their area is very large.

But there’s nothing like that in the mountains. So I instructed (Agrarian Reform Secretary John) Castriciones to give the lands away to the people because that is one of our most pressing problems,” Duterte said in the vernacular during his speech at the distribution of Certificate of Land Ownership Award (CLOA) in Sagay, Negros Occidental.

The President recognized the need for a land-reform program to attain peace and order.

“This war will never end if we don’t give them land. These people dream of a better life for their children, better than their life and the life of their forefathers,” he said.

Duterte said land reform has started since the administration of former president Corazon Aquino but problems occurred in its implementation.

“This program isn’t mine, so I’m not going to claim it as my own. This is Cory’s. The land re-

form has already been done but the problem is the distribution.

It wasn’t being fast-tracked because you know that there are people who refuse to let go of the lands. Sometimes you see soldiers and policemen, but that’s because there are reports of chaos happening there,” he said.

Duterte said communist rebels should recognize the growing population in dealing with the issue of land reform and land ownership of the rich in the past.

“You communists should understand this. The world was very big. It’s not the government’s fault that it had this kind of policy. They didn’t change it until the population grew and grew. People squatted on lands and they had their own families. Their children followed suit and squatted on vacant lands too,” he said.

“Now you want lands, so let’s divide it among you. That is the reason why I got the big land owners. ‘Let’s give it away,’ I told them. ‘Pare, don’t be angry. I don’t want to do this, but I have to do my job’,” he added.

The Department of Agrarian Reform earlier said it has set an all-time high record of 60,000 hectares of land distributed with Certificate of Land Ownership Award in 2018, exceeding their projected target by 20,000 hectares.

Duterte earlier said communist ideology is not needed to implement genuine land reform program in the country. ■

12

Philippine News

MARCH 15, 2019

Manila Cathedral book, testament of faith: Tagle

BY FERDINAND PATINIO Philippine News Agency MANILA — A book about the Manila Cathedral, the mother of church in the country, which showcases the history and story of the Christian faith, was launched in Manila on Saturday.

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle noted that the book, entitled “Manila Cathedral: Restoring a Monument to Faith, Architecture and History,” is not just a book but a testament.

“We will launch this book which is not just a book. It is a testament. It is our way of witnessing to the power of love. If you love God, if you love your community then your faith will urge you to do something,” he said.

“So as this book chronicles how to reconstruct a cathedral, the first cathedral in the Philippines, we don’t have only data about architectures, about expenses, about all the studies.

We have much more than that,” the Cardinal added.

Fr. Reginald Malicdem, rector of the Manila Cathedral, is

optimistic that young people will be drawn to the book as it features not only the story of the Cathedral but also of Christianity in the country.

“The youth will appreciate more the story of Manila Cathedral and of the Philippines because it connected to the story of Christianity in the Philippines. Because the story of Manila Cathedral is also the story of how Christianity developed in the Philippines,” he said.

“It’s a story of faith that’s whey the book will be a lesson of how Manila Cathedral played an important part in the development of Christianity in the Philippines,” the Catholic priest added.

He noted that the book is significant to the Catholic faithful since the Manila Cathedral is considered as the mother church in the country.

“Even Pope Francis himself said the Manila Cathedral is the mother church in the country being the first cathedral in the Philippines. To the faithful, it tells us of how Christianity grew, but also to non-Catholics and non-believers, because it’s about history. If they want to

learn about the history of the country, the history of Manila, they will look it up in the book,” he added.

Some 5,000 copies of the book have been printed, priced at PHP2,500 and available at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila.

“I think it’s a must-have because it’s the story of Christianity in the country. Proceeds will be for maintenance of the Manila Cathedral. Sixty years old so even if retrofitted, maintenance is continuous. [The] intention of the board was to help support maintenance of the building,” Malicdem said.

He added that half of the copies will go to intended recipients —cardinals all over the world, Vatican, bishops, priests, and parishes.

Tagle will give Pope Francis a copy of the book when he visits the Holy Father in May. Also present during the book launch is Papal Nuncio to the Philippines Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban, and Alfred Ty of GT foundation, among others. ■

Communist gov’t execs axed for imposing beliefs: PRRD PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY MANILA – President Rodrigo R. Duterte on Friday said he had to remove communists he appointed in government because they wanted to impose their ideals.

“I placed them in government with the hopes that we will be able to reach a common understanding. The worst thing is they want to impose on government their own ideals. But that wasn’t our agreement, so I had to let them go. The ideal thing for them to have done would be to lobby the concerns of those who are in the movement,” Duterte said in the vernacular during his speech at the distribution of Certificate of Land

Ownership Award (CLOA) in Sagay, Negros Occidental.

The President particularly identified former Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary Rafael Mariano, former Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, and former National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) Secretary and lead convenor Liza Maza as the communist appointees he had to remove.

“Do not even bring the ideology of an idiot here in our government, because the government will never wage war against its own people. The job of the government is to preserve the nation from those who want to occupy our land,” he said.

Duterte also urged the com-

munist armed wing, New People’s Army (NPA), to stop the armed struggle.

“You NPAs must have lost your mind when you believed in the armed struggle. We will just keep on killing each other then.

Fifty-three years. Think about it. Sleep on it. For 53 years so many lives were wasted. You will die and get buried in the forest. Your children will grow up not even knowing what you look like,” he said.

The Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA, in previous reports, has been allegedly tagged in cases of extortion, mass murder, and violation of indigenous people’s rights.

The US State Department and the European Union have both tagged the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

FRIDAY

Palace wants ‘timely’ water service interruption notices

BY AZER PARROCHA Philippine News Agency MANILA — Malacañang on Monday said that there is a need to improve the issuance of announcements and notices on water service interruptions.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo made this remark after Metro Manila residents affected by the water service interruption complained about not being able to store water supply beforehand.

“We will improve on that, on the information and notices to the people so that they will be prepared,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

Water concessionaire Manila Water earlier apologized for the unexpected water service interruption which affected some 50,000 households in Mandaluyong, Marikina, Pasig, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig and Angono, Antipolo, Binangonan, Rodriguez, Taytay, Jalajala and San Mateo in Rizal.

Panelo, meanwhile, expressed concern that water service interruptions were inconveniencing the public.

“Siyempre (Of course), we’re always concerned with respect to any problem affecting the welfare of the people,” Panelo said.

Panelo said that Palace will

look into the possibility that there has been a “lack of preparation” on the part of Manila Water.

“We will look into that. I have to ask the President (Rodrigo R. Duterte),” Panelo said.

Panelo said the Palace will also encourage Manila Water to incorporate cloud seeding — a form of weather modification that involves combining chemical agents with existing clouds to increase the chance of rain.

“That’s a possibility. In fact, iyon ang naiisip ko kung bakit hindi gumagawa ng cloud seeding. Di ba usually ganyan ang ginagawa noon? (In fact, that’s what I’m thinking, why not use cloud seeding. We usually did that before),” Panelo said.

However, Manila Water earlier said initial evaluation showed that there is no possible source of clouds to start the process.

Manila Water, which holds the exclusive right to provide water and used water services to Metro Manila, said that the water service interruption was due to low supply in the two major reservoirs namely Angat Dam and La Mesa Dam. The concessionaire said water service interruptions may persist until the rains come and the water levels in these dams return to suitable levels. ■

Philippine News

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

13

CA junks Rappler plea vs. SEC ruling

BY BENJAMIN PULTA Philippine News Agency MANILA — The Court of Appeals (CA) turned down the appeal of online news website Rappler and its holding company, Rappler Holdings Corporation (RHC), against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) move to revoke its business registration for violating the Constitution and foreign equity restrictions in mass media.

In a 25-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Rafael Antonio Santos dated February 21 and released to media Monday, the CA’s Former 12th Division said it saw no merit on the motion for partial reconsideration filed by Rappler on the case.

Associate Justices Apolinario D. Bruselas and Germano D. Legaspi concurred in the decision.

“In summary, a motion for reconsideration grounded on arguments already submitted

to the court and found to be without merit may be denied summarily, as it would be a useless ritual for this court to reiterate itself. Here, petitioners did not raise any new matter or issue in its motion. Accordingly, this court finds no cogent justification to reconsider its motion decision dated July 26,” the CA said.

The CA, however, said it would not preempt the evaluation and the subsequent finding and conclusion of the SEC which will investigate the legal effect of the alleged donation of foreign funds by Omidyar into Rappler’s operations.

Rappler claims that the constitutional limitations on foreign investments does not apply to it since it is not a mass media entity as defined by a 1976 law, Presidential Decree No. 1018, limiting the ownership and management of mass media to citizens of the Philippines.

Contrary to the firm’s claim, the CA said that Rappler is a

Court of Appeals.

media entity, since under a later law, Republic Act No. 9211 “the definition of mass media was expanded to include electronic media such as the internet.”

This definition of mass media was used by the SEC, the CA pointed out.

The appellate court said that Rapper itself in a case before the Supreme Court asserted

RAMON FVELASQUEZ / WIKIMEDIA, CC BY-SA 3.0

that it is a mass media entity.

The case involved the firm’s petition seeking to be allowed access to live coverage of the 2016 presidential and vicepresidential debates.

In this case, the CA explained “the Supreme Court agreed with Rappler and ruled that it is an online mass media entity and should be granted equal right

with traditional forms of mass media to broadcast the debates via online live streaming,” “The actions and actuations of Rappler, militate against its claim that it is not engaged in the business of mass media and thus, not covered by the foreign equity restriction applicable to mass media entities,” the CA added.

The CA said that applying the full beneficial ownership test, Rappler cannot claim to be 100-percent Filipino owned.

“RHC cannot claim that it fully owns the Rappler shares since it does not exclusively exercise the right to vote on the Rappler shares. By virtue of clause 12.2.2 (in its agreement) Omidyar Network is granted the power to direct the voting on the Rappler shares,” the CA said. “(T)he grant of control to a foreign entity over a mass media entity, regardless of the actual exercise of such foreign control, is already considered a violation,” the court added. ■

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Canada News New code aims to Trudeau apologizes for government’s increase number of past mistreatment of Inuit with TB women working in B.C. construction industry

BY TERRY PEDWELL The Canadian Press

BY AMY SMART The Canadian Press

the definition of safety beyond physical concerns to include stress or distraction caused by discrimination, bullying, hazVANCOUVER — Mary-Anne ing or harassment. It also gives Bowcott says she still remem- employers tools and training to bers the fear she felt when she promote safe behaviour. overheard her co-workers talkThe province and the BC ing about her while she was a Construction Association said roofer. the code includes It was viothe goal of havlent enough to ing 10 per cent of make her conskilled trade jobs sider leaving held by women the industry all by 2028, which We need together, like they say would workers and I so many other be a first for a think we have tradeswomen Canadian provan untapped she knew. ince. Currently, market we can “It was horrif4.7 per cent of expand into. ic, it’s something building trades one should never workers in B.C. hear,” she said in are women. To an interview Frireach the goal, day. another 9,500 “Being the only female on the women would have to join the job site I was a clear target, but workforce, the association said. it was to the point where I just “We need to drive aggressive didn’t feel safe at all.” agendas because five per cent of It wasn’t the first or last time women in the trades isn’t good she would be the subject of enough,” Melanie Mark, mininappropriate behaviour but ister of advanced education, Bowcott said she’s happy she skills and training, said at the persevered because she now announcement. has a career she loves.

The association said it is also She celebrated the announce- trying to retain women in the ment of a new code for the con- workforce at a time when the struction industry Friday that province is suffering from a aims to attract and keep more skills shortage of 7,900 workwomen in the construction ers. trades.

The Building Code widens ❱❱ PAGE 31 New code

IQALUIT, NUNAVUT — James Eetoolook is a 72-year-old tuberculosis survivor among a family of survivors.

He and seven of his relatives were stricken with TB, including his mother, sisters and brother, who was first diagnosed in the mid-1940s when one of the ships carrying doctors north to help Inuit reached his family’s trading-post village. Eetoolook was sent to Edmonton for treatment at age 16, and was bed-ridden in hospital for months.

Many more Inuit, from the 1940s to the 1960s, were sent south for treatment. Some never returned home and were buried in southern Canada.

Their families were never told of their deaths, nor their final resting places.

On Friday, Eetoolook and Inuit across the North affected by the federal government’s actions heard an official apology from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who shed tears as he called their treatment colonial and misguided.

Trudeau also announced the opening of a database Inuit families should soon be able to use to find the graves of loved ones who died after they were transported south for treatment. The database is part of a wider initiative called Nanilavut, which means “let’s find them” in Inuktitut.

Eetoolook said the apology and database will bring closure to many Inuit.

www.canadianinquirer.net

"No apology can undo the trauma & suffering Canada inflicted on Inuit during the tuberculosis epidemics – families were separated, and people’s rights were ignored."

@JUSTINPJTRUDEAU

“It will help the families that had loved ones that died,” he predicted. “Some of the (burial grounds) will be hard to find.”

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that typically affects the lungs and can be life-threatening.

It can emerge into active illness years after a person catches it.

Even with modern medical care, a full recovery can take months.

Trudeau acknowledged many people with TB died after being removed from their families and communities and taken on gruelling journeys south on ships, trains and aircraft. The prime minister also apologized to those who still do not know what happened to their loved ones.

“To the communities that are facing the consequences of this policy and others, we are sorry,” he said. “We are sorry that because of our mistakes, many Inuit don’t trust the health-care system so they can’t get help when they need it. We are sorry for the colonial mindset that drove the federal government’s actions.”

The apology had been in the works for the better part of two years after Trudeau signed an Inuit-Crown partnership agreement in 2017.

Prior to the apology, Trudeau was hugged in a long embrace by a woman who told the gathering how her husband died and his body was not returned.

As Trudeau spoke, many in the room in Iqaluit’s Frobisher Inn openly wept.

“That’s what this project is about,” Trudeau said. “About finding and honouring Inuit who went missing during the TB epidemic and bringing healing and closure to everyone who was left behind.”

Natan Obed, president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, called the government’s treatment of its citizens a “massive humanrights failure. “ His organization acts as the national voice of the roughly 60,000 Inuit living in four sections of northern ❱❱ PAGE 25 Trudeau apologizes

Canada News

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

15

SNC-Lavalin & the need for fresh thinking around independence and interference

BY LAVERNE JACOBS Associate Professor Associate Dean Research & Graduate Studies Faculty of Law University of Windsor, The Canadian Press WAS FORMER attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould’s decision-making on Quebec’s SNC-Lavalin subjected to inappropriate interference?

Gerald Butts, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s former principal secretary, was insistent the Prime Minister’s Office did not exert any undue pressure on Wilson-Raybould during his testimony to a House of Commons justice committee. The prime minister, meantime, says he was unaware she ever felt pressured. “…what exactly constitutes pressure?” Gerald Butts, testifying at the House of Commons justice committee That is the question at the heart of the SNC-Lavalin controversy. And it illuminates a greater, even more powerful set of issues related to identifying and preventing inappropriate interference in a variety of government contexts.

Administrative actors is the legal term used to cover the wide swath of decision-makers that emanate principally from the executive branch of government.

Administrative actors include tribunals responsible for a broad array of matters that affect almost every aspect of the social and economic well-being of everyday Canadians. That includes work and employment, health, social benefits and human rights, as well as regulatory areas such as natural resources and broadcasting.

Cabinet ministers often get involved

There are administrative actors all over Canada at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal levels. They generally operate at arm’s length from cabinet and government departments, but nonetheless, cabinet ministers are often required by statute to make individualized decisions as part of their mandate.

An example of how ministerial decision-making affects

TMA5E / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

the lives of individuals can be found in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA).

Under provisions of the Act, the minister of Citizenship and Immigration has the authority to stay the enforcement of a removal order on humanitarian and compassionate grounds such as to protect the best interests of a child.

The minister also has the discretion to permit an individual to stay in Canada by granting an exemption from applicable criteria or requiring that alternative obligations be met, and may do so as a public policy consideration.

But warding off political interference is important across the spectrum of administrative actors.

The reasons are twofold.

Firstly, decisions should be made in a manner that doesn’t place any weight on extraneous, irrelevant factors.

An example of a decision based on irrelevant factors is contained in the landmark 1959 Roncarelli versus Duplessis ruling, the first Supreme Court of Canada decision to address political interference. The case involved the cancellation of a prominent Montreal restauranteur’s liquor licence “and his application for renewal rejected, to which was added a declaration by the respondent that no future licence would ever issue to him.”

In finding in favour of Frank Roncarelli, the Supreme Court determined that he’d lost his liquor licence as a form of pun-

ishment because of his support of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, whose religious existence was seen as a threat in 1950s Quebec.

‘Disintegration of rule of law’

Justice Ivan Rand held that permitting public officers to act for purposes not within the scope of their discretion under the governing statute would signal the disintegration of the rule of law.

The Roncarelli ruling is a celebrated decision for its early definition and support of the rule of law. But its comments on political interference leave something to be desired.

The court recognized that the liquor licence commissioner was acting on the orders of Maurice Duplessis, who held the dual role of attorney-general and premier of the province of Quebec.

But the court determined that it didn’t need to analyze the arguments presented that Duplessis’s interference was also at fault since it had already found that the law backed Roncarelli.

The Roncarelli case was therefore not only the first significant case to examine political interference, it was also the first to illustrate the weak decisions that have occurred when political interference on administrative decision-making has been brought to court.

In the SNC-Lavalin case, it’s correctly been noted that the decision to prosecute would have an impact not only the www.canadianinquirer.net

company but also those who were affected by its alleged actions.

But it’s also raised questions about respecting the rule of law.

Even if the law has political dimensions, when it comes to its interpretation and application, the public should have confidence that the decision-maker will be working from their own moral conscience and understanding of the applicable law.

They must not be swayed by those who haven’t been mandated to make the decision.

Wilson-Raybould touched on this in her recent testimony to the House of Commons committee, but it’s also one that has deep roots in Canadian administrative law as seen in both the Roncarelli ruling and the 2009 case Keen versus Canada (Attorney General).

Some would argue the Keen case is among the clearest examples of political interference of our time.

Linda Keen was removed from her position as president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission following a decision that had plainly displeased Canada’s natural resources minister at the time, Gary Lunn.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission regulates all nuclear facilities and activities in Canada. In 2007, the commission decided to keep closed a nuclear power plant that had been temporarily shut down for routine maintenance because of its failure to meet safety standards.

Lunn engaged in a weekend conference call with Keen and members of the commission in which he requested an immediate hearing in order to approve the restart of the reactor.

This followed a prior conference call between Lunn, commission officials and the operators of the reactor during which the Conservative cabinet minister urged them to work together to resolve the issue.

Overall, Lunn’s interactions with Keen appeared to reveal a misperception of the relationship between his office and the commission. While the minister is responsible for reporting to Parliament on behalf of the commission, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, as an arm’s-length independent body, was not responsible for accounting to Lunn for the decisions it made.

Keen took the case to Federal Court

After being unceremoniously removed from the position of president and demoted, Keen brought an application for judicial review in the Federal Court of Canada.

But the court held only that the circumstances of her termination were sufficient to satisfy the requirements of fairness since she was serving “at the pleasure” of the Crown.

It’s time for some fresh new thinking, and political and social leadership, on the issue of political interference.

We need to determine genuine and accurate criteria when it comes to the situations that affect independence. It’s only then that we can advocate for appropriate political leadership through legislation, and the development of good governance values to counteract such interference.

The Jody Wilson-Raybould controversy provides a useful example from which we can learn, and her reference to Indigenous principles may offer yet another valuable resource from which to draw. ■ This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Disclosure information is available on the original site.

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Canada News

MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

Caregivers still will help party ‘reconnect’ with Quebec vulnerable under new immigration rules, advocates warn NDP leader Singh hopes new deputy

BY GIUSEPPE VALIANTE The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was barely a minute into his speech Monday announcing a deputy leader from Quebec when he invoked the memory of Jack Layton, who famously led the party to its 2011 sweep of the province that propelled the party to Official Opposition status.

“I share the dream of Jack Layton to unite th who was first elected to Parliament during Layton’s 2011 Quebec orange wave — to help the party recapture the imagination of Quebecers as it targets the province’s 78 federal seats.

As the new deputy leader, Boulerice — a francophone and former union adviser — will be in charge of recruiting candidates and making the case for the party in Quebec.

Boulerice is known for his combative political style and strong oratory skills in the House of Commons. Singh said his decision to name Boulerice deputy leader shows his desire to “do things differently in Quebec.” He told reporters to stay tuned for a series of Quebecspecific announce progressives of Quebec and the rest of Canada under the same banner,” Singh said Since Layton’s death just months after the 2011 election, the party’s fortunes in the province have tumbled. The NDP is polling fourth in Quebec, Singh has so far failed to connect with voters, and high-profile Quebec MPs including former leader Tom Mulcair, Helene Laverdiere and Romeo Saganash will not be seeking re-election in October.

In response, Singh is relying on Montreal MP Alexandre

BY TERESA WRIGHT The Canadian Press

JAGMEET SINGH / FACEBOOK

Boulerice —ements in the coming months.

Singh said NDP policies to provide low-cost housing, to increase taxes on the rich and to respect Quebec cultural products make him “an ally” of Quebecers. But he and Boulerice also revealed that the environment will be a major issue the party will use to differentiate itself from the Liberals, who are leading in the polls in Quebec.

Singh justified his strategy by noting the success in last October’s provincial election of the left-wing and sovereigntist Quebec solidaire, which ran on what he called a “bold” environmental platform. The party’s radical policies included a promise to ban the sale of gaspowered cars by 2030.

Quebec solidaire increased its seat total to 10 from three and “really captured the imagination of Quebecers when it comes to the environment,” Singh said.

“There is a deep, romantic connection with the idea of protecting the water, the land, the air.

The young people in Quebec believe strongly we need to do more to fight climate change.”

Boulerice criticized the Trudeau government’s decision to purchase the Trans Moun-

tain pipeline and what he called its inadequate action to combat greenhouse gas emissions. “We will present a plan on the environment that will clearly show the time of half measures is over,” he said.

The NDP leader also hit the government on the SNC-Lavalin affair. Former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould claims she was subjected to relentless, inappropriate pressure to stop the trial of the engineering giant on bribery and fraud charges related to contracts in Libya.

Singh said if he were prime minister, he would have never let SNC-Lavalin hold sway over his government.

“We don’t believe that if you are powerful, well-connected (and) have donated illegally to our party, that you should be able to call up the prime minister’s office and have laws changed to get you off of criminal responsibility,” he said. “We wouldn’t have done that.”

The party’s next announcement for Quebec will be on Wednesday, when Singh plans to introduce the NDP’s candidate in the Montreal riding of Laurier—Sainte-Marie, currently held by Laverdiere. ■

www.canadianinquirer.net

them by making them work long hours, cutting their paycheques with arbitrary fees and offering poor living conditions.

OTTAWA — Migrant workers Workers who care for chilemployed in Canada as caregiv- dren or frail people can be ers are confused by new chang- vulnerable because they laes to immigration programs bour mainly in private homes, aimed at them, with many con- though they aren’t the only cerned the changes could mean ones affected. more barriers to obtaining perKara Manso, the co-ordinamanent residency. tor of the Caregivers Action Last month, Immigration Centre in Toronto, says her ofMinister Ahmed Hussen an- fice has been flooded with quenounced two ries from foreign new five-year workers looking pilot projects on for more details caregiver immiabout whether gration, which they will qualify We’re not have been billed for these new asking for as a way to alprograms. special low caregivers to “They’re pantreatment, come to Canada icking. They don’t we’re asking with their famiknow what’s gofor the same lies and offering ing to happen rights as them greater opto them and we everybody portunity to bewant to make sure else. come permanent that those people residents. are not isolated,” Groups that Manso said. represent and work with miHer group is among a number grant workers say they wel- of grassroots organizations that come many of the announced have long been pushing for michanges, but questions remain grant workers to be given landabout whether restrictive re- ed status on arrival in Canada. quirements to achieve permaManso herself came to Cannent residency will remain. ada as a caregiver, so she has The program allowing tem- felt the vulnerability of living porary foreign workers is meant without permanent status and to help employers fill job vacan- the rights and opportunities cies when Canadians are not of other newcomers. Migrant available. The government is workers in Canada often have supposed to make sure employ- little to no access to governers use the program to respond ment-funded settlement seronly to real labour shortages, vices in many provinces. Where but concerns have been raised services are available, isolation, repeatedly over the years about language and transportation migrant workers’ being tied to employers who have abused ❱❱ PAGE 19 Caregivers still

Canada News

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

17

CANADIAN TOUR-OF-DUTY

Ambassador Petronila Garcia: Role-Modelling Integrity, Excellence and Simple Living should not be too hard. The youth should be given all the support they need, she believes.

The good Ambassador recalls that she herself was just a young, fresh graduate when she aspired for a career in foreign service.

Barely 25 years old, she passed the prestigious foreign service exam in Manila and began a three-year all-around training inside the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). At 28, she was already Third Secretary and Consul in Singapore and then Sydney, Australia as Consul.

BY BOLET AREVALO

SHE WALKED unceremoniously into the room in her blue jeans and white polo shirt, warmly smiled before she greeted and ushered me into our meeting, or chat rather. She flew in from Manila to meet me near Pearson International Airport by making good use of a four-hour layover in Toronto before heading back to Ottawa. Anybody would have been swept off with that graciousness. And anybody would have believed that the kind lady welcoming does not have an ounce of condescension in her bones.

By the way, we are speaking of the Philippine Ambassador to Canada, Petronila Garcia, whose life accomplishment is nothing short of fulfilling.

“I am very fulfilled.” Perhaps one of the most enviable words any woman can hear from another woman. Fulfillment is 38 years of a colorful career in the foreign service, gratifying motherhood to two smart sons, and now in her happy role as a grandmother to an adorable two-year old boy.

Ambassador Petronila speaks of both her family and career with a lot of fondness and pride over what she has done and accomplished. It helped it seems that she considers herself good at understanding human dynamics from both an anthropological and sociological points of view.

“I am a self-made political scientist,” she declared. Despite a degree in law, she credits her good grasp of human behavior by her ability to think out of the box. Constructs are useful, she said, but most of the time, there is no science to interpreting human behavior.

“There is only human approach to understanding human interactions,” she believes.

She cited that even if Filipinos abroad are one in minds and hearts, the perspective with which we should view them may differ depending on

Pursuing Opportunities, Raising Kids

Philippine Ambassador to Canada Petronila Garcia

where they are elsewhere in the world or may be the situations they find themselves into. The good Ambassador observed that even in the simple aspect of linguistics, Filipinos in Canada versus Filipinos in Middle East, for example, exhibit some difference in their usage of the Filipino language.

She finds the use of Filipino as a first language is purer in an open society like Canada compared to a closed society where Filipinos strive harder to be more “glocalized” or to blend in order to assimilate faster into the complexities of a new culture that expects them to do so. Canada, which encourages multi-culturalism, gives immigrants more freedom to thrive in their roots and more time to embrace the new culture.

Something, not true, of course, in many closed societies in the world.

Fil-Cans’ Shining Moment

Filipinos in Canada are already close to a million now, about half of whom are in Toronto. Ambassador Garcia

SUPPLIED

views that this number should be able to give Filipinos higher leverage.

“This is our shining moment,” she declares proudly.

It is time, she pointed out; Filipinos in Canada should be asking themselves two very important questions – Who are we? What do we want to be?

There is a need to define one’s identity, especially when one is in another country. Surprisingly, or may be not surprisingly, it is actually the young FilipinoCanadians who are more concerned with that, she observed.

Not to discredit the seeds planted and the efforts poured in by the older generations of Filipino-Canadians, she is simply amazed that it is the new generation of Fil-Cans who are passionate about creating and asserting their own identity.

“And they deserve it,” she says. Fortunately, the young Filipino-Canadians know what they want and all that we need to do is to be their enablers.

Now that Filipinos are one of the fastest growing immigrant populations in Canada, this www.canadianinquirer.net

In pursuit of her own career goals, there were opportunities that were either offered to her or she applied for, she related.

She then paused to express the thought that sometimes we earnestly seek for an opportunity but never come to think that it may not be the right one or good one for us. She recalled being offered several posts early on in her career which she did not accept. One time she eagerly applied for a post – but later gave her one of the biggest scares of her life. In this stint, she fell victim to a random case of robbery incident, and met a bullet but luckily survived. Yet, there are also assignments that one does not ask for but proved to be one of the best ones. One such was her stint in South Korea when its economy was very, very strong that it was such a pleasant ride. But not for long.

If the world remembers, there was what we called the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.

Accounts noted that this infamous crisis started when the baht collapsed immediately after the bankruptcy of the Thai government due to its huge burden of foreign debt. The effects of the crisis snowballed to most Asian countries, including the Philippines in the Southeast, which saw huge devaluations of their currencies. While Singapore and Taiwan were said to be the least hit, the crisis had its own domino effects in the world that even powers like Russia and the US also felt the jolt. Japan was also affected but less significantly than that of

Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea.

She related that in South Korea during the crisis, working Koreans were let go by their companies and given early retirement benefits. Aside from the famous gold-collecting campaign among patriotic Koreans, it can be recalled that this was also the time that a number of Koreans began considering using their monies to start their own businesses, many of whom chose the Philippines. Thus, the influx of South Koreans in the Philippines in the late 90s, shortly after the crisis.

While the Ambassador cherished her time in South Korea, around that time, too, was a period of reassessment for her on how to continue raising her two boys – Angelo Victor, 11, and Jose Gabriel, five, at that time.

“I started thinking they should be touching base with their Filipino culture,” she related. Having travelled with her wherever work took her, the kids, she thought, needed to learn about and go back to their roots. Thus, in 1999, she opted to be sent back to Manila, where she stayed for five years till 2004. Within this period, she was offered some posts but her mind was fixated on that family goal. Not until something came up.

The next offer was wrapped in silver with an ambassadorial post in Egypt, her first in this capacity. Thinking she had given her sons the chance to plant some new roots in the Philippines and re-discover their being Filipinos, she took her own chance to move forward further with her career in the foreign service by taking on the offer.

And there was no stopping her from there.

Learnings from Each Post

From Egypt in 2004-2007 with concurrent position in The Sudan, she was moved to Israel where she stayed till 2011. After that was a Manila posting as Assistant Secretary for Middle East and the African Affairs from 2011 to July 2014. August 2014 was when she assumed the ❱❱ PAGE 28 Ambassador Petronila

World News

18

MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

Trump’s ‘MAGAnomics’ gets a thumbs down from Democrats

BY LISA MASCARO The Associated Press WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump proposed a record $4.7 trillion budget, pushing the federal deficit past $1 trillion but counting on optimistic growth, accounting shuffles and steep domestic cuts to bring future spending into balance in 15 years.

Reviving his border wall fight with Congress, Trump wants more than $8 billion for the barrier with Mexico, and he’s also asking for a big boost in military spending. That’s alongside steep cuts in health care and economic support programs for the poor that Democrats — and even some Republicans — will oppose.

Trump on Monday called his plan a bold next step for a nation experiencing “an economic miracle.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called his cuts “cruel and shortsighted … a roadmap to a

sicker, weaker America.”

Presidential budgets tend to be seen as aspirational blueprints, rarely becoming enacted policy, and Trump’s proposal for the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, sets up a showdown with Congress over priorities, especially as he reignites his push for money to build the U.S-Mexico border wall.

The deficit is projected to hit $1.1 trillion in the 2020 fiscal year, the highest in a decade.

The administration is counting on robust growth, including from the Republican tax cuts — which Trump wants to make permanent — to push down the red ink. Some economists, though, say the bump from the tax cuts is waning, and they project slower economic expansion in coming years. The national debt is $22 trillion.

Even with his own projections, Trump’s budget would not come into balance for a decade and a half, rather than the traditional hope of balancing in 10.

Pandit Mahadeva

403 909 6993 W h i te field Dr NE , C algar y

Titled “A Budget for a Better America: Promises Kept.

Taxpayers First,” Trump’s proposal “embodies fiscal responsibility,” said Russ Vought, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Despite the large projected deficits, Vought said the administration has “prioritized reining in reckless Washington spending” and shows “we can return to fiscal sanity.”

The budget calls the approach “MAGAnomics,” after the president’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.

Some fiscal watchdogs, though, panned the effort as more piling on of debt by Trump with no course correction in sight.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said Trump “relies on far too many accounting gimmicks and fantasy assumptions and puts forward far too few actual solutions.” She warned the debt load will lead to slower income growth and stalled opportunities for Americans.

Perhaps most notably among spending proposals, Trump is returning to his border wall fight. Fresh off the longest government shutdown in history, his 2020 plan shows he is eager to confront Congress again over the wall.

The budget proposes increasing defence spending to $750 billion — and building the new Space Force as a military branch — while reducing nondefense accounts by 5 per cent, with cuts recommended to economic safety-net programs used by many Americans. The $2.7 trillion in proposed reductions over the decade is higher than any administration in history, they say.

On Capitol Hill, the budget landed without much fanfare from Trump’s GOP allies, while Democrats found plenty not to like.

“Dangerous,” not serious, a “sham,” they said. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called it an “Alice in Wonderland document.”

The plan sticks to budget caps that both parties have routinely broken in recent years. To stay within the caps, it shifts a porwww.canadianinquirer.net

CHRISTOPHER HALLORAN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

tion of the military spending, some $165 billion, to an overseas contingency fund, which some fiscal hawks will view as an accounting gimmick.

The budget slashes $2 trillion from health care spending, while trying to collect $100 million in new fees from the electronic cigarette industry to help combat a surge in underage vaping. It provides money to fight opioid addiction and $291 million to “defeat the HIV/AIDS epidemic.”

It cuts the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 16 per cent and Education by 10 per cent, but includes $1 billion for a child care fund championed by the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser.

Trump is returning to old battles while refraining from unveiling many new initiatives.

He re-opens plans for repealing “Obamacare,” imposing work requirements for those receiving government aid and slashing the Environmental Protection Agency by about a third — all ideas Congress has rejected in the past.

The budget proposes $200 billion toward infrastructure, much lower than the $1 trillion plan Trump once envisioned, but does not lay out a sweeping new plan.

By refusing to raise the budget caps, Trump is signalling a fight ahead. The president has resisted big, bipartisan budget deals that break the caps — threatening to veto one last year — but Congress will need to find agreement on spending levels to avoid another federal shutdown in the fall.

Conservatives railed for years against deficits that rose during the first years of Barack

Obama’s administration as tax revenue plummeted and spending increased during the Great Recession. But even with Republican control of Congress during the first two years of the Trump administration, deficits were on a steady march upward.

The Democratic chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, said Trump added nearly $2 trillion to deficits with the GOP’s “tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations, and now it appears his budget asks the American people to pay the price.”

The border wall remains a signature issue for the president, even though Congress refuses to give him more money for it.

To circumvent Congress, Trump declared a national emergency at the border last month as a way to access funding. Lawmakers are uneasy with that and set to vote in the Senate to terminate his national emergency declaration. Congress appears to have enough votes to reject Trump’s declaration but not enough to overturn a veto. The standoff over the wall led to a 35-day partial government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history.

There’s also money to hire more than 2,800 additional law enforcement officers, including Border Patrol agents, at a time when many Democrats are calling for cuts — or even the elimination — of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The wall with Mexico played a big part in Trump’s campaign for the White House, and it’s expected to again be featured in his 2020 re-election effort. He used to say Mexico would pay for it, but Mexico has refused to do so. ■

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

World News

Caregivers still...

Pelosi waves off impeachment, says it would divide country

❰❰ 16

can be barriers to access.

“I have the lived experience being in that situation where you don’t know what’s going to happen to you. Your life, your personal life, your work life is controlled by an immigration status that is specific to an employer,” she said.

“We’re not asking for special treatment, we’re asking for the same rights as everybody else.”

Some of the changes announced by the federal department are being applauded — notably one that will see occupation-specific work permits given to caregivers, allowing them to change jobs more easily.

Previously, work permits were tied to individual employers, making it difficult for workers to escape if they were being abused or leaving them in limbo if their elderly wards passed away.

Open work permits for spouses or common-law partners are also being welcomed, which will allow migrant workers to bring their families to Canada. This is aimed at ending a long-criticized practice of seeing temporary foreign workers separated from their own children while they care for children in Canada.

But details remain unclear about many aspects of the new caregiver pilot programs. For example, the proposed regulations don’t specify how for long the open work permits will be granted for migrant workers in situations of abuse. Questions also remain about whether restrictive language and work-experience requirements for applying for permanent residency will stay in place.

Ottawa has stepped up employer inspections and has been naming and shaming those caught breaking the rules following a host of oversight problems in the temporary foreign worker program, uncovered by former auditor general Michael Ferguson.

But migrant workers remain vulnerable to employer abuse and can lose their legal status and be deported due to language and resource barriers in trying to navigate Canada’s immigration system, according to the findings of a forum on migrant-worker issues co-hosted in November by the Canadian Council for Refugees.

Participants in the forum cited concerns over: access to settlement services; predatory recruitment practices, includ-

ing high fees charged by recruiters; a lack of safe spaces for migrant workers to talk about their experiences; and the “criminalization” of migrant workers who fall out of status due to labour exploitation and are then targeted for deportation by Canada Border Services officers.

The refugee council’s executive director Janet Dench says these concerns illuminate the reasons why all migrant workers should be offered the same rights and legal status as other newcomers.

“We continue to need people to fill these positions, and they seem to be committed to giving them options to become permanent residents at the end of their (work permits), but why can’t they just be permanent residents on arrival, like other immigrants to Canada?”

The federal government says it is committed to removing barriers to permanent residency, offering better protection for caregivers in the workplace and reuniting more families faster.

Mathieu Genest, the spokesman for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, said full eligibility criteria will be made available closer to the date of the launch of these new pilot programs, whose start dates also remain unclear. He did say that the new programs will feature “standard” criteria for economic-immigration programs, such as minimum education and official-language standards, along with the requirement for the caregiver to gain two years of work experience.

“These criteria have been shown to be critical factors for the successful settlement and establishment in Canada for all new permanent residents, including caregivers.”

As for the call to offer permanent residency upon arrival in Canada, Genest said the caregiver programs are “designed to help address specific labour market needs” and that the newly designed programs will offer more certainty to those to those accepted under the program “once they have the necessary work experience.”

“We inherited a program that had several shortcomings. We have been committed to consulting with clients to make sure we get this program right and provide caregivers an opportunity to stay in Canada permanently,” Genest said. ■

BY MARY CLARE JALONICK AND LISA MASCARO The Associated Press

Sanders added of impeachment, “I don’t think it should have ever been on the table.”

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said it was a “smart thing for her to say,” but WASHINGTON — House Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the Speaker Nancy Pelosi is setting top Republican on the Judiciaa high bar for impeachment ry Committee, said he doesn’t of President Donald Trump, think it’s “going to fly” with saying he is “just not worth it” some of Pelosi’s members. even as some on her left flank “I do believe what Speaker clamour to start proceedings.

Pelosi understands is that what Pelosi said in an interview they’re wanting to do is going with The Washington Post that to require far more than what “I’m not for impeachment” of they have now, so I think they Trump. are hedging their bet on it,” Col“Unless there’s something so lins said. compelling and overwhelming Pelosi has long resisted calls and bipartisan, I don’t think to impeach the president, saywe should go down that path, ing it’s a “divisive” issue that because it divides the country,” should only be broached with she said. “great care.”

While she has She refused made similar calls when she comments befirst held the fore, Pelosi is speaker’s gavel, I get the impression this matter will making clear to in 2007, to start only be resolved at the polls. her caucus and impeachment to voters that proceedings Democrats will against George not move forW. Bush. Havward quickly with trying to re- crimes and coverups ‘worth it?’ ing been a member of Congress move Trump from office. And Is doing what’s right ‘worth it?’ during President Bill Clinton’s it’s a departure from her previ- Or shall America just stop fight- impeachment, she saw the way ous comments that Democrats ing for our principles and do the public turned on Republiare waiting on special counsel what’s politically convenient.” cans and helped Clinton win a Robert Mueller to lay out findNeil Sroka of the liberal ad- second term. Heading into the ings from his Russia investi- vocacy group Democracy for midterm elections, she discourgation before considering im- America said Pelosi’s com- aged candidates from talking peachment. ments were “a little like an on- up impeachment, preferring to That thinking among Demo- cologist taking chemotherapy stick to the kitchen table issues crats has shifted, slightly, in part off the table before she’s even that she believes most resonate because of the possibility that got your test results back.” with voters.

Mueller’s report will not be deOther lawmakers who have Pelosi has often said the cisive and because his investiga- called for impeachment looked House should not pursue imtion is more narrowly focused. at Pelosi’s comments more peachment for political reaInstead, House Democrats are practically. Rep. Brad Sherman, sons, but it shouldn’t hold back pursuing their own broad, high- D-Calif., who filed articles of for political reasons, either. profile investigations that will impeachment against Trump Rather, she says, the investigakeep the focus on Trump’s busi- on the first day of the new Con- tions need to take their course ness dealings and relationship gress in January, acknowledged and impeachment, if warrantwith Russia, exerting congres- that there is not yet public ed, will be clear. sional oversight without having support for impeachment, but Freshman Democrats who to broach the I-word. noted that Pelosi “didn’t say are from more moderate disOversight and Reform Com- ‘I am against it if the public is tricts and will have to win remittee Chairman Elijah Cum- clamouring for it.’” election again in two years have mings, one of the lawmakers Sherman said that the mul- been fully supportive of Pelosi’s leading those investigations, tiple Democratic investigations caution. said he agrees with Pelosi and of Trump might be a substitute “When we have something Congress needs “to do our for impeachment, “it’s also pos- that’s very concrete, and we homework.” He said impeach- sible it will be a prelude.” have something that is comment “has to be a bipartisan Republicans alternately pelling enough to get a strong effort, and right now it’s not praised Pelosi and were skep- majority of Americans, then there.” tical. White House press sec- we’ll do it,” said Rep. Katie Hill, “I get the impression this retary Sarah Sanders said “I D-Calif. “But if it’s going to be matter will only be resolved at agree” in response to Pelosi’s a political disaster for us, then the polls,” Cummings said. words. we’re not going to do it.” ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

Still, Pelosi’s comments are certain to stoke a stubborn tension with those who believe impeachment proceedings should have begun on day one of the new Congress. Some new freshman Democrats who hail from solidly liberal districts haven’t shied away from the subject — Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib used a vulgarity in calling for Trump’s impeachment the day she was sworn in.

Billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who is bankrolling a campaign pushing for Trump’s impeachment, shot back at Pelosi on Monday: “Speaker Pelosi thinks ‘he’s just not worth it?’ Well, is defending our legal system ‘worth it?’ Is holding the president accountable for his

19

20

MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

THANK YOU TO COMMUNITY GROUPS ACROSS CANADA FOR YOUR STRONG ADVOCACY!

INTERIM PATHWAY TO PERMANENT RESIDENCE FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS March 4 – June 4 From March 4 – June 4 2019, caregivers and home support workers with one year of full-time Canadian work experience may be eligible to apply for permanent residence.

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Jenny Kwan

Member of Parliament for Vancouver East “This Interim measure is a step in the right direction but there is still more work to do. Let’s continue to push for Landed Status Now!" - MP Jenny Kwan, NDP Critic for Immigraton, Refugees and Citzenship www.jennykwan.ndp.ca |jenny.kwan@parl.gc.ca | 604 - 775 -5800 |613 - 992 - 6030

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World News

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

21

US withdrawing last of its embassy personnel from Venezuela

BY FABIOLA SANCHEZ AND SCOTT SMITH The Associated Press CARACAS, VENEZUELA — The United States announced late Monday that it is pulling the remaining staff from its embassy in Venezuela, citing the deteriorating situation in the South American nation.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the decision as Venezuela struggles to restore electricity following four days of blackouts around the country and a deepening political crisis.

The U.S. has led an international effort to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro and replace him with opposition leader Juan Guaido, who vows to hold a new presidential election. Guaido is backed by some 50 countries, while Maduro maintains support from countries such as China, Russia and Cuba.

Maduro had ordered all U.S. diplomats to leave Venezuela in late January because of its support from Guaido, but he retreated and allowed them to stay. The U.S. still withdrew dependents of embassy personnel as well as some of the staff.

Pompeo said the remaining diplomats would be out of Venezuela by the end of the week.

The move came after another day of chaos as power outages that began Thursday evening continued to cause problems for Venezuelans, leaving them with little power, water and communications.

People converged on a polluted river to fill water bottles in Caracas, and scattered protests erupted in several cities A 3-year-old girl with a brain tumour languished in a Caracas hospital, awaiting treatment after doctors started surgery but then suspended the operation when nationwide power outages first hit on Thursday, said the girl’s fearful mother, who only gave her first name, Yalimar.

“The doctors told me that there are no miracles,” said Yalimar, who hopes her daughter can be transferred Tuesday to one of the few hospitals in Venezuela that would be able to finish the complex procedure.

The girl’s story highlighted an unfolding horror in Venezuela, where years of hardship got abruptly worse after the power grid collapsed. On Monday, schools and businesses were closed, long lines of cars waited at the few gasoline stations with electricity and hospitals cared for many patients without power. Generators have alleviated conditions for some of the critically ill.

President Nicolas Maduro said on national television Monday night that progress had been made in restoring power in Venezuela. He also said two people who were allegedly trying to sabotage power facilities were captured and were providing information to authorities, though he gave no details.

Guaido, who heads the oppo- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. sition-controlled congress, and the United States say Maduro’s confirm. sion. claims that the U.S. sabotaged Security forces in the city of Morales said the needy are the power grid with a “cyberat- Maracaibo dispersed “crimi- cautious about approaching to tack” are an attempt to divert nals” trying to take advantage collect the handouts because of attention from the govern- of the power cuts, Mayor Willy the presence of security forces. ment’s own failings.

Casanova told local media.

Early Monday, an explosion There have been acts of kind- However, numerous videos rocked a power station in the ness during Venezuela’s crisis: posted on social media that Baruta area of Caracas. ResiPeople whose food would rot purported to be from Mara- dents gathered to look at the in refrigerators without pow- caibo showed crowds roaming charred, smouldering equiper donated it to a restaurant, the streets and people running ment. which cooked it for distribution from looted, damaged buildings Guaido said three of four to charities and hospitals. with no police in sight. electricity transformers servicThe blackouts also have hit In Caracas, some people ing the area were knocked out. the oil industry. The country reported more sightings of He has blamed the blackouts hasn’t shipped $358 million “colectivos,” a term for armed on government corruption and in oil since the mismanagepower failures ment. started, and “the Winston Cawhole system bas, the head is grinding to a of Venezuela’s There have been acts of kindness halt,” said Russ electrical enduring Venezuela’s crisis: Dallen, a Miamigineers union, People whose food would rot based partner which opposes in refrigerators without power at the brokerthe government, donated it to a restaurant, which age firm Caracas disputed governcooked it for distribution to Capital Markets. ment allegations charities and hospitals.

Two large that the countankers are sittry’s main hydroting empty at the electric dam was Jose offshore oil-loading dock, groups allegedly operating on sabotaged last week. He blamed and at least 19 other ships are behalf of the state to intimidate a lack of maintenance as well as waiting their turns there, Dal- opponents. the departure of skilled worklen said.

The mood in Caracas was ers from the troubled country Engineers have restored desperate. over the years. power in some parts of VenezuMarian Morales, a nurse “The system is vulnerable, ela, but it often goes out again. working for a Catholic youth fragile and unstable,” he said.

There have been a few protests group, and several colleagues Spain’s airline pilots union in Caracas and reports of simi- handed out diapers and food asked for Spanish airline Air lar anti-government anger else- from a car parked near a hos- Europa to stop flying to Venwhere. Guaido tweeted about pital. Police and men in civilian ezuela after one of its crews was reports of looting in some cit- clothing ordered them to leave, attacked at gunpoint in Caracas. ies, but details were difficult to saying they didn’t have permis- The Sepla union said two pilots www.canadianinquirer.net

@SECPOMPEO / TWITTER

and eight more crew members of a flight from Madrid were assaulted on Saturday while going from the airport to their hotel in the Venezuelan capital.

None of the crew members was injured.

Air Europa responded by ordering the crews of flights to Venezuela to not spend the night in the country, according to the union.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on a Moscowbased bank jointly owned by Russian and Venezuelan stateowned companies, alleging it tried to circumvent U.S. sanctions on the South American country. The U.S. said it is targeting Evrofinance Mosnarbank for supporting Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company previously targeted by sanctions in January.

Evrofinance said it was carrying out its activities normally despite the announcement and pledged to “meet its obligations to the clients and partners in full.”

The U.S. and the other governments that recognize Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president say Maduro wasn’t legitimately re-elected last year because opposition candidates weren’t permitted to run. Maduro says he is the target of a U.S. coup plot. ■

World News

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MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

Criticism of... ❰❰ 1

The rest of the world typically takes it cues from the FAA, long considered the world’s gold standard for aircraft safety. Yet other aviation safety regulators, including the European Union, China, Australia and the United Kingdom, have decided not to wait for the FAA to act. The Ethiopian disaster came just five months after the deadly crash of another new Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by Lion Air in Indonesia.

Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that he’s concerned that international aviation regulators are providing more certainty to the flying public than the FAA. “In the coming days, it is absolutely critical that we get answers as to what caused the devastating crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 and whether there is any connection to what caused the Lion Air accident just five months ago,” DeFazio said.

The FAA has increasingly become cozy with airplane manufacturers and airlines when it should be more proactive in safety, said Bill McGee, aviation adviser for Consumer Reports.

The magazine and website on Tuesday

A Boeing 737-8 MAX.

PJS2005 / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CC BY-SA 2.0

called on airlines and the FAA to ground the 737 Max planes until an investigation into the cause of the Ethiopian crash is completed to see if it’s related to the Lion Air crash in October.

“They have not presented any evi-

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dence that the problems that we’ve seen with these two crashes are not problems that could potentially exist here in the U.S.,” McGee said.

“Increasingly the FAA is relying more and more on what the industry calls electronic surveillance,” added McGee, who has written about aviation for nearly two decades. “Not going out and kicking the tires, seeing the work being done, making sure it’s being done properly.”

Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood also called for the U.S. to ground the 737 Max, just as his agency halted flights of another Boeing plane six years ago because of safety concerns.

“These planes need to be inspected before people get on them,” LaHood said Tuesday. “The flying public expects somebody in the government to look after safety, and that’s DOT’s responsibility.”

LaHood was Department of Transportation secretary in 2013 when the department grounded the Boeing 787 because of overheating lithium-ion battery packs. The planes were idled for less than a month, until Boeing crafted new fire-resistant compartments around the batteries.

LaHood said current Secretary Elaine Chao should do the same thing with the Max 8, even if it means overruling the FAA, which has taken no action in the face of the dozens of other countries banning the plane from their skies. “The secretary has the authority to suspend these planes” and require inspections by both FAA and Boeing personnel, he said.

“She has the authority to do it no matter what the FAA thinks.”

But veteran accident investigators defended the FAA, which has said there’s no data to link the two crashes.

“I don’t see the facts to justify what they’ve done,” John Goglia, an inde-

www.canadianinquirer.net

pendent safety consultant and former member of the National Transportation Safety Board, said of the moves by other countries to stop the Max 8 from flying.

“If they have facts, I wish they would share them with the rest of the world so we can protect the air-travelling public.”

The FAA said it was reviewing all available data, and so far had found no basis to ground the planes.

John Cox, president and CEO of the aviation consultancy Safety Operating Systems, said countries that have grounded the Max 8 may have linked the Ethiopian and Indonesian crashes even though investigators had yet to analyze the Ethiopian plane’s black boxes.

“The FAA is on solid ground so far,” said Cox, a former airline pilot and accident investigator. “But politics may overwhelm them if enough members get together and demand the planes be grounded.”

Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Dianne Feinstein of California already have urged FAA to do just that, signalling that the agency may soon face escalating pressure from Capitol Hill.

“My fear is that the FAA is simply trying to save face and avoid acknowledging the safety defect that they failed to find when they certified the plane’s safety,” said Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Air safety regulators in at least 40 countries, including the European Union, have either grounded Boeing 737 Max jets or banned them from their airspace after Sunday’s deadly crash in Ethiopia. In addition, at least 10 airlines worldwide have stopped flying the planes.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency, which covers 32 countries, announced Tuesday that it would ban the planes from flying in its airspace. Other countries that have either grounded the planes or temporarily banned them include China, the United Kingdom, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Oman, Malaysia and Australia.

Airlines that have stopped using the planes include Gol Airlines of Brazil, Cayman Airways, Ethiopian Airways, Jet Airways of India, Aeromexico, Norwegian Air Shuttle, Turkish Airlines, Eastar Jet of South Korea, Smartwings of the Czech Republic and LOT of Poland.

Sandy Morris, an aerospace analyst at Jefferies in London, called the string of bans on the Boeing Max jets unprecedented.

“It seems like a rebellion against the FAA,” Morris said. ■ Krisher reported from Detroit. Associated Press writers David Koenig in Houston, Carlo Piovano in London and Cathy Bussewitz in New York contributed to this report.

23

Entertainment James Reid bares more Meet Wave: Newest Filipino superhero about relationship in Marvel Universe revealed with Nadine Lustre

BY JOANNA BELLE DEALA Philippine Canadian Inquirer

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer AFTER CELEBRATING their third anniversary as a couple, Kapamilya actor James Reid reveals more on his relationship with on-screen and real-life partner Nadine Lustre, including the fact that they live together.

In James’s first ever solo interview on Sunday, host Vice Ganda asks James for details about his three-year relationship, to which the 25-yearold accidentally slips that they were living together, but quickly adds in his Gandang Gabi Vice guesting, “Oh, did you know that already? Okay well, we live together.” He then explains, “Sometimes we see each other everyday, there’s no space. Sometimes, you get too comfortable but then there are days when she’s working, she’s super busy and when she gets home, we really miss each other still, even if it’s just for one day.”

Rumours about the couple living together began in 2017, which Nadine neither confirmed or denied, but became viral for her iconic response, “Come on, guys, it’s 2017!”

James Reid and Nadine Lustre.

James was also asked by Vice during the interview if jealousy occurs between the couple, and he reveals, “As a guy, sometimes you see a girl that’s really pretty, but it’s not like I’m going to stalk her or something like that.

Because I’m in a relationship, I try my best not to give [Nadine] any reason to feel jealous.”

The couple first admitted they were a couple back in February 2016. The two rose to fame after working together as a love team on 2014 film “Diary ng Panget.” Currently, Nadine is promoting her movie “Ulan” co-starring Carlo Aquino.

James, on the other hand, is set to be a judge on Idol Philippines alongside Vice Ganda.

A few days prior to her boyfriend’s GGV guesting, Nadine also first speaks out to Karen Davila about the suicide of her brother in 2017. In the exclusive interview, she attests a lot to James for her ability to cope.

“It’s not just because we’re in love. He’s also going through things,” she explains, “Every time I get really bad anxieties, I would call him, he would talk to me. He would just enlighten me and tell me it’s going to be okay.” ■

@NADINE / INSTAGRAM

FILIPINO MARVEL fans indeed have a lot to look forward to especially now that the first look of the newest Filipino superhero to enter the Marvel Universe has been revealed.

The official sketch of the hero named “Wave” was unveiled by comic book writer Greg Pak on his Twitter account on Saturday, March 9.

“Remember when we said we were introducing a new Filipino superhero to the Marvel Universe in WAR OF THE REALMS: AGENTS OF ATLAS #1?” Greg wrote.

He continued in another tweet, “As announced at @sxsw, I’m thrilled to share the great

Wave.

@leinilyu’s stunning design of WAVE, Marvel’s new Filipino superhero! Gorgeous colors by @sunnygho!”

The heroine was drawn by

GREG PAK / TWITTER

the hands of another Filipino, Leinil Yu, a comic book artist who works with Marvel. ❱❱ PAGE 24 Meet Wave

TNT Boys eliminated from ‘The World’s Best’

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer FILIPINO BOY group TNT Boys, also known as ‘The Big Shot Trio,’ comprised of Keifer Sanchez, Mackie Empuerto, and Francis Concepcion, officially bow out of American talent competition “The World’s Best” after failing to make it to the finals.

In the most recent episode aired live last Wednesday, March 6, the TNT Boys faced acapella group Naturally 7 and Vonnie Lopez & The High Praise Choir for the group music championships, performing their rendition of “Flashlight”

by British singer Jessie J for judges actress Drew Barrymore, singer Faith Hill, and RuPaul Charles.

As a response to their performance, Barrymore told the boys, “There is no flaw in one www.canadianinquirer.net

note. When you have a show called ‘World’s Best’ that’s a very high bar to set, and you guys just reach it every time, if not surpass it.”

Yet, unfortunately, the young singers received an average of only 49 points from both the panel of judges and the 50 experts of ‘wall of the world’, placing them eight points behind Naturally 7, who performed “Fix You” by Coldplay. Naturally 7 took home $50,000 for winning the top spot in their division and will face the show’s other competitors during the championship next week.

As they exited, host James Corden reminded the young Filipino singers of the TNT Boys, “every single person who has watched you perform on this show, you have moved them and changed them and this is the start of an incredible journey.”

Soon after the episode aired,

“The World’s Best” posted on their social media an opportunity for viewers to vote for their ‘fan favorite,’ or their “favorite act of the night,” which some netizens are speculating is another chance for the boys to be a wildcard pick into the finals Besides ‘The World’s Best,’ the TNT Boys have made a name for themselves in the entertainment industry through Philippine show “Your Face Sounds Familiar,” where they impersonated artists like Destiny’s Child, The Bee Gees, and The Supremes. They also performed on “Little Big Shots” in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. ■

24

Entertainment

MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

Comedian Chokoleit dies at 46 Julia Barretto celebrates 22nd birthday in Amalfi Coast-themed party

BY ARIANNE GRACE U. LACANILAO Philippine Canadian Inquirer

STAR MAGIC confirmed the passing of local comedian Jonathan Aguilar Garcia popularly known by his stage name Chokoleit early Sunday. He was 46.

In an Instagram post, @starmagicphils expressed their love for their talent and thanked the comedian from the joy he has shared to the public.

Although ambulance rushed him to Abra Provincial Hospital, he passed away as a result of having difficulty in breathing after his performance in the Abra Kawayan Festival according to the details gathered.

Meanwhile, Carl Guevarra, one of the performers with Chokoleit last night shared the comedian’s “last words” in his last performance on his Facebook timeline. In the video, the late comedian was seen heavily sweating and struggling to breathe while performing, which Carl recognized in his Facebook status.

Chokoleit, who happens to be the first performer in the event made a chilling introduction. He said that he felt good to hear an applause from the audiences and that the applause and cheering made him feel more inspired to perform.

He joked, “Akala, nagkamali kayong lahat. Siyempre, ako ang mauuna! Kasi kung ako huli, baka hindi ko na kayo abutan!”

(Maybe, you thought they made a mistake, of course, I will be the first [to perform], because if not, I might not be here anymore.”)

Also performed with Chokoleit last night on the last day of celebration of the festival in

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer

Jonathan Aguilar Garcia a.k.a. Chokoleit.

@HOT_CHOKOLEIT / INSTAGRAM

Abra Sports Complex are the celebrity guests and artists including Paulo Avelino, JM De Guzman, Ryza Cenon, Pops Fernandez, The Juans, Showtime Dancers, Enchong Dee, and Coleen Garcia.

Avelino, one of his colleagues, expressed his message to the comedian tweeting, “The laughter and happiness you brought to everyone will surely be missed.”

On the other hand, Vice Ganda, his fellow comedian and one of his closest friends, also wrote a tweet giving thanks to the Lord for He gave him a chance to meet and become Garcia’s friend, adding that he was sad to lose him but also happy that

he is in a happier place now. He ended the tweet expressing love for him.

Among those who expressed their sadness and grief to Garcia were also his talent manager Ogie Diaz, artists Amy Perez-Castillo, Kip Oebanda, Tim Pavino, Vhong Navarro, Maris Racal, Luis Manzano, Sunshine Cruz, and Marietta Subong or Pokwang.

Chokoleit was popular in his role as Pearly Shells in the fantasy series called Marina in 2004. He was also in Kampanerang Kuba in 2005 and in soap operas including Mara Clara in 2010, Aryana in 2012 and Asintado last year. ■

It was on February 15 when Marvel announced that Wave will team-up with other new heroes from China — Aero and Sword Master — to save the Earth from the baddies.

While the appearance of the superhero, who is seen wearing a Black suit with a touch of Green and Gold and holding two swords, has been revealed, some fans are stoked to learn what could be the abilities of

this “mysterious new Filipino heroine.”

Guess they will have to find about it in the War of the Realms: New Agents of Atlas #1 where Wave will first appear.

Written by Greg with art by Gang-Hyuk Lim, this comic book, which “unites new and classic heroes” according to Marvel, will kick-off the fourissue War of the Realms tie-in series this May. ■

KAPAMILYA ACTRESS Julia Barretto celebrates her 22nd birthday in the garden of her mother’s home last Saturday, March 9 with an “Amalfi Coastthemed” party with her family and friends.

The party was organized by her mother, Marjorie Barretto, who shares on Instagram, “Julia challenges me every year to come up with a theme for her birthday… I’m just so happy that out of so many possible venues, she always chooses to have it in my garden.”

Marjorie also adds, “I’m a DIY (do it yourself ) kind of Mom, I usually fix everything myself, but because Julia feels there’s a lot of reasons to celebrate, and this is her last year living in my home, I will blow her mind with this one,” elaborating that the party preparations began early morning the day before.

The event, dubbed as #JustJulia22, was guided by stylist Gideon Hermosa, who embellished the garden with yellow flowers and lemon trees.

The reasoning behind the Amalfi Coast being the theme

of the party is because Julia describes the location as her “dream destination” attesting this party of making it come to life. She thanks Gideon for the preparations, stating, “You brought my guests into a different world.”

Some of the celebrity guest list included Julia’s rumoured boyfriend and on-screen partner Joshua Garcia, “Block Z” co-stars Ian Veneracion, Ina Raymundo, and Maris Racal, and celebrities Sam Concepcion, Chie Filomeno, Dominic Roque, Pat Sugui, Maymay Entrata, Janella Salvador, Leila Alcasid, and Issa Pressman.

One of Julia’s best friends, Erich Gonzales, was also present.

Throughout the night, a few star-studded performances took place, with fashion designer Rajo Laurel and Karla Estrada singing a duet, Ian Veneracion singing Sting’s “Englishman in New York,” Joshua Garcia singing Parokya ni Edgar’s “Harana,” and the birthday girl herself rapping Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass.”

When looking in retrospect about her birthday celebration, Julia shares on social media that #JustJulia22 was truly “a night to remember.” ■

Meet Wave... ❰❰ 23

“When I first saw this, I was moved to tears. Thank you.

Finally, we have a representation,” said netizen @SmittenKanojo.

Budjette Tan, a Filipino writer who created comic series Trese which will be rolled out soon in Netflix, also replied to Greg’s announcement, saying, “Yeeehaaa!!! Mabuhay si (long live) Wave.”

www.canadianinquirer.net

#JustJulia22.

@JULIABARRETTO / INSTAGRAM

Entertainment

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

25

For Jussie Smollett, 1 story equals 16 felony counts

BY DON BABWIN The Associated Press CHICAGO — News that a grand jury had indicted “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett for allegedly lying to Chicago police about being attacked by two masked men may not have made much of a splash except for one thing: The lone felony count that Smollett had been arrested on last month had turned into 16.

The reasons Smollett is facing 16 counts rather than just one count of disorderly conduct — the felony in Illinois that people are charged with when accused of lying to police — are not fully explained in the indictment that a grand jury returned Thursday. But legal experts say indictments like that aren’t uncommon in Chicago, and there are some explanations as to how the grand jury could have arrived at the 16 counts, eight of them for Smollett’s comments to a police officer and eight others for what he told a detective.

The first starts with something that has been apparent since Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson briefed reporters last month on the investigation: Authorities are angry at Smollett.

“What you have is a police department

and prosecutors that are obviously mad at him for embarrassing the city so they took every one of his lies and made it into another count,” said Terry Sullivan, a prominent local attorney who as a young prosecutor helped convict serial killer John Wayne Gacy in 1980 of killing 33 young men.

Smollett’s attorney, Mark Geragos, called the 16-count indictment “prosecutorial overkill.” But prominent Chicago defence attorney Joseph Lopez, who is not involved in the Smollett case, said it’s the way prosecutors in Chicago do business.

“It is common practice for the Cook County state’s attorney to charge as much as they can for any kind of crime,” he said.

A former state appellate judge suggested such a strategy might be employed by prosecutors trying to protect themselves from the possibility that a jury or a judge might believe some, but not all, of the allegations.

“If you only charge him with one or two counts and they find him not guilty of them, you’re done,” said David Erickson, who now teaches at Chicago Kent College of Law. “This gives the prosecution the ability to convict him of any one of these lies.”

Lopez said it appears that when prosecutors went to the grand jury they simply dissected the case, breaking Smollett’s account into each of its individual

pieces and accused him of one count per detail they believe he made up.

That means that one count might stem from Smollett’s contention that the men hurled racial and homophobic taunts at him and another for what he said was the way they beat him. Another could be tied to his claim that the men doused him with an unknown chemical and another still for his statement that one of them looped a rope tied like a noose around his neck. Then there was his assertion, police said, that he could see one of the men was white because he could see the skin around his eyes.

The two men police say Smollett hired to take part in the attack are both black.

“The lies add up pretty fast,” Lopez said.

Another explanation for the multiple counts is that perhaps Smollett gave multiple statements to the police, meaning that individual counts represent separate interviews with police.

Each count is a Class 4 felony, which carries a possible prison sentence of one to three years. If Smollett is convicted, a judge could allow him to be given probation instead of imposing a prison sentence.

Lopez and Erickson agreed that if Smollett is convicted, it won’t matter whether it’s on one or several counts when it comes

Trudeau apologizes... ❰❰ 14

Canada.

“From the Inuit perspective, apologizing for human-rights abuses is never a bad thing,” he said in an interview. “We as a country have to also accept responsibility for things that happened and know that apologies are necessary for classes of people whose human rights have been violated.”

Speaking after the prime minister addressed reporters, Obed lamented how little interest the issue seemed to receive from some reporters who travelled to Nunavut to cover the apology and asked Trudeau about the SNC-Lavalin affair instead.

“The fact that media pass right by the people whose human-rights abuses were not told by the media for decades, to other stories of the day, is still a reflection of the work that needs to happen on reconciliation … This story matters,” he said.

“It is a Canadian story and I recognize there are other media stories that matter as well, but I do hope in the future, there can be more respect given to the place and time and the people who deserve to have their story told and the media that have a strong role to play to tell it.”

Inuit who were infected with TB in the middle of the 20th century were taken into government care, separated from their families and transported aboard

ships to sanatoriums in the south of Canada, where they were disconnected from their culture and language.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., a representative for Inuit in Nunavut, has said it wanted to help family members locate burial sites of those who died during tuberculosis treatment from the 1940s through the 1960s.

Eetoolook, the organization’s vicepresident, said he is worried that TB is returning today.

According to the most recent Public Health Agency of Canada report on the disease, the average annual rate of tuberculosis among Inuit in Canada a year ago was more than 290 times higher than Canadian born non-Indigenous people. The agency cited cramped social housing, overcrowding in homes, high smoking rates and high food prices among the main culprits.

The report said progress has been made in tracing all cases of infectious TB, screening of school age children, faster diagnosis and earlier treatments, however.

Trudeau reiterated Friday his government’s two-year-old pledge to develop a plan to eliminate tuberculosis among Inuit.

“The government has said it wants to eliminate TB by 2030,” Eetoolook said.

“Are they going to do it? Probably not.” ■

to sentencing. That’s because he would be sentenced for only one of them.

“If you add them all up it’s still only one crime,” Erickson said. “That’s just how it is.”

And Lopez said that if Smollett is convicted of multiple counts, prosecutors can ask that the sentences be served consecutively but it is highly unlikely a judge would do so.

Smollett’s legal troubles may not begin and end with this one indictment.

Days before the Jan. 29 incident, a letter threatening Smollett was sent to the studio where the television show is filmed — a letter Johnson told reporters the day Smollett appeared in court that the actor had actually sent.

The FBI, which is investigating that letter, has declined to comment on the investigation. But if Smollett did talk to the FBI, depending on what he said, he could be in more legal trouble.

“Lying to the FBI is a crime,” said Erickson.

Smollett is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday, where he will likely enter a formal plea to the 16 counts.

“Jussie adamantly maintains his innocence even if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption,” Geragos, his attorney, said. ■

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26

Lifestyle Valentine’s Day Part II: Filipinos and White Day

BY BEA KIRSTEIN T. MANALAYSAY Philippine Canadian Inquirer VALENTINE’S SEASON may be over when the following month marched this 2019, but the season of chocolates and love may not exactly be over.

Well at least for other countries, through White Day! Nope, this is not a day solely dedicated to honor the color white or something like that, but it is directly related to Valentine’s Day, that originated in Japan and is practiced in its neighboring countries such as China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam.

Now, for other nations, especially the Philippines, some are still into the thought that ‘men should make the first move.’

While there are those who choose to deviate from the old ways, some still remain to stay true to their parents’ “when I was your age” stories. But for Japan, perhaps their version is that it is normal for the women to confess to their crushes first.

It is a classic in Japanese animation and movies aimed more at the youth, to include scenes set at the back of the old school building or even behind the gym as typical “confession hotspots.” And that’s right, this is when you hear, “Senpai, suki (Senpai, I like you)” plus the blushing of characters who just completed their confession, listed on their bucket list.

On February though, things get more symbolic for Japanese girls on their preparations for Valentine’s Day when two types of chocolates come in the scenario – the giri-choco and the

honmei-choco.

Day. But what makes this more Whether it is an obligatory or Now, both are chocolates but interesting is that they actually a romantic kind of chocolate, what exactly are the signifi- have a day dedicated to getting men should still return the gescance and difference? The giri- a response from their crushes. ture by presenting a white gift choco (obligatory chocolate) A month after Valentine’s to the ladies. is a courtesy chocolate often Day, March 14 is White Day Now with March 14 just peekprepared on a lower budget and and is the chance for the men ing at the calendar, for our kabais usually given by girls to guys to reply to the brave souls who bayans out there or those who they share a casual and/or non- poured all their heart out on have ventured the land of the romantic relationship with. their romantic chocolates. rising sun, is White Day a thing?

This includes male colleagues Of course, crossing out all the To answer this question, Philand acquainippine Canadian tances.

Inquirer (PCI) Honmei-choheard different co (chocolate sides and stories. of love), on the She also added that though men other hand is Just a memory received chocolates, they are for the guys that For a Japanot really limited to giving out these girls wish nese man who chocolates as a ‘response’ because to express their decided to make on White Day, they are also romantic feelthe Philippines allowed to hand out other gifts like ings for. And as his new home, cosmetics. yes, unlike giriWhite Day could choco, the effort just be a memoand money for ry. honmei-choco is Refusing to be expected to be bigger and bet- romantic air, men who received named, a 68-year-old Japanese even giri-choco are still expect- man shared that he of course ter.

Rather than beating around ed to respond to those who gave used to celebrate White Day the bush, girls get to be more them chocolates a month ago by when he was still in Japan, but straight-forward on Valentine’s giving gifts on White Day as well. observed that perhaps the num-

www.canadianinquirer.net

ber of people who celebrated it declined in the office setting, especially with the older age bracket.

The mister could only look back now though, since staying in the Philippines (where the Valentine’s celebration is touched and influenced by the Western culture), the White Day tradition is now long gone for his part.

“When I was [still] in Japan, I had done it,” he started saying, explaining how different Valentine’s Day is in his country, plus the existence of its answer day.

White Day may just be a part of his life in Japan, but he still makes sure to not let the sweetness get away even if he is now in a different country.

“But now, I give small chocolates to my wife on Valentine’s Day, and on White Day, I do nothing,” he continued.

His loving wife, a 58-year-old Filipina, also looked back to her March 14 experiences, saying that she found the custom fun to follow when she was still in Japan in the 80s and 90s. Just like with how girls had to classify their chocolates to obligatory and romantic, on White Day, the men also had to classify their white gifts to the two.

For her, what made the celebration more fun is that she also gained more friends because of the event after receiving gifts on White Day; as if confirming her friendship and relationship with some of the males there.

“Nakakainis lang din dahil magastos (It can be a bit annoying because of the expenses though),” she jokingly chipped in. ❱❱ PAGE 10 Valentine’s Day

Lifestyle

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

27

A lawyer to the Poor

BY SANTOSH DIGAL Philippine News Agency MANILA — “Avoid corruption and help the poor who need legal services,” is a life principle of Nelson B. Borja, a senior trial lawyer specializing in criminal cases, who distinguishes himself by providing free legal service to the poor.

“As a criminal lawyer, it is also my wish to make a humble contribution for the improvement of our county’s judicial system and to give more emphasis on serving the poor, the sick, and the elderly, and obtain a fair trial of their cases with the assistance of private lawyers whose competent services would attract a high-paying compensation if the government would subsidize a pro-poor legal service program,” Borja said.

He has a great deal of dedication, perseverance, skill, and devotion to his profession and commitment to the poor providing them free legal services as a matter of his religious faith and genuine service to them.

“The poor would not be deprived of my service. They deserve it. It is my personal faith commitment to help them as a Catholic and as an attorney,” he said.

This concern for the poor comes from his early days as he would not forget his own struggles and hardships in the past.

Early days

Before practicing law, Borja

tilled the land and plowed the fields in Barangay Linateran, Panay, Capiz where he was born.

He earned his way throughout his primary education by gathering nipa in the swamps of his village, and on weekends counting catch in a small fishpond nearby where his father was caretaker.

He entered Capiz High School in 1959 with only 30 centavos in his pocket for transportation. Later, he enrolled at the Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion in Roxas City as a student of Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education but lack of money prevented him from finishing the course.

His aspiration of serving the armed forces drove Borja to enroll in the College of Criminology and Penology at the University of Manila in 1969 and went on to enroll in the College of Law in the same university in 1973. He finished his Bachelor of Laws in 1978 and passed the bar examinations in the same year.

He took his oath as a lawyer before the Supreme Court on May 17, 1979 with a promise of promotions, including an automatic elevation to the Judge Advocate General’s Office with the rank of first lieutenant. Being a lawyer, he was assigned as the Intelligence Officer of North Sector, PC-Metrocom in Sikatuna Village, Quezon City.

He started his full-time law

practice in 1982 as a Notary Public occupying only a table and chair at a restaurant. After six months, he was able to acquire second hand furniture to furnish his small law office.

To update his knowledge on the trends of law, he attended seven seminars on Trial Technique and Procedure at the UP Law Center from 1983 to 1985, thereby giving him the opportunity to serve his clients and thus distinguished himself in the field of law as a busy practitioner, especially in many celebrated cases.

Concern for seminarians

A few years ago, Borja was diagnosed with cancer. He prayed ardently for his healing while taking recourse to medication.

He thanked Catholic priests and seminarians at Christ the King Seminary on E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, Quezon City, for their passionate prayers for his recovery.

“From then on, I came to know about the seminarians’ financial problems. I support them with a certain amount per month for their boarding and lodging, while others are in need of benefactors to help shoulder their tuition fees,” he said.

“My personal association with a number of priests and seminarians made me realize how difficult it is for one to live the life of priesthood, especially those engaged in missionary work. Though sometimes mis-

Atty. Nelson B. Borja.

understood, it is, however a great personal sacrifice that one has to lead a spiritual life for a noble and rewarding chosen vocation,” Borja said.

Impact of two women

Two women left deep impact on Borja as a child and later as an adult and trial lawyer. First, was his mother. Borja credits the roots of his religious fervor to his mother, who attended Mass daily with the family in a local church in the province Capiz.

His mother’s simple act and expression of faith inspired him in a profound way as he endured many hardships along his journey of life.

Years later, he imbibed and learned a lot more about the Catholic faith, saints, religious devotions, and piety from his wife, Yvonne Arcilla, a deeply religious woman.

ATTY NELSON BORJA / FACEBOOK

“I have gotten many insights with regards to religion and faith from my mother and wife.

Both left indispensable impression in life,” he recalled. Unfortunately, both have passed away, but their religious fervor continues to navigate his life.

His son Neil Anthony S. Borja is also a lawyer, who is presently connected with the Supreme Court under Justice Ma. Estela Perlas-Bernabe. The father’s advice to his son is to avoid corruption and help the poor who need legal services.

In sum, Atty. Borja’s contribution as a soldier, as a lawyer and a civic-minded citizen has never been matched in recent times and in his age bracket. Not a few Filipinos have become beneficiaries to his profession, and the public as well. His achievements may serve to inspire the youth aspiring for the better services people need. ■

Alberta researchers combine X-rays, virtual reality for new medical treatments

BY BOB WEBER The Canadian Press EDMONTON — No, they’re not X-ray specs.

But a University of Alberta team has come up with a way to combine medical imaging with virtual reality to help clinicians locate and understand what’s happening inside their patients’ bodies as they treat them.

“One of the classic problems you always hear about when clinicians are training is that you treat the person, not the X-ray,” said Greg Kawchuk, a professor in the

University of Alberta’s physical therapy department. “Here’s a way to unite those two domains.”

Kawchuk and his colleagues have figured out how to use a commercially available set of virtual reality goggles to help doctors or other professionals view an X-ray superimposed on a patient’s body. They can align the image with the patient in front of them.

That not only allows clinicians to get a more precise idea of where the problem is and what it might be, it also allows them to bring the patient into the equation.

“The problem with X-rays has

always been you take this thing (and) read it in a different room completely separated from the patient and their experiences,” Kawchuk said. “(A patient) is more than just their image. There’s stories to be listened to. There’s context.”

Kawchuk imagines how a conversation might go with a doctor using the goggles: “Where does it hurt? Here?

OK, now I see it in the image that goes along with it when I poke you here.”

The goggles take advantage of recent innovations in virtual reality that allow a wearer www.canadianinquirer.net

to see the virtual world and the actual world at the same time.

“You see what you normally see and (the goggles) add stuff into there.”

It sounds like a simple matter to make the added “stuff” an Xray. But it wasn’t.

Bodies aren’t flat. To accurately map an image onto the curves in a person’s back or chest, Kawchuk and his coworkers had to figure out how to distort the flat X-ray to account for them.

They’ve managed to get the image to within eight millimetres of the exact location. That’s not close

enough for surgical applications, but it is for many medical purposes, including teaching.

New, higher-resolution goggles are hitting the market all the time, Kawchuk added. And artificial intelligence programs may help users more closely line up image with reality.

Eventually, he said, the technique might be available as an app using a generic X-ray that may not match a patient’s body exactly, but is still useful.

“It’s early days,” said Kawchuk. “It think it’s going to be pretty ubiquitous as the years go by.” ■

Lifestyle

28

MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

Emoji gods approve skin tone options for couples of colour

BY LEANNE ITALIE The Associated Press NEW YORK — In 1664, Maryland passed the first British colonial law banning marriage between whites and slaves. An 1883 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that state prohibitions on interracial marriage don’t violate the Fourteenth Amendment held for more than 80 years.

While such impediments to marriage were dismantled over time, there are still hurdles, however small, to overcome.

Here, in 2019, interracial couples have a small victory to celebrate: The approval of 71 new variations of emoji for couples of colour.

Capping a yearlong project thought up by, of all people, the folks at the swipe-right dating app Tinder, the emoji gods (known as the Unicode Consortium) recently approved the additions in characters technically referred to

as people “holding hands.” A new “gender-inclusive” couple emoji was also approved among 230 new characters.

Until now, emoji of two or more people on various platforms and devices have been available only in the default yellow. While the Unicode Consortium, where Google, Microsoft and Apple have voting seats, signed off on the skin-tone additions, companies will decide for themselves starting later this year whether to add them and how they will look.

Jenny Campbell, the chief marketing officer for Tinder, isn’t worried about distribution after the company mounted a campaign and petition drive in support of the technical proposal it submitted to Unicode.

“Ultimately, we wanted to get the interracial emoji couple on people’s keyboards not only for equality, but also to spread acceptance for all couples no matter what their race,” she told The

Associated Press on Thursday.

“Our users are craving a way to express themselves visually and see themselves reflected in our everyday tech language.”

So are lots of other emoji enthusiasts of colour left in the wings for years. More than 50,000 people signed Tinder’s online petition at Change.org.

While facial features and hair textures are yet to be determined by some vendors, Tinder said the use of six existing skin tones already available for oneperson emoji and various others is a step in the right direction at a time when the text- and chatfriendly characters remain a readily accessible way for the world to express itself. The lack of colour options in couples, the company said, felt like a slight.

“Even as our social behaviours have evolved and interracial dating and marriage has become more prevalent, visual representation of these relationships in technology has lagged far be-

hind,” Campbell said.

Emoji of single people of colour and same-sex couples were added in the last several years, but not in mixed-tone combinations. In real life, the rate of interracial marriage has increased over the years, especially since the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court decision Loving v. Virginia that struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in 16 states. But such marriages remain a small portion of marriages overall.

Tinder is taking credit for its industry in pushing interracial dating along, citing data that

indicates couples who meet online are more likely to be interracial than those who don’t.

“We know that equal forms of representation are important to our users,” Campbell said, “and important to us.”

Skin tones for limited use were added to the Unicode Standard for emoji in 2015.

More representation of women in 2016, some “gender-inclusive” people in 2017 and hair colour options last year.

Also approved this year: A waffle, a much-requested white heart, a guide dog and people in wheelchairs. Oh, and a sloth. ■

cerned, Ambassador Garcia believes that all her consul generals are very brilliant and professional career diplomats.

“I don’t need to micro-manage anybody,” she proudly said.

They have regular and annual consultations where they streamline procedures by sharing best practices and making sure these processes are harmonized. She is just there to support them, may be lend strength to them with her presence sometimes. It helps perhaps that she is also now the Dean of the Asia Pacific Ambassadors which is an organization of all ambassadors in the AsiaPacific, also being most senior.

She also emphasizes to her consul generals the importance of community service like their outreach consular services.

To this, she will also have bias for the empowerment of the young Fil-Canadians. “We have to help them bloom and nurture them,” again she pointed out. Just as she is most concerned for the welfare of her own sons and grandson, she wants to make sure that the young are enabled.

As for her own future, she sees herself visiting in North America for the most part because her sons seemed decided to be in this part of the world.

But there is still her mother and her siblings to go back to in Bacolod having hailed from Negros Occidental, aside from her own little investment in properties in the Philippines which she hopes to make little money from when she is no longer working.

After all, she thinks her savviness with property acquisition could be the best legacy she will leave as a Philippine ambassador to Canada. After renting since the 70s for a whooping $27,000 a month and being tossed around by a toffee-nosed landlord who did not recognize loyal patronage, she spearheaded the purchase of a property in Ottawa to permanently house the Embassy Office.

The best legacy may be. But not better than her own legacy of integrity, excellence and unwavering dedication to duty, amidst her simple lifestyle for a good 38 years and counting. ■

Ambassador Petronila... ❰❰ 17

post as Ambassador to Canada.

Egypt also proved to be a memorable assignment because she was there when the Arab Spring was just in the air and ready to explode in Egypt. We will all recall the Arab Spring as a series of uprisings against oppressive governments that first broke out in the Spring of 2011 (thus, the monicker) in Tunisia and then in other Muslim countries like Morocco, Syria, Libya, Bahrain, and Egypt.

Must be both a challenging and scary time, I thought.

True, she said. The Ambassador remembered having spent quite an effort to do her “due diligence” of Egypt by carefully studying all exit points and making sure vehicles will be readily available for the getaway of Embassy personnel and other Filipinos when revolution explodes. Arab Spring finally exploded into a revolution in Egypt in February 2011 that led to the downfall of Hosni Mubarak after being stormed with 18 days of mass protests by millions of Egyptians. However,

before said revolution in Egypt, Ambassador Garcia had been moved to Israel.

“Inside Israel is one of the safest places, if not the safest, where one could ever be in the world,” the Ambassador states definitively.

Certainly, because of the constant threats, imminent dangers and perils of war that they face every day, Israelis are constantly aware, prepared and vigilant. She related a story when she was at one time visiting a friend in downtown Tel Aviv. From the balcony of her friend’s apartment, they saw a backpack left on a bench by the sidewalk. For about an hour or so, nobody touched that backpack. Then government contingents came by, with one vehicle releasing a robot that walked towards the bench, picked up and inspected the backpack.

Although it proved to be a false alarm as shortly after, the unsuspecting owner of the backpack came back for his bag and claimed it, we can surmise the fact that nothing there is left to chance, when it comes to security matters.

Maybe we could consider that as one serious “creative problem-solving” technique she has personally witnessed and something that the good Ambassador finds herself needing to apply in her job every now and then. When she was made to handle Middle East and African Affairs in her Manila posting, she remarked, she endeavoured to come up with creative solutions, as she always does, to some issues brought to her attention. As one who is used to thinking out of the box, sometimes only a solution that has never been tried should be tried. Or a decision that normally is done, should not be jumped into. If, for example, the Philippine government is ready to send a plane to evacuate people and no one signs up to go home despite announcements, it is definitely not okay to send Manila a go-signal to send in the plane immediately.

And this has happened to her, she related.

Of Consuls and Empowering Youth, Serving Community

But as far as Canada is conwww.canadianinquirer.net

29

Sports Picks for NBTC All- SEA Games preps Star Game revealed for e-sports in full gear

BY GIANNA LLANES Philippine Canadian Inquirer ALL-STAR CAPTAINS Ateneo Blue Eaglet Kai Sotto and La Salle Greenie Joel Cagulangan will be heading Team Heart and Team Hustle for the 2019 Chooks-to-Go SM-National Basketball Training Center (NBTC) All-Star Game with the entire lineups for both teams announced for the upcoming event at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena on Saturday, March 23.

Team Hustle, which the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81 Sotto is a part of, will be led

by Rain or Shine Elastopainters assistant coach Chris Gavina.

In the lineup chosen by the 7-foot-2 star are: University of Santo Tomas (UST) guard Mark Nonoy, National University (NU) guard Gerry Abadiano, Ateneo de Manila University center Geo Chiu, and NU shooter Terrence Fortea. NU’s Kevin Quiambao, Far Eastern University-Diliman’s RJ Abbarientos, Jose Rizal University’s John Amores, Mapua University’s Jonnel Policarpio, Ateneo’s Forthsky Padrigao, UST’s Bismarck Lina, and Mapua’s Clint Escamis made the cut as well.

As team captain, Sotto is confident, telling his teammates in Filipino, “We will go to the NBTC All-Star Game and we will fight and win.”

As for Cagulangan, who was the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA’s) Season 94 Most Valuable Player, he chose Carl Tamayo from NU, Inand Fornilos and Joshua David of La Salle Greenhills, and Hope Christian Academy’s Harvy Pagsanjan. He will also be joined by Joem Sabandal of Adamson University, Aaron Fermin of Arellano University, Paolo Hernandez and Dan Aches of Mapua, Joshua Yerro of University of Visayas, Mac Guadana of Lyceum of the Philippines University, and Rafael Go of Chiang Kai Shek College to complete Team Heart.

Charles Tiu is the head coach, but Cagulangan is also ready to lead his team, encouraging them, “We will play with heart at the NBTC All-Star Game.”

NBTC has been running for 12 years, gathering the best high school players from four different leagues. This year, for the first time in history, the NBTC chose two of the top-ranked young basketball stars not only to create their own NBTC roster but to choose their coaches as well. ■

PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY MANILA — A planning workshop for SEA Games 2019 esports National Federations was conducted by the Philippine SEAG E-Sports Union (PSEU), the Philippine South East Asian Games Organizing Committee (PHISGOC), and Asian Electronic Sports Federation (AESF).

The workshop was held to finalize the details, games structure and mechanics of the e-sports events, as part of its historic inclusion as a medal event in the 30th SEA Games.

Under the leadership of PSEU and PHISGOC Chair, former foreign affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, the Philippines will be the first country to ever stage an e-sports tournament as a medal event in a multi-sport competition sanctioned by the International Olympic Committee.

“We need to prepare. That’s why my challenge to them was: We plan as one and prepare as one, so that we can win as one,” Cayetano said in an interview after the workshop.

Razer, the 30th SEA Games

@KZSOTTO / INSTAGRAM

bile.

This historic move by the PHISGOC is expected to set a precedent for the possible incorporation of e-sports as a medal sport in future Olympics Games.

“This is a major milestone to boost the global status of esports. With billions of people into e-sports now, and with almost 500 million avid viewers, it brings in such a new perspective and is a breath of fresh air to the SEA Games,” Cayetano said.

He expressed hope that, with a majority of viewers between the ages of 18 and 34 years, the Philippine-hosted SEA Games will positively influence the youth to value sportsmanship and discipline, and to live a vice-free life.

To ensure the success of this “milestone initiative,” PSEU, PHISGOC and AESF invited experts and resource persons to discuss the technical aspects of the e-sports games.

Late last year, PSEU and PHISGOC partnered with Razer, a leading global brand in esports, to seek its expertise and ecosystem of hardware, software, and services to support the tournaments. ■

Ex-WBO champ wins in ABF Bantamweight title bout

BY LITO DELOS REYES Philippine News Agency

Kai Sotto.

e-sports official partner, sponsored the workshop that discussed the games structure and teams participation guidance, local qualifier status, Razer bootcamp and training structure, test event before SEA Games and venue walk-through for SEA Games 2019.

Key personalities in e-sports gaming, including PSEU’s CoVice Chairmen Ramon Suzara and Chot Reyes; Sebastian Lau – Director General of Asian ESports Federation; David Tse – Global E-Sports Director of Razer; Cherry Xia – Vice President of Moonton; Allen Hsu – Regional Head of Garena; and presidents of the 8 e-sports National Sport Associations from Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and the Philippines participated in the workshop.

Participants will compete for six medals in the e-sports events, which will include five shortlisted games: Dota 2, StarCraft II, Arena of Valor, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Tekken 7. The sixth game is still being discussed by the Committee.

The e-sports titles included have been split evenly between the three major gaming platforms; the PC, console, and mo-

DAVAO CITY — Former World Boxing Organization (WBO) Silver champion Denver “The Excitement” Cuello scored a second-round technical knockout against Indonesian Jack Amisa to win the Asia Boxing Federation (ABF) bantamweight title on Friday night at the Angono gym in Angono, Rizal. www.canadianinquirer.net

Cuello, 32, who improved his record to 37 wins against 5 losses and 6 draws, received his belt from ABF president Naris Singwancha and Games and Amusement Board chairman Abraham Kahlil “Baham” Mitra.

Meanwhile, ex-WBC World flyweight champion Sonny Boy Jaro, 36, stopped Boido Simonjimatuk via a 5th round TKO win.

Carleans Rivas landed more telling blows to beat Floryvic Montero via a unanimous deci-

sion and win the vacant Philippine women’s flyweight title.

The other results are: undefeated KJ Natuplag TKO’d Robert Udtohan in the 5th round; Ardin Diale retired Richard Rosales in the 3rd round; Edison Berwela retired in the 5th round Dado Cabintoy; and Jessesebelle Pagaduan TKO’d Aisah Alico in Round 2.

Brico Santig of Highland and Darwin Miller Depay of DMAD Boxing Promotions promoted the boxing event. ■

30

Business Honda to recall around 1M Over 300 OFWs in vehicles with dangerous air bags NegOcc trained on

entrepreneurship

BY TOM KRISHER The Associated Press DETROIT — Honda is likely to recall around 1 million older vehicles in the U.S. and Canada because the Takata driver’s air bag inflators that were installed during previous recalls could be dangerous.

Documents posted Monday

by Canadian safety regulators show that Honda is recalling many of its most popular models for a second time. The models are from as far back as 2001 and as recent as 2010.

Canadian documents say about 84,000 vehicles are involved. That number is usually over 10 times higher in the United States.

Affected models include the Honda Accord from 2001 through 2007, the CR-V from 2002 through 2006, the Civic from 2001 through 2005, the Element from 2003 through 2010, the Odyssey from 2002 through 2004, the Pilot from 2003 through 2008 and the Ridgeline from 2006. Also covered are Acura luxury models including the MDX from 2003 through 2006, the EL from 2001 through 2005, the TL from 2002 and 2003 and the CL from 2003.

Transport Canada, the country’s transportation safety agency, said vehicles covered

BY ERWIN NICAVERA Philippine News Agency

TRISTAN TAN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

include those that were under previous recalls and others that had air bags replaced after collisions.

Takata used the chemical ammonium nitrate to create a small explosion to inflate the air bags. But the chemical can deteriorate over time due to high humidity and cycles from hot temperatures to cold. It can burn too fast and blow apart a metal canister, hurling shrapnel into drivers and passengers.

At least 23 people have died from the problem worldwide and hundreds more were injured.

The recalls are part of the largest series of automotive recalls in U.S. history. As many as 70 million will be recalled.

Honda spokesman Chris Martin wouldn’t give details Monday evening, but said the company is communicating with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “and plans to issue a public statement tomorrow.”

Messages were left after business hours Monday seeking comment from NHTSA. Owners will be told to take their vehicles to dealers to have the inflators replaced. ■

BACOLOD CITY — A total of 318 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Negros Occidental have attended trainings on entrepreneurship and business planning conducted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) from January to March this year.

The latest batch of 28 participants attended the training on March 8 held at the Negros First Negosyo Center in this city.

DTI-Negros Occidental, headed by provincial director Lea Gonzales, said that through the seminar, they aim to equip the participants with knowledge on generating business ideas and guide them on proper business operation.

“This is also to promote entrepreneurial mindset among Negrenses, especially ‘balikbayans’ and potential micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs),” it added.

DTI-Negros Occidental conducts the training every other week to also benefit potential and existing MSMEs in the province.

The Negosyo Center-Bacolod located at DTI-Negros Occidental Office holds the training on a Tuesday while the Negros

First Negosyo Center conducts it on a Friday.

The trainings are initiated as part of the DTI’s Entrepreneurship Development Program for OFWs in partnership with the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

In September 2016, the DTIRegional Operations Group and the OWWA established a partnership through a memorandum of understanding on the Enterprise Development and Loan Program.

Through this, the DTI and the OWWA are implementing joint and convergent programs, projects, and services for OFWs and their families who intend to pursue MSMEs in support of the reintegration program.

Under the agreement, the DTI packages priority MSME business models for promotion among prospective OFWentrepreneurs or investors, and facilitate or assist in the provision of resource persons for OWWA-organized entrepreneurship development trainings and related activities.

The DTI also provides technical assistance to prospective and current OFW-entrepreneurs through the Negosyo Centers and network of mentors or experts both from the government and private sector. ■

Alcohol tax to raise P237-B in 5 years PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY MANILA — A proposal by Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao to increase the excise tax on alcohol products will raise additional revenues of almost PHP237 billion over a five-year period and at the same time help reduce excessive consumption of alcoholic drinks or

binge drinking that is linked to vehicular crash accidents, domestic abuse and other crimes.

Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said in a statement on Monday that like the proposed hike in cigarette taxes, increasing the excise tax levied on alcohol products will help close the PHP40-billion funding gap in the universal health care (UHC) program.

Pacquiao’s Senate Bill (SB)

No. 2197 will raise around PHP32.3 billion in the first year of its implementation in 2019, PHP40 billion in 2020, PHP47.4 billion in 2021, PHP54.6 billion in 2022 and PHP62.4 billion in 2023, for a total of PHP236.6 billion, Chua said.

In endorsing the senator’s bill, Chua said computations done by the DOF’s Strategy, Economics and Results Group (SERG) show that the inflationwww.canadianinquirer.net

ary impact of increasing the excise tax on alcohol products under the measure would only be 0.1 percentage points.

“If inflation is, let’s say, 3.2 percent this year as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) projects, then the additional inflation will be 0.1, so 3.3 percent,” Chua said during a recent hearing conducted by the Senate ways and means committee on the proposal to increase alcohol

excise taxes.

Meantime, Health Undersecretary Rolando Domingo said at the same Senate hearing held before the adjournment of session last month that higher alcohol excise taxes would help curb binge drinking, which often leads to vehicular accidents and the commission of crimes. ■

Business

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

SMC to build PH’s first recycled plastic roads PHILIPPINE NEWS AGENCY

31

New code... ❰❰ 14

project that will use hard-to-recycle plastics as an alternative raw material input to asphalt for road building.

“Developing roads using plastics that would have otherwise ended up in landfills or our bodies of water is an environmentfriendly method of disposing of scrap plastics,” he said.

“We can help our environment and at the same time improve the quality of our infrastructure projects. We are

costs, and less waste destined for landfills.

Dow has worked on projects that use plastics for modifying MANILA — San Miguel Corp. the properties of bitumen, used (SMC) is building roads out of in making asphalt, which has recycled plastics to help reduce been tested in India, Indonesia, the impact of plastic waste on and Thailand. the environment.

Initially, SMC will test out “This initiative is part of our the technology in small municipush towards greater sustainpal roads, as well as sidewalks ability. Two years ago, we anand parking lots. nounced our major water susIf the technology proves eftainability project: to cut SMC fective and meets all safety and water use by 50 quality requirepercent by 2025. ments, the comRecently, we repany may roll it ported that we out for larger inbeat our 2020 infrastructure projThis initiative is part of our push termediate deadects, Ang said. towards greater sustainability. line of 20 percent “While we are reduction, by two proud to be the years. Last year, first-mover in this we announced another initia- eager to begin this initiative,” area, we are very hopeful that we tive, and that is to address solid he added. won’t be the last or the only ones. waste pollution. This project is Among the benefits of us- The research is there and availpart of that goal,” SMC president ing recycled plastics for road able to everyone, and we’ll be glad and COO Ramon S. Ang said in a surfacing are: improved stabil- to share our own processes and news release issued Monday. ity and durability of roads; in- experience. At the end of the day, SMC will be working with creased skid resistance, which this kind of innovation will benleading materials science com- improves road safety; longer efit the same environment we all pany, Dow Chemical, for the lifespan of roads; lower asphalt share,” Ang added. ■

More women are entering the trades than ever, but retention rates remain low, the association said. Anecdotally, it estimates fewer than half of women stay in their apprenticeships in the first year, compared with 70 per cent of men.

Andy Calitz, the CEO of LNG Canada, said the company is committed to supporting equity and diversity, adding that half of the company’s leadership team are women.

“Our support of the Builders Code will help the province grow and retain its skilled labour pool,” he said in a statement. “We look forward to working with contractors and suppliers whose commitment to safety and diversity matches our own.”

Bowcott, who is now owneroperator of Westcom Plumbing and Gas, said she’s happy she persevered and pursued a career in the industry.

“We’re going in a positive direction here and I really hope that it does make a difference.

We need workers and I think we have an untapped market we can expand into,” she said.

She said she knows her ex-

perience wasn’t unique. When she was on the executive of the BC Tradeswomen Society, some women told her they were afraid to walk to their cars alone at the end of a shift.

Things have gotten better in the past 15 years, she said, but there’s still space for improvement.

While she couldn’t say definitively if there’s a gender wage gap, she once discovered she was paid less than a male journeyman with the same experience in the same position, she said.

Bowcott also said she hopes to change perceptions that men are better at trades because they tend to be bigger and stronger.

“I’m 100 pounds soaking wet and I can do the job just fine.

So I don’t think it should be a stereotype that you have to be a super strong fit woman to do the jobs out there, because a lot of it is brains,” she said.

The announcement on International Women’s Day was also supported by a number of other agencies including the Industry Training Authority, WorkSafeBC and the BC Construction Safety Alliance. ■

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32

Technology AI in schools — here’s what we need to consider

BY NEHA SHIVHARE The Canadian Press ARE YOU ready for artificial intelligence in schools?

You may already know that researchers believe AI is likely to predict the onset of diseases in future and that you’re already using AI every day when you search online, use voice commands on your phone or use Google Translate.

Maybe you heard the Canadian government has invested millions of dollars in AI research during the past few years and is emerging as one of the global leaders in AI research.

But did you know that some companies are developing AI for use in schools, for example in forms such as AI tutoring systems? Such systems can engage students in dialogue and provide feedback in subjects where they need extra help.

As an educational technology researcher, I am interested in how educators apply technological advancements. My concern is improving and facilitating education by holistically combining educational philosophy, psychology, sociology and technology.

Parents, educators and the general public need to understand AI and its potential educational implications. This matters so we can we can initiate informed discussions.

Technology impacts learning

With the advent of each new technology, educators have had the opportunity to see how it impacts learning.

For example, in the 1930s and

‘40s researchers studied the impact of typewriters in the classroom on elementary student reading skills even while typewriters had wider commercial and economic applications.

Still, many technological innovations have been met with skepticism. In particular, the potential impact of new technology on youth and children has often been the cause of alarm.

Yet some skepticism and anxiety is related to tendencies to treat technology as an unavoidable progression that can be quickly embraced without asking pertinent questions about privacy or profit.

When it comes to technology in schools, there are social, ethical and economic questions.

For example, how do schools decide what technologies to invest in?

Today, the North American and European educational technology markets are expected to grow from $75 billion in 2014 to $120 billion in 2019.

It is necessary to consider at the policy level how education about new technologies, including AI, fit into larger socio-economic development and how children and youth may be impacted.

The rise of AI and “deep learning”

The first digital technology in the form of computers did not enter public schools in a mainstream way before the mid-1980s. Internet-based technology and online learning was becoming a concern for researchers studying educational technology in mid-to-late2000s because computer and

learner or user with the vast amount of preloaded datasets to find commonalities and patterns.

Or here’s a different example of AI at school: AI can be used to float “smarter” opponents in board games. For example, school chess clubs could use AI as a learning tool. AI programs have unseated some of the best global board game players, providing exalting moments to AI developers.

Issues with AI

then internet use was becoming more prevalent in schools.

AI technologies are also a form of internet-based digital technology, but are more advanced: the computer scientist John McCarthy coined the phrase “Artificial Intelligence” to describe the science and engineering of enabling a computer system, software, program and robot to “think” intelligently like humans.

AI-based systems derive their knowledge firstly from the initial data, programs and algorithms provided by human programmers. Secondly, they “learn” through their own experiences and observations without being explicitly programmed.

This second source of knowledge is termed machine learning (ML), named by Arthur Samuel in 1959. ML works on different algorithms and a preferred one is called deep learning, which works on artificial neural networks (ANN) consisting of nodes and inter-linkages.

www.canadianinquirer.net

The word “deep” implies that the data has to pass through many layers of computations.

The more data these machines based on deep learning receive, the better they perform.

Virtual assistants sometimes used today, like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple’s Siri, that are capable of oral interaction use deep learning. So do chatbots that respond to online customer requests.

This is possible because AI technology is programmed to compare the information provided to it by the learner or user with the vast amount of preloaded datasets to find commonalities and patterns.

Such virtual assistants for the classroom have been seen at the university level. Forbes Magazine reports that several companies are developing tutoring platforms that use AI for pre-kindergarten to collegelevel students.

AI for tutoring is possible because the technology is programmed to compare the information provided to it by the

Some researchers believe AI will not replace teachers.

Others point out the need to confront ambiguous questions raised by the reality that teaching-learning interaction can now occur without the personal mediation of a teacher.

What must be remembered is that AI tutoring or other technologies cannot substitute for teacher or parental engagement and supervision.

We must also look at what criteria will be used to evaluate the appropriateness of all new technologies for children and youth in schools. Students’ and teachers’ data privacy and security mechanisms should also be taken into consideration before introducing either internetbased or AI programs for learning and teaching.

Love or hate AI, the truth is that it will keep progressing.

Being aware of its nature and potential must guide further development and use. ■ This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Disclosure information is available on the original site.

Technology

FRIDAY MARCH 15, 2019

33

How Facebook stands to Saudi app profit from its ‘privacy’ push criticized for feature to control women’s travel

BY FRANK BAJAK The Associated Press

AT FIRST glance, Mark Zuckerberg’s new “privacy-focused vision “for Facebook looks like a transformative mission statement from a CEO under pressure to reverse years of battering over its surveillance practices and privacy failures.

But critics say the announcement obscures Facebook’s deeper motivations: To expand lucrative new commercial services, continue monopolizing the attention of users, develop new data sources to track people and frustrate regulators who might be eyeing a breakup of the social-media behemoth.

Facebook “wants to be the operating system of our lives,” said Siva Vaidhyanathan, director of media studies at the University of Virginia.

Zuckerberg’s plan, outlined Wednesday, expands FaceDOLPHFYN / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM book’s commitment to private messaging, in sharp contrast users and includes the world’s mation from apps such as user with his traditional focus on most popular person-to-person heart rates and when women public sharing. Facebook would online payment system. ovulate. combine its instant-messaging In some respects, Facebook Facebook, which perfected services WhatsApp and Insta- was already headed in this di- what critics call “surveillance gram Direct with its core Mes- rection. It has dabbled with capitalism,” knows it has serisenger app so that users of one shopping features in its Mes- ous credibility issues. Those go could message people on the senger app for a few years, al- beyond repeated privacy lapses others, and would expand the though without much effect. to include serious abuses by use of encrypted Russian agents, messaging to hate groups and keep outsiddisinformation ers — including mongers, which Facebook — from Zuckerberg acUntil Facebook actually fixes its core reading the mesknowledged only privacy issues — and especially given sages. belatedly. their history — it’s difficult to take the The plan also “Until Facepivot to privacy seriously,. calls for using book actually those messaging fixes its core priservices to exvacy issues — and pand Facebook’s especially given role in e-commerce and pay- And WhatsApp, which Face- their history — it’s difficult to ments. A Facebook spokesper- book acquired for $22 billion take the pivot to privacy serison later said it was too early in 2014, embraced a strong ously,” said Justin Brookman, to answer detailed questions privacy technology known as who was a research director about the company’s messaging “end-to-end encryption” near- at the Federal Trade Commisly three years ago. Messages sion before joining Consumers plans. protected this way are shielded Union as privacy and technolVaidhyanathan said Zuckerfrom snooping, even by the ser- ogy chief in 2017. berg wants people to abandon vices who deliver them. competing, person-to-person Combining the three mesBut Zuckerberg said noth- saging services could allow forms of communication such as email, texting and Apple’s ing in the Wednesday blog Facebook — which today has 15 iMessage in order to “do ev- post about reforming privacy million fewer U.S. users than in erything through a Facebook practices in its core business, 2017, according to Edison Reproduct.” The end goal could which remains hungry for data. search — build more complete be transform Facebook into a A recent Wall Street Journal re- data profiles on all its users. service like the Chinese app port found that Facebook was WeChat , which has 1.1 billion still collecting personal infor❱❱ PAGE 36 How Facebook www.canadianinquirer.net

BY RACHEL LERMAN AND AYA BATRAWY The Associated Press THE SAUDI government app Absher is mostly a way for people to pay traffic fines and complete other administrative tasks electronically. But one feature isn’t sitting well with civil-rights advocates: the ability for men to grant or deny a woman permission to travel.

Regardless of their age, women in Saudi Arabia must have the consent of a male relative to obtain a passport, travel or marry. In the past, a travel permit was a paper document issued by the Interior Ministry and signed by a male relative.

The Absher app replaces the need for a paper document.

The app is merely implementing existing laws, and removing it would not change or remove the guardianship rules in place. Nonetheless, the feature has sparked calls for leading tech companies to block access through their app stores.

“The ingenuity of American technology companies should not be perverted to violate the human rights of Saudi women,” U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, a California Democrat, wrote in a letter to Apple and Google.

According to Speier’s office, Google won’t remove the app because it doesn’t consider it a violation of Google’s terms of service, while Apple is still investigating.

Google and Apple declined to comment. Apple CEO Tim Cook told NPR last month that the company would “take a look” at the app.

The app includes a setting where Saudi men can grant or deny their spouses, daughters and minor sons permission to travel abroad. Through an integrated system, immigration officials at the airport can see the status of a woman’s travel permit by scanning her passport details.

At one time, Saudi men were also being notified by text mes-

sages when dependents exited and entered Saudi Arabia, though Absher officials quoted in local Saudi media say that those text messages were not sent through Absher and that this texting service was stopped in 2014. Nonetheless, some published reports say the texts are still available. The app itself doesn’t appear to track women using the phone’s location services.

Absher was created in 2007 and can also be accessed through a website, so removing the app would not remove men’s ability to electronically grant or deny travel permission to women. Although the app and its travel feature has been around for years, it has only recently become a focus of intense criticism by women’s rights activists and other critics.

Some civil-rights advocates acknowledge that the ability for guardians to control travel permissions exist regardless of the app. But they complain that U.S. companies are enabling that practice by allowing the app.

“These companies don’t have to support this,” said Jillian York, director for international freedom of expression at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “They’re making the choice.”

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, wrote Apple and Google to criticize that they “are making it easier for Saudi men to control their family members from the convenience of their smartphones and restrict their movement.”

Many Saudi citizens have pushed back against calls for the app’s removal. Khawla AlKuraya, a female professor in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, wrote in a Bloomberg opinion piece that the app makes travel easier to enable by cutting out long lines and paperwork.

Some young Saudi women who have fled the country in recent years did so by accessing ❱❱ PAGE 38 Saudi app

MARCH 15, 2019

34

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35

Travel Revisiting Antipolo’s famous ‘Hinulugang Taktak’

BY PRIAM NEPOMUCENO Philippine News Agency MANILA — Pissed off with the daily commuting grind in Metro Manila’s hot, steaming and concrete jungle? There is no need to look farther as “Hinulugang Taktak” Falls, one of Antipolo City’s most famous landmarks, is a perfect venue for a weekend getaway.

Located 21 kilometers from Manila and 1.7 kilometers from the Antipolo Cathedral, Hinulugang Taktak is the city’s top tourist destination, especially during the fiesta season of May. The area was popularized and immortalized by the song “Tayo na Sa Antipolo”, especially with the line “at doon maligo tayo, sa batis na kung tawagin ay Hi-hiHinulugang Taktak.”

The falls is located in Baran-

gay Dela Paz in Antipolo City, on Taktak Road off Sumulong Highway. “Hinulugang Taktak” was declared a National Park in 1990 and a Protected Landscape in 2000.

For an entrance fee of PHP30, local tourists can see firsthand the beauty of the falls and stroll in the park’s meditation area.

For families, children can dip into the park’s kiddie pool.

Van de la Cruz, 54, has always been fascinated by Hinulugang Taktak and said that it has improved considerably since he was a child.

“Maganda ‘yung view tapos parang naalala ko nung bata pa ako, ilang years na akong hindi nakapasyal dito ngayon pa lang, kaya’t nakita ko medyo maganda ngayon. Maganda siya kaya hihikayatin ko ang pamilya ko na pumunta rito (It has a beautiful view. The last time I vis-

ited the place was when I was still young. It’s only now that I visited the area again. It’s more beautiful now. I will encourage my family to visit this place),” he said.

Dory Enriquez, 58, likened the falls to Rizal Park in Manila and said she is in love with its peaceful aura.

“Pabalik-balik naman kami dito sa Hinulugang Taktak, kasi parang ito yung Rizal Park ng Antipolo. Kaya kilala na ‘to, saka inaayos naman saka nililinis (We are frequent visitors here at Hinulugang Taktak. It’s like the Rizal Park of Antipolo that is why it became famous.

They continue to maintain its beauty and cleanliness),” she added.

Elena Garcia, 68, praised the beauty of the falls because of the continuous efforts to clean it up.

Mt. Apo trek to shut down starting May 1

BY EDWIN FERNANDEZ Philippine News Agency KIDAPAWAN CITY — Trails to the summit of Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak, would be closed to trekkers starting May 1 to protect its forest from possible destruction, such as by wildfires due to the extreme heat brought about by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

The tourism offices of Bansalan and Digos City in Davao del Sur; and Makilala and Kidapawan City in North Cotabato, the Mt. Apo Protected Area Management Board (PAMB) and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources have agreed to shut down trekking to the mountain, Joey Recimilla, Kidapawan, city tourism officer, said in a statement on Thursday.

Both local tourist offices of North Cotabato and Davao del Sur have earlier scheduled this

ARIUS1998 – OWN WORK, CC BY-SA 4.0

“Maganda, maraming nagbago. Kasi galing pa kami Obando, Bulacan, mga katekista tapos ito yung lugar na napili namin kasi tahimik saka malinis na rin naman (It’s beautiful. There were many changes. We are catechists from Obando, Bulacan and we chose to come here because the place is serene and clean),” she said.

Elena Reyes, 71, said she always tags along her friends

year’s Holy Week climb to the mountain from April 14 to 21 under strict monitoring and guidance from PAMB and tourism officials.

However, Recimilla said in an updated advisory released also on Thursday, the Kidapawan - Mandangan trail would be closed starting March 11 “until further advice and clearance from the PAMB.”

“Other Holy Week trek to the mountain would continue but not on the Kidapawan - Mandangan trail because it would undergo preventive maintenance from the extreme weather condition,” he said.

In 2016, a two-week fire that hit the summit of Mt. Apo on the northeastern side destroyed more than 100 hectares of forest cover. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

With reports from Darwin C. Pesco

Exhibit on US Latina ‘cholas’ opens in Albuquerque

BY RUSSELL CONTRERAS The Associated Press

BRO. JEFFREY PIOQUINTO, SJ / FLICKR, CC BY 2.0

whenever she visits the place.

“Maganda siya pero kailangan patuloy na linisin. Nakakapanghinayang kapag ‘di pagtuunan ng pansin (It’s beautiful but it really needs more cleanups.

It’s a waste if it will be neglected),” said 20-year-old Crysalie Montalbo, who visited the falls in 2017. ■

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A national Hispanic centre is displaying a unique art exhibit on the chola — the working class, Mexican-American urban female often associated with gangs.

The National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque opened the “Que Chola Exhibition” on Friday with pieces by artists from New Mexico, Arizona, California, Texas, and Colorado.

The displays feature the evolution of the chola from the World War II-era to the contemporary figure trying to survive in poor neighbourhoods.

Using paintings, photography and sculptures, the exhibit attempts to cover images of the chola as an urban warrior, a mentor, a mother and political figure.

Cholas, or homegirls, often refers to a particular Latina subculture in the U.S. characterized by a tough demeanour and distinctive style. They are identified by their clothing ranging from flannel shirts and khaki pants to their dark eye makeup and indigenous-theme tattoos.

The image of the chola gained popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s with movies like “Colors” and “Mi Vida Loca” (My Crazy Life). ❱❱ PAGE 36 Exhibit on

36

Travel

How Facebook... ❰❰ 33

The merged messaging services should generate new profits from the metadata they collect, including information on who you message, when you do it, from where and for how long, said Frederike Kaltheuner of the advocacy group Privacy International. That is the information that users leave behind when they message each other or conduct retail, travel or financial business, she added.

And Facebook doesn’t just use people’s information and activity on its platform, dissecting it to target people with tailored ads. It also tracks people who don’t even use the platform via small pieces of software embedded in third-party apps.

Privacy International published research in December showing that popular Android apps including KAYAK and Yelp were automatically sending user data directly to Facebook the moment they were opened. KAYAK, which was sending flight search results, halted the practice and said the transmission was inadvertent.

Yelp continues to send unique

identifiers known as “advertising IDs” that link to specific smartphones.

Facebook also has trackers that harvest data on people’s online behaviour on about 30 per cent of the world’s websites, said Jeremy Tillman of Ghostery, a popular ad-blocker and anti-tracking software.

“When they say they are building a private messaging platform there is nothing in there that suggests they are going to stop their data collection and ad-targeting business model,” he said.

In a Wednesday interview with The Associated Press, Zuckerberg offered no specifics on new revenue sources. But “the overall opportunity here is a lot larger than what we have built in terms of Facebook and Instagram,” he said.

Privacy advocates, however, do admire one key element of Zuckerberg’s announcement.

“In the last year, I’ve spoken with dissidents who’ve told me encryption is the reason they are free, or even alive,” Zuckerberg wrote. ■

MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

Local tourists comprise 75% of arrivals in Dumaguete

BY MARY JUDALINE PARTLOW Philippine News Agency DUMAGUETE CITY — About 70 to 75 percent of the total tourist arrivals in Dumaguete City are local visitors and mostly Filipinos.

City Tourism Officer Jacqueline Veloso Antonio on Monday said it has been a trend since around 2014 that local tourists are far greater in number than foreigners, based on reports from hotels and resorts in this capital city.

“We ask them about occupancy and that means that this is only approximate and probably we have to add 25,000 to 30,000 as not all hotels religiously submit their data,” she pointed out.

“We only have data from 75 percent of the hotels in the city,” she said.

Available data from the City Tourism Office showed that to-

Dumaguete City.

tal tourist arrivals in 2018 was pegged at 706,689, higher by about 14.75 percent compared to the previous year’s 615,861.

However, according to Antonio, this does not include other tourists who are “unrecorded” to include those staying in AirBnB accommodations and smaller hotels.

Antonio attributes in part

the spike in tourist arrivals in Dumaguete to those who come here for scuba diving in Dauin and other areas in Negros Oriental.

Meanwhile, Chinese, Korean, American, and Japanese nationals are the leading foreign tourists who visited and continue to visit Dumaguete City, she said. ■

Exhibit on... ❰❰ 35

In recent years, to racism and sexism. To reduce on a red circle and smiling with scholars have coun- her to a gang member is shal- confidence. tered that the chola low.”

The exhibit, which runs until represents more than just gang Pola Lopez, a Las Vegas, New Aug. 4, is the latest attempt to activity. Latina scholars have Mexico, born artist who now create a new image around the argued that the chola’s image is lives in Los Angeles, said she chola and expand her meaning. a commentary of poverty in ur- was excited when she was asked The Los Angeles-based gang ban U.S. cities and symbolized a to participate in the exhibit. intervention group Homeboy working-class Latina seeking to “The chola...you can’t mess Industries, for example, sells battle sexism. with her,” said Lopez. “She’s clothing designed by former choSome Latina academics have beautiful and represents us in las and runs Homegirl Cafe — a playfully said on social media many ways.” restaurant with food prepared that “you can’t spell scholar Her painting, “Coatlicue and by former gang members gaining without the word ‘CHOLA’.”

Chola,” features a homegirl new skills. The hip cafe is an offCurator Jadira shoot of social enGurule said she terprises founded agreed that the

by Jesuit priest chola is more Greg Boyle. than a so-called The chola is a persona developed And Art Ladangerous fein response to racism and sexism. boe, a 93-yearmale gang memold DJ based in ber linked to Palm Springs, criminal activCalifornia, ality. For many Latinas, Gurule leaning against a statue of an lows cholas every Sunday on his said the chola also represents Aztec goddess. syndicated oldies show “The strength and perseverance.

Nanibah Chacon, a Navajo Art Laboe Connection Show” “Many within our communi- and Hispanic artist from Ari- to call in and give dedications ties either were, or admired and zona, said she wanted to create to their loved ones serving time wanted to emulate, the chola an image of a chola if she had in prison. Scholars and activgrowing up,” Gurule said. “She been represented in midcentu- ists say the radio show helps also represents real people with ry advertisements. Her paint- humanize cholas since it allows real experiences. The chola is a ing, “Xicana Classic,” depicts listeners to hear cholas express persona developed in response a chola from the 1970s sitting emotions of love and pain. ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

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Food A pasta dish that brings out the earthy flavour of mushrooms AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN WE WANTED to create a pasta dish that brought out the delicate, earthy flavour hiding in supermarket mushrooms. We selected cremini mushrooms, which have a meatier texture and a more intense, woodsy flavour than button mushrooms but are still readily available.

Butternut squash heightened the dish's wintertime appeal and gave it heft and a subtle sweetness that perfectly complemented the mushrooms.

To start, we sauteed the mushrooms with shallots, garlic, thyme, and a small amount of salt to help the cremini release their liquid, then added the squash. The liquid released by the mushrooms was just

enough to steam the squash, and cooking both together gave the smaller mushroom pieces time to brown and create fond.

We removed the vegetables, and then poured in chicken broth and water to cook our pasta. Adding heavy cream toward the end of cooking, and then stirring vigorously while mixing in Parmesan cheese, drew out the pasta's starches and created a thick, creamy sauce, into which we folded our meaty cooked vegetables.

A splash of lemon juice, a sprinkling of fresh chives, and some toasted pine nuts were the perfect finishes to the dish.

You can substitute 1 pound of ziti or penne for the rigatoni, if desired. ❱❱ PAGE 38 A pasta

A full-flavoured chicken dish with sweet and nutty garlic AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN PERHAPS AN arbitrary number of cloves, the 40 in this French dish are iconic; while the chicken braises, the generous cloves become appealingly soft and spreadable. But their flavour is often spiritless.

Another offence: The chicken is tender, but the breast meat dries out and tastes wan. We wanted to revisit this classic dish to make it faster and better, so it would boast well-browned, full-flavoured chicken, sweet and nutty garlic, and a savory sauce.

Using chicken pieces rather than a whole bird ensured that the meat cooked evenly--and quickly. We roasted the garlic cloves first to caramelize them and develop their flavour and then added them to the braising liquid with the chicken.

Finishing the braised chicken under the broiler made the skin crispy. Some shallots and herbs added flavour to the sauce, and several roasted garlic cloves, smashed into a paste, thickened and flavoured the sauce. If using a kosher chicken, skip the brining process. Avoid heads of garlic that have begun to sprout (the green shoots will make the sauce taste bitter).

Tie the rosemary and thyme sprigs together with kitchen twine so they will be easy to retrieve from the pan. Serve the dish with slices of crusty baguette; you can spread them with the roasted garlic cloves.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic

Servings: 4 Start to finish: 2 hours

• 3 large garlic heads, cloves separated and unpeeled • 2 shallots, peeled and quartered lengthwise • 5 teaspoons olive oil • Salt and pepper • 2 sprigs fresh thyme • 1 sprig fresh rosemary • 1 bay leaf www.canadianinquirer.net

• 4 pounds bone-in chicken pieces • (2 split breasts cut in half crosswise, 2 drumsticks, and 2 thighs) • 3/4 cup dry vermouth or dry white wine • 3/4 cup chicken broth • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces and chilled Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 F. Toss garlic and shallots with 2 teaspoons oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in pie plate; cover tightly with aluminum foil and roast until softened and beginning to brown, about 30 minutes, shaking pie plate once after 15 minutes to toss contents (foil can be left on during tossing). Uncover, stir, and continue to roast, uncovered, until garlic is browned and fully tender, about 10 minutes longer, stirring halfway through roasting. Remove pie plate from oven and increase oven temperature to 450 F. Using kitchen twine, tie together thyme sprigs, rosemary sprig, and bay leaf; set aside.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in 12-inch ovensafe skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add chicken skin side down and cook until well browned, 5 to 8 minutes, reducing heat if pan begins to scorch. Using tongs, flip chicken and lightly brown second

side, about 3 minutes; transfer to large plate. Pour off fat from skillet. Off heat, add vermouth, broth, and herb bundle to nowempty skillet, scraping up any browned bits. Place skillet over medium heat, add garlic mixture, then nestle chicken skin side up on top of and between garlic cloves.

Transfer skillet to oven and cook chicken until breasts register 160 F and drumsticks/ thighs register 175 F, 10 to 12 minutes. If desired, heat broiler element and broil chicken to crisp skin, 3 to 5 minutes.

Remove skillet from oven (skillet handle will be hot) and transfer chicken to platter.

Using slotted spoon, remove 10 to 12 garlic cloves and set aside. Transfer remaining garlic cloves and shallots to platter with chicken. Discard herb bundle. Place reserved garlic cloves in fine-mesh strainer set over bowl. Using rubber spatula, push garlic cloves through strainer; discard skins. Add garlic paste to sauce in skillet and bring to simmer, whisking occasionally to incorporate garlic.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Off heat, whisk in butter.

Serve chicken, passing sauce separately. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 577 calories; 277 calories from fat; 31 g fat (8 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 173 mg cholesterol; 1033 mg sodium; 24 g carbohydrate; 3 g fiber; 8 g sugar; 40 g protein.

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MARCH 15, 2019

FRIDAY

A pasta... ❰❰ 37

pine nuts

Creamy rigatoni with mushrooms, butternut squash and

Servings: 4-6 Start to finish: 1 hour, 15 minutes

The key to making your raw kale tender is a little massage AMERICA’S TEST KITCHEN WE LOVE the earthy flavour of uncooked kale, but the texture of raw kale can be a little tough.

Many recipes call for tossing it with dressing and letting it tenderize in the fridge overnight. This method didn't deliver the tender leaves we were after, and the long sitting time wasn't very convenient.

Luckily, we found another technique that worked better and faster: massaging. Squeezing and massaging the kale broke down the cell walls in much the same way that heat would, darkening the leaves and turning them silky. Caramelized roasted sweet potatoes, shredded radicchio, crunchy pecans, a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, and a sweet pomegranate vinaigrette turned our salad into a hearty meal.

If you can't find pomegranate molasses, you can make your own. Tuscan kale (also known as dinosaur or Lacinato kale) is more tender than curly-leaf and red kale; if using curly-leaf or red kale, increase the massaging time to 5 minutes. Do

not use baby kale.

Kale salad with sweet potatoes and pomegranate vinaigrette

Servings: 6-8 Start to finish: 1 hour

Salad: • 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces • 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil • Salt and pepper • 12 ounces Tuscan kale, stemmed and sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch-wide strips (7 cups) • 1/2 head radicchio (5 ounces), cored and sliced thin • 1/3 cup pecans, toasted and chopped • Shaved Parmesan cheese Vinaigrette: • 2 tablespoons water • 1 1/2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses • 1 small shallot, minced • 1 tablespoon honey • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar • Salt and pepper • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil For the salad: Adjust oven rack to middle position and

heat oven to 400 F. Toss sweet potatoes with oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange potatoes in single layer in rimmed baking sheet and roast until browned, 25 to 30 minutes, flipping potatoes halfway through roasting. Transfer to plate and let cool for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, vigorously squeeze and massage kale with hands until leaves are uniformly darkened and slightly wilted, about 1 minute.

For the vinaigrette: Whisk water, pomegranate molasses, shallot, honey, vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in large bowl.

Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in oil.

Add potatoes, kale, and radicchio to vinaigrette and gently toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to serving platter and sprinkle with pecans and shaved Parmesan to taste. Serve. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 288 calories; 171 calories from fat; 19 g fat (3 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 292 mg sodium; 28 g carbohydrate; 5 g fiber; 10 g sugar; 4 g protein. www.canadianinquirer.net

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil • 2 large shallots, minced • 3 garlic cloves, minced • 4 teaspoons minced fresh thyme or 11/2 teaspoons dried • 12 ounces cremini mushrooms, trimmed and sliced thin • Salt and pepper • 1 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces (4 cups) • 2 1/2 cups water, plus extra as needed • 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth • 1 pound rigatoni • 1/2 cup heavy cream • 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1 cup) • 1 tablespoon lemon juice • 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives • 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add shallots and cook until softened, about 3 minutes.

Stir in garlic and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in mushrooms

and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until mushrooms begin to release their liquid, about 4 minutes. Stir in squash, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until squash is tender and lightly browned, about 12 minutes.

Transfer vegetables to bowl and cover to keep warm.

Add water, broth, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to now-empty pot, scraping up any browned bits, and bring to boil. Stir in pasta, return to vigorous simmer, and cook, stirring often, until pasta is nearly tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir in cream and continue to cook until pasta is tender and has absorbed most of liquid, about 4 minutes.

Add Parmesan and stir vigorously until sauce is creamy and pasta is well coated, about 30 seconds. Stir in reserved vegetables and lemon juice and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Off heat, adjust sauce consistency with extra hot water as needed. Stir in chives and season with salt and -pepper to taste. Serve, sprinkling individual portions with pine nuts. ■ Nutrition information per serving: 311 calories; 79 calories from fat; 9 g fat (1 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 247 mg sodium; 45 g carbohydrate; 8 g fiber; 2 g sugar; 9 g protein.

Saudi app... ❰❰ 33

their father’s phone ceptable, including those that and changing the set- have “content that is offensive, ting to insensitive, upgrant themselves setting, intended permission. to disgust or The Saudi Inin exceptionterior Ministry ally poor taste.” said the app is The ingenuity Google also has “an essential and guidelines to of American direct means” prohibit apps technology for Saudis to acthat facilitate companies cess government harassment and should not services anycharacteristics be perverted time, anywhere. tied to systemic to violate The ministry discrimination. the human also condemned In recent rights of Saudi what is said was years, there have women. a “systematic been 13 billion campaign aimed visits to the Abat questioning sher app, 11 milthe purpose of lion users and Absher services.” more than 110,00 Apple’s app guidelines seem million services done, accordto give the company latitude in ing to Absher officials quoted in what apps are considered unac- local Saudi media. ■

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