Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #26

CANADA’S FIRST AND ONLY NATIONWIDE FILIPINO-CANADIAN NEWSPAPER VOL. 8 NO. VOL. 8 NO. 26 26

FRIDAY, AUGUST17, 17,2012 2012 FRIDAY AUGUST

CANADA NEWS

Pinoy Fiesta in Vancouver (On page 21)

Operasyon Habagat: Relief for Manila Flood Victims

MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

(On page 22-23)

Toronto revels in Filipino culture through visual art, theatre, fun and cuisine at Kapisanan’s KULTURA festival (On page 24)

ZIPPING THROUGH A LIFELINE To reach safer, higher ground, a young boy test an improvised zip line anchored in a house isolated by floodwaters in Cainta, Rizal province, on Friday. Through the relentless pounding of the rains has stopped, many areas are still submerged in floodwaters in Metro Manila and other parts of Luzon.

P-noy ally insists on De Lima–Tupas

BY CHRISTIAN V. ESGUERRA Philippine Daily Inquirer AN ALLY of President Aquino’s yesterday acknowledged that Malacañang’s representative to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) was trying to accommodate Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and two others in the short list of nominees so that they could be considered in the choice for the next Chief Justice.

But Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., the House representative to the JBC and a key supporter of Mr. Aquino, said the purported accommodation by

Michael Frederick Musngi was “understandable” given that he represents the executive branch.

Musngi—who works under the Office of the President’s Office of Special Concerns—was appointed by Malacañang to the JBC after De Lima inhibited herself from the proceedings because she was eyeing the vacant Chief Justice post as well.

“Well, probably it’s obvious because he is the representative of the executive (branch),” Tupas replied in Filipino when asked in a phone interview if some JBC members were trying to accommodate De Lima, who has two

pending disbarment cases against her.

“But we cannot say that of the other members who are very objective.”

Tupas added: “That’s understandable because he is from there (executive branch).”

De Lima, along with Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza and Chair Teresita Herbosa of the Securities and Exchange Commission, could be disqualified under Section 5 of the JBC rules, which bars “those with pending criminal and regular administrative cases” from being considered in the short list of Chief Justice candidates.

Alliance forced to help temporary workers (On page 25)

“The Way We Were” and Marvin Hamlisch (On page 33)

Fossil Hunting in Dinosaur Provincial Park (On page 36) Thousands who fled rising floodwaters return to muddy, damaged homes in Philippine capital (On page 42)

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More on page 5

28

News-Phils

P-noy: You are not alone

Photo courtesty of www.gov.ph

President assures victims of devastation

BY PHILIP C. TUBEZA AND TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer

“YOU ARE not alone to fend for yourselves,” President Aquino assured the flood victims huddled at evacuation centers across Metropolitan Manila and in nearby provinces.

President Aquino took his celebrity sister Kris Aquino to Muntinlupa City to visit residents reeling from floods the past three days.

The President, Kris and government officials had to use an Army truck to negotiate flooded streets to get to Tunasan Elementary School where the evacuees sought shelter from rising floodwaters.

“I’m very happy to see them both,” Mary Manalastas, 60, said after receiving a bag of groceries from the President, referring to the Aquino siblings.

Mr. Aquino, who also brought some Cabinet secretaries with him appealed for patience, saying the flood may take some time to subside.

“I’m very happy to see you in a lively mood despite the floods. It seems we’re a gritty people here. Seeing you like this lightens our burden,” he said.

No quick solution But the President told the evacuees, “The flood problem won’t be solved until next week.”

He said there was a proposed project to ease flooding in Laguna Lake and Marikina River, and this was doable, but this may take years to complete. “After that, we’ll be able to avoid this kind of problem.”

The President was also set to visit devastated areas in Marikina, Quezon and Caloocan cities. Driving rain and the traffic gridlock on Edsa, however, forced him to cut short the scheduled visits.

Aerial survey Mr. Aquino ordered an aerial survey of Metro Manila to determine the extent of the calamity that hit the National

Capital Region and where exactly people needed help.

The President ordered the Philippine National Police to help motorists in distress and disaster-response agencies to give priority to rescue operations.

“You’ve tested this administration, and we performed,” he told reporters later, referring to the government’s response to the emergency.

The President said flood victims need not fret about food, as the government had enough to bring to all evacuation centers.

“You won’t be left alone to fend for yourselves,” Mr. Aquino said at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) at Camp Aguinaldo, trying to assure people huddled at evacuation centers that the government was looking after their needs.

At the NDRRMC, Mr. Aquino learned that the entire Malabon City could be accessed only by six-by-six trucks; that Obando, Bulacan, was in need of rubber boats; that some parts of the capital were still not passable to all types of vehicles; that apart from Metro Manila, parts of Bataan, Pampanga, Pangasinan and Zambales provinces were experiencing power outages, among other things.

Diluvian landscape A diluvian landscape as far as the eye could see greeted disaster officials who surveyed communities north of Manila from the air.

“The sea and floodwaters have merged.

I couldn’t tell which was which,” Defense Undersecretary Benito Ramos said after flying over the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela cities) area and towns in Bulacan province along Manila Bay. Ramos, executive director of the NDRRMC, said he and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin took a helicopter and saw that at least “30 percent of Bulacan and Pampanga” were underwater.

“It was high tide and so the sea and the floodwaters inland merged. I couldn’t tell where one ended and the other began,” Ramos said in an interview.

As more rain fell, more than a million people in and around Manila battled deadly floods on, with neck-deep waters trapping both slum dwellers and the wealthy on rooftops.

Several domestic flights were diverted to Clark International Airport because of heavy rains and winds in the vicinity of Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Death toll The death toll from this week’s rain in Manila and nearby provinces rose to 20 after four more people drowned, according to authorities.

This brought to 73 the confirmed number of people killed across the country since Typhoon “Gener” triggered heavy rains in late July.

Worst-hit The worst- hit parts of Manila this week were mostly the poorest districts, where millions of slum dwellers have built homes along riverbanks, the swampy surrounds of a huge lake, canals and other areas susceptible to flooding.

Worst-hit was Central Luzon with 49 flooded areas, followed by Calabarzon, 21 areas; Metro Manila, 17 areas, and the Ilocos, three areas.

The NDRRMC said 126 roads were not passable to vehicles in Regions I, III, IV-A, VI, the Cordillera Administrative Region and Metro Manila.

Damage to crops Damage to crops wrought by the monsoon rains and Gener over the past weeks was estimated at P152.13 million.

The Department of Agriculture said that as of Aug. 7, the rice sector posted the biggest loss at P131.49 million.

The flooding is not likely to set back the country’s economic momentum, an economist at Bank of the Philippine Islands said.

BPI economist Emilio Neri Jr. said that while a thorough assessment of the situation had yet to be done, his group was expecting the disruption to have a negligible impact on the growth of the country’s gross domestic product in the third quarter.

Swelled by the incessant rains, Laguna de Bay also flooded communities along its cheering residents, floods, and snapped pictures of them. Seeing them together riding on a truck amid the floods brought cheer to the residents.

When they finally made it to the elementary school, shouts of “Kris, Kris, Kris!” filled the air.

After brief remarks, Mr. Aquino distributed bags of relief with Kris, political allies—Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon, Director General Joel Villanueva of the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority, Akbayan spokesperson Rissa Hontiveros—and World Food Program country director Stephen Anderson.

Some 600 families were sheltering at the elementary school, according to Agnes Fry, a staff member of the local Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

Fry said 3,325 families were temporarily sheltered in 15 evacuation centers across Muntinlupa City.

She said the families needed toiletries and potable water, besides food and other basic necessities being provided by DSWD and the local government.

From the flatbed of the Army truck, Mr. Aquino and Kris waved at the residents, including some who rushed out of their homes and waded in shores, including Tunasan in Muntinlupa City. n

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 2

Bad weather delays CJ nominations

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE BAD weather is delaying the nominations for the successor of ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) postponed the holding of a vote for its top three choices for Chief Justice due to the incessant rains and heavy flooding in Metro Manila.

Lawyer Jose Mejia, who represents the academe in the JBC, said the eightmember panel would likely meet on .

The JBC had originally been scheduled to vote but reset it to to give Sen. Francis Escudero more time to go over the transcripts and records of the interviews made by the JBC on the 20 nominees.

Escudero had not participated in the JBC public interviews after the Supreme Court ruled that there should only be one member of Congress sitting in the JBC, which screens, vets and recommends nominees for positions in the judiciary and the Ombudsman’s office.

But Escudero is back on the JBC after the high court ruled last week to temporarily allow two members of Congress in the panel pending final resolution on the question of the proper representation of Congress in the JBC. The JBC was expected to submit its shortlist of nominees for Chief Justice to President Aquino, who under the Constitution has until Aug. 27 to appoint Corona’s successor.

Just like the JBC, the Supreme Court also postponed its special en banc session because of the bad weather.

The suspension came after acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio suspended work for the second straight day at the Supreme Court and all lower courts in Metro Manila, including the Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan and the Court of Tax Appeals “due to the continuing inclement weather and several flooded areas.”

“For courts outside the National Capital Region, it will be up to the discretion of the executive judges whether or not to suspend work,” SC spokesperson and lawyer Gleo Guerra said in a text message.

But Guerra said the high court would hold its special en banc session. n

News-Phils A think tank like no other for young PH scholars 3 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer THEY could well be the Rizals and Mabinis of their generation—young Filipino scholars from diverse disciplines who are lending their expertise to raise the standard of academic research and policy studies.

And yes, they get to do this while keeping their day jobs.

Top young lawyers, economists and experts from other fields educated in the world’s leading universities have come together to establish the Angara Centre for Law and Economics, a venue for knowledge-sharing that they believe has been lacking in the Philippines’ intellectual landscape.

It’s a think tank like no other, a neutral voice that brings together Filipino thinkers from around the world in a single home of ideas.

The center is touted to be “the only academic research institution in the Philippines dedicated to the scientific analysis and international assessment of local and regional legislation, policies and public sector programs.”

It fills the gap Filipino scholars have long been trying to fill: the pursuit of their dreams that may keep them overseas while fulfilling their passion to make a contribution to their homeland.

“I have met a lot of Filipinos, Filipino-Americans in Harvard. Everyone had a great idea, a passion to contribute to the country. But they also have to face realities,” said Alfredo Molo III, a law professor at the University of the Philippines who completed his master of laws at Harvard University.

“I thought, why does it have to be a choice all the time? Go back to the Philippines, forgo your dreams outside before you’ll be able to help. It doesn’t have to be a choice,” said Molo, one of the center’s founding members.

Entry point The idea was hatched on a trip to Cape Cod in Massachusetts last year when Molo got together with

fellow UP graduates pursuing higher studies in the United States. “(We) were having this long discussion in front of the seaside saying, ‘I don’t see why we cannot do this.’

Many of us are committed to coming back. It’s just a question of how you make that entry point coming back in a way that’s most efficient,” said Diane Desierto, the first Filipino woman master of studies in law graduate of the Yale Law School.

“There’s a growing crop of people who are getting into the top universities and schools. And then they head back and the entry point to try and contribute back is difficult because there’s a bureaucracy that has to be navigated. And sometimes their window to be able to contribute is small,” Desierto said at the launch of the center.

They pitched their idea to Sen. Edgardo Angara, citing his track record in supporting education reform and using vetted research in crafting legislation.

“We have worked with him before and we know his commitment to public reform,” Desierto told the INQUIRER. Diversity of ideas Involving a politician does not compromise the center, which aims for diversity of ideas and freedom from a singular advocacy. It pools together ideas from as many experts possible, according to the group.

“That’s the brilliance of the center. You can keep your job, work an honest living and still be able to apply to the center. This affords me this avenue to engage my passion, put on a different hat but still relate to what I know, which is the law,” said lawyer Joan de Venecia, who finished her master of laws at New York University.

Thus, if a lawmaker, say, needs advice on climate change or maternal health, the center will seek out inputs from within its ranks. The output: a wellresearched document representing different voices.

The center also aims to hold at least one major international conference a year in Manila with experts from around the world.

30 scholars “We don’t have any advocacy. If anything, our advocacy is rigorous thought. We encourage rigorous analysis, we like to listen to different viewpoints,” said Desierto’s sister Desiree, who has a master of science in economics from Oxford.

To date, up to 30 Filipino scholars around the world have signified their intention to contribute to the center, Diane Desierto said.

For Angara, the center embodies an organization he had been searching for. As he put it, the country has the research skills but lacks an organized research system to support legislation and policy making.

He recalled that in 1992, he tried to put together a universal health-care system in the Philippines but only had a handful of economists from UP to help.

“It was embarrassing for me to have to go to the US ambassador and ask for assistance. He contacted the Harvard School of Public Health and they sent two professors who stayed with us for six months until we had a working draft of what is now PhilHealth,” Angara said.

Intellectual exchange With the center, Angara and the scholars hope to facilitate an intellectual exchange never before seen in the Philippines.

At the helm of the center is John Nye, an expert in new institutional economics who has been invited as consultant in Moscow, Latin America, Asian Development Bank and with President Aquino, his batch mate at Ateneo de Manila University.

Speaking about the value of a neutral think tank in the country’s often politically charged national discussion, Nye said: “This kind of workshop will set the stage on how to frame the debate.”

“Rather than jump right away to very specific issues like the RH (reproductive health) bill or Chacha (Charter change), first let’s think of the broader questions so we know how to strategize it. Then let’s talk about the specific problem at hand,” Nye said. n

News-Phils

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 4

Kindness of strangers swells with waters

BY JULIE M. AURELIO AND JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE Philippine Daily Inquirer

AS HE PLUCKED residents marooned on roofs, volunteer rescuer Emmanuel de Jesus’ thoughts would drift to his five children and his own home threatened by floods.

But the knowledge that his kids were safe would bring him back to harsh reality—that in a matter of seconds, people’s lives at Barangay Bagong Silangan in a low-lying area of Quezon City depended on his tired hands.

A resident of Bagong Silangan himself, De Jesus was one of many volunteers who sprang into action and saved residents trapped in their houses for ignoring flood warnings.

Some were total strangers to him.

Others thanked him profusely, while a few even had the gall to scold the rescuers “for taking too long.”

“I just don’t pay them any attention.

It’s useless to argue in that kind of situation,” the 43 year-old De Jesus said .

He said he and three other volunteers saved 48 residents in nine trips to the stricken barangay.

Bagong Silangan, which was badly hit by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” in 2009, has three critical sites—Areas 5, 6 and Sitio Clementia.

Rowing against current At Sitio Clementia, floods from an overflowing river reached as high as the third floor of houses in less than an hour on .

De Jesus recalled the rapidly rising floodwaters when he inspected his community, warning his neighbors to flee.

“The barangay captain called our team, the Police Hotline Movement Inc. (PHMI), to conduct rescue operations. By 9:30 a.m. the water had reached the third floor of some homes,” he said.

Armed with a small boat, his team worked from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., retrieving stranded residents on rooftops and those clinging desperately to trees.

As they were rowing against the current, each rescue trip took more than 15 minutes.

Numbed by the cold, De Jesus tried hard to focus on people crying for help.

Some shouted themselves hoarse while others used whistles to catch their attention amidst the blinding rain.

A drink on the roof When the INQUIRER chanced upon him, the rescuer wore plastic bags on his feet as he got several cuts from stepping on roofs and rough surfaces.

Subsequent shifts from PHMI, the police and Army reservists took over rescue and relief duties.

De Jesus noted that while people were more prepared and willing to evacuate now than during Ondoy, some were still stubborn and insisted on keeping an eye on their homes.

“Some men were drinking on their roofs and invited me for a drink, saying, ‘Sir, this is for warming your body.’ Much later they were shouting a different tune, ‘sir, pa- rescue!’” he smiled ruefully.

Personal advocacy So far, the barangay has no reported casualties. In 2009, nearly 80 died in flashfloods, which swept away entire homes.

“Back then, everyone was caught unprepared. Now, I believe we are better prepared, that’s why there are no casualties so far,” he said.

He pointed out that people had been so traumatized by the Ondoy floods that some left their houses at the first warning.

There were others, De Jesus said, who shrugged off the alert.

“If you ask me, during Ondoy, around 70 percent of the residents were stubborn. Last , they were just 10 percent,” he chuckled.

Once rescued and in the confines of their boat, the hardheaded ones did not get off lightly.

“We scolded them for being too stubborn and not heeding warnings.

Some reasoned out that they were guarding their houses. We simply asked them what was more important, their possessions or their lives?” he said.

For De Jesus, helping others is his personal advocacy. In fact, his wife Aileen also help in relief efforts. His five children sometimes play with children who lost their homes to flashfloods to cheer them up.

“I will never get tired of extending my hand to other people in need. For me, there are no words to describe how I feel whenever I help my neighbor,” he added.

Navy rescuers At Barangay Damayang Lagi along E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City, volunteer Mariano Alcen was injured in the left knee while on a rescue mission

and was told to stop or risk contracting leptospirosis, a disease caused by rat urine.

He had accompanied a group of Navy personnel on a rubber boat that rescued on some 50 children and elderly residents of the barangay. “We wanted to get them all but the alleys on those blocks are narrow, the rubber boat could hardly move and night had already fallen,” Alcen said.

This was how he was injured, he pointed out, saying that he had jumped in the water to free the stuck boat from a jutting piece of metal that had punctured the small vessel and his leg just below the knee.

400 rescued Navy Lt. Victor Jacinto told the INQUIRER that on they had to handle irate residents who wanted to get off the second floor of their homes as soon as possible. “We had to explain to them that we had to prioritize the people on

their roofs. Although we wanted to save all of them, we only had two rubber boats available after four of them were punctured,” he said.

His rubberboat team, who was led through the flotsam by PO2 German Sumanoy, rescued 400 persons.

Coast Guard Ensign Mizar Cumbre said his rubber boat team had to make 16 round trips to and from Barangay Dona Imelda, near the corner of E. Rodriguez Sr. and Araneta Avenues to rescue some 300 people and ferry them across eight feet of floodwaters.

He said that they encountered turbulent waters caused by the inflow of the swollen San Juan River but they had to cross to get to the elderly and the children who needed help.

“The children were crying. They looked so pitiful and helpless that we knew we had to save every one we could reach,” Cumbre said, adding that it was what kept them going. n

2012 Southeast Asian Cultural Arts Festival Saturday August 18, 2012

North Pond, Burnaby Central Park (see map at MonsoonSociety.org)

Everyone is invited - no experience required Come and join this celebration of Filipino and Southeast Asian martial culture. This is your opportunity to meet and train with all of the top SE Asian cultural arts instructors, clubs, and performance troupes in and around the Pacific Northwest. And ALL FREE!

Training! Demos! Performances!

And a Potluck BBQ 10 Filipino and SE Asian Martial Arts instructors 14 Styles of SE Asian Martial and Cultural Arts 7 Hours of training, demos, and performances

SYSTEMS/STYLES Bahala Na Giron Escrima Kalis Ilustrisimo Repeticion Orihinal Pencak silat Jati Wisesa Gadjah Putih Sikaran-Arnis/Panandyakan Panantukan/Filipino Boxing Pekiti-Tirsia System of Kali Dog Brothers Martial Arts Lacoste-Inosanto Kali CLUBS/GROUPS Urban Survival Systems maelstrom Martial Arts Highland Gong Society Ikatan Kali Vancouver Ilustrisimo Kathara Cultural Theatre Chalambok Thai Arts Warrior Zen Martial Arts SEACHS Dance See online map for directions www.MonsoonSociety.org For more information info@MonsoonSociety.org 604.908.5833

SPONSORS Southeast Asian Cultural Heritage Society Eka Cooperative for Co-cultured Communities Monsoon Society for the Cultural Arts of Southeast Asia

5 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

News-Phils

...from page 1

De Lima is facing disbarment cases for defying a Supreme Court temporary restraining order and for publicly attacking then Chief Justice Renato Corona. She also testified for the prosecution, which was headed by Tupas, in the Corona impeachment trial earlier this year.

In the JBC meeting on Friday, Tupas said Musngi asked the body to “amend or suspend” the rule on disqualification.

“All three (nominees) who would be affected are from the executive (branch) so he has to defend (them), namely, De Lima, Herbosa and (Jardeleza),” recalled Tupas, who said that he was amenable to suspending the rule on disqualification but not amending it at this time.

Tupas said an amendment to Section 5—a proposal he said he had made as early as August 2011— would require publication and, as such, would not benefit the present crop of nominees. But he said some JBC members also believe that even a suspension of the rule would need the same requirement and therefore “cannot apply now.”

Willing to listen Tupas wanted to give the JBC the discretion to determine which pending cases would be allowed to affect a particular nomination.

“I am willing to listen to the arguments (during the next JBC meeting) on Monday if they want (the suspension) to take effect now

or to take effect prospectively,” the lawmaker said.

But apparently more crucial than the proposed suspension or amendment to Section 5 was the “privileged motion” by another JBC member questioning the integrity of De Lima, Herbosa and Jardeleza.

Tupas declined to name the JBC member, but described the motion as a “counter move” against Musngi’s push to lift the rule on disqualification. He said the motion was similar to the powerful rule in the Commission on Appointments that allows a lone member to block any appointment.

“Pamatay yun (That’s a killer move),” he said, noting that under the rules, a motion questioning the integrity of a

nominee could be defeated only by a unanimous vote.

Reconsider motion Only if the JBC member reconsiders the motion could the council proceed with the voting on whether to suspend or amend the rule on disqualification, and therefore, allow De Lima, Herbosa and Jardeleza to be considered in the short list, according to Tupas.

“If a member stands firm on that, we cannot do anything. Those with (pending) cases cannot be considered,” he said.

“It seems that he or she is firm on his or her decision—that’s my reading when we talked,” he added, referring to the JBC member behind the “privileged motion.” n

Palace: Shooters may not New way of planting rice more fun have been NPA

BY MICHAEL LIM UBAC Philippine Daily Inquirer

NOW MALACAÑANG is not sure it was the New People’s Army (NPA) that fired at the presidential convoy in Bicol last week, but welcomed Undersecretary Alex Padilla’s move to take up the matter with the National Democratic Front (NDF).

“The latest statement of Undersecretary Alex Padilla is something he feels strongly he should raise before the negotiating panel. I cannot comment if the Communist Party of the PhilippinesNew People’s Army-NDF (members) who shot at the convoy knew it was the president’s security contingent. I cannot say that for certain,” said presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda in a Palace briefing.

Padilla is the Aquino administration’s chief negotiator in the peace talks with the communist rebels.

On negotiating table “The fact that, based on reports, it came from the CPP-NPA-NDF, it was prudent of Undersecretary Padilla to raise it.

That’s to show where we are now in the process: Do you want peace to be achieved? And that’s something I think that Undersecretary Padilla feels (he has) every right to bring up to the negotiating table,” said Lacierda.

The INQUIRER earlier reported that a small band of NPA rebels in Albay had fired their weapons as security escorts of President Aquino passed by on their way back to Ligao City after providing security for the President who had attended the wake of a soldier killed in an encounter with Abu Sayyaf terrorists in Basilan on July 26. Mr. Aquino was already in Legazpi City by that time and was not in the convoy.

The members of the PSG were en route to Legazpi to board a flight to Manila.

Four rebels Maj. Angelo Guzman, the Army’s 9th Infantry Division spokesperson, said four members of the NPA’s “territorial force” fired their weapons as the convoy composed of Presidential Security Group, police and Army troops passed through Barangay Palaspas.

Guzman said the four rebels, armed with two M16 rifles, fired four rounds.

“The action was not intended to inflict casualties but was a propaganda tactic to make the rebel’s presence felt and to embarrass the security forces,” Guzman said. No one was hurt.

President Arroyo yesterday summoned Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Jessie Dellosa and the AFP Service Command to Malacañang, but Lacierda was mum about the agenda. n

BY JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE Philippine Daily Inquirer

PLANTING palay might not be fun but it could be with a new system of crop management that has proven to provide more rice yields for farmers.

The Department of Agrarian Reform and Department of Agriculture have teamed up under the “Rice Productivity Enhancement Training on Palay Check System” to create a dynamic rice crop management method that requires no extraordinary effort from farmers.

Biliran provincial agrarian reform support services officer Ismael Aya-ay explained that the

system merely follows a balanced technique of selecting and preparing seeds for a particular season, the careful measurement of the amounts of fertilizer, pesticide and water applied, the spacing of seedlings, and determination of the right time for harvest.

The system was introduced by Aya-ay, who, after finding the new formula promising, convinced the agriculture department to include the system for introduction to farmerbeneficiaries.

Roger Ayuste, chair of the Balaquid Agrarian Reform Cooperative (Bareco) in Biliran province in the Eastern Visayas, said he expected the newfound formula to help the country attain self-sufficiency in rice. Ayuste and 15 members of Bareco were the first batch of farmer-beneficiares to utilize the technique —considered one of the best farm technology and crop management practices—early this year.

Ayuste pointed out that the new formula was a far cry from their old practice of using the same seeds over and over again during the planting season, applying fertilizer and pesticides indiscriminately, and allowing water to flow freely through the rice fields. n

News-Phils

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 6

Condoms and other survival tools, Pinoy style “It can hold water,” he added. “I’m not sure when we started doing this. [But it] had passed on to others because it worked.”

On Taft Avenue, pedicab drivers and commuters used pieces of old billboards to protect themselves from the rain. Large plastic bags became raincoats for others.

Lack of equipment The days of relentless monsoon rains, however, not only coaxed Filipino creativity to surface, but also exposed the dearth in disasterresponse equipment in the national and local governments.

“Malabon has an ambulance but they have no stretchers,” Diciano said.

“There were many rescuers, but a few rubber boats,” Biloy said.

Most rescuers from Saragi were stuck in the trucks that ferried them to flooded communities.

Biloy’s team itself had 100 members, but only four rubber boats.

As seen on Facebook

BY KRISTINE L. ALAVE AND NIÑA CALLEJA Philippine Daily Inquirer

“This is Filipino ingenuity. When it comes to this kind of situation, we should use all available means,” Diciano said.

IN TIMES of distress, Filipino ingenuity rises to the occasion.

In operations to help people in distress, rescuers are using ordinary household items and even rubbish to get people to safety.

And they have found a use for condoms that Catholic bishops would surely approve— keeping their gadgets dry.

Yesterday, rescuers who waded into the floods used their bodies and household items to ferry people in flooded communities.

Lieutenant Jayson Diciano of the Philippine Coast Guard said he and his team used Styrofoam, slippers, nets and bamboo sticks to build a stretcher. The team used it to carry a 19-year-old resident of Malabon who was injured.

Diciano said he and his team also carried people on their backs.

Cell phones in condoms “We can’t expect every household to have response equipment,” he added.

Rescuers from the Philippine National Police Maritime Group used condoms to keep their gadgets dry.

“Do you have one more condom?” one rescuer asked a colleague before boarding a truck to Barangay (village) Sienna in Quezon City, where floodwaters had reached up to roof level.

He was one of dozens of rescuers from the Maritime Group and from the Air Force-trained group Search and Rescue Auxiliary Group Inc. (Saragi) who were proud to pioneer the use of condoms in protecting cell phones and cameras from getting wet in the rain.

“Hindi lang pangpamilya, pang gadgets pa—not only for family planning but also for gadget protection,” said Fred Biloy, a volunteer from Saragi.

“Using condoms is the cheapest way to make small gadgets like phones and cameras waterproof,” he said.

Anything that floats Those who could walk to safety used anything that floats—pails, plastic tubs, driftwood, banana trunks, discarded Styrofoam blocks—to survive the floods.

Media Sponsor:

Lt. Cmdr.

Armand Balilo, spokesperson of the Philippine Coast Guard, said the Coast Guard had only 12 rubber boats for disaster response.

He said the Coast Guard could do better if it had more rubber boats.

“The MMDA (Metropolitan Manila Development Authority) called us last night asking for more rubber boats. But all our boats have been deployed,” he said.

Better response Rescuers observed that people responded better to assistance than during the disaster caused by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” (Ketsana) in 2009.

Diciano said people were less hysterical this time. “It was easier for us to convince them to leave their houses,” he said.

When Ondoy slammed Manila three years ago, he said, people didn’t know what hit them.

Local governments also were more alert and cooperative this time, he added. n

News-Phils

7 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

PH has 9.5M Twitter users, ranks 10th China state paper scoffs at US

BY PAOLO MONTECILLO Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE PHILIPPINES has once again been recognized as one of the world’s social media capitals, ranking 10th in the list of countries with the most number of users on website twitter. com.

Data from social media monitor Semiocast showed that 9.5 million out of Twitter’s 517 million users were from the Philippines, placing the country in the 10th spot in the worldwide rankings, trailing Spain but ahead of Turkey.

The feat was achieved despite the fact that only 30 percent of Filipinos have access to the Internet.

The Filipino Internet user’s affinity with social media was nowhere more evident than at the height of torrential rains that inundated most of Metro Manila this week.

“At the height of ’s intense rain and flooding all over the country, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos trooped to Twitter to spread critical flood information, as well as to mobilize rescue and relief operations,” Smart Communications, the country’s leading mobile network, said in a statement.

“Even as the torrential rains rendered several families stranded and helpless, with flooded homes and without electricity, we saw how people found their mobile phones– and mobile Internet–especially useful to stay connected,” Smart chief wireless advisor Orlando Vea said.

Smart said about 93.9 percent of the country’s Internet users were also active on social network facebook.com. Filipinos are able to access the Internet, Vea said, due to the availability of cheap mobile devices and affordable access rates.

“This is certainly good news, but, frankly, not really surprising.

Filipinos have always been active in social media and we are increasingly using mobile phones to tweet or post on Facebook,” he said.

“With a strong and resilient network like Smart, you’re sure to receive every tweet, every update, and you can rely on your network not dying out on you when you need connectivity the most,” Vea said.

The PLDT group, of which Smart is a part of, ended the first half of the year with 3.1 million Internet subscriptions. n

BY TARRA QUISMUNDO Philippine Daily Inquirer

in the South China Sea is dropping,” said the paper.

The editorial came out shortly after REINFORCING China’s displeasure the US blasted China’s establishment over American involvement in the of Sansha City in the Paracels, a West Philippine Sea dispute, a top move that the Philippines, despite Chinese newspaper scoffed at the the lack of claim to the said islands, United States’ recent statements on protested, saying such development the establishment of a new Chinese was “unacceptable.” city in the contested territory, saying Although based in the Paracels, the its influence in the region was waning. Sansha military garrison is China’s In an editorial on , Chinese daily administrative arm supposed to also Global Times said the US state govern the resourcerich Spratlys, department’s criticism of China’s including the Kalayaan Island Sansha City may further embolden the group which is being claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam, countries Philippines. The Philippines looks with strong claims over parts of the to American backing in pursuing its disputed Spratly even as China insists claims in the region. it wholly owns the territory.

The US state department likewise “It is true that the US has influence criticized China’s move, saying the in the South China Sea. But obviously, US was “concerned by the increase the US cannot do whatever it wants. in tensions” in the West Philippine Vietnam and the Philippines were very Sea and that the new garrison might active in provoking China not long further escalate conflict in the region. ago, which was potentially influenced This prompted China to summon by the US,” the Global Times said in Robert Wang, deputy chief of its Aug. 6 editorial. mission at the US Embassy in “But those days have passed, and Beijing, on , saying the US should the US can no longer cause tempests “correct its mistaken ways” and in the South China Sea only by a wink “respect China’s sovereignty and or a cough. Washington’s influence territorial integrity.” n

Supply disruptions seen to hike food prices THE DEVASTATING monsoon rains that paralyzed most of Luzon and parts of the Visayas this week are seen to cause a disruption in the supply of some agricultural products and, therefore, a temporary spike in food prices.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) yesterday said the price of food, particularly products from areas affected by the rains, may likely increase at a faster rate because of temporary disruptions in the supply chain.

BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., however, sees the impact on food prices to be short-lived.

“The area affected by the rains is rather widespread—20 provinces in Luzon and the Visayas—but [according to an] initial assessment by the Department of Agriculture, portions of the damaged crops are recoverable, so what we have is not a situation of total loss,” said Tetangco.

The National Statistics Office yesterday reported that inflation averaged 3.2 percent in July and 3.1 percent in the first seven months of the year.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) yesterday said that

Photo Courtesy of Eleina dela Vega

BY MICHELLE V. REMO AND RIZA T. OLCHONDRA Philippine Daily Inquirer

Crops damaged because of the monsoon floods.

except for fish and vegetables, most basic goods may be seen to be stable in terms of supply and price despite concerns of overpricing by retailers and of “panic buying” by consumers.

According to Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, supplies and prices of fish and vegetables traditionally become volatile in times of calamity because of sourcing and distribution difficulties.

However, he said that he had talked to the retailers and they said supplies and prices for other goods were generally stable.

He said the results of the DTI’s monitoring of prices in wet markets,

groceries, supermarkets and other retail outlets amid concerns that consumers would be scrambling for supplies in reaction to weeks of rainy weather would be available by .

Philippine Association of Supermarkets, Inc. president Carlos Cabochan said in an e-mail message that the industry group’s members are “here for the long haul” and do not raise prices overnight to take advantage of customers already having difficulty. Other groups could not be reached for comment as of press time.

According to the DTI’s latest weekly price monitoring chart (data

as of Aug. 3, published on Aug. 6), retail prices for food and medicines were generally stable over the past week. Fuel prices increased, however.

Prices as of Aug. 3 (compared to the week ending July 27) were unchanged for canned sardines (P13 to P13.45 per can), noodles (P6.10 to P6.90 per pack), evaporated and condensed milk (P34.50 to P46.65), bread (P23 per pack of 10 pieces pan de sal and P38.50 per 400 gm pack of sliced bread), commercial rice (between P30 to P45 per kilogram), sugar (P44 to P50 per kg), meat and poultry (P130 to P260 per kg.), eggs (P4.50 per piece) and fish (P100 to P120 per kg).

Vegetable prices showed some changes. The prices of ampalaya (bitter gourd), cabbage and tomato prices were unchanged at P50 per kg, P40 per kg and P40 per kg, respectively. Carrots were P10 higher to P80 per kg from P70. Eggplant was cheaper, however, by P10 to P40 per kg from P50.

Fuel prices increased. LPG (11kg) was at the P570 to P713 range from the previous week’s P516 to P640 range. Auto LPG was at P24 to P29.38 per liter from P23.99 to P25.70 per liter. Diesel was at P39.80 to P42.50 per liter and unleaded gasoline was at the P48.10 to P55.96 range from the P48 to P55.57 range previously. n

Sun rises on metropolis

News-Phils

In wake of bad weather, local oil firms vow to hold off on price hikes

Pagasa lifts heavy rain warning

BY AMY R. REMO Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY JEANNETTE I. ANDRADE AND KRISTINE L. ALAVE Philippine Daily Inquirer

AS THE SKIES cleared and the sun shone for the first time in days, the weather bureau yesterday lifted the heavy rainfall warning in Metro Manila.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said it was expecting a gradual improvement in the weather toward the weekend as the “habagat” (southwest monsoon) continued to weaken.

For good measure, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle issued an “oratio imperata,” a special prayer for protection from the threat of calamities.

Tagle asked the faithful to implore God to stop the rains that had flooded and paralyzed Metro Manila the past several days. The monsoon rains, which dumped about 300 mm (12 inches)—or three times the daily average were the heaviest in three years, Pagasa said.

Characteristic of monsoon It said thunderstorms would continually bring intermittent rains over Luzon from late afternoon to dawn.

Weather forecaster Fernando Cada said intermittent rains, a characteristic of the monsoon, were previously enhanced by a shallow low pressure area as well as by Typhoon “Gener” and Tropical Storm “Haikui,” which dumped a large volume of rain on large swathes of Luzon over the past two weeks.

“There is currently no weather system that could enhance the southwest monsoon. But we have observed rain clouds on the Doppler radar and satellite images over the West Philippine Sea that have not dissipated despite dumping rains in Central Luzon, Metro Manila and portions of southern Luzon,” Cada said.

He explained that the rain clouds normally would have dissipated but they had not expected it would bring bursts of downpour over some areas in Luzon.

While generally good weather is expected over the , conditions in the country would gradually improve except in Luzon particularly in the Ilocos provinces, La Union, Pangasinan, Zambales, Pampanga, Bataan and Bulacan where moderate to occasional frequent rains were expected.

Cada said residents in Zambales and Pampanga should be on alert for lahar flows because of the rains.

He said floods and landslides in low-lying areas and river channels were possible so residents were advised to take precautionary measures.

At around 12:20 p.m. yesterday the Pagasa lifted the heavy rainfall warning over Metro Manila after light to moderate rainfall (1 mm to 7 mm per hour) was observed 10 a.m. to noon.

The weather bureau, however, said that residents in Caloocan, Malabon and Navotas cities were still advised to expect the possible occurrence of

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 8

thunderstorms, which might bring moderate to heavy rain.

Beseeching God In a statement, Tagle requested Catholics to “pray kneeling down the following Oratio Imperata in our Masses ( after the Post Communion Prayer), Holy Hours, celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours and the praying of the rosary.”

Tagle’s prayer, which beseeches God to stop the heavy rains, also carries a message: It reminds Filipinos that the abuses they heaped on the environment was responsible for the disaster.

Tagle’s prayer, called “Oratio Imperata for the Deliverance from Calamities,” read: “We have not been good stewards of Nature. We have confused Your command to subdue the earth. The environment is made to suffer our wrongdoing, and now we reap the harvest of our abuse and indifference.”

Classes still suspended Msgr. Joselito Asis, secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said there was a need for prayer to give people strength and comfort as they rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the disasters spawned by a storm and heavy rains the past weeks.

Classes in all levels in public schools in Manila, however, are still suspended today as the city’s major thoroughfares are still flooded, but work in City Hall will resume, Mayor Alfredo Lim said.

Lim said Lagusnilad, the underpass in front of City Hall that was filled with at least 16 feet of water yesterday, would be passable today.

The Recto Avenue underpass, where water was estimated to reach 20 feet, will be open to motorists in two or three days, the mayor said.

Lim said the city was placed in a state of calamity to allow barangay leaders access to calamity funds.

Still in disbelief As the sun began to peek yesterday, Crisell Beltran was still in disbelief at how so much damage was left behind.

“Was there really no storm, with this kind of flooding?” asked the barangay captain of Bagong Silangan in Quezon City.

Told that it was indeed a nameless monsoon that dumped rains since night, Beltran quipped: “Then what a traitor it was.”

She had her hands full since Tuesday, with thousands of persons who fled from perilous floods.

Some low-lying areas of the community, like Sitio Clemencia, Gawad Kalinga and Tagumpay, were still submerged in muddy waters.

Floods in those areas reached more than 15 feet, Beltran said. n

SEVERAL local oil companies are freezing their fuel prices at current levels , specifically in the areas affected by the torrential downpour and massive flooding caused by the monsoon over the past three days.

Despite rising oil prices in the global market, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp., Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. and Seaoil Philippines said they will not increase their fuel prices in selected areas badly hit by the monsoon, namely, the National Capital Region (Metro Manila); Rizal; Bulacan; Tarlac; Pampanga; Bataan; Zambales; Sta. Cruz and Pagsanjan in Laguna; and Bacoor, Kawit and Rosario in Cavite.

“The move will hopefully help alleviate the current predicament many of our countrymen find themselves in where they have to manage the impact of the floods and rains,” Roberto S. Kanapi, vice president for communications of Pilipinas Shell, said in a briefing yesterday.

P1.50 increase A source told reporters that the global oil price movements alone would already merit an increase of P1.50 per liter in the price of gasoline sold locally and P1.25 per liter for diesel.

Eastern Petroleum chair Fernando Martinez said, however, that they will have to wait and see if they will freeze prices as well , since the prices of gasoline and diesel based on the Mean of Platts Singapore are on the upswing.

“Any artificial price freeze may only result in hoarding and speculation,” he said.

Although the supply of fuel products remained normal and stable, there is a potential threat of dwindling supplies unless oil companies are able to rush their fuel deliveries to affected gas stations.

According to Kanapi, Shell is now focusing its efforts on ensuring a reliable and steady supply of fuel products, particularly in the areas devastated by the monsoon.

Outlets closed He said that 33 of Shell’s gas stations in Central Luzon have been closed down due to the floods, while the fuel inventory of the stations located in the Eastern side of Metro Manila have yet to be replenished.

Kanapi admitted that supplies are “dwindling” in these areas. He pointed out that a station normally holds only five to eight days worth of fuel and the heavy rains over the past three days have hindered the deliveries to these affected outlets.

This is also why Shell, currently the second biggest player in the downstream oil industry, with roughly 1,000 stations nationwide, has sought the approval from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority in lifting the truck ban in the meantime to ensure the fast delivery of fuel products across Luzon.

Meanwhile, Phoenix Petroleum AVP for external affairs Raymond T. Zorrilla said the company only has eight stations in Pampanga, Bulacan and Metro Manila that were closed due to the floods. These stations, however, were expected to have resumed operations yesterday.

Total Philippines, for its part, has also assured the public of ample fuel supply. n

9 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

News-Phils

Photo courtesy of Roger Alcantara

RH bill author assures freedom of choice

BY CATHY C. YAMSUAN Philippine Daily Inquirer THE REPRODUCTIVE health (RH) bill offers choices and will not force an individual to use a family planning option that goes against his or her ethical or religious beliefs, according to the bill’s principal sponsor in the Senate.

Sen. Pia Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on women, youth and family relations, is apparently fed up with claims that the RH bill would promote abortion, promiscuity and even teach minors age-inappropriate concepts about sex.

“Anti-RH advocates often state that people are being forced to adopt a certain type of family planning method. Or that health care providers will be forced to recommend certain kinds,” Cayetano noted in her blog after Senate leaders said they would reopen the period of interpellation on the contentious measure.

Attention has again been focused on the bill after Catholic leaders led a protest rally against the measure during which prelates warned of fatal consequences if it were approved.

Alarm bells Alarm bells rang louder when the House of Representatives ended its period of interpellation on the bill, a day ahead of schedule.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Majority Leader Tito Sotto, for instance, said they would reopen the interpellation on the bill so they could ask Cayetano more questions.

The Senate ended the interpellation of the bill May during which senators spent countless session hours fielding questions and answers about it.

Cayetano fears the renewed campaign against the RH bill could derail what the Senate has achieved so far.

The senator insisted that the bill had gone through the process. “We had hearings, then we made our committee report… In fact, it took almost a year before the RH bill hurdled the interpellation period at the Senate,” she said.

“Every provision was explained, rehashed and clarified until it was blue in the face. I am not exaggerating,” she said.

All provisions explained She now fears that all gains made by the Senate might be “overlooked, sometimes even abandoned altogether by those who mean to distort the meaning and purpose of the bill.”

Cayetano reiterated the following points in her blog posted on Aug. 4: •The RH bill respects the religious convictions and cultural beliefs of all.

“Those who do not want to use contraceptives are not being forced to. Each person is at liberty to decide for his or herself,” she said.

•That RH education would be age- and development-appropriate. The bill “will not teach a 10-year-old how to use condoms.”

Rather, it will ensure that children in school are provided “age-appropriate” sex education, including proper names for body parts and understanding the biological function of their bodies “such that they know that babies grow in mommy’s tummy and do not come out of bamboo trees,” she explained.

Lack of awareness Cayetano said this lack of awareness could be partly responsible for the Philippines having the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Southeast Asia and cases of young children being sexually abused, sometimes by members of their own family.

•That the RH bill promotes both natural and artificial methods.

“Again, there is so much disinformation spreading that only artificial family planning shall be promoted under the RH bill. This is false,” she said.

•That contraceptives are safe and effective family planning tools.

“Like any medicine or medical device, all contraceptives shall be approved by a government authority, the Food and Drugs Administration. And like medicines, there will be respect for choices. Couples must decide what is best for them with the advice of their health care provider,” Cayetano said.

•That the RH bill will not indiscriminately distribute condoms to all.

Cayetano said the measure is much more than nationwide condom distribution.

Providing mobile vehicles that would provide health care services especially in farflung areas where health care is inaccessible is an urgent component of the measure, she said.

“The mobile health care unit is not a contraceptive ice cream truck,” the senator said. n

News-Phils

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 10

Power, wealth sharing on gov’t, MILF agenda

BY PHILIP C. TUBEZA Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE 30TH round of exploratory talks between Philippine government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) representatives resumed in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, with both parties presenting their technical working groups (TWGs) on powersharing and wealth-sharing as they entered the stretch of negotiations.

The TWGs were tasked to delve into the details of powersharing and wealth-sharing and flesh out issues, with their outputs to be presented to both panels for approval.

Government panel head Marvic Leonen said in his opening statement that negotiations are “proceeding with undeniable momentum,” emphasizing that while both parties were in the stretch of the negotiations, “the next stages will still be as complex.”

“As we mentioned during the round of talks, our principals will be confronted with issues that will require difficult decisions. And I am sure that our principals will be willing to make them and communicate them through us so that we can both work on these concerns,” he said.

A sign of progress For his part, MILF panel chair Mohagher Iqbal urged his government counterpart to “persevere,” saying that he “expects every sort of obstacle and

complication… [as the] bargaining becomes more intense in the final stage.”

Malaysian facilitator Tengku Dato Ghafar Tengku bin Mohamed noted that the creation of the TWGs of both parties was a “sign of progress” in the 15year negotiations.

On the government side, panel member Miriam Coronel-Ferrer will head the working group on power-sharing. Joining her are Upi, Maguindanao, mayor and alternate panel member Ramon Piang, former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao Attorney General Jose Lorena, and Office of Political Affairs Undersecretary and 1986 Constitutional Commission member Chito Gascon.

Panel member Senen Bacani will head the TWG on wealthsharing with panel member Yasmin Busran-Lao as adviser. Joining them are Department of Environment and National Resources Assistant Secretary Anselmo Abungan and National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director Ma. Lourdes Lim. Kato’s lawless group On the MILF side, Dr. Habib Macaayong will lead the working group on power-sharing with Ustadz Anwar Sirad and professor Ali Ayuib as members. Their working group on wealthsharing will be led by Dr. Benjamin Domato with Dr. Mahid Macalingkang and Archie Buayah as members.

Both parties slammed the recent attacks by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters of the

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Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFFBIFM) on several military installations in Maguindanao and the municipality of Midsayap, North Cotabato.

The BIFM was formed by breakaway MILF commander Ustadz Ameril Umra Kato and is considered a lawless group, which is not covered by the ceasefire between the government and the MILF. Leonen said the “attacks were suspiciously timed to coincide with the opening of the 30th Formal Exploratory Talks between the GPH and the MILF.” “Clearly, this group of Ustadz Ameril Umra Kato is one of the few that is willing to go to lengths to deny our communities and our peoples the benefits of a just and lasting peaceful settlement to our armed conflict,” Leonen said.

No moral high ground “They have lost the moral high ground—they have put communities and civilians in harm’s way for amorphous and illegitimate objectives,” he said.

Iqbal described the violent acts of Kato’s group as an example of “dirty spoiling” and stressed that the “MILF has demonstrated itself as a reliable partner in peacemaking.”

“The path to peace is the most fruitful way, not through war,” Iqbal said. “The MILF is confronting the problem of radicalism, especially among the youth, head on.” n

News-Phils

11 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

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FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 12

Photo courtesy of www.gov.ph

Netizens slam pols riding on disaster Rains hamper frat death probe

BY TJ BURGONIO THE CANADIAN PRESS “ELECTIONEERING in the midst of disaster.”

Facebook user Rolando Luzong posted this line on his account to describe a photo of a waving President Aquino aboard an Army truck alongside his potential senatorial candidates in a relief operation to help flood victims in Muntinlupa City.

The photo showed the President with his Liberal Party allies, Bureau of Customs Commissioner Rufino Biazon, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Joel Villanueva, Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas and former Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, Villanueva and Hontiveros were also seen with the President visiting flood victims who had sought shelter at a public school in Nangka, Marikina, and riding an Army truck with him to check on flooded areas in the same barangay.

These politicians drew criticism in cyberspace for allegedly trying to bolster their popularity for next year’s elections by distributing relief goods, including repackaged ones that contained their names and photographs.

Mr. Aquino, who motored for four to five hours to visit evacuation centers in four cities and a town in the capital, justified their presence.

“Of course, those helping us—Joel Villanueva, Risa Hontiveros and Sonny Angara—are here,” the President said when he introduced them to evacuees at the Gen. T. de Leon High School in Valenzuela City.

“Sonny is here because it’s budget season in Congress. If we have a project, it’s Sonny who will push for our interest,” he added.

Angara, Villanueva, Hontiveros and Biazon are reportedly being eyed for inclusion in the administration’s senatorial slate in the 2013 mid-term elections.

“I’m just helping out. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. We were asked to go along with the Cabinet,” Angara said in a phone interview. “It’s part of being in politics. You can’t please everyone.”

Villanueva, for his part, said his relief operation was by invitation. “First of all, I’m a member of the Cabinet and anytime the President wants to be anywhere, I will be there. Besides, in those places which we visited, including Bagong Silangan, we have trained residents in disaster management.”

He said he had not kept his political ambition a secret and that he’d prefer to learn the ropes and find out about the concerns of the people now, rather than after he gets elected.

Hontiveros said she was asked by the President to join his visits to evacuation centers because of Akbayan’s relief operations in Marikina, Pasig and Caloocan cities.

“He wanted us to join forces for a day,” she said by phone, explaining that Akbayan had reactivated its relief centers in the aftermath of the heavy flooding.

Netizens had a field day posting their reactions to the politicians’ alleged electioneering activities.

“Anyone else notice how the relief operations by the President is turning out to be campaign sorties for Risa Hontiveros and his other senatorial candidates for 2013?” Facebook user Joaquin Ang posted.

A number of social networking sites also displayed and slammed images of canned goods bearing photos of politicians, including a hashtag #epalwatch on Twitter, an account named “epalwatch” on the free blog hosting platform Tumblr and a number of pages on Facebook such as the AntiEpal page.

In epalwatch.tumblr.com, “epal” is defined as “any public official who has his/ her name/image on any public signage, public space, and/or public property … or anything that relates to such behavior.” It also described precampaigning as an “epal activity.”

Actress Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan tweeted: “Please lang po, kung tutulong kayo, ’wag n’yo naman gawing promo para sa mga plataporma ninyo. ’ Wag kayong epal! Hindi ko talaga kayo iboboto (Please, if you wish to help, don’t make it a promotional campaign for your political platforms. Don’t be scene stealers! I’m not voting for you).”

A Facebook post which had about 3,000 shares was also circulated online. It said: “Fellow Filipinos please spread: Any grandstanding politician who will display his or her photos or banners in relief operations will be photographed, archived and forever mocked in an online site of shame. This is a time for solidarity, not an opportunity for political prospecting. Thank you.”

User @MrFrancisBaraan posted on his Twitter account: “To those politicians whose ulterior motive for sending out relief goods for flood victims is to get reelected, shame on you.”

Twitter user @ederic also posted on his account: “Hello politicians, do not use this disaster for your 2013 campaign.

Someone did that during Ondoy. That candidate lost.”

On a positive note, a post on the Facebook page AntiEpal showed relief operations by the Department of Social Welfare and Development accompanied by the comment: “The DSWD gave out relief goods yesterday. Look at the bag: No names, no faces, just the way it should be.”

Twitter user @mistervader, however, came to the President’s rescue: “My problem with the whole #epalwatch thing vs Noynoy is … if he didn’t do what he did yesterday, we’d call him lazy. The guy can’t win.” n

BY MARLON RAMOS Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE UNRELENTING monsoon rains that inundated Metro Manila and neighboring provinces since also affected the police investigation into the death of hazing victim Marc Andre Marcos, a police official said yesterday.

Senior Supt. John Bulalacao, Cavite police director, said the policemen who were assigned to investigate the death of the San Beda College freshman law student had been deployed to rescue and relief operations in flooded villages in the province.

He said the heavy rains during the past several days had caused creeks and rivers in Cavite to swell, swamping low-lying areas while worsening the effects of the high tide in coastal communities.

Rescue and relief “Our investigation was hampered by the flooding because we could hardly move.

My men were diverted to rescue and relief operations,” Bulalacao said in a phone interview.

However, he assured the victim’s relatives that the police would do their best to ensure the speedy resolution of the case.

“In fact, we have scheduled activities to be conducted to continue with our investigation of the hazing incident,” he said.

Bulalacao said Angelito “Itan” Veluz, who owns the 12-hectare farm in Dasmariñas City where Marcos was reportedly subjected to the initiation rites of the Lex Leonum Fraternitas, had yet to contact the police after he vowed to turn in his son Gian Angelo, member of the fraternity and principal suspect, .

“We are still focusing on Gian Angelo and the other members of his fraternity because they were identified as those involved in Marcos’ death,” Bulalacao said.

Gian Angelo Veluz, 27, a thirdyear law student at San Beda, had apparently gone into hiding after he and his family’s cooks, Soledad Sanda and Marlen Guadayo, were implicated in the incident.

A security guard at the De La Salle University Medical Center identified them as among those who rushed the victim to the hospital on the night of July 29.

Members included Marcos, 21, a native of Ramos, Tarlac, died the following day due to severe physical injuries.

The police had since filed a murder case in relation to the antihazing law against Gian Angelo, Sanda and Guadayo at the Cavite prosecutor’s office.

Supt. Romeo Desiderio, Cavite police spokesperson, said the elder Veluz and Lex Leonum members Cornelio Marcelo, a certain Mark, among others, would also be included as respondents in the amended complaint the police would be filing. n

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News-Phils

13 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

P-noy hails outpouring of aid for flood victims PRESIDENT Aquino yesterday expressed elation at the outpouring of support from local government, international sources and the private sector, as he assured thousands of families displaced by floods in Metro Manila, central and southern Luzon of a “permanent solution” to their woes.

“If we have tragedies like this, there are many of our countrymen who go out of their way to help even without us asking for it,” Mr. Aquino said, as he thanked Isabela Vice Gov. Rodolfo Albano III for donating at least 1,000 cavans of rice and Albay Gov. Joey Salceda for dispatching 35 rescue personnel to areas devastated by days of monsoon rain. Speaking before evacuees at Sta. Lucia High School in Capas town, Tarlac province, the President also expressed his gratitude to San Miguel Corp. and Yokohama for their donations, and cited Shell and Petron for suspending increase in the prices of their oil products in areas affected by the floods.

“The good news is that while crude prices in the world market are rising, companies like Shell and Petron volunteered, I repeat, volunteered, to delay any scheduled increase in the prices of their products to commiserate with our countrymen,” he said.

Mr. Aquino, who flew to Tarlac with some Cabinet secretaries by helicopter, assured the 105 evacuee families in Barangay Sta. Lucia that the government has adequate funds to address emergencies like this.

“We’re looking for permanent solutions.

The Balog-Balog Damis designed for irrigation and flood control, too. Hopefully, within twoweeks the plan will be presented to us so that the process can be started, and eventually it will be built and floods can be mitigated,” he said.

He said the construction of the P15billion mega dam in Tarlac would be under way in July this year. Expected to be operational by 2016, the dam will be 113.5 meters high from the riverbed to the crest and will have a water storage capacity of 625 million cubic meters, irrigation officials said.

The presidential team also motored to the Apulid evacuation center in Paniqui, Tarlac, after heavy rains forced their helicopters to land at the Luisita exit of the Subic-ClarkTarlac Expressway in Paniqui at around 9 a.m. yesterday.

Australian donation Donors to the country’s relief program included the Australian government, which provided P88 million worth of food and emergency supplies to the Philippine Red Cross and the World Food Programme.

The amount will cover the purchase of 1,000 tons of rice and emergency kits containing medical supplies, mosquito nets and water containers.

On the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the travel mart, Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. said the flooding may have temporarily affected tourism businesses in the capital and other affected areas, but would not dampen its current “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” campaign.

Photos courtesy of UP’s Sigma Kappa Pi and Sigma Delta Pi

BY TJ BURGONIO Philippine Daily Inquirer

The Australian government followed other international agencies that have pledged help for flood victims, including the United States. The US Embassy has provided $100,000 (or P4.3 million) in aid for flood relief.

The US Embassy’s Chancery compound on Roxas Boulevard reopened yesterday following three days of closure due to heavy rains and flooding.

Bulk purchasing centers The government has asked supermarkets and distributors to put up bulk purchasing centers in times of calamity to serve relief supply buyers and ease fears of shortages among retail buyers.

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said price monitoring on Thursday found that regular consumers may have mistaken for hoarding the bulk buying of goods for relief operations, which caused them to be concerned about “panic buying.” Having bulk purchasing centers in supermarkets would ease consumers’ concerns and make in-store traffic more manageable, he told reporters.

A website listing distributors and manufacturers’ information would also aid bulk buyers of relief supplies, Domingo said.

Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said the website may be ready in two weeks and a command center may also be prepared in anticipation of future natural disasters.

Prices stable Domingo said prices and supply of goods have remained generally stable, except for fish and vegetable, amid the implementation of price control in areas under the state of calamity.

Areas declared under state of calamity are the cities of Marikina, Malabon, Manila, Navotas, Valenzuela, Muntinlupa, San Juan, Pasig, Pasay, Caloocan and Pateros in the National Capital Region; the provinces of Bataan, Pampanga, Zambales and Bulacan in Central Luzon; Laguna province, the towns of San Mateo, Tanay, Cainta, Rodriguez and Jala Jala in Rizal

province in Calabarzon; the towns of Culion, El Nido and Linacapan in Palawan province and the town of Abra de Ilog in Occidental Mindoro in Mimaropa, and Pangasinan province in Ilocos Region.

The trade official also warned that retailers who would violate the price freeze would be fined P1,000 to P1 million, while their goods may be confiscated.

Litigation process Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon explained that the 420,000 sacks of white Indian rice and 45,000 bags of Vietnam rice illegally brought into the country through the Subic Bay Freeport Zone could only be donated to the government’s relief efforts after the litigation process.

Biazon was responding to Vice President Jejomar Binay’s earlier suggestion that the rice seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) may be distributed to those affected by the heavy rains. Binay specifically cited the recently seized bags of illegally imported rice from India and Vietnam.

“I appreciate Vice President Binay’s concern for the victims since my constituents are also among them. But these sacks of rice are the subject of litigation. The shipper is claiming that rice. It’s still under appeal,” Biazon said.

But he added that the BOC had already conducted an inventory of confiscated goods that had undergone the appropriate process and procedures and were now available for donation, including five containers of used clothing and some rubber boats abandoned by an importer who could not pay the required dues.

For their part, Filipino travelers can also extend help to flood victims in Metro Manila and nearby provinces when they visit the travel and tourism trade show launched yesterday in Pasay City.

“The organizing committee has decided to donate a percentage of the gate proceeds to the victims of the recent calamity,” said Cesar Cruz, president of Philippine Tour Operators Association, the organizer of the trade show at SMX Convention Center.

The center also became a drop-off point for donations.

‘Open skies’ policy He said the incident only underscored the importance of the government’s “pocket open skies” policy, which opened up some of the country’s airports to foreign carriers.

“If up to now the only gateway to the Philippines is Metro Manila, the flooding would have posed a bigger problem. But that’s no longer true with the policy,” he noted.

The tourism chief also encouraged the public to extend help through the Department of Tourism’s relief center at Clam Shell on Anda Street in Intramuros, Manila, where ready-to-eat meals, blankets, towels, toiletries, among other contributions, were being accepted.

In southern Metro Manila, private groups have also banded together to give aid to evacuation centers, including the De La Salle Santiago Zobel school in Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa, the student council of San Beda College Alabang-School of Law, the Manresa school in BF Homes Parañaque and, according to Parañaque City Public Information Officer Nelson Lacambra, the Tambo Elementary School, Parañaque National High School, La Huerta Elementary School and Col. E. de Leon Elementary School.

Earlier, the Taguig city government advised volunteers that they can drop off donations at the Taguig City University auditorium, and at Enderun College in McKinley Hills.

Free medicines The Quezon City Health Department (QCHD) said it had distributed P1 million worth of medicines in at least 15 evacuation centers around the locality to prevent the spread of disease among the refugees.

QCHD head Dr. Antonietta Inumerable said they would also be monitoring several city residents who might have contracted leptospirosis by wading through floodwaters contaminated with rat urine and feces and would be giving them doxycycline tablets.

Quezon City Department of Public Order and Safety head Elmo San Diego said the number of evacuees around the city had gone down as some of them returned to their homes when the floodwaters started to recede.

San Diego said only 300 families or 1,500 people remain at the 19 evacuation centers in Barangay Bagong Silangan. At the peak of flooding in the barangay, the number of evacuees was recorded at 1,900 families. n

Opinion

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 14

THERE’S THE RUB

Reminder

BY CONRADO DE QUIROS Philippine Daily Inquirer THE BRIDGE at Congressional was mildly astir. Though rain poured, “uzis” had collected on it to look at the roiling waters of a creek, brown from mud and whatever else had been thrown into it over the years, whip into the shanties teetering beside it. The waters had already climbed to half the height of the ragged abodes and were threatening to overrun them.

Men, women, and children below were scurrying to retrieve articles—some clothes, monobloc stools and a table, various religious icons, particularly of the Sto. Niño—and stacking them above. The smaller kids had already climbed up atop the bridge and were tending to their still smaller siblings, one or two cradling a baby in their arms. The adults were threading their way carefully through the jumble of wires, pieces of plywood, and aluminum boards with the cut-up pictures of election candidates still on them, looking for sure footing as they pulled the items out. It gave whole new meanings to the phrase “precarious existence.”

When I got to where I was going, a guard was talking to his fellow, telling him he had thought he would not be able to report for work that day. But sayang the day’s pay, his family needed the money, he just decided to swim for it. Yes, swim, he said. He, too, lived near a creek in Muñoz and the floodwaters, courtesy of a night of nonstop rain, had risen chest-

high. He packed his uniform and underwear in a plastic bag and held it high as he swam.

Thankfully, when he got out of the water, there were still jeepneys plying their routes.

This was early Tuesday morning. As the rest of the day and the next day unfolded, I saw on TV extensive flooding in various parts of Metro Manila and Bulacan. Fairview and Marikina, which had borne the brunt of “Ondoy” some years ago, had many parts underwater, the waters also chest-high, the menfolk traversing streets by holding on to pieces of rope straddling them. Or, for the more intrepid and agile, by balancing on a dangling piece of rope above the water like a circus performer but holding on to another piece of rope overhead for support. Truly, necessity is the mother of invention, or creativity.

All in all, “only” 15 perished in the rains, though thousands had to be evacuated from the rising floodwaters, which reached rooftop levels in some places in Cavite. Which either said that the devastation wasn’t all that devastating or Pagasa and the relief agencies were doing their jobs. In any case, tell the devastated it wasn’t all that devastating.

Nothing can be more devastating than having so little in life and having even that taken away from you.

Overnight, the rains washed out the tempest in a teacup—though the Church was threatening to turn it into a real storm—that was the RH debate. Just days before, the archbishops had been loudly fulminating

against the RH advocates’ scorn for life, one of them saying, “contraception is corruption,” and that the RH advocates’ position says “babies are a nuisance.”

Who knows? Maybe the rains were heaven’s way of plucking the debate from the realm of fuzzy speculation and depositing it into the nitty-gritty of real life. A debate that isn’t over yet, a debate that’s only been thrown into a hiatus. There and then, in the midst of the rains and their furious effects, you saw what life was.

There and then, in the women and children and old people huddled in gymnasiums turned evacuation centers, grateful for a mouthful or so of steaming Lucky Me, you saw what the specter of death was. There and then, in the throes of a people’s anguish and misery, you saw who had an appreciation for life and who had such contempt for it.

Life is not the hypothetical life that the thing you eject in a john could be if you only ejected it in a woman’s womb. Life is the small child cradling her baby brother or sister in her arms while her parents dangle over the thing being torn piece by piece by the onrushing waters, grabbing whatever they could before fretful nature, or wrathful fate, like Death itself, comes to claim its due. Life is the small child looking at the world with a vacant stare, all this has happened before, in another place, beside another estero, underneath another bridge, the skies have been dark before, the waters have churned before, the paglikas has been made before.

That is life: abject, wretched, precarious.

Which is the life of most Filipinos in this country.

That is the life proponents of the RH bill see and want to do something about. That is the life the bishops and their allies do not see or pretend is not there. Seeing only, like a billboard that hides the slums behind it, like a billboard that proclaims “On this site will rise paradise,” the fantastical life of the Great Unborn.

You saw the devastated, the ravaged, the nasalanta, who are mainly the poor, the destitute, the down-and-out, and you ask, “You want to add more to their ranks because people are our asset and more people means more asset?” You saw the forcibly exiled, the flung out, the evacuated, who are mainly the dispossessed, the deprived, the children with the haunted and haunting eyes, and you want to multiply them a hundredfold, thereby making them even more dispossessed, deprived, and staring at the world with vacant eyes?

You retire to your soft bed and softer pillows in your pajamas and light sweater while the air-conditioner hums overhead and while the winds howl outside your window, happy in the knowledge you are safe and sound and have money in the bank—or better still, partly own the bank (the Church is the fourth biggest owner of BPI with shares worth P17 billion)—and can afford to cry for the life that isn’t there and laugh at the life that is. Who knows? Maybe this was truly God’s way of giving the people who speak in his name a not very gentle: Reminder. n

AT LARGE

After ‘Ondoy’

BY RINA JIMENEZ-DAVID Philippine Daily Inquirer WHO WOULDA thought? Less than three years after Tropical Storm “Ondoy” inundated most of Metro Manila and environs in 2009, here we go again.

I’m writing this column in the house next door, which fortunately is owned by my in-laws Bel and Danny Galvez and family, and which even more fortunately underwent a renovation last year, turning their typical one-storey bungalow into a three-story duplex. The bright, open spaces are such a contrast to our living conditions during Ondoy, when we were forced to crowd into their roof deck at the height of the floods.

The rains have stopped for a while, and I hope they have stopped if not for good, then for a reasonable span of time to give us a chance to dry our damp items in the sun and move back to our own home. We “evacuated” when water began to seep in through our laundry area in the back, and this time, we took our Ondoy lessons to heart and began packing early.

Actually, we had a portent of the deluge to come Monday night, when rainwater began to pour into our bedroom through a broken gutter.

While the hubby braved the rainy night to do some emergency repairs, my daughter and I vainly tried to rescue my handbag collection—such as it is— which bore the brunt of the unwelcome waterfall.

And so we woke up to a rainy morning in a room littered with soggy handbags and wet paper, and

watched in growing horror as the floodwaters in our street rose with alarming speed.

It is not yet a deluge of biblical or even Ondoy proportions, but the nightmare has come rushing back.

We waded through murky floodwaters to get to our vehicle, hoping to join my sister who is currently confined in a nearby hospital. Our son had spent the night as bantay (watcher) but we called him home early morning to help with transferring household goods (especially electronics) to his second-floor room. On the drive to the hospital, we turned the corner and found the main artery flooded waist-deep, and my son decided to turn back, unwilling to risk damage to the vehicle. So my thoughts rush to my sister even as I write this. The nurses in the hospital assure us that they will look after her, and she is so much better and in fact on the verge of being discharged.

All things considered, we are in a safe, dry place, protected from the elements and enjoying life’s little amenities. Life is still “good.” *** GIVEN that almost all news media are now devoted to covering the rains and floods, I have no way of knowing how the RH bill, which had occupied our attention the last few days, has fared in the House of Representatives.

With Monday’s decision to end all plenary debates in the House, the bill now enters the period of amendments and, once passed on second reading, will go through usually nominal voting to be passed on third reading, after which it shall

be transmitted to the Senate. The passage of a reproductive health measure is so close we can almost taste it!

And to be fair, a lot of credit for moving the bill through the legislative process must be given to P-Noy. I, and many others, had thought his mention of “responsible parenthood” in his State of the Nation Address was an ad-lib, a flippant throwaway line. But as it turns out, it was in fact in the original version. And if it was brief and terse, it was designed to say as little as possible within the parameters of the President’s message. Reportedly, when urged to amend the line to “reproductive health,” the President balked and asked: “Do you want me to incur the bishops’ ire?”

Well, even with the brief mention of “responsible parenthood,” P-Noy did end up the target of the bishops’ righteous anger. And perhaps realizing that it was futile to seek the Catholic prelates’ blessings on an issue like “responsible parenthood” (once the bishops’ preferred term) or reproductive health, P-Noy was moved to flex political muscle to push the bill through the House and Senate. *** REP. EDCEL Lagman, the original and dogged sponsor of the bill in the House, says that during the “all-members meeting” P-Noy hosted in Malacañang to push the bill forward, the President made a “calibrated pitch” for responsible parenthood, rallying congresspersons to “terminate the interminable and repetitive debates on the controversial measure.”

Lagman says the President “suggested” to the legislators to “cast a conscience vote on the bill.” He called on them to: exercise courage to “make a decision as leaders of their respective constituencies;” “not to be cowed by intimidation of reprisal at the polls;” and to address major problems like health and education, “which are aggravated by a ballooning population.”

P-Noy also reportedly cautioned those present about the bahala na attitude of many couples which “results in inordinately large families.” The session with the legislators then closed with the admonition that parents should beget children “by choice, not chance.”

Apparently, the message hit home, and when they reached the Batasan halls, the legislators ended up voting overwhelmingly to end the period of debates, nudging forward the “RH bill” towards final enactment. All we can do now is hope that the House leadership moves with dispatch and transmits the bill posthaste to the Senate, and that the cautious senators, many of whom have kept a studious silence on the issue, do not allow any threatened filibuster going over issues that have been debated over and over again, to delay passage of this urgent measure.

Three years after Ondoy, seeing the consequences of overpopulation paired with inadequate planning and environmental degradation once more wreaking devastation on our land, it’s time we took responsibility for the things we can do on our own. Pass the RH bill now! n

15 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

Opinion

GET REAL

Is getting De Lima short-listed worth the cost?

BY SOLITA COLLAS-MONSOD Philippine Daily Inquirer AS I write this column, the Judicial and Bar Council is scheduled to decide whether to relax its disqualification rules, as proposed by Rep. Niel Tupas, before it decides on the short list of candidates for chief justice to be submitted to P-Noy. One thing is sure. If it does amend—or whatever other description will be used, like “suspend”—those rules, the JBC’s name will be mud, having lost its credibility and showed itself to be a politicized, rather than independent, constitutional body; P-Noy will be perceived to be at least as guilty as his predecessor in interfering with and distorting the selection process for the judiciary; and the Philippines will suffer another blow to its governance rankings insofar as the international community is concerned.

Is getting Leila de Lima’s name on the short list really worth all that cost? Because that’s what it seems to be all about, Alfie.

Let’s look at the situation. The present JBC rules on disqualification, as approved by the council way back in 2000 under the chairmanship of Chief Justice Hilario Davide, are: “SECTION 5.

Disqualification.

The following are disqualified from being nominated for appointment to any judicial post or as Ombudsman or Deputy Ombudsman: “1. Those with pending criminal or regular administrative cases;

“2. Those with pending criminal cases in foreign courts or tribunals; and “3. Those who have been convicted in any criminal case; or in an administrative case, where the penalty imposed is at least a fine of more than P10,000, unless he has been granted judicial clemency.”

The JBC has, to my knowledge, been very strict in implementing those rules, under its Rule IV, dealing with Integrity. The Reader is reminded that Agnes Devanadera, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s justice secretary (or solicitor general, as she was both), and a candidate for the Supreme Court was disqualified by the JBC despite pressures supposedly applied

by Malacañang and all kinds of pleas from Devanadera. Because there was at least one case pending against her.

Now, the shoe is on the other foot. The general belief is that P-Noy wants Justice Secretary De Lima to be chief justice, but first he has to get her name on the JBC short list. Which, given the rules, is an impossibility because De Lima has a couple of disbarment cases against her.

But he (or his lieutenants) is trying to make the impossible possible.

First, by exerting pressure on the Integrated Bar of the Philippines to get the disbarment case dismissed (I am told by unimpeachable sources that the members of the IBP board of governors were approached by various parties supposedly close to Malacañang, and asked to cooperate).

It is to their everlasting credit that the vote was unanimous that the disbarment cases be fully investigated (I am also apprised that the vote in the Supreme Court to refer the disbarment cases to the IBP was also unanimous, so it wasn’t an Arroyojustices-versusAquino-justices situation).

And second, by trying to get the JBC to amend the Section 5 rules. At first glance, it seemed that fortune was on Malacañang’s side because last year, Tupas, a member of the JBC (until further notice because, alas, the high court blinked in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation with the legislature), proposed a “relaxing” of the Section 5 rules. Because of unforeseen circumstances (e.g., the impeachment case), this has not yet been resolved by the JBC. How did Tupas want to relax the rules? By adding to the first two items on the list the phrase “if, in the determination of the Council, the charges are serious or grave as to affect the fitness of the applicant for nomination.” In other words, the JBC would be given discretion to include for consideration candidates with pending criminal cases here or abroad, or candidates with regular administrative cases here, so long as the JBC thinks the charges against them are not “serious or grave.” Tupas also proposed to raise the disqualification bar for those convicted of administrative charges from a P10,000 penalty to a P20,000 penalty.

But that would be at first glance. Because a second glance would show that Tupas’

proposal was met with a storm of objections from practically all the so-called judiciary stakeholders. In the “consultations” conducted by the JBC in September 2011 on the matter, there was not a single stakeholder (at least as far as the news reports were concerned) who declared support for the proposal. Retired Chief Justices Davide and Reynato Puno shot it down; former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (who was a member of the JBC in his time) also shot it down. Associations of law deans and judges shot it down. Various nongovernment organizations involved in law and justice shot it down. If anything, they wanted stricter rules.

What is even more noteworthy, Reader, is that Justice Secretary De Lima herself, sitting as ex officio member of the JBC, also shot it down. You can google the reports quoting from her three-page formal comment, as well as from interviews with her: “Ako nga apat na kaagad ang kaso ko sa Ombudsman. Even if ganoon, though, I realize that, sa tingin ko, hindi maganda i- relax because practically, [the] JBC is preempting the appropriate body na magdecide sa case.”

Which puts her in a dilemma. The charges against her have not been dismissed. But she knows that Malacañang wants the JBC rules to be amended to accommodate her. Should she stick to principle and withdraw her candidacy, or should she cheer Malacañang on? Principle or position? n

AS I SEE IT

Trash in plastic bags equals floods

BY NEAL H. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer THERE IS no storm. The torrential rains are being brought by the southwest monsoon or habagat. Its opposite, the northeast monsoon, or amihan, brings the cold winds from Siberia during the Christmas season. Although there is a low pressure area east of northern Luzon, it is still out of the Philippine area of responsibility and is not affecting our weather. It is another typhoon, although far away from the Philippines, that is sucking the habagat and its rains that have caused massive flooding in Metro Manila and most of Central Luzon and parts of the Visayas. Remember, it is the rainy season so expect more rains and, God forbid, typhoons. September is the typhoon month.

The tons of garbage dumped by waves of Manila Bay on Roxas Boulevard, the nation’s proud boulevard where one can watch the famous Manila Bay sunset and once the center of nightclubs, were those carelessly dumped by its residents and have now come back to haunt them.

The garbage washed ashore can be blamed on the lack of a comprehensive garbage disposal system by the Metro Manila Development Authority or the national government. Unable to cope with the tons of trash being disposed daily, Congress passed a law mandating recycling and passed on the responsibility of disposing the garbage to the local government units. To each his own.

Alas, most of the LGUs are only small towns and cities with no room for garbage dumps or resources to maintain them. So what most of them did was to hire contractors to collect the garbage and dispose of them, no questions asked.

So what the contractors did was to dump the garbage in vacant lots and in waterways when nobody was looking—if they have no sanitary dumpsite open for them.

That’s the garbage that clogs the waterways and caused the floods, carried by the currents to the sea, and which the sea is now throwing back to the humans.

I suspect that some contractors are dumping the garbage they collected into the sea itself.

When you go by boat from Roxas Boulevard to Corregidor, you will pass a part of the bay full of floating garbage, mostly plastics and styrofoam.

The organic garbage has already sunk to the bottom. That floating garbage may be the trash that the contractors dumped there or the trash that floated down the waterways to the sea.

Remember, there used to be boatloads of trash from the garbage dump at North Harbor taken by contractors to abandoned pits of coal mines on Semirara island. That was stopped because the island is the nesting site of sea turtles. Instead of dumping the trash on the island, contractors may be dumping them in the open sea where nobody can see them.

The garbage clogging the drainage systems of the metropolis, however, is only partly to blame

for the floods. No drainage system can withstand the torrential rains that have been pouring on Central Luzon in the last few days.

There are some scoundrels, however, who purposely clog the drainage pipes of some streets precisely to induce floods. Why? So that vehicles will stall in the floods and they will earn by pushing the stalled vehicles to higher ground.

Or they can earn fees from pedestrians who do not want to get their feet wet to use the wooden planks that they have laid above the water. Or they can ferry them from dry ground to dry ground on their pushcarts—for a fee. Trabaho lang, they will tell you.

That is par for the course in low-lying areas like España. But what about V. Luna street in Quezon City that was never flooded before? Why was it suddenly flooded one day so that many vehicles stalled and had to be pushed to higher ground by men waiting there? Workers of the MMDA found the drainage pipes blocked with rocks and garbage. Were the rocks lodged there by the floodwaters or purposely placed there to block the drainage pipe and cause the flooding? I think the MMDA should look into this.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development should also use the billions of pesos doled out to poor families to help ease the floods. In exchange for the cash, the DSWD can ask the recipients to police their neighborhoods to prevent their neighbors from dumping their trash into the estero, creeks and other waterways.

Squatters living along the banks of waterways are especially to blame. They simply throw their garbage, and human waste, out the window and into the water and think no more of it. This is part of the garbage that the abused sea throws back at us.

The use of plastic bags by supermarkets, groceries and stores, and styrofoam by the fastfood chains, is another culprit. Some LGUs have woken up to this and have banned the use of plastic bags and styrofoam. Some are selling attractive, practical reusable cloth bags. Some fast-food chains are now no longer putting takehome food in plastic bags but in paper (they call it “green”) bags but are charging an additional five pesos for each. I remember the old days when our elders went to market carrying reusable rattan baskets or bayong. The annihilation of rattan groves and the demise of bayong-making was replaced by the rise of cheap plastic. Now we are reaping the whirlwind.

Plastic has many other uses; bags are only one of them, but now we are witnessing what they can cause. Other countries have already totally banned the use of plastic bags. They are making bags out of biodegradable material such as corn.

We have a surfeit of water lilies which have become pests clogging our waterways. We can use them to make attractive baskets and use them for marketing and shopping the way we used rattan baskets and bayong. n

News-Phils P-noy backs FOI Missed your flight? Airlines give bill, insists aide a break on rebooking

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 16

ALTHOUGH he failed to mention it in his recent State of the Nation Address, President Aquino continues to support the freedom of information bill (FOI), according to Secretary Herminio Coloma, head of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.

Coloma gave this assurance during the budget hearing for his department at the House of Representatives yesterday.

At the hearing, Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello noted the President’s failure to mention the bill in his Sona, adding that the measure was not gaining any traction in a legislative chamber full of Mr. Aquino’s allies.

The freedom of information bill has yet to be put to a committee vote.

“Yes, the President wants the FOI bill, and the clearest sign he wants it is that he allowed the submission to Congress of the administration version of the bill, which I believe has been incorporated into the current version that’s being discussed,” Coloma told the hearing.

“I don’t think there are any reservations or ifs and buts regarding that presidential commitment,” he later added.

The submission to Congress of an administration version could be seen as a “wholehearted endorsement” of the bill, he said.

The President has not directly ordered his allies in the House to act on the measure as he does not always want to use the power of his office to influence a coequal branch, Coloma said.

“It’s my observation that the President is very circumspect in the use of the presidency—to use a commonly-used term—as a bully pulpit or as a place to wield significant influence over a coequal and separate branch,” he said.

Coloma said his department was even preparing for the eventual passage of the freedom of information bill and was coming up with its own implementing rules and regulations with regard to the public’s demand for information.

The freedom of information bill seeks to provide greater access to government records and to ensure transparency in government transactions in order to battle corruption and promote good governance.

Supporters of the bill, who number at least 117, have pressed Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, the public information committee chair, to put the measure to a vote so it could be tackled in the plenary.

Evardone has said that the bill would be discussed first in caucus to iron out its contentious issues, like the possible inclusion of a right-of-reply provision as well as safeguards to prevent its abuse or misuse.

He said this would expedite the progress of the bill and ensure that it would not be bogged down in debates.

But proponents of the measure fear that this is a delaying tactic meant to kill the bill by letting it expire in the current Congress. Evardone has denied that he is against the bill or is out to kill it. ■

Photo courtesy of Kanegen

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY JEROME ANING Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE COUNTRY’S major airlines extended for a third day their free rebooking promo for passengers who missed their flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) due to the flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Philippine Airlines said its waiver on rebooking fees and charges for passengers was subject to the availability of the fare booking class. This waiver applies to all outbound and inbound Manila passengers to and from PAL domestic and international stations.

Cebu Pacific Air also said passengers who missed their flights to and from Naia or the Clark International Airport in Pampanga may also opt to travel on another day.

The airlines said missed flights may be rebooked, without charge, within 30 days. The value of the

booking may also be placed in the airline’s travel fund for future redemption.

Air Philippines Express also waived rebooking charges for those who failed to make their flights at Naia and Clark yesterday. Rebooking is allowed on same fare and booking class, the carrier said.

The Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa), state operator of the Naia, advised travelers to keep in touch with their carriers via land line or their websites for further details and other queries.

Arrivals and departures at Naia were normal yesterday, according to the Miaa. The three airlines, however, reported “slight delays” due to rainy and windy conditions in the vicinity of the airport. n

Prices of basic goods stable, says DTI

BY ANA ROA Philippine Daily Inquirer THE PRICES of basic commodities stayed generally stable and within the suggested retail price, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said yesterday.

At the same time, the DTI assured the public that there was an adequate supply of goods despite the implementation of a price freeze in areas declared under a state of calamity.

During a price monitoring visit at Mega Q-Mart in Quezon City, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said that except for prices of vegetables and galung (brown scud) as a result of bad weather, the prices of basic commodities remained stable.

“Owners of supermarkets, wet markets and major manufacturers assured us that there is enough supply and there is no panic buying happening,” Domingo said.

He noted the reported shortage of instant noodles and sardines was due to bulk buying for relief operations.

Trade department officials said they would meet with manufacturers to discuss the possibility of setting up a supply center where goods could be purchased for relief operations in a bid to avoid supply shortages in supermarkets.

Domingo said that a freeze in prices would automatically be implemented in areas under a state of calamity.

The prize freeze will be in effect until the state of calamity is lifted.

“We are working with local government units in monitoring the prices of goods to ensure that retailers do not violate price controls,” Domingo said.

He said that retailers found violating the price freeze would be fined from P1,000 up to P1,000,000 and their goods confiscated. n

17 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

News-Phils

Ex-gov’t execs, political clans lead party-list

BY JOCELYN R. UY Philippine Daily Inquirer

AN ELECTION watchdog has observed that more than 30 of the 165 party-list groups seeking accreditation from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) have appointed nominees who are either former government officials or members of powerful political clans in the country.

Among the nominees the QuezonCitybased group Kontra Daya found questionable included relatives and allies of President Aquino and those of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Kontra Daya cited Mr. Aquino’s aunt, Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, who was chosen as the main representative of Aksyon Magsasaka-Partido Tinig ng Masa, a supposed farmers’ rights advocate.

The poll watchdog said Cojuangco had “no business” representing the farmers sector. “It was created merely by the landlords of this country to circumvent the law,” it said.

Kontra Daya also cast doubt on the Black and White Movement, whose personalities and conveners have been appointed to various positions in the Aquino cabinet, particularly Social

Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda and presidential peace adviser Ging Deles.

The group listed Leah Navarro, board member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, as its first nominee.

The poll watchdog also criticized the bid of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, to become the second nominee of a legitimate transport group, Pasang MasdaNationwide Inc. Kontra Daya described the bid of Agrarian Development Association for party-list accreditation as amove intended by the Singson political clan to gain more seats in Congress.

The party-list group named Eric Singson, a former deputy speaker in Congress and fourtime congressman, as the first nominee and the latter’s son, Eric “Owen” Singson Jr., as the second nominee.

“It would be a major defeat for the party-list system, if this powerful political family gets a seat in Congress through a party-list election,” said Kontra Daya.

The group said it will start filing a formal opposition against the groups’ bid for accreditation before the Comelec next week. n

Biazon wants seized goods given to flood victims

BY JERRY E. ESPLANADA Philippine Daily Inquirer

CUSTOMS Commissioner Ruffy Biazon has ordered an inventory of seized and abandoned smuggled goods in all ports nationwide for possible distribution to flood victims in Metro Manila and other parts of the country.

Biazon yesterday said efforts were being made to make seized items, including used clothing, construction materials and smuggled rice, available to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), which handles the distribution of foodstuff and other items to flood victims.

“I have given instructions to all Bureau of Customs officials handling the processing and release of donations for flood victims to expedite their release at the soonest possible time,”

Biazon said in a phone interview.

“Any incident of deliberate holding of donations by any official shall be dealt with accordingly.”

Biazon clarified that the seized items for donation did not include the 420,000 50kilogram bags of smuggled Indian rice, valued at an estimated P450 million, and Vietnamese rice worth P42 million seized by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in the past two weeks.

“Both shipments are still undergoing BOC proceedings following appeals filed by their importers [for the lifting of the rice imports’ seizure and detention orders]. Also, the Senate has specifically ordered the bureau not to touch the seized rice until it has completed its hearing [on the smuggling issue],” Biazon told the INQUIRER. Biazon earlier said there was an apparent “grand design” to ship the 420,00 bags of imported Indian rice illegally into the country since the importation was undocumented and its consignee, Metro Eastern Trading Corp., tried to make it appear that it was a transshipment bound for Indonesia.

The firm failed to produce the required documents for rice importation, such as allocation and import permits from the National Food Authority. n

News-Phils

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 18

Storm with no name death toll: 60

BY PHILIP C. TUBEZA Philippine Daily Inquirer IT HAS BEEN billed as the storm with no name.

But the torrential monsoon rains that pounded Metro Manila and surrounding provinces beginning Sunday left 60 people dead and caused at least P1 billion in damage to agriculture in one region alone, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported yesterday.

More than half of the National Capital Region, home to 12 million people, went under water at the peak of the floods brought on by relentless monsoon rains.

About 2.4 million people in the metropolis and surrounding provinces were affected, forcing more than 360,000 to seek shelter in government-run evacuation centers.

The floods had largely subsided, allowing people to return to their homes, but water remained waist-deep across a huge area of rice-growing Central Luzon.

The death toll rose to 60 early yesterday after casualty reports came in from more provinces, said Benito Ramos, executive director of the NDRRMC. “The number of casualties has ballooned because the floods are receding and we are beginning to find bodies,” Ramos said.

Of the 60 dead, 11 died in landslides, 39 drowned, four were electrocuted, and two died of cardiac arrest. Four who remained unidentified died of still undetermined causes.

More than ‘Gener’ The widespread flooding claimed more lives than the 53 taken by Typhoon “Gener” last week.

Ramos said the southwest monsoon rains also affected 2,442,135 people in 31 cities and 16 provinces, from the Ilocos region in the north to Western Visayas in the central Philippines.

In Central Luzon alone, the rains and the floods caused P1.095 billion in damage to crops and livestock, the agency said.

The death toll is expected to increase further, as the agency’s regional office in Central Visayas has reported five more deaths that have not been tallied by the NDRRMC main office in Manila.

Seven missing The agency said seven people were still missing as of yesterday morning.

The Philippine Coast Guard said it continued to look for two fishermen who had been reported missing since Monday in waters off Baler in Aurora province.

As of 6 a.m. yesterday, there were still 24 roads and three bridges that were not passable to all types of vehicles due to flooding in Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon, Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon), Western Visayas, the Cordillera Administrative Region and Metro Manila.

Ramos said the agency’s main concern now that the rains had stopped was to ensure the cleanup of previously flooded areas and the 726 evacuation centers housing 362,307 people.

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. We don’t want to have breeding grounds for mosquitoes,” Ramos said. “So far, we have yet to hear of any disease outbreak.”

The NDRRMC said government and private groups had provided more than P45 million in relief assistance to the flood victims.

But as the skies cleared, the destruction to agricultural crops in Central Luzon became clearer with initial reports showing that Pampanga bore the brunt of the nonstop rains.

The NDRRMC-Central Luzon reported that Pampanga lost more than P847 million in crops, fisheries and livestock. In Bulacan the damage to agriculture reached more than P204 million, and in Zambales more than P43 million.

An initial assessment by the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (Pira) placed the damage from the torrential monsoon rains at “a lot less” amount than the P11 billion recorded in the aftermath of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” in September 2009.

Insurance conscious Pira chair Pedro Benedicto Jr. said in a statement that this time floodwaters rose more slowly than during Ondoy. Since then, he said, Filipinos have become more “insurance conscious.”

The group, composed of 83 nonlife insurance companies, has conducted an informal survey that produced “encouraging results,” Benedicto said.

“It may still be too early to say, but so far we [are confident] that the damage is way below than that from Ondoy,” Benedicto said.

The government’s response to the calamity has caught the attention of the Senate.

Sen. Edgardo Angara issued a statement yesterday that said the Senate would look at the government disaster management plan during deliberations on the proposed P2trillion budget for next year.

Angara said the Senate would require that the plan be anchored on risk reduction, mitigation and adaption.

‘New normal’ If natural calamities such as this week’s torrential monsoon rains are indeed the “new normal,” then the government ought to implement strategies it has not done before, Angara said, using Environment Secretary Ramon Paje’s description of this week’s calamity. The prices of essential medicines, including that of doxycycline, the antibiotic drug used to treat leptospirosis, remain stable, the Department of Health (DOH) said yesterday.

In a statement, the DOH said “the supply and prices of essential medicines, including antibiotics such as amoxicillin and doxycycline remain stable as of now.

The public is assured that the DOH has set the prices of paracetamol, salbutamol, amoxicillin and clarithromycin.”

According to Dr. Irene Farinas, a medical officer of the DOH-National Center for Pharmaceutical Access and Management, which monitors drug prices, the price of doxycycline remains in the recommended range of P2 to P168.75.

On Thursday, President Aquino said a drug company had increased the price of doxycycline, by 750 percent in anticipation of the increased demand for it. The drug is used to treat leptospirosis, a bacterial ailment that afflicts people with open sores who come in contact with the urine and feces of rats in floodwaters.

Palace stands by P-Noy The DOH said 2,003 people had been infected with leptospirosis during the first seven months of the year, higher than the 887 cases reported during the same period last year. It added that 97 people had died from the ailment this year.

Farinas said the DOH had not monitored any pharmaceutical firm that charged more for the antibiotic drug.

“Based on our monitoring, (the cost of doxycycline) is within our price range,” she said, adding that the price covers both generic antibiotics and “innovator” or branded drugs.

“It’s a bit unfair,” Farinas said of the information that President Aquino got about the spike in the price of doxycycline.

But the DOH official acknowledged it was possible that rogue retailers pushed the prices upward to take advantage of the demand.

But Malacañang yesterday said it was standing by President Aquino’s statement on the jacking up of the price of the drug for leptospirosis.

There is ample supply of the drug, Farinas said of the drug that is manufactured by both local and multinational companies based in the Philippines.

Farinas also urged the public to report to the DOH drug stores that sell the drug beyond the recommended price. “They have to document it, record where they bought it, when and how much they paid for it,” she said.

Responsible pricing The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines (PHAP), meanwhile, assured the government and the public that prices of medicines, especially those needed during calamities, remain stable.

PHAP Executive Director Reiner W. Gloor said that based on information from their members, the prices of essential

drugs have remained the same as those at the manufacturer level, and that the distribution channels of the medicines have remained steady.

“We have confirmed with members that prices of medicines, specifically those needed in times of disasters, have been the same. Our members practice responsible pricing especially during calamities in support of the government and in showing solidarity with those affected by natural disasters,” said PHAP President Carlito Realuyo.

DOH investigating Communication Secretary Ricky Carandang said the initial information from the health department “suggested” that it was the drug company that set the high price. He added, however, that the DOH was now investigating if the retailers had something to do with the increase in the price.

In a text message, Carandang refused to identify the drug company, saying that “leptospirosis drugs are made by more than one company and that the DOH is still looking into it.”

Health Assistant Secretary Eric Tayag, who had joined the President in his visits to evacuees in the capital on Thursday, confirmed that the department has monitored a company that spiked the drug’s price from under P10 to P50 to P70.

“We’re investigating it. We might impose price reduction. The law allows the DOH to reduce prices,” he said on Thursday.

“We’re verifying from the field if this indeed is true. If it’s confirmed, what it’s doing is wrong.”

Medical teams Health Secretary Enrique Ona, meanwhile, said the DOH has fielded medical teams to evacuation centers in Metro Manila and Central and Southern Luzon after the floods have subsided.

“Our health teams are assisting our local governments in delivering health services to their constituents, thus providing a small window of opportunity for them to completely recover,” Ona explained.

So far, more than 2,000 were found ill in evacuation centers and health centers in the NCR, Central Luzon and the Southern Tagalog region, the DOH said.

Ona said the DOH will provide free doxycycline to individuals involved in rescue and relief efforts and residents staying in evacuation centers.

As of Aug. 9, 2012, patients in evacuation centers have complained of acute respiratory infections, febrile illness, skin diseases, minor injuries and diarrhea.

Acute respiratory infections comprise 60 percent of medical consultations though no outbreaks were detected, the health department said. n

19 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

News-Phils

House to rush bills vs calamities

BY CHRISTIAN V. ESGUERRA Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE LEADERSHIP of the House of Representatives has vowed to expedite the passage of key measures seeking better institutional response during calamities after the country experienced massive flooding triggered by relentless monsoon rains.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., whose political bailiwick of Quezon City was badly hit by floods, vowed to take action on more than a dozen of such bills still pending at the committee level.

“I will have the committees consolidate the bills to fast-track their approval,” he told the INQUIRER in a text message.

One bill, filed earlier this year by Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, calls for a “system of effective fund administration of donations and humanitarian aid” during calamities.

The idea is to allow “relief agencies and humanitarian organizations (to) efficiently account for funds, cash donations or aid intended for legitimate victims or communities.”

“In effect, it sets the procedures and protocols to be taken into account in order to fill the gaps of chronic and systemic failure to a desired smooth, timely and responsive movement of relief food supplies, goods and aid to affected victims or population in a disaster site or area,” he said in House Bill No. 5706’s explanatory note.

JBC opening self to lawsuits–Chavez

BY CHRISTINE O. AVENDAÑO Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE JUDICIAL and Bar Council (JBC) will invite lawsuits if it amends or suspends its rules on the disqualification of nominees for Chief Justice in its meeting today, former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez said yesterday.

Chavez said the JBC still had to publish any changes or suspensions of its rules in a newspaper of general publication.

And if the requirement that the changed or suspended rules should take effect for a minimum of 15 days after publication is strictly followed, this means it will take effect on Aug. 29, or two days after the Aug. 27 deadline for the President to name a successor to ousted Chief Justice Renato Corona, Chavez said.

He said the JBC could choose to “let [the rules] take effect within 15 days instead of the 15th day and if they’re questioned that’s the time to defend it.”

“It’s a provocation to litigation [in] the Supreme Court,” Chavez said in a phone interview.

“Both the JBC and the President will be in a bind,” he added. “That will just open the floodgates to possible litigation [in] the Supreme Court questioning not only the process but the appointment itself.”

The JBC is voting today on the final nominees for Chief Justice. It failed

to reach a consensus last week on whether it should suspend the rules that bars the nomination of applicants for judiciary positions if they have pending administrative or criminal cases.

Some panel members are pushing for the suspension of this rule because three nominees have pending cases— Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Teresita Herbosa.

The vote had been postponed twice and each time the postponement had to do with the question of De Lima’s qualification to be nominated, and this was widely seen as accommodating Malacañang, which is believed to be rooting for the justice secretary.

Nothing to do with it Yesterday, however, the Palace sought to distance itself from the postponements. “It is not for us to judge the actions of an independent body like the JBC,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said on state-run radio.

Valte had no comment when asked if the Palace did not find it improper for its official emissary to the JBC, Frederick Musngi, to try to bend the rules to accommodate at least three nominees of the administration.

“We will defer any comment on the matter as the short list is yet to be submitted for the President’s consideration,” Valte said.

More on page 20

Another bill bans the construction of residential, commercial or any other habitable structures along areas prone to floods and landslides. Penalty is set at a minimum of six months to a year in jail.

House Bill No. 460 requires the inclusion of lessons on disaster awareness and mitigation in the elementary and high school curricula.

“Such curricula shall include, among others, a course on natural and manmade disasters in order to instill disaster awareness and promote active participation among the youth, students and society as a whole in disaster preparedness for the benefit of the nation,” Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara said of his bill.

A bill by Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño mandates “telecommunications service providers to send free mobile alerts in the event of natural and manmade disasters and calamities.”

“Modern notification systems, such as mobile phone alerts, can be used to augment the existing and inefficient system. The ubiquity of mobile phones should be maximized to send out emergency alerts, at no cost to consumers,” he said.

San Juan Rep. Jose Victor Ejercito has a bill seeking a “solidarity fund of local government units for disaster response and recovery.” Another Ejercito measure would benefit workers assigned in disaster areas by providing them with proper protective equipment. n

News-Phils

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 20

Philippine soldiers, police, others to help clean up mountains of flood debris in capital

BY OLIVER TEVES MANILA, Philippines - Officials said Saturday they will mobilize thousands to clean up the Philippine capital in the wake of torrential monsoon rains and flooding as evacuees return to clear mud and debris that swamped their homes.

Civil defence chief Benito Ramos said that police, soldiers, coast guard personnel and military reservists will be used to help Manila recover from its worst flooding since 2009. Hundreds of volunteers who helped in rescue and relief work in the early days of the floods will also help in the cleanup.

The Office of Civil Defence said Saturday the floods left at least 66 people dead and affected up to 2.68 million people in Manila and nearby provinces, with more than 440,000 fleeing to evacuation centres. ``The mounds of garbage and muck are terrible,’’ Ramos said. ``This is embarrassing to foreigners.’’

Corazon Jimenez, general manager of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, which is in

garbage, raising flood waters that at the peak submerged more than half of metropolitan Manila.

Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman said authorities have already closed about 100 of 351 governmentrun shelters in the metropolis as evacuees trickled home.

She said the government planned to relocate about half a million urban poor families in the capital, most of them living in ``danger zones’’ such as by river banks and under bridges. ``It can be done, but that would need a lot of help and a lot of political will from people involved,’’ Soliman said.

She didn’t say how much the relocation would cost, but said funding charge of traffic management and through Wednesday swelled rivers wasn’t a problem because of prudent garbage disposal for the sprawling and creeks and overwhelmed spending by the government and anticapital of 12 million, said part of the drainage canals already clogged with corruption measures. n cleanup will involve collecting the garbage that has washed from creeks ...from page 19 and rivers into Manila Bay. ``I can’t describe this anymore. These are mountains of garbage,’’ she said.

Rep. Nathaniel Tupas Jr., the “prima facie case is found to exist Incessant rains from Sunday House representative in the by the disciplinary authority.”

A source privy to the JBC JBC, said last week that the accommodation by Musngi was deliberations said last Friday that “understandable” given that he Presidential Commission on Good Government Chair Andres Bautista represented the executive. should have been included among those with pending cases but was apparently How to decide Yesterday, election lawyer Romulo overlooked by the JBC secretariat.

The source who did not want to be Macalintal said the JBC need not The small-scale miner survived on suspend its rules to decide on the identified for lack of authority to discuss food, oxygen and a cellular phone qualification of De Lima, who is facing the case said Bautista, like the three other nominees with pending cases, had delivered through a galvanized two complaints for disbarment.

Macalintal said in a statement that written to the JBC to appeal for fairness pipe inserted between boulders and the JBC should decide De Lima’s case in considering their pending cases that mud. “on the basis of the provisions of the they said were harassment suits against The town’s doctor, Lilian Velasco, said he was fine except for dehydration, Constitution, the law and existing them. jurisprudence,” as the Supreme Court minor cuts and an eye infection.

Mayam-es said rescuers asked for did in junking last Friday the complaint ‘Bold advocacy’ ``guidance and help’’ from Kabunian for the disbarment of acting Chief Meanwhile, Chavez said that if the JBC opted to submit the list to President because every time they were closing Justice Antonio Carpio.

Aquino without waiting for the 15-day The Supreme Court dismissed in on the trapped miner, loose sand, effectivity of its new rules, then it will the complaint brought by anticrime boulders and rocks would rush down, crusader Lauro Vizconde, citing the be a “bold advocacy.” blocking their way.

He said that this would be a “hard Pilmaco said while he was not an constitutional provision that a justice sell” because, looking at the way the of the Supreme Court may be removed Igorot, he believed in the power of the JBC has issued its rules since 2000, the only by impeachment. ritual because rescuers were able to get council has always complied with the him alive. requirement of publication and that the Civil service rules ``I thank all those who saved me; Macalintal said that in De Lima’s effectivity has always been beyond 15 I owe them my life,’’ he added in a case and those of nominees days. spritely voice.

Still, Chavez said, this was the first similarly situated, the JBC could He said he has been mining in the be guided by civil service rules on time the JBC would be doing this. area since April in hopes of finding administrative cases, particularly “These are new rules, no precedent on gold but has not had luck yet. rules that define “pending this one. That’s where advocacy come Thousands of poor and untrained administrative cases” as one where in,” said Chavez, who made it clear that miners brave makeshift mining tunnels the “disciplinary authority has he was against the suspension of the in the area to eke out a living. ■ issued a formal charge” or where a rules. n

Photo courtesy of Pray for Philippines

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rescuers offer pig to tribal deity, save trapped Filipino miner who ‘said a thousand prayers’ THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MANILA, Philippines - Rescuers who pleaded for help from tribal deity saved a miner on Friday who had been trapped for a week in a collapsed tunnel in the northern Philippines.

Their efforts to pull out Felipe Pilmaco finally paid off after rescuers offered a black pig to tribal god Kabunian, said police Supt.

Mario Mayam-es, a member of the Igorot indigenous group in Benguet province.

Pilmaco turned 33 years old Tuesday inside the tunnel in Bokod township where he had been trapped since Aug. 2. ``I must have said a thousand prayers inside the tunnel,’’ said Pilmaco, a Roman Catholic originally from the central Philippines.

There were times when he almost lost hope but found strength in prayers, he added in a telephone interview from his hospital bed.

21 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

Pinoy Fiesta in Vancouver

NEWS BRIEFS by The Canadian Press

Sponsored by Times Telecom and Bell

Economy sheds a surprising 30,400 jobs OTTAWA - The global economic slowdown has delivered a blow to Canada’s jobs market. The country shed a surprisingly steep 30,400 jobs last month - the first major hit in nearly a year for what had been a mostly positive employment record. n

Canada’s Olympic stars receive warm homecoming VANCOUVER - From gold medallist Rosie MacLennan to soccer star Christine Sinclair, some of Canada’s biggest Olympic stars returned home to a hero’s welcome Monday. Canada finished the London Summer Games with 18 medals, but trampolinist MacLennan was the only athlete to capture gold. n

Food costs likely to rise by 4%, says CIBC Photos courtesy of Angelo Siglos

OTTAWA - The CIBC says recent crop reports are pointing to a run-up in food prices of about four per cent next year. The bank’s chief economist, Avery Shenfeld, says the drought in the U.S. has hit the corn and soybean crop hard and will translate into overall higher food prices next year. n

BY MELISSA REMULLA-BRIONES Philippine Canadian Inquirer

“ALL FILIPINOS are probably in Vancouver!” exclaimed a person – not Filipino – from the throng who witnessed the cultural parade along Fraser Street featuring the most colourful and exciting ethnic show of Philippine culture.

With the 70 organizations and businesses that joined this year’s Pinoy Fiesta, Unang Hirit sa Tag-Init 2012, it could be an apt observation – as the parade and the crowd that cheered them on stretched along several blocks spanning Fraser Street in Vancouver.

Started by young professionals and community leaders Jojo Quimpo, Janice Lozano, Ryan Ferrer and Larry Baguisa in 2010, the once small gathering has now become the mostawaited and biggest Filipino cultural event in Canada.

Under the blazing sun, Memorial Park on 41st Avenue in Vancouver

Winnipeg health authority warns nurses, health care workers about jobs scam

was transformed into a mini-Filipino town, as thousands of Filipinos and non-Filipinos from all ages witnessed cultural performances featuring the Atiatihan, Dinagyang, Sinulog, Masskara, Moriones, Penagbenga and Igorot festivals and a Flores de Mayo.

Political bigwigs, including Philippine Consul General Jose Ampeso, MP Wai Young, MLA John Yap, MLA Mable Elmore and a representative from Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s office graced the event.

Performers and guests included Naked Wednesday, Pauline and Blessy Rivera, Sam Albanese, Izzy Docto, Christine Woodington, Imelda Gaborno, Japanese Jump Rope Dancers, Jerrica Santos, Melanie Salas, Aldo Endique, Boom Box Saints, Jai Lino and Vanessa Harrison, Swaggadelikz, Freshh 2.0, La Riva Dance, Goldie of Retrospect, Salve Dayao, Linda Magno, Kathara, Janice Lozano, Jojo

WINNIPEG - The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is warning about false offers of employment being emailed to nurses and health-care workers in the Philippines. The authority says it has learned that the scammers are asking for $90 in exchange for what they are calling a British English training fee. The health authority says the job offers aren’t legitimate. The authority clued into the scam after it received a number of queries from Winnipeg relatives of those who received the offers. Police have been alerted. n

Quimpo, Dynamix Choir, Rosario Strings, James Valiant, Suzette Hernandez, Nicole Lontayao, Flazbak Band, Jayson dela Cruz, Lucille Orcullo, Rich Abarquez, Janelle Velo, FYE Live, Andrew Alcalde, Marion Torres, Tropicana Band, JJ Cepeda, PNT Idols, Phebe Jacobsen, KMZ and the band Aegis, as special guests.

Balitang Canada’s Marieton Pacheco and Frank Macapagal hosted.

The most awaited performer, however, was Piolo Pascual, who regaled the crowds with his rendition of Filipino favourites, including Every Breath You Take, the theme song from his movie with Angelica Panganiban.

He was all warm and friendly, shaking

hands with Filipino-Canadians, and attempting at one point to go down to the crowds. He also participated in choosing the winner for the TFCKat Western Canada finals.

Also launched at the event was the initiative for raising donations for Manila flood victims spearheaded by the Multicultural Helping House Society in coordination with the Office of the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver (please see related feature on pages 22-23).

The revelry continued into the night, with Filipino-Canadians visibly enjoying themselves as they sat picnicstyle and waxed nostalgic while they listened to Filipino classics. n

PHILIPPINE

On August 7th, 2012, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird sent a letter of condolences to his counterpart the Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. Del Rosario.

In the letter the Minister gave his regret and heartfelt sympathy to the people of the Philippines for the considerable damage and lives lost during the tragic typhoon and subsequent flooding.

The Minister conveyed his confidence in the resiliency of the Filipino people that they would recover quickly from this disaster.

Baird also thanked his counterpart for the warm welcome and hospitality he received during his trip to Manila, and said that he appreciated the opportunity to continue a constructive dialogue on issues of priority for our two countries.

What the people need (and what your money can buy for them)

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HS), spearheaded by Tatay “Tom“ Avendano in neral, held a meeting with community leaders on ations and assistance for the victims of this recent

ations:

off day: Monday to Saturday off time: 9:00 – 5:00 p.m. off place: MHHS Office d at 4802 Fraser St. uver, B.C. V5V 4H4 ive dates: August 10-31, 2012

ons will be forwarded to the NDRRMC, nt of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) ilippine Red Cross. A tax receipt will be issued ons of $50.00 or more. For inquiries, please HHS at (604) 879-3277.

spirit is indeed water proof.

Let us help.

Pledge your donations now.

Street, Vancouver, BC V5V 4H4 (604) 879-3277

Canada News

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 24

Toronto revels in Filipino culture through visual art, theatre, film, and cuisine at Kapisanan’s KULTURA festival

TORONTO, August 13, 2012 – Hundreds of Torontonians are anticipated to flock Artscape Wychwood Barns, as it hosts the first ever cultural food event. A celebration of all things Filipino, Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture holds the grand finale event, Adobo Masters Cook-off + KULTURA Live! as part of the 7th Annual Kultura Filipino Arts Festival.

Once a three-day festival, KULTURA has now evolved into a FREE, two week showcase to house the overwhelming amount of emerging and established Filipino-Canadian artists.

The festival kicks off on Friday, August 17th with a visual art exhibit titled Pamahiin/Ritual. Housed at KAPISANAN’s Kensington Market facility at 167 Augusta Avenue, Filipino-Canadian artists will fill the gallery with artwork that examines their personal stories, whilst exposing a shared exploration of rituals and superstitions and the role it plays on cultural identity and history. The exhibit will continue to run throughout the entirety of the festival, ending on August 31st.

As an inclusive multidisciplinary festival, KULTURA’s programming is as varied and diverse as the people it represents. In community partnership with Kapatid LGBTQ Filipino Community Toronto, Kapisanan will screen the critically acclaimed film, Markova: Comfort Gay (2000), starring the late Filipino comedianactor Dolphy Quizon. The Kapisanan space will also serve as an illuminating venue for young Filipino playwrights to read their work on the August 24th and 25th. The older generation is not forgotten, as their passion and support will be celebrated and recognized on the evening of August 25th through the Filipino Leaders and Legacies VIP event. Despite the exhibit’s brief mounting, the artwork will endure, having created a lasting impression through colour and vivacity.

Since 2005, KAPISANAN has cultivated a strong sense of community through arts and culture. Now, with the growing popularity of Filipino food in Toronto, KAPISANAN rises to highlight some of the best Filipino restaurants in the city, showcasing Filipino cuisine to the broader Toronto community KULTURA’s grand finale event, ADOBO Masters Cook-Off + KULTURA Live!, in partnership with San Miguel Beer, takes place on Sunday, August 26th. Adobo, the Philippines’ treasured national dish will be put on a pedestal in various specialty regional styles, as well as modern deconstructed forms.

Restaurants such as Kanto by Tita Flips, Casa Manila, Remely’s, and Lamesa Filipino Kitchen will all compete for the title and bragging right for creating Toronto’s Best Adobo. Visitors will surely enjoy the friendly competition, to be judged by standup comedian Ron Josol (writer and performer on Much Music’s Video on Trial), amid a marketplace of Filipino artists and entrepreneurs selling their crafted goods, as well as live musical performances from by Maylee Todd, Casey Mecija (Ohbijou), April Aliermo (Phedre & Hooded Fang), Alexander The (Times Neue Roman) and Romeo Candido, and more. The show will be hosted by Norman ‘Big Norm’ Alconcel (comedian, actor in Prison Dancer: the Web Series, community leader at Manifesto).

In light of recent monsoon rains and flooding in the Philippine capital of Manila, various

fundraising and donation drives will also take place all throughout KULTURA festival days to benefit the victims and survivors.

One hundred percent of funds raised will be donated to charity.

Expected to draw a large crowd, KULTURA 2012 promises to be the biggest festival that KAPISANAN has produced thus far. The festival will provide a platform for young FilipinoCanadian artists to raise their voices and partake in a discourse to explore

identity, history, and culture. In a city with many cultures, and with Filipinos comprising the fourth largest minority group, KULTURA will surely show the creative diversity of Filipinos, increasing their visibility to the broader Toronto community.

THE SEVENTH ANNUAL KULTURA FILIPINO ARTS FESTIVAL is presented by Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture and San Miguel Beer. Admission is free. n

25 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

Immigration

Alliance formed to help temporary workers

VARIOUS nonprofit and volunteer organizations serving Filipino temporary workers and caregivers met recently to form an alliance aimed at coordinating activities and programs in support of the migrant workers sector.

Under this alliance, the groups agreed to jointly undertake projects and share information and other resources in support of newly arrived workers and caregivers, workers in distress situations, or those with special or urgent needs.

This landmark meeting, held on July 23 at the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver, was presided over by ConsulGeneral Jose Ampeso and attended by leaders and representatives of various non-profit and volunteer organizations, Philippine Labour Attache Bernardino Julve, and other Consulate officers.

The meeting was initiated by the University of the Philippines Association Alumni Association in BC (UPAABC) led by its President, Eric Inigo, In recent months, the UPAABC, in collaboration with the Philippine Consulate General, has been working on projects, such as workshops and seminars, aimed at providing practical advice and information to temporary workers and caregivers in British Columbia.

The meeting initiated by UPAABC through its President Eric Inigo was presided over by Consul-General Jose Ampeso and attended by leaders and representatives of various non-profit and volunteer organizations, Philippine Labour Attache Bernardino Julve, and other Consulate officers.

Temporary workers, caregivers and all interested parties may register at the UPAABC website, http://www.upaabc.org/.

UPAABC brought the following groups into the alliance: Mable Elmore Executive Riding Association, Committee for Domestic Workers and Caregiver Rights, Migrante BC, 1-800Godmother, CanadaPhilippines Solidarity for Human Rights and West Coast Domestic Workers Association.

According to Consul General Jose Ampeso, forming this alliance is unprecedented, and signifies the readiness of the Philippine government to work with groups and organizations that are genuinely working for the welfare and well-being Filipino workers in B.C. “We are very grateful for this initiative. We are excited to work with community partners, and are confident that together, we can greatly strengthen the support mechanism for workers in need of help,” Ampeso said.

In connection with UPAABC’s free seminar series, Inigo announced that the third such seminar has been scheduled for August 19, 2012, to be held at the Bonsor Recreation Complex in Burnaby, B.C. n

The Best Inspirational Stories I Ever Read

BY CHARM MORETO DAMON ALPHA MIGUEL-SANFORD lives life optimistically and purposefully, and she shares her stories and quotes in her blog, AMS Daily. While success stories are the main theme of her blog and her book, The Best Inspirational Stories I Ever Read, no one has yet written a success story on Alpha.

And if anything, her story – as mother, wife, inspirational blog founder and editor, author, and a Special Education Chairperson at Randolph High School in Boston, Massachusetts – is truly one of success.

Charm: You are a second-time author; please share with us how you began your journey as an author, and the triumphs and challenges you’ve had as a writer.

Alpha: It probably started when I was just little. I remember keeping journals, diaries and notebooks of poetry, stories, etc. One of my more formal trainings in writing was when I was the editor-in-chief of my high school paper. Then in college, I wrote for Peyups.com (an online magazine for UP). Mimi, the founder of Peyups used to be my classmate in at least one education courses, and when Peyups went online, I was one of the very first contributors and I enjoyed it!

My first book was a collection of poems from my experiences as an immigrant.

When I first arrived in the U.S., there were just so many things I had to learn and writing was my way of capturing my thoughts. In 2008, a year after I had my daughter I realized that my hometown library did not have the same quality of books that my daughter had, so I decided to publish a selection of my poems with the aim of donating all its proceeds to buy globally-themed children’s books. This project was realized with everybody’s help.

I like the fact that I can be an agent for change through my books in many ways possible. And of course, the challenges are numerous but as long as I stay true with my passion, I know anything is doable!

Charm: You also found and edit your own inspirational website. How did you come up with the site, and what else do you wish to accomplish and share with your readers?

Alpha: Last year, when I was finally done with my graduate degrees (yes I was in school practically every year since 2005) I felt like I had so much time! So, right before the school year ended I started communicating with my siblings back home just to catch up and share all the

Alpha Miguel Sanford

books, lessons, experiences I’ve had.

I was so eager to share with them that I promised I would continue to do so in 30 days! We all enjoyed it – so at the end of the 30-day period, my youngest sister, Honey, requested to keep it as long as we can. That is when I decided to share what we have been talking about though a blog.

And that is the beginning of it all What I would like to happen for Aspire.

Motivate.Succeed is to continue to grow its readers and fan base, as I know that the more people who are aware of what we do, the more people are encouraged to become more motivated, more inspired and more successful. I would like our readers to feel each message that we share every day – and when I receive wonderful emails, thank-you emails from readers, I know our mission is being accomplished.

However, I also know that there are more people out there (especially the young and hopeless) who will benefit from daily inspiration and I want them to know that our site exists for that sole purpose.

Charm: Your sharing of individual success stories on your website allows your readers to admire successful people and realize their dreams in various levels. However, do you realize that your own advocacy for a positive and grateful outlook in life really ties all the stories together, and thus you yourself are an epitome of a success story?

Alpha: Thank you Charm. To tell you frankly, I had never thought of it. I know I love reading stories of successful people and in almost all stories that I’ve read I always ask myself, ‘How did he/she do it?

How can I be like her/him?’ From there, I gather all my motivation and copy what applies to me. It is my intention to spread great success stories to people of different walks of life, especially the youth. I want them to be inspired and perhaps start emulating the successes of exceptional people – as I do to myself.

Charm: They say behind every man’s success is a woman, but in your case, how has your husband played a role in your own success? How do you both measure each other’s success and your success as a team?

Alpha: My husband, Danny, is my rock.

I am not where I am today without his support and his love. It was him who pushed me to ‘try it one more time’ in pursuing my Massachusetts educator’s license. It was him who said, “Go ahead, and enroll in your CAGS degree; besides the school is just down the street.” It is him who takes care of the details in our lives. I see the big picture while he paints the dots. He does everything that he can for our happiness. I believe we compliment each other: his strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa. In fact, one of my colleagues at work recently said, “Alpha, you must have a good husband!” And I told her, “I have the best husband in the world!” And, I would like to emphasize that having a prayerful husband really helps a lot. I told him one day that I intend to write an entitled, “Marry a Guy Who Prays,” as I think it is important for women and young girls to know that marrying a guy who has faith in God is incredibly helpful - and Danny, of course, agreed!

Charm: Children are another source of inspiration for many women’s success; how has your daughter inspired you in accomplishing your life goals?

Alpha: A lot, Charm. I always view each decision that I make as how it will impact my daughter’s future. As a parent, I want the best for her. My husband and I always say that she is the reason why we do our best, work our butts off and continue to live rightfully. We always thank God for she is a blessing to us.

Charm: From reading your blog, I am also inspired by how you celebrate not just the successful individuals you feature on your

website, but also everything else that is optimistic about being human. How does this celebration of humanity allow you to fulfill your personal and professional goals?

Alpha: When I read and edit the articles I post on amsdaily from our regular contributors, I take that as a reward for doing what I do because I get to read those articles first and do them. Take for example the questions posted by Ronald Colunga on Tuesdays. When I hit the publish button, I answer the question first before it goes online. The same is true with Elizabeth Scala’s Health and Wellness tips, Stuart Young’s Monday “Take the Opportunity” series, the inspiring videos of Kenton Sefcik and Avdhessh Arya’s beautiful messages - I apply and use them in my daily life as a professional and as a regular citizen. These are also wonderful reminders for me to live each day purposefully.

Charm: You share with us many inspirational and motivational stories through your website and your new book; to date, what is your greatest “nothing is impossible” story?

Alpha: : I attended a seminar entitled, “The Millionaire Mind Intensive,” by T. Harv Eker recently, and one of the exercises we had was to defy fear by walking through an arrow with a sharp metal head being held by a partner on the softest part our throats.

The men paired up and took turns walking through arrows first, and then the women went next. Naturally and like the others, I was afraid I would hurt myself, but after a failed first try and encouragement from other seminar attendees, I talked myself into walking through the arrow and was able to break the wooden shaft on the second try. This exercise was an analogy to life, mimicking our everyday fears of the unknown and the impossible, but proved to me once again that we could overcome fear and do anything we set our minds to if we try – all we need is that first breakthrough, then everything is possible. n About the author Charm Moreto Damon is a mother, a TESOL professional and a freelance editor.

She graduated from the University of the Philippines, and pursued graduate studies at the Ohio State University, where she also taught academic writing and research to international students. She is currently a stay-at-home-mom, and keeps herself busy with family, friends, and editorial work.

She may be contacted at charm.damon@ gmail.com.

Lifestyle

27 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

BY RUDY M. VIERNES

FAST FOOD FOR THOUGHT

HUMILITY THERE’S SOMETHING that could be said about humility. Unless an athlete bows his head no one can hang a medal around his/her neck.

The truism of this gem was vividly displayed by the winners in the just concluded Summer Olympiad in London when they bent to receive their medals.

Everyone can guess what’s running in their minds during those magical moments as their country’s flag is raised and national anthem played. Not a few are chocked with the outflow of emotion and adrenaline which tells all, especially for first time winners from countries rarely seen in the rear view of global politics but had paraded during the opening ceremonies nonetheless in equal terms with the powers that be. Their bending for a medal, any medal, is historic. It could bring about a mesmerizing feeling, a pitchfork to the brain as they bath in the euphoria and proud rapture.

What comes next: they own the moments, the spotlight and headlines because they now become fixtures in people’s minds. In marketing parlance, winning paves a clear path to fortune. It also comes with a Tarzan-like bravado and it better be handled with care lest the bluster swells and it may blow out of hand.

Humility is compared to the metaphor of the rice stalks from the wisdom of Sirach: “Look at those rice stalks that are heavy with grains, they bow; look at those that have no grains, they stand erect, aloft, but are empty.”

The Scripture abounds with numerous passages about humility.

Christ told his disciples that anyone who humbles himself like a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. A child is innocent.

Innocence is purity.

Those who humble themselves

are pure in spirit. On the flipside, Christ castigated the Scribes who crave for privileges or love to posture and bask in the glow of the spotlight.

Ash Wednesday every year is significant in the calendar of the Christian Church. It ushers in Lent, the period of forty days to Easter observed with fasting and ascetic abnegation. Part of the ritual during mass is the dabbing of ashes on our forehead by the priest who intones: “Remember man thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.” This used to be said in Latin: Memento homo quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.

The saying is a benign reminder of our mortality. From dust we go back. When we die our mortal remains decay and turn to ashes and scattered in the winds of time into

nothingness. We were molded by the Potter from clay and clay would crash and becomes dust again. “The Lord created man from the earth and let him return to earth,” Sirach 17:1.

Humility. Mortification. Selfdepreciation. No matter what we are now, who we are, how we are, we all die and death is the leveler.

This leveling off is like the parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus. They lived in opposite worlds. Lazarus, famished and weighed down by affliction, longed for even the crumbs from the rich man’s table. Both died and the scene was totally reversed. Lazarus was carried by the angels to heaven to sit down beside Abraham. The rich man was consigned to the doghouse.

The Beatitudes say it all: “Blessed are the poor and meek of spirit for they shall see heaven,” which shows God’s partiality to the humble of heart. Christ came into this world in the lowliest of circumstances.

But he came as king and kings are supposed to be ushered with pomp and pageantry. But the great Three Kings instead came to pay him homage at his lowly birthplace.

Speaking of humility, lay leaders in Church movements are not called chairmen, or presidents, or such exalted titles. Titles are just passing nomenclatures and it is goodness and content of character that matter.

Apropos to their duties as servers of the Lord they call themselves “Servant Leaders.”

Gregory the Great, pope from 590 to 604, adopted an apellation which was assumed by all popes after Peter. Their title was “Servant of the Servants of God.” There was this story about a pope who visited the home of a Sacred Congregation of women.

The nuns and postulants lined up at the doorway to greet him. A portly nun stepped up, bowed and kissed his ring. “And who are you?” the pope asked her. “I am the Mother Superior of this congregation, your Highness.” “Good for you! I didn’t know there is such a title as ‘Mother Superior.’ I am only the ‘Servant of the Servants of God.,’” said the pontiff as he was ushered in to the reception room.

Remember then that it doesn’t reduce our stature if we stoop and be humble because to be humble is to be great and like the rice stalks that are laden with grains they bow.

Matthew 23:12 said: “For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled and whoever humbles himself shall be great.” And for good measure this is Mark’s 10:31 version: “Many who are now first will be last, and the last will be first.” Our version: From ash to ash…ash it w-ash in the beginning ash it w-ash in the end. n

F bomb, sexting, flexitarian highlight about 100 new words, definitions in dictionary THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - Top 25 words and definitions added to the latest edition of MerriamWebster’s Collegiate Dictionary: aha moment n (1939): a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension brain cramp n (1982): an instance of temporary mental confusion resulting in an error or lapse of judgment bucket list n (2006): a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying cloud computing n (2006): the practice of storing regularly used computer data on multiple servers that can be accessed through the Internet copernicium n (2009): a short-lived artificially produced radioactive element that has 112 protons craft beer n (1986): a specialty beer produced in limited quantities: MICROBREW earworm n (1802) 1: CORN EARWORM 2: a song or melody that keeps repeating in one’s mind energy drink n (1904): a usually carbonated beverage that typically contains caffeine and other ingredients (as taurine and ginseng) intended to increase the drinker’s energy

e-reader n (1999): a handheld electronic device designed to be used for reading e-books and similar material f-bomb n (1988): ... used metaphorically as a euphemism flexitarian n (1998): one whose normally meatless diet occasionally includes meat or fish game changer n (1993): a newly introduced element or factor that changes an existing situation or activity in a significant way gassed adj (1919) ... 2 slang: drained of energy: SPENT, EXHAUSTED gastropub n (1996): a pub, bar, or tavern that also offers meals of high quality geocaching n (2000): a game in which players are given the geographical co-ordinates of a cache of items which they search for with a GPS device life coach n (1986): an advisor who helps people make decisions, set and reach goals, or deal with problems man cave n (1992): a room or space (as in a basement) designed according to the taste of the man of the house to be used as his personal area for hobbies and leisure activities mash-up n (1859): something created by combining elements from two or more sources:

as a: a piece of music created by digitally overlaying an instrumental track with a vocal track from a different recording b: a movie or video having characters or situations from other sources c: a Web service or application that integrates data and functionalities from various online sources obesogenic adj (1986): promoting excessive weight gain: producing obesity sexting n (2007): the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cellphone shovel-ready adj (1998): of a construction project or site: ready for the start of work systemic risk n (1982): the risk that the failure of one financial institution (as a bank) could cause other interconnected institutions to fail and harm the economy as a whole tipping point n (1959): the critical point in a situation, process, or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place toxic adj (1664) ... 4: relating to or being an asset that has lost so much value that it cannot be sold on the market underwater adj (1672) ... 3: having, relating to, or being a mortgage loan for which more is owed than the property securing the loan is worth n

Lifestyle

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 28

Photos courtesy of trainstation.com.ph

There’s a science to successful relationships

BY ANNE A. JAMBORA Philippine Daily Inquirer

YOU CAN make anyone fall in love with you.

Anyone.

It is, in fact, easy to do—as long as you understand micro-behavior and nonverbal language, identify individual personality and modality, and know how to mirror their words and beliefs, that is. Turns out there is a science to the mating call.

Carelle Lee Mangaliag, “chief goddess” (president) of TrainStation, said it’s about the person we are most familiar with—ourselves— talking to someone who resonates our concept. “So you say, ‘We are so the same!’ And isn’t that the backbone of every relationship?”

TrainStation, said Mangaliag, “helps individuals and organizations through motivation, empowerment and tools to ignite possibilities using enter-trainment. We utilize fun and relatable experiences to create better relationships at work and at home. We are also called corporate cheerleaders.”

Mangaliag is one of the most in-demand trainers in the country. She is also the only Neuro Linguistic Program (NLP) trainer and its only certifying authority in the Philippines. NLP, an approach to personal development, psychotherapy and communication, is the method employed in TrainStation’s program.

“NLP is about programming yourself to have better communication, and get better output from the people around you by communicating the right way,” she said.

Programs include The Empowered Mindset, Image Overhaul, Stress Management, Communicating for Results, The Money Equation, and Advance Collaborative Experimental

Simulations (Aces). They also have tailored programs for the entire team, such as Personality Calibration, Service Excellence, Team Building, and Powered-Up Sales, as well as those for the boss, such as Coaching for Success, Organization Development, Business Planning and Execution Services, Power Leadership and Management.

Back in the game While how to make someone fall in love with you, strictly speaking, may not be among its programs, learning about the four different types of people and their modalities can sure help you get back in the game—whether in love, at work with your boss and co-workers, with friends or with the family.

NLP was created in the ’70s by Richard Bandler and John Grinder to address problems such as phobias, trauma, depression and learning disorders.

(Mangaliag trained under Grinder.) NLP’s approach has since been adopted in workshops and seminars.

“If NLP can remove the phobia, think of what it can do to someone who is simply lazy to work, someone who only lacks motivation to become productive. That is usually the main concern for many companies,” said RR Herrera, the former child actor who’s now regional director of TrainStation.

“Happy employees give more results. We have employees who even work for free. They just do it for love. And they do it automatically. You don’t even have to ask,” Mangaliag added.

When you understand the people around you, working or living with them becomes easier.

That’s because you would be able to identify the approach you need to get what you want, like how to get someone to become productive at work, for instance.

The four different types of personalities is NLP’s version of the four temperaments in psychology.

There’s the Panther, or the choleric in psychology.

Panthers are dominant, assertive people. They like to get to the bottom of the story, are very impatient, and don’t like micro-managing. They stand across you, skip the hugs and talk fast.

Next is the Peacock (the sanguine in psychology).

These are sociable, perky, out-there people. They do not have a concept of personal space, so they can be too much for the introvert. They like to ask for a consensus, too. A Peacock would ask everyone if they want to go, say, to Tagaytay, as opposed to the Panther who will tell everyone they are going to Tagaytay.

The third type is the Owl (the melancholic in psychology). Owls are compliant. They always have, and follow, an itinerary. They are the organizers, arranging books alphabetically, for instance, or color-coding storage boxes for easy identification. They speak with a monotonous voice and are generally resistant to change. They don’t like spontaneity, either.

Easily influenced The last one is the Dolphin (the phlegmatic in psychology). These are the people who care about loyalty and relationships. They speak quietly, but are easily influenced by other personalities they like. If they like a Peacock, for instance, they become Peacocks as well. They adapt easily.

Everyone is usually a combination of two types of personalities. “The old style of profiling people is putting them in a box; this is what you are until you die. In NLP, a person is dynamic.

You assume different personalities at home and at work,” she said.

Aside from personalities, there are three kinds of modalities one should identify: visual, auditory and kinesthetic. Modality is how people learn and absorb information; personality is how they relate.

Auditory people need to hear “I love you” or “I’m sorry,” for instance. When buying a cell phone, they ask people around about the model they want.

Visual people have to see it. Before purchasing a phone, they have already searched it on the Web or read parts of its manual.

Kinesthetic types like to touch. They buy a phone and tinker with it, and figure out how it works along the way. They like movement, dancing, cooking, said Mangaliag.

“An auditory panther has a loud voice and likes to talk a lot, for example. A visual panther likes to see the results now. A kinesthetic panther likes for you to hurry up,” she said.

Mangaliag said NLP could change your relationship with your family, coworkers, boss and friends. “The work that we do is not about what we get, but what we become,” she said. n TrainStation, a Filipino company, has branches in Singapore and Hong Kong. Check out www. trainstation.com.ph

29 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

Lifestyle

Good genes for beauty? More–it’s ‘gene expression’

BY LEILA B. SALAVERRIA Philippine Daily Inquirer WHEN WE see people who look young for their age, we quickly say it’s because they have good genes.

Joseph Chang, Ph.D, in his New York Times best-selling book published last year, “The Aging Myth: Unlocking the Mysteries of Looking and Feeling Young,” said this is right but not entirely accurate.

The United States-based Malaysian-born research scientist says that everyone essentially has good genes. But it is in the so-called “gene expression,” or how our genes talk to our cells, that determines how well or fast we age.

To follow his logic, a person may look young not simply because s/he has good genes, but because s/he has good gene expression.

Chang, chief scientific officer and executive vice president for product development of Nu Skin Enterprises, the Utah-based direct-selling company, claimed he and his team of scientists have isolated the genes that control aging, and that has resulted in ageLOC, Nu Skin’s line of so-called “super class” of anti-aging food supplements and skin solutions, which first debuted several years ago.

Latest additions This month, Nu Skin rolls out the latest additions to the ageLOC range: the ageLOC Galvanic Body Spa, a DIY home spa system that ensures 10 times better delivery of anti-aging and bodyshaping products into the skin; and ageLOC R2, day and night blends of nutritional supplements.

“We now know the genes that control skin aging, brain aging, heart aging, etc.,” Chang said in a recent interview in Singapore. “That’s

As vintage as they come

BY FRAN KATIGBAK Philippine Daily Inquirer TRY TO keep an open mind when you rummage through the closet of your mom or grandma. Not everything old and musty deserves to be chucked out.

The memory of the time I threw away my mom’s old things haunts me to this day. The entire household was busy with spring cleaning, and little me had been

where the supplements come in. We found the natural ingredients that can influence those genes… We’re resetting aging. We’re slowing it down.”

Chang likens the body to a symphony. “When you play Beethoven, there are different sections in the orchestra. You need them to play in the same way but not with the same volume.”

To illustrate, Chang in his book cites the gene that controls collagen production. When a person is young, s/he produces a lot of collagen, meaning there’s “high expression.” Meanwhile, collagenase, which is responsible for breaking down collagen to make way for the production of fresh collagen, has low expression, resulting in perfect balance. Ergo, youthful-looking skin.

When one ages, however, the gene expression does the exact opposite: the collagenase breaks down collagen faster than it can be replaced.

That’s where ageLOC comes in: to restore the balance.

Core business Anti-aging is the core of Nu Skin’s business, and ageLOC its hero product line. Unlike other skincare companies that have put greater focus on skin whitening, a major business category especially in Asia, Nu Skin has stuck to its guns and continues to hinge its growth in the region with the anti-aging business.

(In October next year, Nu Skin will introduce its weight-loss product as a result of tapping into the so-called “fat gene.”)

“We also have a whitening line, which is doing well in the Philippines. But as a company, we want to focus where we’re really good at,” said Melissa Tantoco Quijano, the Filipina president of Nu Skin for Pacific and Southeast Asia. Quijano, with Nu Skin president and

chief executive Truman Hunt, recently hosted and feted some 6,000 of its top Southeast Asian distributors in Singapore.

“Direct-selling companies like us,” she added, “have a greater pressure to have really good products. We know our customers and they tell us immediately if the product is great or if there’s something we need to improve on. Second, we sell to family and friends. The fastest way to lose a friend is to sell them a really bad product. So it takes meticulous care.

You can’t make it really cheap because then you can’t make it really good.”

Race factor Nu Skin, founded in 1984, is now available in 53 countries and was first introduced in Asia 15 years ago. Race is factored in in the anti-aging research, according to Chang.

Aging for Asians, for instance, shows in blemishes and spot and uneven complexion.

Caucasians, in contrast, tend to get more lines and wrinkles when they age.

When you go down to the genetic level, the changes are very similar,” said Chang. “Only the physical outcome is different between races.”

The outcome also varies from one individual to the next, he added, that’s why one person may get quicker or more dramatic results from anti-aging products than the next guy.

As Asians, we’ve already figured out certain steps to decelerate signs of aging, said Chang.

“We’re the only race that uses an umbrella when it’s not raining,” he said, underscoring the sun’s UV rays as one of the biggest external factors that influences skin aging. Apart from a proper diet, exercise, enough sleep (“at least six hours”), and not smoking, one must “think

well,” Chang advised. “Depressed people don’t look good.”

The Asian diet may also contribute to youthful skin, he said. There’s the abundance of colorful fruits. And there’s green tea.

“The way tea leaves is prepared is very important because it preserves its benefits.

Black tea is burnt tea. Green tea is steamed tea leaves.”

He also pointed out that there are not enough of the benefits of green tea in products that are labeled as such (cakes, ice creams, pastries).

“That’s only for taste.”

Best quality Gene expression, he added, is also influenced by one’s diet, environment and lifestyle choices, such that even identical twins can age differently.

“The goal is not just about extending one’s life span, but maintaining the best quality of life.” In his book, Chang talks about the concept of “dying healthy.”

“I am not against aging,” he wrote. “What I am interested in is the science of maintaining health until you die. Nobody minds getting older, but everyone minds looking older and less attractive and having their body feel old.

We want to enjoy all the years of our lives, even as we age.”

AgeLOC isn’t meant to replace invasive procedures such as lasers and the like. “But if you use early and regularly, you will not need those procedures until you’re much older,” Chang said.

One must start with an anti-aging regimen as early as age 20, he advised, as the later one starts, the harder it is to reverse the aging process.

“Thing is,” he noted wryly, “when you’re young, you don’t think about aging.” n

ecstatic at being told I could help out—that is, decide what to dispose of to increase storage space.

For a child, this was empowering, to be allowed that level of decision-making.

So skirts my mom had outgrown were dispatched. I wrinkled my nose at “matchymatchy” outfits and blouses from some dinosaur era. And the culmination, mod shift dresses with bold colors and prints— no, wait, at the time I thought them to be sacks of thick, coarse textile—ended up in the trash.

I had reached spring cleaning heaven without any idea how much I would kick myself for it in the future.

simple strands of pearls and semiprecious stones, metal and ivory brooches, heavily beaded or leather minaudieres.

Casual wear consisted of dresses and ensembles of similar cuts and styles, but in varied textiles and prints. The favored seamstresses’ handiwork was obvious.

The inheritance didn’t come in a baul, contrary to what one might expect of how the elders store their possessions. My grandparents were much too sensible for that. How do you fit a mountain of stuff in a bulky piece of furniture, anyway?

The clothes came in sacks, trash bags and moth-eaten appliance boxes. Handbags and purses didn’t have protective covering or packets of silica gel, which help absorb mildew and moisture. Baubles, withered and with a few loose strings and stones, had been kept in tin biscuit and chocolate cans lined only with sheets of onionskin or pillow stuffing.

Humble closet I fell in love with all the contents, though, and so did female cousins who have a taste for what sellers on Multiply have dubbed “pre-loved.”

No matter the state of the garments— discolored, dusty, seams torn, buttons loose or missing—there was much to be gained by giving them a home in my humble closet.

There’s always a danger of overstuffing one’s cabinets, so there are a few things I keep in mind when picking out vintage pieces—my body type, how unique or classic the garment or item is, and the amount of repair (rework, if necessary) it requires.

Integrating vintage items into one’s wardrobe becomes easier afterward.

Slightly loose dresses and skirts can be cinched with braided or patent belts. Long sleeves can be folded. Frilly or excessively girly blouses and frocks can be toughened up with a boyfriend blazer. Everything else can be updated with trendy accessories and stylish heels.

Sure you can buy vintage-inspired apparel everywhere, as each fashion season seems to resurrect a style or two from previous decades, but these won’t have the edge of the real thing.

The stitching, the lining, the cut and material, the unique, if not rare, prints can no longer be mass-reproduced today. Not all of us have fat purses either, to shop at highstreet labels which offer well-made vintage-inspired items.

Sometimes mom or gran’s closet is the best solution to your fashion needs. Not only will your funds remain intact, but whatever you decide to borrow (or keep, as we are wont to do) could also give you a whole new perspective on the original owners. n

Inheritance The sartorial gods eventually forgave my ignorant ways, and brought forth three grandmothers who have left me probably the best inheritance I will ever receive— vintage clothes. My mom would call them banidosa in jest, which I thought meant vanity, considering the clothes they amassed.

Apparently my grandmothers enjoyed clothes and had been very fashionable in their day. They loved to party and dance in trendy custom-made frocks matched with fancy footwear by local shoemakers.

Accessories were unlike the bling and “it” bags of today: chunky clip-on earrings,

30 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

No influence peddling, says director Edgar Mortiz’s son Frasco helms youth movie but says relatives didn’t seal the deal

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer

Frasco said he was “very careful” when he first joined the network “because I knew what people might say.” Thus, he FRASCO SANTOS Mortiz insists he never made sure to rise from the ranks. used his unique position as son of actor“I had my on-the-job training on ABSdirector Edgar Mortiz and nephew of ABS- CBN,” Frasco related. “From there I CBN president Charo Santos-Concio to get joined the rank-and-file until I was given to where he is now as a film and TV director. a break to direct ‘Goin’ Bulilit,’ which “I admit that this is an advantage, but my dad conceptualized. That’s when it it’s not the reason that I’m here,” Frasco all began for me.” said during a media gathering for his Frasco has directed the top-rating gag latest project, “The Reunion,” at the show “Banana Split” for four years now.

ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City.

“The Reunion” is a coming-of-age He added: “I always make sure I do my movie about four male best friends, job well. I don’t think I would be hired played by Kean Cipriano, Enrique Gil, if the producers had not been impressed Enchong Dee and Xian Lim. with my work.”

“It’s about true friendship, about Frasco is convinced that the Kapamilya believing in one’s self. Kids today are network gave him the opportunity to very different. They constantly want to create shows and movies “because they be heard, to be the center of attention. know what I’m capable of. I’ve been They want all their opinions expressed. directing in television for seven years.” My generation didn’t have social He continued: “That I have relatives networking sites as venues to do those here doesn’t mean I have a sure-ball things,” Frasco pointed out. career. I never abuse their name. I do my Also in the cast of “The Reunion” are best. The bottom line is, I deliver.”

Jessy Mendiola, Bangs Garcia, Megan Frasco’s dad is married to Concio’s Young, Julia Montes, Matt Evans, Tom sister Millet Santos—which also makes Rodriguez, Joseph Marco, Gina Pareño, him the nephew of Malou Santos, Ivan Dorshner, Alodia Gosiengfiao, Cacai managing director of Star Cinema, movie Bautista and Luis Abuel. The film opens production arm of ABS-CBN. in theaters nationwide on Aug. 15. ■

Megan Young and Xian Lim

Robbie Tan picks successor in Cinemalaya

BY MARINEL R. CRUZ Philippine Daily Inquirer

ROBBIE TAN, who resigned recently as head of the monitoring committee of the annual Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival, would like filmmaker and professor Mike Sandejas to take his place.

“He knows what Cinemalaya needs,” Tan told Inquirer on Thursday. He pointed out that Sandejas had fielded two entries in the annual fest—“Tulad ng Dati” (2006) and “Dinig Sana Kita” (2009). Sandejas was also a member of the screening committee in 2008.

“He’s a good filmmaker. That is the goal of Cinemalaya, to come up

with films of superior quality,” Tan said.

Reached for comment, Sandejas told Inquirer that he was still weighing his options, but would make a decision within the week. He is a Mass Communication professor at St. Scholastica’s College and is pursuing a master’s degree in Film and Media Studies at the University of the Philippines.

“I also have a lot of projects on the side,” said Sandejas. “I direct television commercials. I’ve been helping the Cinemalaya Foundation though I’m not a member, so I know I can do it. But I also know this would take up a lot of my time.”

Tan, who owns the movie production outfit Seiko Films, said he resigned so he

could concentrate on his business, which he had neglected because of Cinemalaya.

“I had to supervise the creation of 15 films each year. It was time-consuming and exhausting,” Tan pointed out.

Every year, Cinemalaya gives a P500,000 grant each to 15 independent filmmakers out of hundreds of submissions from around the country.

Their films debut at the festival, held in July.

Tan described himself as “very meticulous.” This was why, he said, some filmmakers accused him of violating their artistic expression and freedom. A Cinemalaya finalist this year, “MNL 143,” was reportedly disqualified from the festival’s New Breed category because its director, Emerson Reyes, and producers had

a casting disagreement with the monitoring committee.

Tan stressed: “It’s not true that the committee members tried to interfere with their work. We simply tried to guide them and protect the interest of Cinemalaya at the same time. We have to maintain high standards for the festival.”

He learned a lot working for the festival, Tan said. “Now, I just want to stay away from intrigues. I feel very relieved.

Tan is still a member of the Cinemalaya Foundation, however. “We’re sure we’ll still need his help,” said Tess Rances, deputy festival director and manager of Cultural Center of the Philippines administrative services.

“Though of course we hope to find the right replacement for him.” n

31 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

HOME

Living in two worlds

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer ACTRESS Angelu de Leon is the first to admit that her home is divided into two distinct parts.

“The house reflects my journey,” she conceded. “While the old part is cluttered, the new section is minimalist.”

Half of the sprawling structure—which hews closely to the original design when her family moved in, in 1986—is her mom Flora’s turf.

The newly renovated half, sleek and streamlined, is where the actress lives with her husband Wowie Rivera and three children: Nicole, 13; Louise, 10; and Rafa, six months.

Angelu practically grew up in this house, which stands on a 1,500-sq m lot in the heart of Quezon City. They temporarily moved out when her father Luis died when she was 12.

In her teenage years, Angelu, her mom and siblings lived in Antipolo. When she turned 18, they moved back to this house.

“I had Nicole when I was 19; Louise, when I was 21,” the actress recalled.

Her two daughters have spent all their lives here. Needless to say, the home is bursting at the seams with memories.

Biz mementos During the Living Stars visit, Flor kept apologizing because her part of the house was in a state of chaos, overflowing as it does with souvenirs of her daughter’s two-decade career in show biz.

Movie posters and industry awards are strewn all over, along with antique vases and aromatherapy candles—Flor’s collection.

“These souvenirs are my mom’s pride and joy,” Angelu said. “I wouldn’t have achieved all that I did without her help.”

Framed posters of Angelu’s old movies as a teen star were gifts from her handler, Angelito Alcala Estrada.

The movie posters are displayed near an opium bed embellished with angel figures. Quite obviously, Angelu’s mom loves collecting those as well.

Foreman Flor is in charge of the two households’ upkeep. “My mom is our official foreman.

Once, my husband rushed to our bedroom to tell me that my mom had climbed up the roof.”

Flor enjoys sprucing up the place, said Angelu. “She wakes up at 6 a.m. She cleans the house. She checks what needs to be repaired. She’s not a typical mom.

Sometimes I find her under the car.”

Angelu would often encourage her mother to go malling instead. But Flor would simply shrug off the suggestion: “What would I do in a mall? There are so many things that need to be fixed in the house.”

Entertainment Color highlights Wood imbues the place with a warm, earthy feeling. “We like browns and neutral shades,” Angelu said. “But we also wanted bursts of colors here and there.”

A wall in the living room has been painted a stunning shade of red. The master bedroom features a green wall.

The couple hung brightly hued paintings, two of which are by their pastor, Rodel Buban.

The centerpiece in the living room is a huge artwork by Ivan Acuña. A nude painting by Anita Magsaysay-Ho is displayed near the dining area.

A blue Buban painting is showcased in the kitchen, too. Artist Bien Benitez gave them the aqua painting in the dining room.

The dining table is from Our Home, Wowie noted.

Years ago, Flor was too occupied

with Angelu’s booming show biz Fave nook career to indulge her passion for home A favorite nook for the couple is the improvements. kitchen.

“My mom would drive me to my “I sometimes cook, but I need a book shoots and tapings. She accompanied of recipes by my side,” Angelu admitted. me everywhere,” Angelu recalled. “That’s why I asked my daughters to take “Instead of doing things that she cooking classes.” wanted, she spent all her time with In any case, she can whip up pasta me.” dishes. “When I got pregnant with Rafa, I experimented with steak, adobo and Renovations corned-beef recipes.”

Flor now keeps herself busy with All the activity in the dining area seems ongoing (and never-ending) renovations. to revolve around a new acquisition: Angelu reported that they began The Nespresso machine. “I love coffee,” renovating the house sometime in 2003. Angelu said.

“Last year, we began redecorating She is particularly proud of coffee our part of the house again. We want to mugs with her kids’ snapshots from the expand the dining and kitchen areas,” free photo-sharing application software she said of her latest project.

Instagram. The children’s photographs are Flor has her own description of the displayed in the dining area, as well. couple’s side of the house: “It looks like Clearly, these kids are her world. a condo unit.”

The actress, currently seen on the Hangout GMA 7 afternoon soap opera “Hindi Although the girls have their own room, Ka Na Mag-Iisa,” pointed out that their they prefer to crash in the master bedroom home is “a work in progress.” on weekends.

She hasn’t decided on a particular “It’s like going camping inside the design aesthetic, she said. “We just house,” Angelu related. “Wowie’s son choose the décor as we go along. As Renzo stays with us on weekends, too. much as possible, my husband and I We all hang out in our room … Labo-labo make all the decisions together.” kami.”

Wowie, a businessman, is a “frustrated The home—which she described as architect,” said Angelu. “He’s quite “serene, soothing”—is her sanctuary after good at that.” every hard day’s work on the set of “Hindi The sofas were his idea. “It’s difficult Ka Na Mag-Iisa.” to find the perfect sofa for our living Just the same, she can’t help fussing. room, so we reupholstered old ones,” “When I’m home, I take care of Rafa.

Wowie said.

I wait for my daughters. I watch TV. I do

Facebook. I finish whatever paperwork is Great deals there.”

Flor helped the couple furnish the place, of course.

Home office She recounted how she got a great The couple set up a networking business in deal on the narra pieces. “I found them another part of the house. in a roadside store in Infanta, Quezon, “I’m the corporate secretary of the one Easter Sunday. I got several pieces: company (Upworld Marketing). That’s two tables, three dining sets and an my other side,” she quipped. “I have fun altar.” because the business also involves dealing She stumbled upon the wooden TV with many types of individuals.” stand in Greenhills.

And how does she divide her time Lots of wooden figures are displayed between work and home? in the living room. “Gifts from friends,” “With proper scheduling and time Angelu explained. management,” she replied swiftly.

She makes sure to have regular dinners with the entire family. “My husband and I have ‘alone’ dates as well.”

Sometimes they go on short trips. “Even before we got married, he was my travel buddy,” she said.

They started off as “badminton friends,” she recalled. “We met sometime in 2006.

We were part of a big group of friends.”

He came at a time in her life when she was already content being a single mom.

Their friendship soon deepened and they found themselves defying previous expectations.

While on a trip abroad, she realized that this was the real deal.

“When you’re away from your comfort zone, you get to learn more about your partner,” she said. “That’s because you rely on each other, since you have no one else.”

Curiously enough, they are self-confessed opposites, who hit it off beautifully.

“We’re still different people,” Angelu said. “But we enjoy doing a lot of things together. We love sports. We love to chat. We love shopping together. Seldom do you find a man who doesn’t mind accompanying his wife to the mall. He’s very patient that way.”

Tying the knot On Sept. 17, 2010, they tied the knot in a Christian ceremony witnessed by 30 of their closest family members and friends.

Pictures of their wedding day displayed in the living room show the couple at their most blissful—beaming and buoyant.

Perhaps that was the secret, Angelu said.

“When I met him, I felt I was complete.

In the past, I had tried to blend, but lost myself in the other person. I tried to change myself too much. Maybe that’s why I had a hard time.”

Faith was a crucial factor in their coming together. They are both members of the church River of God.

Quiet time “I have my quiet time in the morning, when I wake up,” Angelu said. “I start the day with my daily devotional. I read the Scriptures. I meditate. I pray. That’s what I do to pamper my soul.”

The rat race can get distracting, she admitted. “Modern life is too fast-paced.

Technology pushes us to be always on the go. It’s wise to slow down and reflect once in a while.”

Keeping the communication lines open between her and her loved ones is key, she asserted.

“Notice that there’s no television set in the bedroom,” she pointed out. “Oftentimes the TV gets in the way of meaningful conversations with your spouse.”

Angelu confessed to one indulgence, though: “When I want to shut the world out, when I’d rather not think or worry about things … I watch animated shows on TV. My favorite is ‘Adventure Time’ and all the shows on Cartoon Network.”

Her husband understands these intermittent lapses into childhood.

“It’s my way of relaxing,” she said with a smile. n

Entertainment

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 32

Monsoon mayhem and the stars

BY BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer

WITH THE persistent rains these past few days, even show biz denizens were not spared from the resulting floods and traffic jams.

Like many Filipinos, these stars were invariably haunted by memories of the wreckage wrought by Typhoons “Ondoy” and “Sendong.”

When the going got rough, they turned to prayers, TV and Facebook—again, like many of us, less-famous observers.

LORNA TOLENTINO: I decided to stay home—praying, watching the news and keeping in touch with family and friends.

LIEZL MARTINEZ: On Tuesday, my husband Albert (Martinez) left for taping (for the ABS-CBN soap opera “Princess and I”). My screening for the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (of which she is a member) was canceled so I was just home with the kids. Alyanna and Alfonso had no work and Alissa had no classes. We are very lucky that we live on a hill. We don’t even have a puddle in our garden.

EUGENE DOMINGO: On Monday night, I was at the Peta building, rehearsing for the play “Bona.” Our director Soxie Topacio decided to let everyone go home because most of the cast members live either in the south or in Manila. I managed to get home safely by steering clear of flooded areas. I have memorized which Quezon City streets to avoid when there are heavy rains. On Tuesday, my shoot was canceled.

JON SANTOS: I stayed home, glued to the TV set for weather and traffic updates. I made sure that my cell phone was fully charged because I needed to keep checking on my staff, friends and family who live in Marikina, Valenzuela and other flood-prone areas.

RITA AVILA: On Monday night, I attended a story conference at the GMA 7 office. Later, I barely slept because of the sounds of the rain. On Tuesday, I felt grateful that my husband and I were home safe. I kept praying for the sun to shine, for the land to dry up and for those affected to recover what they have lost.

GISELLE SANCHEZ: Monday and Tuesday, I prayed incessantly for the rains to stop. So many homes and lives are lost because of monsoon floods.

When Ondoy hit Manila in September 2009, my parents’ bungalow in Pasig went under water, while my brothers were trapped on the second floor of our neighbor’s apartment. I prayed and prayed it wouldn’t be another Ondoy.

JOHN ARCILLA: On Tuesday, my interview (about “The Bourne Legacy”) with GMA 7’s Arnold Clavio was canceled. Right now, the only thing I can do is post entries on my family’s Prayer

Eugene Domingo

Request page on Facebook. I called up my mother and siblings who live in Aurora and told them to pray and stay alert. It’s really frightening, especially when we remember Ondoy and Sendong.

SUE PRADO: I was stuck in La Union. I’m still waiting for the weather to improve so that I can go back to surfing.

OGIE ALCASID: On Monday night, I was at work, taping (the GMA 7 gag show) “Bubble Gang.” We had to finish early so everyone could go home to their loved ones.

MERCEDES CABRAL: On Monday, I was home… slept all night.

When I woke up the next day, I was shocked to realize that most of Metro

Ricky Davao

Manila had been deluged. Fortunately, our neighborhood in Quezon City doesn’t usually get flooded.

HARLENE BAUTISTA: I was home with my husband (Romnick Sarmenta) and the kids, reminding everyone to keep safe.

CARMI MARTIN: I stayed home, constantly praying for the rains to stop. I also kept watching the news and checking on friends and family members, making sure everyone is fine.

LEON MIGUEL: I was in a church on Monday, stranded because of the floods. On Tuesday, I stayed home— praying for the safety of our countrymen, monitoring the news, calling and

texting friends, and convincing them to evacuate if needed.

RICKY DAVAO: On Monday, we were at the Rizal provincial jail in Taytay for a taping of “Makapiling Ka Muli,” a GMA 7 series that I direct.

All our scenes were interior shots, but there were snags here and there because the rain affected the sound recording. The cast and crew—led

by Phillip Salvador, Mark Gil and Gloria Romero—were monitoring the situation. We were all nervous. We finished at 5 p.m., but it took us two hours to get home. We had to avoid flooded streets and find alternative routes. n

33 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

Entertainment

Shel Secunda

Marvin Hamlisch

BY CHRISTY LEMIRE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES - The word ``prolific’’ gets tossed around a lot, but it couldn’t be more appropriate in discussing the work of the late, great Marvin Hamlisch. This is especially true in considering his many contributions to film over the past five-plus decades.

Yes, he’s been duly decorated in other artistic realms - the longtime Broadway favourite ``A Chorus Line,’’ which eventually ended up on the big screen, earned him a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 - but he also crafted some of the best-loved and most enduring songs and scores in movie history.

Hamlisch died Monday after a brief illness, his family said. The former child prodigy, who was accepted to Juilliard School of Music at age 7, was 68.

Regardless of the genre or year, Hamlisch’s music had a unifying factor - something intangible, an oldfashioned sense of showmanship, a feeling of substance and a respect for craft. He tapped into our emotions in a way that felt intimate and personal, yet he expressed yearnings that are universally relatable, One great example of this is ``The

Way We Were,’’ a soaring, unabashedly sentimental, achingly melancholy ballad from the 1973 Sydney Pollack romantic drama of the same name starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. Nearly 40 years later, it still holds up beautifully, and it gave Streisand one of her signature tunes.

It also earned Hamlisch the Academy Award for best original song, which he shared with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. (The couple said in a statement Tuesday: ``He was more than our collaborator. He was our beloved friend. He was family.’’)

1974 was a huge year for Hamlisch at the Oscars: He also won for his original score for ``The Way We Were’’ and for his instantly recognizable adaptation of Scott Joplin’s music for ``The Sting,’’ the seven-time Oscar winner that reunited Butch and Sundance, Paul Newman and Redford, as Chicago con men along with director George Roy Hill. The theme song ``The Entertainer’’ is so insanely catchy, it’ll probably be stuck in your head the rest of the week. You’re welcome.

In a reflection of his versatility, Hamlisch also composed the greatest James Bond theme song yet in the 22-film history of the franchise (in my opinion at least - you can have

The music for “A Chorus Line”, a 1975 musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line, was composed by Marvin Hamlisch.

``Goldfinger’’ or ``Live and Let Die’’) with ``Nobody Does It Better’’ from 1977’s ``The Spy Who Loved Me.’’ It’s romantic and wistful but with an increasing power, and like ``The Way We Were’’ is for Streisand, it’s become a signature hit for Carly Simon. It’s so enduring, though, even Radiohead has performed a cover of it, putting their own spin on the song while remaining true to its essence.

If you were a little girl in the 1970s, you probably watched ``Ice Castles’’ - a lot. And so you heard Hamlisch’s ``Through the Eyes of Love’’ a lot.

The 1978 drama follows the rise and fall of a figure skater who struggles to resurrect her career after a freak accident leaves her blind.

Hamlisch wrote the score and was nominated for an Oscar, alongside legendary lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, for Melissa Manchester’s ballad. This song is very ``him’’ - starting out quietly and intimately with just a few notes on the piano, then building to a crescendo.

It sounds very of its time in retrospect but still finds a way to tug at you all these years later. And just try not to get choked up when Lynn-Holly Johnson trips over those roses on the ice and Robby Benson has to come out and rescue her.

There was, of course, a film version of ``A Chorus Line’’ in 1985, directed by Richard Attenborough (of all people) and nominated for three Academy Awards, including one for yet another Hamlisch original song. But songs from the revered Broadway show, like

Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

phrenologist

Marvin Hamlisch left his legacy on film with decades of memorable songs, scores

``The Way We Were,’’ sung by Barbra Streisand in the 1973 Sydney Pollack romantic drama is the sing-able, sentimental, achingly melancholy ballad everyone knows.

``One’’ and ``What I Did for Love,’’ have turned up in countless other films as disparate as ``My Giant,’’ ‘’Shrek the Third`` and ‘’American Dreamz.`` Naturally gifted and incredibly versatile, Hamlisch ranged from jazzy scores for the early Woody Allen comedies ``Take the Money and Run’’ (1969) and ``Bananas’’ (1971) to more sombre work in heavy-duty dramas including ``Ordinary People’’ (1980) and ``Sophie’s Choice’’ (1982).

In between there were romances including the wistful theme for ``Same Time, Next Year,’’ with Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda, and the disco-flavoured title music for ``Seems Like Old Times’’ (1980), with Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase.

Hamlisch’s first movie credit was ``Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,’’ a perky, optimistic pop tune that Lesley Gore sang in the 1965 comedy ``Ski Party,’’ which featured Frankie Avalon in drag. The song lives on in places like the family film ``Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’’ and was even used ironically during a police chase in the 1993 ``Simpsons’’ episode ``Marge on the Lam.’’ The last film he scored was 2009’s ``The Informant!’’ Steven Soderbergh’s ‘70s-tinged romp about a bungling, delusional whistleblower.

Once the strains of Hamlisch’s jaunty score begin - an ideal accompaniment to the faded cinematography and Matt Damon’s helmet of hair and corny sportswear - you know you’re in some vividly retro, comic parallel universe.

That’s how effectively Hamlisch could create a mood. n

Canada: Seen and Scenes

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 34

Aegis regaled Vancouverites during their Hiritan with Aegis concert on August 11 at the Massey Theatre in New Westminster. They sang their hits including Luha, Halik and Basang-Basa sa Ulan while the audience laughed at their antics and screamed for more. Hiritan with Aegis was sponsored by UMAC.

THE LIBRARY WELCOMES FILIPINO FAMILIES WITH PINOYSONGS AND RHYMES. It was a day of fun and songs as the children and their parents and extended families (some from the Programang Nanay Gansa, or Filipino Parent-Child Mother Goose Program) sang all-time favourites, including, “Tong tong tongpakitong kitong”, a silly crab song, “Ako ay may lobo”, a Tagalog song about buying a balloon and the choices we make, and some Bisayan and Ilokano songs at the Vancouver Public Library. According to Saroj Ghoting and Pamela Diaz in their book Early Literacy Story times @ Your Library, “Research tells us that children with a strong literacy base in their first language have an easier time learning to read in English”. Photos by Sarah Rees. - Erie Maestro

Simply The Best TV host and internationally acclaimed tribute artist, Luisa Marshall, joined the Fiesta Float of the Pinoy Pride Vancouver (PPV) at the recently concluded Vancouver Pride Parade 2012 that attracted thousands of spectators in downtown Vancouver. The colourful and elaborate PPV float depicted the region’s rich cultural life, history and diversity. Marshall was joined by MLA Mable Elmore and Vancouver Pride’s Empress XX, Imelda Mae Santos.

Canada: Seen and Scenes

Photos by Angelo Siglos and Danvic Briones

35 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

At the Pinoy Fiesta in Vancouver, touted to be the most awaited and biggest Filipino cultural event in Canada. (Please see related story on page 21)

To all you globe trotters - travel with PCI and be published!

If you take the Philippines Canadian Inquirer to your trips and take a photo of a famous or scenic landmark or backdrop - we will feature you and your photo!

Please e-mail your photos with photo caption (names of people in the photos, details about the trip) to info@canadianinquirer.net.

Have fun on your adventure!

36 WEDNESDAY JULY 25, 2012

Fossil hunting in Dinosaur Provincial Park – Signature Experience Collection™ Explore the world’s richest fossil bed on an authentic dinosaur dig in the Alberta Badlands

BY LORI MCNULTY Courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission ON A list of childhood dream jobs, just after space traveler and zookeeper, mine has to be fossil hunter.

So, the chance to dig for dinosaur bones in the world’s richest fossil bed lies somewhere between pure glee and oncein-a-lifetime awesome. And nowhere can you experience the thrill of discovery like Dinosaur Provincial Park in the worldfamous Alberta Badlands.

This is no painted Hollywood set. You’ll be following in some dramatic, three-toed footsteps. These are 75-million-year-old bone beds where more than 40 species of dinosaurs have already been unearthed, from the horned Centrosaurus, to T-Rex’s cousin, the meat-eating lizard known as Albertosaurus. Think tiny, two-fingered hands and saw-like teeth.

For one glorious, hot day, you’ll work alongside an experienced paleontological technician, who’ll teach you the techniques of excavating dinosaurs. Learn from the pros how to pick your way through to the good stuff.

The Bonebed 30 guided excavation includes an orientation to the park and the research project, working in a real quarry, and a dramatic hike as you prospect for new fossil finds. You’ll work as part of a

team, uncovering fossils never before seen by human eyes. Just you, some cool tools, and history to be made.

Surrounding you is the dramatic lunar landscape of the Alberta Badlands, a place of giant sandstone pinnacles (called hoodoos), plains cottonwood trees and cacti; all bathed in golden and terra cotta tones.

And while you’re imagining dinosaurs roaming and gnawing on plants and flesh, you’ll also get lunch as part of the sevenhour program.

Some 500 specimens have been unearthed at Dinosaur Provincial Park, and exhibited in museums across the globe. Your prospecting work contributes to research going on at the worldfamous Royal Tyrrell Museum. Check out the museum’s Alberta Unearthed exhibition to see some of the coolest specimens ever found at the Museum, like the two teens who discovered a T-Rex on a fishing trip.

Who knows when the next big discovery will come?

Oh, and if you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can also book the Bonebed 30 2-day guided tour, an authentic dig that includes meals, and accommodation for up to three nights, onsite, in private furnished rooms.

The guided excavation, June to September, is rated as “challenging” and available only to participants 14 years and older. n

Lost ships of the 1000 Islands cruise – Signature Experience Collection™ Passengers explore the St. Lawrence River near Gananoque: an area of shipwrecks, pirates and postcard perfect islands

BY ELIZABETH TODD DOYLE Courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission

THE St. Lawrence River cuts into the heart of North America, connecting the Atlantic to the Great Lakes. Explorers and kings, immigrants and rumrunners have all sailed its waters. Wars have been fought over it. Nineteenth century industrial barons built fabulous castles on its famous 1000 Islands. And over the last 400 years, countless ships have torn hull, ripped mast and settled low on the bottom of the mighty river.

Just off the historic town of Gananoque, near Kingston and half way between Toronto and Montreal, is a unique underwater archaeological site, an area strewn with shipwrecks both historic and contemporary. Here the river is deep and wide, with many islands to negotiate, and many chances for an unwary captain to make a miscalculation – or for a pirate to seize opportunity.

Plying the island-speckled waters, Gananoque Boat Line offers passengers a feast for the senses: the lovelorn Boldt Castle, postcard perfect island escapes, wheeling birds and million-dollar yachts. But the real story of the St. Lawrence is hidden under the waves. The boat line’s specially equipped vessels offer a spectacle few ever see without a wetsuit and a diving licence –

the Lost Ships of the 1000 Islands Cruise.

Using cutting edge side sonar technology, meticulously researched interpretation, exclusive underwater video footage and historical photos, the 2.5-hour Lost Ships Cruise explores a number of wrecks, from the iceravaged Iroquois (sunk in 1763) to the pillaged Sir Robert Peel, an 1838 victim of pirate Bill Johnston. Some underwater

sites are notoriously dangerous: the Roy A. Jodrey, a modern steel freighter that ran aground in 1974, lies in deep fastmoving waters that have claimed the lives of many divers.

Gananoque Boat Line ships leave from the town pier 22 times a day during the summer months. The comfortable boats offer food and beverage services, plenty of space for enjoying the scenery no matter the weather, and a dedicated crew ready to answer questions. Once over a wreck, the GPS system kicks in, illuminating large video screens.

Passengers see exactly what lies beneath, from the delicate ribs of an 18th-century battleship to the masts of a scuttled schooner.

Though it’s admittedly difficult to tear your attention away from the sumptuous mansions and massive commercial freighters of the 1000 Islands, the silent wrecks resting just out of sight offer alternative evidence of an era of war, crime, terror and opulence. n

Travel

37 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

PH tourism sustains FUN growth for the first semester THE DEPARTMENT OF Tourism (DOT) remains positive on achieving its year-end target, as the country welcomed a total of 2,143,506 million foreign visitors for the first semester. Visitor arrivals rose 11.68% compared to last year’s 1,919,400 visitors.

“Since the campaign launch in January, we have been actively spreading the FUN to all corners of the globe, notably in Germany during the world’s largest travel fair, International Tourismus Borse; in Japan during the 6th Philippine Business Mission; in the US for the Memphis in May International Festival; in the Middle East during the Arabian Travel Mart; and currently in Korea with our participation at the Yeosu Expo 2012. Our presence in U.K. is intensified through our mobile ads on the double-decker buses, taxicabs, and the underground rail stations, with the perfect opportunity to capture millions of viewers of the ongoing London 2012 Olympics. We expect to see more tourists during the peak season before the year ends,” Tourism Secretary Jimenez said.

“Moreover, current policy reforms to facilitate entry, infrastructure developments to improve travel within the country, fresh investments to expand transportation, accommodation, and recreation facilities, and product enhancement – all these will help realize our year-end target of 4.6 million visitors,” Secretary Jimenez added.

Commuting. More fun in the Philippines.

All key markets registered a positive growth, with Korea, USA, Japan, China, and Taiwan maintaining their positions as the country’s top tourist generators.

Korea remains to be the biggest source, contributing 474,685 visitors for a share of 22.15% of the total volume and posting a 10.50%growth.

The US market captured 16.53% of the total arrivals at 354,259 visitors, growing at 4.80% compared to last year’s figures.

Meanwhile, Japan yielded 195,504 or

9.12% of the total visitors, with an increase of 7.79%. China and Taiwan exhibited the highest growth rates of 42.99% and 34.47%, respectively, contributing 150,749 and 114,269 tourists.

Other markets consistently providing significant volume and positive growth are Australia with 92,648 arrivals (11.95%), Singapore with 73,015 (10.36%), Canada with 65,503 (7.12%), Hong Kong with 57,790 (2.36%), United Kingdom with 57,181(11.30%), Malaysia with 49,788

Ushered into a room with a steam shower and a massive tub, I was giddy with delight. Claire, my therapist, asked me to place my feet on a tub of lukewarm water while she gave me a back massage. Afterwards, I lay down the massage bed and Claire started kneading every aching muscle of my body. It was heaven!

DINE AND DREAM Over pasta and tempura at Café d Asie, Jehn Domingo, Bellevue Assistant Manager for Marketing and Communications, reveals that the Bellevue Group is opening a luxury resort in Bohol next year. They hope to bring the same Bellevue experience that residents and professionals from Alabang, Laguna, Cavite, Batangas, and Quezon enjoy to tourists in Bohol. Located in Doljo, Panglao, Bellevue Bohol will have a 200-meter beachfront, two swimming pools, a spa village, 200 rooms, and beachfront villas.

If a day at Bellevue Bohol is anything like the day I spent at The Bellevue Manila, with the added attraction of being in a beach paradise, then I’d def nitely be one of the first people to steal away to Panglao.

(11.96%) and Germany with 34,189 (12061%). Overseas Filipinos supplied 5.16% to the total tourist traffic at 110,703 arrivals, exhibiting a steady growth of 4.46%.

The summer months of March to May 2012 also saw 105,766 more foreign tourists, equal to a 10% increase for the same period in 2011 Recently, the Philippines received global exposure and affirmed its status as a mustsee destination with the recognition of Boracay as “2012 World’s Best Island”

by Travel + Leisure Magazine. Boracay jumped from 4th place in 2011 to 1st in 2012, and bested last year’s #1 Santorini, Greece (now #6) and Bali, Indonesia (still#2). Ariara Island, a luxurious private island resort in Calamian, Palawan, also ranked first in the Top 100 holiday destinations of Vogue-UK Magazine’s August 2012 issue.

“The Philippine tourism industry is beginning to enjoy an international renaissance, which has the capacity to propel the country into one of the region’s best performers over the next decade.

WithP1.99 trillion projected receipts by 2016, we can look forward to seeing tourism become not just an economic activity, but an entire industry driving inclusive and sustained growth in the country,” Secretary Ramon Jimenez enthused. ■

Steal Away I AM only a few minutes away from home, but I might as well be in some kind of paradise. I am lounging at the pool area of The Bellevue Hotel.

True, there is a bit of a drizzle, but I refuse to let a little shower rain on my parade. Having been on stress mode for weeks, I wanted some peace and quiet. And now, here I am: 24 hours with nothing to do except hang out in one of the fivestar hotels in Southern Metro Manila.

A resident of the South, I am well acquainted with The Bellevue. Before it opened its doors in 2003, we had to go all the way to Makati to enjoy luxury accommodations. That the Bellevue Group has flourished through the years—they’ve added a new wing and put up B Hotel at Madrigal Business Park—comes as no surprise. The Bellevue staff understands the meaning of good customer service. The buffet at Café d Asie always comes up with a good selection of tasty dishes. Its Chinese restaurant Phoenix Court is fast becoming a favorite.

And of course, its Grand Ballroom is the mustbook destination for people celebrating special occasions.

BED AND SPA Ah, the bed! The great thing about staying in hotels is that the sheets are always fresh and the pillows always fluffy. But sleep would have to wait. My bones weary from stress, I head off to Mandarine Spa. The spa had only opened last February and felt luxuriantly new.

Photos courtesy of Dakila Angeles

One of the best five-star hotels in Southern Metro Manila, The Bellevue Hotel is urban bliss for frazzled city dwellers

DRINK AND DANCE Fresh and recharged, I was ready for a night at Vue Bar. Letting loose is easy at the Vue with its panoramic view of Alabang, its swinging dance fl oor, and its stable of bands. That night, Mulatto was on stage. I can still recall when Mulatto first broke out in the music scene years ago. Seeing them again was a real treat. If the eighties is your thing, then drop by on a Friday when Juan Miguel Salvador takes the stage with his Authority Band.

Travel by Land: From Makati, it’s a 15-minute drive via Skyway. Exit at South Station, and turn right to North Gate. The Bellevue is on North Bridgeway.

Activities: Mandarine Spa specializes in massages with reflexology. Try their signature Foot Reflex, which lasts for 1 hour and 10 minutes or the Fusion Massage 2, which lasts for two hours and 10 minutes. Spa parties may be arranged.

Thumbs up: Celebrate your birthday with three of your friends on your birth month at Café d Asie and get your buffet for free! n

CONTACT DETAILS

The Bellevue Manila tbmnl@thebellevue.com www.thebellevue.com

B Hotel info@thebhotel.com www.thebhotel.com

Business

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 38

Belgian renewable PH banks can handle stress from Europe, says S&P Financial system braces for impact of euro zone crisis energy firm seeks effects of the euro zone crisis, but conceded that the impact would be less than that on its neighbors. believe that the Philippine banking system 11 gov’t contracts STANDARD & Poor’s said the Philippine banking is “We reasonably resilient to a slowdown in the

BY MICHELLE V. REMO Philippine Daily Inquirer

BY BY AMY R. REMO Philippine Daily Inquirer

ENFINITY Philippines Renewable Resources Inc., the local unit of Belgian renewable energy developer Enfinity, is seeking approval for 11 service contracts covering its planned solar power projects in the country.

These projects are estimated to generate a combined 53 megawatts, according to data from the Department of Energy.

Records show that Enfinity plans to put up four small solar power projects in Luzon, specifically in Casiguran, Aurora (1 MW); Burdeos, Quezon (2 MW); Quezon, Palawan (1 MW); San Fernando, Romblon (1 MW).

In Cebu, solar projects will be set up in Lapu Lapu City (1 MW) and within the Mactan Economic Zone (20 MW).

In Mindanao, Enfinity is looking to build solar facilities on Sacol Island, Zamboanga City (1 MW); Digos, Davao del Sur (20 MW); Calamansig, Sultan Kudarat (2 MW); Balimbing, Tawi Tawi (2 MW); and in Libjo, Surigao del Norte (1 MW).

Enfinity currently holds only two service contracts, for its 50-MW Clark Freeport Zone solar power project in Mabalacat, Pampanga; and the 30-MW Cavite Export Zone solar power project in Rosario, Cavite.

Enfinity Philippines President Dennis Ibarra earlier told the INQUIRER that the parent firm had promised to run half of its worldwide business here in Philippines, including supply and investments, despite the low feed-in-tariff rate granted for solar power generation.

Ibarra had admitted that it would be difficult even for a company like Enfinity, which is globally the fifth solar developer with a 500-million euro annual revenue, to roll out its planned 500-MW solar power portfolio in the Philippines over the next three to five years.

A third of this portfolio will be affected by the feed-in-tariff rate for solar of P9.68 a kilowatthour, which was a far cry from the initial figure of P17.95 sought by proponents.

According to other solar developers, it would be hard to put up solar power projects given the lower-than-expected FIT rate for solar and the lack of economies of scale.

Meanwhile, two-thirds of the company’s projects are expected to be carried out in areas where the state-run National Power Corp.’s Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) operates.

These areas, usually in far-flung, remote parts of the country, are not connected to any of the main grids.

Ibarra had said, however, that while Enfinity expected delays in implementation, the company was finding ways to push through with the solar power projects crucial to the country’s growth. ■

sector would likely be able to withstand stress caused by the deterioration of the debt-ridden euro zone economy.

But at the same time, S&P said the banking sector in Southeast Asia should brace itself for the adverse effects of the crisis in the West, such as a potential rise in loan defaults by export-oriented clients that are exposed to the euro zone.

The credit watchdog also said the dampening effect of the euro zone crisis on Southeast Asian economies, mainly through reduced export revenues, would hit the bottom line of Southeast Asian banks.

“Southeast Asian banks are bracing for slower economic growth amid an uncertain external environment in 2012. Strong export dependency leaves the region susceptible to any external deterioration, especially the European debt crisis,” S&P said in one of its latest reports titled, “Southeast Asian Banks: Staying the Course amid a Challenging External Environment.”

Fortunately for the Philippines, S&P said, it is not as reliant on exports for economic growth as other emerging markets.

Domestic consumption accounts for as much as 70 percent of the Philippine economy.

S&P stressed, however, that the banking sector of the Philippines was not immune to the adverse

developed markets. It is less affected by declining exports, compared with the other banking systems in the region,” S&P said.

The credit-rating firm said banks in the Philippines enjoy financial strength that can help it absorb shocks from unfavorable developments offshore.

Europe is one of the key export markets for many economies, including emerging markets in Asia.

Europe accounts for about 14 percent of export revenues of the Philippines.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier expressed confidence that even if the euro zone debt crisis will drag on, the Philippine banking sector would not fail given its significant capital buffer.

The BSP said Philippine banks will likely remain profitable even as loan defaults rise as a result of exposure of corporate clients to the euro zone.

The average capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of universal and commercial banks in the Philippines stands at about 16 percent, which is above the minimum BSP requirement of 10 percent.

CAR, one of key indicators of financial health of banks, is the proportion of capital to computed risk exposure of assets of banks.

Combined net income of universal and commercial banks, meanwhile, amounted to P30.45 billion in the first quarter, up 41 percent year-on-year. n

Inflation hits fastest pace in July Prices seen to rise further in coming months

BY ANA G. ROA Philippine Daily Inquirer

INFLATION rose to 3.2 percent in July, the fastest since January, as bigger price increases were reported in several commodity groups, documents from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed.

The rate of increase in consumer prices came in at 4 percent in January, dropped to 2.7 percent in February then eased further to 2.6 percent in March.

It picked up to 3.0 percent in April and went down again to 2.9 percent in May and 2.8 percent in June.

The July inflation figure was lower than the 4.9 percent registered during the same month last year and brought the average year-to-date inflation to 3.1 percent, well within the government’s 3 to 5 percent for the whole of 2012.

Annual inflation in areas outside Metro Manila also accelerated to 3.2 percent in July from 3 percent in June, the NSO said.

Meanwhile, inflation in the National Capital Region (NCR) jumped to 3.1 percent in July from 2.2 percent the previous month due to higher annual increases in all commodity groups except clothing and footwear, health, transport, communication, and education.

Excluding selected food and energy items, core inflation for the whole country increased to 4.1 percent in July from 3.7 percent in June.

Month-on-month inflation decelerated to 0.3 percent in July from 0.5 percent in June, the NSO said.

“Price increases were observed in food items like rice, meat, fish, vegetables and sugar.

However, this was tempered by the downward price adjustments in cooking oil, selected condiments and seasonings, gasoline and diesel,” the NSO said.

Cid Terosa of the University of Asia and the Pacific said he expected inflation to continue accelerating in the coming months.

“Rising food and oil prices will exert upward pressure on inflation. As long as the increase is within the 3- to 5-percent range, I believe inflation won’t cut growth as much,” Terosa said. n

Sports

For placing last, PH runner gets 14 minutes of fame

BY ARTEMIO T. ENGRACIA JR. Philippine Daily Inquirer

LONDON—It was Rene Herrera’s 14 minutes of fame. He performed on the biggest stage in the sporting world and got the biggest ovation he will ever get in his career, all for finishing last.

Herrera, one of only two Filipinos left competing in the 30th Olympic Games in London, was dead last in his heat in the 5,000-meter run on here, but his losing effort did not go for naught—he got the biggest cheer at the jam-packed Olympic Stadium here.

The heat’s winner, Hayle Ibrahim of Azerbaijan, and his pursuers were 300 meters from the finish line when they lapped the Filipino, who still had 700 meters left. He had kept up with the pace, staying with the pack for two of the 12-and-a-half laps around the 400-meter track before dropping off.

The leaders finished 500 meters in front of Herrera and the Filipino had to the track—and the attention of 80,000 fans—all to himself after that, running the final 400 meters as if it was a victory lap.

The crowd had cheered the Filipino from the time he lagged 50 meters behind the main pack and the cheers got louder and louder as the gap grew bigger and bigger.

Herrera gamely kept his pace—a jog compared to that of the front-

runners—waving to the crowd as they cheered him on. The cheer was loudest when he sprinted to the finish as the stadium announcer blared out his name and country.

He finished in 14 minutes and 14.1 seconds, only 10 seconds off his target. He crossed the finish line with a big smile, made the sign of the cross and dropped to his knees to kiss the track.

As he exited the stage after his shortlived fame, he was congratulated by the British runner, Nick McCormick, who himself failed to qualify for the final.

Ibrahim won the heat with a time of 13:25:23, but it was Ethiopia’s Dejen Gebremeskel who topped the qualifying with a time of 13:15:15 to lead 14 other qualifiers into the finals.

Herrera’s effort could not lift him out of tailend as he finished 42nd and last, but it was still his personal best over the 5,000meter distance.

The 33-year-old soldier is actually a 3,000-meter steeplechase specialist, but he was drafted to run the 5,000 meters because there was no slot for automatic entries like him in the event.

Herrera, long jumper Marestella Torres and swimmers Jessie Khing Lacuna and Jasmine Alkhaldi were mandatory entries for the Philippines.

Mandatory slots are given to countries which do not have entries who made the Olympic qualifying marks in athletics and swimming. n

Chilly weather dooms Marestella’s campaign

BY ROY LUARCA Philippine Daily Inquirer LONDON—Sobbing on the shoulder of swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi at the Athletes Village here, Marestella Torres tried to speak but bit her lips instead.

The usually bubbly Torres was ruing her failure to make the long jump semifinals at the London Olympics here night despite the shorter qualification standard set by her sport.

An eternity passed before she got the will to speak again, thanks to comforting words from Alkhaldi, herself an alsoran in these Games after getting overwhelmed in the women’s 100-meter freestyle last week.

“I really feel bad,” she said in Filipino.

“It’s so disappointing. I know I’m much better now than in Beijing.”

Armed with a bigger fighting heart and a series of excellent jumps in the run-up to London 2012, Torres was gunning to make the semifinals after bombing out in the Beijing Olympics four years ago. But the chilly weather night made her muscles stiff and she felt it right after posting a 5.98-meter first leap.

“I couldn’t do what I wanted to do out there,” she told coach Joseph Sy. “I felt there was something wrong with my muscles.”

Still, the 31-year-old Torres said her result in these Olympics will not make her think of hanging up her spikes in the near future.

She said she would still campaign internationally for her country in the absence of a better successor. “I will still do it,” she said. “I owe my sport a lot. As long as I stay unbeatable back home, I’ll be glad to represent the country.” ■

PBA entities to raise P3 million for flood victims

Photo courtesy of WayKurat

39 FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012

The PBA at its main venue, the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

BY MUSONG R. CASTILLO THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE PHILIPPINE Basketball Association expects to raise at least P3 million to help in the relief efforts of thousands of Filipinos who were affected by floods caused by non-stop rains in the past few days.

Players, coaches and team officials of all 10 PBA squads are starting to make their donations spearheaded by former Talk ‘N Text coach Chot Reyes and Meralco center Asi Taulava.

Reyes and Taulava, through the social networking site Twitter, started a fund-raising drive night calling for all players, coaches and team officials to donate at least P5,000 each to make for at least P1 million.

That amount would then be matched by the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation and the PBA’s board of governors, making it P3 million for the flood victims that come from Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

The PBA Press Corps is also helping and is accepting donations through the Acropolis branch of UCPB with account number 00191-000364-8. Doug Kramer of Barako Bull was one of the first to answer the call of the Press Corps and has already donated his P5,000.

“The PBA is always ready to respond to the needs of our countrymen,” PBA Commissioner Chito Salud said.

“Our track record bears that out.

Aside from the PBA’s one millionpeso donation in cash, our team owners and players are ready to take part in any activity that supports the cause of alleviating the plight of those families victimized by the recent floods.

“We send our deepest sympathy to the victims.”

Non-stop rains have battered the whole of the metro, driving people away from their homes and into evacuation centers that are running short on potable water and food.

Bobby Barreiro, chief operating officer of ABC-5/AKTV, is working out a relief operation program that would involve PBA players and team and league officials.

“I am so proud of our PBA players who are eager to help out the flood victims,” Salud said.

Outgoing chair Mert Mondragon of Rain or Shine echoed Salud’s sentiment.

“While it is heartbreaking to see the harrowing plight of our countrymen in the wake of this calamity, it is at the same time heart-warming to know that our players are volunteering for relief operation work,” Mondragon said.

“This truly is the PBA way.” n

Food

FRIDAY AUGUST 17, 2012 40

Champagne–why it can come only from the French region “It was a good thing 1911 was a vintage year,” said Araud.

“We had enough vintage bottles to offer our guests.”

Thanks to several factors like the use of premium-grade yeast and the constant temperature resulting from the cellar’s chalky walls, Moët is able to ensure the quality of its produce longer.

Starting out as a family-owned company sometime in mid-18th century, Moët & Chandon is now a publicly traded company with a huge global presence.

To gain more leverage in an increasingly competitive market, it partnered with cognacmaker Hennessy in 1971 to form Moët Hennessy.

In 1987, the company merged with luxury bag maker Louis Vuitton to form LVMH, one of the biggest and most diverse groupings of luxury brands today.

TODAY’S POP QUIZ: What’s the most expensive avenue in France? If you answered Champs Elysees in Paris, you’re probably not that far off. But according to Frenchman PierreLouis Araud, there’s a more expensive stretch of road in France—it’s just outside the center of Epernay, a quiet city 150 km east of the French capital.

“This is the first structure to be built along Champagne Avenue,” said Araud, brand ambassador of Moët & Chandon, referring to founder Claude Moët’s wellmaintained 18thcentury house. “Because of the value of the vintage bottles we have in the cellar, this area is more expensive than Champs Elysees.”

Epernay is the heart of France’s Champagne region, where leading champagne-making houses such as Moët & Chandon are based. With a relatively small land area of 34,000 ha, Champagne’s sloping terrain, chalky soil and mild weather have made it ideal for wine-making, especially of the sparkling variety we now call champagne.

Led by Olga Azarcon, Moët Hennessy’s country manager in the Philippines, we toured Moët’s headquarters in May, including a former Benedictine abbey a few kilometers down the road where Dom Pierre Perignon once worked and is now buried.

Dubbed by the French as the father of champagne for his pioneering work on the bubbly, the 18th-century Benedictine monk worked tirelessly to help the poor by selling the best varieties of sparkling wine to the rich, including King Louis XIV. His statue has a special place of honor just outside the company’s main building.

A few decades after Dom Perignon’s death, the Benedictine monks left the abbey and its surrounding vineyards. But Claude Moët, who was by then already settled in Epernay, saw the land’s potential and bought it. He donated the church back to the city, but kept the surrounding land for himself.

His move earned for Moët the distinction of being the first land-owning champagne producer in the region. Over the centuries, his descendants continued acquiring more land.

Today, the house has 1,200 ha of the region’s best land, producing some of the finest grapes. But that’s not enough, so the company still needs to buy more grapes from local farmers.

French law Like cognac produced in Cognac, only champagne produced in Champagne can be called and marketed as such, according to French law. Any producer outside the region who insists on calling his bubbly or sparkling wine champagne is guilty of misrepresentation. The law is not without its basis.

“If you go farther north, it would be impossible to produce the kind of grapes we need because the area is too cold,” said Araud. “If you go farther east, the weather is subject to extreme temperatures in summer and winter because the land is flat.

And since it’s near the ocean, the west tends to generate a great deal of humidity.”

Not only is Champagne’s chalky soil great for storing water, it also absorbs the sun’s heat during the day and releases it at night to keep vines from freezing in early spring, before the start of another grape season. By September, selected grapes of pinot noir, pinot meunier and chardonnay varieties are pressed minus their skin and stored in steel vats.

White wine, which results from this initial fermentation process, is bottled individually with a bit of yeast and sugar and allowed to undergo a second fermentation for at least six months. The “birth” of champagne happens once yeast starts eating the sugar, said Araud.

Midway into the process, Moët’s experienced hands uncork those bottles and extricate the yeast either manually or with the use of machine. Bottles are positioned in such a way that some of the champagne pops out with the yeast as each bottle is opened.

The same bottles are permanently corked, aged and later shipped within and outside France as Moët & Chandon.

lev radin / Shutterstock.com

BY ALEX Y. VERGARA PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER

Dom Perignon statue, Epernay, Champagne Region, France

Vintage years Experience has taught the winemakers to carefully time the extraction process—not too long or too soon. A moment longer would mean losing more champagne with the yeast than what’s necessary. A moment too soon, and some of the yeast is bound to stay inside the bottle.

“Should they choose to use a machine, which, to tell you the truth, is more efficient and has no effect on taste, they put the neck of the bottle in a freezing solution,” said Araud. “The ice cube freezes the yeast, and once you open the bottle, pressure would expel both ice cube and yeast.”

Except in vintage years, the most recent of which is 2002, Moët’s in-house winemakers and tasters take pains to produce a consistent blend by mixing available wines to produce trademark champagne of non-vintage quality. There are no recipes, because everything depends on mixing what’s available.

Otherwise, it’s the head sommelier of each house that decides whether to declare a year vintage or not.

“It’s a tradition in Champagne, when the year is special enough, to come up with a vintage,” said Araud. “But that doesn’t happen every year. When it comes to vintage, the goal is not to be consistent, but to reveal the singularity of the year.”

That’s why there’s a saying in Champagne that while “ordinary” champagne is made by men, vintage champagne is “made” by God. This saying could very well apply to the whole of France, whose wine makers, unlike so-called new world producers like California, Australia, South Africa and Chile, shun radical forms of technology and stick to traditional ways of producing spirits.

And with today’s weather getting more unpredictable by the year, expect not only Moët, but also the whole of Champagne to produce more vintages.

Confidential information The number of bottles in Moët’s treasure trove of a cellar is confidential information, said Araud, but they easily run in the thousands, as Moët’s cellar is a mini road network in itself that spans 28 km. To give you an idea of how rare some of these bottles are, the cellar’s vintage section houses champagne dating back to 1892.

“It’s still very good,” Araud assured our group, referring to Moët’s prized vintage that predates Philippine independence by six years. “We can keep bottles of Moët for a very long time in the cellar and still keep their quality.”

Moët, for instance, first entered the Chinese market, now a major champagne consumer, in 1911. It called for a centennial anniversary party in 2011 in Beijing that required the company to open at least 500 bottles of its vintage 1911 champagne.

Posh receiving area Over the centuries, Claude Moët’s house grew to include an adjacent medium-rise headquarters, posh receiving area and souvenir shop.

The company has retained a garden with a huge sephora tree outside the study where Jean-Remy Moët, grandson of Claude, entertained the likes of French ruler Napoleon Bonaparte, Francois II of Austria, Czar Alexander I of Russia, and Grand Duke Nicholas.

Jean-Remy and Napoleon became such good friends, said Araud, that Napoleon, while passing through Epernay on his way to his many battles, would often spend the night in JeanRemy’s house. The latter, who was by then mayor of Epernay, had the house extended to accommodate the emperor and his party whenever they were in town.

“Jean-Remy was perhaps the first in the region to practice PR and market research when such research tools were totally unheard of,” said Arnaud. “He had a team who made people sample the champagne for the sole purpose of getting feedback to help him improve his products.”

Legend has it that every time Napoleon passed by Epernay before a battle, he ended up winning that battle. The only time he didn’t pass by Epernay, Arnaud added, was when he went directly north from Paris. History would bear this out, as France’s “emperor for life” lost, and lost badly, in Waterloo.

Jean-Remy’s friendship with Napoleon also drew the latter’s enemies to Epernay. But, rather than see his beloved city destroyed, Jean-Remy would open his cellar for Napoleon’s enemies to inspect.

“While soldiers were searching for Napoleon in Jean-Remy’s cellar, the officers were in the garden having champagne with Jean-Remy,” said Arnaud. “He befriended the officers to save his city. He was very pragmatic because for him, it was free sampling. Because champagne was quite new at that time and people were unaware that it existed.”

Family summerhouse Across from the original house, which has undergone countless renovations through the wars and upheavals France found itself in, is the family’s summerhouse. It is here where Moët & Chandon officials now entertain guests, from celebrities to heads of state, journalists to big-time buyers.

The Chandon name came into the picture when one of JeanRemy’s children, Adelaide, married Pierre-Gabriel Chandon de Briailles. With Jean-Remy’s son, Victor, the two men expanded the house’s operations by buying more land, introducing champagne variants such the Brut Imperial (the house’s tribute to Napoleon) and finding a remedy for the crippling phylloxera pest plaguing Champagne’s vineyards.

In short, the pair laid the groundwork for Moët & Chandon as it cemented its reputation as a global brand at the turn of the 20th century.

And taking their cue from Jean-Remy, Moët’s future stewards later seized on the brand’s image as a celebratory drink by sponsoring Formula 1 races. From then on, the iconic image of a frothy bottle of a shaken and freshly popped Moët & Chandon champagne became de rigueur as a victorious driver and his team celebrate their win.

“Champagne is sparkling, fresh, easy to drink and share with friends during parties,” said Arnaud. “It instantly brings joy to the room. You can probably even drink champagne during a divorce to celebrate your freedom. In victory, you deserve it. In defeat, you need it.” n

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Thousands who fled rising floodwaters return to muddy, damaged homes in Philippine capital Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer

BY OLIVER TEVES THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Correspondents Lizette Lofranco Aba Jeffrey J.D. Andrion Gigi Astudillo Laarni de Paula Dr. Rizaldy Ferrer Maria Ramona Ledesma Frances Grace H. Quiddaoen Rodel J. Ramos Stella Reyes Sarah Taguiam Agnes Tecson Graphic Designer Victoria Yong

Courtesy of Elmer Nocheseda

MANILA, Philippines - Evacuees who sheltered at a school in a badly flooded suburb of the Philippine capital were told Friday to return to their homes.

Luzviminda Limas worried where her family would sleep.

Her home is a 24-square-meter (258 square-foot) box that has a rough concrete floor and a tin roof, with no ceiling. The lower half of its walls is made of flimsy cinder blocks and the upper half of warped cardboard and tarpaulin.

The Marikina River, normally about 200 metres (yards) from her house, was swelled by torrential monsoon rains, and the water reached within centimetres (inches) under the roof of her house. It deposited thick mud halfknee deep as it receded early Thursday.

A 54-year-old widow, Limas said the floods brought back memories of the 2009 deluge when she was huddled under an umbrella with one of her daughters and her 4-month-old grandson on the roof of a nearby daycare centre as typhoon floodwaters destroyed her home.

When the water rose early this week, Limas hustled her family to the same elementary school in Nangka village where they had found emergency shelter in 2009.

More than 7,000 evacuees sheltered at the Nangka Elementary School in Marikina City during the recent floods, which submerged more than half of the sprawling capital at the peak. But principal Marciana de Guzman said they were told to leave so the school could be prepared for the resumption of classes next week.

Limas works doing laundry and shares her home with her two unemployed daughters and their husbands - one a mini-bus driver and the other a labourer who is currently out of work. Each of her daughters has two children, one only 8 months old.

She worried where everyone would sleep on Friday night when they return

Editor Melissa Remulla-Briones

Illustration Danvic C. Briones Photographers AJ Juan Solon Licas Ryan Ferrer Angelo Siglos Art Viray

MANILA FLOOD circa 1857. It shows the same nonchalant, relaxed, laid-back, and come-what-may attitude that Filipinos have with regard to floods. However, with present-day typhoons and floods increasing in their frequency and ferocity, can Filipinos still afford to be nonchalant?

home because everything was wet and muddy.

Her daughter, Venice, was collecting cardboard boxes to use as sleeping mats. ``I wish we could have a new home, one that has decent walls not made of cardboard,’’ she said. ``We have nowhere to go. If we had money, we will leave this place.’’

Her community is a resettlement site for hundreds of poor families in Marikina, the ``shoe capital’’ of the Philippines, said city council member Judy Magtubo.

Magtubo said many of the shoemakers who lost their livelihood have not yet recovered from the devastation of the 2009 floods, which was then the worst flooding in the country in 40 years.

The torrential monsoon rains that lasted from Sunday through Wednesday forced than 360,000 in Manila and nearby provinces to flee their flooded homes and seek shelter in schools, churches and government buildings. At least 60 people died, many from drowning.

Civil defence chief Benito Ramos said some evacuees have returned home but many others remain in the shelters because their houses have been destroyed. ``They have no homes to return to, they have no food, they have no clothes except what they are wearing,’’ he said.

Residents using anything from shovels to pieces of plywood scraped the debris off the floors of their houses and the pavements and gathered them into mud-caked piles of garbage on the side of the street. ``It’s really an eyesore when we saw it from the helicopter,’’ said civil defence chief Ramos. ``There will be no more rescue. It’s now ‘Operation Cleanup.’’’

North of the city, rains still poured intermittently and a helicopter carrying President Benigno Aquino III had to land on an isolated portion of a highway early Friday when visibility became difficult, said his spokesman Ricky Carandang.

No one was hurt and the presidential party proceeded by car to visit flood victims in his home province of Tarlac, Carandang said. n

The Philippine Canadian Inquirer welcomes your views and opinions. Please e-mail the editor at editor@canadianinquirer.net.Thank you.

Sales and Operations Laarni de Paula Alice Yong (778) 889-3518 HINGE INQUIRER PUBLICATIONS CUSTOM PUBLISHING GROUP Managing Editor Maita de Jesus Graphic Artists Reggie Goloy Maud Villanueva Editorial Assistants Phoebe Casin Anne Lora Santos Associate Publisher Lurisa Villanueva Jr. Associate Publisher Millicent Agoncillo Project Coordinator Lychelle Ang In cooperation with the Philippine Daily Inquirer digital edition PHILIPPINE CANADIAN INQUIRER is located at Suite 400 North Tower 5811 Cooney Road, Richmond B.C. Canada Tel No. 778-383-6090 / 778-383-3203 / (604) 279-8787 ext. 1722.

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