Philippine Canadian Inquirer Issue #8

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canada news 8000 Drums Global Ceremony: Igorot Physician Dr. Claver Speaks of Common Ties with the First Nations ( On page 17 )

Financial help promised for flood victims in northern New Brunswick ( On page 20 )

Minister Kenney proposes to assess foreign education credentials before skilled workers arrive ( On page 22 )

Bellingham, WA: Beyond Shopping ( On page 26 )

President Aquino presiding over a presentation in Malacanang on Mindanao’s power situation.

P-noy: Crisis caused by long neglect by christine o. Avendaño and Gil C. Cabacungan Philippine Daily Inquirer

ADMITTING that the power problem in Mindanao had been neglected for years, President Aquino urged the people there to be patient as his government was working to solve the crisis, which may take more than two years.

Speaking in Filipino and English at the birthday party of Imus Rep. Erineo Malicsi, the President acknowledged the power situation in Mindanao was a long-standing problem.

“We admit it, the problem was neglected,” Mr. Aquino said, noting that the Agus 6 hydroelectric power plant in Iligan City was built in 1953,

or 59 years ago, and it had been running since then although its vital components were good for only 30 years.

The power plant needs to be upgraded.

“I did think that if 30 years ago, when I was still a college student, they had fixed this problem, then I would not have this problem now,” the President said.

The National Power Corp. will rehabilitate the power plant. The President said the rehabilitation of the two Agus 6 generators would take 30 months and cost a hefty P2.6 billion.

Water more expensive While the rehabilitation

of

the

hydroelectric plant is going on, two coal-fired power plants would be built.

To ease the power shortage, power barges would be used, but this would be expensive because the barges would be powered by crude. The President said crude was expensive, but power from water was more expensive.

“If we don’t want brownouts, we have to accept this until the construction of the two coal-fired power plants is finished, and that will take two years,” he said.

Reacting to reports that the Zamboanga International Airport had been shut down by a power outage, the President said he never promised to fix the power problem in Mindanao in just two days.

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Analyst warns extending retirement age to 67 could hurt provinces’ bottom line ( On page 20 )

Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Christine Adela White ( On page 27 )

Showtime is Canada’s Capital ( On page 31 ) To subscribe, please send an email to

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News-Phils

US lists PH among major money-laundering nations

By Jerry E. Esplanada Philippine Daily Inquirer THE US DEPARTMENT of State has ranked the Philippines among the 66 major drug money-laundering countries in the world.

In its 2012 International Narcotics Strategy Report, the state department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (Binlea) pointed out that the Philippines was “not a regional financial center.”

But the country “continues to experience an increase in foreign organized criminal activity from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan,” said the report, which also called the Philippines one of the agency’s “jurisdictions of primary concern.”

The report, posted on the website of the US Embassy in Manila, also said that “insurgency groups operating in the Philippines partially fund their activities through local crime, kidnapping for ransom and trafficking in narcotics and arms, and engage in money laundering through ties to organized crime.”

Corruption proceeds “The proceeds of corruption are also a source of laundered funds,” the report said.

Pink center for women to rise in Taguig City

By Niña Calleja Philippine Daily Inquirer

AN ALL-PINK center that will serve as a clinic and information outlet for breast cancer awareness among women— the first initiative of its kind undertaken by a local government unit—will soon rise in Taguig City.

Mayor Lani Cayetano announced this plan during the launch of a campaign aimed at bringing the program right to the residents’ doorsteps.

The local government partnered with Icanserve Foundation, a group composed of breast cancer survivors, and the Department of Health (DOH) in adopting the program “Ating Dibdibin” (Take your breast care to heart), which promotes early breast cancer detection.

Cayetano said the pink center will make the campaign not just a year-round event but a permanent initiative of the city government and its barangay health workers.

For starters, Cayetano asked the city council to allot a portion of their budget for the purchase of a mammography

Limited bank access The report noted that the Philippines is a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering. It said, however, that “investigations by the [regional body’s] Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) continue to be constrained by limited authority to access bank information.”

“Except in instances of serious offenses, such as kidnapping for ransom, drugs and terrorism-related activities, the FIU is required to secure a court order to examine bank deposit accounts related to unlawful activities enumerated in the Anti-money Laundering Act. In addition, a Supreme Court ruling prevents ex parte inquiry into bank accounts,” the report said.

But the FIU “can seek an ex parte freeze order from the Court of Appeals before seeking authorization to inquire into bank deposits. The FIU also must obtain a court order to freeze assets, including those of terrorists and terrorist organizations placed on the United Nations 1267 Sanctions Committee’s consolidated list and the lists of foreign governments. ■

Aside from the Philippines, other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on the list of drug moneylaundering nations are Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore and Burma (Myanmar).

Also on the list are Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Macau, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, Somalia, Spain, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela.

The report identified 22 major illicit drug production and drug transit nations: Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Belize, Bolivia, Burma, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

It named 15 major sources of essential chemicals used in the production of illegal drugs: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Germany, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and United States.

By Jocelyn R. Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer

machine to detect breast cancer.

“If the city has a center, you will just go there. You no longer need to shuttle the women to different hospitals,” said Kara Magsanoc-alikpala, one of the founders of Icanserve.

The costs of the advocacy campaign will be shouldered by Taguig city government and the Department of Health.

Among its partners in defraying the treatment costs are the Philippine General Hospital and the Taguig-pateros General Hospital.

Icanserve, on the other hand, will train the entire medical team of the city health office, from doctors down to the barangay health workers, to do the breast examinations and launch educational forums.

“At the heart of our program are the testimonials of the breast cancer survivors.

Cancer patients fear two things: one is the cost of their treatment, and the other is death,” she said.

Dr. Paulyn Jean Rosell Ubial, assistant secretary of health, said the DOH has been encouraging other local government units to adopt Icanserve’s program.

She said the chances of curing breast cancer are higher compared to other types of cancer, if it is detected in its early stage. ■

A CATHOLIC bishop urged President Aquino to take time off from his hectic schedule during the Holy Week for a quiet retreat and some self-reflection.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said Mr. Aquino must not depend solely on his intelligence and prudence in leading the country to the right path ( tuwid na daan) but must also seek guidance and enlightenment from the Holy Spirit.

“I hope he could take time to be with the Lord, especially this ... Lent and Holy Week so he will be more enlightened,” Bastes said over Church-run Radio Veritas. “[He] should not (only) rely on [his] intelligence or prudence but as the leader of the nation, he has to ask guidance from the Holy Spirit ... because it is not easy to govern the Philippines,” said the prelate after news came out that the President had a lot on his plate for Holy Week.

On April 3 and 4—Holy Tuesday and Holy Wednesday—the President will be in Cambodia for the 20th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Bastes stressed the importance of spending quiet time in prayer and reflection, especially for someone like Mr. Aquino, who has the country’s many woes and problems on his shoulders.

“There are a lot of issues and controversies in the country that need some serious thinking not only by him but also by his Cabinet,” he said. ■

Go on retreat, bishop advises P-noy

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PHILIPPINE CANADIAN

Publisher Philippine Canadian Inquirer Head of Editorial Melissa Remulla-Briones Editorial Consultant Maria Ramona Ledesma Contributors Jeffrey J.D. Andrion Gigi Astudillo Dr. Rizaldy Ferrer Marietta Pangan-Dutkoski Stella Reyes Jenn Torres Frances Grace H. Quiddaoen Laarni de Paula Rodel J. Ramos Graphic Designer Victoria Yong Illustration Danvic C. Briones Photographer Ryan Ferrer Sales and Operations Laarni de Paula Dominador Masakayan MaryAnn Roque HINGE INQUIRER PUBLICATIONS CUSTOM PUBLISHING GROUP Managing Editor Maita de Jesus Asst. Creative Director Bong Sevilla Graphic Artist Reggie Goloy 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. 778-3836090 / 778-383-3203 • Email us at : info@ canadianinquirer.net or inquirerinc@gmail.com

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TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

2013 polls seen influencing impeachment vote

By Michael Lim Ubac Philippine Daily Inquirer

SEN. MIRIAM Defensor-santiago’s fearless forecast that the 2013 elections would play a big factor in the outcome of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona drew mixed reactions from her colleagues.

Reelectionist Senators Gregorio Honasan and Antonio Trillanes IV admitted that members of the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, were sensitive to public opinion, and were not immune from the persuasive effects, if any, of prevailing public perception of the Chief Justice’s guilt or innocence.

However, the two senators differed in how they rated the degree to which the next senatorial race would be a factor in deciding the impeachment case.

In a phone interview, Honasan admitted that 2013 would be a “factor, but not big” enough to sway the decision of senators.

Asked about the other factors, Honasan said: “Consistency, longterm credibility, political threshold for mob mentality [and] transactionalmarket driven politics, internal values,

principles, public/national interest, moral courage, and affirmative action that goes beyond rhetoric.”

Trillanes was not surprised by Santiago’s warning that Malacañang would be courting each senator-judge during the six-week Lenten break of the Senate.

“It should be a factor. We are supposed to be representatives of the people, so we are answerable to them.

If our vote in this impeachment trial is not acceptable to them, they may not renew our mandate,” said Trillanes, who won a Senate seat in 2007 while behind bars for leading the “Oakwood mutiny” three years earlier.

“Since this is a public trial, the people can also see and appreciate the evidence and are making judgments of their own. And they expect their senators, who are their representatives, to have the same judgment. If they are not aligned with [public opinion], they may choose a different representative/ senator in the next election,” he said.

Trillanes said he expected the voters to elect “someone whowill reflect their true will and sentiment. That’s how a representative democracy works.”

He took exception to Santiago’s

statement in a radio interview that Malacañang could offer a reelectionist senator to run on the administration ticket and enjoy its funds and organization.

“We are exposed to different interest groups and lobby groups trying to influence our position on policy issues and legislation, so this is no different. So we should not be alarmed because it is part and parcel of the job of a senator,” Trillanes said.

He cited the influence of big lobby groups from the Catholic Church and prolife advocates that, for years, had successfully blocked the passage of the reproductive health bill in both chambers of Congress.

“Is there anything wrong with that?

None,” Trillanes said.

“Malacañang has an official lobbyist assigned in the Senate— the presidential legislative liaison officer, with a Cabinet rank. There’s also the Ledac (Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council).

There are legal mechanisms or influences. Even if the lobby does not go through these avenues, it doesn’t make it illegal.”■

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Cops raise alert vs fake peso bills

By Jocelyn R. Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer ILOILO City—police have raised an alert against a criminal group using fake peso bills after nine alleged gang members were arrested in a series of operations in Boracay and Caticlan recently.

The nine suspects, mostly from Iloilo and Negros Occidental, were arrested in three operations by the Boracay and Malay police that took two days. Seized from the suspects were at least P92,000 in fake and genuine money, said Senior Supt. Cornelio Defensor, Aklan police director.

All the suspects were detained at the Malay police station and would face various criminal charges including violation of the Revised Penal Code.

Defensor said representatives of the Central Bank would also file charges against the suspects.

Three other members of the group were believed to have eluded arrest and were being hunted.

Police first arrested Enrique Lastimoso, 40, around 8 p.m. on March 16 after he was accosted by a security guard at the D’mall commercial complex on Boracay Island.

Lastimoso had bought an item at a flower shop inside the mall using a P1,000 bill which was later found to be fake. He was arrested after he returned to the shop and attempted to buy another item with another fake P1,000 bill. ■

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TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 4

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Sun, wind, waves way to go for power, say green advocates

By Kristine L. Alave Philippine Daily Inquirer

INSTEAD of pushing for coal power plants and fossil fuels, the government should harness renewable energy (RE) from the sun, the wind and the tides, as well as geothermal and biomass sources, to solve the power shortage in Mindanao, green energy advocates and environmental groups said.

“Renewables should be pushed and the laws for them implemented,” Greenpeace energy campaigner Francis de la Cruz said, noting that despite a government pronouncement that it would push renewable energy technologies, it approved several contracts in 2011 for coal-fired power plants that run on fossil fuels.

The government has also reduced the allotment for the solar energy sector to 50 megawatts from the original proposal of 150 MW and brought down the target for wind power to 200 MW from the proposed 220 MW, the group said.

De la Cruz said the Philippines had massive potential for including more renewable energy in the grid.

In the case of the Mindanao power shortage, he said, maximizing renewables should be coupled with managing the supply and demand efficiently.

The switch to renewable energy in the face of rising fuel prices was discussed as well in a recent forum sponsored by Akbayan and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. The Philippines has to wean itself from coal- and oil-powered plants for electricity and instead invest in renewable technologies, Dr. Joachim Spangeren of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research said.

Broad resources The Philippines can harness energy from the sun, the wind and the tides and from geothermal and biomass sources to meet the power demands of its growing population, Spangeren said. The country also has vast tracts of agricultural land

as well as sunny and windswept coasts for power where renewable energy installations can be built, he added.

“As far as we can see, you have a broad mix (of RE sources and) many possibilities,” Spangeren said, noting that wave energy could be used in the northern Philippines while coastal and mountain communities could harness wind energy. Solar power, he added, could be harvested in many parts of the country.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello said renewable energy was critical to ensuring the Philippines’ energy independence. “Although we cannot discount the fact that speculation contributes ... to driving up fossil fuel prices, we also have to admit that this resource is shrinking,” Bello said.

to plants that utilize fossil fuels, the party-list representative said.

“Nonrenewable energy is still more expensive because the financial costs of health and environmental damage are rarely computed (in) the cost of constructing a coalfired power plant,” Bello said.

The power shortage in Mindanao has given advocates for nuclear energy another chance to push for the operation of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) after a year of being silent following theFukushima disaster in Japan.

Pangasinan Rep. Kimi Cojuangco, who took over the seat of her husband Mark, urged the government to open the BNPP, saying in her Twitter account that nuclear technology is “safe and clean.” She added: “If we decide to use the Bataan Nuclear Plant, we will have 650 MW of cheap electricity. That will bring in investors and boost our economy.”■

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News-Phils

TUESDAY MARCH 20, 2012 10

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a government agency. He also planned to take over our provide their own security guards and CCTV cameras.

CasiĂąo said small and medium Agriculture Secretary Proceso country’s growing population,â€? the 7R /RV %DxRV FRPPXQLW\ Dr. Enrique Tolentino Jr., vice chancellor for small farm in Quezon,â€? German said. “It’s not like we’re changing a enterprises were bearing the brunt of Alcala said the government approved agriculture chief added.

Ray was the second UPLB student killed near the community affairs, said the recent events might also light bulb here,� Mr. Aquino said. the power shortage that causes 15-hour the construction of the three irrigation D 5D\ RI KRSH UPLB campus. He was stabbed dead by unidentified justify the university’s need for a higher budget to put up brownouts a day in General Santos P-noy: Crisis caused... A1

The development of the two coalprojects worth P19.7 billion, to be Top importer more dormitories inside the campus. robbers.

BY DORIS C. DUMLAO fired power plants will take two years City, three hours in Zamboanga City, financed largely by foreign institutions The Philippines, which became A few days before, high school student Rochel Philippine Daily Inquirer so the people of Mindanao have to and two hours in Davao City. He said such as the Korean Exim Bank. the world’s top rice importer in Geronda, 14, was raped and killed in the same vicinity. In Ray of hope businesses needed immediate relief understand that relief from the power The government committed to allot 2010, aims to become a selfLOS BAĂ‘OS, LAGUNA—Ray Bernard PeĂąaranda’s October last year, UPLB computer science student Given “UPLB is a very beautiful place, but I think it’s the from the high prices charged by the P4 billion for the construction of the sufficient rice producer by next shortage will take that long to come. last conversation with his family was in a phone Grace Cebanico was raped and killed. local officials’ responsibility to keep it safe. We really The President said he could not owners of the power barges. irrigation systems during the board year. The agriculture department conference the night before he was killed. “Ray was a very sweet son. He would often give his hope to find justice so we can move on,â€? German said.

With the government taking over the meeting of the National Economic has dramatically reduced its tell people to be patient because the “His sister was telling him that they should graduate mother a massage and a manicure and would sometimes On Friday, police arrested Carl “Dactilâ€? de Guzman, problem did not start during his term. operation of the power barges, CasiĂąo and Development Authority. importation requirements and together in 2013. I do not know if it was a premonition or sleep with us in our room,â€? German said. “He was also 27, in Daraga, Albay, and on Thursday, Tyrone But he said he could promise that he said the 150,000 small and medium The projects, which are expected urged Filipino farmers to increase something, but Ray said he might not be able to do so,â€? very close to Anna because she was his idol.â€?

Kennedy Terbio, 19, surrendered to broadcaster would ask for help to get things going businesses in Mindanao, mostly in to increase the yield in key rice- their yield. said Ray’s father, German, 56.

Raffy Tulfo and Philippine National Police Director retail and food, would get relief until producing regions, are: Jalaur River so that people need not suffer.

This year, the government is At that time, German thought that Ray was again Outposts, CCTVs General Nicanor Bartolome. Terbio, the one who the new power plants were ready. ■Multipurpose Irrigation Project- eyeing the importation of 500,000 teasing his sister, Anna, 23, who was taking a master’s On March 12, student organizations led an indignation allegedly stabbed Peùaranda in the chest, was held Businesses affected phase II (JRMIP2) in Iloilo, worth Mtof rice. Of that total, 380,000 MT degree at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, rally. Ray’s classmates shared testimonies about their lost at the detention cell of the Laguna police office in In Malacaùang, presidential spokesperson P11.2 billion; Casecnan Multipurpose will be brought in by the private Quezon City. But the next call the family received on friend.

Sta. Cruz town, said Laguna police director Senior Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing Irrigation and Power Project-phase II sector. The rest will be purchased Sunday was from Ray’s friend, telling them about his “We condemn these tragic and senseless deaths. Superintendent Gilbert Cruz on Friday. De Guzman that Mindanao would have “power (CMIPP2) in Nueva Ecija and Tarlac, by the Philippine government from death.

We will not stop until justice is served no matter how allegedly drove the suspects’ motorcycle. difficulties� for the next two years, but worth P7 billion; and the Umayam other countries.

German, an agricultural engineer and like his wife, long it may take,� said chancellor Dr. Rex Cruz at the Terbio and De Guzman were named by confessed by 2014 “we will have sufficient plants River Irrigation Project (URIP) in Alcala said the projects, to be Flordeliza, 53, a professor at University of Rizal System rally attended by around 200 students. lookout Joseph Beltran, who earlier surrendered to that are going to go online.�

Agusan del Sur, worth P1.5 billion. completed in five years, would in Tanay, Rizal, said Ray did good in his academics and Another rally was set with Bayan Muna the police. All three suspects now faced robbery with Lacierda said the Palace had no “Definitely, this is a big push toward irrigate a total area of 102,890 was a candidate for cum laude in agriculture at UP Los Representative Teddy CasiĂąo, a UPLB alumnus, as homicide charges at a court in Calamba City, said Cruz. “hard figuresâ€? yet on the impact of the By Kristine L. Alave our target to provide a sufficient and hectares—36,550 new and 66,340 BaĂąos (UPLB).

Geronda’s remains were buried at a public guest. brownouts on Mindanao’s economy, but Philippine Daily Inquirer sustainable rice supply for the entire rehabilitated.

In fact, Ray was supposed to be awarded his During the meeting of the multisectoral Peace and cemetery in Barangay (village) Anos in Los BaĂąos on acknowledged that the outages “certainly nation,â€? Alcala said.

They would also directly benefit certificate as a college scholar (dean’s lister) during the Order Council, the municipal government of Los BaĂąos Wednesday, while Ray’s burial took place Sunday at ... affect businesses.â€? “Further, the three irrigation 72,900 farm families in Iloilo, THREE big-ticket projects that 103rd founding anniversary of the UPLB College of approved proposals to install 100 more lampposts, police Haven of Rest Memorial Park in Tanay.

Meanwhile, Bayan Muna party- would irrigate 100,000 hectares projects and several others that will be Nueva Ecija, Tarlac and Agusan Agriculture. The dean instead delivered Ray’s certificate and village outposts at every entry and exit point in all “Maybe Ray had died for a reason. His death will list Rep. Teodoro CasiĂąo urged the and enable farmers to increase their constructed this year and in 2013 will del Sur, whose rice production and to his family in Tanay at the wake. not be put to waste if only this will protect and give villages, and security cameras in strategic locations. government to take over the privately annual rice production by 800,000 ensure that the Aquino administration income would more than double “He had many options after college. He planned to There were also plans to impose a liquor ban from 12 hope to other students that none of these will happen owned barges to ease the power crisis in metric tons have been given the go- will adequately produce the total rice as they would be able to plant and pursue higher education abroad or work in a company or midnight to 8 a.m. and for private dormitory owners to DJDLQ ´ *HUPDQ VDLG Ĺś Mindanao. signal by the Aquino administration. and other staple requirements of the harvest twice a year.â–

Gov’t OKS 3 rice-sufficiency projects

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News-Phils Soldiers made us say we’re NPA, villagers claim

RESIDENTS of a village in Compostela Valley have filed a complaint with the Commission on Human Rights accusing members of the Army’s 71st Infantry Battalion of storming their community and forcing them to admit to being communist rebels.

In a statement, the human rights group Karapatan said a group of soldiers, led by a Sergeant Macalanda and a Sergeant Mabalot, came to Barangay Tibagon in Pantukan earlier this month and occupied the village and several houses without permission from the owners. The soldiers were in full combat gear and carried highpowered firearms.

Karapatan quoted Herculano Sumilhig, an officer of the Cadapa, Tinaw, Lubog Farmers Association, as saying that the soldiers interrogated the villagers, forcing them to admit that they were members of the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

The villagers denied they were NPA members. Sumilhig said the villagers were farmers.

One complainant, Nellyn Calva, said the villagers were forced to sign blank pieces of paper and were asked about some people whose names were shown to them on a list. Some of those people were their neighbors.

The villagers said they were holding a meeting at Sitio Sapant TinAw on their being beneficiaries of the government’s conditional cash transfer program when the soldiers arrived. They said Macalanda took over the

meeting and interrogated those present. They were accused of being NPA members.

77 families flee Maria Lou Lambo, a preschool teacher, said the soldiers claimed her school was built by the NPA. It was not, she said. The school was accredited by the barangay and by the Department of Education, and it followed the Early Childhood Care and Development Program. She said Macalanda became angry and cursed at the villagers.

A Karapatan team who came to the aid of the villagers did not escape harassment.

The team was stopped at a checkpoint and held for 15 minutes for interrogation, according to Karapatan Southern Mindanao spokesperson Jurie Jayme.

Jayme said in a press statement that many of the frightened villagers left their homes to seek sanctuary with their relatives. He said the military was hamletting the village and frightened residents were leaving.

Seventy-seven families, consisting of 304 individuals, have left the village since March 18, Jayme said.

The commander of the 71st IB, Lt. Col. Camilio Ligayo, said the villagers may have misunderstood the way Macalanda, whose full name was Sgt. Isagani Macalanda, stated the troops’ purpose for coming to Tibagon.

Ligayo said the troops went there to carry out the military’s peace and development program. There were no complaints of physical abuse, he said. Nevertheless, Macalanda has been replaced as leader of the peace and development team in Tibagon.

The villagers may bring complaints to the military, Ligayo said. “We are open to complaints, that’s why we replaced Macalanda,” he said. ■

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There is money for plebiscite, solon insists

By Cynthia D. Balana Philippine Daily Inquirer

By Jocelyn R. Uy Philippine Daily Inquirer

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 6

CAMARINES Sur Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella over the weekend said that officials of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) had made the assurance that there were enough funds for a plebiscite this year for the creation of the province of Nueva Camarines (Nuevacam).

Fuentebella, the main proponent of House Bill No. 4820 which seeks to carve the new province out of Camarines Sur, said Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes and budget officials had made the assurance during budget deliberations on the 2012 General Appropriations Act in the House of Representatives.

He said Brillantes pointed to the P2 billion in savings from the postponement of the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao last year as a possible source of funds for the holding of a plebiscite, which

could amount to P50 million, while DBM officials cited the savings of all government agencies for 2011 as another source.

“So at the time, it was agreed upon that there was no need to insert a budget (for the plebiscite) because we were assured that it could be taken from savings,” Fuentebella said in an interview with the INQUIRER. The Comelec, however, declared that it had no funds to hold a plebiscite this year on the measure creating Nuevacam that was passed by a vote of 299-1, but was prioritizing the automation of the 2013 elections.

At the Senate hearing, Genevieve Velicaria-guevarra of the Comelec, however, said the poll body had no budget for a recall election or plebiscite this year.

But Fuentebella insisted that the Comelec resolution on recall did not cover the plebiscite.

“They are just trying to confuse the issue,” he said. ■

Fishermen group hits reclamation project

By Miko Morelos Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE MILITANT fisher folk group Pamalakaya has thrown its support behind a court case which seeks to prevent the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) and other government agencies from pursuing the 635-ha reclamation project beside the Las Piñas-parañaque Coastal Lagoon.

In a statement, Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said its members were behind the writ of kalikasan petition filed by former Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar with the Supreme Court against the Three Island Reclamation and Development Project which was being undertaken by private firm Alltech Contractors Inc. “It is one of [the] available

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legal remedies that can undo this major threat to people’s livelihood and environment,” he added.

The group expressed concern over the project’s adverse impact on fisher folk families living in Parañaque, Las Piñas and Bacoor, Cavite, whose main source of livelihood is fishing.

Hicap likewise encouraged other groups to monitor other reclamation developments the Aquino administration was pursuing. All in all, the PRA reportedly has 50 other reclamation projects in the works, including the one near the Coastal Lagoon.

Villar’s opposition to the plan stems from fears that the project could bring flooding to Las Piñas, a thorny contention between her and her brother, Mayor Vergel Aguilar. ■

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TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

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Show courage, heroism, new cops told

By Norman Bordadora Philippine Daily Inquirer

SILANG, Cavite—long stereotyped as being corrupt and inept, the country’s police officers received a much-needed image boost from President Aquino who inspired the new graduates of the Philippine National Police Academy (PNPA) to be one in treading the straight path (daang matuwid) Addressing the graduates of the PNPA’S Sinagtala Class of 2012, the Chief Executive recounted the heroism and courage of young police officers who ably defended their precincts despite being outnumbered by attacking rebels in 2011. He also boasted of the decreasing crime rate in the last two years.

“Indeed, these are the things that are happening because of the straight path that we are taking,” said the President in his speech before the 220 new police, fire and jail officers. It was the second PNPA commencement he attended since becoming President in 2010.

“Thus, to the 220 graduates of Class Sinagtala that has been minted by the PNPA, follow the lead of those who came before and who continue to show courage and heroism for the country ... As new policemen, firemen and wardens, you can stand proud that you are now part of a profession that is respected by the public,” he said.

Mr. Aquino awarded the Presidential Saber to class valedictorian Marjorie Samson of Tagaytay City, who will soon be working with the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP).

Turned back rebels Class salutatorian Reizabelle Gumaru of Sto. Tomas, Isabela, will also be joining the BJMP, while first honorable mention Rudy Peang of La Trinidad, Benguet, is joining the PNP. Mr. Aquino cited the example set by Senior Insp. Jay Demaala of PNPA Class of 2004, who led 13 police officers in turning back 30 communist rebels that attacked their station in Panabo, Davao del Norte, on March 19, 2011.

Mr. Aquino also told the story of Senior Insp. Charity Galvez, who led 30 policemen in defending their station in Agusan del Sur on July 30, 2011, causing 250 rebels to retreat.

“It seems this kind of fine

performance by our police is already commonplace,” the President said.

Citing the courage of the BJMP jail officers, Mr. Aquino said jail guards in February foiled an attempt by armed men in Kidapawan to spring an inmate from jail. He said this happened despite the use of a rocketpropelled grenade and highpowered guns by the attackers.

“Isn’t this kind of exploit by our law enforcers deserving of our praise?” Mr. Aquino said.

To those who still doubt the competence of the country’s law enforcers, the President said he “will be the first to present them with evidence.”

He went on to say that the crime volume that reached more than 500,000 in 2009 had gone down by half to almost 247,000 by 2011.

“The previous 2,200 cases of car thefts in 2010 became just 966, or decreased by more than half in 2011,” he said.

Japanese fund new classrooms

By Tarra V. Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE JAPANESE people have given the Philippines a $1.5-million grant to help build 60 classrooms for public kindergarten students in some of the country’s poorest regions.

The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, funded by Japanese taxpayers and administered by the

Praise for sacrifices Mr. Aquino lamented that these gains are undermined when a prominent person loses his or her car to thieves and that isolated cases get noticed rather than the huge number of car thefts that are prevented.

“Isn’t it better to praise our policemen for their sacrifices to bring down criminality instead of allowing ourselves to be influenced by negativism? Don’t they also deserve to be in the headlines because of their successful operations against carnapping?” he said.

Mr. Aquino called on the police graduates to remain professional and avoid giving in to temptation.

“As you graduate, you’ll be entering a system that is being looked up to instead of being talked about in whispers because of corruption. You have a unique opportunity to be one in taking the straight path,” he said.

The President said every act of corruption or ineptitude had its consequences among the people that they served.

“The result will be that they would run to those who are pretending to be their saviors. Instead of helping you catch criminals, it would likely be that they would side with the enemies of the state.

And if this happens, there’d be no end to the war between fellow Filipinos,” he said. ■

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Asian Development Bank, handed over the donation to the Department of Education (Deped) and the Aklat, Gabay, Aruga Tungo sa Pag-angat at Pag-asa (AGAPP), a foundation run

by President Aquino’s sister, Pinky Aquino-abellada.

To date, AGAPP has constructed at least 100 classrooms in 51 sites around the country, trustee Feny de los Angeles-bautista told a news conference at the Deped.

Under the program, new kindergarten classrooms will be built in impoverished areas in Negros Occidental, Leyte and Bicol.

The program includes a schoolfeeding program and livelihood training for the schoolchildren’s parents to provide families a source of income. ■

News-Phils GMA: Patient patient, ideal detainee, into landscaping

incredible change from the President Gloria Macapagal-arroyo who stretched the laws and even the Constitution to the limits to have her way. What Gloria wanted, Gloria got, even journalists who cover Malacañang remember.

The loss of power may have pulled her down to earth. She now appears to be a model detainee. Police Senior Supt.

Richard Fiesta, who supervises Arroyo’s security, said that so far the security team has encountered no problems with their VIP prisoner.

“She is an ideal detainee,” Fiesta said.

“So far, we do not have any problems with GMA. She obeys the detention regulations.”

By Nancy C. Carvajal Philippine Daily Inquirer

HAS DETENTION tamed Gloria Macapagal-arroyo?

The imperious, cantankerous and short-fused former President is not her old self in her special suite at Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) in Quezon City. She is under police custody while being tried on charges of electoral sabotage.

It is not a bailable offense, but Arroyo’s lawyers are trying to convince Judge Jesus Mupas of Branch 112 of the Pasay City Regional Trial Court that her health condition remains delicate. She is allegedly suffering from a debilitating spinal condition and she needs rest. And since she is no flight risk, she should be allowed bail.

She waits patiently, throwing no tantrums, as the lawyers argue her case for temporary liberty, an almost

Zero complaint In her nearly four months of detention, Arroyo has not complained about her curtailed liberty. “Zero complaint,” Fiesta said. “She just smiles and waves to policemen deployed near the suite when she comes out for her morning sun.”

It is her visitors who grumble about the strict security. “Everything that goes in is inspected and checked and [that seems to be OK with her],” Fiesta said. She has not tried to break the court’s order

banning her from using cell phones and accessing the Internet.

“Like an ordinary inmate, she is prohibited from using electronic gadgets, and the ban on cell phones and Internet access is strictly implemented, and she obeys it,” Fiesta said.

Arroyo also has not tried to get out of her suite other than to get morning sunshine. Her doctors want her to get afternoon sunshine as well but she has not tried to go for it.

Fiesta said Arroyo also had not complained about the way the police handled her security every time she was allowed to leave the suite. “She just nods her head and says, ‘OK’ when informed of the plan,” Fiesta said.

Dr. Nona Legaspi, VMMC director, also said Arroyo had been dutifully obeying hospital rules. “She follows rules and does not complain,” Legaspi told the INQUIRER. One request Neither has Arroyo insisted on having her own doctor and instead has accepted care from VMMC doctors. “Her medical and healthcare supervision must be with our doctor in coordination with her private

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physicians, and she readily agreed, ” Legaspi said.

Arroyo also posed no opposition to the imposition of time limit on her visitors.

“We also take into consideration the other patients of the hospital [ who] could be affected if we allowed her to receive visitors anytime,” Legaspi explained.

But Arroyo has made only one request that was readily granted. “She asked that she be allowed to landscape the grounds of the presidential suite, and I approved it,” Legaspi said.

This the taxpayers may not like to hear: Arroyo is not spending anything for her stay in the VMMC. “The government is paying for her stay in the hospital, not her,” Legaspi said. But this is because Arroyo is primarily a detainee and her being a patient is only secondary. The government spends for her upkeep there as it pays for the upkeep of all other prisoners.

The government could save some money if Arroyo’s trial could be held in the hospital. Legaspi said she was open to this idea. “We have so much space here, and the hospital is big, we have plenty of room,” she said.

House passes whistle-blower bill

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THE HOUSE of Representatives has passed on third and final reading a bill that would ensure that those who dare to blow the lid off anomalies in government wouldn’t be left twisting in the wind.

Before adjourning for its monthlong break, the House approved the Whistle-blower Protection, Security and Benefits Act which seeks to provide physical security and monetary rewards to those who expose graft and corruption in government.

The House also passed other measures, such as a bill criminalizing enforced or involuntary disappearances, one providing compensation for victims of human rights violations during martial law,

and a bill providing more benefits to centenarians. Priority measures of the Legislativeexecutive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) were approved as well.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teddy Casiño, principal author of the whistle-blower bill, said he hoped the impending passage of the measure would encourage more court employees to speak out against anomalies in the judiciary, an apparent reference to the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona which a majority of the congressmen backed.

“When passed into law, the Whistleblowers Act will allow Supreme Court employees and even justices, along with other upright individuals, to expose corruption and wrongdoing in their offices,” Casiño said in a statement. ■

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News-Phils

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Shell, Petron get P2.8-B tax break

By Marlon Ramos Philippine Daily Inquirer

THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has blocked the government’s attempt to collect over P2.8 billion in tax liabilities from Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. and Petron Corp., throwing out the argument of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) that the two oil firms were not qualified transferees of tax credit certificates (TCCS).

In affirming the ruling of the Court of Tax Appeals, the appellate court said the BIR failed to present legitimate reasons for its decision to revoke the TCCS that Shell and Petron received from various companies registered with the Board of Investments (BOI).

“We can only conclude, therefore, that the TCCS were validly transferred and used by respondents herein toward the payment of their tax liabilities,

and that respondents are not liable for deficiency taxes, surcharges or interests,” the appeals court said.

“The fundamental considerations of justice and fairness thus estop petitioner (BIR) from collecting on respondent corporations’ purported deficiency and tax liabilities,” it added.

The 17-page resolution, written

by Associate Justice Ramon Cruz, upheld the July 23, 1999, decision of the tax court which revoked the two separate orders of the BIR that nullified the validity of the TCCS. According to court records, Shell and Petron separately received TCCS from BOIlisted companies as payment for bunker oil and other fuel products they purchased from the two oil giants from 1992 to 1997.

Shell and Petron subsequently used the tax documents to settle their excise tax liabilities with the government amounting to

P1.705 billion and P1.107 billion, respectively, in 1998.

The Department of Finance approved the payment with TCCS, but the BIR separately sent letters to Shell and Petron in April 1998 informing them that the TCCS were invalid.

The BIR argued that the amendment in the Oct. 5, 1982, memorandum of agreement between the BOI and the then Ministry of Finance required transferees of TCCS to be domestic producers of raw materials and components being supplied to Boi-registered companies.

The BIR said Shell and Petron “do not qualify as lawful and valid transferee of the TCCS” as the bunker fuel and other oil products they supply to its transferors “do not constitute either domestic capital equipment or a raw material or component of the transferors’ finished products.” ■

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News-Phils

A 11 TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Lettuce be! Marikina folk go hydroponic

Residents discover modern, soil-free vegetable gardening

By Nina Calleja Philippine Daily Inquirer

THANKS to a modern planting method, this gardener in Twinville Subdivision in Marikina doesn’t need to get his hands dirty for a good harvest.

It’s possible through hydroponics, homeowners at Twinville Subdivision in Barangay Concepcion Uno proudly explained.

Coined from Greek root words “hydro” (water) and “ponos” (labor), hydroponics refers to an advanced gardening system promoted locally by plant breeding specialists at the University of the Philippines Los Banos, Laguna.

In Twinville, the technology has been producing a regular—and profitable— supply of lettuce since August year. A 700-sq m lot has been transformed into a lush soil-free garden where heads of lettuce grow by the thousands under the tropical sun.

“Look at this. Beautiful, isn’t it? This was once a derelict place,” said Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo who, together with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), introduced hydroponics to the Twinville Homeowners Association Inc. three years ago.

Critics gang up on Comelec chief

By Christian V. Esguerra Philippine Daily Inquirer

CRITICS, including losing candidates in the 2010 polls, ganged up on Chairman Sixto Brillantes of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) because of his decision to reuse precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in next year’s elections.

But Brillantes found an ally in Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who challenged critics to identify

Back then, as Quimbo recalled, residents merely asked him to help clear the vacant lots and abandoned structures in the neighborhood which were often used as hideouts by drug addicts and criminals.

Urbanites can do it “I asked them: ‘Why not make productive use of this area?’ I saw the technology for the first time in UP Los Baños and found it highly profitable. It only needs the community associations in Marikina to buy into the idea,” he said.

Quimbo noted that hydroponics is suitable for highly urbanized areas like Marikina City which offer little or no space for traditional farming.

After a few seminars and demonstrations, the homeowners cast their early doubts aside and gave it a try, Quimbo said.

Andrew Barit, the association’s treasurer, explained that instead of being grown in garden soil, the plants are cultivated on a bed of spongy peat made of coconut husks and draw nutrients from a “SNAP” solution. Snap stands for Simple Nutrient Addition Program.

A startup capital of P450,000 went into purchase of SNAP solutions and the construction of seedbeds and insulation roofs for the garden. Five residents were tasked to look after the garden, though volunteers were very much welcome.

elected officials presently occupying government posts who benefited from alleged glitches in the automated voting.

“Of course, any technician can find something to criticize. But I’m talking about the result of the last election. If you can prove to us that there are people sitting now, exercising power, who were the product of cheating during the last election, then maybe we are open [to changing the system],” Enrile told complainants at the hearing of the committee on electoral reforms.

Among the losing candidates who showed up in the hearing were exmayor Lito Atienza of Manila and

After only a month, the homeowners were already harvesting different lettuce varieties such as the red rapid, grand rapid, bionda, romaine, lollo rosa, fanfare, and green span.

Rich in antioxidants The veggies—“antioxidant-rich and pesticidefree”—are sold at P180 per kilo, much cheaper than those sold in public markets and groceries.

But Barit said about 70 percent of their produce already get sold and consumed within Twinville.

“Sometimes you may see worms on the leaves. But we are actually thankful for them because they are signs that our vegetables are fresh. We just remove the worms manually,” he said.

With each planting cycle that takes about 45 days, the homeowners can earn up P20,000. The money goes back to the association’s coffers.

But beyond reaping profits, Twinville residents have also strengthened their “community bond and solidarity” thanks to the lettuce farm, said Manny Manahan, another officer of the homeowners’ association.

“A neighbor, whom we used to see only when she’s on her way to work, now frequently visits the farm.

Almost everyone helps in selling and marketing our harvests,” Manahan added.

Among the enthusiastic volunteer gardeners is Des Cleto, a 62-year-old resident and former businesswoman, whowas sprinkling water on the lettuce beds when the INQUIRER saw the place.

She said she spends a total of three hours a day in the garden, particularly tending the seedbeds and watering the plants in the morning and afternoon. “I have nothing to do at home and this keeps me busy and fit,” she said.

According to Quimbo, hydroponic gardening can easily be replicated in other residential areas. “Any household can do it. But it requires attention and some space. You need at least a 150 sq m lot to make it profitable,” Quimbo said.

Two public schools and a neighboring barangay in Marikina have since followed Twinville’s lead.

Recently, the Marikina City government also introduced hydroponic gardening as part of its livelihood seminars for low-income residents. ■

former House Representatives Glen Chong of Biliran and Thomas Dumpit Jr. of La Union.

“If we say there’s cheating with PCOS, are we also saying that the victory of President Aquino involved cheating? I think that’s impossible. Even in the case of (Vice President Jejomar) Binay, there was no cheating,” Enrile said in Filipino, noting that he had presided over the canvassing of votes of president and vice president in the 2010 elections.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, the committee chair, noted that most of the resource persons in attendance “are not satisfied” with the PCOS

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machines. He asked Brillantes if the Comelec had been approached by any group or individual endorsing the machines.

“There’s none. I don’t even know Smartmatic,” said Brillantes, referring to the private company that supplies the electronic voting machines that were used in the 2010 polls.

The Comelec earlier decided to exercise its option to purchase more than 80,000 PCOS machines to be used in the 2013 elections, a move that did not sit well with a number of groups. ■

News-Phils Palace: Increased US presence not because of China

By Kristine L. Alave Philippine Daily Inquirer

MALACAÑANG denied the disputes with other countries over territories in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) were the reason for the increased US presence in the Philippines that was announced

by President Aquino.

Secretary Edwin Lacierda, Mr. Aquino’s spokesperson, nevertheless acknowledged that the rise in the numbers of US troops and vessels visiting the country would contribute to the stability of the region, as well as improve the Philippine military’s capability to protect the country.

DSWD: Adoption is good

By Miko Morelos Philippine Daily Inquirer

SOCIAL Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman has called on scriptwriters and producers of soap operas to portray the adoption of children in a more positive light.

Soliman said it was time to put an end to the misconception that adopted children tended to be mistreated and that adoptive parents were cruel or wicked.

Soliman recently sat down with writers of top networks ABS-CBN, GMA-7 and TV-5 to discuss the process of adoption and to correct what she said was a lot of “inaccurate information” about it.

Military ‘updates’ Lacierda said the beefed-upus presence was not related to the territorial disputes with China and other claimantcountries to the Spratlys and other potentially rich islands in the West Philippine Sea. “No, it’s in line with the belief of the President [that] we have to update our military training and capability,” he said during the daily Malacañang news briefing.

“As you know, our military hardware are not quite up to date with [that of] our neighbors. So it’s imperative for us to update our military hardware and that’s for purposes of the protection of our country as well. But this is primarily to improve our military training and capability,” he said.

As for whether an increased US presence would contribute to stability in the West Philippine Sea, Lacierda said: “It will certainly.

He reiterated, however, that the primary reason for expanding the joint military exercises with the United States was the expected improvement in the capability of the Philippine military.

“What we can say for certain is that the acquisition of military hardware and the training of our Philippine troops would certainly improve our capability to protect our borders and to protect ourselves from any threat from without,” he said.

“So that is our position. That’s the reason we’re getting training, not only from them (US), by the way,” he added.

In a statement, she noted that soap operas with adoption themes tended to show adopted children being abused by step parents or forced to do heavy chores in orphanages.

She said there was a need to show people that this was not the case and that being an adoptee did not diminish the worth of a child.

She said an adoptive family brought a lot of love into a child’s life.

Movie and Television Review and Classification Board Chair Grace Poe Llamanzares agreed it was time to highlight the benefits of adoption and the responsibilities that went with it, rather than negative stereotypes.

In an earlier interview, Sally Dagulo of the Alternative Care Division of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said the department wanted to impart the message that adopted children were actually lucky and were not victims.

Dagulo said adopted children could be considered fortunate because there were people who volunteered to care for them and raise them as their own.

She explained that when the DSWD allowed children to be adopted, it made sure that they would be welcomed into caring homes with supportive family members.

The DSWD has had many adoption success stories, she said.

The adoption process is not as daunting as some fear. Thedswdalso undertakes processes to check the motivation and background of couples or single parents who want to take children into their homes, she said. ■

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TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 12

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Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin described plans to hold more joint military training exercises with the United States as an “expanded VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement), but definitely with no bases” involved.

He said the “high value” and “high impact” exercises would benefit the armed forces of both the Philippines and the Us—which would be sending over more troops—although he could not say how many servicemen would be participating on both sides.

“I cannot be definite on the numbers but definitely there will be more participation of forces from both the US and the Philippines,” Gazmin told reporters during the 115th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Army at Fort Bonifacio.

New exercises He said the exercises would be different from those conducted in Mindanao, which American forces traditionally visit as part of the annual Balikatan joint training exercise.

“We are looking at exercises that will be of value to both countries, those high-impact exercises that can help us in a lot of areas,” said Gazmin.

He cited among these exercises at sea to help the Philippine Navy improve its emergency and disaster response skills.

President Aquino earlier said the Philippines was looking to the United States for help in building up its defense capability in the midst of maritime tensions with China in the West Philippine Sea and other security concerns. ■

Gov’t to finance mining education

By Kristine L. Alave Philippine Daily Inquirer THE DEPARTMENT of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said it would finance the university education of selected students who enroll in geoscience courses in order to boost the ranks of geologists and mining experts.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said he had directed the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) to increase its scholarship grants in these courses to attract future geologists who could help the geohazard mapping and assessment program of the government.

Paje said the scholarship was for incoming college freshmen, particularly those who graduated at the top of their class.

“The past years saw a steady decline in geologists and mining and metallurgical engineers in the MGB for two reasons—their recruitment by the private sector or their going abroad which offers bigger salaries, and a halt in DENR’S recruitments because of the rationalization program,” Paje said.

Themgbhas 88 geologists—a small number for a geologically active country like the Philippines that constantly struggles with landslides, earthquakes and volcano eruptions. The bureau has posted 120 vacant positions for the job.

Twelve students have been granted scholarships by the MGB and are enrolled in geology, mining engineering and metallurgical engineering at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Adamson University, Mapua, Cebu Institute of Technology and University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao City.

An MGB scholarship covers tuition, a monthly stipend of P3,000 and a book allowance.

Applicants may inquire from the bureau’s scholarship committee at the MGB central office, North Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City. ■

Opinion

A 13 TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

There’s the Rub

Still, mob rule By conrado de quiros Philippine Daily Inquirer “LAST WEEK the Supreme Court cleared Renato Corona of wrongdoing in the Fasap case. That case involved the justices reopening a ruling they had made three times “with finality” in favor of Fasap presumably because the last ruling was made by the wrong division.

The Court cleared Corona because, one, he wasn’t even part of the recall. He had “acted only on the recommendation of the ruling division.” “In the absence of any clear personal malicious participation, it is neither correct nor proper to hold the Chief Justice personally accountable for the collegial ruling of the court en banc.” And, two, the recall was made before the third ruling could become final “pursuant to the court’s power of control over its orders and resolutions.”

That doesn’t make Corona innocent, that just makes the justices who voted for the recall guilty. All it shows is that the problem isn’t just Corona, it’s the Supreme Court itself. Or the justices Gloria Macapagal-arroyo packed it with.

They render the term “Supreme Court justice” a far more laughable, or vicious, exercise in selfparody than “military intelligence.”

So what if the recall was made before the ruling became final? That doesn’t answer Fasap’s charge that all it took for the justices to make it was a letter from Lucio Tan’s lawyer, Estelito Mendoza, asking them to do so. On the

basis of a legal technicality, or loophole, that the wrong division had made it. You look for legal loopholes in all the cases in this country, you will have to release all the inmates of Muntinlupa. Except of course that they do not have lawyers who can find that for them, which is why they are there in the first place.

More than that, that was the third ruling “with finality” the Court made in Fasap’s favor. What, the division that made it consists of members who are so dense they never realized for one minute while in the throes of deliberation that they were not the right people to do it?

The sheer insensitivity, quite apart from monumental injustice of it, is mind-boggling.

It’s bad enough that this case has gone on for 13 years, the illegally retrenched flight attendants having made do with whatever they got by way of a parting shot. It’s worse that they’ve been strapped to an emotional roller coaster, sent to heights of elation at having won their case only to be plunged to depths of depression at being told, “Whoops, hold your horses—or plans to pay off the mortgage—it ain’t over till the fat lady sings, or the greedy old men choke.” Indeed, to be told “Ay mali, the wrong division wasted all these years making the right decision—so it’s the wrong decision after all.”

That is quite apart from what it does to law in this country. When does a ruling ever become final? When does a case ever end? That is not entirely unanswerable in the Fasap case. The answer is obvious: When the ruling favors

Lucio Tan. When Lucio Tan has won the case.

All this doesn’t let Corona off the hook, it makes him squirm in it all the more. It doesn’t crown him with a glow, it crowns him with thorns. Demonstrating that the shenanigans of the Supreme Court are not Corona’s monopoly but the work of a pack of unsavory characters there doesn’t make things better, it makes things worse.

It shows the fatal folly of the impeachment court bowing down to the Supreme Court’s TRO banning the opening of Corona’s dollar accounts and its refusal to allow personnel from its ranks, other than the ones it wants, to appear in the impeachment court. Why should you allow the very people who implicitly stand indicted with Corona to determine how the impeachment court may prosecute one of their own, or indeed their head honcho? That’s allowing the family of a murder suspect to determine how the investigators may investigate the murder. The fact that the majority of the justices came up with their palpak rulings collectively doesn’t lessen Corona’s guilt, it just increases that of his co-conspirators.

Collegiality doesn’t lift Corona off the hook, it just hauls in his fellows in a bigger net. All it does is show the real problem, which is not just Corona but the Supreme Court that Arroyo made. Which is not just Corona but the cabal that Arroyo raised. Which is not just Corona but a system of justice, or the utter lack of it, or the very opposite of it, that the Judiciary has come

to represent. Of which Corona is its crowning glory.

Miriam and company’s justification for acceding to the Supreme Court’s wishes was to avoid a collision course with it. Why, what’s wrong with a collision course with the Supreme Court? Or with the gang that, like Arroyo herself, has taken over it; with the syndicate that, like Arroyo herself, clings to it for dear life, or dear loot? At the very least, it was this gang or syndicate that fired the first shot, driving the Supreme Court to a collision course with the impeachment court when it meddled in the latter’s affairs—upon the invitation of the defense. It was this gang or syndicate that went on a collision course with the Executive, with Congress, hell, with decency itself, when it hailed Arroyo’s midnight appointment of Corona as chief justice.

At the very most, why shouldn’t you go on a collision course with a gang or syndicate that has shown a resolve only to cling to the crooked path, the wayward path, the corrupt path? That is so caught up in a culture of impunity it thinks nothing of subjecting a whole tribe of people who earn a living the hard way, the honest way, to a living hell for 13 years just because it has the power to do so, just because it can invoke the law, like God, to do it?

Collegiality? That’s just another word for shared crime. That’s just another word for common guilt.

That’s just another word for mob rule. ■

get real

Magic tricks and contortions

By Solita Collas-Monsod Philippine Daily Inquirer I THOUGHT that the Supreme Court decision that justified the midnight appointment of Renato Corona as Chief Justice was a breathtaking exercise in judicial legerdemain, exceeding by far the legal contortions it engaged in later to show that plagiarism by a justice is not plagiarism. But I think I can safely say that it has been put to the blush by the arguments forwarded by the majority in its recent decision (7-2, with 5 abstentions) involving the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap).

I urge the reader to read both the majority decision and the dissenting opinion, the latter penned by Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, who showed up the majority arguments for what they are. In the meantime, please allow me to describe, in layman’s language, some of the latest magic tricks and contortions on this 14-year-old case: In June 1998, Philippine Airlines retrenched 5,000 employees, including 1,400 cabin crew, members of the Fasap (the continuing ordeal of the other 3,600 is still a nightmare issue). The retrenchment was described as a “cost-cutting measure” by PAL, which claimed to have incurred P90 billion in liabilities as a result of the 1997 financial crisis. Suffice it to say that a series of decisions, reversals and appeals found the case in the Supreme Court in 2007.

The high court (in one of its finer moments) found in favor of Fasap in 2008, a decision which of course PAL appealed in a motion for reconsideration (MR). This was denied in October 2009.

PAL filed for a second MR, which the high court denied “with finality” on Sept. 7, 2011, using pretty strong language (e.g. “PAL appears to be less than honest in its claim” and “This case has dragged on for so long and we are nowmore than duty-bound to finally put to an end to the illegality that took place; otherwise the illegally retrenched employees can rightfully claim that the Court has denied them justice”).

That decision was written by Associate Justice Arturo Brion.

Less than a month later (Oct. 4, 2011), the Supreme Court en banc recalled its Sept. 7 resolution. Not on the basis of any appeal or Mrfiled by PAL but because PAL counsel Estelito Mendoza wrote four letters—not even addressed to the high court or any of its members, but merely to the clerk of court. And rightly so, because the questions were in effect administrative in nature—the composition of the Supreme Court’s divisions in the case, whether the case might have been transferred from one division to another.

Fasap filed an MR, claiming among others that not only had there been no formal appeal

by PAL, but it was also not even asked by the high court to give its comments on the Mendoza letters before it made its recall decision.

Fast forward to the March 2012 7-2 decision of the high court “In Re: Letters of Atty. Estelito Mendoza re …” The bottom line of this decision is that Fasap is now back to square one, because the high court en banc was taking jurisdiction of the case and would now be studying not only PAL’S second MR but also its first MR, which questioned the original 2008 decision.

In other words, it is a complete victory for PAL, without its even having formally asked for it, and a complete defeat for the 1,300 illegally retrenched Fasap members. Because as sure as my name is Winnie, the high court en banc will, in due time, rule that way.

How did it arrive at that conclusion? Here are examples of the magic tricks and contortions: Magic trick No. 1 is a disappearing memo: When the high court en banc met on Oct. 4, 2011, with Mendoza’s letter on the agenda, Chief Justice Corona did not mention that the clerk of court had written a memo which debunked Mendoza’s claims of administrative faux pas in the assignment and raffling of the cases. Which was why there was no dissent from the justices when Corona said that the questions merited a recall of the Sept. 7 resolution until they could be studied, and particularly because Brion, the ponente of the resolution, made no demurrer.

Magic trick No. 2: The majority decision listed all the errors made by the raffle committees (all justices) and the clerk of court in the assignments of the case, thus supporting Mendoza’s contentions and ignoring the clerk

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of court’s memo. But it concluded that no fault could be attributed to the clerk of court or to any of the justices. Administrative faux pas galore, but no one at fault.

Sereno, to whom the case was raffled after the Oct. 4 recall resolution, found absolutely nothing wrong in the assignments of the case— in other words, the Mendoza questions were without basis, and there should have been no recall if only the justices had been shown the memo of the clerk of court.

Now the contortions. No. 1, really major, was transforming the administrative mistakes into a jurisdictional issue, in order to lay the basis for the high court en banc taking over jurisdiction and reviewing the case on its merits all over again. The point is that whether PAL’S MR was assigned to the first, second or third division becomes irrelevant and immaterial against substantive justice.

Contortion No. 2 is the concept of a “nominal” ponente, who presumably has the authority to admit an MR, but cannot rule on it, as opposed to a “ruling” ponente, who has the authority to write the decision on its merits. Shades of plagiarism that is not plagiarism—a ponente who is not a ponente.

But the biggest contortionist—the king of all flip-flops—has to be Brion, who was the ponente of the Sept. 7, 2011, resolution that gave the “final” victory to Fasap, and also the ponente of the recent decision that took it away from Fasap and gave it to PAL instead. Infamous. ■

Opinion

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 14

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Public lives

The ‘altruism’ of China’s death convicts

By RANDY DAVID Philippine Daily Inquirer IT’S BEEN two months since the historic impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona began. Week 8 opened with the defense panel taking its turn to offer its own evidence. The public had waited for this with much anticipation. Days before, Mr. Corona hopped from one radio-tv program to another to announce that all questions about his properties will now be answered, including his supposed dollar deposits. But what a great disappointment the week has been.

Government functionaries were presented to testify that Mr. Corona was earning more than a simple look at his monthly salary might indicate, and that the figures he declared in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) are consistent with the official “assessed value” of his real estate assets. But the one question that remained unanswered is why he omitted the much higher acquisition price at which his condo units were bought.

For such properties, “acquisition value” seems a more truthful measure of net worth. Indeed, there is a column for this in the SALN form but, year after year, the Chief Justice left it blank.

It is no excuse to say that such information is anyway available in other public documents like deeds of sale and income tax returns. If that were a valid reason, then the whole SALN requirement itself would be superfluous.

I’m often asked how this impeachment process will end. My answer has been: I don’t know. Politics is anything but predictable. As I have argued in past columns, impeachment is basically a political exercise that takes on the form of a judicial process. The purpose of the trial is not to determine whether or not to send an accused person to jail. Its sole purpose is to determine whether a top public official who occupies a position of trust is fit to remain in office. The individuals assigned to discharge this function are not from the judiciary. They are senators—political representatives of the people—who, whether they like it or not, have to be attuned to public opinion.

The last time a public official was tried by the Senate impeachment court was in 2001. Who would have known that the trial of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada would end the way it did? The trial came to an abrupt halt when the House prosecutors stormed out of the session hall, after a majority of the senators voted to block the opening of an envelope believed to contain bank records damaging to Estrada.

Had it been allowed to run its course, the trial would have ended in Estrada’s acquittal. The voting on the crucial “second envelope” gave a good indication of that. The collapse of the trial triggered a civilian-military uprising that subsequently unseated the incumbent president.

The endgame for the Corona trial is no less uncertain. Although Senate President Juan

Ponce Enrile has vowed to see the process to its end, many unforeseen events can happen.

An adverse procedural ruling, for example, can spark a similar uproar. It may goad the Supreme Court to intervene at a crucial moment, invoking its power of judicial review.

The resulting impasse may pave the way for a compromise in order to avert a constitutional crisis. The one who wears the crown might then offer to make the supreme sacrifice of resigning, without admitting any of the charges. If that happens, would the process still continue? Most likely not.

But a scenario like this obviously does not unfold by itself. It requires the shuttling back and forth of political agents who are adept at arbitrating the recurrent crises of elite politics.

They need time to do their work. And what better time is there than the season of spiritual contemplation that is coming up with the onset of Holy Week? For the actors in this trial, it is a good time not only for prayer but also for a clear-eyed assessment of where they stand and how much further they can press their case without straining the public’s credulity and patience.

If there is any chance for anything like this, the best time for it to happen will have to be before Mrs. Corona, or Mr. Corona himself, takes the witness stand. Their appearance in the impeachment court will definitely take the process to an altogether different plane.

It will set off its own dynamics. It is difficult

to predict how each of the 23 senator-judges will make use of the situation. We do not know either how the Coronas will handle moments of in-your-face impudence. In a personalistic culture like ours, I can only assume that the injury will be incalculable, leaving little room for a negotiated exit.

But, if Chief Justice Corona is confident that he has nothing to be defensive about, then total transparency will be his best ally.

He should take the witness stand himself at the very first hour, and not allow his lawyers to waste the time of the court in unproductive meandering. He only needs to convince eight senators that he has not betrayed the public trust or done anything improper or illegal that can reasonably be regarded as impeachable— in order for him to keep his office. But this is not as easy as it might seem. He is starting not from a neutral point, but from a position of negative public esteem. He lost public sympathy when, against all good sense, he accepted a midnight appointment as chief justice from a despised outgoing president who had been his abiding political patron.

And so, beyond proving he did not steal any money or cheat on his taxes, his is the burden of showing that he is a man of integrity, good faith and temperance—qualities that will make him truly worthy of being the country’s chief magistrate.

That is the only conceivable endgame that can help him win. ■

as i see it

Another scam in the making?

By Neal h. cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer ENERGY SECRETARY Rene Almendras may be able to evade responsibility for the 8- to 10hour blackouts in Mindanao and the rising cost of oil products, but he may have difficulty explaining why he allowed Shell and Chevron, the principal service contractors of the $4.5billion Camago-malampaya Gas Pipeline Project, to drill two additional wells for which $800 million of the government’s earnings from the project will go down the drain.

The two foreign oil companies asked for a budget of $1 billion ostensibly for the second phase of the project and for drilling. Why $1 billion when Shell itself confirmed that it would cost only $200 million to drill the two wells? For what would the additional $800 million be spent?

They claim it will be for a new platform and for a “new state-ofthe-art” equipment. Which is a lot of nonsense because these facilities already exist.

The $1 billion drilling cost would be deducted from the government’s share of the profits from the project, in accordance with the cost recovery provisions of the service contract. The consortium even had the temerity to claim that the amount is a new investment.

Actually, there is no need to drill two additional wells because there are still five wells that have not been commissioned since the project started.

What Almendras and the oil firms also did not reveal is that the new drilling project is designed

to justify the application of Chevron and Shell for the extension of the service contract for another 15 years.

Why extend the contract now when it still has 13 years to go? If extended, the contractors would be using for free the facilities now in existence, the ownership of which will be turned over to the government at the expiration of the present contract.

Why the undue interest of Almendras in the new project?

It is interesting to note that Almendras was formerly an executive of Ayala and Aboitiz, both of which have interests in Shell Philippines.

Energy Undersecretary Jose Layug, on the other hand, was formerly the legal counsel of Chevron, the principal partner in the Camago-malampaya project.

Can Almendras and Layug effectively regulate the oil companies they once served? Isn’t this conflict of interest?

Department of Energy insiders are also wondering why three days after the new drilling projects were signed in ceremonies to which President Aquino was invited, Layug went to Singapore on the invitation of the finance officer of the drilling firm interested in getting the contract to supply the drilling equipment for the new project. The unofficial trip was surreptitious.

Layug used his private passport.

Shouldn’t P-noy or the Senate order an independent investigation? This may be another scam in the making.

*** In relation to the above, I received a paper from “Concerned Employees of DOE and PNOC.” I will quote from that paper: “Service contract 38, a consortium among Shell, Chevron and the Philippine National Oil Co. Exploration Corp. (PNOC EC), also known as Camago-malampaya Natural Gas Pipeline Project, will expire in 2024. Extension of the service contract by another 15 years cannot be justified without violating the provisions of the Petroleum Act, or PD [Presidential Decree] 87.

The extension came at a time when SC 38 still has 13 more years in its term. The announcement that the SC 38 consortium will spend $1 billion in capital expenditures for the expansion of the wells cannot and should not be used as a justification for extending the term of the present contract by another 15 years.

“It will be recalled that the SC 38 consortium drilled some 11 wells in the service contract area of which only one well was found dry. Of the other 10 wells, only five wells were commissioned to supply the natural gas requirements of the three natural gas power plants located in Batangas. The rest of the wells have not yet been commissioned.

“Should there be a drop in the supply of natural gas to the three power plants, the rest of the wells can easily be commissioned by the SC 38 consortium without spending $1 billion as previously announced.

“A case in point is the drilling of another well in the Camago area in June 2011 to determine the extent of the gas, or possibly oil, and the

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confirmation that the Malampaya culmination is connected to the Camago culmination. The Camago and Malampaya gas reserve is estimated at approximately 4.2 trillion cubic feet of gas. As of September 2011, only 1 trillion cubic feet has been spent. Therefore, an estimated 3.2 trillion cubic feet of gas is still available as well as a pressure of approximately 3,200 psi, enough to get the gas out for another 15 years.

“If the consortium would need to drill two wells, it would need only a maximum of $100 million for each well in the Camago area, or a total of only $200 million. This was confirmed by no less than Shell Philippines Exploration Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. country chair Edgar Chua.

Where did the consortium get the additional $800 million figure?

“If a platform would be installed which would cost, as per report, $800 million, this will be a redundant structure because there is already an existing $1-billion concrete gravity structure within the 30-meter shallow water offshore platform tied back to the gas manifold and eventually to deliver and process the gas to the Tabangao gas plant via the 500-kilometer pipeline. Is the consortium nowoverpricing the project by $800 million to cost-recover the $1-billion project which would be deductible from the government’s share and offset against the consortium’s income tax?

“Why did the DOE and the PNOC allow the unnecessary premature project when the gas reserve would still be good to sustain the project for the next 10 to 15 years?” ■

A 15 TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Business-Phils

PH entrepreneurs help each other stay on path to prosperity, growth PH entrepreneurs help each other stay on path to prosperity, growth

By Tina Arceo-dumlao Philippine Daily Inquirer

ANYONE who occupies the coveted plush corner office of a top corporation knows that there is truth to the hackneyed expression “it’s lonely at the top.”

It can even be downright depressing.

The pressure that comes with the responsibility of leading a corporation and hundreds, if not thousands, of employees is enormous and one cannot really rely on direct reports for unvarnished advice since the relationship is unequal—one is a boss and the other a subordinate.

Entrepreneurs, regardless of the size of their enterprises, can closely identify with what chief executive through.

Like CEOS, these founders of companies big and small do not really have anybody in their team to go to for help.

But they can reach out to other entrepreneurs who are embarking on the same challenging journey, and this is what the Entrepreneurs’ Organization is all about, a needed venue for en-officers are going trepreneurs from around the world to get together and learn from each other.

Founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs in Washington DC, the group says it “enables small and large business owners to learn from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life.”

Its vision is “to build the world’s most influential entrepreneur community.”

Gov’t releases P1.1T of 2012 budget

The global organization, which is celebrating its 25th year, has 8,000 members belonging to 120 chapters, including one in the Philippines currently under the leadership of Manny Ayala, managing director of boutique investment banking firm IRG. The 48-year-old Ayala, who used to be a broadcast journalist in the Philippines, says that EO is based on the premise that the best people who can provide business advice and even life lessons are other entrepreneurs who have either gone through—are still going through—similar challenges, such as finding suppliers, dealing with difficult clients and competing with bigger players.

To be a member of EO Philippines, the entrepreneur must be either a founder or a controlling shareholder in an enterprise with an annual revenue of at least $1 million.

There are currently 119 members in the Philippines and they come from different sectors of the economy such as advertising, agriculture, architecture, design, computer software, delivery services, food and beverage, sports, telecommunications, manufacturing and multimedia.

During the monthly meetings, members divided into peer groups or forums of about 8-10 people each get to discuss business as well as personal issues, with the other members in the group called on to provide advice, business insights or just a listening ear.

“It’s like having your personal board of directors,” explains Ayala.

He says that members of the peer groups are carefully chosen so that they are not in competing businesses and not related to each other.

This is to maximize the benefits of frank, fun and yet structured discussions that can last for hours.

“The discussions are an avenue for entrepreneurs to

or P1.1 trillion of the P1.8-trillion national budget for 2012 as of endfebruary, according to Budget Secretary Florencio B. Abad.

Abad said this was achieved with the disbursement of a big chunk of automatic appropriations amid efforts to speed up spending compared with the government’s 2011 performance.

“In contrast to our previous year’s performance, we’re determined to make the bulk of our releases within the first semester of this fiscal year,” he said. “This way, government agencies can take advantage of the good weather in the coming months for rolling out Disbursements in 2 months their projects, ahead of the opening of equivalent to 61% of total classes and the rainy season.”

The budget chief said the DBM has released 41.5 percent of the P723.6

By Michelle V. Remo billion for automatic appropriations, Philippine Daily Inquirer including all of the P273.3 billion THE DEPARTMENT of Budget and earmarked for internal revenue Management has released 61 percent allotments (IRA) for local government

share their experience and skills and this works well when there is an atmosphere of openness and honesty.

What is said in the forum stays in the forum,” says Ayala, who returned to the country a few years ago after successful stints in media companies in Asia-pacific.

Ayala, who graduated with honors from Yale University and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, was the number two executive at Discovery Networks Asia, were he oversaw strategic planning, programming and program sales. He was instrumental in turning Discovery Channel and Animal Planet into top-rated TV channels across the region.

Now that he is back home, Ayala says that he has his hands full providing consultancy services through IRG, as well as overseeing the growth and operations of EO Philippines.

This year, he says, the mandate is to increase the membership base as well as fulfill the priorities of the growing organization.

These include turning over 50 houses to Gawad Kalinga and finding worthy students to take part in the Global Students Entrepreneur Awards, the premier EO award program for undergraduate students that own and run businesses while attending school; and Accelerator, a series of quarterly, learning events designed to provide top business owners with the tools, knowledge and skills they need to grow their businesses to more than $1 million in annual revenue.

Ayala did turn his back on a challenging career in the corporate world, but he has no regrets shifting to entrepreneurship.

“I love the challenge of making something out of practically nothing—it really pushes a person to use all his God-given talents to create something that is meaningful to people,” he says.

“One of my favorite definitions of entrepreneurship comes from Howard Stevenson, an HBS professor, who said 37 years ago: ‘Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.’” ■

as well as P22.8 billion or 98.1 percent of the P23.2-billion budget for retirement and life insurance premiums of government employees.

Abad said 91.3 percent or P793 billion of this year’s P869-billion budget for government agencies has also been released.

“The swift pace of our budget releases affirms the Aquino administration’s commitment of ensuring the quick delivery of critical goods and services to the public, particularly the poorest and most marginalized,” Abad said.

“The releases will enable all government departments and agencies to implement key projects and programs within—or even ahead of—their respective schedules for this fiscal year,” he added.

Of this chunk of the 2012 budget, P425 billion or 99.7 percent of the P426.1 billion allocated for salaries,

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allowances and other benefits of government employees has been given out.

Likewise, P217 billion or 92.5 percent of the P234.4 billion set for maintenance and other operating expenses has been released. The same with P151 billion or 72.5 percent of the P208.3 billion allocated for capital outlays.

Abad said the remaining funds for departments and national agencies would be released once they submit the special budget requests and other documentary requirements.

“As much as we want to fasttrack spending, we need to balance this out with agency due-diligence and compliance, especially with respect to our standards for accountability and transparency,” he said.■

Sports Pacquiao open to smaller purse

By Roy Luarca Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANNY Pacquiao is enticing Floyd Mayweather Jr. with a tempting offer yet again.

The Filipino eight-division world champion said he is now willing to accept a lesser guaranteed purse just to seal a fight with the unbeaten American.

Pacquiao, however, insisted that the payper-view revenues be split equally.

“It’s fine with me if he has a bigger guaranteed purse,” Pacquiao told ANC Headstart in Filipino yesterday. “There’s no problem as long as we have a 50-50 split on the PPV.” Pacquiao scoffed at Mayweather’s earlier offer of $40 million with no PPV share and made a counter offer of 45-45 sharing with the remaining 10 percent going to the winner of the fight.

Mayweather rejected the offer and instead booked a showdown with Puerto Rican Miguel Cotto on May 5, forcing Pacquiao to stake his crown against unbeaten WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley on June 9.

Pacquiao said he is willing to fight Mayweather any time and it is up to his poundfor-pound rival to seal the deal that

could reward each fighter with at least $50 million.

Pacquiao also disclosed that Mayweather’s reluctance to agree to an equal sharing stems from the possibility that he might suffer a first, career-derailing defeat.

Mayweather reportedly told a member of his team that Pacquiao, being a congressman (of Sarangani province), has a fallback position while he has none.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao was guest of honor at the well-attended 12th Gabriel “Flash” Elorde Banquet of Champions held Sunday night at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City.

In his speech, Pacquiao, who was feted for his outreach program, enjoined his fellow boxers, including former world champion Rolando Navarette and former world contender Z Gorres, to continue pursuing their dreams for the country’s glory.

Also present was former light welterweight champion Amir Khan, who will join Pacquiao’s training camp in Baguio City.

In one of the pre-event bouts, Dennis Laurente survived a first-round knockdown to stop Eusebio Baluarte in the 12th round and retain his Philippine welterweight title. ■

Django routs Yang, squares series at 3-all

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 16

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Phil bags 10th goal as Meralco XI wrests lead By cedelf p. tupas Philippine Daily Inquirer

By cedelf p. tupas Philippine Daily Inquirer

FRANCISCO “Django” Bustamante finished with a flourish in repulsing Taiwanese bet Yang Ching-shun, 9-3, Saturday night in their Philippine Bigtime Billiards (PBB) Face-off at the Pagcor Airport Casino in Parañaque City.

Bustamante, the 2010 World 9-Ball champion, won the last four racks to wrap up the victory that allowed Team Philippines to tie the series with Team Asia at 3-3 in the event jointly organized by the Mega Sports World and BRKHRD Corp.worth $5,000 (about P214,000).

“I think I got a little lucky as the balls were falling in my favor,” said Bustamante, who never looked back after taking a 5-2 lead and clinched the $5,000 winner’s prize.

The series resumes on Saturday with former double world champion Ronnie Alcano battling Chang Yu Long of Taiwan.

Alex Pagulayan makes his debut in the series against Liu Hai Tao of China on April 14, before Liu faces World No. 1 Dennis Orcollo on April 21.

The match pitting Fong Pang Chao of Taiwan and Lee Vann “The Slayer” Corteza could decide the series on April 28.

The matches are also aired live over Solar Sports, Sky Channel 70 and Destiny Channel 34, and also streamed worldwide through www. megasportsworld.com and www. philippinebigtimebilliards.com.

On Feb. 18, Taiwan’s Ko Pin-yi downed Efren “Bata” Reyes, 9-4, before Bustamante avenged his friend’s defeat with a comefrom-behind win against Ko, 9-7, on Feb. 25.

Chang Jung-lin of Taiwan beat Corteza, 9-7, last March 3 and Orcollo, 9-8, on March 10. Carlo Biado then downed Yang, 9-3, last weekend.

The series is being supported by Sorsogon’s Philip Escudero, Malungai Life Oil, Mandarin Sky Sea Food restaurant, Servo Marketing, Hermes Sports Bar, Golden Leaf Restaurant, Bugsy Promotions, Billiards Managers and Players Association of the Philippines and Airport Casino Filipino. ■

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PICKING UP from where he left off in the AFC Challenge Cup, national team striker Phil Younghusband notched his United Football Leagueleading 10th goal of the season to fuel Loyola Meralco’s 5-0 rout of Nomads Auction Manila Sunday night at the University of Makati pitch.

Younghusband, the Golden Boot winner with six goals in the AFC tournament in Nepal last week, struck from close range in the 38th minute as the Sparks climbed to the top, ahead of Global and Kaya on goal difference, with their sixth victory in seven matches.

Later, an improved Green Archers United proved too sharp for struggling Navy Red Juice with Floriano Pasilan banging in four goals in the 5-0 win to jack up his season tally to six.

Pasilan, the national team left winger from San Carlos City, formed a formidable attacking trio with newcomer Jesus Melliza and exnational Arnie Pasinabo.

Archers moved up to sixth with their second straight victory for seven points, ahead of Pasargad and Air Force on goal difference, while Navy remained winless in eight matches, where it has already given up 38 goals.

Melliza, the UAAP Season 74 top scorer from Far Eastern U who was picked up during the transfer window, scored on his UFL debut, using his pace to beat two defenders before slotting the ball past Benito Rosalia two minutes into the match.

Another flowing move involving Pasinabo and Melliza ended with Pasilan finding the back of the net to make it 2-0 just 10 minutes into the match, before the fleet-footed striker grabbed his second with a cool finish in the 35th minute.

Pasilan grabbed his hat-trick in the 56th minute, benefiting from Melliza’s work on the right flank, before capping his heroics with a brilliant individual finish two minutes into injury time.

Goalkeeper Patrick Deyto also showed plenty of promise in his UFL debut, coming through with a couple of reflex saves in Green Archers’ first shutout victory of the season.

STANDINGS W D L Pts GD Loyola Meralco 6 0 1 18 21 Global 6 0 2 18 13 Kaya 6 0 1 18 5 Stallion 4 1 1 13 14 Army 22 4 8 -4 Green Archers 21 4 7 1 Air Force 21 3 7 -2 Pasargad 12 3 5 -5 Nomads 12 4 5 -13 Navy 01 7 1 -33 ■

A 17

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

News-Canada

Kat Norris (left) note the sage grass burning in the abalone shell on the table

Crowd with their drums at the Ceremony

8000 Drums Global Ceremony: Igorot Physician Dr. Claver Speaks of Common Ties with the First Nations

Aida Hernandez doing the Deer Dance

By: E. Maestro Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights

Dr. Chandu Claver from the Cordillera People’s Alliance

Javier Romero from the Wirikuta

Sister killed by husband in Winnipeg never spoke of trouble: brother The Canadian Press

WINNIPEG - The family of a Filipina woman who was killed by her husband in Winnipeg say there was no indication the marriage was troubled.

Police found the bodies of Renelle Bermudez Nonato, 28, and her husband, Julito Nonato, dead in their Winnipeg apartment on Saturday.

The couple’s three-year-old son, discovered in his bed in the suite, is now in the care of family in Winnipeg.

Police say Julito stabbed his wife multiple times, then took his own life.

Renelle’s brother, Louie Bermudez, said the couple was married four years ago in a big church wedding in the Philippines.

She followed her husband to Winnipeg after their marriage, gave birth to their son and got a good job working at a shipping company near their Jefferson Avenue apartment. ``She’s our breadwinner,’’ Bermudez said from his home in Brunei on the island of Borneo. ``It’s been very difficult for us. I love her so much.’’

She sent money back to the Philippines to pay for their mother’s

medications and to help her older siblings pay for education. And the family talked, as often they could, bridging the time-zone difference with countless midnight calls.

Renelle would hold her son up to the phone so the boy’s uncle could hear him.

Renelle never said anything to her family that anything was wrong in her marriage, her brother said.

Julito Nonato seemed like a good husband, Bermudez said. Now, he wonders what happened before last Saturday that Renelle could not tell them. ``Domestic violence should be stopped,’’ Bermudez said. ``Please help us to stop this.’’

Only next month, the family was to be reunited: Renelle learned her older sister had been approved to immigrate to Winnipeg. ``Our only dream was to be together as one family again after these long years,’’ Bermudez said.

Now, their only dream is to bring her body home to the Philippines. It’s a tricky process, and an expensive one for a family of modest means.

But one way or another, Bermudez pledged, they will be together again, just like they always planned. ■

Unceded Coast Salish territory, Vancouver, BC. – Families, youth and children brought their drums of all different sizes to the 8000 Drums Global Ceremony, the indigenous community-led sacred drum ceremony for the earth, for the environment and for peace last March 21.

According to a 500-year-old Sacred Prophecy revealed by the Otomi Elder Sages in Mexico, when 8000 drums sound together, an intense healing of Mother Earth, of all the species and the human family will begin. The first 8000 Drums Ceremony in Vancouver was held in March 2008.

Open to all cultures and all races, and all drums, the 8000 Drums Ceremony was posted in the mainstream and social media.

Despite the cold and rain, it drew a huge crowd of people who joined the First Nations communities at the Oppenheimer Park on East Powell Street.

Kat Norris, organizer of this year’s 8000 Sacred Drums, opened the Ceremony with prayer, song and drumming. Kat Norris is with the Indigenous Action Movement and is of Coast Salish ancestry from her mother and Hawaiian-Filipino and Nez Perce roots from her father.

The speakers included Derrick Whiteskycloud for the Metis, Bob Baker from the Salish Nations, Danny Charlie from the Sto:lo Salish Nations, Warren Wolfleg from the Siksika Nation, Javier Romero from the Wirikuta, Angela Marie MacDougall from the Black community, women from the February

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14 Women’s Memorial March, and Aida Hernandez from Northern Mexico with her Deer Dance -- all sharing their inspiration of working for justice for their people and lands, with a speech, dance or a drum song.

Dr. Chandu Claver, Igorot physician and activist from the indigenous Philippine tribes in the northern Philippines now living in Victoria, brought greetings from the Cordillera People’s Alliance in the Philippines. “Our people numbering over a million, call the Grand Cordillera Mountain Region in the northern part of the Philippines as our homeland. We are much honoured to be invited to this gathering of First Nations and other indigenous peoples.”

The indigenous peoples in the Philippines share common issues and challenges with the First Nations in Canada. “Like yourselves,” Dr. Claver said, “the Igorot culture, economic life and links to our ancestors are all found in the land.

Land to us, therefore, is life… once we lose the land, we will die as a people,” to which the crowd responded to with clapping and gentle drumming.

Foreign mining companies, including Canadian mining corporations such as Ivanhoe, Olympus Pacific, Toronto Ventures and Solfatara, according to Dr. Claver, “has caused unprecedented environmental havoc in the Cordillera such as land subsidence in populated areas, massive contamination of waterways, drought and disease,… they run roughshod over the legal requirement of free, prior and informed consent of our people prior to any development initiative, ….they have utilized paramilitary forces resulting in killings, abductions and displacement.”

Like the First Nations people in Canada, the Igorots of the Philippines, Dr. Claver emphasized, are under grave threat. But together with the other indigenous forces in the world, he continued that “we should stand together to resist corporate and State attacks on indigenous peoples. We should struggle for our collective life and survival as distinct peoples.”

Failure to do so can only mean one thing – “we shall fall on the wayside, one defeated people after another.”

Dr. Claver is the International Spokesperson of the Cordillera People’s Alliance and also works with the Victoria – Philippines Solidarity Group and the Mining Justice Action Committee. ■

News-Canada Financial help promised for flood victims in northern New Brunswick

By Kevin Bissett The canadian press PERTH-ANDOVER, N.B. - Flood waters along New Brunswick’s St. John River were still receding Sunday as the provincial government announced financial assistance for people whose properties were swamped following ice jams downstream.

Premier David Alward visited the northwestern village of Perth-Andover to survey the damage first-hand, which was estimated at around $25 million.

Some 500 residents were ordered to leave for higher ground Friday after the river spilled its banks. ``It was something beyond imagination,’’ Alward said during a news conference.

Alward said there was significant damage to government buildings and about 150 properties in the community, which declared a local state of emergency on Friday. It was still unclear when evacuees would be able to return home. ``I know the last few days have been an unbelievably difficult time for this community,’’ he said. ``I sympathize with those folks who

have been forced out of their homes by the rising flood waters, the families whose lives have been thrown into chaos the last few days, and the small business owners who are watching their livelihoods become devastated by this event.’’

Flood waters had receded Sunday on the village’s main street, leaving behind a mess of mud and truck-sized chunks of ice.

The village of 1,700 has endured four major floods since the 1980s, the most recent in 2008. Water levels this time around reached at least a metre higher than in any previous flood, said officials.

Hector Guitard, who owns a hardware store in the village, said while his basement has flooded in the past, he’s never seen anything like this flood. ``I had about six feet of water on the main floor, so stuff fell over and it’s now laying in mud,’’ he said. ``Hopefully we can get back in there as soon as possible and get it cleaned up.’’

The local hospital remained closed because it was flooded.

Alward reassured residents Sunday that the hospital will reopen, though he could not say when.

Analyst warns extending retirement age to 67 could hurt provinces’ bottom line

By Terry Pedwell The canadian press OTTAWA - Changes to Canada’s Old Age Security program expected to be outlined in this week’s federal budget will mean higher costs for the provinces, territories and municipalities, analysts warn.

Phased-in changes to the taxpayerfunded retirement program are widely expected to include raising the eligibility age for OAS benefits by two years, to 67.

The changes will mean other levels of government will be forced to top up social program supplements for lowincome earners to make up for moving the qualification period by two years, says Allan Maslove, a professor at Carleton University’s School of Public Policy and Administration. ``I think this is another example of federal downloading onto the provinces,’’ says Maslove.

But it may be difficult for provinces, territories and municipalities to immediately quantify just how much more they’ll have to pump into social assistance programs as a result, because the changes are being done ``by stealth,’’ says Maslove. ``(It is) perhaps even more stealthy that the downloading of the prison costs

in the (federal government’s) crime bill,’’ he said.

Several provinces have already complained that they will have to bear the brunt of other policy changes instituted by the federal Conservatives, particularly under the Tory tough on crime agenda.

Federal officials acknowledge the changes to OAS eligibility will have some impact on the provinces and territories, as well as businesses.

And because of that, Ottawa will be looking for guidance from all levels of government and other stakeholders to mitigate the effects of the changes, but only after they are announced, says a spokeswoman for Human Resources Minister Diane Finley. ``We will engage with and work closely with stakeholders _ whether it’s business, whether it’s the provinces and the territories, whether it’s other federal departments _ we’ll make sure that we’re working closely with those who will be potentially affected,’’ said Alyson Queen, Finley’s director of communications.

One of the major challenges for the federal government will be explaining to financial planners, and individual taxpayers, who is - and who is not impacted by the changes. ``It will be important to clarify exactly who is affected and who is not. And for those who are, to ensure

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``People can have full assurance in the importance of the hospital here,’’ he said.

Unseasonably hot weather that caused a rapid snowmelt and an ice jam was being blamed for causing the St. John River to breach its banks.

The flooding also damaged a few homes on the nearby Tobique First Nation and forced some 50 people to leave the reserve over the weekend.

Public Safety Minister Robert Trevors said residents will be able to begin the process of filing an assistance claim on Monday.

A toll-free hotline (1-888-298-8555) has been set up for people to call. ``The program will allow residents to receive information and register their flood-related damage with a single phone call,’’ said Trevors.

The province’s Emergency Measures Organization said people could be eligible for up to $100,000 in assistance under the federal-provincial relief plan.

Inspectors will assess what repairs are needed before people can safely return to their properties. The government said people whose claims are approved could

be eligible for an advance payment up to $4,000 for immediate repairs.

Trevors said inspectors have already begun assessing properties in PerthAndover and on the Tobique First Nation.

Perth-Andover Mayor Rick Beaulieu said he understands people want to get back into their homes as soon as possible, but urged patience. ``We want to make sure that when they go back into their homes or their businesses that everything is safe,’’ he said. ``That’s why it’s important that these inspection teams have a chance to view these properties and make sure there are no hazardous situations.’’

A similar relief program was offered in December 2010 after days of rain caused rivers to breach their banks, flooding homes and businesses in St. Stephen. ■

that they have plenty of time to plan and prepare for their retirement,’’ said Queen.

The Conservatives have been careful to stress that the proposed changes won’t affect current retirees, nor those who are close to retirement.

It’s expected that the changes won’t take effect for perhaps a decade or longer.

But the move is necessary ``to ensure the long-term sustainability of important social programs,’’ says a high-ranking government source.

There are, however, differences of opinion on whether the government needs to make the changes to ensure the taxpayer-funded retirement system is sustainable.

The government predicts there will be 9.3 million Canadians over age 65 within the next 18 years, roughly double the number of those above the traditional retirement age in 2010.

Canada currently pays out about $36 billion in Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement, or GIS benefits. Without dramatic changes, that amount is expected to skyrocket above $108 billion by 2030. ``If we don’t make any changes the overall cost of the retirement safety net payments is going to be substantially higher,’’ says Andrew Dunn, a world-renowned tax adviser who works for auditing firm Deloitte Canada.

But a report by parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page in January questioned the government’s claim that Old Age Security costs are unsustainable in the long term.

Page’s analysis asserted that limits the federal government is imposing on health transfers to the provinces will save billions of dollars that could be shifted to the OAS program.

The plan does not sit well with the Canadian Association of Retired Persons. The advocacy group argues that OAS is sustainable for the longrun. It points out Canada spends a much smaller portion of its Gross Domestic Product on public pensions than the average of other OECD nations and has a notably younger population.

OAS is paid to all Canadian residents beginning at age 65 and is designed to provide a minimum income for seniors. Recipients with annual net incomes below $69,562 are paid $540.12 monthly with some of that amount clawed back from those earning more. The benefit is eliminated once a person’s income exceeds $112,772.

For low income earners, the GIS pays a maximum $732.36 monthly.

Government sources have confirmed that by increasing the eligibility age for OAS, the qualification age for GIS top-up would automatically be increased as well. ■

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A 21 TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Lifestyle-Canada My husband’s aunt scolded my daughter – what should I do?

By dr. rizaldy r. ferrer Psychologist

dear dr. z Dear Dr. Z, I happen to marry a man who belongs to a close-knit family. His orientation is the typical Filipino custom where older family members are considered with high regard and authority. There was once a family gathering when my husband’s aunt asked my 8-year-old daughter to go ahead and eat. But, she declined because she was not hungry, and instead continued on to what she was doing, play.

Later, not only was I told by the aunt that she reprimanded my daughter for not complying; I was also criticized for having a disobedient child. I explored with my daughter what she perceived happened and found out she was upset and confused because she did not know what she did wrong. Part of me wanted to take the aunt’s side because of her older-family-member status, but I also believed that scolding my daughter just for that was unreasonable. Nonetheless,

by Jeffrey J.D. Andrion Physiotherapist

HEALTH, DISABILITY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS

Filipino Physiotherapists in Canada In recent years, there has been an increasing number of physiotherapists (PTs) from the Philippines whose scholastic records are being assessed for equivalency.

On the other hand, many Philippine-trained colleagues are now registered PTs across Canada. For individuals who are yet to be credentialed, the demographics are indeed encouraging. With the graying Canadian population, the demand for the profession is expected to rise in the years to come, a prediction that is similar to other healthcare professions such as nursing, for instance.

Brain gain has been coined to reflect

Dear Joanna, I understand your dilemma. At times, we find ourselves tangled in a way that our culture, such as interpersonal boundaries between extended families is not clearly defined. I think, one reason for this ambiguity is because we are hesitant to declare our bounds with them. Let me ask, what has stopped you from telling the aunt that you did not appreciate how she handled the situation? I am guessing that you did not want any conflict, yet it already happened the moment your daughter said she did not want to partake during mealtime. Confronting the aunt does not create, but attempts to resolve the conflict. It is not about making her accede to your convictions, rather

getting your message across. In fact, you said it clearly: you want (them) to respect and acknowledge that you are the parent. To achieve this, the use of good communication strategies is important. Begin by asking the aunt if you can speak to her privately. Then, tell her that you are trying to get a clear understanding of what happened and that you have already asked your daughter what she thought happened. If there is a discrepancy between her and your daughter’s story, simply state the discrepancy without scrutinizing whose version is inaccurate. Remember that the discussion is about the situation and not the aunt. Speak with the use of “I” statements (vs. “You”) at all times. Instead of saying, “You should have come to me first if you have a problem with my daughter,” say, “I would prefer if I am told first of the problem so I can intervene right away.”

Also, speak about how you feel about the situation, “I feel bypassed because it is important to me to be involved in how my daughter learns to interact with others.” Nevertheless, allow the aunt to express her other thoughts and feelings, and understand where she is coming from. She also needs to get her message

across without imposition. Lastly, do not forget to appreciate her time and willingness to deal this issue with you.

May your attempt to talk to the aunt be the beginning of a better communication with her and the rest of your husband’s family. ■ Dr. Rizaldy R. Ferrer has studied psychology since he was 15 and attended Ateneo de Davao University and De La Salle University. He commenced and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University in Los Angeles, California USA. Dr. Z, as fondly called by his families and friends is a licensed psychologist in the state of California.

He works as a Research Associate and Clinical Supervisor also at Alliant International Univeristy. He also maintains a private practice serving children, families and adults. For more about Dr. Z, visit his website at www. thehealthymind.org. Dr. Z answers your questions about psychological wellbeing and mental health. If you or your loved ones are going through tough times and need some support, write to Dr. Z at ask@canadianinquirer.net.

the positive impact of migration. While becoming a physiotherapist in Canada has its challenges, working in the field is rewarding. Aside from providing the rehabilitation needs of the clients, being a PT allows an individual to explore other areas of interest not only to gain further knowledge but also to follow a passion.

At the same time, gaining experience as a clinician in Canada will give one the opportunity to bring evidence-based knowledge to the Philippines that will further strengthen the practice of the profession in the home country.

Brain drain, on the other hand, reflects the negative impact of migration. The impact of migrating to Canada itself, coupled by personal and financial needs, have led some individuals to work in other fields instead.

The fear of not passing both the written and oral components of the Canadian physiotherapy national examination is a major stumbling block as well. At the same time, being out of school for a while can create unnecessary insecurities.

With brain gain on one end and brain drain on the other, the role that organizations play can be pivotal in shifting one’s thinking.

In Toronto for instance, the Society of Physiotherapists with Foreign Credentials (SPFC) aims to provide mentoring (and inspiration) for individuals who are either contemplating to re-train as a PT in Canada or preparing for the national examinations. Either way, the SPFC creates an environment that is not only conducive to learning and camaraderie but also aims to break down barriers. While the majority of the members are from the Philippines, colleagues from around the globe also shape the organization: PTs originally from India, Turkey, Iran, and Colombia for instance, contribute to the diversity and uniqueness of the group. Having members with different academic and clinical backgrounds contribute both to academic learning and cultural awareness. Founded in 2010, the organization’s main mission is to assist the integration of internationallytrained PTs to the Canadian healthcare setting. It is able to achieve this through its many mentoring activities, including the Learning Facilitation Sessions and the Continuing Education Seminars.

Being part of an organization reflects the power of belongingness. Identifying one’s

self with like-minded individuals can open the flood gate of academic learning and potential job opportunities. It also allows an individual to seriously contemplate the many rewards that await him or her as a physiotherapist. At the same time, one’s membership with an organization is a reassurance that mentors and colleagues will always be around to help. ■ Jeffrey J.D. Andrion is a physiotherapist at the Sunnybrook Holland Orthopaedic & Arthritic Centre in Toronto. He holds the rank of Instructor at the Department of Physical Therapy, University of Toronto and is the Co-Chair of the Philippine Working Group of the International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation. He is a product of Ateneo de Davao High School and of Capitol University (Philippines) where he earned his BSc Physical Therapy. He completed his equivalency studies in physiotherapy at McGill University in Montreal and earned his Master’s Degree in Critical Disability Studies from York University in Toronto where he is also completing his PhD in Health. He can be reached at jeffrey.andrion@utoronto.ca.

I felt insulted and bypassed. My dilemma is not knowing how to approach and express to them that I prefer they would tell me first what the problem is and not directly scold my daughter without my knowledge. As much as I wanted to respect their family’s “culture,” I also want my family “culture” be respected where members have a voice to express themselves.

Joanna British Columbia

ATTENTION FBL GOLF MEMBERS

TOURNAMENT DATES

The FBL Golf Association of Calgary will be starting their 2012 Golf Season very soon and would like to notify all members to please contact fblgolfcalgary@hotmail.ca The new season will again be played at the Fox Hollow Golf Course, Calgary, Alberta.

• 1st Round - June 3, 2012 - Sunday • 2nd Round - June 9, 2012 - Saturday • 3rd Round - June 10, 2012 - Sunday • 4th/Final Round - June 17, 2012 - Sunday • Skins/Match Play - June 24, 2012 - Sunday (Top 12 Qualifying Players Only)

MEMBERSHIP FEES: Returning Members $35.00 / New Members $45.00 2012 GREEN FEES: $100.00 (includes round of golf , dinner and proximity prizes) NEW MEMBERS ARE WELCOME For more info, please send email to fblgolfcalgary@hotmail.ca

Please check our website at http://www.fblgolf.com for further information Thank you very much.

FBL GOLF ASSOCIATION OF CALGARY

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Immigration

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Minister Kenney proposes to assess foreign education credentials before skilled workers arrive Ottawa, March 28, 2012 – Canada is proposing a major change to how foreign skilled workers’ education credentials are assessed, Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced today.

licensure by a regulatory body specific to their profession and intended province of work.

“Internationally trained workers make an important contribution to Canada’s job market and the economy,” added Diane Finley, The proposed new requirement Minister of Human Resources would mean that applicants wanting and Skills Development. “That’s to immigrate as Federal Skilled why our Government is working Workers would have their foreign in partnership to improve foreign education credentials assessed and credential recognition so that verified by designated organizations skilled newcomers can put their before they arrive in Canada. knowledge and skills to work sooner.”

“Our Government is building an immigration system that is focused Minister Kenney also used on economic growth and ensuring the occasion to release the 2011 that all Canadians, including Government of Canada Progress immigrants, are able to contribute to Report on Foreign Credential their maximum capacity,” said Jason Recognition, Strengthening Kenney. “By having their foreign Canada’s Economy. The annual education credentials assessed report, led by the Foreign before their arrival to Canada, Credentials Referral Office, foreign skilled workers will have a highlights achievements made better sense of how their credentials by Citizenship and Immigration fit into the Canadian labour market Canada , Human Resources and and will be able to contribute their Skills Development Canada, and full skill set to the economy more Health Canada to help foreign quickly. This proposal is part of a trained individuals integrate into broader package of transformational the Canadian workforce. changes that will make Canada’s immigration policies work better Highlights of the report for the Canadian economy.” include: • expansion of the Canadian A pre-arrival assessment would Immiration Integration Program let applicants know how their (CIIP), which is designed and education credentials compare to managed by the Association of Canadian credentials and it will give Canadian Community Colleges. immigrants a sense of how Canadian CIIP currently offers pre-arrival employers are likely to value their orientation sessions in up to 25 education. This will also screen out countries, based on demand; people without proper education levels and is an important step in • an innovative assessment helping to address the problem of and bridging program to help immigrants arriving and not being internationally educated nurses able to work in their field. meet regulatory requirements for licensure across Canada; and The assessment of international educational credentials would • the launch of the International not mean that Federal Skilled Qualifications Network Website Workers would automatically for stakeholders to share find employment in Canada information and best practices in commensurate with their skills nor credential assessment. would it guarantee that they would To read the Government of become licensed to practice in a Canada 2011 Progress Report on regulated occupation. Applicants Foreign Credential Recognition, who intend to work in a regulated Strengthening Canada’s profession would likely need to Economy, go to: http://www. have their qualifications assessed credentials.gc.ca/fcro/progressin greater depth for purposes of report2011.asp ■ www.canadianinquirer.net

A 23 TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Lifestyle-Phils

PH techies create app, win big in FB tilt recruitment method for finding talented programmers to work for the Internet giant.

At the recent Hackathon in Singapore, developer teams were tasked to conceptualize, write programs and present the finished application within a short period of time.

“I don’t think we won because of what we came up with in four hours, but because of what Hear Me can become in the hands of other Facebook users and the developer community,” said Chikka team leader Melvin Fetalvero. iphone app “They can surely build on it (and) run with it to launch very engaging content: think rapping bouts and ‘pick-up line’ battles. They can now bring those experiences to social media,” Fetalvero said.

The Hear Me application was developed as an iphone application or “app” that would allow users to record voice greetings and post these on their own or on other users’ Facebook pages. Other users can then listen to the recording, “like” it, and even share it with their friends.

The app was created using Facebook’s Open Graph application programming interface ( API), which enables developers to create apps that take advantage of Facebook’s social ecosystem.

Web, mobile integration The team from Chikka now a subsidiary of Smart Communications—was able to create Hear Me in just four hours and without the need to use expensive IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and VOIP (Voice Over IP) systemstechnologies used in popular Internet communications software such as Skype and Yahoo!

Messenger.

In a statement, Chikka founder Dennis Mendiola said: “It seems like only yesterday when we were called the text capital of the world. Today, it’s well documented how we are the ‘social media capital.’ It is why the world tends to expect innovation in this area from Filipinos; we take to social media like fish to water.”

Chikka’s flagship Chikka Text Messenger, which allowed Internet users to send short messaging service (SMS) or “text” messages to mobile phone users, was the world’s first commercially successful integration of web and mobile services.

Mendiola said Filipino telecom firms also invented the cardless over-the-air and peer-to-peer exchange of load between mobiles, which is now adopted in major mobile markets all over the world.

Filipinos are pioneers as well in user-generated status broadcasts to a base of mobile followers, a

precursor to such popular social media apps as Twitter, he said.

Build your own backyard pool

keep your water clean. Chlorine and pH balance test strips can be purchased from pool suppliers. Pumps and filters are usually available where Intex pools are sold.

Just make sure to get the right pump for your pool size. For more details on maintaining your pool and treating the water, visit the following web pages: http://www.inyopools.com/ HowToPage/above_ground_pool_ maintenance.aspx, http://www.ehow. com/how_4781027_treat-waterinflatable-pool.html.

Set up your pool. Make sure it’s protected from hard grass, rocks and other sharp objects. It would be smart to lay down a tarp under your pool to protect it. Do not allow toys with sharp edges into the pool. Pets shouldn’t be allowed to scratch the pool.

Swim. Once your pool’s pH balance and chlorine content are at ideal levels, your kids can start swimming. For extra fun, you may want to pick up toys for the pool (or raid your kids’ toy cabinets). Rubber duckies, inflatable

balls, swim rings are ideal for pool play. Toy Kingdom carries a lot of pool toys, with prices ranging from P44.75 to over P700. And don’t forget the sunblock.

Turn it into a party. Bring out your grill, hotdogs and cold drinks and you’ve got yourself a pool party.

Marshmallows are a must too—they’re delicious with hot dogs and your kids can have fun roasting them. Never leave your children unsupervised in the pool area. Put up a barrier around the pool and keep your kids in sight to avoid accidents.

Cover the pool when not in use.

Pool covers are also available where pools are sold.

Clean before storing. When summer is over and you do not intend to use your pool for a long time, drain the pool, remove any debris, spray the pool with your garden hose, gently scrub the pool to get rid of stains, grime and bacteria and rinse.

Make sure the pool is completely dry before storing. ■

By Paolo G. Montecillo Philippine Daily Inquirer FROM “text capital” to “social media capital of the world.”

That’s how the Philippines would henceforth be known, thanks to four Filipino programmers who bagged a major prize at the recent Facebook Mobile held in Singapore.

Besting other programmers from several Asian countries, Jason Sia, Miko Ignacio, Melvin Fetalvero and Josh Basarte, programmers working for home-grown technology firm Chikka.com, won the “Hackathon’s” Best Mobile Open Graph award for creating “Hear Me,” an application that lets users post audio notes on their Facebook home page.

The term Hackathon was coined by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Featured in the Academy Award winning film “The Social Network,” Hackathons are Facebook’s main

D.I.Y. FOR PARENTS Want to have a summer-long swimming party with your kids? Here’s how

By pam pastor Philippine Daily Inquirer One thing’s for sure this summer— your kids will complain about the heat. While you can whisk them off to a resort or a hotel for a few days, what about the rest of their summer vacation?

Here’s a sure-fire idea that will not only help you beat the heat but will also keep your kids’ boredom at bay.

The best part? It’s so much fun it will tear them away from their computers and video games.

Build your own backyard pool and have a summer-long swimming party with your kids.

Pick a spot and measure it. Find out how much space you can spare for your pool. Make sure your spot is free of sharp rocks and debris that might tear your pool.

Buy your pool. Department stores and toy stores carry a wide array of pool choices. One brand that offers pools in different shapes and sizes is Intex. Baby pools can cost as low as P199.75; small pools cost between P399.75 and P1,499.75; bigger pools that can fit the entire family can cost up to P4299.

You can find the brand at Toy Kingdom and Toy Kingdom Express at SM. There are also bigger pools.

Choose the pool size suited to your budget and the number of kids and adults who will swim. If you have older kids and little ones, it might be a good idea to get a separate smaller pool for the toddlers. Don’t forget the air pump.

Put together a maintenance kit. For bigger pools that are not emptied every day, you will need to buy chlorine, pH balance test strips, a pump and filter to

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Passion and pride “It’s in our blood. The Facebook Hackathon represents some of the world’s finest mobile applications developers. Beyond expertise, talent and creativity, there is passion and pride in what we do,” Mendiola said.

Chikka.com recently merged with Wolfpac Mobile Inc., also owned by Smart Communications, to form one of the largest web and mobile applications developers in the Philippines that cater to mobile Internet communities’ demand for apps of high utility and high entertainment value.

“We’re very happy with what the (group has) accomplished in Singapore,” Smart spokesperson Ramon Isberto said in an interview.

“This is very much in line with our push in innovating in the application space,” he added.

“As you know, smartphones are now becoming more popular and at the core of this are relevant applications,” Isberto said, adding that Smart Communications would build on Chikka’s success to create more developer activity in the Philippines “so we can generate more innovations here to find international markets for Filipino developers.”■

Food-Phils

Holy Week also cleanses the environment

By Sharon Robas-macawile Philippine Daily Inquirer

MANY FILIPINOS view the abstinence from eating meat as a self-sacrifice necessary to cleanse the soul. At the very least, for one week every year, the country has a chance to catch up with its Asian neighbors insofar as the per capita consumption of vegetables is concerned.

The country has the lowest annual per capita intake of vegetables in Asia, with only 39 kilograms, as compared to China’s 250 kg.

Members of the scientific community believe that it may not only be souls, going meatless cleanses. Abstinence from eating meat may also benefit health and the environment, as well.

Stanford University biochemist Patrick O. Brown, who has been a vegetarian for more than 30 years (and a vegan for more than five years), has been an advocate of the plant-based diet for reasons that include “putting an end to animal farming” because of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by such farms.

In 2009, Forbes Magazine featured Brown, who in the early 1990s invented the DNA microarray, a tool that measures how cells make use of their DNA; and one of the three scientists who launched in 2000 a free, online scientific journal called the Public Library of Science (PLOS) when he took a break from his normal scientific work to focus on changing the way the world farms and eats. Forbes wrote that Brown “wants to put an end to animal farming, or at least put a significant dent in our global hunger for cows, pigs and chickens.”

According to Brown, “while livestock accounts for only 9 percent of humancaused carbon dioxide emissions, it accounts for 37 percent of human-caused methane (most of it emanating from the animals’ digestive systems) and 65 percent of human-caused nitrous oxide, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Both are far better at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, meaning that cows, chickens and their ilk have a larger greenhouse effect

than all the cars, trucks and planes in the world.”

Filipino neuroscientist Custer Deocaris is following Brown’s footsteps, or rather, carbon footprint, by studying the human brain in relation to plant-based nutrition, and the environment in relation to plantbased diet. As an advocacy, he founded and heads the Meatless Monday Philippines, convincing schools and mothers that a plant-based diet would improve the quality of their lives. Here are just three of many reasons a plantbased diet benefits humans and the planet.

Prevents Alzheimer’s Deocaris earlier revealed to INQUIRER Health the link between intelligence and a plant-based diet.

“A high intelligence quotient (IQ) helps contribute to a person’s ability to make smart choices. Conversely, vegetables, particularly the leafy greens, are an antiaging regimen for the brain. People who eat more veggies have less risk for Alzheimer’s disease. An elderly who consumes greater than two vegetable servings per day during midlife has a brain five years younger than a colleague who eats less vegetables and more meats.”

The less demand for meat, the smaller the population of livestock.

Livestock production has now been considered a key driver of climate change, as was first recognized in the United Nations-fao report “Livestock’s Long Shadow in 2006”: The per capita greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) need to fall below 1 metric ton per year by 2050 to prevent a potentially catastrophic global surface temperature increase of 20°C as declared by the 2009 Copenhagen Convention; As of 2000, the livestock sector alone had already occupied 52 percent of humanity’s suggested safe operating space for anthropogenic GHG. Filipinos can prevent cardiovascular diseases and cancers with vegetables, and no meat.

According to the WHO/FAO expert consultation report on diet, nutrition and prevention of chronic diseases, the recommended intake should be a minimum 400 grams of fruits and vegetables per day (or 69 kg per year). Approximately 1.7 million (2.8 percent) deaths worldwide are attributable to low fruit and vegetable consumption. Increasing intakes to at least five servings a day can help prevent 14 percent of gastrointestinal cancer deaths, 11 percent of ischemic heart disease deaths and 9 percent of stroke deaths.

Now, is going meatless really a sacrifice? ■

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 24

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THE HEALTHY PLATE: Recipe for slimmed down version of spinach and artichoke dip

By Alison Ladman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Spinach and artichoke dip sounds like it should be a virtuous treat. After all, it’s loaded with vegetables.

Trouble is, it’s usually more mayonnaise and cheese than spinach and artichoke. So we decided to see if we could come up with a version that isn’t so out of sync with healthy eating.

First order of business was to nix the mayonnaise. But, of course, we wanted something that had a great creamy texture and that could be heated. Greek-style yogurt blended with low-fat cream cheese worked beautifully. It even added a subtle tang which we enhanced with some lemon zest for a nice spring flavour profile. Some fresh herbs took it ever further.

Next up, dealing with the cheese.

We handled the inner gooey-ness with the aforementioned cream cheese. But often there also is a pile of cheese or breadcrumbs (or both) on the top. After it’s broiled, we wanted that textural contrast and the toastiness that comes with it.

We found that crushed and seasoned whole-grain crackers worked well. Just note that different varieties of crackers can have widely varying nutrition. So be sure to read the labels carefully to select a whole-grain cracker with modest amounts of fat and calories. Aim for around 100 to 120 calories and four grams of fat per serving. You’ll also want about three to four grams each of protein and fibre.

Last - and most important - was upping the amount of spinach and artichoke. We went we canned artichokes for ease. They also are available frozen. Either way, be sure to get the variety in water, not oil. Fresh baby spinach got a quick saute with onion and garlic before being added. Serve the warm dip with whole-wheat pita chips, baked tortilla chips or veggie sticks.

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Spinach and Artichoke Dip Start to finish: 20 minutes 30 g (1 oz/1 serving) whole-grain crackers, crushed 1 ml (1/4 tsp) garlic powder 1 ml (1/4 tsp) onion powder 30 ml (2 tbsp) grated Parmesan cheese 175 ml (6 oz) plain non-fat Greek yogurt 125 g (4 oz) low-fat cream cheese 5 ml (1 tsp) lemon zest 10 ml (2 tsp) minced fresh oregano 10 ml (2 tsp) minced fresh mint 2 ml (1/2 tsp) salt 2 ml (1/2 tsp) ground black pepper 15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil 1 small yellow onion, diced 1 clove garlic, minced 140 g (5 oz) fresh baby spinach 1 can (398 ml/14 oz) artichoke hearts, lightly chopped Heat oven to 200 C (400 F). Coat a small casserole or gratin dish with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs, garlic powder, onion powder and Parmesan. Set aside.

In a food processor, combine yogurt, cream cheese, lemon zest, oregano, mint, salt and pepper. Pulse until smooth.

In a large skillet over mediumhigh, heat oil. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add spinach and cook until soft and any liquid has evaporated, about another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in artichokes and yogurt mixture. Spoon into prepared dish.

Sprinkle cracker crumb mixture over dip and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until hot. Serve warm.

Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 120 calories; 45 calories from fat (37 per cent of total calories); 5 g fat (2 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 10 mg cholesterol; 14 g carbohydrate; 6 g protein; 3 g fibre; 560 mg sodium.■

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Lifestyle-Canada

Get kids involved and make chocolate nests to hold those creamy chocolate eggs

By Alison Ladman THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

You’ll have no trouble enticing the kids to get involved in this easy and tasty part of Easter dinner prep.

We’ve combined a blend of crunchy cereals and noodles with a deliciously s t i c k y blend

of chocolate, marshmallow and peanut butter to create edible ``nests’’ in which the little ones can store their chocolate eggs and jelly beans (assuming those treats stick around long enough to be stored).

The process is simple - just melt together the butter, marshmallows, peanut butter and chocolate, then stir in the dry ingredients.

After that, let the children set to work

shaping their nests.

Just note - this is a messy project.

So you might want to do it before the kids get into their Easter best. Also, to make it a little less messy, lightly coat the kids’ (or your) hands with cooking spray.

The finished nests can be stored in plastic bags at room temperature for up to a week.

Chocolate Bunny Nests Start to finish: 20 minutes (plus cooling time) 45 ml (3 tbsp) unsalted butter 1 pkg (250 g) mini marshmallows 125 ml (1/2 cup) crunchy peanut butter 175 g (6 oz) semisweet chocolate bits 500 ml (2 cups) thin chow mein noodles 375 ml (1 1/2 cups) square corn cereal, such as Corn Chex 500 ml (2 cups) crispy rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter. Add marshmallows, peanut butter and chocolate bits. Stir continuously until completely melted and blended.

Remove pan from heat and stir in chow mein noodles, corn cereal and rice cereal. Let mixture cool until safe to handle.

For small nests, scoop by the tablespoonful onto prepared baking sheet. For larger nests, use about 125 ml (1/2 cup). Use your thumb or the back of a spoon (coated with cooking spray) to create an indentation at the centre of each mound to form a ``nest.’’ Let cool until firm.

Makes 20 small nests.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 180 calories; 80 calories from fat (41 per cent of total calories); 9 g fat (4 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 5 mg cholesterol; 25 g carbohydrate; 3 g protein; 1 g fibre; 105 mg sodium. ■

Celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain loves Montreal’s ‘uniquely crazy’ food

Better than New York’s?

By Donald McKenzie THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL - When celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was compiling his list of international cities to feature on the TV show ``The Layover,’’ Montreal was a no-brainer for inclusion.

That’s because the city’s cuisine is ``uniquely crazy, uniquely individualistic and rugged and

excessive and wonderful,’’ according to the New York City native. ``It says Canada to me,’’ he added during a recent telephone interview.

The premise behind the ``The Layover’’ was simple but highly challenging: Bourdain spent between 24 and 48 hours in each of 10 cities and packed in as much hard living as the liver and the rest of his body could take.

Viewers are taken off the beaten track as Bourdain, who has also written several books and stars in ``Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,’’ shows them where to visit and where to stay around the globe.

The Montreal episode also includes debate on whether its bagels are better than New York’s, as well as adventures involving dragon boats and surfing on the St. Lawrence River. ``We were looking to do something fast and different, and a little scary, something that challenged and pushed us,’’ says the 55-year-old.

But was it fun? ``Most of the time,’’ is his immediate reply. ``It was difficult. Essentially, it’s

eight days of serious eating and drinking compressed into two (for the purposes of) the show. ``That’s tough. It was very physically demanding and a little intimidating, a little frightening to embark on a bold new venture like that, especially when you’re eating and drinking as much as I was.’’

The series has aired in the United States and gets its Canadian debut on Travel + Escape on April 11. The Montreal episode is set for broadcast May 2.

Bourdain has fond memories of Montreal dating back to a book tour in 2001 when local chefs took him under their wing. ``I knew we could make a good show there and have a good time doing it. It’s my favourite city in Canada. ``I love the chefs there,’’ he says, ringing off the names of Martin Picard (Au Pied de Cochon) Normand Laprise (Toque) Frederic Morin and David McMillan (both Joe Beef) as some of the outstanding ones. ``It’s the most uniquely Canadian food in Canada. In Vancouver the cuisine is very strong mix of great Asian food from all over Asia, a

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lot of great homegrown stuff, but the cuisine in Montreal could exist nowhere else other than Quebec. ``It looks and tastes different from food anywhere else and the chefs, particularly when you’re talking about Martin, or Fred or Dave, are unlike chefs anywhere else.’’

The other cities where Bourdain lived large for the series were New York (``the greatest city in the world,’’ he says unabashedly), Singapore, Hong Kong, Miami, London, Rome, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Bourdain has plans to do another season of ``The Layover’’ this summer and Canada’s largest city will be getting in on the fare. ``Toronto will be on the list for sure,’’ he says of a city he has visited several times but never featured on any of his shows.

Bourdain says that when he talks to journalists and chefs from elsewhere in Canada, he always hears trash talk about Toronto. ``I feel sort of an obligation to highlight that there is indeed good food there and good people, as I know from personal experience,’’ he says. ■

Lifestyle-Canada

By Leo Valdes, Vancouver, BC

Shoppingville On a typical weekend, thousands of Lower Mainland residents descend upon Bellingham’s shopping areas on Guide

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Bellingham, WA: Beyond Shopping Not shop in Bellingham? That’s absurd.

Pinoy Traveler One weekend, many years ago, my wife assigned me to look after the kids. A neighbour asked my four-year-old daughter, “Where’s your mom?” She answered, “She went to the place where Jesus was born.”

I politely corrected her, “Mom went to Bellingham, not Bethlehem.” Her error was understandable. It was Christmastime, and the pre-Christmas sales were on.

Every so often, my wife and her Filipino girlfriends would make a girl’s day out shopping trip across the border from Vancouver, BC. When bargains are announced, that border crossing is longer than the actual drive down to the U.S.A. Bellingham’s economy is primarily fuelled

by Canadians. In the 1990s, it was a simple sleepy town, and its stores were known to be the dumping shops for outdated fashions from California. As the Canadian dollar strengthened, it became a more attractive shopping destination, and merchants responded with higher quality goods and competitive prices.Bellingham Airport has become an alternative to Vancouver Airport for discounted airfare to sunny destinations.

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 26

Whatcom pass from Tapto Lakes

Meridian, or the fashion outlets, to snap up great deals.

At the Bellis Fair Mall parking lot, two out of three cars sport B.C. licence plates.

At the T.J. Maxx and Ross Dress for Less stores, there is a sea of Filipino, East Indian and Chinese shoppers scrutinizing dresses and shoes. Meanwhile, macho Filipino men lug their toddlers over to the electronics stores.

At the end of the day, Canadians head back North with their spoils, tallying up their expenses, and wondering how to declare them at the border.

A Pinoy shopping tip for this town: think outside the boxes. There are alternative places to shop away from the mad crowds of bargain hunters if you are looking for non-fashion items. Examples are Kmart and Big Lots, where the locals do their shopping.

What sightseeing?

So, why would anyone go to Bellingham for anything other than shopping?Quite simply, the Whatcom region of Washington State has so much to offer.

Blaine, WA, is where most Vancouver, Richmond,White Rock and Delta vehicles cross to the United States. There, you can find picturesque Birch Bay. Many British Columbians have made this whole area their home because houses can be had for a third of the price in BC, taking advantage of NEXUS border pass for speedy crossings to their places of work. Earning in the strong Canadian Dollar, and spending it in the USA makes the border waits worth it for these folks.

If you are coming from the North Shore, Coquitlam and Surrey areas, a good alternative entry into the USA is the Aldergrove crossing. Along the way, you will find the quaint Dutch village of Lynden. An excursion into town past the cemetery will reveal small pleasures, such as a windmill and several Dutch restaurants and bakeries.

Bellingham itself has an older shopping and notable community. Fairhaven Historic District is not easy to find. Take the Old Fairhaven Parkway, and follow it west toward the bay,get lost, and then ask a local for directions. You will be rewarded with a throwback to the 1890s, with bricked buildings and eighty quaint shops.

While at Fairhaven, why not go all the way… to Burlingame via Chuckanut Drive. Give yourself about two hours to feast your senses in this scenic route, with mountains to one side and the bay on the other. After some initial sharp turns, the majestic view of Chuckanut Bay opens up to your right. If you take the kids, stop for a while at Larabee State Park with its scenic walking trails.

Heading further south, the turns become sharper once again, and there are a few opportunities to pullout for some picture taking. You need to slow down also because there are some restaurants that claim to have the best Clam Chowder on the drive, if not the best fresh clams.

As the drive moves away from the bay, you can still enjoy shopping for antiques, souvenirs, or experimenting on wine tasting.

At this point, you can head down to Burlingame through farmland, and reward yourself with a dozen Crispy Crème donuts. Then, if the sun is still up, rush back on I-5 through the scenic mountains to Bellingham and do some more shopping.■ LEO VALDES is a businessman and a college instructor in Vancouver, BC, and in the Philippines. He trains non-profit and business groups on how to work together and leverage their collective intelligence.

Contact: leo.valdes@uniserve.com.

The Working Woman’s Guide to Riches

By issa Vancouver, BC

Money Matters Sometimes, a woman needs a guidepost, a road map to where she wants to be. Most of the time, her goals involve wealth, or ways to wealth. Here are some methods that are tried and tested.

1. Make a financial assessment.

A woman should know how much she has before she can decide what to do with how much she has. For many, this starts a series of wake-up calls, not to mention panic attacks. But wake up calls are good, and panic attacks are good because they set off something in the brain that makes it go to preservation mode.

Here is where the expensive coffee and clothes and bags and eating out and traveling have to go. Or at least cut by as much as seventy five percent.

Because to be wealthy is to carve out and use that seventy five percent for something that can bring in more income (read: investment).

2. Invest.

For the conservative investor, there are mutual funds that can give a steady yield year by year provided it is not taken out for at least 7 years. Other investments that are considered conservative include government bonds, time deposits, certificate of deposits and treasury bills. Boring, yes, but generally safe.

For the aggressive investor, there is the stock market. It is not for the faint of heart; it should be observed and timed because it is affected by the waxing and waning of the world economies.

Business, however, is the riskiest investment with the biggest potential.

3. Be in business.

Start something on the side that can give that extra money with little capital. It could be the spin-off of a hobby, like baking or planting or painting or sewing baby dresses. It could be a skill, like playing the piano or making up stories or writing love letters. Look at a franchise, or invest with or in a friend (caveat: money can break up friendships), or sell an idea.

Through social media, small businesses are given leverage that it never enjoyed before.

While you are at it too, and while it is still early, take a real close look at ins and outs of your money – you can use a bookkeeping software to help you – because believe me,

your memory will not be able to contain (or accurately record) all your sales and your inventory and your losses and your gains.

4. Be debt-free.

Pay off credit cards in full every month.

Or slowly pay it, making sure no new purchases add to the amount owed. Make realistic payment plans for other debts and pay them off. Make an extra mortgage payment or two every year and make sure the bank knows the extra payments should go directly to the principal.

5. Read, read, read.

About finance, about anything of interest.

Too much of a good thing, in this case, is a good thing. Read as if the future depended on it. Look for mentors in books, and look out for skills that can be learned or developed. Be inspired.

While at it, attend seminars.

6. Attend seminars, network, and meet people.

Sometimes the silver lining can be seen in the eyes of people and opportunities found in like minds. Go out, be seen.

Learn, follow, and lead. Be enthusiastic, be insatiable. And when an opportunity presents itself, grab it with both hands and do not let go.

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7. Ready, fire, aim.

Know when to let go. Know when enough preparation is enough and when the business should begin. A lot of ideas and business acumen die because people get lost in the preparation. Prepare, yes. Study the business, yes. But fire. At all cost. The real excitement is there, the real lessons are there, the big money is there. Then adjust course accordingly.

8. Fail Nothing drives home a lesson or catapults a woman to her fullest potential (riches too) than many a night drowned in worry or sorrow or having the walls crash down.

Learn the lessons and start again. And again, and again. Do not be afraid.

9. Say “thank you”.

“Thank you” reverberates in the universe and attracts little everyday miracles and more of the wonderful, great, awe-inspiring miracles. Try it.

10. Share.

Nothing multiplies blessings more than sharing it. ■ Issa is a lawyer, a registered financial planner in the Philippines and publisher of the site, www.YouWanttoBeRich.com. She recently moved to Vancouver, Canada with her family.

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TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Filipino-Canadian in Focus: Christine Adela White

Photo by Foto Mickey

Photo by Kevin Green

science club, community-league soccer, Nintendo tournaments, gymnastics, piano; but always gave me time to be in my creative space. I found myself reading and writing short stories, drawing, and playing “Barbies” and “House” with my sister – creating interactive plots that always kept my mind open. It wasn’t until years after that I realized that my parents truly did influence my appreciation of a large array of activities, all of which I stated in my activities.

You were already born and raised in Vancouver, but how was it like growing up with immigrant parents? Did they tell you about their stories and experiences as new immigrants?

What stories fascinated you?

Growing up, my mother would tell me stories about her lifestyle and experiences in the Philippines. She comes from a humble town in Pangasinan, and worked very hard to come to Canada to start anew and support her family. She worked in the field so that she could go to the market and sell the crops she would reap, and save her earnings to pursue an education that would eventually give her the opportunity to move to Canada. She instilled a sense of empathy in me at an early age by having me realize and appreciate what I could easily take for granted – “Nakong, please finish your rice; otherwise the rice will cry.” In her statement, she is referring to her own difficult experiences in planting and harvesting rice from its soggy environment, especially when the weather was merciless; but despite the weather, if her family did not bear the poor weather and harvest their crops, they would not have a decent meal. It is these stories that have seemingly shaped my own beliefs – having an appreciation for modesty and an understanding of the value of education.

What do you think is “Filipino” about you?

Identifying myself as a Filipina is important to me. I have a fond appreciation of our heritage, culture, and tradition. In one of my courses in University I researched the Cariñosa, one of the communal dances of the Philippines, which allowed me to obtain a deeper understanding and fascination of my culture. I find it interesting that we have 114 different dialects in the Philippines. I am proud to say that I can speak and understand some Ilocano!

It cannot be helped that I also identify myself as a Filipina in my career, as many of my music students are Filipino, some of whom have sung songs in Tagalog in their lessons and in performances during Philippine Independence Day. While I may not be fluent in Tagalog, I can enunciate the language relatively well – I credit this to the lyric diction course I took in University where I learned how to properly enunciate words in German, French, Latin, and Italian using the international phonetic alphabet.

What do you like most about Philippines and Pangasinan?

What do you dislike?

I absolutely love the beaches in the Philippines! There are also many exciting places to visit in Pangasinan! In the town of Bolinao, there is an underground cave with a pool you can swim in – they call it the “Enchanted Cave.” Everywhere I go, everyone loves to sing and bond with each other – I think that is so special of our culture. One thing that struck out to me was when I was there during Holy Week – there was a very strong sense of acknowledging the importance

Photo by LoriLee Keller

What is a true beauty queen? The obvious answer would be someone who has the combination of beauty and intelligence.

But supporters of Christine Adela White say she is more. They say it is because of her parents – she has a Filipino mom, by the way – and the way they brought her up; others credit her UBC education. But the sum total is someone who knows what she can do – a girl who has depth and heart and wisdom – and one who is determined to leave her imprint on this world.

Photo by LoriLee Keller

By Melissa Remulla-Briones Philippine Canadian Inquirer

of putting one’s own endeavours aside; a sense of solemnity and humility resonating in the streets. This showed me that Filipinos recognized the importance of faith, and that our people know what it means to remain humble and appreciative of our blessings.

Going back to the beaches I love so much, one will unfortunately have to travel outside of Manila to experience the white sand and clear blue waters. Manila is polluted, and I feel that an increasing amount of Filipinos are beginning to recognize that this is not a healthy environment to live in. When I last went to the Philippines in 2008, I remember seeing cyclists on the street – they were bringing awareness to a peculiar goal: the return of the fireflies in Manila!

From my understanding, Manila’s night sky gleamed with fireflies, but this gradually diminished as the city became increasingly polluted and unhealthy. I would love to ride my bike in the Philippines one day in honour of their endeavours.

One unforgettable moment that I have witnessed in the Philippines, is something that continues to tug on my heartstrings.

I could not fathom why this display of desperation even exists: a young girl, maybe the age of 7, standing on a busy street median desperately trying to sell road-side flowers to any stopped vehicle.

So many questions came to mind – where was her mother? Isn’t this dangerous? Is someone going to do something?! And then it struck me – this is metaphor of something more significant. Certainly, the girl will eventually grow to be a woman, but will she continue to resort to selling her “flower?” I was taken aback. Something needs to be done – and this is what Miss Universe Canada is trying to assist with – the desperate need to help abandoned children. This is why I am so very passionate about helping the organization raise awareness for the SOS Children’s Villages.

You seem to be very close to your parents. What were they like when you were growing up? How have they influenced you?

More so than ever, I have learned how important family is.

Growing up, my mother would always tell me that I am lucky to have a sister, as she did not have one -- she grew up in a family of five brothers. I understand her message more than ever, in my own interpretation; to quote Lauren Hill, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” Not a day goes by where I do not think of my sister who I lost in 2002.

I was also quiet and reserved growing up, but I had determination when I set my mind on something – a quiet confidence – this is something I learned from my parents, especially my mom who would always remind me to be well-mannered in public, to be respectful of elders and, above all, respectful of my own self; acting “garampingat!” (Ilocano term for “flirty”) was deemed inappropriate, which gave me a sense of dignity as a woman.

My mother and father enrolled me in many activities including

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From teaching music to being a candidate for one of the more prestigious beauty pageants - please tell us about the changes this has brought to your life.

The most important change that this has brought to my life is that I am given the opportunity to bring awareness to something very important to me on an international level. Last year I participated in The Ride to Conquer Cancer in memory of my sister, and this is something I shared with my students in their Spring recital in 2011. I gave each of them a yellow “Livestrong” band to advocate to them what I am doing and why I am doing it, in hopes that they will do something positive and meaningful with their lives. “The Ride” is a two-day 270KM venture on my bike along the Pacific coast to Seattle in support of funding innovative treatment and research for cancer. The minimum amount required to participate is $2,500, which I was able to raise last year thanks to the generous hearts of my friends, family, and community. I am proud to share that I am again participating in “The Ride”, and I have made it one of the focuses in my candidacy platform in the running for Miss Universe Canada 2012. The pageant in Toronto is in May, and “The Ride” is on Father’s Day weekend in June. It is a fitting weekend, being that my father is joining me this year in The Ride to Conquer Cancer in memory of my sister Laura.

What is your advice to young women who want to follow your path and be a beauty queen?

A title means very little if you do not have purpose or drive to do something other than to flaunt; so goes the phrase “live up to your title.” You are given a platform of opportunity to find something important to you and do something about it. Altruistic intention is something that no title can instil in you. And if you do so happen to earn a title, be humble and use it to command, not demand, attention to what is important to you. Speak eloquently, not arrogantly. Be healthy in all aspects – mind, body, and soul.

Bring awareness to a cause because you want to, not because you have to. In fact, you will realize that you do not need a title at all to advocate good will, right thought, and right action. What comes first, the title or the cause? The chicken or the egg?

If you win as Miss Universe Canada - what will your mission be?

Execute right thought and right action. I will bring awareness to causes that are important to me and, in turn, encourage the community to join me in my crusade against cancer, abandoned children, and cyber-bullying.

“Ideation without execution is simply delusion.” – Robin Sharma Who is Christine Adela White when she is not being a model or a beauty queen, or busy with her music, her bike, and the various causes she supports? What is it that you like doing that people do not know?

If I am not teaching music, or pursuing fundraising endeavours as part of my training on my bike, I am most likely in the Bikram’s Yoga studio, watching Dr. Oz, or playing an online video game.

I haven’t had a lot of time to do the latter, but I do enjoy my MMORPGS and RPGs. I think this is a give-away as to why the fundraiser I held on March 24th was dubbed “From Geek to Catwalk” – in light and acceptance of our tendencies, no matter who we are and whatever walks of life we hail from: we are all “geeks” on this amazing “catwalk” society has propelled us on.

I would never impose my beliefs on anyone, but I think it is important to be humble and grateful for all that we are blessed with. Making time for yourself to be still is healing to a heavy heart. I pray. I feel that everything does happen for a reason, and that a lesson can be learned, even during our darkest moments. ■ You can support Christine by donating to her Ride to Conquer Cancer/SOS Children’s Villages. You can also learn more about her in the Miss Universe Canada official website and vote for her via http://www.beautiesofcanada.com to help her win the “People’s choice award”.

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TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Entertainment www.canadianinquirer.net

Zsa Zsa on Dolphy: All that’s happening now is for the best

By Bayani San Diego Jr. Philippine Daily Inquirer

TRUST the King of Comedy to draw laughter from the most somber situations.

In an exclusive interview, singer-actress Zsa Zsa Padilla recalled that during a recent hospital stay their daughter Zia did a double take when she saw Dolphy in bed using an ipad!

By the time he left hospital, Dolphy, 83, had become ipadsavvy. “He knows the basics. He looks at photos. He talks to his children abroad on Skype,” Zsa Zsa said.

Photo courtesy of Ervin Santiago

Major label boosts Ogie’s online store

By Pocholo Concepcion Philippine Daily Inquirer

OGIE Alcasid has one good reason to feel upbeat.

His latest project, the online music store opm2go.com, has just gained the support of Universal Records— the major label where he is currently signed as a recording artist.

“Our lawyer is attending to the nittygritty ... he

Recently hit by two personal crises—a burglary (during the holidays, while they were away) and a Twitter attack (ongoing)—she had felt vulnerable.

“Dolphy felt helpless that he couldn’t protect our home. I assured him we were fine,” Zsa Zsa said.

She herself fell sick recently. “The fatigue and the stress finally caught up with me.”

She recovered in time for last Saturday’s dance rehearsals for her latest film—chris Martinez’s Apo Hiking Society musical entitled “I Do Bidoo Happy at home Bidoo,” produced by Unitel.

She is thankful for the “overwhelming” show At the studio during a break, she reflected on her of concern from fans and friends. “He has been 20 years with Dolphy—the laughter as well as the in and out of hospital lately, but by God’s grace tears. he’s doing fine.”

“It’s heartening when you reach this level He’s happy at home Zsa Zsa said, and still jokes of commitment. You rediscover and reassure around with them. “One night I came in from a yourselves that you will both be there for each shoot all dolled up. I caught him looking at me so other during the good and the bad times.”

I teased him: ‘ You still have a crush on me no?’

It’s a valuable lesson that she can pass on to her He smiled mischievously.” daughters Karylle Tatlonghari, and Nicole and Zia The hardest part for her is accepting the Quizon. challenges that life brings as her partner grows “My daughters and I are closer now,” she said. older. “I cried at first; it affected me badly,” she “Zia opted not to study abroad so she wouldn’t said of the latest health scare. “But I’ve come have to be away from her dad.” to realize that everything that’s happened has In a recent gathering, Zia sang “My Heart been for the best, because it has brought us all Belongs to Daddy.” Zsa recounted: “My closer.” manager (Nene Atilano) put a tissue box in Dolphy has always been Zsa Zsa’s pillar front of me. I thought she was overdoing it, but of strength, but now she has to be that for the when Zia dedicated the song to other daddy’s family. girls, I wept buckets.” ■ has some issues with the terminology in the contract [with opm2go]. Hopefully we’ll be on board before its launching,” Universal Records boss Kathleen Go told the INQUIRER by phone on Friday, clarifying an earlier statement by Alcasid that the label has not yet agreed to be part of opm2go.

The online music store will be formally launched tomorrow at Eastwood City in Libis, Quezon City.

Go said that Universal is supportive of other legal downloading sites like mymusicstore. com, which implies that it’s only natural for the label to back Alcasid’s venture.

Survival “We’re also planning to release a tribute album and mount a concert to coincide with Ogie’s 27th anniversary as a singer,” Go added.

Asked how Universal managed to survive amid steadily declining CD sales, Go pointed out that “the label finds other means to offset costs. We retain the physical format in record stores and we gain sales from events such as concerts and mall shows that have corporate sponsors.”

Go admitted however, that digital downloading is the way to go for selling music. ■

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Julia Montes, 17, not ready for love

By Marinel R. Cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer Photo courtesy of Ervin Santiago

Photo courtesy of Ervin Santiago

Friends were impressed. “So much so that we convinced [his fellow Sampaguita star] Barbara Perez to use an ipad and iphone too,” Zsa Zsa said.

Zsa Zsa made a music playlist for Dolphy with songs from his youth by Frank Sinatra, Nat “King” Cole, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and others.

Health-wise she related, Dolphy has highs and lows like any man his age. “But mostly he is in high spirits.”

YOUNG actress Julia Montes explained what really was going on between her and “Walang Hanggan” co-star Coco Martin, and also between her and real-life suitor Enchong Dee. “On the set, every single day, I fall in love with Coco’s character Daniel.

Off-cam, Coco and I are only friends. I feel comfortable around him because I’ve worked with him before. These days I see Enchong only on the set of our latest movie. I intend to follow my grandmother’s advice, not to have a boyfriend before I’m 20. I’m the type who gives her all. I don’t want to get distracted. I know my responsibility to my family. I’m only 17. The real test for Enchong is, can he wait?” ■

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Entertainment

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Call him Chef Marvin

‘My family has been using Knorr cubes from way back,’ says the actor and now owner of some 22 restaurants’

Photo courtesy of Ervin Santiago

By Vangie Baga-reyes Philippine Daily Inquirer

MARVIN AGUSTIN is taking on a new role as the newest endorser of Knorr cubes. As such, he gets to wear Knorr’s chef jacket representing the Philippines, and joins a distinguished roster of Knorr chefs, about 200 of them, who encourage people all over the world to use only the best in their dishes.

KNORR cubes are easy to use, quick to dissolve, and add rich, meaty flavor to your everyday soups.

MARVIN Agustin, the newest Knorr chef-endorser Agustin, an actor, director, businessman, restaurateur and chef, has become a fixture in the local food arena lately. He took up culinary courses at the International School for Culinary Arts and Hotel Management (ISCAHM) with Norbert Gandler, even when he was already opening his various restaurants around the city.

“I continued my passion for food,” says Agustin. “I didn’t only open a restaurant, I also studied culinary arts to professionalize what I know in cooking. With the help of my partner-friends, I started putting up more restaurants.”

To date, Agustin owns 22 restaurants nationwide, including Sumo Sam, John and Yoko, Mr. Kurosawa, Marciano’s, Johnny Chow, Komrad, Robotosan and Oyster Boy. He plans to open eight more before the year ends.

Is he now confident being called a chef?

“I used to be called a lot of things,” says Agustin.

“But, it was only when I studied culinary arts that

people started calling me a chef. Then, I hosted a television food show, ‘Kitchen Superstar.’ When I did my commercials with Knorr, almost everyone began calling me chef Marvin.”

“Confident, yes, I think I am. I cook professionally for my restaurants now. Some dishes I personally tested and developed. I also cook regularly for my family and friends.”

Early influences Agustin recalls living in a small house with his parents and two sisters while growing up.

“Anywhere you go in the house you could see the kitchen,” says Agustin. He could smell what his parents were cooking and see how the food was prepared.

“I was the designated tagasaing. My parents would encourage us to help in the kitchen. Those were my early exposure in the kitchen,” he recalls.

After graduating high school in 1996, Agustin worked as a staffer at ACA Video before joining Tia Maria’s restaurant bar in Alabang as a waiter. It was here that he was discovered by ABSCBN. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Though he’s been very successful in his showbiz career, Agustin pursued his dream of doing professional cooking and opening his own chain of restaurants.

He idolizes celebrity chefs Bobby Flay and Jamie Oliver. He likes Italian, Filipino and Japanese cuisine.

He says he’s in that level where he can already replicate whatever food is served him. His friends always crave for his cocido, a Spanish boiled dish of meat and vegetables.

Right now, he’s focused on keeping tabs on the consistency of the food served in all his businesses.

“That’s the hardest part of running a restaurant,

Carla still a Kapuso

Photo courtesy of Ervin Santiago

By Pocholo Concepcion Philippine Daily Inquirer

IT TOOK a lot of hemming and hawing, but Carla Abellana finally renewed her contract with home network GMA 7, inking a threeyear deal last week.

“It was not a decision I could rush into,” she said.

Carla added that she had considered moving to other stations but decided to stick with her home studio.

GMA 7 baby In favoring GMA 7, she listened to the opinions of everyone in her inner circle. “This is where my

the consistency,” says Agustin, who’s a doting dad to twin daughters, age six years old. “You can’t be good today, and then the next day when the customer visits you again it’s a different taste. But so far, we are managing well.”

Knorr as partner With his success story, no wonder Knorr decided to get Agustin as a partner for its products.

“Knorr and Marvin share the same passion for good food,” says Seanta Reyes, Knorr brand manager. “He’s been using Knorr cubes in his house even when he was young. Both professionally and personally, he is a perfect partner for us. He even challenges consumers that he’s willing to give up cooking if they don’t find the Knorr cubes tastier and meatier compared to other seasoning brands.”

As the newest Knorr chef, Marvin shares his expertise with moms and other cooking enthusiasts. He believes in the meaty superiority of Knorr cubes over seasoning granules.

That superiority, says Reyes, has been proven by an independent lab test in Europe, which shows Knorr cubes having at least five times more meat flavor than other cooking aids. The cubes are made from real meat and vegetable extracts.

Knorr cubes offer several variants, such as pork, chicken, beef, shrimp, tamarind, fish and sinabawang gulay.

“My family has been using Knorr cubes from way back. We love soups. My dad would cook misua and use Knorr cubes. It’s nice to promote something that you’ve been already been using for a long time,” says Agustin. “Knorr doesn’t only add saltiness into your soup, it provides the natural taste and flavor of the real meat. ■

heart is. My lola (LVN star Delia Razon) and mom (former GMA 7 talent Rhea Reyes) wanted me to stay.”

But Carla made clear that she did not follow her family’s wishes blindly. “In the end, it was still my choice. My mom and grandmom do not meddle in my show business career. They give their input, but they allow me to make my own decisions.”

Network head Felipe L. Gozon said Carla is a homegrown Kapuso star. GMA 7 gave Carla her first soap opera “Rosalinda” in 2009.

Carla jokes that she was practically conceived in GMA 7 because her mom had met her dad, Rey “PJ” Abellana, on the set of the station’s old soap, “Anna Liza.”

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Rewarded Her next big project with GMA 7 is the new teleserye tentatively titled “Rancho Paradiso,” where she will be paired for the first time with the network’s prized hunk, Richard Gutierrez.

“Starstruck” winner Sarah Lahbati completes the show’s love triangle.

Carla is thrilled that she will star with the station’s top leading man in a primetime drama.

Boyfriend Geoff Eigenmann is also excited for her. “I tell him everything. He wants me to start working as soon as possible,” said Carla.

Of her role in the new soap, she says she is no doormat. “She is strong yet down-to-earth. She fights for her family.” ■

Travel-Phils Exotic island set to charm, spoil guests

Summer in an exotic island? It’s definitely more fun in the Philippines. Specially if you end up spending it at the opulent, all-exclusive and members-only Alphaland Balesin Island Club in Quezon province.

by Theresa S. Samaniego Philippine Daily Inquirer WITH ALL its natural wonders, Balesin is a world unto itself.

Located about 35 kilometers off the eastern coast of Luzon, this 500-hectare island paradise used to serve as a frequent stop for treasure hunters centuries ago, and even became a vacation getaway for the Japanese after their occupation of the Philippines during World War II. Fast forward to today, however, Balesin Island is now being redefined and transformed by upscale property developer Alphaland Corp. the way exclusive recreational destination developments should be—a world-class destination resort to accommodate all sorts of indulgences.

“At Balesin we aim to provide members with a unique, luxurious and exclusive island experience.

With all its natural wonders, it’s a world unto itself, giving you that sense of remoteness and serenity.

Yet, it’s just a quick flight to and from Manila,” says Michelle Ongpin, Alphaland SVP for corporate communications.

A true symbol of the high life, Balesin provides unparalleled pampering to its members from start to finish.

First, the trip to the island begins at the private hangar of Alphaland, where guests are accorded the privilege to use the 10 seater state-of-the-art Cessna Grand Caravan.

Luxury becomes even more evident as one starts to descend on Balesin’s 1,520-meter long runway and gets an exceptional view of the island’s unmatched, or should I say, unspoiled natural beauty.

With six authentically designed villages taking inspiration from the worldfamous and picturesque vacation destinations in Europe and Asia, Balesin club members will definitely have something new to explore and look forward to every time they visit the island.

6 luxury resort destinations Currently, Alphaland Balesin Island Club is the only recreational destination in the Philippines to provide six world-class luxury resort destinations within one small island.

• Balesin Village exhibits the Philippines’ wealth of natural beauty and indigenous architecture— indeed, a Filipino’s home away from home.

The village offers 40 destination villas conveniently located near the clubhouse, spa and the aquatic sports center Bali Village, which also offers 40 destination villas, replicates the stunning landscapes of Bali, Indonesia, through the use of traditional building materials and elements reinterpreted by means of tropical landscape settings, generous open spaces, courtyards with wooden decks, swimming pools and water features. The Bali development faces the majestic Sierra Madre Mountain range on the Luzon mainland.

• Mykonos Village is meanwhile a vision in white and blue. It can draw you in with its whitewashed houses, blue windows and doors, narrow, winding streets, and quaint restaurants and cafés, reminiscent of charming Greece. With 40 destination villas, guests are treated to a taste of Greece in the Philippines, complete with a Greek café should you have a craving for tzatziki or souvlaki.

• Costa Smeralda Village, as its name aptly suggests, presents guests with a 40-suite area reminiscent of the worldclass tourist destination in Northern Sardinia, which has been attracting

Alist celebrities, business leaders and other affluent visitors.

Balesin Club’s own rendition of this coastal getaway brings luxury comforts without marring the beauty of nature.

• St. Tropez Village meanwhile gives a taste of France through the club’s 40 destination suites styled with St. Tropez chic and inspired by the world famous Byblos Hotel.

• Phuket Village, on the other hand, has been situated atop rugged cliffs at the southernmost part of the island, allowing guests to have a stunning view of crystalline blue green waters from their guest houses.

“Each village has been meticulously designed and constructed to resemble the destination it’s patterned after, and with the authentic cuisine that you can feast on in each village, you will feel as if you’re traveling around the world as you explore the island,” says Balesin project director Marco Diaz.

“Each village is unique, but what they do have in common are the five-star amenities in the villas, including jacuzzis, indoor and outdoor luxury beds and landscaped pools. There is island-wide Wifi access in Balesin, directto-home TV via Cignal TV, as well as our very own Smart 3G cell site,” he adds.

Ideal playground Add to that, the island’s fully equipped recreational facilities make it an ideal playground for both kids and adults. The more adventurous members can indulge in surfing and kite boarding while on the Pacific side of Balesin, as the rolling waves and winds provide an excellent venue for these activities. Balesin also offers horseback riding as an alternative to exploring the island by foot.

Noteworthy also is the developer’s effort to ensure that Balesin will be one of the world’s most eco-friendly resorts.

Diaz stresses that Balesin has been masterfully planned and engineered, with sustainability being a key design facet.

“Over 90 percent of Balesin is untouched and preserved, and we intend to keep it that way. We integrated the trees into our plans and made our structures fit into the environment,” Diaz claims.

Natural beauty Since only 10 percent of the island will be developed, members are thus assured that the natural beauty of the island will be kept in its splendor.

And as part of its sustainability thrust, Balesin would not allow cars anywhere on the island except for electric golf carts and on site ecofriendly transportation.

Water harvesting and proper sewage treatment— with 80 percent water reganic cycling—will gardens also will be practiced situated in and the .• orisland.

“Sustainability is one of the prime development philosophies of Alphaland, and this is true for Balesin as well as our urban residential projects which are Leed-certified,” Ongpin says.

“At Balesin, we want to give you a place that has it all—wonders of nature, the luxuries of firstclass living, and the most enjoyable activities— while ensuring that the place can thrive for may more generations to enjoy,” she further stresses.

Present and future members ofAlphaland Balesin Island Club are entitled to 14 complimentary villa nights a year, along with subsidized flights to and from the island via a chartered flight.■

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TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 30

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Howard Sandler / Shutterstock.com

Travel-Canada

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa

Canadian Tulip Festival

National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa

Howard Sandler / Shutterstock.com

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Canadian War Museum in Ottawa

Showtime in Canada’s capital So much to see at Ottawa’s art galleries, museums and festivals

by Katharine Fletcher

Courtesy of the Canadian Tourism Commission

Ottawa’s not merely a city of policy wonks and political junkies. As befits a capital, this summer offers an outstanding selection of blockbuster exhibitions, world-class museums, galleries and festivals.

Be tantalized by the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s exhibit, Maya: Secrets of Their Ancient World, May 18 – Oct. 28, and learn about life in a Mayan city in the Ancient Maya Classic Period (AD 250-900). The exhibit explains mysteries such as the origins of the 2012 end-of-days legend.

Get insights into the ritualistic lives of Mayan divine rulers, courtly life,

plus daily routine of ordinary folks.

With 250 artefacts, many discovered in temples and palaces, the exhibition promises fascinating insights into this legendary culture.

Feeling regal? The Canadian Museum of Civilization commemorates Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee during Queen and Country: Elizabeth II and Canada (July 1 – Nov. 18). Outstanding artifacts include the “Maple Leaf of Canada Dress,” a glittering gown she wore in 1957 during her first Canadian visit as Queen. Later, return to a world of mystery where taboos and rituals of Haiti’s voodoo traditions await in Voudou: A Way of Life (Nov. 15 – Oct. 14, 2013). Discover mirror-conduits to the spirit world and learn about

powerful Iwa (spirits) who are crucial elements of this little-understood faith.

Passionate about art? Step inside the National Gallery of Canada’s Canadian exclusive Vincent van Gogh: Up Close exhibition (May 25 - Sept.

3), which feature approximately 50 paintings including works that have rarely been shown publicly.

Gardens link art and nature. Indulge your senses by immersing in spring’s sunshine, fresh air and more than a million blossoms at the 60th annual Canadian Tulip Festival, May 4-21.

Admire fragrant flowerbeds while painters capture the moment at their easels; then browse local artisans’ booths.

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Talking about history, 2012 marks the bicentennial of the War of 1812.

The Canadian War Museum’s largest-ever exhibit, Four Wars of 1812 (June 15 – Jan. 6, 2013) depicts the causes and conduct of the war from the perspectives of its four major participants: First Nations, British, American and Canadian peoples, and how they all helped to define modern Canada.

Ottawa’s magnificent “castle”, aka the Canadian Museum of Nature showcases natural history.

The New Zealand exhibit, Whales Tohorā (until Sept. 3) unveils the underwater world of whales and how Māoris venerate these mammals. ■

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Canada Puzzle and Cartoons

TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012 34

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N I P A G A N E M S M R S E D A N B E D L N I Y O A I U U B

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TUESDAY APRIL 3, 2012

Canada: Seen and Scenes

UPAABC President Eric Inigo presenting a plaque of appreciation to Atty. Margot Lorayes who was the speaker for the Wills and Estate workshop held for the UPAABC members.

Phebe with guests

IL Divo of Asia to sing at Pinoy Fiesta & Trade Show on June 9th at Metro Convention Center. For more information call Rosemer 416 284 9299, Jimmy 905 472 3194 or visit www. philippinecanadianfoundation.com.

Filipino Plaza Board of Directors in Action

Phebe Jacobsen with husband during the celebration of her 40th birthday.

Honey Mae Caffin, co-founder of the Mobit Project and speaker at Liu Institute’s Field Work Report: Monitoring Canadian Mining in the Philippines through Social Media

Brad Bamford, President of Automatic Coating leading Minister Oliver on tour of facility in Toronto.

PCI and other participants during Ms. Caffin’s talk at the Liu Institute

The Honourable Vic Toews, Canada’s Public Safety Minister and the Honourable Shirley Bond, Minister of Justice and Attorney General for British Columbia, sign a new federal and provincial agreement to renew British Columbia’s RCMP policing contract for another 20 years, in Surrey on Wednesday, March 21, 2012.

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