PinoyWatchDog.com 23rd Issue 8 September 2012

GMA Pinoy TV celebrates its 7th year with Kapuso Goes Universal with Manny Many Prizes Page 14

VOL. 1 NO. 23 • 16 PAGES •

26.5K CIRCULATED IN LOS ANGELES/ORANGE COUNTIES AND INLAND EMPIRE

Former FilAm Chamber Investigative Committee Chairman Speaks Out About Adrian Lecaros

Chamber officers and members maintain a tight-lipped stance ► By Joel Bander and the

PinoyWatchDog.com Investigative Team n response to the recent the Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce P i n o y Wa t c h D o g . c o m Los Angeles, wanting to tell me his story “Olaes would have ‘Adrian Lecaros story.’ found the truth about Dullas is the best person to proLecaros and Umayam, if vide truthful fact as he was selected only……….” (See http://www. by the Chamber in September 2011 pinoywatchdog.com/tony-olaes- to head the investigative committee adrian-lecaros-darna-umayam/), I looking into a vast array of allegareceived a call from San Fernando tions regarding Lecaros’ conduct.

Valley real estate broker James I had known about these general Turn to Page 6 Dullas, a former board member of

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Big waves by Pinay militants in Hollywood rally ► Words and photos by Dionesio he fighting words emanated from the stage: “Makibaka!” Some in the crowd responded: “Huwag matakot!”

It was a largely mainstream rally but Filipino American militants were represented. The many lady speakers included Jollene Levid, who led the chant. She is chair of the Association of Filipinas, Feminists Fighting Imperialism,

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C. Grava

Re-feudalization and Marginalization (AF3IRM). Cheryl Zarate of Kabataang Makabayan (Kmb) and Angela Bartolome, representing the Stand with Grace Campaign, also spoke.

The Women’s Equality Day Turn to Page 10 The young and the infirm.

The body writing: MY BODY MY CHOICE

DARNA UMAYAM CAUGHT ► By the PWD

Investigative Team

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Darna Umayam with close business associate and friend, Mildred Deang of PinoyInsider.

Two Second Gen FilAm ARTS Silent Community Heroes

arna Umayam, who has been in a protracted war with PinoyWatchDog.com for our exposes of her unethical fundraising activities, including the latest ‘100 Outstanding Filipino Americans in the USA (100 OFAUSA), has been observed stealing copies of PinoyWatchDog. com and has been reported to the Los Angeles Police Department.

PinoyWatchDog.com had been suspecting all along that Ms. Umayam was behind the spate of newspaper thievery from the time she wrote an e-mail to PWD Senior

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Turn to Page 6

In less than one month, PinoyWatchDog.com will be celebrating its first anniversary.

To commemorate the birth of this ground-breaking publication, founder and senior columnist Joel Bander looks back on how the idea of an uncensored publication was born, and, finally became a reality on October 7, 2011. ► By Joel

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Laarni (center and her co volunteers) feign being stressed out getting ready for the festival.

team have seen a June 21, 2012, email from Darna to her closest supporters essentially outlining a plan of attack. If the PinoyWatchDog.com’s newspapers that were due to hit the streets on June 23, 2012, are critical of her --- she instructed her friends to steal the newspapers.

While the newspaper theft plan was not known to have been widely instituted for the June 23, 2102, issues, the July 7, 2012, issue containing the revelation that Umayam had not graduated

The Long Gestation of PinoyWatchDog.com

► By Joel Bander Senior Columnist

n a community that is constantly barraged with award and fashion shows, along with beauty contests, the FilAm ARTS festival stands out as a crown jewel of FilAm community demonstration of unity lead in this instance by mostly Second Generations Filipino Americans and fueled by idealist young

Columnist Joel Bander that she will not do anything to stop the thievery, following this newspaper’s continuing front page coverage about her alleged nefarious fundraising activities, which began when she was the chairwoman of the Philippine Independence Day Organizing Committee in 2009.

More recently, PWD also learned that Ms. Umayam had been calling potential advertisers asking them to boycott this newspaper, because, according to her, it prints nothing but “lies.”

Three different members of PinoyWatchDog.com investigative

Bander, PinoyWatchDog.com Founder and Senior Columnist

efore I first visited the Philippines in 1995 I did not know that the newspapers ‘back home’ were vibrant, funny, cutting, partisan, and well …. interesting. I had just started my journey, unknowingly, into Filipino culture

and thought the newspapers in the Philippines would be similar to the Fil-Am papers I had been reading in Los Angeles, dry, boring, nothing more than window dressing for advertisements.

So, in that first morning in the Philippines at the Holiday Inn by Manila’s Rizal Park I discovered

that this foreign land had quite an assortment of daily newspapers that were actually interesting. Up until that time, in a certain way, the desire to at least read a Filipino newspaper in Los Angeles that really had news was latent, unknown. I thought to myself, Turn to Page 5

From Our Pen LOOKING BACK

PERRYSCOPE

How a Shared Vision Became a Reality that is Now PinoyWatchDog.com

The 2016 presidential race is on!

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LIFESTYLE Resorts World Manila: An All-in-One Grand-Scale Development Enticing Visitors Abroad Page 8

EDITORIAL The Stain on Gawad Kalinga Stays Unless Tony Olaes Comes Clean on Missing 1 Million Pesos

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Editorial

The Stain on Gawad Kalinga Stays Unless Tony Olaes Comes Clean on Missing 1 Million Pesos

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n July 28, 2012, Darna Umayam stood with Tony Olaes in front of almost 1000 people at her controversial “100 Outstanding Fil Ams of USA” awards dinner with a large poster size check that one million pesos was being donated to Gawad Kalinga USA through its Director.

At the same time Tony Olaes, Director of Gawad Kalinga USA, allegedly accepted that check and made a pledge to contribute of $25,000 to the Bantay Bata charity in the name of the other 99 awardees that had been previously refused by the ABS CBN Foundation because of Umayam’s bigoted remarks and support of thievery of PinoyWatchDog.com that had criticized her. (That same conduct caused ABS CBN Foundation officials Tina Monsoon Palma, Gina Lopez and Robbie Fabian, along with the Philippine Consul General Mary Jo Bernardo-Aragon to not even send a representative to the dinner.)

However, PinoyWatchDog.com has learned and reported that Olaes has never even attempted to make that contribution to Bantay Bata and has never attempted to dispel the public of that verified report.

PinoyWatchDog.com has constantly called for transparency in these transactions in its past issues. We are demanding that Olaes show the cancelled checks so the public can know the TRUTH and this unfortunate saga can come to a rest.

Since we know as an accepted truth that Olaes never even attempted to tender a check to Bantay Bata as publicly promised the only remaining issue is the missing one million pesos Umayam claims she gave Olaes on July 28, 2012.

Why wouldn’t Umayam and/or Olaes at least show the cancelled donation check and end this sordid affair? Consider that Gawad Kalinga USA never received the check at all. The hard truth is that Olaes was totally played by the devilish Umayam.

Umayam knows in this scenario that if Olaes, as a victim, never receives the money, it is more embarrassing for him to admit publicly that he was used as a frantic, last minute public relations ploy than to stay quiet and hope the issue goes away.

But the issue of transparency will not leave the Fil-Am community or the pages of PinoyWatchDog.com. Our community cannot endorse the deceit of this farcically, contemptuous staged non-contribution. The awardees have a right to know where their supposedly charitable contribution is going, or went. Indeed, Umayam had promised the awardees an accounting, but the date for alleged disclosure is constantly being moved back.

And considering reports that she has not paid commissions for advertising sales or contracted fees to photographers, along with her long time representations of obtaining a cum laude degree from UST, it is fair to conclude that Tony Olaes and Gawad Kalinga USA have also been used.

Gawad Kalinga is stained because it has not only allowed itself to be used by the corrupt Umayam, but essentially acted to protect her, and themselves, by its stony silence. Even the normally verbose Umayam has her mouth zipped shut.

The entire Gawad Kalinga organization is stained when its top American official seeks to protect Umayam’s apparent thievery of charitable funds by silence and cover- up instead of transparency and openness. The actual beneficiaries of the charity programs are harmed, as well as the awardees and attendees, having only a limited amount of donation dollars squandered by an odd conspiracy that Tony Olaes can easily expose by coming forward, admitting he was used by Umayam, and have the community appeal to her to turn over these funds as promised.

And then maybe Olaes will actually make his promised contribution to Bantay Bata.

Until then, Gawad Kalinga will remain a stained charity in the eyes of all FilAms seeking transparency in charitable giving.

Alfonso Gaerlan Aquino Rene Villaroman Joel Bander

is published fortnightly by

Tanod Bayan, Inc.,

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PinoyWatchDog.Com

Dionesio C. Grava Francis Johann Verdote Lotis Kai Rosario , David Casuco

Executive Editor Managing Editor Senior Columnist Chief of Reporters Correspondent

Contributing Writers Manila Correspondents

Editorial Ombudsman

mailing address at Arturo Cariaga, Winston A. Marbella 1247 Arapahoe Street, # 7,

Larry Pelayo Los Angeles, CA 90006, Telephone Number (213) 261-7467

and e-mail address at

editor@pinoywatchdog.com Web & SEO Strategist | Graphic Designer Lay-out and Graphics

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It Was Fun While It Lasted

uring the past two weeks, a flurry of events were paraded before the Filipino community, all geared towards providing fun and entertainment to our dreary brethren, who by now needed much this respite from these present hardships and harsh times in these United States. What is appreciable here and worth one’s own time, no matter how the public receive them, is that those persons putting up these shows do their damn best to concoct a fleeting trip to fantasy land. Fun and entertainment seem to be their reason for being, so to speak. These guys deserve a pat on the back.

On August 25, 2012, two setups competed for the attention of the Fil-Am public, by putting on presentations dubbed “all white party” and “all yellow party”. The former was presented by designer Lou Razon and the latter by entertainment promoter Mutch Carino.

Lou Razon’s was a fashion show involving children, teens and adults. The show was well attended and could be considered a financial success. As for the presentation’s artistic level, the critics were divided in their judgment. For really, the clothes could pass muster of excellent quality and the models were all beautiful and professional, but the pace was dragging and boring, as if you’re looking at zombies walking.

Mutch Carino’s Pistahan reminded me of small town fairs in the Philippines, where there is something for everyone. This is no surprise because Mutch hailed from the province of Pangasinan, in central Luzon, where the towns and the people are fond of putting up “Ferias” as part of their town fiesta celebrations. They say that Pistahan was not well attended, and as we used to call this failure some years back in the Philippines: “linangaw sa takilya”, meaning a financial flop, it is really disheartening that the event which represents a part of our culture should meet this kind of fate. They say it was the venue which made it difficult for the public to attend.

At the Noypitz, a Filipino owned restaurant in Glendale, a fundraising event called Damayan Sa Bayan was held last Thursday on August 30, 2012, promoted by Miss Lou Sabas and Mon Parel, which starred the venerable Imelda Papin, with a host of several known and budding performers in supporting roles, among them the reliable and able singer Long Espina and upcoming, but a newcomer in the entertainment world, songwriter Mon Concepcion singing his own compositions. The show was stitched together within two weeks, with Miss Sabas doing a yeoman’s job. The show was a resounding success, because the mission to help out the flood victims in the Philippines was received by the audience with much applause and generosity. The show itself was much fun and entertaining.

In terms of scope and financial involvement, these honest and well-meaning petite presentations pale in comparison with the huge-

ness and spectacle which attended the Darna Umayam extravaganza: the Search for the 100 Outstanding Filipino-Americans in the United States. However, the Umayam event was marked with a lot of questions, and as one led to the other, the disputes found their way to the courts, with the undisputed queen of fundraisers being sued for libel, and for exemplary damages hanging in the balance as a sword of Damocles, As for these petite presentations, it was fun while it lasted.

By the way, a lot more shows and a lot more fundraising are in the works this year, but one is tempted to ask: are these organizations legitimate? If you lack the legitimacy, bear in mind that a noble cause is no justification for shortcuts. Seek advice and help.

Perhaps the biggest event this year for the FilAm community is the unveiling and installation of the Rizal monument in Carson City on September 29, 2012 and a Gala to be tendered by the Jose P. Rizal Memorial Monument Foundation in the evening of the same day. It is the fruition of the labor of Chito Mandap, President of the foundation, and former chapter commander of the Order of the Knights of Rizal, Los Angeles Chapter. The journey began in 2004, when he was the chairman of the Kalayaan Committee which oversaw the celebrations of Philippines Independence Day that year and dedicated all the proceeds from the event to the purchase of a 7 foot bronze statue of the national hero, to be made by a Filipino sculptor. Later on, he created a memorial foundation to raise more funds to finance the project. When the statue was finished, he kept it in a warehouse in Manila for storage and the statue stayed there for some five or six years. The statue and the storage alone could have cost a fortune. Laudable and commendable may all his efforts be, I agree, and he should deserve this honor and everlasting credit, I feel like an eel to even have the temerity to ask questions like: 1. Was the Kalayaan Committee already registered as a non-profit charitable organization in the state during Mr. Mandap’s tenure as chairman in 2004? 2. Was the committee already in possession of a 501c3 from the IRS? 3. How about the Foundation, does it possess all these requirements already?

4. Where are the financial statements for both accounts, if any? The answers will strengthen Mr. Mandap’s credibility and honesty.

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

PinoyWatchDog.Com

How a Shared Vision Became a Reality that is Now PinoyWatchDog.com

couple of years ago I quit as a correspondent of Asian Journal, and that was the second time that I cut my relationship with that Fil-Am community newspaper. It was an economic rather than an ideological decision. In 1991, I had been named managing editor of Asian Journal by its owners, and I quit after a couple of months of putting out that fledgling newspaper. At that time, I chose to leave rather than to work under pressure of the owners who did not share my vision of a genuine community newspaper: a publication that serves the public’s interest first and foremost over fiduciary considerations.

In that period of Asian Journal’s evolution as a community newspaper, I did not fault the Oriels for insisting on their goals to be commercially successful as publishers. After all, they are businessmen first and publishers, second. Be that as it may, I knew that if I stayed I would be in a constant struggle with Roger Oriel and Cora Macabagdal-Oriel over the ideological direction of their nascent publication.

This little known chapter in my checkered journalism career would have remained buried in the dustbins of AJ’s history, but I feel that I had to include it in recounting my decision to join Atty Joel Bander, who shared the same vision that I espoused in creating PinoyWatchDog.com. I would also discover, much, much later that the Oriels would not mention this little aspect of my participation when AJ was still in its salad days for reasons that I understand now. Through the years, AJ had gone through a series of editors, some of whom had shared their aspirations and others that espoused the same vision as me, but the Oriels, being primarily businessmen, prevailed, and they emerged victorious in their business goals.

When Atty Bander, whom I had written some stories for during my second stint with AJ, con-

tacted me through Facebook in 2011, it dawned on me that my lean years were over and that I would embark on what I would later consider my ‘dream job.’

From the get-go, we discovered that our visions for a community newspaper ran along parallel lines: an uncensored, tabloid-format newspaper staffed with writers who wrote their own material.

We knew that it would be the antithesis of the usual run off the mill community newspapers that were being published. It would be the ‘un-Asian Journal.’

A few weeks after Atty Bander contacted me on Facebook “for a project,” we exchanged notes, again over FB, on how we would proceed. I knew then that we would be treading on new grounds, but we were determined to see it through, motivated, I must admit initially, by economic reasons. But as Joel and I brainstormed on how to bring those ideas about, we proceeded along the thinking that it would be difficult but doable. That was the difficult part. The easy part is that we were on the same page as far as our visions were concerned.

We were sure that if we had showed our plan to an astute businessman, he was going to raise his eyebrows in disbelief because our idea was, to say state it lightly, quite revolutionary. Prob-

ably good on paper, but would not survive as a business model. But determination and commitment trump everything else, and so, we forged ahead. Our first move was to look for a publisher. Our search ended with venerable writer, editor and journalist Alfonso Gaerlan Aquino, who, I found out later, also studied at Far Eastern University and contributed articles to the weekly FEU Advocate, our school’s newspaper, whose circulation topped 60,000 copies during my stint as one of its editors. To complete the staff, I also invited author and journalist Art Cariaga and veteran newspaper editor and writer Winston A. Marbella, both of whom also attended FEU and were likewise past student editors of the FEU Advocate.

We decided that with 100 per cent of the contents, we would need a cadre of writers to cover the local community, as well as the motherland. We’ve also agreed that we would focus coverage on the local scene and complement that with exclusive and in-depth news coverage of Manila. I re-established connections with former colleagues in Manila, specifically, Cariaga and Marbella. Locally, I wrote most of the articles for the first issue.

One of PWD’s original staff writers is budding journalist Francis

The 2016 presidential race is on!

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ell, folks, the 2016 presidential race is on!

And as we get closer to Election Day – that’s four short years away – the battle would intensify and get really nasty… I mean, very nasty!

Indeed, no sooner had Mar Roxas been sworn in as the new Secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) than the fireworks started in the camp of Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay.

The untimely demise of the popular DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo created a mad scramble to fill the power vacuum in one of the most – if not the most – powerful Cabinet positions in government.

Imagine this: The DILG has administrative supervision over 1,500 local government units (LGUs) or municipalities and jurisdiction over the 148,000-strong Philippine National Police (PNP). Imagine this, too: The DILG Secretary is in an enviable position to build a national political network that would be advantageous should he run for

national office, including the presidency. It would not then surprise anyone that presidential wannabes are salivating over the prospect of getting this job.

When Binay won the vice presidency in 2010, he made it known to newly elected President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III that he wanted the DILG top job. Considering Binay’s close political and personal relationship with the Aquino-Cojuangco family, P-Noy could easily have appointed him to the position then. Binay also had the backing of the “Samar” group of Pacquito

“Jojo” Ochoa Jr., which supported a cross-party Aquino-Binay ticket known as “Noy-Bi.” But the Liberal Party (LP) stalwarts would not allow that to happen.

P-Noy then settled for one of his LP supporters, former Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo who

Johann Verdote. Longtime community writer and columnist Larry Pelayo and accomplished writer-reporter Diony C. Grava would later join as Editorial Ombudsman and Chief of Reporters, respectively. Recently, former Balita editor and columnist and a genuine journalist and sportswriter, Dave Casuco, joined as Contributing Writer.

Owing to our fortnightly frequency, we mandated that the articles should be written in ‘featurized’ style in order to give news stories a longer shelf life. This explains why PWD articles routinely breach 1000 words or more at times. PWD also count on research and dirt-digging on its Investigative Team.

After our inaugural issue came out on October 7, 2011, I posted a picture of myself holding the front page of PWD on Facebook, and one FB friend in San Diego asked, “Who is Atty Beirne?” The headline read, “PINOYS SUE ATTY BEIRNE FOR FRAUD, MALPRACTICE”. I explained to him that Atty Beirne is a prominent lawyer in the Los Angeles area. I bylined that first PWD banner headline. It was the beginning of what the Fil-Am community marked as the birth of a “controversial but necessary” newspaper.

I had a few misgivings having to write that first expose’, after that first controversial reportage, however, I felt there was nothing to fear as long as my stories were always supported by facts and documents. Besides, I have an experienced lawyer going over my stories to make sure they were not defamatory and libelous.

That opening salvo was followed by many more exposes’ and exclusive articles penned by me, Joel Bander, Diony Grava, Larry Pelayo, Francis Verdote and the PWD Investigative Team, and our team of correspondents in Manila.

In the ensuing months, PWD had latched onto an edgy, tell-it-likeit-is brand of newspapering that got even better with each issue.

PWD had ruffled many a feather in the Fil-Am community for its unprecedented coverage, not only locally, but also in the old country. A few members of the Fil-Am community also had branded our uncensored stories as defamatory or “paninira,” but we pressed on with our motto that “truth is our reason for being,” and never looked back.

It was quite difficult for some members of our community to accept the birth of a newspaper that can cry “foul” whenever it was called for and to call spade a spade. They had branded PWD writers and editors with names, like ‘pseudo-journalists, ‘jukebox writers,’ rubble rousers, etc.

But PWD just ignored the namecalling and continued publishing controversial but fact-based exposes’.

Today, a few weeks before our first anniversary, we are taking a few moments to look back at our humble and near-impossible beginnings and celebrate a few moral triumphs. The road ahead is still littered with elements that would do their best to mitigate PWD’s impact on the community, like stealing copies and branding our stories as ‘lies,’ but we are giving us a pat on the back for the changes that we have managed to imbue this community. As a journalist, I would always remember what I told Atty Joel Bander when he asked me if I would be willing to get embroiled in controversy.

My answer to that was, “A journalist worth his salt should be willing to write about anything.”

Also, I am encouraged by what a colleague wrote to me recently: “They don’t shoot journalists in America.”

didn’t have any known ambition to seek a national office. However, to keep Binay close to his chest, PNoy appointed him Housing Czar.

He also gave him the Marcos-era Coconut Palace as his official residence. Not bad, but not good enough to whet his voracious political appetite.

Meanwhile, P-Noy’s erstwhile vice presidential running mate, Mar Roxas, whom Binay defeated in the election had to lay low for a year because of the one-year ban on appointing candidates who lost in an election. A year later, P-Noy appointed Roxas as Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Commerce (DOTC). Not bad, but Roxas preferred the Chief of Staff, which his “Balay” group lobbied PNoy to create for him.

played it down when his spokesman, Joey Salgado, tweeted: “VP Binay not interested in DILG post, would rather continue to work in housing and assisting OFWs. Hoping this ends all baseless speculation.” However, my take is that Binay played a gambit hoping that P-Noy would appoint somebody, other than his nemesis, Roxas.

If his gambit worked, Binay would still have an edge over Roxas because his job as Housing Czar connects directly with the people – the voters – while Roxas’ DOTC post doesn’t have too much interaction with the masses.

But P-Noy appointed Roxas.

By doing so, P-Noy is playing the classic political game of “divide and rule.” By pitting Roxas and Binay against each other, he would control the two rivals until after the 2013 mid-term elections. Meanwhile, he’d be weighing his options on how to deal with the two when it’s time for them to face off in the 2016 presidential race.

Binay vs. Roxas With the unexpected vacancy of the DILG post, the old SamarBalay rivalry surfaced and they started positioning their forces for the long battle ahead. But Binay

Turn to Page 6

Saturday, September 8, 2012

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PinoyWatchDog.Com

The Long Gestation of PinoyWatchDog.com From Page 1

‘why aren’t the papers in Los Angeles interesting like the papers in Manila?’

So when I returned I made casual inquiry over the following months and learned that the newspaper owners did not want to offend any potential advertisers by printing controversial writings, were concerned about business interests unrelated to their newspapers, particularly in the Philippines, and it was more expensive to hire actual original writers.

Over the subsequent years I came to represent, as a lawyer, many of these Filipino American papers, including Asian Journal, California Examiner, Dyaryo Filipino, Pinoy Today and Ang Peryodiko. During those same 15 years I represented thousands of Filipinos, working with the World War II veterans and activists in creating and sustaining ‘Equity Village,’ along

with the ‘Equity Caravan’ to Washington, D.C., and scores of trips to the Philippines over the years for immigration seminars, business meetings, and overseeing extensive litigation support operations. Hence, I became more involved and absorbed into Filipino culture. However, the concept that a real newspaper with real news still lingered in my mind.

In 2003, I started representing Asian Journal, without question the largest Fil-Am newspaper in the country. In 2006, proimmigration protesters took to the streets. The Spanish language media was in the forefront, encouraging tens of thousands to protest. I provided unsolicited, non-legal advice to the Asian Journal publishers that their newspaper held a special role in the Fil-Am community and should be taking the same leadership role as Spanish language media for that ethnic group. However, even

Atty. Joel Bander meets then CA Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa ---Equity Village 1997

Awarding the Dead

► By Angel Y.

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Dayan

e have a Filipino-American culture that does not trust our people, which is rather strange and sad. I am not alone in this observation. Our “kababayans” would rather patronize another person’s similar business but not that of a Filipino’s. Are we really less qualified, or our businesses just below the standard? It could be because we have been abused far too many times on different occasions in our experience dealing with Filipinos.

We are a difficult breed. behavioral challenge in orWe harm our own. We der to achieve our dreams are hard on others and on and our great expectations. ourselves, always critical If we find ourselves “inand suspicious of people fighting”oftentimes to critiwho move and enter our cize or firmly take a stand, lives and thus, unless we we are truly alive and hucould survive the“crawling man or, strangely enough crabs” from our cultural it seems, but natural. But uniqueness in social norm, to see no evil in this curse we may not realize our en- I believe is wrong. Yes, deavors in foreign shores we will find fault in others as we pursue our dreams to and we can. It is easy to do.

This hardness to ourselves become successful.

I should probably not could also even be seen at critique us harshly this way home where we only award because it makes me beat and recognize those who my breast as well before exceptionally excelled in our community and openly us in their good contribudeclare to everyone this is tions in life after they are who we are as Filipinos and dead.

The good examples that it weakens our character and strength as a people lately are actors like comeand destroys our respect dian Dolphy Quizon, and “presidential” Fernando from the rest of the world.

Against these odds that Poe, Jr. who were both we fondly describe our- given posthumous awards selves, I believe we should like what Catholics assign continue to strive all the as they elevate their “dead more to counter the wind of saints.” We would also

supporting immigrants was considered too controversial for Asian Journal.

In 2007, Asian Journal embarked on an ambitious project to obtain verified circulation for all of its newspapers throughout the country.

However, at the same time Balita Media (the publishers of Weekend Balita), were publishing advertisements that they were circulating 80,000 copies every issue.

Additionally, Balita claimed they had been certified by a circulation audit company in New Jersey. However, investigation revealed that Balita had significantly less than one-third that amount of copies, and that the circulation audit company had never even heard of Balita Media, much less having certified them. To me this seemed to be a worthy story for publication. However, the cautious publishers of Asian Journal had determined to stay within their business model and not print anything controversial, even to expose the blatant lies of their dishonest competitor. Indeed, at that point, Asian Journal did not even file a lawsuit against Balita Media.

Starting in 2008, I started providing more nonlegal, unsolicited advice to the Asian Journal publishers that the Fil-Am community had matured and was ready for a ‘real’ newspaper. Little did I know then that at the same time one of their writers, Rene Villaroman, was suggesting that Asian Journal turned into a community

publication that espouses an advocacy for the Fil-Am community.

In 2009, Asian Journal did have me file an unfair trade practices lawsuit against Balita Media. Baltia Media had published articles and advertisements that an actual circulation audit proved they were the largest Fil-Am paper in Southern California, but the audit actually proved the opposite, that Asian Journal was the largest.

(This time the audit really occurred, and in fact, Balita Media failed the audit.)

Balita Media, having never been called to task for prior published misrepresentations obviously felt they could print anything with impunity. But Asian Journal’s patience would only go so far, and a lawsuit ensued.

However, as I was admittedly pulverizing Balita Media in the litigation, see related story at http://www. pinoywatchdog.com/balitamedia-publisher-luchiemendoza-allen/, that newspaper in late 2009 decided to turn its own media machine against me personally, orchestrating a fake press conference to make it appear that I had stolen money from my clients. (I first learned about the term ‘tsismis’ and ‘demolition job’ from that experience.)

However, Asian Journal, which I had represented for so long, maintained their policy of non-controversy and refused to print my side of this story, and only per-

mitted me to print ‘success’ stories.

Hence, the need for a real newspaper, not only for me, but for anyone similarly situated, became more apparent. However, I went on with my legal practice, and enjoyed handling a modest inventory of litigation cases essentially on my own instead of managing a firm of over 70 people.

Between the winter of 2010 and the summer of 2011, I had kept different legal pads with notes of different non-legal business projects I was considering. After an exhausting two week jury trial in June 2011, I gathered up these notes and each pad had ‘Filipino newspaper’ on them. I decided to poke around.

So on June 26, 2011, I went into Facebook to find the best collaborators for this project. At that time I was first getting involved with Facebook, and was looking through other people’s friends for the contacts when I saw Rene Villaroman, who used to write

only rise to fight strongly for our freedoms at different times of history after two of our adored heroes are gone (Jose Rizal and Benigno Aquino).

We had not rallied mighty and strong when they were still breathing air and alive.

Both seemed to have found themselves “nag-iisa” fighting a crusade alone for a good cause amidst the formidable opposition.

We were passive before we were pushed too far and we introduced ‘People Power’ to the world. We could have a little difference now.

I would like to think we are not this stupid as a people, but we are in a very real sense. Therefore, perhaps in an apparent contradiction, one seemingly “good-intentioned” but yet dishonest woman in Los Angeles awarded some 100 individuals in the so called “Outstanding FilipinoAmericans” to the consternation of rational thinking people who understand what it takes to be a true Achiever or Outstanding in one’s career performance in a particular field or endeavor. It is not because someone could pay $1,100 dollars to receive an award bestowed on him/her even without having done anything worthy at all.

This is gross publicity the loser’s way, a mis-

leading proposition of a shenanigan to rise from the crowd, and more than a “pay to play” affair in one writer’s definition, but which in fact was an ultimate absurdity and a “spider’s sinful snare.” To the insensible awardees without self-respect and decency, they should feel ashamed of themselves. It was an award of ill-repute.

But it is America where diplomas could be redeemed like a coupon from the back of a matchbox, and a commoditized “Who’s Who in America ”in a hollow award bought from a Swap Meet/Flea Market is the name of the game, or now ridiculously even a “cum laude” academic credential peddled without veracity in a CV is acceptable--- if only to give color of braggadocio on one’s undertaking to deliberately baffle or disorient people in order to collect money from a hungry constituency longing for recognition no matter what it was for.

A colleague used to advise me vainly that “if you cannot dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with confusion.” We have seen a lot of this in the world.

What manner of dysfunctional sick people are we who could fall to such an extreme trip of “egomania” and a ridiculous scheme of

publicity and promotion via a wayward public misrepresentation. We have a longing to be the first and yes but if we are honest we need to admit to ourselves that we are indeed at the last. We could not even win a medal in the Olympics from our population of some 80 million Filipinos.

The Filipino senses need to be reborn.

Yes, we have our true Achievers in America.We could be proud of them as they stand tall shining brown. But our best achievers in the United States were in no way heralded here, not the ones chosen or recognized. So then for those who are guilty as brown and unashamedly willing participants who seek to make a name for themselves, could we ask the question: if we cannot get a medal for real achievement can we buy it and give a plaque of recognition to ourselves? It was the pervading theme we know now from the newspaper articles of a Jew. “Bestow that plaque to friends, relatives, associates, and cohorts one clear summer day and call them “Outstanding” and then expect to receive that same similar plaque another day from the same cohorts or awardees.” The organizers seem to say. This has al-

Photo by John Sacramento

stories about my law practice back in 2009. I did not know Rene very well from that experience; it was pretty much all business. I sent a ‘Friend’ request and he immediately answered.

This is our exchange that was the first big step to seeing PinoyWatchDog. com become a reality.

Joel Bander: what you do these days?

Rene Villaroman: Hi, Atty Bander. Not much, I could use some writing assignments as I am retired.

Joel Bander: hmm, very interesting.

Rene Villaroman: If you are need of some PR writing, please keep me in mind because I need more income to pay my bills.

Joel Bander: well, i might have a little project in mind. willing to take on controversy?

Rene Villaroman: A journalist worth his salt needs to cover anything. ready happened before and this one was not really new under the sun. It is a frivolous cycle that will continue to brand us. Let us rub and erase like a tattoo with the salt, “kapalmuks.”

These people did their spin under the roof of “nonprofit” organizations “without the IRS valid exempt determinations” (for profit) under the clout of supposedly good public and charitable purposes to desensitize public sentiments.

Where is our guilt and where is our shame once again are good questions to ask the tongue constituencies of the North. They are, I believe in between the distance of the belt in the waistline and the stomach. The organizers and the awardees and the supporters are guilty of these two deadly sins in our midst.

The Filipinos at large cannot swallow that. Did you just throw up? What will you say when you see this plaque posted on the wall?

The “Dog” got them. They have been caught in their devil’s snare. And now that it was over, could someone tell the Internal Revenue Service to please be on the way for that missing one million peso charitable contribution. Where did the money go? But hey, was this a Dead people’s award too? I am still thinking.

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PinoyWatchDog.Com

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Former FilAm Chamber Investigative Committee Chairman Speaks Out About Adrian Lecaros From Page 1

allegations for quite awhile, but the Chamber members were quite closed mouthed about the circumstances, including even PinoyWatchDog.com’s own Joe Arciaga, then executive director of the Chamber, responsible for drafting the charges against Lecaros. He sat steadfastly mum to this paper’s ongoing inquiries about the Chamber/ Lecaros affair. Arciaga, a U.S. Army Desert Storm veteran, often told me he “was concerned about the image of the Chamber” without stating more in a stoic sense of duty to the organization.

However, Dullas, a Philippine Military Academy graduate and former naval officer, bravely broke that window of silence in a recent interview. Dullas, and now others providing information to the PinoyWatchDog.com investigative team, have detailed ten separate charges against the Board that sought to inves-

From Page 1

tigate Lecaros. Among the charges were Lecaros’s allegedly performing actions not within the scope of board membership, such as using the Chamber for his own personal gain, negotiating sponsorships without board approval, disruptive actions regarding the administration of the Miss Beauty of the Philippines 2011 Pageant, causing loss of revenue and goodwill to the Chamber, and seeking to monopolize the obtaining of sponsors for Chamber events.

Dullas put it more succinctly in our interview that Lecaros generally sought to “impose what he wants on everybody by yelling, disrupting and general bullying.”

One of Lecaros’ more bold statements in these series of incidents was his August 13, 2011, email to board members that “I too am an original founder of the chamber! The fact remains that when we started almost ten years ago I was the first

secretary!!!” Chamber President Emeritus Noel Omega stated that Mr. Lecaros was not the first secretary of the Chamber.

Oddly, Lecaros stated under oath in December 2011 that he had been in the United States for ten years.

One Lecaros detractor told me “that would have meant that as a new immigrant Adrian went straight to creating a Chamber of Commerce. How could that happen?”

Dullas stated that he gave Lecaros two opportunities to address the investigative committee regarding the charges. However, Lecaros never appeared for either meeting. “He never came around anymore and that was the end of it,” Dullas said. “We put it in the records that the charges were not answered by Lecaros.”

Dullas Had More Problems with Lecaros Outside of Chamber Business Dullas also related that

in July 2011 he paid Lecaros $240 for six tickets to that year’s White Fashion Show party. But when Dullas arrived at the event with his family and friends he was advised that his tickets were no good. “I told them I paid Adrian but they said they asked him to attend a meeting about his tickets and he did not show up,” a statement Dullas attributed to the White Party admission personnel.

After Dullas shelled out another $240 that night he later confronted Lecaros.

“He doesn’t seem to care that he just took the money from me,” Dullas said.

Dullas’ story does not end there. Earlier, Lecaros told Dullas he was putting up a Filipino newspaper, Kabayan, with two friends.

Lecaros asked him to advertise, set a price for an advertisement and promotional article. Dullas paid his money, but alas only the article appeared, without the paid for advertisement. When ques-

Darna Umayam Caught

cum laude from University of Santo Tomas, http://www. pinoywatchdog.com/ustcannot-certify-darna-umayam-graduated-cum-laude/ as she had long contended in printed materials, was enough make Ms. Umayam to institute the plan.

The following day, July 8, 2012, PWD Senior Columnist Joel Bander wrote Umayam that he was concerned about this thievery, to which Ms. Umyam responded, “maybe people sympathize with me for what you are doing. They are putting your newspaper in the trash to where it belongs.”

On July 22, 2012, Umayam again wrote Bander stating “I will not make an appeal to the community to stop stealing your Pinoywatchdog. I was about to do it to put a stop on all this. But you still continue to hit me below the belt. I will just do what I think is right.”

In that same email exchange, Umayam stated “I won’t stop at nothing. The war has just begun.” See related story at http://www. pinoywatchdog.com/anti-semitic-rants-and-support-fornewspaper-thievery-fromdarna-umayam/ California Penal Code Section 490.7 makes it a crime to take more than 25 free newspapers if the purpose is to deprive others in the opportunity to read or enjoy the newspaper.

Indeed, the war had begun but Umayam, acting with her regular impunity, did not consider that PinoyWatchDog.com was making modifications in its circulation schedules and now a have a batter of citizen volunteers keeping an eye out for thieves. “I enjoy your newspaper,” one assistant shop keeper told PWD’s in-

vestigative team. “It is just wrong to steal them to deprive the community of your point of view.”

Now, PinoyWatchDog. com can report that this community-based force of ‘watchdogs’ now has multiple witnesses with Umayam personally involved in taking more than 25 newspapers in violation of Penal Code 490.7.

In one instance, PinoyWatchDog.com had an arrangement with a storefront business near a Seafood City (no names of businesses or actual witnesses will be revealed in this report as to not impede law enforcement’s investigation, and to protect these witnesses from Umayam’s pattern of harassment) that the business would slowly restock the newspapers in the Seafood City so that large inventory was not available to be stolen.

However, Umayam saw these newspapers stacked in that business and asked questions along the lines of why “would you have such a horrible paper, etc.” One of the store employees recognized Umayam from this newspaper’s reports and decided to move the papers to the restroom. While this was occurring Umayam reportedly came back with a shopping cart, this time with a scarf over her head and trying to cover her face. She allegedly asked another employee what happened to the newspapers, and he just stated he knew nothing.

Umayam then went with her shopping cart to the Seafood City and was observed taking a few bundles of the newspaper from the racks.

One of these employees saw her loading at least three bundles (there are 50 to a bundle) into a car that was later found parked in front of Umay-

am’s house on Eagle Rock Boulevard. The employee also wrote the car’s license number, model and color. He then gave the information to PWD’s Investigative team who missed the alleged thefts by a scant ten minutes.

The two PWD investigators then drove to another establishment along Eagle Rock Blvd. to talk to the owner who had earlier reported that copies of PWD had been mysteriously disappearing from the racks inside the restaurant. The owner reported that the alleged newspaper thieves’ modus operandi was to put an order for a take-out, and while the owner was in the kitchen, an accomplice would enter the restaurant and steal all the PWD copies. These thefts went on for a couple of weeks until the PWD investigators had established a pattern, and they got lucky on this weekend.

While the two investigators were talking to the owner, Ms. Umayam, who had claimed in an earlier email that she could not drive, arrived, driving the same car that the witnesses saw parked in the parking lot of Seafood City, and where Ms. Umayam had loaded three bundles of stolen PWD copies just about 30 minutes earlier. The PWD investigators asked her why she was driving a car because she had claimed that she could not drive. As she emerged from her car the owner said, “That’s her; she is the one taking the newspapers.”

Surprised that the investigators were waiting, Ms. Umayam made an attempt to make her visit a normal one, shouting at the counter, “I want to order arroz caldo.”

Accosted by the two investigators, she immediately transformed into a crying, sobbing persona, imploring

the two investigators, “You are my friends; what have I done to deserve this treatment?”

Umayam has often resorted to sobbing to avoid unpleasant circumstances.

One of the investigators said, “We are professional journalists, and we have a mission to publish any bit of legitimate news, as long as they are supported by facts and documents, even though they will impact our friends.”

The investigators would later be informed that after their encounter at the restaurant, that Ms. Umayam would continue to “steal” copies of PWD at a medium-sized Filipino food market less than a block away. The assistant manager of the market, who had been apprised of the thievery and was guarding that no one consumer would take more than one copy of the newspaper, had reported to the investigators a few days later that he caught Ms. Umayam taking away more than one bundle of newspapers.

The assistant reported that he had asked Ms. Umayam not take too many copies, and reported that Ms. Umayam told him, “Do you know that the owner of this newspaper is a white man, and he has been printing lies about us Filipinos?” He added that Umayam had claimed that she would give the extra copies to her friends.” After that exchange, the assistant manager reported that Ms. Umayam returned the bundle, and he relocated them inside the market.

The following week after these alleged thefts have occurred PinoyWatchDog. com’s Managing Editor Rene Villaroman and Sr. Columnist Joel Bander reported these crimes to the San Fernando Road Station of the Los Angeles Police Department.

tioned, Dullas said Lecaros blamed his partners.

“Lecaros was never a partner of Kabayan” newspaper, former publisher John James Sacramento exclaimed. “We found out that Adrian would go around stating he was part of the paper. And we never even saw the money he collected from Dullas,” Sacramento decried.

Lecaros refused to be interviewed for this article.

Why is the Chamber So Concerned About its Image?

A corollary to this story the Chamber’s long running resistance to discussing this matter in the past is Arciaga’s statement, saying, “My first obligation is to the Chamber,” Arciaga explained for his tight-lipped policy to the very newspaper he is a contributor. In essence, the view was, if the circumstances of an errant member was made public it would cast the Chamber in a

bad light.

PinoyWatchDog.com’s Executive Editor said “From all the facts I see, the Chamber was overly patient and accommodating to Mr. Lecaros, maybe more than they should have been. They offered him due process with two hearings that he never appeared in.

They were professional and disciplined.”

At the Chamber’s mixer last week in Van Nuys I probed for more information from Rodel Lumanog, a former Chamber President, and even though it was obvious that I had all the information necessary he was maintaining the same zone of silence. When I told him it was the view of PinoyWatchDog.com that the Chamber acted most appropriately, and if anything, was too patient with Lecaros, he seemed relieved and thanked me. When I asked him why the Chamber was so sensitive about this matter, he just smiled.

The 2016 presidential race is on!

From Page 4

While Binay had made it crystal clear that he is definitely running in 2016, Roxas – who said a year ago that he was not interested in running for president – was reported recently to have resumed his presidential bid.

Word war This agitated members of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), which was formed by Binay and former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada a few months ago to field a senatorial slate for the 2013 midterm elections.

Erap’s son, Rep. JV Ejercito made a lot of noise about Roxas’ appointment saying that it was “obviously” in preparation for the 2013 elections. Ejercito is vying to be included in the UNA senatorial slate in which his brother Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is in a good position to be Binay’s vice presidential running mate.

Sen. Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan, who is running for re-election under the UNA banner, warned of the adverse effect of having a “partisan” DILG Secretary.

He said that the DILG head has “immense political influence” because of DILG’s jurisdiction over the PNP. LP leaders were quick to defend Roxas. House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said P-Noy trusted Roxas and would be his “effective bridge” to LGU officials, while Deputy Majority Leader Miro Quimbo said that Roxas is the most qualified candidate because

of his knowledge of the “inner workings” of the LGUs. However, critics say that it is possible for the LP to use “force and intimidation” tactics to ensure a 12-0 victory of administration senatorial candidates.

But unless massive election cheating would occur, the outcome would probably be split evenly between the UNA and the LP, which has yet to finalize its coalition with the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC).

Dilemma But regardless of the outcome of the 2013 midterm elections, Binay and Roxas would be facing off in the 2016 presidential election. That’s in the cards.

Once again, the Samar and Balay groups would lock horns in combat.

And this would become problematic to P-Noy whose loyalty is divided between Binay and Roxas.

Would P-Noy stay above the fray and take a neutral stand? Or, would he support Binay, who served his mother loyally during her presidency? Or, would he support Roxas, his friend and the standard bearer of his own party?

At the end of the day, P-Noy may have no other option but to choose between Binay and Roxas.

He can’t run away from an obligation. And there is no Solomonic solution to his dilemma either. Indeed, he can’t have his cake and eat it too.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

PinoyWatchDog.Com

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PinoyWatchDog.Com Saturday, September 8, 2012

Lifestyle Resorts World Manila:

An All-in-One Grand-Scale Development Enticing Visitors Abroad

F

ilipinos who have long migrated abroad have a new reason to go back and visit the Philippines as Philippine Tourism continues to flourish with thriving tourism developments emerging throughout the country. World-class developments and leisure estates abound in the entire metropolis and one such development is the first all-in-one destination for varied lifestyle and recreational alternatives in the country, Resorts World Manila.

Touted as the one-stop, nonstop venue for worldclass entertainment and superlative leisure, Resorts World Manila offers both local and foreign markets a taste of international standards right in Philippine turf.

Now Filipinos based in Los Angeles can visit the Philippines anew and experience a unique and absolutely thrilling experience in their home country, at par or sometimes superlative, with other renowned vacation getaways in the world.

Conveniently adjacent to the NAIA Terminal 3, Resorts World Manila has been one of the foremost choice for travelers who seek a worthwhile getaway in Manila. A grand luxury estate providing guests with exceptional hotel accommodations such as the all-luxury suite MAXIMS Hotel or the practical yet cozy REMINGTON Hotel; first-rate shows and performances of international standards performed in the most innovative stage in the country; a wide array of the most sumptuous international cuisines including Asia Tatler Dining Perfect 10 restaurant IMPRESSIONS, a high-end NEWPORT MALL complex with most sought-after brands in the market; and a goldmine of other enticing attractions, Resorts World Manila is also the perfect place for every lifestyle enthusiast as it stands out among the rest with its complete range of amenities and attractions that is all within reach.

Staying true to the brand reputation of its counterpart developments in Genting, Malaysia and Sentosa, Singapore, Resorts World Manila breaks new ground in the Philippine tourism, offering attractions at par with the best of the world.

Offering a gamut of unique and wowing attractions that intend to cater the international market, Resorts World Manila proves to be an enticing pull for Los Angeles-based Filipinos who have long missed the country. And while the grand lifestyle and entertainment estate boasts of providing a new benchmark of global standards in hospitality and tourism, Resort World Manila is still emanating the Filipino culture and spirit that has emboldened tourists to experience its exclusivity.

Such incoming festivals

Can’t Wait to Escape and Take the Ultimate Break as the GRAND FIESTA MANILA, a monthlong series of exciting Yuletide and entertainment events promises to draw more visitors to the integrated lifestyle hub, including the prestigious Miss RWM pageant and Fashion Show, or the highlyanticipated all-Filipino musical The King And I featuring theatre greats Leo Tavarro Valdez and Monique Wilson who have both performed in London’s West End. These and so much more await thrill seekers who want to have a grand getaway in the Philippines.

ABOUT RESORTS WORLD MANILA: Resorts World Manila (RWM) is the first one-stop, non-stop entertainment and

leisure destination in the Philippines that features exciting recreational thrills, superlative performances, unique events, and spectacular lifestyle options.

Conveniently located across Ninoy Aquino International Airport 3, RWM is an instant gateway to world-class Philippine hospitality. This integrated lifestyle hub is home to three international lodging brands: the all-luxury suite Maxims Hotel; the five-star brand Marriott Hotel Manila; and Remington Hotel which offers cozy and superb accommodations for great value.

Also home to RWM is The Newport Mall which features international luxury brands. Experience a unique viewing experience at The Newport Cinemas with stadium seating and state-of-theart cinema projectors. Watch grand-scale performances at the 1,500-seater, ultra modern Newport Performing Arts Theater (NPAT), which boasts of state-of-the-art lights and sounds technology, and the largest LED wall in all of Southeast Asia, or relax in the cozy interior and chilling 24/7 entertainment provided for you at Bar 360.

Spend a whole family day affair with the many attractions offered by GameZoo amusement center, including exclusive multi-dimensional virtual rides, exclusive arcade games, and more fantastic activities for kids of all ages.

Amp all the thrilling excitement offered exclusively

by Resorts World Manila by becoming a cardholder!

Membership at RWM is free and provides an instant pass to numerous discounts, freebies, and exclusive invites to RWM events.

Resorts World Manila— The Place To Play.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

9

PinoyWatchDog.Com

Glendale’s Five Seasons Restaurant

has a Special Take on the Venerable Pancit Malabon

I

n an increasingly competitive restaurant industry one of the ingredients in a restaurant’s viability and longevity is innovation. Innovation helps a restaurant to be noticed in a sea of competing, and often, cookie-cutter dining establishments. In an era where McDonalds has lost its primacy in the hamburger arena, and where Kentucky Fried Chicken has to compete with a slew of wannabe fried chicken places, innovation has become a key to a restaurant’s enduring success.

Savvy restaurants owners, Filipinos included, have learned the value of innovating on their standard fare in order to stand out from the rest, and success is often gained by tweaking their standard fare like pancit (noodle) dishes and familiar Filipino classics like dinuguan, bulalo, and Pancit Malabon/luglug. Years ago, the innovative owners of the Manila Sunset restaurant chain opened Jeepney Grill in the mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles, on 6th St. corner Alexandria.

One of their entrees’ that stood out from the rest is the bulalo (boiled soup bones with marrow and tendon).

Their version of bulalo had sesame seeds, julienned

carrots and bok choy. The carrots and the bok choy were not a surprise, but the sesame seeds were. It was the most innovative take on that Batangas-invented slow-cooked meat entrée.

More recently, Goldilocks also introduced their dinuguan (pork blood stew) with crunchy pieces of lechon

snack that was invented in the fishing town of Malabon, a suburb north of Manila.

More recently, while having a meeting at Kapistahan Grill on Temple St., the editorial board of PinoyWatchDog.com was treated to a pancit guisado that executive editor, Al Aquino, ordered.

The pancit guisado arrived

(roast pig), and that innovation caught me with a pleasant surprise. The crunchy pork pieces introduced a new texture to an otherwise bland, dark-colored viand.

Today, I discovered that another trendy restaurant in Glendale, the Five Seasons Restaurant, had added calamari to the Pancit Malabon/luglug, and that novel idea resulted in a sensational version of a very popular

with slices of lechon kawali on top. It has since been a favorite of PWD editors.

When I was in college and living in Caloocan City, we used to eat the original Pancit Malabon/luglug in a quaint little restaurant along the EDSA at Monumento, and I remember eating this delicacy festooned not only with shrimps but also squids, and garnished with crumbled smoked fish (tinapa)

and powdered chicharon (fried pork rinds). Well, Five Seasons’ take on Pancit Malabon/luglug goes a step further. Cook Rinzell Alim, “Bok” to his co-workers, serves the popular noodle snack with a sprinkling of calamari (battered fried squids). “It adds a contrasting texture to the slightly chewy noodles,” notes Carlo Sillona, PWD’s Advertising Manager. My first mouthful of Five Seasons’ Pancit Malabon turned me into a convert.

I will not boggle your mind regarding the other ingredients that go into this noodle dish. I would say, though, that a $10 per order serving will be enough to satisfy the cravings of three adults. That comes to about $3.30 per person. “The servings are ample,” attests Martin Ordono, a Five Seasons manager.

Rinzell is very proud of his tweaked version of another Pinoy classic. Bok’s culinary innovations extend beyond this emerging Five Seasons offering. He is also responsible for cooking the equally popular mami noodles soups, all other variations of Pancit, including miki-bihon, guisado, canton and

sotanghon. With obvious pride in his noodle soups, “Bok” tells me that it takes 24 hours of boiling pork legs and chicken neck bones to come up with the stock that goes with every serving of the restaurant’s variety of the restaurant’s noodle soups.

But the 15-year veteran cook, who had stints in the kitchens of other leading Filipino restaurants in San Francisco, is never impatient. Born in Tondo and raised in Pasay City, Bok’s culinary journey has brought him from nondescript eateries in Manila to the Pinoy Restaurants in the Bay Area, picking up cooking skills along the way. A few years ago, Bok found himself in Los Angeles, working at the pantry of a well-known Filipino restaurant, and eventually finding a job as one of

the cooks at Five Seasons Restaurant. He is one of the three Pinoy cooks at Five Seasons, each specializing on cooking this restaurant’s outstanding and best-selling entrees.

These include Kalderetang Kambing, Kilawin Kambing, and kikiam, a Chinese sausage variety.

If you want to have a taste of Bok’s Pancit Malabon/luglug, visit Five Seasons Restaurant at 1428 East Colorado Blvd., Glendale, CA 91205. Or call tel. no. (818) 5484277, and ask for their special Pancit Malabon/ luglug. One important tip to remember, though, have them pack the calamari separately if you are going to take them out to prevent it from getting soggy.— Rene Villaroman

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PinoyWatchDog.Com

Community

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Big waves by Pinay militants in Hollywood rally From Page 1

rally in Hollywood Blvd. on Sunday was an opportunity for feminists, organizers and other female cause-oriented groups to vent grievances and hurl tirades against just about everyone they perceived as being unjust, unsympathetic or exploitative to womenfolk.

Many, like Ms. Levid, made big deal about the issue of their own body. She said, “We demand full women’s reproductive rights... now!”

Levid also wanted access to housing, welfare, childcare, healthcare, better workplace condition, full equality and respect.

Reading a prepared statement, Levid said that with election day fast approaching women’s choices and voices are exploited by parties of all stripes solely for their own gains. That’s why they must continue “efforts to highlight parallels among local, national and international issues in order to arouse, organize and mobilize the masses.” The statement was also shared by the KmB. Ms. Bartolome was advocating for the support of “Grace Grande, 40, and her two sons seeking political asylum from persecution, prosecution and possible bodily harm stemming from Ms. Grande’s refusal to continue as a concubine of a powerful Philippine politician nearly double her age.”

According to press reports, Ms. Grande was referring to Patricio Antonio, a party-list representative in the Philippine Congress, and that she was seeking help supposedly because her life and her children’s lives are in danger.

The theme of the rally was “Defend women’s rights - We won’t go back!”

Presumptive presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the Republicans in general got some flak because they are considered enemies of abortion and other feminist causes.

Women’s Equality Day commemorates the granting of the right to vote to American women on August 26, 1920, on an equal basis with men. This 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was first introduced in 1878.

August 26, 2012, was the day before the start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, and rally organizers announced that “Supporters of women’s rights who cannot make it to Tampa to protest the Republican National Convention will protest to

stand up for women’s rights in their city, instead.” That Sunday protest rallies were also held in the cities of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, Lexington and Milwaukee.

Most of the animated speeches were centered on women’s right to abortion.

American women, some speakers said, “won the right to abortion 39 years ago. We will not let the right wing take us back to the dark ages of women’s history. Women will not stand by silently

while politicians play political football with our rights.”

They have to stand together in the streets and fight back, they said. They also urged the use of the ballot box and vote against those who are in the way of their goals.

In addition to the right to use their bodies as they deem fit, WORD (Women Organized to Resist and Defend) also demanded in a press release, among others, access to safe, legal abortion and birth control – on demand.

They wanted healthcare that covers these services and access to it for all women.

They wanted the information that they need to stay healthy, including an end to abstinence-only sex education in schools. There were also calls to end budget cuts.

A heckler is swarmed by cops and, second panel, taken away.

WORD had also launched a petition campaign demanding the resignation of Congressman Todd Akin (R) “following his outrageous and sexist remarks attacking rape victims and women’s right to choose.”

There was also a statement of Donna Goodman, a top official of a labor federation, that reads in part: “We believe that access to reproductive choice – the basic right of women to control our own bodies – is a fundamental right and must be defended.”

Some speakers were liberal in the use of the F___ and V___ and other risque’ words. There was even someone claiming to be only 15 who seemed to delight in the use of such words. “I don’t want so-called moral or vile anti-women laws near my V__,” she grandly proclaimed followed with one of her childish snickers.

Young ladies from the Fil-Am contingent.

Participants from women’s groups congregate in Hollywood Blvd. for the start of the Women’s Equality Day rally.

From left: Jollene Levid, AF3IRM; Cheryl Zarate, Kabataang Makabayan; and Angela Bartolome, Stand with Grace Campaign.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Two Second Gen FilAm ARTS Silent Community Heroes From Page 1

volunteers seeking to explore their own connections with Filipino culture and ethnicity.

An ongoing event of this magnitude cannot be successful without extremely dedicated volunteers. In studied contrast to some in the community that seek to jump in front of cameras to seek recognition and popularity but providing little in return, the FilAm Arts Festival activists obtain anonymous fulfillment by serving the community.

I interviewed two of these community heroes and hence anonymous no more. I was particularly interested why the FilAm Arts festival is unique in drawing both First Generation (called ‘Gen’) and Second Gen Filipino Americas (or as some wish to be called AmeriPino) as most other events either draw one or the other.

We are all Filipinos.

It is a journey to find out what Filipino is.

Laarni Cordero, the Vendor Coordinator for the festival, is one such hero. Initially identified to me as a dedicated recent FilAm Arts volunteer, the Loyola Marymount junior studying accounting was involved in the Lion’s Club International since middle school, called the Leos Club, which she described as Filipino based organization. Cordero, told me that growing up in a First Gen environment, her parents’ world, she looked at the world differently than she does now. When she started college was her first substantive exposure to Second Gens, and she would not consider herself as formally First Gen, now Second Gen. Cordero advised that her parents’ first language is Tagalog and hence she well versed in the language. “Some of my peers did not have that privilege,” Cordero advised, accenting even the differences in acculturation within the Second Gen community.

Cordero appreciates that society is different in the Philippines and that society molded her parents stricter approach to raising a child. She describes that her parents were always apprehensive about late night parties and sleepovers even

when it was all girls.

Once she arrived at college she has now sought to reconcile her ‘super conservative’ upbringing with American democratic culture, particularly the Southern California variety. Adding to this conflict is her view that corruption in Filipino politics, which she describe as the “apidamy” of Filipino culture tainting its relevance in an essentially non-corrupt American environment.

Cordero sees her volunteer work for the FilAm arts as part giving back to her community and part her own self exploration.

“We are all Filipinos. It is a journey to find out what Filipinos is” she stated.

The FilAm Arts Festival appeals to her because it is structured to attracts both First and Second Gen, and encompasses all parts of the culture, with activities for kids to adults, and that the organizers make sure it balanced to the larger crowd to appeal to both youth and seniors alike.

First Gens are so thankful in America they do not speak up. They should be more vocal.

Kat Carrido, a FilAm Arts board member, a UCLA graduate degree in literature and Asian studies, is the public relations manager at the East West American Theater Company focusing on only Asian players. She is also a Second Gen, and her parents, while both born in the Philippines came to America as young adults.

Hence, Carrido feels she had a more American upbringing than some of her compatriots.

Carrido barely understood Tagalog growing up, but did study Filipino American literature in high school, which she considered her “first conscious entry” to explore her Filipino origins. While growing up her family practiced some Filipino customs and she attended Filipino events. However, Carrido stated she has had a personal ‘renaissance’ in being Filipino when she attended UCLA. While her elders never disparaged being Filipino, the overriding principal was they were very proud to be Americans. She now makes particular efforts to see that her own child is close to the extended family, Filipino style, and encourages her aunts and uncles to speak to her daughter in Tagalog so the

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culture can be retained.

Similar to many FilAms/AmeriPinos, Carrido has only visited the Philippines a single time. She advised beings overwhelmed and quite surprised at the extent of the poverty that exists in her ancestral land. Carrido sees as an essential flaw of FilAm culture that they are “so polite and never complaining.

They believe they are complaining when just standing up for their American rights. They are already thankful for what they have in America so they do not speak up. They should be more vocal.”

Carrido continues her personal renaissance by volunteering as a board member for the festival. She advised that after being in existence for 21 years it has a “great community network.” Initially, the board has an initial brainstorming session, followed by open call out for artists, putting out all programming to obtain a wide array of talent. Carrido described the variety extending from Marshal Arts to comedy to rhythm and blues and just general “fun for whole family” to be able to instill the commonality of Filipino culture for all.

These two volunteer heroes are just a small part of the team that makes the FilAm ARTS festival the major community event it is every years. PinoyWatchDog. com continues to look for stories about other unsung community heroes that never seek publicity for their efforts. Tell us about them at editor@pinoywatchdog.com.

FilAm ARTS is the official name of the organization sponsoring the 21st Annual Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture (FPAC).

FPAC21 takes place from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 8 and from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 9 at breathtaking Point Fermin Park, 807 Paseo del Mar in San Pedro.

Tickets for FPAC21 are $9 (Free for children 5 and under) each day. Two-day passes are available for $15.

Ample complimentary and all-day parking with free shuttle service is available at 22nd Street and Sampson Way.

Atty Alma Luna-Reyes: The Moon King Continues to Shine

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LACENTIA – Why did I become a lawyer?

“Most likely it is because at a very young age, I often found myself in sticky situations and I had to learn how to extricate myself from it,” a beaming Atty Alma Luna-Reyes told this at her law office (located at 895E Yorba Linda Blvd Suite 205, Placentia, CA 92870, tel. no.

(714) 579-1270). “I learned how to think on my feet and reason out as far as I can remember with my parents and my grade school teachers.” That spunk and precocious reasoning have served her well. It came in handy especially for a litigator who often finds herself advocating for clients before the courts of law.

Atty. Reyes had been exposed early to the workings of jurisprudence when she was a tyke growing up in Baggao, in the northeast province of Cagayan in Luzon, Philippines.

Atty Reyes was three-years-old when her mother and grandmother took her and a similarly aged cousin to attend the trial of a relative who had been killed in a homicide. She discovered that those frequent court attendance to watch the trial had germinated in her a dream to become a lawyer someday. Later, when she was in grade school, she also witnessed famous human rights lawyer Jose Diokno defend a farmer in Baggao who was a human rights victim of the Marcos dictatorial regime.That experience only strengthened her desire to be involved in human rights causes and, one day, emulate Diokno, who was working pro bono to defend the farmer.

Moving to California with her husband and two sons in the early 90s, she took every immigrant’ route, finding odd jobs and dabbling in her other love, writing, while all the while not losing

track of her dream to become a lawyer. She took up law at the Western State University College of Law in Fullerton, and graduated with Juris Doctor (JD) degree. Talking with a community editor a few years ago, Atty Alma recalled, “Contrary to what others believe, not all college graduates from the Philippines are considered high school graduates or second year college students. I was acknowledged as a university graduate upon admission.” She had been armed with a Philosophy degree

Alma Luna-Reyes from one of the Philippines’ prestigious Ateneo de Manila University.

In addition to academic excellence, her Philippine education taught her and her classmates “not only to excel in classrooms but more importantly to lead a life that is humane in every way,” she told the writer. More importantly, Ateneo taught her to not only live for ourselves but to be “men for others”.

She reminisced that “that although our growing years were spent in school dormitories, I was raised by a widow. My mother, Esmeralda Luna, was widowed at the age of 36. I was 14 when my father died.”

Her father, Victoriano Luna,

was the grandson of General V. Luna in whom V. Luna Hospital is named. Her grandfather, Cesar Luna, a pilot, flew a fighter plane for the USAFFE during World War II. With ancestors like the foregoing, Atty Alma carries the mantel to propagate a tradition of greatness. “My family sacrificed a lot to get me where I am,” she tells the editor. Her mother and sisters would rush to send money (to California) from the Philippines for tuition fees. She revealed her husband and children “patiently and lovingly allowed me to study, rest and do my thing as they learned to take care of one another.”

She obtained her Doctor of Jurisprudence at Western State University College of Law, which led to her passing the California Bar right after.

“I have a whole gourmet of clients who have concerns about immigration, family law, credit and collection, debts, etc.,” she told PinoyWatchDog.com recently. “My plan was to do private practice for the next few years, then join an international human rights advocacy group as a volunteer.” That doesn’t mean that she will turn her back completely to the profession she originally excels in. She will continue to write, which was her first love. PWD has been already a beneficiary of that promise since she contributed a travel article to PWD a couple months ago. The readers at Philippines Post and Philippines Tribune (formerly Philippine Times), which published her ‘Moon King’ columns and those followers of Forum Asia Magazine where she served as an Executive Editor will be eagerly waiting for her articles.

For those who love her, however, it doesn’t matter whether she decides to be a writer or a lawyer, Alma Luna Reyes or The Soul of the Moon King will continue to shine in their hearts.—Rene Villaroman

Impunity continues in mining affected areas; Green groups condemn attempted assassination of anti-mining leader

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he rights group Task Force-Justice for Environment Defenders (TF-JED) strongly condemned the attempted assassination of antimining leader Timuay Lucenio Manda Umbang and the killing of his 11year old son John Manda Umbang. Timuay Manda is the tribal chieftain of Subanens in Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur who is opposing the operation and expansion of large-scale mining corporations in the province.

Timuay Manda and his son were ambushed this morning in Bayog, Zamboanga del Sur. The province is a known hotbed for mining conflicts.

Several large-scale mining corporations have interest and operations in the area such as by Greater Asia, 168 Ferrum, Bayug 9 Metal, TVI Resource Development (TVIRD), and one Cher-

ril Astorga. In a statement, TVIRD said that they have exclusive mining rights to 4,779 hectares in one town of Zamboanga del Sur alone. TVIRD has also a large-scale mining operation in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte.

“The attempted assassination of Timuay Manda is the latest of many human rights violations related to the struggle against foreign and large-scale mining in Zamboanga peninsula. This shows that impunity continues and there is a clear and present danger that anti-mining leaders and activists are facing,” said Leon Dulce, spokesperson of Kalikasan Partylist and convener of TF-JED. TF-JED has monitored that already eighteen (18) environmental activists which 13 were anti-mining activists were already killed under the Aquino administration. The group also noted that most of

the suspects in killing antmining activists are members of the military, paramilitary or security forces of mining companies.

“President Aquino’s failure to stop the persecution and killings of environmental activists in the country shows its inutility if not its tolerance of human rights violations perpetuated against indigenous people and antmining activists. In Zamboanga peninsula alone a lot of mining-related killings and human rights violations remain unsolved,” Dulce added.

Only last July, a TVIRD armed employee was involved in shooting small scale miners in Zamboanga del Sur as reported by local police. In February, Special Citizens Active Auxiliaries (SCAA) of TVIRD harassed 11 Pagadian-based journalists.

In March 2011, a security guard of TVIRD killed a farmer who was protesting against their operation.

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The Gomez paradox endures ► Words and photos by Dionesio

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aita Gomez, aka Margarita Favis Gomez, was one of Pitoy Moreno’s top models, a Miss Philippines-World, the scion of a rich landed family and had a family of her own (she was then married to Perez-Rubio with whom she had a daughter, Melissa) when she decided to join the underground movement in the fight against the Marcos dictatorship.

How could someone who was the toast of Manila’s elite society suddenly

C. Grava

become a dedicated freedom fighter at the time of a wicked, corrupt leadership who had no qualm about torturing or killing anyone perceived as a threat to the establishment? Nearly two months after her death the Maita enigma has continued to perplex many of her countrymen.

Among those who touched on that issue and other reminiscences about the beauty turned revolutionary were gathered at the social hall of FACLA (Filipino American Communities of Los Angeles) in Tem-

ple St. as they reminisced about her one more time on the 40th day after her death.

They were seated in steel folding chairs arranged archshaped near a covered table bearing vases with flowers and framed photos of the demised Maita Gomez.

Fe Koons, a writing colleague and organizer of the tribute/memorial, would later reflect in a Facebook account her sentiments then: “i know maita gomez does not want being the center of attention but for the years that she has served the people.. maita you are always

Tess Mercado reads a tribute to the deceased freedom fighter. Others in photo from foreground: Mark Masaoko (back to camera), Lolita Lledo, Bobby Halili, Tessie Zanoria and Fe Koons.

REMEMBERING MAITA. From front (with back to camera), counter-clockwise: Fe Koons, Tessie Zanoria, Bobby Halili, Tess Mercado, Lolita Lledo, Arturo Garcia, Mark Masaoko, Bernardo Bernardo, Cora Pastrana, Bernie Ganon-Targa, Dong Lledo and Rhony Laigo.

in our hearts and minds. We recalled your patience, your perseverance and your bravery going to the countryside for freedom and justice!”

Another community writer, Cora Pastrana, did likewise: “Maita lived her life to the fullest .... she experienced it all - the comforts then extreme hardship. To the manor born, the Castillian beauty turned activist.

I remember her still.” Others in the group were Lolita Lledo, Tess Mercado, Bobby Halili, Tessie Zanoria, Rhony Laigo, Art Garcia, Dong Lledo, Bernie Ganon-Targa, Bernardo Bernardo and Mark Masaoko.

They had stories to tell on that August 20 evening.

Those were trying times, they said, when love of country were not words spoken with

ease. Those times brought challenges and changes not only to many lives but to the homeland as well. Some of the conferees had personal encounters with Maita; a few of them knew someone who knew her.

Some recalled that being beautiful and tall, Maita always stood out among fellow Filipinos. As head of Womb (Women for the Ouster of Marcos and Boycott) and one of the sparks of Gabriela, which at that time was headed by Nelia Sancho, another beauty queen turned rebel, Maita was always a dynamo in the group, an inspiration for many and during those dark years a byword of radical activism.

Somehow amid the hardships and excitement of guerilla life Maita hooked

up with folk rock pioneer Heber Bartolome, who later became her second husband. After Marcos fled to Hawaii, Maita continued with her social and political advocacies. As co-founder of the Kaiba party she sought elective positions in 1987 and 1995. Both times she lost. In 2009 she became a founding co-chair of the Makabayan Coalition.

Meanwhile, the harsh condition of life on the run was catching up with her and she was known to have health problems. Maita died in her sleep one Thursday in July at age 65. Her life of adventure and sacrifices for the Motherland was laid to rest on the same day Dolphy of comedy fame was also buried.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

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Booklaunching of Magnificat: Mama Mary’s Pilgrim Sites at Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture

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ancho Palos Verdes, CA. - In celebration of the birthday of the Blessed Mother which falls on Saturday, September 8th, a book dedicated to her will be launched at the booth of Philippine Expressions Bookshop during the Festival of Philippine Arts and Culture this weekend at Point Fermin Park, San Pedro, CA. Magnificat: Mama Mary’s Pilgrim Sites, collected and edited by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard is a collection of 24 essays which are profoundly Marian and beautifully written as personal experiences by twentyone female and three male contributors. “This book assembles a tableau of witnesses to how a visit with Mary can turn into a life-changing introduction to her Son” Dionisio M. Miranda, SVD., President, University of San Carlos, Cebu, Philippines.

Leopoldo C. Jaucian, SVD., DD., Bishop of Bangued, Philippines, writes “To our fellow devotees and wouldbe devotees of the Blessed Virgin Mary, you will surely fall in love with Magnificat: Mama Mary’s Pilgrim Sites and love our Blessed Mother even more.” The book carries the Imprimatur of Luis Antonio G. Tagle, D.D., Archbishop of Manila. It features fifteen Marian pilgrim sites in the world and nine sites in the Philippines.

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard and three contributors to the book will be pre-

sent to sign copies: Brian Ascalon Roley, Lucy Adao McGinley and Linda NietesLittle. Brainard is a multiawarded author and editor of nineteen books. Her other books include Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose; Vigan and Other Stories; Magdalena: A Novel; Finding God: True Stories of Spiritual Encounters; and Angelica’s Daughters, a Dugtugan novel with four other authors. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish, and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized.

She lives in Santa Monica and teaches Creative Writing at the Writers Program at UCLA-Extension.

Roley is the author of the much-acclaimed novel, American Son which won the 2003 Association of Asian American Studies Prose Book Award, a Los Angeles Times Best Book, a New York Times Notable Book and a Pacific Rim Prize finalist. It has been translated into French.

His fiction and nonfiction have been anthologized widely.

He earned an MFA from Cornell University and is currently an English professor at Miami University. McGinley was born in Paete, Laguna and a graduate of Maryknoll College in Quezon City. She obtained a

Masters degree in Education Counseling and Psychology in 1998. For a few years, she was an MBA recruiter at Pepperdine University and is now a government employee in Orange County.

Nietes-Little is a trailblazer with a background on the New York Stock market, a cultural activist, a yoga enthusiast and a vegetarian for over thirty years. When martial law was declared in

the Philippines in 1972, she left the stock and bond business and opened Casalinda, her first bookshop in Forbes Park, Metro Manila. In support of Filipino writers, she

opened a home for Filipino writings despite government censorship. In 1984, she felt that Filipino and Filipino American writings needed a home in the US; she moved her operation to Los Angeles and opened Philippine Expressions Bookshop which is dedicated to Filipino Americans in search of their roots.

It is the first Filipiniana bookshop in American soil. When Mama Mary Called from Fatima, an essay she contributed to Magnificat is her first try at formal writing.

Two new authors will also sign their books at the Festival: Leslie V. Ryan and Eliseo Art Silva. Ryan is a children’s book author of I am Flippish! which is a story about a Filipino-Irish boy who discovers his dual heritage and overcomes adversity. She will also read at the Youth Pavillion of the Festival. A Filipino American, she lives in Laguna Niguel with her Irish-American husband and their two children: Sean,10 and Linley,7. Born in Tokyo, Japan and raised in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, she graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies and Japanese Language. Her love for books began when she first started reading at the age of four, and that passion for reading books has now

turned into a newfound love of writing them. With her first published work of “I am Flippish!” Leslie taps into her personal life to help children explore diversity, family and where we really came from – celebrating just how wonderful it is to be different!

Silva is the author of Filipinos in Greater Philadelphia which is part of the Filipino series of Images of America.

This title is the fifteenth book on the Filipino Series. Other titles in the series cover Filipinos in various areas in the US, such as Carson and the South Bay, Chicago, Hawaii, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Puget Sound (WA), San Diego, San Francisco, Stockton, East Bay (SF), Willamette Valley (OR), Vallejo, Ventura County, and Washington, DC. Silva was born in the Philippines in 1972, studied at the Philippine High School for the Arts at Mount Makiling. He received his BFA at Otis College of Art and Design, attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and received his MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art. With more than twenty murals in Seattle, California, Philadelphia, Maine and the Philippines, he is the recipient of many art awards and his work was included in the landmark exhibition “Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity, 1900s-2000s” organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Silva is nationally recognized for painting the nation’s largest Filipino American mural:

Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana (145’ x 25’) in Historic Filipinotown, Los Angeles, California.

Other authors who will sign their books at the Festival are Carina Monica Montoya, AKA Carina Forsythe, author of Let’s Cook Adobo! which she will read at the Youth Pavillion of the Festival; Filipinos in Hollywood; Los Angeles’s Historic Filipinotown and Santa Maria Valley. Albert J. Mortiz, author of Discover the Philippines Cookbook. Lorenzo Paran III, author of Pinoy in America: The stateside life in the times of Barack Obama, Facebook and Pacquiao-mania. Jay Wertz, author of The Pacific: War Stories WWll Firsthand. Volume 1. Pearl Harbor to Guadalcanal (with a wide coverage on the Philippines).

The books of authors can be purchased via email: orders@philippineexpressionsbookshop.com or call (310) 514-9139. The Bookshop’s address is PO Box 4201, Palos Verdes Peninsula, CA 90274. For additional details, visit the bookshop’s blog called Literally Yours. http:// philippineexpressionsbookshop.wordpress.com/ or drop by the bookshop’s booth at the Festival.

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

GMA Pinoy TV celebrates its 7th year with Kapuso Goes Universal with Manny Many Prizes

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rizes at stake are up to $20,000.00 Cash , A Nissan Urvan in the Philippines and a 2 bedroom San Jose Builders condo in Manila!

In celebration of its 7th year, GMA Pinoy TV – the flagship international channel of GMA Network – brings

the country’s number one pound-for-pound game show Manny Many Prizes to the US with at the Gibson Amphitheater, Universal Studios Hollywood on Sunday, September 16.

Saranggani Representative and Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao leads the celebration as he brings hope and cheers to his kababayans in the

States through different fun and engaging segments.

Kapuso Goes Universal with Manny Many Prizes will be giving out the Filipino American audiences and other attendees the chance to bring home big and exciting prizes reaching up to $20,000, a Nisaan Urvan in the Philippines and a Twobedroom San Jose builders Condo in Manila !

These episodes will air in the Philippines on October 7 and 14.

Aside from giving away huge prizes, Manny Many Prizes also promises to keep viewers entertained with non-stop games, surprises, and live performances from some of the biggest Kapuso stars - sought-after Kapuso leading man Dingdong Dantes, fast-rising Kapuso actress Solenn Heussaff, dance floor diva Rochelle Pangilinan, teen heartthrob Elmo Magalona and YouTube sensation Julie Anne San Jose.

Joining Pacman in this grand spectacle are his regular MMP co-hosts lovely Kapuso actress Rhian Ramos, talented Kapuso actor Paolo Contis, singercomedienne Gladys

Guevarra, host-comedian Pekto, and Olympic medalist-turned-comedian, Onyok Velasco.

A series of talent competitions will also take place prior to the show, whose winners will each have their share of the spotlight. Such include the “Pop Star Kids” competition for young singers ages 6 to 14 at 10 am , the “Fil-Am Singing Star” contest for aspiring singers ages 15 to 25 years old at 12:30 pm , and a dance contest and exhibition for all ballroom dancing enthusiasts at 2 pm to be held at the Globe theatre.

Admission is free.

Tickets will be sold at $ 80.00 which includes an unlimited whole-day ride

pass at Universal Studios, featuring the all-new TRANSFORMERS™: The Ride 3D, also on September 16.

MMP is also set to add a local touch to the venue with booths, and other festive activities. A photo op and autograph signing with the Kapuso stars will also be held exclusively for the ticket holders at the Globe Theater, Universal Studios.

This Event is sponsored by San Jose Builders, Nissan Urvan, Skyflakes, Island Pacific Supermarket, The Lewis Law Group APLC - Immigration and Business Solutions, Careline Hospice, M Beauty ( Dr. Tess Mauricio ), Asian Journal,

Herbal Diet Pill, Burbank Bar and Grill, Pinoywatchdog.com, Colina Salon, Gandi Acupuncture, Xoom. com and Fiesta Fast Food. Get your tickets now before they ran out.

For more information, pls log on to WWW. GMA NETWORK. COM/INTERNATIONAL. Tickets are available at all ISLAND PACIFIC SUPERMARKETS/STARMEDIA at ( 818 ) 549 9005 / (818 ) 547 1456 or log on to WWW.STARMEDIAENTERTAINMENT.COM. Log on to Universal Kapuso Website: https://ushtix. com/kapuso for online ticket purchasing.

Expo to Focus on Learning from Successes and Failures Of Small Business California State Assemblyman Mike Eng to Keynote Kick-Off Reception on September 12, 2012

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lhambraSeptember 22nd, 2012Search To Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) will cosponsor the 13th Annual Asian Small Business Expo, “Successes and Failures of Small Business,” which is open to the public free of charge.

Uniquely targeting the Asian business community, the Expo is the only of its kind working to bring the growing Asian economic community into the spotlight and connecting over 500 entrepreneurs, corporate and government contractors, financial institutions, small business service providers, chambers of commerce and other parties interested

in maximizing the power of Asian-owned small businesses throughout the southland. This year’s Expo will take place at the Almansor Court Conference Center, 700 S. Almansor St., Alhambra, CA 91801, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Featured speakers at the event include the Principal Consultant of the Wallstreet Business Consulting Company and retired Vice President/ General Manager of Coca Cola China Company, George Chu. The popular business search engine website, Yelp, will also host a Social Media Marketing Workshop highlighting current trends and innovative strategies.

More information on the Expo is available www.

apisbp.org/expo.

The Expo is a tremendous opportunity to gain insight into best business practices and to network with fellow entrepreneurs, franchisers, service providers and governmental and legal agencies. Free admission, free workshops, and free parking are provided.

“Since 1999, SIPA has served hundreds of entrepreneurs as a member of the Asian and Pacific Islander Small Business Program (API SBP). The annual Asian Small Business Expo is our chance to connect clients with fellow small business owners and the partners, resources and networks that can help them grow and succeed.” says Joel Jacinto, SIPA Executive

Director.

On September 12, 2012, the API SBP will host an Expo kick-off and

reception from 5:00 -6:30 pm, also at Almansor Court in Alhambra. The featured keynote speaker

will be CA State Assemblyman Mike Eng, who represents much of the San Gabriel Valley.

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Parody

Saturday, September 8, 2012