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Marcos wants to join UN meet in New York in September, vows to protect human rights

MANILA – Expect incoming President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to attend the nited ations eneral Assembly this September.

Marcos expressed his desire to join the meet as he guaranteed that human rights will be protected during his watch.

Marcos made the vow during his meeting with nited ations esident Coordinator to the hilippines ustavo onzales at his headquarters in Mandaluyong City last week. onzales, on the sidelines of his meeting with Marcos, said the President-elect emphasized the need to ensure a “high level of accountability” for human rights violations.

“On human rights, my message was to, fi rst of all, reiterate the support of the nited ations to all the eff orts of the Philippines on the human rights agenda,” he said. “He (Marcos) mentioned also the importance of ensuring a high level of accountability in terms of human rights.” onzales said Marcos also bared that there has been a series of consultations to uphold and protect human rights in the Philippines.

“He even shared that he is conducting a number of consultations to ensure the best way of supporting the human rights agenda. So this was quite encouraging,” onzales said.

During their meeting, Marcos also expressed his intent to participate in the th session of the eneral Assembly A in September this year, said Executive Secretary-designate Vic Rodriguez in a separate statement.

“President-elect Bongbong Marcos said in response that it would be very important to attend and represent the Philippines in the eneral Assembly and meet with other world leaders,’” Rodriguez said.

This, after onzales discussed the preparations for Marcos’ possible attendance at the A in ew ork.

“This general assembly meeting will be the fi rst time that the residentelect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be in front of an important number of heads of state. So, this is a great and -- I think -- a historic opportunity for the President and for the Philippines to share the new vision, the new challenges and at the same time the new opportunities,” he said.

Group...

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States, the group said.

“In a city that boasts Filipino as the third most used language, and a city-wide Language Ordinance to enforce Filipino language access to its citizens, this decision is ba ing. S SD chose to limit the ilipino World Language Program enrollment to a mere 11 students for each of the incoming Kindergarten and 1st grade classes at Longfellow Elementary School,” the group said.

As a result of the enforcement, Longfellow quickly exceeded the cap and now a number of families attempting to enroll their students into the program have been denied.

The group said that there is a large body of research that shows that students who know more than one language are more likely to achieve academic success. (Bankston, Zhou)

Moreover, research, according to the group, is also showing that students who learn about their cultural history and heritage are more likely to have high rates of self-esteem and self-actualization which also leads to academic success. (Petalio, David, austino, Milne, Sleeter, Sacramento, ohli, enning, angnath, Dee and enner, Curammeng, De Los ios, DausMagbual, Desai, and Tintiangco-Cubales

“Despite this growing body of research that shows the positive impact of language and cultural learning, S SD is denying students educational and human rights to learn their heritage language,” the group lamented. “This is an act of inequity and AntiAsian sentiment. The cap on enrollment for Longfellow’s Filipino Language program is a step in the direction of identifying the program as having less value and this is a subtle move to threaten the program’s existence.”

The protesters vowed to “not let this happen as students, families, teachers, alumni, community groups, and politicians decry this move as ludicrous, raising the issue of racial equity.”

“During a time of heightened violence against Asian Americans, and the record number of low-income, working class families, including Filipinos experiencing displacement in San Francisco, this enrollment cap seems to be another attack on our community,” the protesters said.

The group said it believes that S SD should promote a vision of equity and that it cannot have a truly equitable vision be achieved by limiting a program that provides a multilingual, multicultural space for students and their community.

“Shrinking the program to a mere 11 students in each grade sets the precedent for the future of the program to be chronically underfunded and underutilized. We are left to conclude that S SD does not value the program, and does not want to prioritize or value Filipino families and students,” the protesters said. (Jun Nucum)

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EDITORIAL

A fatal misunderstanding of China Open the book of ancestral past

Philippine President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. revealed how little he understands foreign aff airs after he glowingly spoke of his country’s long friendship with China this week.

At a function in the Chinese embassy in Manila, he spoke of China’s huge contributions to the hilippines’ diffi cult war against the coronavirus pandemic. e also conveniently ignored the fact that the Department of oreign Aff airs had just fi led its third diplomatic protest against the country’s powerful neighbor in the span of less than a month.

In that short span, China declared some kind of moratorium on fi shing in grounds that belong to the hilippines. It will be granted that they have some sort of claim on the territory, but it is a claim that few countries recognize.

More than a hundred Chinese ships also returned to another contested area, the ulian elipe eef, followed almost immediately by more aggressive Chinese fi shing activities in Ayungin Shoal.

Three successive incidents that were nothing less than insults to the Philippines’ ownership of its patrimony can best be described as a form of bullying, or of testing the will of the incoming chief executive. e failed in his fi rst test, and it appears that he will willingly fail succeeding tests or challenges by China. This early, Marcos r. is proving Mr. Duterte right, when the latter earlier described the son and namesake of the late dictator as a “weak leader who should not be elected president.

The title of a classic ilipino movie helmed by the late, great Lino rocka is most apt.

Tinimbang ka, ngunit kulang, Mr. Marcos. ou have just been weighed and found wanting.

The fi rst incident in the three protests occurred only last May 1.

Clearly, China has opted to ignore the hilippine’s diplomatic steps, with hardly any indication that they were willing to discuss the matters in rational ways and fi nd ways to come to some form of amicable settlement or agreement.

Incidentally, no one should forget that one of the biggest scandals that plagued the soon-to-e it Duterte regime was the harmally scandal, which involved Chinese suppliers of inferior medical supplies.

Our motherland’s ne t president appears to be planning to be true to his word that he has every intention of following the path of appeasing China that was started by odrigo Duterte. e must ask if he will also visit China sometime in the future and walk behind President Xi instead of beside him during his welcome. That is an image we will not soon forget, and it is most disturbing to think that the regime of Marcos r. will be a carbon copy of Mr. Duterte’s failed administration.

Marcos r. had better think twice about where he will take the hilippines in the ne t si years. opefully, Marcos r. will not also adopt the “kill the poor drug users, but spare the drug lords approach of his predecessor. Or defend to high heavens members of his Cabinet who show strong indications of being hopelessly corrupt.

Dare we still hope for the best but prepare for the worst where his presidency is concerned Or should we just stick to preparing for the worst

Upside defers to the speech delivered June 6 at the Philippine fl ag-raising ceremony at the City Hall of Daly City commemorati ng Philippine Independence Day.

By Daly City Mayor Rod Daus Magbual

G uest C olumni st I A T to share my story when I realized I was ilipino American. It was 1 and I was around the same age as my son, az n, who is years old. hilippines was the top story of the evening news on a daily basis. It was one of the fi rst times I saw people like me on television. I would stay up late with my family watching the news as they were glued to watching Ted oppel interview the late ilipina resident Corazon Aquino and Upside the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. eople power was the story in the morning between my family and it was the story for many ilipino Ameri- CHERIE M. QUEROL MORENO cans.

My grandpa would walk me to school every day. e would inhale the smoke of his self-rolled tobacco cigarette as I would observe his tall and lanky body take every meditative step. As we get closer and closer to my elementary school, I would see my classmates walking with their lolos or Lolas (grandpas or grandmas) or their parents. lock after block, many of these elders and my peers were decked out in yellow t-shirts. ellow represented the color of the eople’s ower movement. They also threw up a hand gesture in the formed a “L that stood for “Laban “to fi ght in Tagalog . I would also throw the “Laban gesture back to my peers and my elders and a sense pride and identity would permeate through my being.

I wondered to my -year-old self, is this the same thing I was watching on TV? Where thousands of Filipinos gathering in Daly City M ayor Daus-M agbual is a Filipino the streets, elders standing in front of hil- Studies professor. ippine soldiers, religious fi gures, common every day folks linking arms, asking for the ouster of the late dictator who stayed in power for over two decades They were protesting political corruption, vast amounts of embezzled wealth, e trajudicial killings of political opponents. (C ont inue d on page 27)

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Better energy prospects ahead with Malampaya

Saber-rattling at the Shangri-La Dialogue

News that Prime Infra oldings, Inc. will be acquiring a controlling stake in the Malampaya deepwater gas-to-power project is good news. We all know that there is a need to address energy requirements for the economy to grow and the development of natural gas reserves will contribute to THE OUTSIDER the stability of energy supply in the country. MELANDREW T. VELASCO

The entry of Prime Infra into the natural gas industry aligns with its purpose to create better lives and resilient economies through critical infrastructure coupled by its aspiration to help its customers transition to cleaner energy resources to fuel the economic growth of the Philippines.

Natural gas is dubbed as the fuel of the future. According to the website https malampaya.com , natural gas is composed of hydrocarbons found deep underground, or e tracted through driven wells. It is formed beneath the earth’s surface over millions of years by the decomposition of organic matter, in much the same way that oil and coal are formed. Natural gas is 85-90% methane, with varying amounts of ethane, propane, butane, and other hydrocarbon compounds. Some condensate and oil will always be associated with the gas. In its natural state, the gas is colorless, odorless, and lighter than air.

The Malampaya deep-water gas project ushered the natural gas industry into the Philippines. It supports up to 20% of the country’s electricity requirements using indigenous resources of natural gas, the cleanest-burning hydrocarbon, and reduces the need for imported oil.

As a joint undertaking of the government and the private sector, it is under the Department of Energy (DOE), and developed and operated by Shell hilippines ploration . . (SPEX) on behalf of joint venture partners Udenna Corporation and the hilippine ational Oil Company- ploration Corporation. Udenna Corporation’s entry into the Malampaya project has been the subject of scrutiny.

In 2001, Malampaya began its commercial operations. It has reduced the country’s dependence on oil imports and ensured a more stable supply of cleaner energy. Phases 2 and 3 of the Malampaya project commenced in 2013 with two additional production wells installed. By 2015, Malampaya Phase 3 was completed. y 202 , Malampaya’s service contract is set to e pire. Prime Infra’s entry is critical to be able to continue operating the project while applying for an e tension so it can invest in its e pansion, which will sustain the economic and social benefi ts that Malampaya is providing for the country. The transition of the operations of Malampaya is critically urgent. Prime Infra and Udenna, as the new operators taking over from Shell Philippines, will need to immediately plan for the e pansion to ensure the continuity of the production as long as the reserves support it. “Natural gas is a critical transition fuel and the modern, state-of-the-art infrastructure built to harness this valuable transition fuel attracted us to pursue this deal all aspects of the project ticks off our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) check list that will allow us to contribute more to the country’s transition from e pensive and volatile coal and imported fuel prices to aff ordable cleaner and domestic energy resources like natural gas,” said Prime Infra Chairman Enrique K. Razon, Jr.

“Also, there is a sense of ownership to achieving national energy independence when you bring in Filipino companies to handle the reins of a critical power infrastructure and this is what Prime Infra aims to do with our participation in Malampaya. We will invest and sustain the development and production of domestic gas as long as the terms of the operating license and the natural resources permit,” Mr. Razon added. rime Infrastructure oldings, Inc. rime Infra is ilipino businessman Enrique K. Razon Jr.’s infrastructure arm that is established and designed specifi cally to focus on building infrastructure assets that support the most urgent sustainability priorities - clean and renewable energy, access to clean water, waste management, and viable critical infrastructure.

In 2020, rime Metroline oldings, Inc. led by azon signed with Manila Water a subscription agreement for the acquisition of shares of Manila Wa- (C ont inue on page 27)

MEET & GREET at UPAI; Raffl e Winners for SAFEWAY Gift Certifi cates, Books

My beloved wife Virginia Jimenez Madlaing and I were fortunate to attend the MEET & GREET luncheon meeting to honor Congressmanelect Mark Cojuangco of the second district of Pangasinan last Sunday afternoon, June 5, 2022 at the United Pangasinanes of America, ART GABOT MADLAING Inc.(UPAI) building in San Francisco, California.

Congressman-elect Mark Cojuangco met and greeted the offi cers and members of AI and the offi cers and members of various Pangasinan town and city organizations . UPAI resident red Almeron led the offi cers who welcome Congressman-elect Mark Cojuangco. Charito R; Wui, Ph.D. pasr President, MAC, was the Master of Ceremony. She introduced and recognized the offi cers and members of AI and the attendees from various Pangasinan city and town organizations.

Invitation to the event was handled by UPAI Secretary Marita Padilla. UPAI Vice President Alvin Padilla gave a brief message and introduced Congressman-elect Mark Cojuangco as the guest speaker. Congressman-elect Mark Cojuangco narrated how he was encouraged and motivated to come out from his retirement in politics. e eventually decided to run as congressman for the second district of Pangasinan to help the candidacy of Governor-elect Ramon “Monmon” Guico ( congressman and former Mayor of Binalonan, Pangasinan) as governor of Pangasnan; and also help in the candidacy of BBM (former Senator Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos) as President of the Philippines.

In his brief speech, Congressman-elect Mark Cojuangco shared his desire to help his constituents in the second district of angasinan and families in angasinan in two fronts 1. Creation of more jobs 2, Lower energy and electric cost for the general public through nuclear power e encouraged the audience to unite and work together in helping for the success of the new administration of BBM.

After the brief speech of Congressman-elect Mark Cojuangco, he visited the tables of the offi cers and members from the various Pangasinan city and town organizations for souvenir group picture taking. Some of the offi cers present include Ernie Abalos , past UPAI President, former UPAI First Lady Flory Abalos; Ernie Aglipay , leader of the Ilocano Group; Lorette de Veas, former UPAI First Lady as wife of UPAI President Emeritus Zosimo de Veas, UPAI First Lady Cynthia Almeron and others. a e inners for SA A ift Certifi cates, ooks and Abe aircuts

As book author, columnist and active Evangelist with the OLD AT C C O C IST CC in San Francisco, California, I am glad to announce the winners of the third Monthly CC a e winners for SA A ift Certifi cates, autographed books and Abe aircut Certifi cates.

The winners were drawn last Saturday, June 4, 2022 during the live broadcast of My Angel Radio San Francisco between 11am to pm. The CC Monthly a e winners with corresponding prizes are as follows

SA A ift Certifi cates drawn by ohn eff rey, author of “ S S C IST subtitled “ Last ew Days efore is eturn to eaven - irginia Cantiller, Antonio Soller Yatco

LIFESTYLE FOR LONGEVITY ( 404 pages ,Amazon Paperback price is $25-95 per copy plus shipping and handling subtitled “ ow to be ealthy motionally, inancially, hysically, Se ually and Spiritually, drawn by ames Quitoriano , Anchor, My Angel Radio San Francisco and Minister Golden Gate Church of Christ -Genoveva Navasca,, Edgar Cantiller Cesar Fumar,, David Toshiyuki,, Emmanuel Bumanglag

Abe aircut Certifi cates ree aircut services available at the Abe BARBER Shops in San Francisco and Daly City, California, drawn by Art Gabot Madlaing, Real state roker, otary ublic and columnist oe Santos, Rudy Vergara. ISTO ICIT O S S subtitled “ acts and vidences for Agnostics, Atheists, Believers and Christians, drawn by Alberto Rodriguez, Evangelist, (C ont inue on page 27)

Health & Wealth

U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY Lloyd Austin blasted China’s “growing coercion” towards Taiwan at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit held last June 10-12 in Singapore. Convened by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the Shangri-La Dialogue is Asia’s premier security summit. A unique annual PERRY DIAZ PerryScope event, it allows heads of state, ministers and other senior fi gures from global defense and security establishments to meet in person in Singapore to discuss the region’s most pressing security challenges. It features plenary debates led by government ministers, as well as important opportunities for bilateral discussions among delegations.

Launched in 2002, the Shangri-La Dialogue has attracted top-level military offi cials, diplomats, e perts, commentators and defense-industry e ecutives from across the world. The summit did not take place in 2020 and 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The 2022 Shangri-La Dialogue is the 1 th Security Summit. Military offi cials and diplomats attend it from more than 40 countries. ames Crabtree, ecutive Director at IISS Asia, said “The IISS continues to believe in the role of face-to-face diplomacy to solve global problems. At a time of ever-rising interest in Asian security aff airs. Indeed, it has become the main platform for geopolitical issues such as the Taiwan issue that has taken center stage in this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue.

US-China rivalry

In a face-to-face e change between Austin and China’s Defense Minister, Wei Fenghe, Wei warned Austin that Beijing will “not hesitate to start a war” if Taiwan declares independence. Beijing has always treated Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to one day seize the island, by force if necessary, which has caused tensions to soar in recent months. To be more precise, Wei warned Austin “if anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will defi nitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost.”

Wei vowed that Beijing would “smash to smithereens” any ‘Taiwan independence’ plot” and resolutely uphold the unifi cation of the motherland. e “stressed that Taiwan is China’s Taiwan… Using Taiwan to contain China will never prevail,” he said.

Adding more tension to the issue, US President Joe Biden, during a visit to Japan last month, appeared to break decades of US policy when, in response to a question, he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it is attacked by China. Whoa! Coming from Biden himself, it increased the tension tenfold. The US has used its policy of “strategic ambiguity” before; that is, never say whether or not the US would intervene if China invades Taiwan. In other words, keep Beijing guessing. owever, the S has always been resolute on the provisions of the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, “which maintains commercial, cultural, and other relations through the unoffi cial relations in the form of a nonprofi t corporation under the laws of the District of Columbia— the American Institute in Taiwan AIT without offi cial government representation and without formal diplomatic relations.”

The Taiwan Relations Act authorizes de facto diplomatic relations with the governing authorities by giving special powers to the AIT to the level that it is the de facto embassy, and states that any international agreements made between the Republic of China (ROC/Taiwan) and U.S. before 1979 are still valid unless otherwise terminated. One agreement that was unilaterally terminated by President Jimmy Carter upon the establishment of relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty.

Strategic ambiguity

While the Taiwan Relations Act does not guarantee the U.S. will intervene militarily if China attacks or invades Taiwan nor does it relinquish it, its primary purpose is to ensure the US’s Taiwan policy will not be changed unilaterally by the president and ensure that any decision to defend Taiwan will be made with the consent of Congress. The Act also states that “the United States will make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan (C ont inue on page 27)

And so it begins… Non-negotiable

The latest Social Weather Stations survey showing 3.1 million Filipinos went hungry in the fi rst quarter of this year is only the beginning. As the old saying goes, it’s bound to get worse before it gets any better. We are, of course, at the tail end of the six awful years Offline of the Duterte regime. Usually, a change of government BETING DOLOR is a time for looking forward to the next administration in hopes that it can do better.

For some reason, I see no reason to be optimistic that the near future will be better than the last six years. If anything, it will be substantially worse.

The reason for my pessimism is the incoming Marcos Jr. regime, which is not only bent on being an extension of the Duterte regime and its madness such as its pro-China policy and anti-drug war aimed squarely at the poor.

More than half of the incoming Cabinet is comprised of men and women of questionable competence, experience and qualifi cations who are potentially corrupt. They will negate the handful of appointees of sound reputation who may want nothing more than to serve the country by doing a good job.

From the looks of things, the National Economic and Development Authority, as well as the Bangko Sentral and the Finance and Trade and Industry portfolios are in good hands.

The others? Not so much.

The press offi ce, and the ational Security, Social elfare, Education, and Justice portfolios, among others, drew negative reactions from people in the know as soon as their incoming heads were announced. Millions of Filipinos must have slapped their heads in unison when they heard the news.

Then there is the ealth portfolio, which hasn’t been fi lled yet as of this writing. This, despite the fact that the country is still in the middle of a health crisis now going in its third year. The Department of Health is in dire need of a head whose primary concern is making sure that the people have somewhere to run to when there is an emergency. Nothing like the present leadership who committed numerous questionably suspicious acts, even as his own family’s corporation was being awarded hefty supply contracts, please.

This early, it can be foreseen that infi ghting will take place within the Cabinet of Marcos Jr., who in turn will likely ask his executive secretary to take care of business, given his reputation for always wanting to avoid confrontations of any kind.

Remember that he avoided all debates during the campaign period for this same reason.

Recall, too, that the president-elect promised to reveal his program of government sometime during that same period, but he never did. This lead to the conclusion that he really didn’t have a program of government. At best, he will play everything by ear, or his exec sec will do it for him.

As for his Unity mantra, this most generic of all motherhood statements is also the most meaningless. Unless his idea of unity is for everyone to bow before his whims.

It is not only the negative results of the latest SWS survey that is cause for concern.

Anyone who lived through the martial law years will never forget how the police and the military acted like Nazis, like lords and masters of all Filipinos not named Marcos. The police and military under Rodrigo Duterte emulated their martial law counterparts, getting away with mass murder of drug suspects and even getting bonuses for their kills.

If Marcos Jr. follows Duterte’s lead, he will pamper the military and police brass so they will always agree with plans, even when they defy the law and the Constitution itself.

Last week, scores of farmers and students were arrested for their crime of holding a peaceful demonstration. They were merely asking the government to deliver on its promise to transfer to them titles to the land the farmers were tilling, as had been committed a decade ago.

They were not only nabbed, but have also been charged for resisting arrest.

While this sickening is nothing new, it could mark the beginning of a policy of arresting anyone rallying against the government, but especially students and poor people. It may have occurred at the last few weeks of the current regime, but Marcos Jr. said nothing.

It’s easy to see why. Such (C ont inue on page 27)

Juan Miguel Zubiri is doing a great disservice to the country.

He chose to sweep under the rug the Marcos family’s unpaid estate tax, which he believed was an election issue.

No, Mr. Senator, it was not an election issue. It was based on a Supreme Court decision decades ago, which the family chose to ignore. It is non-negotiable. Court records could not be erased or altered. The Marcos family cannot MANNY MOGATO just ignore the court ruling that ordered them to pay P23 billion. The estate tax liability has ballooned to more than P200 billion, according to retired Supreme Court senior associate justice Antonio Carpio.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has religiously demanded payment over the years but the Marcos family has been evading the issue, hiding behind legal technicalities.

Before the elections, Carpio and many other anti-Marcos groups had warned that the family of the late dictator would never settle the tax liability if Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. won the May 9 balloting.

They feared the I could no longer collect the ta defi ciency if Marcos became the president and the family could even take back other assets it claimed it owned before the dictator was removed from power in February 1986.

The BIR’s assessments on the Marcos family’s estate tax liability were based on assets that were not sequestered in 1986 when the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) was created to recover the stolen and hidden assets of the dictator, his family and their business cronies.

The estate tax issue is just the tip of the iceberg. The Marcos presidency could usher in a new era that would change many things, including perspectives on the country’s history.

Many feared the country would stop celebrating the EDSA “People Power” anniversary that marks the ouster of the dictator in 1986.

The fears have come true. Marcos Jr. won the presidency with a big majority, the fi rst post- DSA leader to do so. ith a huge popular vote, Marcos Jr. can do whatever he wants with less opposition.

Zubiri, who aspires to become the next Senate president, was willing to forego the ta defi ciency, asking journalists who asked him about the Marcos estate tax liability to “move on” and forget it as an election issue.

Under Philippine laws, the Marcos family, even if Marcos Jr. sits as president, cannot evade the tax liability. It will hound them for the next six years.

President-elect Marcos will lose his moral authority to demand from the people that they pay their taxes if he himself has a huge estate tax liability.

Zubiri is a party to this travesty of justice. He cannot wash his hands clean. As a senator of the Republic, Zubiri must uphold the Constitution and the laws of the Republic.

Ignoring his duty is tantamount to treason. He does not deserve his seat. He does not deserve to be elected Senate president. He will just lead a rubber stamp upper house of Congress.

What will happen to the country if leaders refuse to obey the laws of the land?

President-elect Marcos should take the initiative to settle the estate tax liability if he wants to start with a clean slate and unite the country under his leadership.

The estimated P200-billion estate tax liability is no joke. It could help pay off the trillions of pesos in debt left behind by resident Rodrigo Duterte.

Some of the debt, which were incurred during the coronavirus pandemic, sadly went to corrupt deals made with favored ChineseFilipino businessmen from Davao City for substandard face shields and other items, including personal protective equipment.

A Senate Blue Ribbon Committee inquiry found that the proceeds from the anomalous transactions were used to buy luxury cars at a time when millions of Filipinos were out of jobs and livelihoods and were relying on government cash aid.

The Pharmally deals are unforgivable and Zubiri also wanted to forget these irregularities, refusing to sign the committee report because Duterte was dragged into the issue.

Zubiri was willing to forget these things as long as he got a plum position in government. He wanted the people who elected him into offi ce to suff er more because of his own selfi sh interests.

The Philippines does not need elected politicians like Zubiri, who would sacrifi ce the welfare of the people and the nation in e change for his political ambitions.

Zubiri’s loyalty must be to the Constitution, the laws of the land, and the people he serves, and not to the political leadership that will help him get the position he wants so desperately.

The ilipino people still remember how he had benefi ted from the election fraud committed in 2007, which denied Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III a seat in the Senate.

IN THE TRENCHES

President Duterte -- his nonsense on democracy, Bongbong Marcos

“The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred w ith their bones.” -From M arc Antony’s oration in W illiam Shakespeare’s Julius C aesar “Ask not w hat your country can do for you, ask w hat you can do for your country.” -President John F itzgerald K ennedy

Ihave not had a big laugh for a long time until I read this news report from one of the daily papers with this heading – “Du30: Support new leaders; that’s democracy.” But did not President Duterte say this about incoming President Bongbong Marcos (BB M) –“weak leader, a cocaine illegal drug user and spoiled son of a rich and powerful family”? HOMOBONO A. ADAZA

True or false: If PR D told us the truth about BB M – why should the country support him? The country in this critical time needs a strong leader, then why does PR Duterte ask us to support a weak leader? If his failed war on drugs is meant to be serious, why ask us to support a cocaine illegal drug user? If PR Duterte loves the country, why does he want us to support a spoiled brat of a President?

What PR Duterte is asking us to do is – travel the road to perdition. But this is nothing new to PR Duterte as the country has been traveling the road to perdition on his watch which is about to end – high process of commodities including water, electricity and gasoline; tens of thousands killed extra-judicially, paying obeisance and a fool to President Xi Jin Ping on the issue of the West Philippine Sea, vulgar language and behavior unfi t for a resident, belittling women as only matters of biology, calling the Christian God stupid, cursing the ope on the matter of traffi c, bragging about having many women and using Viagra, publicly admitting having used marijuana when he was already President; calling Barack Obama as a son of a bitch when her still President of the USA, failing to deliver on his promises of amending the Constitution, establishing a revolutionary government, putting in place a federal and parliamentary system, having an independent foreign policy, standing up to China on the West hilippine arbitral ruling, reducing the price of rice to fi fteen pesos a kilo, going to the Scarborough Shoal on a jetski to plant the ilipino fl ag in defi ance of Chinese military forces, killing the drug lords and their conspirators for destroying our country and our people, solving the illegal drug problem and graft and corruption within six months from his assumption of offi ce, give a better life to our people, bragging to destroy the oligarchies of all kinds,

Reality: Let us have a clearer picture of failed promises of President Duterrte by showing a table:

Promise Result 1. Revision of the Constitution Failed 2. Revolutionary government Failed 3. Federal system Failed 4. Parliamentary system Failed 5. Solve illegal drug problem in 6 months0 Failed 6. Solve graft and corruption in 6 months Failed 7. Rice at P15.00 per kilo Failed 8. Going to Scarborough Shoal by jetski Failed 9. Independent foreign policy Failed 10. Standing up to China on WPS Failed 12. Giving better life to Filipinos Failed 13. Destroying the oligarchies Failed 14. Killing drugs lords and conspirators Failed

Why failed? He has not done any of it, that’s why. PR Duterte is a lawyer, prosecutor and mayor of Davao City for more that twenty years but he could not hack it as President – he is a complete failure like Erap, Pnoy, Cory and GMA. And he wants us to support someone who, in his own words, is – “a weak leader, a cocaine illegal drug user and a spoiled son of a rich and powerful family”? Isn’t this insane? What could be the possible rational explanation for this? I could think of a number of rational explanations.

First, former Senator Antono Trillanes described PR D as having a disturbed mind. If Trillanes is right, this suggestion of President Duterte to support incoming President BB M must have come from a disturbed (C ont inue on page 27)

Status of Processing at the U.S. Embassy Manila

e summed up below the status of visa processing at the U.S. Embassy Manila as of June 8, 2022. Please note that the visas are categorized into diff erent levels of priorities. or immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, namely spouse, unmarried child below 21, are treated as fi rst priority. ianc e of . S. citizens are also include in the fi rst priority. Then the employment based that are current is next in priority. The family based preferences, those fi rst, second, third and fourth preferences comes next which is about more than one year delayed in processing due to pandemic and staffi ng shortages. elow is the status as announced by U.S. Embassy.

“U.S. Embassy Manila is providing all routine visa services, though interview appointments for some visa classes remain limited in order to prioritize travelers with urgent needs and certain critical categories of visas. Due to a high volume of applicants and consular staffi ng shortages, wait-times for many visa classes are longer than the pre-pandemic norm.

Immigrant isa I The mbassy is processing immigrant visas across all categories. owever, with signifi cant backlogs in most categories, wait times for interviews are lengthy for all but immediate relatives (IR-1 through IR-5). It is not possible to provide precise wait times as staffi ng and local conditions aff ect capacity and scheduling. As of May 31, 2022, most IR visa cases being scheduled for interview were documentarily complete at the National Visa Center in March 2022. Most K visa cases being scheduled were documentarily complete in April 2022. Most current employment-based cases being scheduled were documentarily complete in March 2022. Most current family preference cases are approved expedite cases that were documentarily complete in January 2021. onimmigrant isa I The mbassy prioritizes travelers with urgent i.e., matter of life or death) travel needs and certain critical categories of travelers, such as students and e change visitors -1, M-1, and -1 and temporary employees -1 , -2 , and L nonimmigrants . e are processing renewals of business tourism 1 2 visas for applicants eligible to have their interview waived, off ering biometrics only appointments for applicants who received their last visa prior to age 14, and interviewing a limited number of 1 2 applicants each day. hile we continue to e pand our visa processing, please note that we have a signifi cant backlog of cases so wait times are much longer than pre-pandemic times.

Many visa applicants paid a visa application fee and are still waiting to schedule an interview appointment. The validity of your payment known as the M fee is extended until September 30, 2023, to allow all applicants who were unable to schedule an appointment the opportunity to do so. “

Please note that there are cases when the U. S. Embassy will require you to reschedule your appointment due to some medical issues or missed appointments. The procedure is below. Appointment Scheduling Applicants can schedule or reschedule the fi rst available visa interview appointment slot by phone at (+632) 7792-8988 or (+632) 85488223, or through our online appointment system at http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/. There is no fee to change an appointment. If you have diffi culties rescheduling a pending appointment, you may send an email to support-philippines@ustraveldocs.com for specifi c guidance. I Interview aiver The interview waiver program has been e panded to include those renewing for biometrics fi ngerprints only , applicants ages below 1 and over , , M, and academic visa applicants , and seafarer airline crew visa reissuance. • Expedited Appointment Requests: Expedite requests for emergency travel may be submitted via our website at http://www.ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-visaapply.asp. lease note that the applicant will need to book a regular appointment through our appointment system before requesting an expedited appointment through http://www. ustraveldocs.com/ph/ph-niv-expeditedappointment.asp . Previous and/or current interview waiver applicants are not qualifi ed to submit e pedite requests. ote This is not a legal advice and presented for information purposes only. If you have immigration problems the Law Offi ces of Crispin C. Lozano can help you fi nd a solution before your problem gets worse which could lead to deportation and family separation. ankruptcy asics 1. ankruptcy will actually improve your credit within one year because your unsecured debts are discharged. Although the bankruptcy will be in your records for 10 years, not fi ling bankruptcy will make your credit even worse until most your debts are paid. 2. If you are being sued by your creditors, most money judgment can be eliminated in bankruptcy. 3. Collection actions continue and you can be sued if you are in debt settlement. 4. Chapter 7 will eliminate all unsecured debts. If you are near retirement age, you must eliminate most of your debts.

I COM TA O L MS

We can help you if you are under IRS audit, need a representation with IRS, need to reduce your ta liability or need to off er a payment plan to I S,

Success Stories

PHL employment rate improves in April

MA ILA The country’s employment rate improved in April 2022, estimated to be at 94.3 percent or about 45.63 million employed ilipinos, the hilippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

The report said the increase this year was by about 2.36 million compared to 43.27 million or 91.3 percent employment rate in April 2021.

The country’s unemployment rate also dropped from the reported 8.7 percent a year ago to 5.7 percent in April 2022.

The sub-sector with the highest increase is Administration and Support Service Activities (+349,000); followed by Accommodation and ood Service Activities ,000 Transportation and Storage 2 ,000 Agriculture and orestry (+251,000); and Construction (+249,000).

Zamboanga Peninsula registered the highest employment rate at 97.1 percent while the angsamoro Autonomous egion in Muslim Mindanao posted the lowest employment rate at 91.9 percent, according to the PSA.

On the other hand, the sub-sectors of ishing and Aquaculture -5 ,000 ducation (-55,000); and Wholesale and Retail Trade, epair of Motor ehicles and Motorcycles (-24,000) registered the lowest number of employed persons from April 2021 to April 2022.

“Ang pre-pandemic naman ay nasa 5 percent level. agfa-fl uctuate siya. Ang pinakamababa niya actually was in October 2019 na nasa 4.5 percent. Hindi naman talaga signifi cant pero nakikita naman natin tumataas yung ating L Labor orce articipation ate . Dumadami ang mga gustong mag-participate sa ating labor market The pre-pandemic was at the 5 percent level. It fl uctuates. The lowest [unemployment rate] was in October 2019 at .5 percent. It is not really signifi cant but we see our L increasing. More are interested in participating in our labor market , ational Statistician and Civil Registrar General, Undersecretary Dennis Mapa, e plained in a media briefi ng on riday.

Mapa is expecting the unemployment rate to continue decreasing as alert levels rela amid increasing L .

“What we are seeing now in the unemployment rate, it is really going down, Mapa added, citing the harvest season in the agriculture sector which largely contributed to the decrease.

Govt debt payments down 39%

MA ILA - The national government’s total debt payments in the fi rst four months of the year amounted to P356.63 billion, data released by the ureau of the Treasury Tr showed.

According to the latest cash operations report, the national government’s debt payments in January to April is 39.12 percent lower than the P585.8 billion paid out in the same period a year ago.

Amortization declined by 61.02 percent to P169.99 billion from the P436.12 billion paid out in the same period a year ago, Manila media reported.

Of the total principal payments made during the period, P153.02 billion was used to pay local lenders while P16.98 billion was spent to settle foreign obligations.

Meanwhile, interest payments as of April totaled to P186.63 billion, 24.69 percent higher than the P149.68 billion paid out as of the same period the previous year.

Of the said amount, P143.49 billion was paid to domestic creditors while P43.15 billion was for international debt.

In April alone, debt payments declined by 33.15 percent to P42.98 billion from the P64.29 billion paid out a year ago.

Interest payments accounted for bulk of the amount with P37.3 billion, while principal payments totaled to P5.67 billion.

The Tr report earlier showed the national government’s gross borrowings in the fi rst four months of the year also declined by 28.43 percent to P1.18 trillion versus the P1.65 trillion raised a year ago.

Gross domestic borrowings for the period accounted for the bigger chunk amounting to P915.49 billion, down 35 percent from the year ago level of P1.41 trillion.

Gross external borrowings for the period rose by 9.24 percent to P267.91 billion from P245.25 billion a year ago.