Bong in Virginia

NEW BUREAU MOVES TO PROTECT MONEY SENDERS TO PH

2012-01-31T20:52:00.002-05:00

The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) ordered on Jan. 20 money remittance firms to disclose upfront all fees they charge customers – one in a slew of new rules to oversee the multi-billion money transfer business.

The rules won’t be enforced until next year but will have a major impact on Filipinos in the United States who sent back home nearly $8 billion (about P330 billion) in 2011, posting one of the most robust increases in decades.

"With these new protections, international money transfers will be more reliable,” the bureau’s newly appointed director Richard Cordray explained. “Consumers will know the costs ahead of time and be able to compare prices. Transfer providers will also be held accountable for errors that occur in the process."

The Manila Mail observed that most of the money remittance companies that have predominantly Filipino clients already followed the new rules.

"People sending money to their loved ones in another country should not have to worry about hidden fees," Cordray said.

The new rules require money remittance companies to reveal to customers any fees, the exchange rate and the amount that will be paid to the recipient in local currency. They also stipulate that customers must be given 30 minutes to cancel a transaction.

In addition, money remittance companies are bound to investigate all complaints, such as funds not reaching recipients.

Western Union spokesman Tom Fitzgerald said the company plans to be compliant with the rules by the effective date. He said the company already provides customers with disclosures on fees, exchange rates and payouts.

"We agree that consumers will benefit if all remittance providers are held to the same requirements," he said.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported that total dollar remittances from overseas Filipinos reached $18.3 billion from January to November 2011, a 7.31 percent rise over the same period in 2010.

Of that amount, $7.7 billion came from Filipinos in the US, a 7.46 percent increase. The November figure nearly matches total remittances from the US for the whole of 2010 which reached $7.8 billion. Remittances back to the Philippines usually peak during the Christmas holidays.

Bank officials in Manila said more remittances allow for greater consumer spending that makes up partly for poor exports. Foreign remittances account for about 10 percent of the Philippine economy.

The CFPB was created as part of financial reforms following the Wall Street crisis in 2008. Cordray was appointed the bureau’s first director earlier this month, a move that drew criticisms from Republican members of Congress opposed to the CFPB.

Republican lawmakers fear the agency would be too powerful but with very little accountability.

International money transfers have never been subject to federal consumer regulations until this month.

STO. NINO, PINOYS' PATRON AT HOME AWAY FROM HOME

2012-01-31T20:32:00.004-05:00

If you’ve visited enough Filipino homes, one feature will stand out – the family altar. And among the many different religious images you may see, chances you will find one of the Infant Jesus, the Sto. Nino, the patron of countless Filipinos.

“They say the Sto. Nino is miraculous,” said Noel Padua, “and he has given us many. He brought us here to America.”

January is the feast month of the Sto. Nino. The original icon is reputedly the oldest in the Philippines, a gift from the explorer Ferdinand Magellan to Rajah Humabon in 1521. Believed to be crafted in Belgium, it earned its venerated standing after surviving a large fire 1565. It is the only religious image protected by bulletproof glass in the Basilica of Cebu City.

Pope Innocent XIII designated in the early 18th century the third Sunday of January as the feast of the Sto. Nino so it doesn’t conflict with the 40-day celebration of Easter.

Few religious icons can rival the Filipinos’ reverence to the Sto. Nino. Norma Simmons has had her Sto. Nino since she arrived in the United States in 1969. She bought the image in Divisoria, Simmons recalled.

“We have the Sto. Nino so God is always with us, to give us health and keep the people we love,” she told the Manila Mail.

A native of Cuyapo, Nueva Ecija, Simmons ascribe many “miracles” in her life to the image of the Infant Jesus and another favorite patron, St. Peter, including meeting her husband, who was then with the US Air Force.

“When you travel, you need a guide to watch over you,” she said. “Morning, noon and night, I see Nino and he gives me good spirit. I feel God and the angels are watching over me.”

She lived for 32 years in the Metro DC area and 8 years in Sta. Clarita, California with her father, now 90 years old. “I have a son here and a granddaughter so I had to go back,” he explained, adding they are building a house in Woodbridge, Virginia.

“Ever since we were kids, we already had the Sto. Nino in our home,” Padua revealed.

“We’re used to having him at home,” pointing to his family’s foot-and-a-half tall “Ninong gala” (roughly translated as the “roving child”) – the version ascribed with the most childlike qualities.

The typical Sto. Nino image is small and adorned in gold-encrusted robes. The “Ninong gala” is usually dressed in more casual attire, often in boy’s clothes although some dress them to show their professions – policemen, nurses, engineers – or identity like an image garbed in Barong Tagalog.

“We dress him up every now and then, about every month especially when there are special occasions like this,” he explained. One accessory that helps distinguish the “Ninong gala” is the pouch he usually carries.

“There’s money inside,” explained Padua’s wife Virginia with some amusement, “just in case he needs some candies”.

It’s not unusual for owners to have a seemingly personal relationship with their Sto. Nino image. Padua’s mother, Anita said it was her wish to bring her two sons to the US. “If I request anything from him, he grants it,” she revealed.

She said she’s almost blind “but when I ask for his help, my eyesight brightens up a bit.”

Anita admits she may be just imagining her Sto. Nino’s healing power but she believes her prayers have staved off going totally blind. “My devotion has made me strong,” she stressed.

“Here I am. I’m now 78 years old and I am often all alone at home, just me and the Sto. Nino so we take care of each other,” she said.

"MARKET TEST" WILL SAY IF PINOY MENTORS KEEP BALTIMORE JOBS

2012-01-31T20:27:00.001-05:00

The jobs of hundreds of Filipino teachers in Baltimore public schools are hanging on the results of a “market test” that will show whether they’re still needed in the next school year.

Manila Mail sources revealed the Baltimore public school system will rely on the “market test” to gauge teaching needs, especially where and what subjects teacher shortages may occur. That would be the time they will decide whether to renew the Filipino mentors’ work permits, one teacher said.

The number of Filipinos in Baltimore public schools has dropped from a peak of about 700 to only 500, according to one teacher’s estimate. Many have gone back to the Philippines.

Just last week, a Filipino teacher returned to the Philippines after being hospitalized for cancer for over 2 months. “She was a doctor back home but worked as a special education (SPED) teacher in Baltimore after getting certified. She went home because her husband, who’s still there, is also a doctor,” one teacher shared with the Manila Mail.

That seemed to underline the sacrifices made by these Filipinos to help American schoolchildren. Most of them arrived between 2005 and 2007 to fill positions in some of Maryland’s toughest schools – so difficult that they scared off many native teachers, one Filipino mentor declared.

The Baltimore Sun reported a meeting last month between Filipino teachers and school system officials. Supporters of the Filipino teachers also spoke out. “They’re devoted, they work hard and they stay,” the paper quoted teacher Bill Bleich.

“We asked them to come. I do believe we have people who care about the kids, so let’s care about the teachers,” a teacher coordinator, Margot Young, was also quoted by the Baltimore Sun.

Some Filipino teachers are not waiting for the axe to fall. One source revealed that a number of them have gone to Arizona and even outside the United States where their skills are needed. “They talk so when one of them finds a job, they tell their friends and they follow wherever that may be,” she told the Manila Mail.

This has prompted Baltimore public school officials to fire off a warning to the other international teachers not to leave their jobs in the middle of the school season.

School authorities stressed that under H-1B visa rules, they have to prove foreign teachers are still needed and more importantly, hiring them will not deprive jobs to American educators.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the city’s public schools chief executive Andres Alonso reported a surplus of 100 teachers. That’s in contrast to the shortage of 200 teachers they reported in 2005.

A more stringent application of H-1B visa rules is attributed to the experience of the Prince George’s County public schools that was levied a huge fine and barred from hiring foreign teachers for 2 years after they admitted illegally collecting placement fees from their Filipino teachers.

The Department of Labor, which imposed the penalties, appears unlikely to reverse its decision and appeals from Filipino teachers have turned to litigation as some fight to stay in the US.

The misunderstanding stems in part to promises allegedly made to teachers when they were recruited in the Philippines that the school system would help them get a “green card”. But it turned out both the Baltimore and Prince George’s County public schools were ill-equipped to shepherd the Filipino mentors through the immigration maze.

“This has been unbelievably complex,” Alonso was quoted saying, “It has been a messy process.”

In the meantime, the anxiety of Filipino educators just keeps growing.

PRESIDENT'S KIN WRITES SONGS FOR PINOYS

2012-01-31T20:23:00.001-05:00

Ben Aquino says he writes songs to inspire fellow Filipinos to be better citizens, to carry their share of the burden for nation-building. It’s just coincidence, he adds, that the country’s President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is a close relative.

He produced an album late last year entitled “Tuwid na Landas” (Straight Path) that is coincidentally enough, the battle cry of 2nd degree cousin President Aquino. He is working to dismantle the web of high-level corruption that his administration blames for the poverty and culture of impunity.

“I wanted to help not for the government but because Filipinos relate to music,” Aquino, a Gaithersburg, MD resident, told the Manila Mail. At the same time, he also wanted to give talented Filipino artists a break in the entertainment world.

He conducted an audition last August to select 6 relative unknowns – an arranger and 5 singers – to record his songs. “Tuwid na Landas” features singers Ybeth Garcia, Almira Cercado, Rafael Gutierez, Carl Trazo, Jakob Rodriguez; and arranger Raphael Balagot.

“The first 3 are patriotic, nationalistic songs for overseas Filipinos,” he explained. With titles like “Bagong Pilipino” and “Manggagawang Pilipino”, Aquino hopes that hearing them, the 6-million-strong overseas Filipino community would realize the virtues of citizenship and why they have to be “good Filipinos”.

“That would really make me happy,” he averred.

The rest of the album appears to be personal musings of love, hope and the nostalgia of youthful days.

Aquino said he ended up in America to escape the fate of being an Aquino from Concepcion, Tarlac. He entered the United States on a tourist visa in 1979. His uncle, former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., was the chief nemesis of President Ferdinand Marcos who declared Martial Law 7 years earlier. He decided against taking his family back and applied for asylum.

When Ninoy lived in exile in Boston, Massachusetts, he would serve as his chauffeur whenever he went to Washington DC. He would sometimes visit them in Boston and remembered how Ninoy’s wife, the future President Corazon “Cory” Cojuangco-Aquino, was content the let her husband dominate conversations.

His father, Claudio, was a 1st cousin of Ninoy.

He wasn’t especially close to his cousin Noynoy, he confessed, and preferred to hang out with Ninoy who was closer his age. His uncle was assassinated when he returned to Manila in 1983.

Ben went back to the Philippines when the widowed Corazon Aquino became president but returned to Maryland after her term. “I missed the place and more importantly, my children were here,” he said.

He describes himself as a businessman with a computer and marketing background. “Computers are stressful,” he explained amusedly, “but I got into the framing business when a friend taught me how to do it; over the phone, long-distance from the Philippines.”

“You can work at your own pace. When I feel tired, I rest,” he confessed. “I’m getting old and I don’t want to be stressed anymore.”

The flexible schedule has allowed him to toy around with entertainment promotions and production, forming the McLean-based BennyRey Inc. as a platform.

He still dreams of retiring one day in the Philippines. He, like most overseas Filipinos sharing that dream, is banking on his cousin delivering his promises. “He is trying his best. He wants to leave a legacy that his father and mother have planted and they can be proud of. But he’s just one man,” Ben says of his cousin in Malacanang.

IN THE SERVICE OF THE POOR

2012-01-17T19:56:00.002-05:00

For a quarter of a century a small group of former seminarians and other devout Christians, including a number of Filipino-Americans, have quietly fed the poor of Manila during the Christmas season.

“We started this program when I was still in the seminary together with friends and fellow seminarians,” revealed Virginia-based bank executive Ramon Llamas.

Last month, they conducted the 25th year celebration of “Tunay na Diwa ng Pasko party for beggars”. In this group were Fr. Soc Montealto, Atong Lamsen, Boy Bandoles, Dandy Bastillo, Noel Licono, the Tarcisian Adorers and young volunteers from the parish of Our Lady of Sorrows in Pasay City.

“Though it’s a once a year occasion and definitely would not alleviate their poverty, the celebration prays to give them hope and encouragement that there are people who do respect and care for them,” Llamas explained.

The Tunay na Diwa ng Pasko party is done every Dec. 28 where the guests are street beggars from Pasay City, the Quiapo and Sta. Cruz districts in Manila, Makati and other places.

“We invite about a hundred of them but this year we were able to serve about 160 of the poorest of the poor,” Llamas revealed.

And the ranks of the poor in the Philippines are growing, according to recent reports. The World Bank noted that in spite of remarkable economic growth over nearly a decade, progress appears to bypass the poor – poverty has worsened from nearly 25 percent of the population in 2003 to about 27 percent in 2010.

The government National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said over 23 million Filipinos are still subsisting on less than $2 (about 85 pesos) a day – one of the worst in Southeast Asia.

“Our nation is in an explosive situation,” warned Cagayan de Oro Archbishop Antonio Ledesma. “Streets are teeming with beggars and dislocated indigenous peoples. The children wake up to poverty, eat poverty for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and sleep poverty – without understanding why.”

Leonor Magtolis-Briones of the advocacy group Social Watch Philippines said that as long as unemployment remains high, people won’t be able to escape from poverty.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) estimated close to 3 million Filipinos are jobless with another 7 million suffering from underemployment. The International Labor Organization’s country director in Manila Lawrence Johnson said many of those lucky enough to have jobs remain vulnerable because they don’t have social security, health insurance and other benefits.

The Tunay na Diwa ng Pasko party may seem like a drop in a very vast sea but it aims to reassure their constituents they are not alone. “We are all poor in the eyes of the Lord,” Llamas stressed.

Rather than be paralyzed by the enormity of the problem, this group is also driven by an abiding faith that they can see God’s face in the smiles of the poor they serve.

FIL-AMS REACT TO AUSTRIA DECISION TO FOREGO 3RD TERM

2012-01-17T19:52:00.002-05:00

The Filipino-American community in Metro DC was saddened by news that Congressman Steve Austria would not be seeking a 3rd term in November after losing his bailiwick under the state’s new congressional map crafted largely by fellow Republicans, reportedly with the blessings of House Speaker and fellow Ohio lawmaker John Boehner.

“I am not seeking another term to Congress at least for this term,” Austria declared earlier this month. The Middletown Journal said he was facing a potentially contentious primary with Rep. Mike Turner, who faces 2 other rivals in the Republican primary on March 6.

Austria was also critical of Boehner, according to the Politico, for supporting Ohio’s redistricting that apparently doomed his re-election bid. The new congressional map merged tracts of Austria’s old 7th district with that of Turner, losing areas that he had represented since he was elected to the state legislature in 1998.

The majority of the new 10th district of Ohio belongs to Turner’s 3rd district. Austria’s district was carved into 3 parts and his residence actually became part of the newly established 10th district, the Middletown Journal said. Boehner himself will get a county that used to be part of Austria’s district.

“I am not going to run for Congress next term as a result of the redistricting map,” the Fil-Am solon said. He was first elected in 2008 and handily won re-election last year, after taking over the old seat of Republican Rep. David Hobson.

The state lost 2 of its 18 seats in Congress due to population loss over the past decade.

“It is of course sad when we lose one of ours from the public realm,” Jon Melegrito said, referring to Austria’s Filipino roots, “not necessarily because he or she lost an election but because of redistricting.”

“Since the redistricting process began, it has been done in secrecy and with closed-door deals. I join my constituents, who are frustrated and disappointed about the new maps forced upon them and the fact that they didn’t have a voice in the process,” Austria complained in a statement.

“This was drawn by a few people behind closed doors,” Austria told the Politico. “Why the lines were drawn that way, I don’t know.”

“Had there been a significant Filipino American population in Austria’s old district, Boehner and his allies would probably have thought twice about their actions. But fearing no pushback or backlash from an outraged constituency, politicians can brazenly resort to these political maneuvers and get away with it,” Melegrito added.

Lawyer Arnedo Valera said the new Ohio congressional map was “typical gerrymandering” and urged Austria to challenge it by running for office. “He is a good and honorable legislator. A great supporter of HR 210, the proposed Filipino Veterans Fairness Act,” he added.

“Sadly, many good legislators are being forced to retire early because of a double-edged sword called redistricting,” Melegrito observed.

Bing Branigin noted that “redistricting is both bad and good for both Republicans and Democrats”.

Meanwhile, Ohio Republicans and Tea Party leaders praised Austria’s decision to give way because it would have diverted resources and attention from the fight to fend off the Democratic challenger. “He’s made the best choice, a graceful exit with integrity and honor,” Hobson was quoted as saying.

Austria is only the 3rd person with Filipino lineage to serve in the US Congress after Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia and former Sen. John Ensign of Nevada.

But Austria is the 1st first-generation Fil-Am to be elected in Congress. He was born in Cincinnati to nurse Jean Brockman and Dr. Clement Austria, originally from Tiaong, Quezon. The Austria family was once heralded “Ohio Family of the Year” and later presented one of 9 “Great American Family” awards by First Lady Nancy Reagan.

He is considered an ally of the Fil-Am community in Congress although he first won national prominence with little backing from the mainstream Fil-Am community.

Branigin noted that Republican Austria has historically voted along party lines in the US House of Representatives. “Unfortunately, he did not vote for the passage of the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation bill,” she rued, referring to the historic measure providing a one-time lump-sum payment for thousands of Filipino World War II veterans both here and in the Philippines.

Austria is a member of the influential House appropriations committee.

He was not even part of the bipartisan caucus of Asian-American lawmakers in Congress, Branigin added.

“That’s why we should encourage more Filipino Americans to get involved in politics by hosting and donating to candidates, registering and voting,” she stressed.

“The latest US census showed there was in increase in the number of Filipinos and Filipino Americans in the US, but we are not recognized as a power block because only a handful participate in political exercises,” Branigin averred.

He has signaled he is serving out his 2nd term until December and did not rule out another run for Congress in the future.

PH ENVOY ASSURES CONTINGENCY PLANS READY FOR OFWs IN ISRAEL

2012-01-17T19:34:00.004-05:00

Contingency plans are in place to quickly evacuate thousands of Filipinos if Israel is attacked, assured the country’s chief envoy to Israel Generoso Calonge.

He gave the assurance in the face of mounting tension in the region as the United States and key European allies ready potentially crippling sanctions to pressure Iran to abandon its alleged development of nuclear weapons.

Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, passage for 20 percent of the world's oil; and one of Iran's top nuclear scientists was assassinated earlier this month, prompting the US and Israel to postpone a missile exercise.

Calonge, who was Consul General in Washington DC until 2002 but still has ties to the region, was appointed Philippine Ambassador to Israel last year. He submitted his credentials on Oct. 6.

His last posting was senior special assistant for the Foreign Affairs Undersecretary on Political Affairs in Manila . His last foreign assignment was Consul General in Dubai . Israel is his first ambassadorial appointment.

Calonge revealed there are 41,000 Filipinos in Israel although some sectors say the actual number could be as high as 100,000 because many are undocumented. He said about 80 to 90 percent of Filipinos there work as caregivers.

Israel is considered a critical assignment for any diplomat. A large number of Filipinos live in the big cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa and Ashkelon that are under constant threat of rocket attacks and terror bombings. The country also shares a border with Syria , on the verge of civil war, and could be a possible evacuation route for the estimated 10,000 Filipinos working there. Iran ’s nuclear ambitions also appear to be directed primarily against the Jewish state.

“The vortex of the peace process is right there, all tied to the resolution of the Palestinian conflict and Israeli-Palestinian relations,” Calonge explained.

“There are many challenges,” he stressed.

They have launched a mapping initiative to register Filipinos and establish a link that is the cornerstone of the government’s contingency plan. Calonge said the mapping project is voluntary and about 1,000 have already done it. “I hope they will all register,” he declared.

Ambassador Genoroso Calonge with former colleague and Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC) executive director Grace Valera at a recent function in McLean, Virginia

“The purpose of mapping is just in case we need to implement contingency measures we would know who and where they are, and how we can direct and give instructions to them for an orderly evacuation if it comes to that,” Calonge said.

In addition, the Philippines has an army battalion assigned with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) in the Golan Heights . About 350 Filipino soldiers serve as part of a buffer force in the mountainous region contested by Israel and Syria .

The most viable evacuation routes, he suggested, would be through the Mediterranean Sea or Jordan .

The Philippines and Israel have longstanding relations. The Philippines is reportedly the only Asian nation to vote for creating the state of Israel in the United Nations in 1947 although full diplomatic ties did not happen until a decade later.

“There is intense people to people relations between the two countries because of the Philippine’s Judeo-Christian tradition,” Calonge averred.

“People call us – those belonging to the 3 major religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam – the people of the book. We have Holy Books that we believe in and the early parts of those books are closely aligned with each other,” he added.

Meanwhile, Calonge said Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has asked him to concentrate on bolstering economic relations with Israel , particularly trade and investments.

With a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $245 billion, Israel is the world’s 49th biggest economy. Trade (as of the 1st semester of 2011) amounted to $250 million, 75 percent of which comprise of Israeli exports to the Philippines .

McCAIN, U-S SOLONS TO VISIT MANILA

2012-01-13T20:48:00.003-05:00

Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, one of the Philippine’s staunchest supporters on Capitol Hill, will lead a group American lawmakers in a visit to Manila after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday even as both nations are set to hold the 2nd instalment of a “strategic dialogue” that aims to define future relations.

McCain will be accompanied by a close friend and colleague in the Senate Armed Services committee Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, chairman of the Subcommittee on Seapower.

McCain had spoken out last year against China’s growing military assertiveness in the mineral rich but disputed Spratly Islands that are claimed in part or in whole by China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

He said the US should make it clear which claims it recognizes and what actions it was ready to support, particularly from treaty ally Philippines.

McCain lost to then Senator Barack Obama in 2008. He recently came out to endorse presidential aspirant Mitt Romney, now locked in a battle to be GOP standard bearer.

The Philippines has special significance for the Arizona solon. A Navy combat pilot, he was shot down during a bombing sortie over Hanoi (Vietnam) in 1967, captured and tortured. When he was finally released in 1973, his first stop was Clark Air Base in Pampanga.

Sources say the US lawmakers will “consult” top Philippine officials over a wide array of subjects. Their itinerary is being finalized by the US Embassy in Manila, and could include a call with President Aquino.

Their visit, to be followed by another delegation of congressmen, comes days before the 2nd Philippine-US Strategic Dialogue is convened here. The meeting will pursue agreements forged during the first dialogue last January in Manila.

Sources say both sides are still firming up the composition of the panels, but likely would be made up of second-tier officials. The first dialogue was attended by Philippine Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio; and US Asst. Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Deputy Asst. Secretary of Defense Derek Mitchell.

According to a government communiqué, this meeting discussed “evolving regional architecture in the Asia-Pacific and regional challenges; nuclear non-proliferation; disaster response and climate change; trafficking in persons; promotion of human rights and the rule of law; trade and economic cooperation; combating terrorism; peace and development in Mindanao; and global peacekeeping and multilateral cooperation.”

For the 2nd round of talks, the Philippines is expected to press its request for military assistance, including the acquisition of another Hamilton-class cutter and efforts to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership that could open bigger trade and investment opportunities for the country.

“With a changing regional and global environment, the Philippines and the US are now looking forward to shifting the partnership into higher gear at a time when our ties have become broad-based, modern, mature and resilient,” Foreign Affairs Sec. Albert del Rosario said following the initial meeting.

US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. said the strategic dialogues “affirm our commitment to our longstanding alliance and to continuing our work as equal partners, discuss current challenges and identify new areas for cooperation.”

LAGDAMEO SISTERS: POWER SIBLINGS OF MARYLAND

2012-01-12T19:36:00.003-05:00

They are the “power sisters” from Maryland, two rising Filipino-American women whose feats herald a nearly limitless potential for the future.

“Though many people expect greatness because of her, I’m willing to rise to her level of excellence,” gushed Angela Lagdameo, one of the recipients of this year’s Dakila Awards in Virginia. She was talking of course about her elder sister Cristina, deputy director for the White House Initiative for Asian-Americans.

Angela is a senior analyst at Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley’s office of policy where is mainly involved in education.

“Our state is numbr 1 in education and I have the privilege of being able to work on education policy and yes, it’s a big responsibility,” she tells the Manila Mail.

“I’m looking at students’ trajectory from pre-school all the way up to the first 5 years of the work force,” she explained.

Both Angela and Cristina were campus activists at the University of Maryland. They were the moving force for the establishment of the school’s Asian American Studies program in the late 1990s while they were both students.

“She was the forerunner who passed on the torch when I came in as a freshman in 1998,” recalls Angela, “and it was an automatic understanding, whether I liked it or not.”

The University of Maryland’s Asian American Studies program is considered one of the best in the United States, focusing on the identities and experiences of Asian Americans that today comprise about 15 percent of the school’s undergraduate population.

Her role was to “ensure that the entire community held to its word to the establishment of the certificate program and hiring new tenured professors.”

The university officially launched the Asian American Studies program in January 2000 by appointing a part-time director, instructors and student staff. In the winter of 2001, they had enough to hire 2 full-time professors, paving the way for expanding courses and research. In 2006, the school finally hired its first permanent director, Dr. Larry Shinagawa and approved the minor in Asian American Studies soon after.

Angela’s proud of what she and her sister have done for the university that remains a big part of their lives. “I’m proud Terrapin alum and I support in many different ways to contribute back to the university,” Angela declared.

“They’re very much involved in activism but I don’t really know where they got that from,” the girls’ father Bobby says amusedly.

“They got the beauty from me,” chimes in their mother Fe, laughing.

“I think that was an initiative on their part because they saw a lot of things needed to be done,” their dad explained. Cristina would become involved in fighting for women abused and victimized in the sex trade even as Angela devoted herself to the Asian American Studies program, he said.

But activism is in their DNA, it turns out. Fe’s father was a student leader together with Manuel L. Quezon who would later be the Philippine Commonwealth’s wartime president (1935 to his death in 1944). She is also related on her mother’s side to former Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro (noted Filipino broadcaster and former ABS-CBN News executive Angelo Castro Jr. is a cousin).

“They really had a free hand and our support was primarily in the background. We just okay go ahead and we’ll be here to support it,” Bobby averred.

He came here as a student in 1963 and never left. When he met Fe, who stopped over in Washington DC with her mother and a sister bound for studies in Spain, he didn’t let go. They got married and settled in Boie, MD where Fe has relatives.

Cristina and Angela are the only girls in their brood of 5, but their parents stressed that they are very proud of all their children.

FIL-AM BUILDS BUSINESS FROM 'CHICHARON'

2012-01-12T19:25:00.004-05:00

Nothing in the life experiences of Arsenio “Tito Al” Alpapara can be considered as incidental. From a Major in the now-defunct Philippine Constabulary to Pennsylvania factory hand, he’s built on these lessons to become one of the most successful Filipino-American businessmen in the United States, overseeing a food distributorship that stretches from the nation’s capital to Chicago, New York, Florida and more recently, San Francisco, California.

Alpapara established 2A Marketing Center LLC as a 2-man operation in 1985. He’s perhaps best known for “Tito Al Chicharones” which was his first product and symbolic of his business philosophy that emphasizes quality, continuous improvement and unrelenting fealty to his suppliers and the consumers they serve.

“Hilig ko talaga to be a military guy because I wanted to serve the country,” he revealed to the Manila Mail. He joined the PC right after college and rose through the ranks until in 1969 he got an offer from Dole Pineapple. “When they told me my pay would be 3 times more than what I was earning from the military, I decided to go,” he confessed.

Without any training or experience in sales, he believes Dole wanted him for the discipline, sense of responsibility and leadership skills he acquired in the PC. “They hired me because of those qualities,” he averred, “and I started in the Dole rank and file but was soon promoted to regional manager.”

“Prior to that wala akong experience sa marketing. Zero! But that’s where I learned sales and marketing,” Alpapara explained.

Although they had a stable and relatively comfortable life in Manila (his wife was then a nurse at the Makati Medical Center), his family decided to immigrate to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where his in-laws had a flourishing medical practice.

“When I got there in 1979 wala ako trabaho so I started working as a factory helper,” he intimated. He later found a job as a route salesman for Snyder Company of Hanover, Pennsylvania.

His shift started at 4 o’clock in the morning. “I wasn’t used to the cold weather but I had to get up at 3 to get to work on time,” he said, a bit amused recalling those days. He was 34 years old at the time and admits it was hardly a walk in the park.

Reading the classified ads on his break time, he stumbled on a wanted ad for salesmen in a potato chip and pretzel company, Nibbles Inc. He decided to change jobs because he said, “I wanted to grow”.

“I still had to wake up at 3 o’clock driving my truck all the way to DC but it was the kind of job that I wanted to grow with the company,” he said. It entailed practicing the marketing and merchandizing skills he picked up working with Dole Philippines and he was soon promoted to supervisor then regional manager, leapfrogging co-workers who’d been working there for many years longer.

“Nainggit sila pero alam mo hard work lang yan at alam ko kasi ang negosyo,” he explained.

He was able to build contacts in the Metro DC region. “I wanted to have close touch with the Filipino community so I would stop by para kamustahin sila,” he said. It was in one of these visits to a Filipino-owned store that someone planted the germ of his business.

“Sabi niya why not put up your own business since nobody was doing it at may experience na ako dito,” Alpapara explained, “Sabi ko that’s a good idea so I decided to resign and put up my business in 1985.”

How the “chicharon” became his maiden offering has a story behind it too. A pork rind manufacturer from New York tried to convince Nibbles Inc. to hawk its product but it was initially shot down by the owner. Alpapara tried to talk his boss into changing his mind, sensing the “chicharon’s” vast potential in the large African-American population of Metro DC. Out of gratitude, the New York manufacturer asked Alpapara how they could pay back the favor so when he decided to strike out on his own, he asked them if they could also supply his new business. And that’s how “Tito Al’s Chicharones” was born.

“I started with Filipino stores only,” he revealed, “there were only 10 of them at that time in the Metro DC area. They saw how I did it, how I merchandize and how I brought to their stores whatever they wanted.”

He said he delivered only what the stores could sell on a weekly basis because he wanted to ensure that his wares were always fresh. “I don’t like storing left-overs in the warehouse,” he explained.

Alpapara gradually added more variety to his products, introducing pancit canton and pancit bihon noodles that he bought from Chicago. “Before that, they had to go to New York to buy those products. Now they didn’t have to go to New York because I can deliver to them directly,” he declared.

“Nung nakita nila gumaganda ang sales because Filipinos were going to their stores kasi marami na sila mabibili doon, that’s when the Filipino stores started to multiply,” he said. 2A Marketing now has clientele of over 200 stores in the Metro DC area, most of them Filipino and Asian establishments.

It was a symbiotic relationship, he conceded. “As they multiplied, lumaki ng lumaki din ako,” he noted.

And along with his business, Alpapara’s reputation also began spreading, especially the attention he gives to his products and the fact that he took good care of his suppliers. “I see to it that whatever money I get, I pay all obligations to my suppliers first. Binabayaran ko muna sila before I even think about buying nice cars or a nice house or taking long vacations,” he stressed.

“That’s the reason suppliers appointed me exclusive distributor; on time ako magbayad,” he added, “And I’m the only person na kaya ipagmalaki that I have the experience of increasing the number of stores in my area from 10 to 200.”

His company has exclusive distribution rights to Selecta Ice Cream, Magnolia tropical drinks and ice cream, Oriental Kitchen (siopao, sausages and dry and frozen foods), Rosan Dry & Frozen Foods, Silver Swan Soy Sauce, Mama Sita sauces and mixes, Mang Tomas sauces and roasts, Jufran banana catsup, Datu Puti vinegar, UFC (noodles, fruit preserves, banana catsup, soy and fish sauce), Excellent Flour Sticks and Ramar Food Products.

In addition, 2A Marketing is also involved in the import-export, manufacturing, sales and distribution of his “Tito Al” brand that has grown from the original “chicharones” to sausages and tocino, noodles, frozen vegetables, fruit preserves, soy and lechon sauce, banana catsup, popcorn, “kropeck” and pork and chicken siopao.

Although some of his products have already penetrated mainstream stores like the Giant grocery chain in Metro DC, Alpapara stressed that his “heart is still Asian. We should first help the small businesses.”

“The key really in this business is my background in the military where I got the discipline, responsibility and leadership; then from Dole where I got the sales and marketing expertise. Pinagsama ko lahat iyan. The bottom line from more the 22 years of business experience is you will grow basta naka-focus ka sa business and you enjoy what you are doing,” he explained.

“But my heart is still with the Philippines,” he confessed. He revealed that 98 percent of his products are made by Filipinos – the remaining 2 percent is composed of Thai rice that he points out, was actually developed in the Philippines – at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Laguna province.

“I really want to help the Philippine economy. Every time I’m in a convention in the Philippines, I keep telling manufacturers: please, give us a clean product. Kasi minsan kapag volume na, hindi na pinapansin ang quality so what happens hindi makalusot sa FDA (the US Food & Drug Administration). Nasisira ang mga produkto natin, hindi na makapasok,” Alpapara says sadly.

“Established na ako, I’m just maintaining it now,” he humbly declares. Looking down the road, he sees more of his products being sold in many more places in the US.

A CHRISTMAS VACATION

2011-12-28T18:38:00.008-05:00

Last year, my daughter Ynez gifted her mom the keys to a condo unit near the outskirts of Metro Manila that she’s been paying off for the past 5 years.

My wife went home last September to fix up our new home and witness the birth of our 2nd grandson. They became compelling reasons for me to take my first vacation back home in 6 years, and our first Christmas together as a family in nearly a decade.

It would be a special homecoming for sure. My father, who turned 84 on Christmas Day, is hearty for his age despite the stroke he suffered about a decade ago. His memory is beginning to fade.

The last time I held my elder grandson Prince, he was barely a year old. He would sometimes call me at work in Alexandria just to say goodnight and we would greet each other on Skype on weekends. I promised him a tight, humongous hug when we finally meet again.

We arrived in time to attend the baptism of Prince’s younger brother Rafael Paulo whom he nicknamed Race. My parents and siblings didn’t know we’d be there – a surprise hatched by Ynez.

Our vacation, abbreviated though it may be, was a voyage of rediscovery.

I resumed my affair with sweet Philippine coffee, taking it with cream when I usually took it black and bland back in Virginia.

Struggling to shake off the jet lag, I was up at the crack of dawn, awakened by the crowing of fighting cocks and hymns from a still uncompleted church just outside the condo's walls.

When it wasn’t raining, I would watch the sun rise from the outline of the Sierra Madre mountain range and despite the smog, the view was breath-taking. There was no mistaking – I was home.

We celebrated my sister Bingle’s 45th birthday on Dec. 21 with lunch at a restaurant that I picked only because it carried “kare-kare” and “crispy pata” and “ginataang kuhol” in its menu; I had a chance to catch up with my brother Bing who remarried earlier this year. We visited my younger brother Bimbot’s grave at Loyola Marikina, offering candles and flowers and a stick of Marlboro I’d been saving for him.

We visited our “lola madre” – Sor Asuncion Jamerlan – my mother’s aunt who at over 90 years old retained her sharp wit and unshakeable faith. She lives at the Daughters of Charity retirement home in Paranaque. She asked if I prayed the Rosary, to which I could only respond with a sheepish smile.

When it was time to say our farewells, she seemed hesitant to let me go. She waved my parents off but motioned for me to hug her, again and again. Although I saw her only intermittently even before we moved to the US, I sensed that she was always well-versed about goings-on in my life.

There was no sadness in her eyes. Trust in God, she told me finally and as I kissed her a last time, she smiled and assured that she was praying for me. I was sure she knew.

As I watched TV news reports of the tragedy in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan cities, I couldn’t help marveling at the resilience of people who survived a truly harrowing ordeal.

Many suffered indescribable loss, spending Christmas Day burying loved ones. But the images that stuck in my mind were of survivors picking up pieces of debris wood and corrugated steel or plastic sheets to build makeshift shelters. They were trying to rush them so their family – whatever’s left of them – can have a place to gather and spend Christmas together.

To me that was reaffirmation that the best gift we can ever receive is the gift of home and family; that both in good times and through life’s frequent trials, they are a source of strength and the well that drives us forward.

This was the richest Christmas I’ve ever had.

OUTSTANDING U-S-T ALUMNI FETED IN ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA

2011-12-04T18:28:00.006-05:00

A chemical engineer who helped write literature on the use of umbilical cord blood to harvest stem cells, a multi-awarded poet, and the only newspaperman to become a police general are among this year’s outstanding “Thomasians” recognized by the University of Santo Tomas Alumni Association in America (USTAAA).

The achievement awards were handed out Dec. 3 at the association’s 1st Anniversary and Quadricentennial Celebration Year-End Ball in Arlington, Virginia.

The UST, founded in 1611, is one of the oldest universities and predates Harvard, America’s oldest university by about 25 years. It is also one of the largest Catholic schools in terms of enrolment in a single campus.

Philippine national hero Jose Rizal is perhaps its most famous alumni, but they also include 4 Philippine presidents – Manuel L. Quezon, Sergio Osmena, Jose P. Laurel and Diosdado Macapagal – and 6 Chief Justices of the Philippine Supreme Court.

This year’s crop of achievers include retired police general Crescencio “Cris” Maralit (AB Journalism ’68), who has the distinction of being the 1st and only newspaperman to reach star-rank. He co-authored the book “Constabulary Story” and received 47 medals and awards, including 3 Bronze Cross Medals, 3 Distinguished Service Medals and 6 Military Merit Medals, among others.

Maralit also finished courses at the Command & General Staff College in the Philippines, psychological operations at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and senior crisis management in California, among others.

Now a Baltimore resident, he helped organize a benefit golf tournament last year to benefit victims of the Maguindanao Massacre and other murdered journalists.

Educator Vickie Salera Lopez (BS Electronics and Communications Engineering ’77) travelled over 25,000 miles to help beleaguered Filipino teachers in Maryland find new jobs in schools as far away as Arizona and New Mexico.

She is a certified Math teacher in Maryland and a member of the Maryland Educators for the Gifted and Talented. In the Philippines, Lopez designed the “Bayani sa Loob ng Tahanan” which combines adult and 1st grade education, helping parents to teach their children reading, writing and arithmetic.

She spent almost 2 decades setting up new departments, Total Quality programs and managing lay-offs for semiconductor and telecommunication companies in the Philippines. Lopez also taught at the UST College of Engineering and College of Architecture, and part-time in San Beda College Alabang.

Amy Pascual-Quinto (Fine Arts ’74) designed the UST commemorative tags for Maryland vehicles, the 1st time this privilege was bestowed to a Philippine university. She is a member of the Rockville Art League.
She had lived in Spain, France and Germany where she helped establish Tipanan, a weekend home for distressed Filipino domestic workers in Madrid that spared them the ordeal of having to sleep in the streets.

Dr. Wilhelmina Gardose Camina has previously been named one of the Twenty Outstanding Filipinos Abroad (2007) and received the Women of Achievement Award from the United Cultural Convention in 2010, among others.

Luz Bagtas Ricafort (BS Chemical Engineering ’63) is a multi-awarded medical technologist in the US and co-authored papers on the use of umbilical cord blood as a source of stem cells in patients afflicted with diabetes, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson;s and other neurological disorders. She was one of the first members of the International Society of Cord Blood Transplantation.

Ike Santos (AB English, Pre-Law ’63) is one of the most active civic leaders in the Metro Baltimore area (he is president and chairman of the Taytay Association of America, Inc.). He had founded or managed various non-profits that help raise funds for community and livelihood projects in the Philippines. He is currently involved with First Act Inc. that aims to harness and develop Filipino American artists through workshops and staging shows for the visual and performing arts.

Susana Bonifacio Felizardo (Literature and BS Education) is a multi-awarded poet and 2-time winner of the Una Chapman Cox Award (in 1990 and 2010), the highest award given for a Language and Culture Instructor.

She is a certified Tagalog tester and language examiner at the State Department’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center – the premier training ground for foreign service officers being posted overseas. Felizardo is also a Tagalog translator at the State Department’s Office of Language Service and interpreter/transcriber with DC, Maryland and Virginia courts.

Dr. Catherine Panlilio Arzadon (BS Medical Technology ’89 and Medicine ’93) started her practice as a pediatrician in her home town of San Fernando, Pampanga. Even while studying at UST, Arzadon was already an active volunteer and launched in 1999 Project MuntingNgiti that was transformed into a foundation 5 years later. She is assistant chief medical officer of Medical Mission of Mercy USA, a non-profit that provides free medical, dental and optometric services to indigents in the Philippines.

Belan Woo-Siy (College of Architecture & Fine Arts ’74) has successfully mounted several exhibits in Texas since 1988. She has won awards in art competitions for her paintings but has also worked with ceramics. She also contributed a short story to the book Transforming Non-Fiction to Fiction.

Greg Abella is this year’s USTAAA president. A retired US Navy Chief Petty Officer, he spent over 22 years in the uniform and is now Director of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration School, facilitator of Total Quality Leadership and Management, and a Master Training Specialist.

Fernando Mendez (Fine Arts ’74) is an advertising man. He was art editor of The Varsitarian, the official publication of UST, and has won various awards for poster design, illustration, painting and photography; aside from 30 other excellence awards in advertising, logo design and art direction. He worked for some of the biggest ad agencies in Manila, including as Art Director handling multinational accounts like Scott Tissues, San Miguel and Marlboro.

He immigrated to the US in 1982, continued to work for different companies and established a decade later Special Edition Press Inc. in New York City. In 1997 he launched Philippine Fiesta USA Inc. that holds one of the biggest Filipino cultural festival and trade exhibit in the East Coast.

Claudio Pedery (Liberal Arts) is a logistics engineer, system analyst and decorated US Navy officer. He serves as or has worked as human relations commissioner in Prince George’s County, Maryland; President of Grace Dagdag Foundation; member of the Philippine Centennial Commission coordinating committee in Washington DC; President of the National Asian Pacific American Heritage Council; Department Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars District of Columbia and Commander of VFW Post 5471, among many others.

Manny Tan (BS Commerce ’66) was cited for his role in the Growling Tigers, the UST basketball team, that made it to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) championship in 1963, and under coach Caloy Loyzaga, a back to back reprise in 1964 and 1965. He migrated to the US and 1982 and set up the Balikbayan Travel & Tours Inc.

Parents recognition awards were given to Rechilda Lumauig-Uy (Education ’64) whose husband, a doctor, and two children are all Thomasians, and Elisa Quintana, who ran a canteen near the Administration building and sent all 6 of his children to UST.

Special awards were also given to Eric David (Fine Arts ’74), CEO of Art Enrico Graphix; Bombie Reyes, an engineer with VR Group; and Manila Mail editor and ABS-CBN Washington DC correspondent Rodney Jaleco.

FIL-AMS QUARREL OVER FORMATION OF BASKETBALL "TEAM PHILIPPINES"

2011-11-28T19:48:00.006-05:00

(This article appears in the Nov. 30, 2011 edition of Manila Mail, the longest running Fil-Am newspaper in the Metro DC region)

A full-blown melee has erupted between what is reputedly the biggest Filipino-American basketball league and members of a local hoops association that is hosting the championship in Washington DC next year.

The North American Basketball Association (NABA) has threatened to expel anyone playing for “Team Philippines” – a newly-formed group that aims to recruit young but talented Fil-Ams for international tournaments playing under the Philippine flag.

Russell Casapao, president of the DC-based Filipino Youth Basketball Association (FYBA), pitched for the establishment of “Team Philippines” reportedly without the knowledge of his board. But after the controversy broke-out, the FYBA members have come out to assail the threatened expulsions.

“The unity and harmonious relationship enjoyed by NABA members for the past 24 years has been challenged by the introduction of a new group, they call themselves Team Philippines,” Detroit-based NABA Commissioner Dr. Ron Damasco wrote in a letter to members posted in its website last month.

“The idea caused some confusion to some basketball players of NABA that started joining (Team Philippines). Their actions jeopardize the preparations of Washington DC franchise as host for the 2012 NABA tournament.

“I don’t have any other alternative but to enforce a directive to all NABA members that any city, team, player and coach that will join Team Philippines and any league other than NABA will be dealt accordingly with possible suspension or most likely expulsion,” Damasco warned.

In a letter by “The FYBA Organization” they announced that they will ask Dr. Damasco to reconsider his directive. “We are doing this to protect our players, coaches and more importantly the parents, to clear any misconception and confusion brought about by the establishment of Team Philippines and its impact to FYBA’s hosting of the 2012 NABA Inter-City tournament.”

The nucleus of “Team Philippines” reportedly come from the Metro DC region but also come from as far away as Florida.

The NABA has been holding yearly tournaments since 1986. The championships are held during the Labor Day weekend in either the US or Canada. With close to 2 dozen member cities from North America with 115 teams and over 1,700 athletes, the NABA tournament is perhaps the biggest Fil-Am sports event.

The FYBA is celebrating its 5th year (and NABA’s 25th anniversary) by hosting the Labor Day championship in Washington DC next year. That could be in jeopardy because many of the sponsors for next year’s tournament are parents of Fil-Am children in “Team Philippines”.

In a follow-up letter Nov. 18, Dr. Damasco said that “A member joining Team Philippines is not only committing conflict of interest but he is also at risk of developing a feeling of dejection, sadness and misery that could lead to his losing interest in basketball if in the end he is selected as member of Team Philippines.”

In a petition by about 40 parents of kids who’ve joined Team Philippines, they countered that “We believe that no child should be denied a chance to join any basketball organization and participate in their respective tournaments.”

“Parent should be able to freely exercise their right to choose whatever sports organization they believe will offer the best sports experience for their child. Whether it is Team Philippines, AAU or any school-sponsored sports program, the right to participate should be open to all who are qualified,” they stressed.

“Denying a child to play in an organization designed to promote pride in their heritage and to establish camaraderie among their fellow Filipino-American and Filipino-Canadian players across the nation and internationally is simply wrong and we will do everything within our power to correct this injustice,” the parents declared.

The Manila Mail learned that some are already contemplating a discrimination suit against NABA, threatening to blow the controversy even wider.

Meanwhile, they are also incensed that some ranking FYBA officers have refused or are unwilling to take the cudgels for their children. They are especially critical of Casapao whom Manila Mail sources say face his own “expulsion” by being pressured out of his presidency.

The group supporting Team Philippines has already met with NABA’s executive adviser Larry Albano in New York to apologize for the confusion arising from the group’s sudden appearance. “It is our hope that we can find and agree on a resolution that is fair to the players and their family who are currently supporting both organizations,” they reported.

But this attempt to mend fences apparently fell on deaf ears after Dr. Damasco issued his expulsion threat. “NABA is a self-governing, self-reliant and self-supporting association whose primary concern is the well being of every member,” he stressed.

VETERANS SEEK HELP FROM U-S ARMY FOR WARTIME RECORDS

2011-11-25T11:57:00.003-05:00

Thousands of Filipino World War II veterans are hanging by a piece of paper that could spell the difference whether they receive compensation for a 6-decade-old injustice.

Eric Lachica, executive director of the American Coalition of Filipino Veterans (ACFV), said the problem of more than 4,000 veterans whose applications for the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation (FVEC) fund were rejected is no longer within the purview of the Department of Veterans Administration (VA) to resolve.

In a chance meeting with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta during a Veterans Day breakfast event at the White House, Lachica said they sought his help to help arrange a meeting with Secretary of the Army John McHugh.

He said Panetta was aware of the Filipino veterans “especially the Philippine Scouts, there’s so many of them in California” but did not know about the plight of those left out of FVEC benefits.

ACFV executive director Eric Lachica with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta at the recent Veterans Day breakfast at the White House. Photo courtesy of Eric Lachica.

“He said he’ll look into it,” Lachica told the Manila Mail.

In a letter addressed to President Obama, ACFV president Patrick Ganio Sr. pointed out “All are in their 80s and 90s and are in frail health. Many are United States citizens. Most reside in the Philippines and are cared for by family members. Sadly, many have died and their surviving spouses have tirelessly pursued their claims under the FVEC law.”

Lachica said he handed the letter to the President’s military aide.

McHugh has control over the US Army personnel records, including those presumably destroyed by a fire at their main repository in St. Louis, Missouri in 1973. The National Personnel Record Center (NPRC) contains service information for US military personnel who served after World War I.

The fire destroyed about 80 percent of the records for US Army personnel discharged between 1912 and 1960. According to its website, they have not yet determined “exactly what was lost in the fire because there were no indices to the blocks of records involved”.

An estimated quarter of a million Filipino soldiers and guerillas who served and fought under the US Armed Forces during World War II were disenfranchised by an act of Congress in 1946. They have been fighting for recognition ever since.

“We are pursuing the appeals,” Lachica said, “the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has told us the problem lies in the recognition of these veterans and that will depend on the US Army confirming that they actually served.

As of Oct. 1, the VA said 42,713 applications were processed. Of these 9,334 were approved for Filipino veterans in the Philippines and 9,165 for Filipino veterans in the US. A total of 24,214 applications were rejected.

Philippine-based veterans were entitled to a single lump sum payment of $9,000 while those in the US stood to receive $15,000. The VA reported that $221 million from the FVEC has been paid out already.

Some 4,389 of those rejected have filed notices of disagreement (NODs) but of this number, only 193 cases have been reopened. After lodging a NOD, a claimant will be provided a hearing either through video conference or face-to-face meeting.

Lachica revealed that retired Maj. Gen. Delfin Lorenzana, head of the Philippine veterans office at the Philippine Embassy in Washington DC, has been pressing the NPRC for whatever records they could find to help the veterans.

He cited the case of Virginia-based Celestino Almeda, 94, who had original copies of his discharge papers and payroll records from the US Commonwealth Philippine Army but was still turned down because his name did not appear in the so-called Missouri List.

Almeda used those same documents to acquire US citizenship in the 1990s.

Lachica there is still about $44 million in the FVEC fund that could be used to pay the veterans. “That’s why we have to make sure the appeal process is resolved for most of our veterans who believe they are legitimate US veterans,” Lachica declared.

“We want to meet with the Secretary of the Army or his staff to ask them to review individually, case-by-case the paperwork of these 4,000 because if the Secretary of the Army will release a paper certifying they served based on the records, they will get the equity compensation,” he explained.

In addition, they continue to lobby for passage of the family reunification bill to speed up immigrant petitions filed by veterans for their children to join them in the US, and “medical portability” that will allow aging veterans to “carry” their Medicare benefits back to the Philippines if they wished to spend their remaining years there.

“They all go hand in hand,” Lachica said, conceding “We have our hands full”.

FIL-AM OBAMA SUPPORTERS GEAR UP FOR 2012 CAMPAIGN

2011-11-25T11:33:00.003-05:00

Young Filipino-American supporters of President Obama have begun mobilizing to work for his re-election bid next year.

“We have been rebuilding our base, reconnecting with Filipinos,” Ben de Guzman revealed. He said they’ve been knocking on doors in New Jersey and are planning a large campaign kick-off in December to convince Fil-Ams to register and vote in 2012.

Jason Lagria, national co-chairman of Kaya Filipino Americans for Progress, told the Manila Mail that they’ve started identifying “key targeters” in the community who can serve as volunteers. “We’re making sure the infrastructure is in place so we’re launching Filipinos for Obama 2012 in December and have our first events by January,” he explained.

Veterans of the Filipinos for Obama campaign in 2008 are reunited at the recent Dakila Awards ceremonies in Arlington, VA. From left, Marita Etcubanez, Irene Bueno, Vida Benavides, Jon Melegrito, Ben de Guzman, Charmaine Manansala and Jason Lagria. Photo by Bing Branigin.

They concede that with the tough economic times, they have their work cut out for them. “The political climate is obviously very different. The environment is more polarized now which is why it’s important for people to be out there and have the conversation person to person,” De Guzman told the Manila Mail.

“You just really have to engage the people whether you agree with them or not and that’s part of what we’re doing,” he added.

Lagria said one advantage is that they are able to mobilize earlier than they did in 2008. “It’s a year out right now and we’re already planning,” he said, “In 2008 the nomination for president wasn’t even done until December but now we have a whole year and we’re going to make sure the entire Asian American community is working together and every Asian American will be voting.”

The Filipino American Journal conducted a poll of its readers last month and concluded that “Obama is in trouble”. It quoted Professor Albert Celoza, head of the Liberal Arts department at the Phoenix Colleges, as predicting “voters’ frustration will work against his chances of being re-elected.”

Celoza said he voted for Obama in 2008 but is still undecided for 2012.

“It’s the hard economic times,” Lagria explained, “obviously we’re going to be aggressive. We believe the job plan Obama has for the economy and the country is the right way for us; it’s going to make sure all Americans are going to prosper in this economy and not just for some people.”

A pre-election survey by the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and Federation of Philippine-American Chambers of Commerce (FPACC) in 2008 revealed that 36 percent of the Fil-Am respondents favored then Sen. Obama while 30 percent was inclined to swing for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain. The breakdown revealed that a significant portion – about a third – were undecided a week before the last presidential elections.

“I think Filipinos, like any other Asian group, are the quintessential movable middle. We have higher rates to decline party affiliations so if you make the argument for us, we will vote our conscience and not necessarily based on party but on what’s right,” De Guzman averred.

Lagria argued that Pres. Obama has been good to Asian Americans. “Look at his record on diversity – he’s nominated 8 Asian-Americans to federal courts when there were just 7 ever before that. He’s basically doubled the number of Asian Americans in the judiciary and he’s done the same thing in his Cabinet and throughout his administration.”

“We should always make sure that our leaders are thinking about everybody. I especially believe he’s thinking of all Asian Americans and Filipino Americans,” Lagria said.

ARMY OFFICER RECALLS CAMPAIGN VS "KA ROGER"

2011-10-19T20:31:00.003-04:00

The work of Philippine communist spokesman Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal, starting in the tumultuous 1980s, spurred the military to invest nearly as much man-hours drowning out his voice as it did to actually hunting him down.

According to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), Rosal died last June 22 from a heart attack. The government reported his death so many times that his actual demise seemed anti-climactic.

“Ka Roger rose to prominence in the decade of the 80s in the Quezon-Laguna area,” recalled Brig. Gen. Rolando Tenefrancia, the former Philippine Army attaché in Washington DC and now Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army at Fort Bonifacio, Makati.

He was then a young captain at the Civil Relations Service (CRS), the psychological warfare operator of the Philippine military that was principally tasked to counter rebel propaganda.

“He was a good spokesman for the CPP because he had a grasp of the issues,” Tenefrancia told the Manila Mail, “He had a way of swaying public opinion because he was good at networking with media.”

Born in Ibaan, Batangas, poverty forced Rosal to quit school at an early age, working as a servant in their landlord’s house and later selling mosquito nets to make ends meet. He was a student activist at the Golden Gate College in Batangas City when then President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in 1971.

He was arrested in 1973 but escaped from a police jail in Calamba, Laguna, and quickly joined the New People’s Army (NPA), the CPP’s military arm. Rosal suffered his first stroke in 1997 and his health slowly deteriorated.

The military publicly offered to treat him but he refused and the government intensified the manhunt against him.

Tenefrancia said Rosal maximized his contacts with the press, especially with radio that at the time was the predominant form of media particularly in the rural areas.

“Every time there was an issue, there he was on DZRH (one of the Philippine’s top radio stations). DZRH was heard nation-wide so he was effective in raising the morale of their army,” he averred.

The 1980s was the peak of the modern communist insurgency in the Philippines . The NPA fielded “Sparrow Units” – hit teams that assassinated ranking government, police and military officials in capital cities, including Metro Manila.

US Army Col. James Rowe, a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran, became the highest-ranking US official to be killed by the communist insurgency. On April 21, 1989, a “Sparrow” hit team ambushed his bullet-proof car in broad daylight in one of Quezon City ’s busiest streets, fatally shooting him in the head. He was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery here.

It was also the decade when the communists mounted a deadly purge that killed thousands of cadres suspected of being government spies in campaigns that had such innocuous codenames as Operation Missing Link (in Luzon) and Cadena de Amor (in the Visayas) and Ahos Zombie (in Mindanao).

“In the ranks of the NPA only Ka Roger was allowed to speak on behalf of the group,” Tenefrancia said.

“It was probably because he had a lot of contacts in media,” he added, “and with what was happening in their organization, it wasn’t wise to have too many spokesmen.”

One measure of Rosal’s effectiveness, according to Tenefrancia, as his health deteriorated, so did the intensity of communist propaganda.

“He was not really a threat in the purely military sense but we had to counter the issues he was raising in the press. His problem was not everything he said was true. It was normal for us to answer the issues but we soon learned not everything he said needed to be refuted,” he explained.

“He’s died so many times in the newspapers,” Tenefrancia noted, “but no one from their ranks has actually emerged to take his role. In fact, ever since he got sick, they (NPA) have also fallen silent.”

BOGO-BOGOS REUNITE FOR EVENING WITH THE FOIC

2011-10-19T19:58:00.009-04:00

Nothing kicks up the proverbial storm than getting a bunch of “bogo-bogo” together in a room where they invariably slide to reminiscences of years spent at the Philippine Military Academy (PMA).

“Bogo-bogo” is how PMAers like to call themselves. They are flourishing in the Metro DC region where there are now about 50 active members of their alumni association, according to Harold Ochoco (Class 81), who hosted the get-together in his handsome home in Fairfax, Virginia.

Richard Gubatan (Class 92) drove 9 hours from Johnson City, Tennessee to see Vice Admiral Alexander Pama (Class 79) who stopped over in Washington DC on his way to an international symposium in Rhode Island.

His eyes bloodshot from fatigue, he was getting ready to make the long return trip after spending just 3 hours to party with old classmates.

They left their military careers for various reasons. Louie Maligat (Class 82) resigned as an army 1st Lieutenant after the 1986 People Power revolt and joined the US Navy as an enlisted man. He eventually won back that rank, rising to become a Lieutenant in the US Navy – proof perhaps that Filipinos can excel wherever they are.

“I left because although there was a change in administration, things were not going to change overnight,” he said. “I think I’ve been proven right in many instances and in some, things have gotten worse.”

Maligat retired early from the US Navy, joined the Census Bureau and is presently a management and program analyst with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Former Special Forces Maj. Gabriel de Dios (Class 81) has found his 2nd vocation in America. He swapped his Armalite with brush and palette, and is now one of the top Fil-Am artists in the area, his work featured in dozens of Washington DC exhibits.

Dan Jimenez (Class 77) left the Navy in disgust over the way former President Marcos manipulated the military. He’s still known in the Fil-Am community as an activist, organizing protests over a wide range of issues, from the perceived racial slur against Filipino doctors in an episode of the TV soap Desperate Housewives to the alleged corruption and excesses of then Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Max Oligani (Class 79) got a ribbing from his “mistahs” for bringing “inihaw na bangus” all the way from his home in Pennsylvania, a 3-hour drive away. The dish from Pennsylvania, his classmates teased, “tastes just like the bangus in Washington DC”.

Former Navy Capt. Jun Tucay (Class 65) was the most senior in the group and appeared immune from the good-natured mockery.

Ochoco left in 1986 after graduating with a computer science degree from the George Washington University. He now heads a section in the IT department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“I thought it was the right time to move into IT,” he averred but also confessed to occasional pangs of regret, seeing his classmates who are now senior commanders, some becoming generals.

“I’ve never been away from the PMA. My 1st love is still the military and it was my goal at the time to reach star rank but obviously I’ll never attain that but perhaps in terms of self-fulfillment, I think I’ve also succeeded in the career I eventually chose to pursue,” he argued.

Their numbers have gotten a boost from the police and military continent in the Philippine Embassy. Police attaché Arman Ramolete is part of Class 82, naval attaché Tony Habulan is Class 81 and air force attaché Arnel Duco is Class 86.

Some like Gubatan are already dreaming of the day when they can go back to the Philippines. He is eligible to start getting his pension in 5 years.

LUNGA PARK IN MARINE BASE QUANTICO, VIRGINIA

2011-10-08T21:11:00.004-04:00

"You'll never find rainbows if you're looking down." Charlie Chaplin

The right road for one is the wrong road for another...The journey of life is not paved in blacktop; it is not brightly lit, and it has no road signs. It is a rocky path through the wilderness. ” M. Scott Peck

"Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment
is the only one you know you have for sure." Oprah Winfrey

BALTIMORE GROUP FORMED FOR FIL-AM AREA ARTISTS

2011-10-04T18:34:00.003-04:00

The Filipino-American community aims to make this city a center for talented Fil-Am visual and performing artists similar to those already flourishing in the West Coast, Chicago and New York.

“We are pulling together all the talents in the Baltimore area so we can get organized as a performing group,” Ike Santos, chairman of the recently formed First Act, Inc. disclosed to the Manila Mail.

The 2010 Census showed that Filipinos posted one of the largest proportional increases of any minority in Maryland, their numbers growing by more than 65 percent. Indians remained the dominant Asian group but their numbers increased by only 59 percent over the last decade.

Most Fil-Ams here live or work in the Towson-Baltimore City corridor which is reputedly the fastest growing area in this corner of Maryland. The city is also home to about 600 Filipino teachers who were recruited for many inner-city schools.

“Right now the talent is all over the place but it’s not organized,” Santos averred.

“Sometimes when someone asks if we can do a folk dance, we have to go to different places just to put together a group,” adding that they’ve gotten calls from the Maryland Governor’s office to perform in state festivals.

“They asked for a Filipino participation because they already have Korean or Chinese groups performing, but we have to scramble to put one up for us,” he revealed.

Santos explained that Fil-Am talents in California, New York-New Jersey and Chicago already have theater or cultural troupes that can put up shows at a moment’s notice. They aim to create this same artistic environment in Baltimore where young Fil-Ams inclined to the arts can gather and receive training to further hone their skills.

“If we organize these talents under one organization, we can get an idea of where they are, how many they are; we can have an inventory of Filipino artists in Baltimore,” he explained.

“The group can also draw still undiscovered Fil-Am talent. Right now much of that talent is hidden because artists don’t have any group to join. We want them to come out and join us and show the native artistry of Filipinos,” Santos said.

Initially, he revealed, they are thinking of putting up 1 or 2-act plays for community theaters. A former director from the Philippines, Greg de Guzman, has volunteered to help start the ball rolling for the project, Santos disclosed. Dance instructor Nene Guanzon, originally from Chesapeake, Virginia has also offered to teach zumba, line-dancing and of course Filipino folk dances.

At the moment, the Pinoy talents are more involved in singing or dancing. “We want to expand this. We want to develop a community theater. A lot of Filipinos go to the Maryland Institute of Art; we can help put up shows in art galleries or exhibitions. They can get a lot of exposure and experience,” Santos stressed.

“This group can create the demand for the Filipino arts,” he declared. “When we see all this Filipino talent flourishing, it can be inspiration for others,” Santos averred, a venue for demonstrating the rich Filipino culture and heritage. (Manila Mail)

CHURCH COMES TO AID OF PINOY TEACHERS IN MARYLAND

2011-10-04T18:22:00.004-04:00

Filipino teachers who’ve lost their jobs in Maryland have gotten help from an old but influential friend – the Catholic Church.

About a dozen mentors terminated from Baltimore City public schools applied with private Catholic schools and have received R visas that is usually given to church members.

“Napaka minimal ng sweldo. Yung iba half lang sinusweldo kaya may iba nagbenta na ng bahay (The pay is minimal. They get just half of their previous salary forcing some to sell their houses)” disclosed Isabella Mangonon of the Association of Filipino Teachers in America (AFTA).

“Pero I tell them na okay lang yan. Yung papel mahirap hanapin, ang pera madali na lang habulin, (But I tell them that’s okay. Papers are difficult to come by but money problems are easier to solve)” she added. Finding jobs with Catholic schools, though temporary, will at least stave off possible deportation after their H-1B visa expires.

Labor Attache Luz Padilla tells the Manila Mail that they have met with officials of the Archdiocese of Washington. “We were trying to see if there were opportunities for Filipino teachers in Catholic schools,” she explained.

But they were told the Archdiocese, which runs 98 schools in the Metro DC region, do not sponsor H-1B visa workers. “They suggested we talk with the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) so they can refer us to some Catholic schools that need teachers,” Padilla averred.

“It’s a long-standing policy according to the Archdiocese that they don’t sponsor H-1Bs but the fact that they referred us to somebody who may be in a position to help is good enough,” she stressed.

The NCEA is the largest private professional education organization in the world representing 200,000 educators serving 7.6 million students in Catholic elementary and secondary schools, religious education programs, in seminaries and in colleges and universities.

Padilla pointed out that “the Church understands what happened to our teachers is not fair.”

Mangonon said Baltimore City school officials will meet with international teachers and they don’t expect good news to come out of it. There are about 600 Filipino teachers in Baltimore public schools.

Some of the teachers have crossed state lines and found jobs in schools in Philadelphia, Arizona and New Mexico.

Mangonon said teachers from Baltimore are often prized by schools in other parts of the US. “Para sa marami kasi kung galing ka Baltimore schools which are very tough, alam nila ang teachers kahit papaano medyo mas mahusay, walang problema (For many if they see you come from Baltimore schools which are very tough, they know the teachers are better so there’s no problem),” she explained.

She also revealed that the Baltimore public school system has started refunding fees collected from the teachers that the US Labor Department declared illegal and that got the Prince George’s public school system in hot waters earlier this year.

The Labor Department had ordered the PG schools to pay back over $4 million they got from their Filipino teachers and barred them from hiring foreign teachers for the next 2 years.

Filipino teachers from PG county have protested the Labor Department order because instead of helping them as victims, it actually gives PG county school officials justification to stop hiring them. Many of the more than 800 Filipino teachers there will be forced to return to an uncertain future in the Philippines.

“The Baltimore teachers are in a better shape than PG county,” Padilla said. “They’ve started refunding the money so they don’t suffer the same fate as PG county.”

“Some have gotten the reimbursements, there’s about 90 but sabi nila next pay day meron na (they said next pay day the rest will get it),” Mangonon said. (Manila Mail)

DC TEAM WINS FIL-AM TOURNEY, WILL HOST 2012 CHAMPIONSHIP

2011-10-04T18:15:00.003-04:00

Washington will host next year one of the largest Filipino-American sporting events in the East Coast, organizers revealed.

“The excitement is building up. My own kids are already excited,” said Anne Tabligan of the Filipino-American Youth Basketball Association (FYBA). Washington DC sent 9 teams to last Labor Day’s North America Basketball Association (NABA) tournament in North York, Canada.

Five of the teams went on the finals and one emerged champion, according to Noel Asinero, FYBA vice president.

The United States and Canada alternate hosting the NABA tournament which drew 120 teams this year, including one from London, England. It’ll be DC’s turn next year and the FYBA is leading preparations for the big event.

“The Washington FYBA holds 2 tournaments every year, one in the Spring and another in the Fall,” Asinero explained.

The FYBA, which broke away from the Filipino-American Basketball Association (FABA) in 2007, said next year’s tournament will be doubly significant because it will mark the 25th anniversary of NABA and the FYBA’s own 5th birthday.

“It’s only our 5th year but we’ve become a powerhouse in NABA,” Asinero declared.

“We did what other cities haven’t done – emerged champions in the Open Division and runners-up in the Tykes, Peewee, Girls and Seniors Divisions, respectively,” he added.

Their campaign was aided in large part by former Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) superstar Abet Guidaben who was earlier diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, a rare muscle ailment that impairs speech and vision, leading to weakness and in the most serious cases, respiratory distress.

“He’s doing good; he looks great after what he’s been through,” Asinero reported, “With the help of NABA and other organizations we were able to help him out with his medical bills.”

The Detroit-based NABA is a Fil-Am organization established in 1987 to promote basketball in Canada and the US East Coast. They hold the Inter-City Tournament on the Labor Day Weekend. Players are divided into 10 age divisions as well as Open categories for Men, Women, Seniors and Masters.

Asinero explained players have to be at least 1/8th Filipino to join the tournament. Some of the Fil-Ams who join NABA eventually play with popular college teams both in the US and Philippines.

He said they are now scouting at least 4 venues in the Metro DC region. “As much as possible we want to hold all the games in just 1 venue,” he said, “but the league has grown so big that you can’t really hold it in just 1 place anymore.”

“We need at least 15 hard courts and there’s no place like that in the area. The biggest one is actually in Maryland,” Asinero added.

P-NOY TO PITCH FOR TRADE PACT BUT ARE FIL-AMS ON BOARD?

2011-09-19T20:40:00.001-04:00

When President Aquino makes a late morning visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, there’ll be one question likely to occupy his anticipated pitch for the SAVE Act – how hard are the 4 million Filipinos in the United States pushing the bill?

The SAVE Act pending in the US Congress will provide duty-free access to American textiles and Philippine apparel, promising to generate thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in export revenues on both sides of the Pacific.

Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. has focused on passage of the bill, personally meeting with American lawmakers and trade groups. He has lined up the support of about a dozen key legislators but has also been pressing the Fil-Am community to throw their support for the bill.

The SAVE Act is today the single biggest item in the Philippine agenda in Washington, next only to the World War II veterans issue.

“It is crucial that Filipino-Americans be heard by the US Congress to ensure SAVE’s passage this year,” he exhorted.

President Aquino will meet with the Fil-Am community here on Wednesday evening but his schedule does not include a Q & A portion that is almost a staple for visiting dignitaries from the Philippines.

Some community leaders believe he will likely spend as much time explaining his anti-corruption agenda as making a pitch for the SAVE Act.

Filipinos today comprise the 2nd biggest Asian American group, next only to the Chinese. The 2010 Census showed 2.5 million people identified themselves as “Filipino alone” – a 38% jump from a decade ago – but excludes “Mixed Race Filipino”. When taken together, the actual number could reach 3.5 million, according to the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (NaFFAA).

There are hundreds of Fil-Am organizations spread across the nation, from Alabama to Wisconsin. They represent virtually all the regional groupings in the Philippines, sometimes multiplied several times over in one area. Some say this is a commentary of the Filipinos’ disunity and parochial interests.

And many of these organizations are nothing more than social clubs, mobilized for raising funds to help indigents or calamity victims in their respective provinces back home.

Very few are structured for advocacy or political action like the Chinese or Indian Americans.

Although less than half of Asian Americans cast their vote in the 2008 elections, Fil-Am organizations have lagged behind politically vis-à-vis their number.

“There’s so many of us,” says Helen Sadorra, president of the Baltimore-based Fil-Am group Katipunan, “it seems now is the time to unify.”

“It’s tough,” she added. And the irony is not lost especially among Americans.

“There are thousands of Filipino organizations but very few working together,” US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. remarked at a recent meeting with the Fil-Am community here.

“It’s great to have them but there’s very little coordination,” he added. Thomas drew a contrast with the Indian American community that works closely with the New Delhi government to influence policies in diaspora-destination countries like the US.

Lawyer Arnedo Valera, executive director of the Fairfax, Virginia-based Migrant Heritage Commission (MHC), said it was time for the Philippines to wean away from exporting its skilled workers to prop up the economy.

“MHC reiterates our call to focus at developing local industries by promoting science and research instead of relying on labor export to sustain the economy,” he said in a statement on the eve of President Aquino’s visit to Washington.

“The massive job termination of about 1,000 Filipino teachers in Prince George’s county in Maryland should be a wake-up call that labor export is not a sustainable paradigm,” he added.

The SAVE Act fits the MHC’s call because if passed, it could create or preserve as many as half a million jobs in the Philippines. If passed, it will be the first trade agreement between the Philippines and US in nearly 40 years.

Cuisia revealed that while the Fil-Am community’s response to the SAVE Act has been encouraging “there’s still much more that can be done”.

CHOICE OF NEW POLICE CHIEF SIGN OF MEDIA'S ROLE IN CHANGING P-N-P

2011-09-18T20:19:00.002-04:00

Director-General Nicanor Bartolome was the face of the Philippine National Police (PNP) even before President Aquino appointed him to the top post, a sign of media’s role in shaping careers in an organization plagued by a poor image.

“In the past no one wanted to lead the public information office,” said retired Chief Supt. Crescencio “Cris” Maralit, who occupied the post for several years and settled in the Baltimore area after his retirement. The office was largely dismissed as a dead-end for young aspiring officers.

He explained that perceptions of police corruption and incompetence coupled with the challenges of modern media now made the PIO an excellent training ground for future chiefs for not only the PNP but also the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Bartolome, a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy class 80, is only the 2nd former PIO chief to become Chief, PNP; the other was Director General Arturo Lomibao, PMA class 71.

A Pulse Asia survey earlier this year showed nearly 27% of Filipinos believe the PNP was the most corrupt agency (a small consolation for police leaders because the AFP fared worse at nearly 49%).

“The perception problem has been there ever since,” Maralit said, “Accomplishments no matter how significant were met with doubts.”

He said overcoming the police’s public image remains a major task for the PNP. “They’ve taken off but the improvement is not yet significant. They are on the right track and with Nick there, hopefully he can make the difference,” Maralit said of his one-time subordinate.

“Being the spokesman is a good stepping stone for higher responsibilities,” he averred, “because you get the pulse of both the police as an organization and the community it serves. He gets a good grasp of the political, economic and social issues.”

“All qualifications being equal, it’s great preparation for a future chief of the PNP,” he added.

And having friends in the press can’t hurt. “It’s a big help to be a friend of media, to be the darling of media but only to a certain extent,” he says bemusedly. Maralit believes being a former police spokesman boosts name-recognition not only within the PNP but also among key decision makers in and outside the government.

“In the criminal justice system, the community is the biggest component and being immersed in working with the community helps build a holistic appreciation of the organization,” he explained.

Maralit said the PNP only recently realized the “pervasive” effect of media not only in shaping public awareness and perceptions, but in the age of YouTube and Facebook, also a tool to reform a scandal-prone organization.

MARIA HALEY: WOMAN OF THE WORLD, INSPIRATION, PUBLIC SERVANT, FRIEND

2011-09-15T19:58:00.004-04:00

Tributes poured for Maria Mabilangan Haley, once the most influential Filipino American in the White House, who passed away Tuesday at age 70 after suffering a stroke last week.

Former President Bill Clinton called her a “great public servant, a wonderful person and friend for more than 30 years.”

“We mourn her passing,” the former president said in a statement, “we must also be very grateful for her life.”

Haley was the highest ranking Fil-Am in the Clinton administration, where she played a key role in forming the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders, according to the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA).

“Ms. Haley was a strong voice for Filipino American empowerment, providing much needed advice, assistance and encouragement to community leaders in their efforts to build a national presence in Washington DC in the mid-1990s,” the NaFFAA said in a statement.

“She was especially attentive to the needs of Filipino Americans who were seeking elected office or pursuing opportunities for public service,” they added.

“When I was Governor of Arkansas, Maria was invaluable in opening foreign markets to our products, recruiting foreign investment in our state and supporting my work in the National Governors Association,” Clinton revealed.

When Clinton became president, Haley was appointed to the US Export-Import Bank and served as presidential special assistant and deputy director of the Presidential Personnel Office that helped recruit and screen prospective presidential appointees.

“Thousands of people in Arkansas, throughout the United States and in the Philippines benefitted from Maria Haley’s life-long commitment to bring economic opportunities to more people,” Clinton said.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe said Haley “did more for the state than most people will ever know. Her tireless mission to create and keep jobs in Arkansas was a primary factor in our ability to ride out the recession. She will be dearly missed as a friend and colleague.”

“Maria was an inspiration to everyone she came into contact with,” said Arkansas Economic Development Commission Chairman Tom Kirk, “She was a woman of the world who brought a unique perspective to economic development…I want her family to know the important place she held in so many lives.”

“I am deeply saddened to learn about the passing of Maria Haley. Maria spent a lifetime building opportunities for others. I will miss Maria’s resolve, hard work and strong leadership,” said Senator Mark Pryor.

The former chief of Baldor Electric Company, John McFarland, described how Haley helped their company expand in Asia. “She came along and said, ‘Look, we’ll help you. You tell us who you want to meet and we’ll help you meet the’. At that point we were doing nothing in Asia, no contracts. Today, Baldor has offices throughout Asia and has tens of millions of dollars in sales there each year,” he recalled.

“She was just a nice person. She never lost what I call the common touch. You know some people go off to these big jobs in Washington and elsewhere and they lose that. She never did,” McFarland said.

Haley was born in the Philippines and educated in India, Pakistan, France and Spain. She was senior director for Asia with Kissinger McLarty Associates (2001-2007); board member of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (1994-1999); special assistant in the Presidential Personnel Office at the White House (1993-1994).

She also served as an adviser to former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2001-2002.

At the time of her death, Haley was executive director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

“We will always remember Ms. Haley’s kindness and generosity of spirit. She will always remain an inspiration to us all,” the NaFFAA said.

SUBIC SCHOOL ALUMNI STRIVE TO SAVE "GLOBE" & MEMORIES

2011-09-14T19:35:00.004-04:00

It’s been 20 years since the Philippine Senate voted to close down the US Navy base in Subic Bay, marking the end of an era that helped define the intimate and often personal ties between Filipinos and Americans.

Arlington, Virginia resident Cathy Cox was a 16-year-old student at the George Dewey High School in the mid-70s. The school sits in front of where the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority building now stands.

“The school’s there but it’s in very, very bad shape and we’re hearing they’re doing other things with the area,” Cox said.

Thousands of Americans, children of US servicemen posted at Subic, went through that school, she revealed. They have an active alumni association that holds reunions every year, the last one in San Diego, California just last month.

When US Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. visited Washington in August, Cox tearfully sought his help to rescue the steel globe at her high school alma mater.

“We’re asking them to preserve the globe because it’s a symbol. We want to see that globe restored and maintained because it has historical significance,” she told this reporter.

The globe, we learned, became a sort of rite of passage for the generations of young Americans who studied at George Dewey High School. They brushed a layer upon layer of peeling paint, and so doing, started a tradition that was passed on from one senior class to another.

“It’s very interesting,” remarked Washington-born Maurice Cayanan who went back to the Philippines to earn a mass communication degree at the University of the Philippines and intern at the old ABS-CBN in 1973 after it was taken over by Martial Law administrators.

“People think Filipinos are very sentimental but this is a reverse, where Americans are deeply sentimental about something of symbolic importance,” he explained.

For Cox and many others, that globe represented an important period in their lives. “I was in George Dewey High School in 75-76,” she revealed, “my father was with the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigation Service) and we actually lived in Olongapo. We did not move right inside the base.”

“That was one of the most profound, life-changing experiences for me,” Cox enthused.

“This was my first chance to live overseas,” she continued, “and the Philippine people showed such generosity and kindness and hospitality that it was just a great experience living in town where we lost electricity and you had to carry water.”

“I rode jeepneys and tricycles. I got into a Victory Liner and went to Baguio. I did all those things and it was a wonderful experience and I think all my classmates feel that way too,” she declared.

Subic Naval Base used to be a major repair and logistics hub for the US Pacific Fleet, especially during the Vietnam War.

The George Dewey High School even earned a footnote in history when a joint inquiry was held at the school library after an Australian aircraft carrier collided with an American destroyer during war games in the South China Sea in 1969.

In June 1991, Mt. Pinatubo, just 20 miles from Subic Base, erupted and buried the naval installation in one-foot of volcanic ash.

Two girls, a 9-year-old American and a Filipino reportedly died after being trapped under a falling roof at the George Dewey High School. The families of servicemen were evacuated, first to Cebu and then to Guam; but by September, most of them were back on Subic Base.

On Sept. 16, 1991, the Philippine Senate voted to boot out US military bases in the country. In December of that year, then President Corazon Aquino, who had fought to retain the bases, issued the final notice giving the US one year to pack up.

But for Americans like Cox, the memories of their time in the Philippines live on. She continued to visit the Philippines, the last time in 1996. And as she champions the cause of a now-decrepit steel orb, her thoughts obviously still return to her old school across the Pacific.