Philstar

Italy’s Parliament on re-

cently gave nal approval toa security package that tough

-ens rules on illegal immigra-

tion. Some 20,000 Filipinos

in Italy are believed to beundocumented.

The bill was passed as aresponse to street crime that

Italians blame mainly on for-eigners.

It was passed by a widemargin in the Senate and

includes increasing jail sen-

tences by a third for of

fenders who are also illegalimmigrants and expellingany foreigner who has beensentenced to more than twoyears in prison.

Filipinos face stricter immigration rules in Italy

(Continued on page 19)

By Patricia Esteves Philstar, August 29, 2008

The 2008 Ramon Mag

saysay awardees who wereformally presented to themedia yesterday vowed tocontinue working to improve

lives across Asia.

The awardees — Isabela

The 2008 Ramon Magsaysay awardees link arms during a recent press presentation. From left: Husband and wife Mandakini and Prakash Amte (India), Jaime Alip of CARD-MRI (Philippines) and Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca (Philippines). Not in photo are Ahmad

Syai Maarif (Indonesia), Ananda Galappati (Sri Lanka), Therd

-chai Jivacate (Thailand) and Akio Ishii (Japan). EDD GUMBAN

Magsaysay awardees vow to help improve lives

Snaphot of Philippine Life

Ramadhaan is a Muslim religious observance that takes placeduring the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, believed to be themonth in which the Qur’an began to be revealed. It is the Islamicmonth of fasting, in which Muslims don’t eat or drink anything fromdawn until sunset. Photo by Ferdinand Edralin.

Gov. Grace Padaca, Prakashand Amdakini Ante, AkioIshii, Ahmad Syai Maarif,Therdchai Jivacate, AnandaGalappatti and the Center for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (CARD-MRI) — promised to carry on

(Continued on page 20)

REDWOOD CITY, CA,August 17, 2008

– Star Cin

ema and ABS-CBN Interna

-tional’s Starry Starry Store

continues to bring top qualitymovies to the U.S. especiallyon the occasion of the for

-mer’s 15

anniversary. Fol-

lowing the record-breaking box-ofce success of

A Very

Special Love

is the muchawaited, historic team-up of two of the Philippines’ hot

test young stars: KC Concep

cion and Richard Gutierrez

For the First Time

, set to

“For the First Time” to premiere inLos Angeles and San Francisco

KC Concepcion to grace both premieres on September 6 and 7

(Continued on page 20)

Boat in Limasawa, Cebu. Photo by Ferdinand Edralin

Beautiful Philippines

While the Philip

pines prides itself asan English-speakingcountry, with majority

being able to com-

municate in the lan

guage, there is no de

nying that the Englishthe Filipinos speak and write leavesmuch to be desired.See page 5

The Pinoy and his Carabao English

Pinoy chefdoes RP proudin Olympics

By Christina Mendez Philstar, September 2, 2008

Filipino athletes may havecome up empty in the re

cently concluded 2008 Bei

jing Olympics, but a Filipinochef won high praise and lefta lasting impression on par

ticipants and volunteers in thequadrennial sports event.Ryan Jaranilla, 42, broughtthe sweetness of Guimarasmangoes to the menu for

(Continued on page 19)

PASACAT kicks off its38

season and celebrates

Filipino-American HistoryMonth at their Extravagan

za 2008 Concert on Octo

ber 4, 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM,at the Joan B. Kroc Theatreat the Salvation Army KrocCenter, 6611 University

Avenue, San Diego.

This year’s Extrava

ganza cast is composed of thirty-six Filipino-Amer

ican from PASACAT’smembership of Companydancers, Junior dancersand Rondalla. Dancersfrom Kultura Folk Arts of

Los Angeles and musicians

from Likha Folk Ensembleof Oakland will be amongthe cast for the bi-annualevent. The Extravaganzadraws dancers and musician

PASACAT extravaganzaconcert Oct 4

because of the challengingtwo-hour repertoire repre

senting the various regionsand history of the 7,100 plusisland republic. The attention

(Continued on page 21)

Imelda Marcos

Philstar, August 31, 2008

Why would National Art

ist for Literature and STAR columnist F. Sionil Jose walk out of the Cultural Center of the Philippines during itstribute to the late NationalArtist for Music LucreciaKasilag whom he dearlyloved and respected?This letter written byJose last Aug. 22 and sent toEmily Abrera, chairpersonof the Cultural Center of the Philippines (cc: Nestor Jardin and Chris Millado),

says it all:Permit me to tell you

of my regret and anger theother day when I was atthe CCP for King Kasilag’snecrology. Before the start of the service, I was ushered tothe backstage — a departure

Why Sionil Jose walked out ofCCP during King’s necrology

from the usual manner bywhich we honored our de

parted National Artists. After I had offered my bouquet toKing, I walked to my as

signed seat and was sur

prised to see Imelda Marcos

(Continued on page 21)

September 5 - 11, 2008

Msgr. Gutierrez

Ashley Silverio

Entertainment

Growing Medical Tour-ism in the Philippines

The Filipino Way of

Defusing Conicts

A ‘miracle’ in Holy Land

Page 2September 5 - 11, 2008 Asian Journal - (619) 474-0588 Visit our website at http://www.asianjournalusa.com

SKETCHES By Ana Marie Pamintuan Philstar, September 1, 2008

Joseph Estrada shufed intoThe STAR ofce Friday nightwith a story about a possible product endorsement.The product is a medicine for arthritis, and Erap related thestoryboard: A young man isrunning and bumps into him.The young man asks Erap insurprise: “Nakakatakbo ka pa ba(Can you still run)?” Erap, whohad knee replacement surgery inHong Kong, replies, “Bakit hindiako makakatakbo (Why can’t Irun)?”Erap is tickled by the not-too-subtle political undertone of the planned advertisement.The prospect of regainingthe presidency seems like hisultimate dream. Over dinner thatlasted nearly ve hours, duringwhich he chain-smoked LuckyStrikes and shared a bottle of redwine (no more Petrus for him),Erap chatted and joked about politics and his possible come- back.He was particularly fascinated by the reversal of fortune of his friend Anwar Ibrahim, whois poised to become Malay-sia’s prime minister after beingconvicted and imprisoned for sodomy.Erap said his pardon im-mediately after his convictionwas “partial vindication.” ButAnwar’s dramatic politicalcomeback, Erap said, was “fullvindication.”“Nate-tempt ako to do anAnwar (I am tempted to do anAnwar),” Erap admitted.And though his dinner chatwith us until past 1 a.m. was peppered with jokes, he wasclearly dead serious about his prospects for regaining the presi-dency that to this day he insists

Ready for acomeback

Joseph Estrada

was stolen from him.

* * *

Among Erap’s companionswere two lawyers: former sena-tor Ernesto Maceda and oppo-sition senatorial bet Aquilino“Koko” Pimentel III.They disclosed that about twomonths ago, they asked two re-tired Supreme Court justices plusanother retired justice to studywhether Erap was covered by theconstitutional prohibition on there-election of presidents.Section 4, Article VII of theConstitution states: “The Presi-dent shall not be eligible for anyreelection.”But the Erap camp also takesnote of the next line: “No personwho has succeeded as Presidentand has served as such for morethan four years shall be qualiedfor election to the same ofce atany time.”I thought the word “any” isclear enough, and I thought thefour years covered only thosewho “succeeded” as president,such as Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when she took over in2001, not those who were electedto the ofce.But the Erap camp has a differ-ent interpretation of the provi-sions, backed by the argumentthat every rule has a purpose,and every rule is passed “be-cause of the evil we want toavoid.” In the case of the pro-hibition on re-election, KokoPimentel told us, that evil is theequity of the incumbent, the useof government resources to favor a sitting president who is seekingre-election.There is a chance, Pimentelsaid, that their interpretation iscorrect. Erap thinks it’s a politi-cal question that must be decided by the people.How? Through elections, of course. Erap is secure in thethought that the solid 30 percentof Filipino voters that sent himto the Senate, the vice presidencyand then to Malacañang by widemargins will remain with him if he runs in 2010.His camp even has a timelinein mind, in case someone chal-lenges his bid for re-election.Erap can le his candidacy atthe last minute, so that a for-mal challenge can be led withthe Commission on Elections(Comelec) only on the rst dayof the ofcial campaign period,90 days before election day.They estimate that it will takethe Comelec about six weeksto resolve the case with nal-ity, after which the case can beelevated to the Supreme Court,regardless of the Comelec deci-sion.It will then take the high courtseveral weeks to resolve thecase, during which the Erapcamp will be commissioningsurveys. If the polls show himleading in the presidential race,will the Supreme Court have theguts to abort his candidacy?There is another issue that must be resolved: does the pardonallow Erap to seek public of-ce? The wording of the pardonrestores his “full political rights.”Erap has already said severaltimes that if he can vote, “I can be voted upon.”Even the Cabinet member whoclaims credit for the insertion of that clause in the pardon, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, seemsto agree with the Erap camp.Whether an absolute pardoncan trump a constitutional pro-hibition is a question that mayalso have to be settled by theSupreme Court.

* * *

For now Erap wants to keepeveryone guessing, telling us,“I’m not yet sure of running.”Asked if he had anyone inmind for a running mate, Erapgrinned and replied, “Executive privilege.”He reiterated that he wanted tohelp the opposition eld a singlecandidate, because it is easier for the administration to cheat whenthere are many bets.Vice President Noli de Cas-tro, though he is topping recentsurveys on possible presidential bets, is not going to be it. “Out of the question,” Erap said, notingthat De Castro has been silentamid all the scandals besettingthe administration. “We havemuch, much better candidates.”Sen. Mar Roxas? Erap has along memory and remembersthat Roxas was the only one whoresigned from his Cabinet dur-ing his impeachment woes. Nomatter how hard Roxas tries to project himself as “Mr. Palengke(Mr. Market)” with mass appeal,Erap said, Roxas still owns the palengke.Senate President Manuel Vil-lar? Erap would only say thatthey are friends.Sen. Loren Legarda, Erapnoted, suffers from a gender biasarising from the gender of theincumbent.Erap mentioned Sen. ChizEscudero, who seems interestedin projecting himself as thePhilippines’ version of Barack Obama. But this early, Escuderois already hounded by rumorsthat he has been co-opted by theadministration.And if our production staff-ers can serve as a gauge, no onegave Escudero a second look when he visited the STAR duringthe campaign last year.In contrast, everyone wanted photos with Erap when hevisited. He is on his way to fullrehabilitation, made possible byan administration with abysmalcredibility.

By Abac Cordero and Cecille Suerte Felipe Philstar, September 2, 2008

Boxing idol Manny Pacquiao islooking at two more ghts after Oscar dela Hoya in December, and possibly many more in the politi-cal ring in the coming years as hemade a surprise announcementyesterday that he will retire byAugust next year after being swornin as member of President Arroyo’s political party.Pacquiao, who took his oath asmember of the Kabalikat ng Ma-layang Pilipino or Kampi, is sched-

Pacquiao to retire in August 2009, joins Kampi

Manny Pacquiao

uled to face Dela Hoya on Dec. 6at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas,a ght where he stands to receivearound $15 million. He took hisoath before Kampi chair Interior and Local Government SecretaryRonaldo Puno at the DILG ofcein Quezon City.Pacquiao, at 29 already therichest and most popular Filipinoathlete ever, has nothing more to prove in the ring.He was welcomed by other Kam- pi members, including presidentialson Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo,Palawan Rep. Antonio Alvarez andManila Rep. Trishia David.Puno said Pacquiao is a “plusfactor” for Kampi and is expectedto greatly help convince Filipinosin Mindanao, especially in SouthCotabato, to abandon violence and put their trust in the government’s peace and development efforts.Pacquiao ran but lost to Rep.Darlene Antonino in the rstdistrict of South Cotabato last May2007. The boxing champ said helost because he had little time tocampaign as he was then prepar-ing for his boxing re-match withMexico’s Juan Manuel Marquez.Puno said Kampi will ensure anelection victory for Pacquiao if hedecides to run for any position in2010.The DILG chief said Pacquiaotook his oath under the LiberalParty wing of Environment Secre-tary Lito Atienza but he registeredas Kampi member in his failedcongressional bid.Pacquiao said he decided to joinKampi to show the Filipinos thathe “could also be champion whenit comes to helping our country-men.”Kampi, the second largest politi-cal party in the country, has in itsranks 55 congressmen and 15governors, among others.Puno noted that Kampi has astrong presence in Central Mind-anao, especially in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sarangani.Pacquiao promised he would not be inuenced by dirty politics. “Iwant to help my countrymen, butthe honor I gave to the country isnot enough because it can’t feedthe people,” he said in Filipino.Pacquiao and his wife Jinkeeare expecting their fourth child inDecember or January.Win or lose in December, Pac-quiao will be good for two more big ghts, and his advisers arelooking at British cyclone RickyHatton, probably in March or April, or Floyd Mayweather Jr. byJuly or August.If he wins them all, he can retireas the greatest boxer of his era.Pacquiao said his parents haveadvised him to retire after hismatch with Dela Hoya.Mayweather, the former pound-for-pound king until Pacquiaocame along, retired early this year, but insiders believe that if the Fili- pino superstar gets past Dela Hoyaand Hatton, then he’s next.“We are hoping that if Manny beats Dela Hoya and then Hat-ton, we can lure Mayweather outof retirement. There’s no moreeasy ght, no more small ght for Manny until he retires,” said his business manager Eric Pineda.“If we beat Oscar, then we gofor Ricky, and then go for FloydJr. That will be the mother of all

(Continued on page 12)

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Page 3 Asian Journal - (619) 474-0588 Visit our website at http://www.asianjournalusa.comSeptember 5 - 11, 2008

A COMMITMENT By Tingting Cojuangco Philstar, August 24, 2008

Whenever I think of EDSA Iam reminded of the 1978 InterimBatasan Pambansa campaign. Ninoy had convinced MonchingMitra, Soc Rodrigo, Nap Rama, Neptali Gonzales, Tito Guingo-na, Alex Boncayao, Noli Santos,Charito Planas, Anding Roces,Gerry Barican and other patriotsto participate in the electionswith him. Ninoy, incarcerated,wanted to awaken the Filipinofrom lethargy. Brave candidatesembarked on their mission tospeak against martial law andthe restoration of our freedom. Ninoy asked Peping Cojuangcoto be their campaign manager.He set up a stage with lights anda sound system. All they at-tracted were children playing atthe plaza and stray dogs as audi-ence. Nevertheless, none of thecandidates were discouraged andcontinued with their speeches asif they were talking to thousands.At one meeting Peping roamedaround a plaza and noticed thatfearful municipal folks were try-ing to listen from their windows.Seeing that, he had the speaker wires extended and the soundsystem face the houses instead of the front of the stage. Then oneday a man came out from hidingthen another and when folks sawno one arrested (yet) they wereemboldened to stand before thestage.All rallies were at night fromsix to 12 midnight simultane-ously. This required tremendouscoordination so that all the

A diary of Cory’spolitical birth

candidates could speak at everyrally in Metro Manila. The cul-mination of the campaign was anoise barrage that will probablynever be duplicated. Peping hadseen a newsletter and picked up

the suggestion, distributed ﬂiers

at churches after Sunday Massesand in marketplaces, invitingeveryone to join in. The noise barrage from honking cars andclashing pots and pans lasted‘til one a.m. and quieted downwhen men in uniform began tointerfere. Soc Rodrigo, LorenzoTañada and Peping had gottentired anyway from beating thesteel fence of Senator Tañada’shouse. It had such an impact onPresident Marcos that he calledan emergency meeting that veryevening (or so we heard).In the meantime, the resultof the Metro Manila electionwas 21-0 with unknown Kilu-sang Bagong Lipunan or KBLcandidates beating the likes of Ninoy, Monching, Nep, Tito, Nap, Anding and Soc. Fromthat election the LABAN po-litical party was born. After thefamous (or infamous) electoralfraud wherein the Chairman of the Comelec was branded asilliterate in mathematics, Pepingreported to Ninoy at Fort Boni-facio. His words were, “Missionaccomplished.” They had awak-ened fellow countrymen and thecheating was now immaterial. Sowhat was the next strategy, Pep-ing asked Ninoy, who answered,“Just wait and see.” Ninoy thentold Peping we should never remove the dictatorship througharmed rebellion using Nicaraguaas an example.When Ninoy was assassinated,we thought it was the end of theopposition. No one else could

be our rallying ﬁgure. Appar-

ently we had underestimated theconsequences of Ninoy’s death.So many were willing to

join every effort to ﬁght

for freedom — and bringdown the dictator!Early in 1985, a Comelecemployee whom Pepinghad recommended duringhis term as Congressmanreported that Comelecwas canvassing pencils, paper and election para- phernalia. To him, thiscould mean snap electionsfor the presidency. If thatwere so, chances wereCory would be forced torun for president againstMarcos. Considering theunorganized state of theopposition, we were fac-ing a disaster. Armed withthat information, Pepingcalled a meeting with hisSumulong cousins Dingand Bambi and his campaign buddies with Paul Aquinoexplaining his suspicions. Theycame up with an organization.He did not include politiciansat that early stage because their motivation was based on specu-lation. But friends and relativeswere willing to take a chance.They recruited regional coor-dinators from each of the 13regions who in turn chose their provincial and municipal coor-dinators. Some of the enthu-

siastic freedom ﬁghters were

Nene Pimentel, Tony Cuenco,Emil Ong, Dodo Cagas, Raul delMar, Tarzan Lazatin, Raul Daza,Romy Santos, Simeon Garcia,Bren Guiao, Mamintal Adiong,Tarhata Alonto Lucman… toname a few. By the time the snapelection was announced, we hadcovered all the provinces. I took charge with Jun Simon of themost dangerous areas, Regions 9and 12 in Mindanao.

Our ﬁrst organizational meet-

ing was in September with RelyGerman and Billy Esposo as our PR men who played their Cory jingle. Much to the appreciationof our neighbors’ maids whowere peeping from their cementwall they clapped their hands inglee. Meanwhile Cory still hadno idea about the preparationsfor her candidacy. The mere sug-gestion of her running angeredher.Finally, Peping remembers,“Before the snap election, I played golf with American Am- bassador Steve Bosworth. He as-sured me that as far as he knew,Washington had no objections toCory’s leadership. He was curi-ous as to why this was an issue because no election had beencalled yet! Meanwhile in Wash-ington we were assured of thesupport of the US Secretary of State Schultz through my friend,Mr. Robert Trent Jones, Jr.”

How did Cory ﬁnally become

the candidate, I asked Peping.

“We were at the ofﬁce one morn-

ing and she burst into my roomfuming. Apparently Assembly-man Tarzan Lazatin had paidher a visit to lecture her aboutthe harm that would be doneto Ninoy if she ever decided torun for president. AssemblymanLazatin obviously presentedhis negative opinion quite ef-fectively as I had never seen Cory so angry. Thatsame day Cory was a guestspeaker and announced shewould run for president if she were presented with onemillion signatures endorsingher candidacy. That was no problem. Don Chino Roceshandled the signature campaign with Joey Lina.“There we were, a ragtagorganization with a candi-date, running against a well-oiled machine that was theKilusang Bagong Lipunan.The next step was to get theother opposition parties tosupport Cory. Most of the 60assemblymen were membersof the UNIDO, a political party under the leadershipof the Laurels. The problemwe faced was Doy Laurelwanted to run for president.So Ninoy’s sister Lupita and Istarted negotiations.”My Peping contacted Macario“Peping” Laurel and explainedvictory was certain for Marcosif both Doy and Cory ran for president. Worse, history would be unkind to both because of thestubbornness of both families.Cory’s support came from the people and Doy’s from a politi-cal organization. Could they joinup?Peping Laurel promised toconvince his family that Doyshould run for vice president.The situation improved everytime. The Laurel family agreed.Peping Laurel personally fetchedSpeaker Jose Laurel at the air- port to make sure no one triedto convince him otherwise. TheAquino, Cojuangco and Laurelfamilies met at Maur AquinoLichauco’s residence early thatevening. Speaker Laurel, Ambas-sador Laurel and Doy presentedtheir side while Doña Aurora,Cory and I presented our side.Speaker Laurel then assuredus their family had consentedand they would support Cory.However they suggested Coryrun under UNIDO, which wasreadily accepted.Peping handled the gratifyingcampaign for Cory. The crowd

overﬂowed and coins and bills

were handed to Cory at rallies!Shall we ever experience a showof sincere generosity like thatagain?I was prompted to write thisarticle from my diary because, astime goes by, few will remem-

ber the sacriﬁce and valor of the

millions of people who riskedlife and property for the causeof democracy against the silenceand death of martial law.

“When I am work-ing on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about how to solvethe problem. But

when I have ﬁn-

ished, if the solutionis not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”- Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983)