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may 12-18, 2016

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Volume 27 - No. 19 • 2 Sections – 16 Pages

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‘CHANGE IS COMING’

Duterte slated to be Philippines’next president

DATELINEUSAfrom the AJPress NEWS TEAM AcroSS AMEricA

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OAV votes may swing VP race results

INCOMING PRESIDENT. Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is greeted by supporters at Lipa City Hall in Batangas province during a campaign sortie. Duterte kept a convincing lead on Tuesday, May 11 breaching 15 million votes in unofficial count the day after the May 9 Philippine national elections. Duterte has parlayed decades at Davao City Hall into a successful, if controversial, run for Malacañang with millions seemingly endorsing his tough stance on crime and his self-described “gutter” language. Inquirer.net photo by Raffy Lerma

by Christina M. OrielAJPress

mANILA — Davao City mayor rodrigo Duterte is set to become the 16th president of the Philippines, as unofficial vote counts show him in an insurmountable lead and as top rivals conceded defeat.

With 92.7 percent of precincts counted as of this writing on Wednesday, may 11, Duterte, who ran under the PDP-Laban party,

by MOMar G. VisayaAJPress

NeW YorK – All eyes are now on overseas Absentee Voters and their votes which could very well decide who the next Vice President of the Philippines will be.

In a tightly-contested match, Liberal Party’s Leni robredo has taken the lead from independent candidate Bongbong marcos a few hours after the unofficial vote

US lauds PH pollsWAshINGtoN—the Us state Department

congratulated the Philippines for its “inclusive and democratic elections” but declined to comment on the unofficial results showing rodrigo Duterte as the likely winner.

“We’ll wait for the official results from the gov-ernment of the Philippines before providing further comment,” spokesman elizabeth trudeau said.

Asked at a news conference if she had any comment on Duterte’s long service as Davao City mayor and allegations by human rights groups that he condoned or actively encouraged extrajudicial killings by death squads, trudeau said: “At this stage, because the election results are still coming in, I’m not going to speak to that. I understand it’s still in flux.”

she said the Philippines and the Us have strong and enduring ties based on shared respect for demo-cratic values and “we look forward to continuing those ties.” (Jose Katigbak/Philstar.com)

clinched 15,881,413 million votes or 38.54 percent.

trailing behind in second was Liberal Party (LP) bet manuel “mar” roxas with 9,664,146 million votes, followed by sena-tor Grace Poe with 8,914,019 million votes, Vice President Jejomar Binay of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) with 5,302,731 million votes, and senator miriam Defen-

tally were made available online. As of press time, robredo has 13,841,197 votes against marcos who has 13,608,721.

It may take a while to see the final results though because of a last minute Comelec ruling that took into consideration the fact that there is no mail delivery on saturdays and sundays. Consulate officials were worried earlier that many ballots would arrive monday, may 9, after the initially agreed

upon 5 am deadline in New York, or whatever the time equivalent of 5 pm monday in the Philip-pines when all the voting centers closed.

mailed ballots that arrived up to the extended deadline of 12 noon monday were still included in the counting. each ballot then had to be cross-referenced with the list of voters to identify as to which precinct it would belong to, before

PH ELECTIONS. Residents of Brgy. 791 of Manila lined up to vote at the F.Ma. Guererro Elementary School as the Philippines holds its national elections on Monday, May 9. AJPress photo by Kendrick Tan

Drilon mum on leadership change or looming opposition in Senate

by Maila aGerInquirer.net

WILL there be a change of leadership in the senate or a looming opposition senate under the incoming administra-tion of presumptive President rodrigo Duterte?

this was the question that incumbent senate President franklin Drilon, vice chairman of administration’s Liberal Party (LP), was not yet ready to answer

PH elects first transgender member of Congress

by Billy De la CruzAJPress

WhILe the Philip-pines has yet to recon-sider its conservative stand on major issues such as same-sex mar-riage, divorce and death penalty, this predominantly Catho-lic nation is ready to welcome its very first transgender congress-woman in the incom-ing 17th Congress.

49-year-old Ger-aldine roman made history as the coun-try’s first transgender congresswoman after winning the first leg-islative district seat of Bataan following the national elections held on monday, may 9.

“the politics of big-otry, hatred and discrimination did not triumph. What triumphed was the politics of love, acceptance and re-spect,” roman told AfP after being proclaimed the win-ner.

Partial and unofficial election results as of tuesday, may 10, showed that roman won with 104,287 votes (62 percent) compared to Danilo malana, who received 63,881 votes (38 percent).

A devout Catholic, roman said it was her family’s love and support, and her faith that helped her throughout this journey.

“I am Catholic and I just happen to be a transgender.

Filipino suspected of shooting wife and others arrested

A fILIPINo federal security officer sus-pected of fatally shooting three and wound-ing three others was arrested friday, may 6, the Associated Press reported.

eulalio tordil, 62, is linked to shooting vic-tims at mall and supermarket on friday, less than 24 hours after he allegedly shot his es-tranged wife, Gladys tordil, 44, in the park-ing lot of high Point high school in Belts-ville, maryland.

his wife was at the school to pick up her children when tordil shot her multiple times in her car, rappler reported. he also shot a bystander who attempted to aid his wife.

No students were reported to have been shot at the school.

Police in Prince George’s County have charged tordil with two counts of first-de-gree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and other related charges. on saturday, montgomery County police

Filipino World War II vets can reunite with family under new parole programApplications begin June 8

After decades of waiting, filipino World War II veterans living in the United states can now be reunited with family members under a new policy announced by the Us Citizen-ship and Immigration services (UsCIs).

the guidelines for the filipino World War II Veterans Parole (fWVP) Program were released on monday, may 9, outlining who are eligible to apply and what the process entails. the application comes nearly a year after the program was first announced last July in a White house report that provided recommendations on how to “modernize and streamline” the immigration system fol-lowing President Barack obama’s executive actions on immigration.

starting June 8, “certain beneficiaries of approved family-based immigrant visa peti-

Geraldine Roman Inquirer.net photowhen asked in an interview at the senate on Wednesday, may 11.

“I don’t want to talk about that at this point. I think it’s premature,” Drilon said when asked if there will be a change in leadership when the 17th Congress opens in July.

Asked again if he was ready to be with the new minority group, the senate leader said, “I think it’s premature to talk about that. Let’s first do our duty to pro-claim the newly-elected presi-

dent and vice-president. that’s the first order of business, so that we can provide stability and a smooth transition of power into the next administration.”

however, in the senate, Dril-on explained that present lead-ership will continue to perform until there’s an election of new officers in the chamber.

“In the senate there is con-tinuity, and whoever are the leaders of the 16th Congress will

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Rep. Leni Robredo Sen. Bongbong Marcos

Robredo, Marcos neck and neck

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Duterte slated to Philippines’ next...PAGE A1

sor-Santiago coming in fifth with 1,418,872 million votes.

An estimated 54.5 million Fili-pinos were eligible to vote on Monday, May 9 for over 18,000 positions throughout the country. More than 92,000 precincts opened that morning at 6 am and closed at 5 pm; however, there had been reports of vote-counting machine

(VCM) glitches in Metro Manila and beyond, so several precincts stayed open until 6 pm if voting was delayed.

At the end of the voting period, Commission on Elections (Com-elec) Chairman Andres Bautista told reporters that voter turnout was at 81.62 percent, a historic number compared to the last three automated elections.

Binay was the first presidential candidate to head to the polls on Monday, filling out his ballot at San Antonio National High School in Makati City past 6 am. An hour later, Santiago cast her ballot at La Vista Clubhouse in Quezon City. Roxas was in Roxas City, Capiz to place his votes at Rufina Andrada Santos Memorial School. Poe vis-ited the grave of her late father

Drilon mum on leadership...continue to function as such un-til the elections take place at the opening of Congress,” he said.

“In the House of Representa-tives, since all their terms have ended or will end on June 30, 2016, then I think the tradition is that the Secretary-General of the House presides over the session.”

“We have gone through this before. Senator Villar was the Senate President, and he contin-ue to be Senate President until the elections for the new officers of the Senate took place, consis-tent with the Constitution, and that is at the opening,” Drilon said, referring to former Sen-ate President Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr.

At least seven administration candidates are in the “Magic 12” of the Senate based on partial and unofficial counts of the Com-mission on Elections (Comelec) Transparency Server.

The seven are Drilon, who is topping the senatorial race, former Secretary Joel Villan-ueva, returning Senators Panfilo Lacson and Francis Pangilinan, incumbent Senator Ralph Recto, former JusticeSecretary Leila de Lima and former Congress-woman Risa Hontiveros.

Drilon, Pangilinan, Recto and De Lima are with LP; Villanueva and Lacson are independent

while Hontiveros is with Ak-bayan party-list. All seven ran under the administration’s party with former Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II as its standard-bearer and Camarines Sur Representative Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo as vice presi-dent.

However, instead of discuss-ing the composition of the next Senate, Drilon said there should be smooth transition of power first from the incumbent Presi-dent Beningo Aquino III’s ad-ministration to the incoming administration of presumptive President Rodrigo Duterte.

“In 1992, I was the Executive Secretary, and my mandate as Executive Secretary of the late President [Corazon ‘Cory’] Aqui-no was to ensure the smooth transition of power between from the Aquino administration into the [Fidel] Ramos adminis-tration. You must remember that the 1992 elections was the first after the People Power Revolt, so it was a very delicate process,” he said.

“We do not see such a diffi-culty today, due to the fact that we have had a number of elec-tions, but we will still be vigilant in our efforts to make sure that there will be no interruptions in the smooth transition of power to the Duterte administration,” the Senate leader added.

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Fernando Poe Jr. before heading to Sta. Lucia Elementary School in San Juan City.

Duterte, who was the last among the bets to cast his ballot, told reporters in Davao City in the afternoon that, “I don’t want to be presumptuous [about the results]… I ain’t there until I am there. This will be my 11th election in my life. I never experienced defeat. Maybe this time, if it’s God’s will. But If I win, I’ll do my job.”

Roxas, who came in second in

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com A�LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • mAy 12-18, 2016

Dateline USa

With Pacquiao as senator, Arum says Mayweather rematch won’t happen

OAV votes may swing VP race resultsbeing fed to the vote counting machines.

In New York, 314 ballots were delivered on Monday, bringing the post’s total to 10,267 votes cast. This figure represents a 39.5 percent turnout.

San Francisco voteIn San Francisco, the reported

unofficial total of valid ballots cast-ed by eligible Filipino voters in the consulate’s jurisdiction is 14,398. This represents more than 31 per-cent of the total 46,831 registered voters, surpassing the the turnout in the last 2013 elections.

Consul General Henry Bensurto of the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco believes that this may be because voters are now allowed to just mail in their ballots, as oppose to having to appear personally at the consulate. This, he said, made voting easier for those who are far from the Philippine Consulate of-fice, but live within the jurisdiction of the SF PH Consulate (Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, Northern Ne-vada, Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming).

Duterte came out as the winner in the presidential race, with 6,535

PH elects first transgender member...You can reconcile the fact that you’re Catholic and you are true to yourself,” Roman said.

Roman, who admitted to have undergone gender reassign-ment 20 years ago, said she is looking forward to proving her critics wrong.

“I’m elated, very, very hap-py. I’m also excited to work. I realize that the burden is big-ger because the stereotype of people about the LGBT is we are frivolous, that we have nothing substantial to say, so I have to prove them wrong,” she said.

In an interview with ABS-CBN’s “TV Patrol” aired on Tuesday, May 10, Roman said that public service has always been close to her heart because of her father, the late former Bataan Rep. Antonino Roman.

“Marami kaming natutulun-gan (we are able to help a lot of people), our family, ang parents ko (my parents) particularly. And I said, ‘well somebody has to continue the tradition of ser-vice of the Roman family,’” she said.

votes or 45.39 percent, following by Roxas at 4,035 votes (28.02 percent). Third place went to Poe with 1,877 or 13.04 percent.

Robredo topped the vice presi-dential race with 5,588 votes (38.81 percent). Trailing behind her is Marcos with 4,316 votes (29.98 percent) and in third is Sen. Fran-cis Escudero with 988 votes (6.93 percent).

Swing voteThere are 1,376,067 registered

overseas voters (land-based and seafarers), according to data from the Department of Foreign Affairs-Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS). Of this figure, 275,689 come from North and Latin America.

The Philippine Embassy in Washington, DC where all elec-tion results were tallied, confirmed that there were 179,242 registered voters, but only 49,671 votes cast. Voter turnout was at 27.71 percent.

Leading for president is Duterte with 24,789 votes (50.7 percent), with Roxas in second place with 12,820 (26.2 percent), and Poe in third with 5,480 (11.2 percent).

Robredo is leading in the vice presidential race with 18,407 votes (37.8 percent), in second place is

Marcos with 14,193 (29.1 percent), and Cayetano in third place with 11,980 votes (24.6 percent).

In 2013, there were only 737,759 voters and of that figure, only 113,209 cast their ballots for a low turnout of 15.35 percent. The turnout was higher in the 2010 presidential polls with 26 percent casting their votes.

The Philippine Consulate Gener-al in Los Angeles leads the list of US posts with 55,000 voters, followed by San Francisco with 46,831 and Washington, DC with 28,000.

The Philippine Consulate Gen-eral in New York, which covers the northeast states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylva-nia, Rhode Island and Vermont, has about 26,000 registered voters.

The consulates of Chicago and Honolulu round up the list with 13,000 and 9,000, respectively.

Middle East and Africa leads the list of overseas voters with 593,834, followed by Asia Pacific Region with 344,857. Europe has 161,687 registered voters.

The month-long voting for over-seas voters began on Saturday, April 8. (With reports from Malou Liwanag-Bledsoe)

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Before politics, Roman worked as a senior editor for a news agency in Madrid, Spain. She decided to come back in 2012 to take care of her ailing father, who eventually passed away due to multiple organ fail-ure in January 2014.

Roman will succeed her moth-er, outgoing Bataan Rep. Her-minia Roman, who has already served the maximum three-year term for public officials.

Priority measuresRoman vowed to pursue anti-

discrimination measures that will promote equality for all people in every socio-economic status, and not just for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) com-munity.

“Discrimination in the work place, discrimination in all spheres of society, in daily situ-ations,” Roman said.

There have been various anti-LGBT discrimination bills filed during the 15th and 16th Congress, but none have been passed into law. The latest ver-sion is House Bill 5687, which aims to eliminate discriminato-

ry practices based on sex, sexu-al orientation or gender identity by proscribing and penalizing discriminatory practices.

AAMBIS-OWA party-list Rep. Sharon Garin, one of the spon-sors of House Bill 5687 or the proposed Anti-Sexual or Gender Identity Discrimination (SOGI) Act, will push for the immediate passage of the bill in plenary when Congress opens its third regular session on July 27.

In an earlier interview with Inquirer.net, Roman said that she also intends to file her own version of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill to ensure that all documents required for public works projects were ac-cessible to the people.

“This is one way of avoiding irregularities in public works projects [because] some gov-ernment officials connive with unscrupulous contractors. Pub-lic work projects should be done according to correct specifica-tions and the right perspective to benefit the public, and not project contractors,” she said.

The 17th Philippine Congress will convene in July.

TOP Rank chief Bob Arum is no longer optimistic about a rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. now that the Filipino icon is bound for the Philippine senate.

Speaking to Dan Rafael of ESPN.com, Arum said he’s aware of Pacquiao’s impending victory, with the Sarangani congress-man now at seventh place in the senatorial race with at least 15.4 million votes.

“I texted him congratulating him,” said Arum, adding that he will personally talk to Pacquiao soon.

The veteran promoter said he realizes the additional obligations Pacquiao will face as senator, ef-fectively removing boxing out of his schedule.

“I’ll talk to him when I get there, because it will be easier being in the same time zone. But my feeling is that he’s been elected to a very, very important posi-tion in the Filipino government. So he owes an obligation to the people to work on his government responsibilities, and that doesn’t give him time to screw around and train for a fight the way he has to. You can’t do that,” Arum continued.

“Being a congressman is one thing. There are like 400-plus con-gressmen, so if he does his job for his constituency, he can take time off and train for a fight. But now

he’s been elected to nationwide office, and he has no specific con-stituency. The entire people of the Philippines are his constituents, and he owes an obligation to them to handle business.”

Pacquiao fought and defeated Timothy Bradley last month be-fore announcing his retirement to concentrate on politics. Nev-ertheless, speculations about a comeback continue to swirl, especially now that Mayweather himself is reportedly on the verge of fighting again.

The two superstars figured in the sport’s richest fight that earned them record-high purses, something impossible to repeat against other opponents.

So is Mayweather-Pacquiao still possible?

“I don’t think so,” Arum said. “My mindset is that it’s over. When it’s over, it’s over. People say fight-ers always change their minds, but this is a different situation. If a guy like Sugar Ray Leonard retires and two months later decides to come back because he’s bored, he can do that. Manny can’t do that, because he has plenty to do and an important job.

“Not only does he have an ex-traordinarily time-consuming job, Manny has to take time to learn how to do it and how to work day to day with the 23 other members of the senate.” (Dino Maragay/Philstar.com)

HIGH HOPES. Madam Espi, one of many old fortune-tellers occupying rows of tables at the corners of Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila, reads the palm of one client. Esperanza Ripalda in real life, the 68-year-old seer claims to be able to tell one’s past, present and future. However, these days, clients are more interested in the state of the nation and ask one question: “Who will be the next President?” With not enough money, no healthcare and aging, Madam Espi still hopes that a better life is coming to Filipinos. Inquirer photo by Mariejo S. Ramos

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Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao AJPress file photo by Andy Tecson

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ADOPT-A-FOOTBRIDGE. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) opened for public use the “adopted” Welcome Rotonda–Quezon Avenue pedestrian overpass last Thursday, May 12. Under the MMDA’s “Adopt-A-Footbridge” program, the private sector may get involved in the rehabilitation and beautification of existing footbridges in the metro under a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative. Interested private partners will finance the repair, rehabilitation and improvement of footbridges, the MMDA said. Philstar file photo

Duterte slated to Philippines’ next...PAGE A2

the latest partial and unofficial re-sults, held a press conference at the LP headquarters in Cubao, Quezon City, acknowledging Duterte as the winner.

“According to the unofficial tally of Comelec, Mayor Digong is the clear winner. I wish you success, Mayor Duterte. Your suc-cess is the success of the Filipino people,” Roxas said, thanking his supporters.

Before midnight on Monday, Poe (who has three years left in her Senate term) conceded the presidential race to Duterte. Early in the partial vote counts, Poe was placing second, but was ultimately overtaken by Roxas.

“Ako si Grace Poe...ay nagbibi-gay-daan kay Rodrigo Duterte...na siyang napili ng nakararami sa ating mga kababayan (I am Grace Poe, and I am giving way to Rodrigo Duterte, whom majority of our countrymen have chosen),” she said. Prior to talking to report-ers, the senator reportedly called Duterte to congratulate him.

The presidential candidates marked the end of the 90-day cam-paign period on Saturday, May 7 with miting de avances (final rallies) across Metro Manila in last-minute attempts to garner support: Duterte and running mate Alan Peter Cay-etano at the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park; Roxas and his running mate Rep. Leni Robredo held a star-studded event at Quezon City Circle, with the promise to continue “Daang Matuwid” (straight path); Poe and Sen. Chiz Escudero at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo; Binay and other UNA candidates at Lawton in Makati; and Santiago and run-ning mate Bongbong Marcos held a “street party” in Quezon City’s West Triangle.

On the eve of election day, Presi-dent Benigno S. Aquino III called for elections that are “peaceful, orderly, and truly mirror the spirit of democracy.”

“Let me stress: In a democracy, everyone can decide. In the end, after the elections, hopefully, the bickering will end. Let us respect and understand any decision borne out of the collective voice of the majority,” Aquino’s statement in Filipino said.

The president had previously

Filipino World War II vets can reunite...tions” can request a discretion-ary grant of parole to come to the United States while they wait for their immigrant visa to become available.

Estimates indicate that as many as 26,000 Filipino veterans (of the over 260,000 Filipino soldiers who fought in the war) became US citizens, after long being excluded from a law that granted citizenship to foreign soldiers serving in the US forces.

Some of the veterans have pe-titioned family members from the Philippines to join them in the U.S., but wait times can last years, often times exceeding 20 years, due to statutory visa caps.

With the population of the Filipino veterans rapidly aging — around 2,000 to 6,000 veterans are estimated to still be living in the US today — having family mem-bers by their sides would provide them with the necessary support and care.

“The Filipino World War II Veterans Parole Program hon-ors the thousands of Filipinos who bravely enlisted to fight for the United States during World War II,” USCIS Director León Rodríguez said in a statement on Monday. “This policy will allow certain Filipino-American family members awaiting immigrant-visa issuance to come to the United States and be with their loved ones. For many, it will also

Filipino suspected of shooting wife...said the gunman is being held without bond for the charges, for which he was set to have a bail re-view on Monday, May 9.

Tordil, an employee of the Fed-eral Protective Service since 1997, which provides security at federal properties, was taken into custody near the supermarket, the last shooting scene, authorities told the Associated Press (AP).

He was stripped of his badge, credentials and weapon, and as-signed to administrative duties in march following a protective order issued against him when his wife said he had threatened

to harm her if she left him, ac-cording to The Washington Post. The order stated that Tordil sub-jected their children to “intense-military-like discipline,” includ-ing pushups and detention in a dark closet.

After allegedly shooting his wife on Thursday, Tordil evaded authorities and shut off his cell-phone.

Prior to his Friday arrest, plain-clothes officers followed Tordil for an hour gaging the right time to conduct the arrest. Earlier on, he threatened to “commit suicide by cop” and authorities wanted to en-sure the public was safe when he

was arrested, according to the AP.“Knowing his behavior today,

knowing of statements he made in the past, we did not want to en-danger anyone and have a shoot-out when we took him into custody and that’s why he was taken into custody the way he was,” said Montgomery County Police Chief Thomas Manger, the news agency reported.

Tordil was sighted when he re-turned to his car, at which point officers surrounded him.

“He jus got out of his car,” Jason Palmer, a private investigator who lives close by and began searching for Tordil himself, told the AP. “He gave up. They pinned him in.”

Montgomery Assistant Chief Russ Hamill said those shot in Montgomery appear to have been random targets that stemmed from Tordil’s attempted carjackings, ac-cording to the Post.

Students and teachers at Park-dale High School, where Gladys Tordil was a chemistry teacher known for encouraging students to be ambitious and sharing home-cooked food with her col-leagues, were devastated by the shootings.

A new Filipino teacher who be-gan working at Parkdale this year, Grace Mary Relador, told the Post that Tordil was an excellent teach-er who made her feel welcome at the new school.

Another fellow teacher, Mary Alvarenga-Hercules, told the Post students loved Tordil.

“They don’t know how they’re going to go back inside of her classroom,” she said. (Agnes Con-stante / AJPress)

allow them to provide support and care for elderly veterans or their surviving spouses.”

Among the requirements for the application include: individuals must be “beneficiaries of Forms I-130, Petition for Alien Relative” who were approved on or before the filing date of the parole and must be related to those who have “established they are either Fili-pino World War II veterans or are the surviving spouses of such in-dividuals.”

If cases where the petitioning relative is now deceased, family members may be able to seek re-instatement of their immigration petitions and then self-petition for parole.

Granting parole will be deter-mined on a case-by-case basis af-ter interviews by the USCIS or De-partment of State consular offices.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) praised the announcement as a “victory” for Filipino-American communi-ties across the U.S.

“After facing decades of in-justice and separation from their loved ones, courageous Filipino veterans in Nevada and through-out the country finally have the opportunity to reunite with their families,” Reid said. “These brave veterans have made incredible sac-rifices for our country, and I have spent years fighting to ensure that the United States does everything possible to repay that great debt. Today’s victory is the culmination of years of hard work and advoca-

cy on behalf of a group of people who have endured decades of false promises and denied benefits.”

The American Coalition for Filipino Veterans, a Washing-ton-based advocacy organiza-tion, thanked Congress members, Asian Americans Advancing Jus-tice | AAJC, National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and “allies for their kind-hearted and dedicated lobby-ing for the Filipino elderly heroes, their widows and children.”

JT Mallonga, national chair of NaFFAA, called the announce-ment “heartening.”

“Our courageous heroes, who have waited for up to 20 years, deserve the opportunity to be with their children,” he said. “They must not suffer the pain of separa-tion in the twilight of their years.”

The United States has set up similar parole programs in the past, such as the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program and the Haitian Family Reunification Parole Program. Under those pa-role programs, the beneficiaries were allowed to come to the US and were eligible to apply for work authorization while waiting to ap-ply for lawful permanent resident status.

In a statement, USCIS added that eligible individuals who are interested in requesting parole under the FWVP Program are en-couraged to do so within five years from June of this year. (Christina M. Oriel / AJPress)

urged Roxas to forge an alliance with Poe to defeat Duterte. How-ever, Poe rejected the proposal, saying she was not planning to withdraw from the race.

Replicating Davao City’s prog-ress

Davao City, where Duterte has served as mayor for over two de-cades, was once considered the murder capital of the Philippines, but has since transformed into a model of peace and order for its strict rules, like a no smoking ordi-nance in public places, liquor ban from 1 to 8 am, and 10 pm curfew for unaccompanied minors.

Leading up to Monday’s polls, the 71-year-old, who bears the nickname “The Punisher,” has consistently topped national sur-veys and gained popularity for being the anti-establishment candi-date, whose no-nonsense platform promises to wipe out crime and corruption within six months of tak-ing office. (He estimates 100,000 criminals would be gone by then or else he’d step down.)

Before a crowd of thousands of supporters in Rizal Park on Satur-day night, May 7, Duterte delivered a 90-minute speech, wherein he reiterated his anti-crime policy, which involves mass killings.

“If I make it to the presidential palace, I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, hold-up men and do-nothings, you better go out,” he said. “Because as the mayor, I’d kill you.”

In response to the criticism from human rights groups, he simply added, ”I will butcher him in front of them if they want.”

Even the controversies that arose during Duterte’s campaign — the rape comment about an Australian

missionary, questions about his wealth and hidden bank accounts, and the alleged human rights viola-tions for the Davao Death Squad’s extrajudicial killings, among others — were not enough to detract Fili-pinos who are tired of the rampant crime throughout the country.

After voting on Monday, May 9, young Filipinos expressed why Duterte is fit to be the country’s chief executive.

“I voted for Duterte because I support Federalism and he qualifies my requirements for a president. I want the next administration to address the problem in education and income tax,” Ericka Cayton, 20, a marketing associate from Las Piñas, said.

“Duterte kasi kelangan na nang bansa ang pagbabago, yung ka-may na bakal para sumunod la-hat (Duterte because we need a changed country [and] that hand of steel so everyone will follow), “ said Chris Talon, 25, from Caloocan.

22-year-old Allen T. from San Pe-dro, Laguna added, ”Duterte, sawa na ko sa puro salita, kailangan na may gumawa (I’m tired of all talk, there needs to be action).”

The strictness that voters seek and now expect was reiterated by Duterte on Tuesday morning.

“I will be strict. I will be a dicta-tor, no doubt it. But only against forces of evil -- criminality, drugs and corruption in government,” he said in Davao City.

Once officially declared the winner, Duterte will assume the presidency on June 30. Outgoing President Aquino has yet to reveal plans on what he will do after leav-ing office. (With reports from Mary May Portez, Godwin Gasacao and Ian Jamotillo / AJPress)

PAGE A1

Supporters of incoming president Rodrigo Duterte are seen outside his house in Davao City on Wednesday, May 11. Duterte said there would be no lavish celebration once he is proclaimed the 16th president of the Philippines. Philstar.com photo

PAGE A1

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com A�LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • mAy 12-18, 2016

Dateline PhiliPPines2,685-vote edge keeps Erap’s grip on ManilaSmartmatic: PH now world reference

point for automated elections

Miriam accuses gov’t of cheating Bongbong

Smartmatic, which provided the technology and vote counting machines used in the just con-cluded national elections, said on tuesday that in only six years, the Philippines has become a world reference point for automation and well-run elections.

in a statement, antonio mugica, the chief executive officer of Smart-matic, described the 2016 polls as ”a landmark with the largest ever manufacture and deployment of vote counting machines, making this a truly historic moment.”

mugica said the global election solutions company was proud to be part of the largest electronic vote counting project in history.

“the Philippines has more than 54 million registered voters, is made up of over 7,000 islands and has one of the largest diaspora in the world. Without technology, votes would not have been pro-cessed so quickly and efficiently,” he said.

the election on monday, may 9 set records for size as the largest electronic vote count of its kind in history and for the speed of the tally, with 80 percent vote trans-mission rate just four hours after the polls closed, mugica said.

Using advanced election tech-nology, results were registered, counted and published online in real time. the first votes were transmitted from 13 regions just one minute after the polls closed. Within two hours, 66 percent of the vote counting machines had transmitted results, compared with 17 percent in the 2010 election.

“Leveraging technology and the

The May 9 election has set records for the largest and fastest electronic vote count of its kind in history. Inquirer.net photo by Raffy Lerma

committed effort of the society as a whole, we conducted a record-breaking election which delivered accurate, transparent and legiti-mate results and contributed to a historic turnout of 81.7 percent,” said andres Bautista, chairman of the commission on Elections (comelec).

in the months before the 2016 election, comprehensive audits, reviews and certifications were conducted to show that the sys-tem was fully prepared in terms of speed, reliability and security. On monday, voters received paper copies of their ballots to validate that the system registered their

votes correctly.“the level of transparency in

this election is unrivalled,” mugica said. “With the combination of Smartmatic’s solutions, the guid-ance of comelec and the dedica-tion of more than 270,000 Filipino poll workers, volunteers and op-erators, this election is a success,” mugica said.

more than 92,500 of Smart-matic’s vote-counting machines were deployed across 36,805 polling stations for the election. in addition, overseas voting in 18 countries was conducted with Smartmatic technology to process paper ballots. (Inquirer.net)

in her first statement since the may 9 national elections, losing presidential candidate Senator miriam Defensor Santiago all but accused the aquino government of cheating her running mate Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” marcos Jr.

She echoed marcos’ protest at being overtaken by administration vice presidential candidate cama-rines Sur rep. ma. Leonor “Leni” robredo, questioning how marcos could be trailing in the vote count

by Dona Z. PaZZibuganInquirer.net

despite leading in the pre-election surveys.

Santiago, who as a trial court judge had defied martial law im-posed by marcos’ father, went on to compare to a “garrison state” the administration of President Benigno aquino iii, son of the late People Power icons former Presi-dent corazon aquino and Senator Benigno “ninoy” aquino Jr.

“the roller coaster ride of vice-presidential candidate Ferdinand marcos, Jr. invites comparison with a garrison state. in such a state, the

authoritarian government feels free to manufacture numbers as they are needed,” Santiago said.

“i find it astounding that marcos should have led in the vice-presi-dential surveys for many months, until the penultimate month, when suddenly the administration could jump up survey results to finally overtake him,” she added.

“this is an eventuality that will cause the peoples of the democratic world to shake their heads and question the values of the society it produced,” she went on.

by Marc Jayson cayabyabInquirer.net

a SLim margin of just under 3,000 votes gave manileños another three years under Joseph “Erap’’ Estrada, who was proclaimed win-ner in the mayoral race tuesday, may 10.

the releectionist Estrada won by just 2,685 votes over closest rival, former mayor alfredo Lim, whom he also beat in the 2013 elections by a larger margin of 33,409 votes.

in an interview after his procla-mation at rizal memorial Stadium, Estrada thanked manileños for giving him another mandate and “another opportunity to serve.”

“in unity, there is strength. now that we will be working together again in the next few years, we will be able to provide [manileños] with more programs and services,” he added.

the 79-year-old former President garnered 283,149 votes compared to 280,464 votes for Lim, 86. Fifth District rep. amado Bagatsing, the third major contender in a field of 11 candidates for mayor, got 167,829 votes.

Estrada’s running mate, Honey Lacuna, was also proclaimed win-ner in the vice mayoral race, with 262,717 votes against 216,334 votes for ali atienza.

Bagatsing conceded defeat even before the poll results were finalized by the city Board of canvassers (cBOc). “i congratulate [Estrada]. may the city regain its lost glory and grandeur as the Pearl of the Orient Seas under your incoming administration,” he said. “to all my political leaders, sympathizers, sup-porters and followers, i thank you all for the sacrifices and help you have

given me all this time.”Bagatsing arrived at the stadium

tuesday afternoon for his daughter, cristal Bagatsing, who won the congressional race to get the House seat her father is vacating.

the results were announced by cBOc after 17 hours of canvass-ing. the transmission of data was slowed down by weak internet sig-

nals, forcing election inspectors to transport vote-counting machines from their precincts to the can-vassing site so that the SD (secure digital) cards could be manually retrieved.

as his supporters chanted “Erap pa more!” Estrada was joined in the celebration by his children Jake, Jerika and Sen. JV Ejercito.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago and Sen. Bongbong Marcos

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OpiniOn Features

ing their votes on who they want to lead the Philippines as presi-dent, vice president, senators, representatives and other local officials.

Fueled by discontent of the sta-tus quo and buoyed by the power of social media, ordinary Filipinos have been empowered to choose the leaders who they think will stir the nation to the Philippines of the future—their vision of a better, more peaceful, orderly, safer, and progressive Philippines.

The most number of Filipinos decided to traverse a path different from “Daang Matuwid” offered by President Benigno Aquino III in the past six years. The torch was supposed to be handed over to the administration’s bet—Former DILG Sec. Mar Roxas—moving

forward. But most Filipinos clam-ored for real change, and they dis-cerned a Roxas presidency would be more of the same.

And so they chose instead to trust Rodrigo Duterte, the mav-erick but tried and tested mayor who has made the City of Davao the peaceful, safe, clean, orderly and progressive city it is now. They believe what Duterte did in Davao, he could also do in all parts of the Philippines.

But a clean, honest government remains what Pinoys continue to aspire for, which could be the reason why as of press time, Con-gresswoman Leni Robredo—the widow of Former DILG Sec. Jesse Robredo—has been leading the race for vice president. Leni Ro-bredo has dedicated her life to be-

ing a lawyer for the poor, before she entered politics when her hus-band died in a plane crash. The most number of kababayans saw in her the genuine desire to serve the people, devoid of the hunger for power and greed for money that push many politicians to be embroiled in graft and corruption.

The results of the elections in the Philippines (based on partial, unofficial tallies of votes) mirrors the decision of Filipinos in Ameri-ca. The Overseas Absentee voters here also chose Duterte for Presi-dent, and Robredo for Vice-Presi-dent for the same reasons.

In the days leading up to the May 9 elections, social media was inundated with prayer requests for clean, honest, peaceful and orderly elections. For the most

part of the election process, such prayers were answered.

The result: record breaking turnout of Filipinos who decided to use their right of suffrage to effect change in the status quo through a peaceful and responsible way.

Kababayans were amazed at how fast the results of the election were reported, thanks to the use of voting machines.

Filipinos were in awe by the grace (no pun intended) and class of candidates who conceded early knowing they have lost the elec-tion by a big margin. Sen. Grace Poe, Sec. Mar Roxas and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano have shown the other candidates that the elec-tion is not about them. It is about the will of the people that must prevail, and that its is the moral

responsibility of those who were not chosen by the people to make sure there is a smooth and orderly transition to the next administra-tion. Through their example, they began the healing process that will lead to the unity of the citizens in looking forward to and doing their part for the success of the next ad-ministration.

After all, the success of Duterte, Robredo, and the newly elected public officials will be the success of the Filipino people.

* * *Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos

This year has seen the fastest transmission of election returns since the automated poll was introduced in 2010. At 10:50pm on Monday, the transmission rate for 2016 elections was already at 74 percent. In 2010 and 2013, the electronic transmission was only at 17 and 23 percent during the same time, respectively.

More Filipinos abroad also cast their votes during the 30-day voting period in 85 Philippine posts worldwide. Comelec reported a total of 376,586 out of the 1,376,067 registered overseas Filipinos worldwide or 29.56 percent voter turnout. It was 285 percent higher compared to the 2013 polls.

Garry Martines of Migrante International said that this year has seen a higher turnout of over-seas absentee voting (OAV) because FIlipinos abroad want accountability and new leaders who will nurture overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and migrant workers, and their families back home.

“Our OFWs have remained vigilant,” he said. “We have once again proven how resilient and significant our OFWs are. We have disproved all claims that there had been a growing apathy

among our OAVs.”For their part, the Armed Forces of the Philip-

pines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported that the 2016 elections may still be considered generally peaceful despite some

isolated reports of Election Relat-ed Violent Incidents (ERVIs) and delays due to glitches in the vote counting machines (VCMs).

There were 164 recorded ERVIs since January, the beginning of election season. Despite the 140,000 police personnel deployed across the 36,000 polling precincts across the country on Monday, the AFP still recorded 22 ERVIs, which resulted to 10 fatalities and three wounded.

Both security agencies vowed to remain vigi-lant until the last winner is proclaimed.

Meanwhile, voting had to be extended until 6pm on Monday in some precincts due to some delays caused by malfunctioning VCMs. Comelec said that out of the 77,829 VCMs, 171 needed re-placement, which is equivalent to 0.2 percent.

All in all, Monday’s polls are gearing towards a satisfactory conclusion, which is more than what

is expected. Even international observers agree.These positive reports reflect how Filipinos

may have finally realized the power that belongs to them, which is to choose the leaders they think

are adequate to represent their best interests. It strengthened their participation in this democrat-ic process and trust in the system that is election. (AJPress)

Philstar.com photo

Progress report

Editorial

Historic Halalan 2016 busts apathy among Filipino voters

Gel SantoS-ReloS

The Fil-Am Perspective

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) proudly announced on Monday, May 9, that of the 54.4 million registered Filipino voters, about 40 million or 81.62 percent exercised their right of suffrage.

EIGHTY ONE PERCENT turn-out among registered voters in the Philippines is a reason enough to celebrate in a country that has complained about apathy among Filipino people, who have much to complain about lacking in the will and push to do something to do something about the problems that beset the nation.

After more than a year of pas-sionate, contentious and even nasty debates and campaigns, kababayans in the Philippines and around the world passionately made their voices heard by cast-

RiGobeRto D. tiGlao

Commentary An election of images, a collection of tribes

C’MON, just a day after the elec-tions: Who remembers the plat-forms of the five presidential can-didates, the topics they discussed in three presidential debates, or even their campaign slogans?

The more than 15 million Fili-pinos who voted for Duterte were not really voting for this 71-year old man, who for 22 years has been Davao City mayor, who even boasted he was the patron of – or the brains? – behind the Davao Death Squads. Indeed, even re-porters and editors scrambled to Google or ask their sources for some background about this mayor.

They voted for an image in their minds—to which they projected idealized qualities of goodness and courage of a man of the mass-es, the antithesis of the uncaring hacendero Benigno S. Aquino 3rd. The image etched in their minds was of this tough-looking guy in the kind of polo shirt and rub-ber sandals you could buy from a cheap store, with his fist raised up in the air, and saying: “I will fight for you.” Duterte was their aveng-ing angel against a hated Aquino of the rich, who has made life dif-ficult for them the past six years.

The image was so powerful that even values held dear by mod-ern civilization and Christianity such as reverence for human life and due process – which Duterte disregards openly in his public speeches – have been tossed away like garbage.

Elections in this country are no longer a contest of the best and the brightest or who can most successfully portray himself as the

best candidate.Due to the tremendous power

of media, including Facebook and other forms of social media – and especially because of their capability to disseminate photos and videos that form memes in people’s minds – Philippine presi-dential elections have become a contest of images.

While there is cause for con-sidering that Leni Robredo’s tight race with Bongbong Marcos has been Aquino’s Plan B for recap-turing power, her image as a comely widow with a captivating smile, even as one waiting alone for a bus to take her home to her province, pushed her candidacy forward. If another candidate such as former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima had, instead, been fielded by Aquino for the vice presidency, even Antonio Trillanes would have trounced her.

If there’s one thing the elections on Monday also proved, it is that political machinery is no longer important in presidential and vice presidential elections, because we have moved almost totally into the age of images. This might also be due to the fact that more voters are young, with little ties to com-munity ward leaders.

Gripping imageDuterte has stumbled upon a

means of creating the most grip-ping image of himself that reso-nated with the masses – as a lead-er of and from the masses (though he came from the upper class), who would kill for them, who is as angry as them at the Establish-ment. His strength was that he did not need to artificially create an image: his world has always been in Davao City, where even the elite dress like the ordinary man on the street. In metropolitan Ma-nila, the elite speak Filipino only to their drivers and domestic help.

In Davao and other areas in Min-danao and the Visayas, the elite speak the language of the com-mon man, Bisaya.

Grace Poe Llamanzares, who contrived to project an image of herself as a virgin princess of sorts – which played on the masses’ confusion over movies and reality – still managed, of course, to fool a lot of people, but was no match to Duterte’s image.

I rooted for and voted for Vice President Jejomar Binay, as my reason told me he was the most qualified. But Philippine elections have never been a rational exer-cise.

Because of the two-year cam-paign by Aquino and Roxas to vilify Binay, the Makati city mayor had been unable to really shed his corruption-tainted image. Binay was also too decent to spit ver-bally at people, and he wanted to be a “healing President.” But the masses wanted somebody very angry, who spits at the Yellow Throne.

After all, how could a staunch defender of human rights, when he started out his law career, say that due process is an obstacle to fighting crime?

I’m sure if Aquino and Roxas had undertaken a similar two-year vilification campaign against Duterte, a huge sector of the masses’ image of him would also be of a corrupt mayor of a frontier town.

Duterte’s masa image siphoned off Binay’s political support, as he was the candidate who had pro-jected himself as the masa candi-date.

Roxas tried to project an image of a technocrat untainted by cor-ruption. But the masses haven’t been looking for a technocrat. Their gut feel has been that, hav-ing been screwed alternatively by

the rich and criminals all these years, therefore they need some-body able to fight for them.

As troubling, though, as the supremacy of images in deter-mining who would lead us is that the recent elections have laid bare the fact that more than a century since we were established as a nation of “Filipinos,” we have re-mained a collection of tribes, with each individual member behaving as a blind loyal subject to his tribal leader.

If Duterte’s image was domi-nant in his popularity in metro-politan Manila, it was tribalism that won for him the presidency. I don’t remember any instance of a province such as Davao del Sur (of which Davao City had been provincial capital in the 1950s) voting 96 percent for their prov-ince-mate. Mindanao, it seems, had voted 60 percent for Duterte.

Bisaya for Duterte, Ilonggos for Roxas

Those who speak Bisaya actu-ally constitute one big tribe, and Visayan-speaking provinces and cities (such as Cebu City) over-whelmingly voted for Duterte. Was it because reason told them he was the best candidate?

Similarly, the Ilonggo speakers voted overwhelmingly for Manuel Roxas, and seemed to have for-gotten he stands for the hated sta-tus quo. Also similarly, the Ilocano speakers went overwhelmingly for Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and the Bicolanos for Leni Robredo. Un-fortunately for Binay, he does not really have a “home” region or a province (except, of course, for the tiny Makati) to call on his tribesmen to rally behind him.

We are stuck with Duterte, though, and we really can’t afford another People Power uprising similar to that which toppled a previous President who had also

won the elections because the image he created had drawn the masses so strongly to him – Erap “para sa mahirap.”

I hope that his fiery rhetoric such as, among them, that he would fill Manila Bay with the corpses of 100,000 criminals and fatten the fish there, that due pro-cess only lets criminals get away with their evil deeds, are just that – rhetoric that helped him create the image the masses love, and not serious beliefs he adheres to. Or he won’t last two years in his new post.

Duterte’s inner circleOne thing going for Duterte

is that his advisers (or backers), whom I presume would be his inner circle in Malacañang, have had extensive experience in the country’s labyrinthine corridors of powers. For the sake of the coun-try, I hope that old adage isn’t al-ways true – “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”

One of his close allies, Davao businessman and corporate ex-ecutive Carlos Dominguez, had served Corazon Aquino’s govern-ment as agriculture secretary for two years, as PAL chairman from 1992 to 1995 (until Lucio Tan fired him, after taking over the firm), and an informal but close adviser of Fidel Ramos.

Carlos’ younger brother, Paul Dominguez, was officially Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidential adviser for Mindanao, but was also her trusted adviser, being a member of Arroyo’s core team of advisers who reported for meet-ings with her almost every morn-ing during her first two years in office. Jesus Dureza, also from Davao, was a trusted Arroyo offi-cial during her nine years in office in various capacities, from being head of the talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to

press secretary. He would, there-fore, have a keen grasp of how Malacañang works.

Former Armed Forces Chief of Staff (2006 to 2008), Hermogenes Esperon, was also Arroyo’s 2009 to 2010 head of the Presidential Management Staff, a low-key but powerful unit in Malacañang. I bet Esperon would be Duterte’s defense secretary.

Angelito Banayo, said to have been Duterte’s campaign man-ager, seems to have a knack for correctly betting on who the next President would be before they get into power. He worked under three Presidents: as postmaster general under Cory Aquino, as Philippine tourism authority head and presidential political adviser under Joseph Estrada, and Na-tional Food Authority administra-tor under President Aquino. In the 1990s he was with Nationalist People’s Coalition big boss Eduar-do Cojuangco, and after that, with Senator Orlando Mercado.

Manny Piñol, a former radio broadcaster and North Cotabato governor, has been a de facto spokesman for Duterte, and with his background, could be his press secretary.

I don’t think these Davao guys would be able to work with the Senator from Taguig, Alan Cay-etano, and I bet they’d lobby for him to be as far away from Malacanang as possible, perhaps as foreign affairs secretary, as Duterte has once mentioned.

I do hope, though, that these very competent and experienced people won’t hear from Duterte what Estrada told his inner circle, when after a year in office, he got tired with their unsolicited ad-vice: “Mag presidente muna kaya kayo?” (Why don’t you become President first?) (ManilaTimes.net)

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AsiAn PAcific AmericAn HeritAge montH

Kick-off presentation for the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at Los Angeles City Hall on Friday, April 22. Photo from LAAPHM Facebook page.

Celebrating diversity and inclusiveness

ThroughouT the month of May, Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in the uS celebrate Asian Pacific American heritage Month. representatives Norman Mineta of California and Frank horton of New York introduced a house resolution that called upon the president to proclaim the first 10 days of May as Asian/Pacific heritage Week in June of 1977. By 1978, President Carter signed a resolution making it an annual celebration.

It was then expanded to a month-long commemoration in 1990 by President george h.W. Bush. The month of May was cho-sen for two main reasons: The first is the completion of the transcon-tinental railroad on May 10, 1869. A majority of the workers who laid the tracks on the western half of the construction were Chinese im-migrants; while the second reason is that May marks the immigration of the first Japanese to the united States.

In the 1980s, the San gabriel Valley in Southern California did not have a thriving Asian demo-graphic. Monterey Park was the only city whose Asian household made up one-third of the city’s overall demographic. however, this began changing in the 1990s and continues through to today. Now, cities such as San gabriel City, San Marino, rosemead, Ar-

history. Confronted with grueling and perilous working conditions, thousands of Chinese laborers on the transcontinental railroad pushed the wheels of progress for-ward in the West. Japanese-Ameri-can troops fought for freedom from tyranny abroad in World War II while their families here at home were interned simply on the basis of their origin. And many South Asian Americans in particular face discrimination, harassment, and senseless violence often in the communities in which they live and work.

Today, AAPIs lend their rich heritage to enhancing our commu-nities and our culture. As artists and activists, educators and elected officials, service men and women and business owners, AAPIs help drive our country forward. Yet despite hard-won achievements, AAPIs continue to face obstacles to realizing their full potential. one in three AAPIs do not speak English fluently, and certain subgroups experience low levels of educa-tional attainment and high levels of unemployment. AAPIs also of-ten experience heightened health risks, and millions of AAPI men, women, and children in the united States live in poverty.

“our nation’s story would be incomplete without the voices of

Rep. Frank Horton Rep. Norman Mineta

The Kariktan Dance Company doing the opening performance during the 2016 Asian Pacific American Heritage Awards Ceremony in San Francisco on Monday, May 2. Photo courtesy of APASF.org.

cadia, and Temple City not only have thriving Asian households and businesses, but they are also the majority of residents there.

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) are the fast-est growing racial group in our country, growing over four times as rapidly as the population of the united States. As one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse groups in America, the AAPI com-munity reminds us that though we all have distinct backgrounds and origins, we are bound in common purpose by our shared hopes and dreams for ourselves and our children. our nation’s story would be incomplete without the voices of countless Asian Americans, Native hawaiians, and Pacific Is-landers who have called the land we all love home. This month, we honor the irreplaceable roles they have played in our past, and we recommit to ensuring opportuni-ties exist for generations of AAPIs to come.

The AAPI community’s long and deeply-rooted legacy in the united States reminds us of both proud and painful chapters of our

countless Asian Americans, Native hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders who have called the land we all love home,” President Barack obama shares.

People across the country honor Asian-Pacific American heritage Month with community festivals, government gatherings, and edu-cational activities for students.

how the uS celebrates Asian-Pacific American heritage Month

Asian Americans research on the geographic locations. Ethnic-ity goes from across Far East Asia (Korea, Japan, China), India, the Philippines, and it’s subcontinent (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal), and the Pacific regions (Samoa, Mi-cronesia).

Another way they celebrate is looking up Asian cities or states to find out how many Asian Pacific Americans reside there. Multi-cul-tural generations have grown tremendously over hundreds of decades broadening their knowl-edge about their surroundings and giving insight on it.

Furthermore, visiting a local Asian places like a city’s China-town or Los Angeles’ historic Fili-pinotown when celebrating Asian Pacific heritage Month. Citizens explore a A lot of places have re-volved around America’s modern culture, so discovering hidden spots where Asian traditions are still maintained is quite an interest to Americans.

San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee proudly led a culturally diverse city in last year’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Photo courtesy of APASF.org.

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by Erika SaulErInquirer.net

Is Kris Aquino migrating to US? Dismissed Roderick Paulate re-elected as Quezon City councilorSeveral hours after she voted last

Monday, Kris aquino packed her things and left for an undisclosed destination in the US with sons Joshua and Bimby.

as in the first time she went abroad, Kris said that it’s also her doctor’s ad-vice to relax so that her blood pressure will remain stabilized. During their three-week vacation in Hawaii, Kris said she enjoyed being an ordinary mom to her sons, cooking for them and simply taking it easy.

She came back purposely to cam-paign for her Kuya Noynoy’s candi-dates.

This time, she will be away for two months and will be back end of July.

‘Our new home isn’t finished,’ Kris texted Funfare before she left. ‘Bimb’s school calendar was adjusted to open in august.’

asked about rumors that she might migrate to the US, Kris said, ‘No, I’m not.’

advised that she refrain from posting her comings and goings on social media (to avoid being bashed), Kris promised, ‘I won’t. I will enjoy my sabbatical.’ (Philstar.com)

acTOr roderick Paulate won a fresh mandate as Quezon city councilor despite being ordered dismissed by the Ombudsman over ghost employees.

On the other hand, District 1 rep. Francisco “Boy” calalay Jr., who was also ordered dismissed together with Paulate and two staff members, suffered a loss to comebacking vincent “Bingbong” crisologo.

Paulate got 109,298 votes, se-curing the sixth and last spot for District 2 council seats eyed by 14 candidates.

The Ombudsman decision re-leased in January found Paulate and calalay guilty of hiring non-existent people for contractual jobs

during their 2010 term as coun-cilors. calalay disbursed P2.175 million for the ghost employees, while Paulate disbursed P1.125 million, the Ombudsman said. Of-ficials who get unfavorable rulings from the Ombudsman usually file an appeal.

calalay, who ran under the dominant liberal Party, got 57,056 or 41.09 percent of the votes. He was beaten by crisologo, a United Nationalist alliance candidate with 81,799 or 58.90 percent of the votes.

crisologo had been a two-term councilor and a three-term congressman. His wife rita lost to calalay in 2013. His son Onyx crisologo is top councilor for District 1.

The Quezon city winners were

proclaimed by the city Board of canvassers Tuesday, May 10 at the carlos albert Session Hall. Mayor Herbert Bautista and vice Mayor Joy Belmonte won their third term with an overwhelming number of votes surpassing their numbers in previous elections.

Jhong Hilario, Rico J. Puno elected in MakatiTwO celebrities were elected as new political leaders in

Makati city.Former “It’s Showtime” host virgilio “Jhong” Hilario and

rico J. Puno are two of the councilors of the 15-member council of Makati city.

Hilario garnered 80,135 votes which placed him on the top of the council race, while Puno was on the third spot with 65,255 votes.

The two of them were under the United Nationalist alliance (UNa), the same party of proclaimed mayor and vice mayor abigail “abby” Binay and Monique lagdameo, respectively.

Hilario left his hosting stint to give way for his political ca-reer, while Puno had a successful triple heart bypass surgery in april 2015. (Philstar.com)

Is Ritz Azul the new Darna?BecaUSe angel locsin has quit the project due to a

spine injury (recently treated at a Singapore hospital), there have been speculations that several Kapamilya actresses are being considered (or eyed’) for the re-make of Darna, the komiks superheroine that propelled angel to stardom at the Kapuso Network GMa 7.

The “probable” candidates include Jessy Mendiola, liza Soberano, Nadine lustre, Maja Salvador, arce Muñoz and…even Sarah Geronimo?

according to Funfare’s Bohol avenue sources, the “most likely” to bag the coveted role is…drum roll, please!...ritz azul, the newest Kapamilya recruit from Kapatid Network Tv5 which discovered ritz.

“She’s now undergoing thorough training,” added the sources.

Before that, ritz will take a bow as a Kapamilya in the forthcoming soap Promise of Forever with ejay Falcon and Paulo avelino as leading men. (Philstar.com)

Rachelle Ann Go returns to LondonON May 1, the Manila staging

of “les Misèrables” held its last show and closed its curtains after a stellar seven-week run. and rachelle ann Go, who played tragic character Fantine in the iconic musical, described the ex-perience as “bittersweet.”

“I’m so happy I was able to share with the Filipino audience what I do in london. at the same time, I am sad that I will be leav-ing my family again—I will miss them,” said the singer-actress, who will continue portraying the role in the production’s residency in the west end, starting May 12. “I will also miss the packed meals my mother always prepared for me,” she added. “I am spoiled here!”

So, despite her busy schedule, which required her to do eight shows a week, rachelle ann made the most out of her stay in the country, making sure to spend her free time with family and close friends. She also took the opportunity to finally move into her new home in Pasig city.

“I have been praying for this my whole life. It’s a simple home, but my family and I will all be liv-ing in it—and that’s what’s impor-tant,” she told a group of reporters at a media conference for “Divas: live in Manila,” the concert she’ll topbill with Kyla, angeline

by allan PolicarPioInquirer.net

Quinto, Yeng constantino and KZ Tandingan at the Smart araneta coliseum on Nov. 11.

“My new bedroom has a lon-don vibe to it, to remind me of that part of my life and career. It is rustic…I also have a music room,” added the 29-year-old art-ist, who previously landed the role of hardened bar girl Gigi in “Miss Saigon,” also in london. “It was tiring, but this is what I want.”

Unfortunately, juggling work and her personal life amid the punishing Manila weather even-tually took a toll on her body. rachelle ann fell sick, lost her voice and was thus forced to miss a number of shows.

while some people couldn’t help but air their frustrations over not seeing Shin—as she is fondly called by those close to her—there were many others, she said, who were more under-

standing of her situation. “I was just as frustrated about it because of the terrible timing. I felt bad,” she said. “Perhaps it was a gentle reminder from God that I have to take things easier.”

“les Misèrables’” london staging runs until December this year. after that, rachelle ann said she intends to pursue still-under-wraps plans: “I’m turning 30 this year. I can see myself continuing my theater work.”

In “Divas,” rachelle ann said fans can expect her to perform songs from the two musicals she’s been part of, as well as show tunes associated with characters from other musicals she hopes to act in someday—like “wicked” or “Hamilton.”

“I’d love to perform on Broad-way, too,” she disclosed. “I like claiming things—so, one day, it will happen!”

Kris Aquino

Ritz Azul

Jhong Hilario

Roderick Paulate

Rachelle Ann Go

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • mAy 12-18, 2016 B�Features

Lucky Dragon Hotel & Casino to open late 2016Project is fully financed as a result of financial

commitments and guarantees provided by principalsLAS VEGAS – The Las Vegas

Economic Impact Regional Cen-ter will open Lucky Dragon Hotel & Casino, the city’s first resort delivering an authentic Asian cultural and gaming experience. Financial commitments provided by the Fonfa and Weidner fami-lies have guaranteed the project will be completed on schedule in late 2016.

“Our principals have provided the financial commitments nec-essary to ensure Lucky Dragon’s development remains on track for an opening later this year,” said David Jacoby, Chief Operat-ing Officer of Lucky Dragon. “As the first ground up casino devel-opment in Las Vegas in six years, the opening of Lucky Dragon Hotel & Casino will mean more options for Las Vegas visitors and locals alike. We are filling a niche in Las Vegas and we’re thrilled to bring such a carefully curated array of Asian-focused gaming options, restaurants and amenities to Las Vegas.”

Lucky Dragon will position itself as Las Vegas’ first casino resort to deliver an authentic Asian lifestyle experience. It will be a community gathering hotspot for Asian visitors, locals and anyone looking for the best Pan-Asian food and excitement in town. The resort will feature details such as signage in Chi-nese first and English second, a multilingual staff and the city’s only indoor/outdoor high-end tea garden and lounge. All as-pects of the hotel and casino’s design have been influenced by the rich traditions of Asian cul-ture. Designed by architects Ed Vance & Associates, the project is located close to the north end of the Las Vegas Strip at 300 W. Sahara Ave. Lee Cagley Design designed the interior with con-sultation on cultural authenticity by Feng Shui master Lin Huang at Qi Gallery.

GamingThe resort’s 27,500 square-

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gaming area called the Emerald Room, Lucky Dragon will also feature ultra-luxurious VIP gam-ing on the second level.

RestaurantsOne of Lucky Dragon’s key

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· A night market will emulate the vibrant street food markets of Asia, and will serve an ever-changing menu of dishes includ-ing regional delicacies, fresh and live seafood, dim sum, barbecue, boba tea and more for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

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SpaA 4,500 square-foot spa will

focus on reflexology treatments and also feature four traditional treatment rooms, including one wet treatment room and one couple’s room. The spa will offer a full range of scrubs, massages, acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicines and total relaxation techniques.

Lucky Dragon Hotel & Ca-sino will be located next to the 427-unit Allure Las Vegas high-rise tower, which principals of the hotel helped develop and master plan. Booking for Lucky Dragon will be available this summer.

WITH tons of places to choose from to bring your old jewelry, there’s only one place in Las Vegas that will pay the best amount for these valuables.

At Nevada Coin Mart, custom-ers can rest assured that they will be properly compensated for the precious stones and metals they bring in.

Neil Sackmary, the owner of the store, is a graduate gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) with more than 20 years of experience in buying these items.

“When it comes to myself, this is my passion. This is what I went to school for,” Sackmary said.

GIA is the world’s foremost authority on diamonds, colored stones and pearls. It was estab-lished in 1931 and strives to pro-tect the jewelry and gem buying public by setting quality standards worldwide. As a certified GIA spe-cialist, Sackmary points out that simply because a business that purchases these stones has been around for decades, that does not make it an expert source.

This is a particularly important fact for members of the Asian American community to note.

“In the Asian community, peo-ple don’t buy cheap stones. They always spend really good money and when they do, they want to sell them for good money and they want someone who’s an expert. You don’t want to take it to someone who says they’re in the business for 35 years. That does not make them an expert,” Sackmary said.

Get the best price for yourvaluables at Nevada Coin Mart

Neil Sackmary

Nevada Coin Mart purchases a wide variety of items, includ-ing coins, bullion, diamonds, jewelry, gold, silver and watches, at premium prices. At the shop, Sackmary has the latest technol-ogy, including a $9,000 diamond microscope and $30,000 X-ray spectrometer, which allows him to thoroughly examine how much the metals and stones customers bring in are worth.

“Most people want to rip off customers because they don’t care. They look at them and say, ‘Well, if I can, I’ll take advantage. I’m never going to see you again’,” Sackmary said.

That’s not what happens at Ne-vada Coin Mart. In one instance, Sackmary paid a customer $1,510 for two rings that were quoted for $150 at a competitor store.

It’s because of its transparency and fairness to those who walk into Nevada Coin Mart that about 70 percent of its clients are repeat customers who come back for the value they receive for their items.

The business takes it a step further by providing security guards who are former police of-

ficers and 47 cameras to monitor the entire building. Visitors can also request to have a guard walk them in and out of the building free of charge.

Sackmary and his wife have been in the business of buying jewelry and other metals for many years and have been online sell-ing costume jewelry for about 15 years. They are also present every day the shop is open, which is located on the corner of Jones Boulevard and Flamingo Road.

In addition to putting their customers’ interests first, the Sackmarys are active community members who have participated in charity event Operation FireHEAT and are founding sponsors for the Anthem Women’s Club.

Nevada Coin Mart was estab-lished in 1971 and is licensed by Clark County to legally purchase jewelry from the general public.

Nevada Coin Mart4065 S Jones Blvd.Las Vegas, NV 89103Phone: (702) 776-7061Hours: Monday through Sun-

day, 9am to 5 pm Advertising Supplement

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8th biennial Maniquiz/Maniquis/Maniquez/Manikis family reunion on May 28

MeMbers of the Maniquiz/Maniquis/Maniquez/Manikis clan are scheduled to get togeth-er for their 8th biennial family reunion on May 28, 2016 at the Gold Coast resort and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. Hosted by the santiago clan, the program of activities starts with registration at 11am, followed by a delicious Asian lunch buffet. rewind to the 50s and 60s era, and enjoy an afternoon of dancing, games, prizes and talent shows, while reconnecting with the family members in your favorite poodle skirts, and your James Dean jackets.

The family’s history dates back to 1730s, when a young spanish-Mexican trader named Carlos Agustin Maniquiz ar-rived in san bartolome, now Tartaro, san Miguel, bulacan and started a family with a lo-cal lady named Juana Puno. This union produced four sons (Dionisio, Miguel, Alejandro and

santiago), from whom the four branches and 10 generations of the family are descendants of.

The 7 previous biennial re-unions were all successful and well-attended with family mem-bers coming from all over the Us, and as far as New Zealand,

england, Canada, Dubai, and of course, the Philippines.

Family members interested in attending this event may preregister by contacting Corry Maniquis Painter at (925)577-9939 or Tess Z. Manikis at (209) 815-098.

Obituary: Olympio S. GalonOLyMPiO salomon Galon was

born on Philippine independence Day, June 12, 1924 in Calape, bohol, the only son of business-man Aquillino Galon and his wife Agripina salomon. Olympio is survived by his wife ruth Llaguno Galon and children Debbie, Joey & Jenny including his Grand-chil-dren Christopher, Lisa, Danielle, Tina & Michael including his Great-grand children Kailey, Ash-ley, isabell, Jasper & remy.

Olympio began his education at san Carlos University in Cebu City then immigrated to the United states obtaining his Associates Degree at san Francisco City Col-lege, his bachelors Degree at the University of California berkeley and his Masters Degree at san Francisco state University.

As a professional, he worked as a Federal Compliance Of-ficer/investigator for the Federal Government for the Department of Defense and the Department of Labor. While working full time, he devoted much of his free time to promoting the Filipino culture leading various organizations. He was awarded the “Who’s Who” amongst Filipinos in the United states and Canada by the Philip-pine News & by notable Author of New york, Precioso Nicanor.

Highlights of Galon’s com-munity service was displayed during the 1960’s when the move-ment for national unification and empowerment of Filipino Americans was born. The Galon family hosted events in honor of the first and only boholano President of the Philippines, Car-los Garcia. Lym was among the key organizers of the Council of United Filipino Organizations in Northern and Central California which sponsored the first National Filipino Unity Conference at the Fairmont Hotel in san Francisco in 1963, where Vice President emmanuel Pelaez was the guest speaker, at the statler Hilton in Los Angeles in 1964 and at the seattle Conference in 1965. At these three national conferences only seven official delegates rep-resented the seven major regions of the country, speaking on behalf of the Filipinos of America.

Olympio was instrumental along with the Philippine News as a unified force to help change the old immigration quotas system. The immigration reform law was finally passed in 1965 granting equal quotas for all countries at 20,000 immigrants a year. Filipino immigration jumped from 50 to 20,000 in 1966 accel-

erating at a phenomenal rate of some 100,000 a year in the 70s, 80s and 90s making Filipinos the second highest immigrant group in the U.s.

in 1966, as head of the Coun-cil, the Galon’s were among the hosts of President Ferdinand and imelda Marcos during their first state Visit to the U.s. before martial law was declared. At that same time, Olympio Galon and bernie Fabrao secured a procla-mation from san Francisco Mayor Jack shelley to proclaim the first Filipino American Festival and Parade in san Francisco.

For his enviable achievements, PAGE B7

Features

Members of the Organizing Committee (L-R) Michael Maniquis, Lourdes Maniquis Contreras, Corry Maniquis Painter, Tess Zamora Manikis, Veronica Maniquis, Luisa Maniquis, Joselyn Maniquis, and Juanito Maniquis, Jr.

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(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • mAy 12-18, 2016 B�Features

PhiliP S. Chua,MD, FaCS, FPCS

Health@Heart

What are visas for temporary visitors?

No-meat diet and longevity

PAGE B7

NaNCy Miller

Your ImmigrationSolution

One of the most common means of entering the United States is through a visa for tem-porary visitor. An applicant for such a visa must be a foreign national who has a residence in a foreign country that is the actual dwelling place in fact. However, it is not necessary for the foreign national to own the home in which she lives. The nonimmigrant must have no intention of abandoning that foreign residence and must be coming to the United States to visit temporarily for business or pleasure. The visa for business is called a B-1 and the visa for pleasure is called a B-2.

A visitor for pleasure includes those coming to the U.S. as a tourist, for medical purposes, to participate in a convention of so-cial organizations, to participate in amateur musical, sports, or

similar events with no remunera-tion, a dependent of US Armed Forces personnel, one accompa-nying a transit visa holder or a visitor for business, a non-spouse partner accompanying a principal E [treaty investor or treaty trader], F [student], H [temporary worker] or L [intra-company transferee] for duration of stay who can demonstrate eligibility for the B-2 (i.e. they do not have immigrant intent or other grounds of inad-missibility).

Visitors for business include those coming to the US to engage in commercial transactions not involving gainful employment. Acceptable activities include negotiating contracts, litigation, consulting with clients or business associates. Making phone calls, giving employees instructions or accompanying clients to their cars are not considered gainful employment. However, full-time management of a US enterprise is. A B-1 visa holder may study if it is part of work or recreational activi-

ties. She may participate in sci-entific, educational, professional, religious or business conventions. He may receive an honorarium and incidental expenses for usual academic activities from an aca-demic institution as long as it does not last more than 9 days at a sin-gle academic institution and the foreign national has not accepted more than 5 such honoraria in a 6 month period.

One who would ordinarily qualify for an H-1 [worker] visa may enter the United States on a B-1 if he receives no salary or re-muneration other than an expense allowance or other reimburse-ment incidental to a temporary stay. The time must not exceed 6 months and the applicant must engage in hands-on work that would require an H-1B. The work must meet the H-1B specialty occupation standard. And the applicant must show that he does not have immigrant intent.

As stated above, the applicant for a visitor’s visa must not have

immigrant intent. That means that the applicant must intend to depart when the period of lawful stay expires. He must not be us-ing the B-1/B-2 non-immigrant visa as a means of entering the United States when he actually intends to permanently live here. This type of visa differs from H-1Bs and L visas which allow the foreign national to have “dual in-tent.” Dual intent means that the alien has the intention to work in the United States temporarily on that non-immigrant visa but also intends to remain in this country permanently.

Foreign nationals seeking visi-tors’ visas must be “otherwise admissible.” That means that they must not be inadmissible under the various categories set out in the Immigration & Nationality Act. These categories include foreign nationals who have certain health disorders that may pose a threat to the alien or others, those who have been determined by the US government to be a drug user or

abuser, those convicted of crimes involving moral turpitude, those who the consular officer has rea-son to believe has engaged in or intend to engage in certain forbid-den activities, such as controlled substance or human trafficking money laundering, violation of espionage laws or terrorist ac-tivities, those likely to become a public charge, those who have entered the United States with-out “papers” or whose visa has expired, those who have made a material misrepresentation in order to obtain an immigration benefit, stowaways, smugglers, those previously removed from the United States, those who incurred the “unlawful presence bar” by having been in the United States unlawfully for between 6months to one year and who departed the United States less than 10 years prior to the current application for admission, and those unlawfully present in the United States after previous im-migration violations.

The list, which is not exclusive, appears daunting. However, a non-immigrant visa waiver exists for many of the grounds of inad-missibility. As with all things im-migration, the waiver is more dif-ficult to obtain than it would seem at first glance, but it is certainly possible. One interested in com-ing to the United States for any reason would be wise to consult an experienced and knowledge-able immigration lawyer before applying for a visa.

***Reeves, Mi l ler, Zhang & D iza Law Corporation’s offices are located in Pasadena, Irvine, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Makati City. Telephone: (800) 795-8009 E-mail: immigration@rreeves.com Website: www.rreeves.com.

***The analysis and suggestions offered in this column do not create a lawyer-client relationship and are not a substitute for the personalized representation that is essential to every case. (Advertising Supplement)

THErE is no question that diet plays a very important role in health and the development of cardiovas-cular diseases, metabolic illnesses, and some forms of cancer, espe-cially of the gastrointestinal tract. One particular diet—one high in saturated fat and cholesterol, and low in fiber—consisting mainly of red meats (pork, beef, non-skim dairy products, etc) and eggs, has been branded as unhealthy. Volu-minous clinical studies have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that excess serum cholesterol, specifi-cally chronically elevated HDL (the bad cholesterol) and triglycerides, is the culprit in the more than half a million deaths from heart attack each year in the United States alone. This translates to one per-son dying from a cardiovascular illness every 60 seconds. And this does not even include the mortality from debilitating lungs conditions and cancers.

The culpritCholesterol is a sterol, a com-

plex alcohol constituent of animal fats and oils. If abnormally high in the blood stream, this substance

forms plaques which adhere to the inner wall of arteries causing hard-ening of the arteries and stenoses (blockages), many leading to heart attacks, strokes, or poor leg circula-tion. This particular matter is being re-evaluated in clinical studies.

Sources of cholesterolWhile our liver produces (en-

dogenous) cholesterol, the main source of (exogenous) cholesterol in our body and the blood is from the food we eat. Some of the food that are high in cholesterol include: egg yolk, pork, duck, chicken skin, lamb, beef (and other red meats), butter, lard, and other non-skim dairy products.

Omega-3 fatty acidsThe good fats come from fish

and is called Fish Oil or Omega-3 fatty acids. These substances are a natural blood thinner that prevents blood clot formation and minimizes hardening of the arteries. Thus, eating fish daily reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke, even among those who are diabetics and hypertensives (those with high blood pressure), provided these conditions are treated and well-controlled.

The cholesterol factorEverything else being similar,

diabetics and hypertensives re-spond better to treatment, have fewer complications from their

illness, and have a better prognosis if their total cholesterol, HDL, LDL and triglycerides are normal, com-pared to those whose lipid profile is out of whack.

Diet and longevityThe proponents of the veg-

etarian diet argue that studies have shown that the longest-lived animals had low-calorie vegetarian diet, and that rats fed high protein, high fat diet had the shortest life span. The studies of Dr. Paul Dud-ley on the Hunzas of Pakistan, who have amazing longevity, showed that they subsist on spartan and vegetarian diet of nuts, grains, fruits, vegetables, and a little goat milk. Fresh and/or dried apricots are their staple food. The Hunzas’ lifespan is 140 years. Numerous other studies have shown that, all other factors being equal, non-meat diet is more conducive to healthier lifestyle and a longer lifespan.

Vegetables and fruitsVegetables and fruits have phy-

tochemicals that are good for our body. Twenty three epide-miological studies have shown that diet rich in grains and vegetables reduces the risk of colon cancer by 40 percent, and breast cancer by 25 percent. Some of the hundreds of phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables are: lycophene, ellagic

PAGE B6

MonetteAdevA MAglAyA

ImmigrantLiving: 101 and Beyond

Three cheers for the multitasking woman“In this life, we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.” — Mother Teresa

PrEPArE to be amazed. A truly busy woman, who is both efficient and effective, has mas-tered by trial and error, over a period of time, that fine blend of mixing the art and science of planning her work and work-ing her plan. Mix in the power-ful emotion of love and she can produce stupendous results in every area of her life.

Nowhere is this life skill more put to the test than here in America where a person’s worth, whether we like it or not, is measured, not only by her productivity and her creativity but also, by her results.

With apologies to men, note that I refer to the multitasker as a woman. For with the liberated, emancipated status of women in some parts of the world, multi-tasking, as a socio-cultural phe-nomenon, has become the area of expertise of womanhood.

Some studies confirm that women’s wiring or DNA struc-ture equips them to multitask at incredible levels.

Multitasking is a skill needed

to navigate a person’s day-to-day life. The major strides in tech-nology have further enhanced our capability to produce re-sults. No matter how much we want to buck the system, there is no way we can get around the fact that in order to thrive, let alone survive at this time and in this place, the life skills we need to acquire and develop some level of competence in, are in the areas of planning our work and working our plan.

You know what a delight it is to work on a project that has been well conceived planned and ex-ecuted so that everything comes together in seamless fashion. On the flip side of the coin, we also know how aggravating it is to be involved in one that is a mess from the beginning.

Men have always been great planners and women have learned a lot from men. For some reason that may be attrib-

uted to the demands of modern life, women are somehow doing it better as they switch to the multifaceted roles they play as wife or significant other, moth-er, daughter, sister, worker, cru-sader … the list can go on and on.

History bears out that most of the great leaders of all time, whether in politics, in industry and in business are supreme planners. And contrary to com-mon knowledge, such leaders not only see the nebulous big picture, but are also able to roll up their sleeves and work on the nitty-gritty — those thousand and one details very few people want to be bothered with.

In everyday life, we can per-haps single out a few names at work, in our church, in our club or association who can plan the work and work the plan. Like thoroughbreds, these account

may 12-18, 2016 • LaS VEGaS aSIaN JOURNaL http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678B� Features

Prof. EnriquE M. Soriano

The KiteRunner

Family feuds and shattered families

“It’s not the first “prominent/wealthy family” inheritance battle waged nor will it certainly be the last, but the on-going estate litiga-tion of Potenciano ‘Nanoy’ Iluso-rio’s heirs has emerged as one of the longest, nastiest, most public, no-holds-barred litigious family feuds in Philippine history or in the annals of jurisprudence.”

that is how the Ilusorio Fam-ily Conflict was described by the media and the Philippine courts after close to 300 civil and crimi-nal cases were filed between two warring factions.

there are six Ilusorio children involved in the feud: sons Ramon (chair emeritus of Multinational Investment Bancorporation) and Maxie, and daughters Lin, sylvia (president and vice president of Philcomsat, respectively), Honi and shereen.

Ramon and shereen were al-lied with mother Erlinda against the rest. Honi was allied with Ramon in the beginning, but has since shifted her allegiance to the other “team.”

Most of the rancor, however, now seems to be between Ramon on one side and three sisters—Lin, sylvia and Honi—on the other. According to the source, Ramon and shereen tried to keep the news of their mother’s passing from the three sisters in Manila. the sisters found out about it only four days later from a relative of Erlinda’s attending physician in New York.

It was tit for tat, says another source, also close to the family. It seems that when Potenciano

died, some of the sisters also kept the news from Ramon. A memo-rial service for Erlinda was held at sanctuario de san Antonio in Forbes Park, organized by the Manila faction.

strangely enough, the funeral urn held Potenciano’s ashes, since Erlinda’s ashes were still in the keeping of Ramon and shereen. A separate memorial, organized by Ramon, was held March 4 in Legazpi Village, Makati.

the three sisters were point-edly excluded from the service, according to the source. se-curity was even given detailed instructions to bar them from the premises.

this article is not meant to add fuel to the fire. We are simply re-stating the chronicle of events for a better understanding of those who are not familiar with the case and to drive home the point how important is the foresight to pre-pare for any such eventuality long before the heirs are confronted by the business founder’s mortality.

Agreements offers hope, clar-ity and sustainability

Pursuing doggedly a family agreement is critical as it paves the way for family and busi-ness Governance but it is EMPtY if there is no owner’s agreement.

Documenting owner’s agree-ment is key while the family mem-bers are still young. Often called the shareholder’s agreement, it is meant to protect the rights of owners. It specifies the legal and contractual understandings among shareholder on ownership of shares and governance issues. the agreement is important be-cause it is the blueprint for the transfer of ownership. Without such an agreement in place, transfers can become mired in differences of opinion.

As wills and estates lawyers authors Les Kotzer, Barry Fish and Jordan Atin explain in their book,

“the Family War,” how a will is worded can pit family members against each other, as well. “For many children, a parent’s will is interpreted as reflecting some-thing deeper about their lifelong relationship. those words in black and white are an expression of a parent’s confidence or distrust, pride or disappointment in the child. A large gift, or a smaller one, is seen as a reward or a reprimand.”

there is now a vogue among the famous, including Anita Rod-dick, Bill Gates and Nigella Law-son, to declare that they will not spoil their children with ludicrous fortunes but leave the money to charity. Hong Kong superstar Jacky Chan once said: “I’ve made my money myself — my son should make his own way in the world.”

Even the popular singer sting, who recently staged a concert here has time and again declared that he will not leave any inheri-tance to his six children. He was quoted as saying “ I have told my children not to expect to inherit my money (estimated to be worth more than $255 M or close to P12 B) as I don’t believe in trust funds. I fear that my wealth will be alba-trosses round there necks”.

In short, sting was very clear…his children will have to fend for themselves and find their own way in the world as well.

* * *Prof. Soriano is an ASEAN Family Business Advisor, Book Author and Executive Director of ASEAN-based Consulting group, Wong + Bernstein Advisory. He is slated to deliver a series of talks in the US this May. Grab Prof Soriano’s book as he shares his insights and offer solutions to Family Businesses through his second book entitled “Ensuring The Family Business Legacy.” For those interested, please call Marianne at +639255224713 or email her at mrevilla@wongadvisory.com. Prof Soriano’s business articles can also be accessed at www.Faminbusiness.com.

By Monet Lu

The Beautiful Life’s 8 most beautiful Fil-Ams

Danielle Nicole Viray Jasmine Reyes Lindsay Berneking Krystal Von Seyfried

Richie Ann Soliven Emeline Sturgeon Krystal Rey Hipolito Grachelle Gonong

tHEsE Filipino-American beau-ties prove they are ‘confidently beautiful with a heart’ and with brains.

Danielle Nicole VirayDahl Aesthetic skin Care’s en-

dorser, Danielle is a sophomore at san Fernando Valley Academy, a member of the National Honor society and Beta Club and is cur-rently on the varsity volleyball team. In addition to her social and academic involvement, she also does volunteer work in dog shelters and is actively involved in her church. Danielle dreams of becoming a surgeon and start her own foundation for children with special defects.

Jasmine ReyesA Fashion Merchandising and

Photography student at santa Monica College, Jasmine is well-rounded in working both in front of and behind the camera. she works as a freelance model and has walked down the runway of LA Fashion Week. she also performed at LA’s renowned stages such as the Ford Ampitheater and Kodak theater. Jasmine loves performing on stage, especially the adrenaline rush that comes with it. Her love for dancing started at the age of 12 and has since trained in ballet, jazz, hip hop, and salsa.

Lindsay Bernekingshe is the current World Pro/AM

Champion for American smooth in the Junior and Youth divisions and was ranked 3rd in Pro/Am Youth International Latin. Lindsay is a sophomore at Orange County school of the Arts in the Interna-tional Dance Conservatory. she is trained in classical, commercial and ballroom dance and has com-peted successfully on state and national level as well as the Hip

Nothing beats seeing gratitude through the eyes of a child

IN my many years of practice and numerous trips abroad to do charitable dental missions I run into many incidents worth the anecdotes I love to tell my family, friends and colleagues. some are amazing, others are funny and a few are heart breaking.

this is one of those worth my time to tell and share because nothing warms the heart better than seeing gratitude through the eyes of indigent children from some remote and distant village in the Philippines whose long-stand-ing dental pain I relieved.

It’s priceless, to say the least!I run a non –profit corporation

called Dentistry For Every Village Foundation. Our mission is to build full service dental offices in select areas in the country and donate them to an entity that can run and manage them so they can provide free dentistry to the poor-est of the poor- the people most local dentists will not routinely see because they have nothing to pay for the services. these patients are the truly destitute and they need help.

With the cooperation of many donors, in this particular case, the st. scholastica’s College Manila High school Class of 1966, the Foundation was able to complete a dental clinic that sports the latest in dental equipment including a digi-tal dental x-ray system. some say it is the first digital x-ray system

in the whole Province of Northern samar, Philippines.

the clinic was endorsed to the st. scholastica’s Mission Hospital, a new 25- bed hospital constructed with funding from Hyundai Asia Resources on land donated by lo-cal landowners, the salazar family. the Missionary sisters from the Order of st. Benedictine run the hospital.

Before the clinic was endorsed to the Hospital, with the help of a group of local dentists from Las Piñas City called Group A Dental Associates, we conducted a dental mission where in we offered free basic and emergency dentistry to the residents of the nine “baran-gays” (villages) that make up the town of Pambujan. the Interna-tional Collage of Dentists Global Visionary Funds, Henry schein

Cares Foundation, the DLV Fam-ily trust, Hands of Hope North-West, sun star America, Colgate Philippines, the BioMedis-United Laboratories, and many friends, colleagues and other donors pro-vided supplies and instruments.

More than four hundred adults and children where seen in the four days that we conducted the mission. Many of the patients, particularly the very young and those in their early teens have never seen a dentist before. A good number of them, we later found out just suffered the pain in silence until someone like us comes to rectify their problems. One rather elderly lady even confessed to us that she has never visited a dentist in her entire life. And, she was in her 60’s!

Hop International twice. Lindsay also competed in the Miss Young Philippines UsA 2015 pageant and bagged both “Miss talented’ and “Miss Photogenic.”

Krystal Von Seyfriedthis aspiring entrepreneur

is the only child of Emerita von seyfried neé Leonardo, a clinical lab scientist at UCLA and Henry Festner von seyfried, a real estate investor and former actor from Munich, Germany. Krystal is an LA native and is majoring in business administration with dual emphasis in operations management and entrepreneurship. she competed in several beauty pageants since she was young. Her future plans include studying abroad at the prestigious Waseda University in tokyo and competing for Miss Northeast in Connecticut as well as for Miss California.

Richie Anne Soliven“If you are confident with who

you are and are always humble, you will prosper through life.” –this is the motto by which Richie Anne soliven lives by. the beautiful lady from Eastvale, CA is a certified civic and humanitarian advocate. she volunteers regularly in many Filipino events and organizations. she enjoys taking part in these event as it reminds her of her roots – and makes her proud to be a Filipina. Her unique talents include the ability to solve a rubix cube in less than a minute.

Emmeline SturgeonEmmeline realized her love for

children when she volunteered to watch over the kids in her church. she would always play with the younger kids who, in turn, also loved spending time with her. she realized she has a soft spot and special connection with children. A Junior at the California state University in Los Angeles major-ing in microbiology, Emmeline works full time but never fails to spend some quality time with her beloved family. Growing up she had an immense love for theater and choir and has dedicated most of her time into Perform-ing Arts.

Krystalyn Laura Rey HipolitoIn the past four years, Krystal

served as a membership chair, secretary and co-president for the society of Hispanic Profes-sional Engineers CsULB chapter, a volunteer in promoting science, technology engineering and math (stEM) through a non-profit or-ganization called Great Minds in science technology Engineering and Math, and a founding member of the Zeta tau Alpha Delta Alpha chapter. Krystal is studying Electri-cal and Biomedical Engineering at California state University in Long Beach. Her biggest passion in life is working with children and promoting higher educa-tion. Krystal currently works as a healthcare administrative assistant at southern California Immediate Medical Clinic.

Grachelle GonongGrachelle Gonong is a senior

at the University of California at Irvine, where she is majoring in pharmaceutical sciences. she interned at the Hydration Room in Newport, where she helped in overseeing the flow of patients and assisted in accommodating visi-tor and patient inquires. she has been active in civic activities as a youth leader and activities director of sons and Daughters of Paoay UsA. she is also an active member of the Philippine Independence Coordinating Council of southern California and the Pre-Pharmacy society and Kababayan at the University of California. Grachelle also served as North Region’s as-sistant governor for Rotary Interact District 5280 in LA County.

***Monet Lu is a Marikina-born, award-

winning celebrity beauty stylist with his own chain of Monet Salon salons across Southern California and Las Vegas, Nevada. Ultimately, Monet is known as an all-around artiste who produces sold-out fashion and awards shows as well as unforgettable marketing campaigns. Monet is also the founder of the revolutionary all-natural beauty products such as Enlighten, your solution to discoloration. To contact Monet, please visit www.monetsalon.com or email him at monetsalon@aol.com

acid, lutein, flavanoids, saponins, monoterpenes, phthalides, phe-nols, ajoene, cassaicin, coumestrol, genistein, sulforaphane, zeanthin. Our mothers were right in cajoling us to eat vegetables and fruits while we were growing up. too bad, most of us didn’t listen. But since we are now wiser and know better, let’s educate our own children and per-suade them to eat more vegetables and fruits—and less animal meat---for better health. the incidence of cancers, heart and kidney diseases, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity among vegetarians is much lower than among meat-eaters.

Vegetarian who’s whoIf you are a vegetarian, you’re

in good company. some of the famous vegetarians include Py-thagoras, socrates, Plato, Leonardo da Vinci, Buddha, Plutarch, John

No-meat diet and longevityMilton, sir Isaac Newton, Ma-hatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Benjamin Franklin, shakespeare, Vicent Van Gogh, Leo tolstoy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Voltaire, Albert schweitzer, George Bernard shaw, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Rabindranath tagore, Mark twain, Robert Browning, Linda and Paul McCartney, John Denver, Rich-ard Gere, Kim Bassinger, steven spielberg, Cameron Diaz, Josh Hartnett…etc.

Was Jesus a vegetarian?Knowledge as recorded in the

bible about how the Essenes, the Nazoreans and Ebionites, lived suggests that Christ was probably a vegetarian. He was vehemently against animal sacrifices. Matthew and Peter were said to be vegetar-ians. the brother of Jesus, James the Just, the first head of the church

in Jerusalem after the death of Christ, was raised as a vegetarian. If Jesus’s parents raised James as vegetarian then it would be likely that Jesus was also raised as one. the early Christian fathers ad-hered to a meatless regime. Many early Christian groups supported the meatless way of life. In fact, the writings of the early Church indicate that meat-eating was not officially allowed until the 4th century, when the Emperor Con-stantine decreed that the practice of vegetarianism was heresy and punishable by death.

Strength, vigor and vitalitythe belief that vegetarians

are weak and sickly is a myth. Elephants, bulls, cows, carabaos, and some dinosaurs (plateosaurus, brachiosaurus, etc.) are a few of the strongest animals known to man --- all herbivores. Various studies comparing athletes who are car-nivores and herbivores revealed astonishing findings: Vegetarian athletes fared 2 to 3 times better, with greater endurance and better recovery time, compared to their meat-eating counterparts in similar sport activities.

Vegetables with proteinVegetarians get their protein

from soybeans, lentils, kidney beans, lima and pinto beans, black beans, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, peanuts, almonds, cashew, sunflower seeds, and other nuts, broccoli and other vegetables, wheat, grains, brown rice, potato, and eggs and dairy products. these sources easily meet the daily re-quirement of between 60-80 grams of protein, even for vegans. so, animal meat is not really essential for health and life.

Prescription?A daily low-fat, low-cholesterol,

high-fiber diet of fish and a lot of vegetables, fruits, nuts and grains (brown rice instead of white, or no rice at all), with occasional red meat, if desired, coupled with abstinence from tobacco, doing daily exercises, maintaining proper weight, drinking a glass or two of red wine with dinner, taking a daily multivitamin-mineral supplement, taking time off with friends and/or family for rest and relaxation on weekends, visiting the doc-tor for check-up as advised, and adequately treating any existing medical condition (hypertension, diabetes, etc) is our prescription for health, peace, happiness, and better productivity.

***Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, Cardiac

Surgeon Emeritus in Northwest Indiana and chairman of cardiac surgery from 1997 to 2010 at Cebu Doctors University Hospital, where he holds the title of Physician Emeritus in Surgery, is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Philippine College of Surgeons, and the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. He is the chairman of the Filipino United Network – USA, a 501(c)(3) humanitarian foundation in the United States. Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com

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by Ed dE la VEga, ddSInquirer.net

(702) 792-6678 • http://www.asianjournal.com LAS VEGAS ASIAN JOURNAL • mAy 12-18, 2016 B�Features

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION. On May 1, Monica B. Aranas celebrated 98th birthday at the Hillside Senior Care in Fremont, CA. Joining the celebration were her children, sons and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, relatives and friends. Her siblings Willie, Pamela, Dexter, Amor and Minnie also attended the event.

Nothing beats seeing gratitude through...Many of the kids we treated

spoke broken Tagalog, (the na-tional language) because it was not the primary dialect in the region. (The Philippines has 8 major dia-lects) But the gleam in their eyes and the shy smile on their faces after their problem is resolved speaks volume. It’s the best “thank you” ever that I have received from anyone I have treated in my over 50 years of doing dentistry!

I will never forget a 3-year old presented to us with multiple decayed teeth. When I asked the mother why the kid was allowed to get to such a situation her answer to me literally broke my heart.

“Hindi po naming masyadong binibigyan nang pansin yan. Ang importante po sa amin ay kung saan kukuha nang pagkain sa araw na ito, bukas, at sa makalawa’ (We do not prioritize dentistry. What is important to us is where to get food for today, for tomorrow and the next day).

Many of the folks from the area I heard only eat twice a day. And they only eat what they can catch in the rivers and the ocean and what they can grow in the fields. Poverty, needless to say runs supreme in the countryside, an area where typhoons come at least three times a year and the El Niño heat in between.

The dental clinic we donated therefore will be a blessing for them.

In addition, it will even be help-ful for the handful of local dentists from the neighboring areas whose equipment is not up to date. If they need x-rays for their patients, they don’t have to send them to distant cities anymore just to get x-rays. They can avail of the digital x-ray

system we provided to the clinic.With the dental clinic, the many

indigent residents in the area now have a place to go to address many of their dental problems without fear of spending whatever miniscule resources they have that is dedicated for their food and shelter.

Another patient that stood out was a 13-year old youngster that came bright and early in the morn-ing the very first day we arrived at the hospital. His face was swollen and he was running a fever. A quick look indicated that he has a badly decayed tooth that got infected and now is abscessed. I immediately gave him a heavy dose of antibiotics and a few pain pills with instructions to come back late the following day.

When he came back the swell-ing has considerably subsided and the pain he said, was drastically reduced.

But what he had in his hands clearly blew me away.

He had a few wild flowers he picked along the way when he walked 3 kilometers to get to us. “Para sa iyo ito Doc. Ito lang po ang kaya kong ibigay para pasalamat sa

iyo” (This is for you Doc. It is the only thing I can get for you to say thank you).

A young dentist from the area and visiting dentists from the Group A Dental Associates will man the dental clinic we donated. The Foundation and the Mission-ary Sisters will share the cost to assure that the dental clinic is well stocked and will function at least 3 days a week.

During the dental mission, we also provided food for the com-munity people paid for by the Foundation. Hundreds enjoyed the numerous vats full of chicken arroz caldo with Malunggay leaves cooked for the event.

The next project of the Founda-tion is now on the drawing boards. It will be for the Ati people in Province of Capiz. The Ati are the indigenous people from Panay Island who we hear are essentially considered as “invisible people”. They are marginalized due to their lack of education and lack of politi-cal value.

Hopefully we receive enough grants and donations during the year so we can build and open it in spring of 2017.

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for a small percentage of the general population — a select breed of individuals who can shepherd a project sometimes with less than adequate time and resources from start to fin-ish.

Here is how it’s generally done. Break it down to bite sizes. As you flesh out the de-tails of a project, the number of sub-tasks and the sequence with which these smaller tasks need to be done becomes clearer. As-signing who does what further breaks down the job to smaller and manageable bite sizes. As

Three cheers for the multitasking...Obituary: Olympio S. GalonOlympio was honored the Out-standing Leadership Award by Consul General Romeo Arguelles of San Francisco.

He was Life Member of the Filipino Professionals and Busi-nessman Association, President/Chairman of the Filipino Ameri-can Council of Northern & Cen-tral California, President of the Optimist Club of San Francisco, President of the Bohol Circle in Alameda, California and in 1986 formulated the first Confederation of Boholanos in United States &

Canada called CONBUSAC. Before relocating to Las Vegas,

Olympio was founder and first President of the Filipino American Association of Foster City, Califor-nia now in it’s 43rd year. He was Chairman of the Art & Cultural Committee of Foster City, Chair-man for the Foster City Interna-tional Festival and a member of the Filipino American Council of San Mateo.

He and his wife eventually moved to Las Vegas in 2000 where he was the organizer, founder and President of the

Boholanos of Las Vegas and was a member and advisor to the Phil-ippine Bisayan Society of Nevada and advisor and organizer for the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, NaFFAA and was eventually awarded the “Outstanding Boholano Award” for his public service and com-munity development.

He was an incredible leader, powerful and inspirational speak-er and great family man. He truly will be missed!

Olympio Galon’s favorite quote: “Time is Gold!”

you look ahead, you are able to anticipate problems even before these happen. With good plan-ning, things can be monitored much more closely to measure progress. Since projects almost always cost money, planning helps us stay within budgetary constraints. Ultimately, plan-ning brings us full circle helping us stay focused on the goal.

But here’s a caveat. Lest we think that planning is foolproof, there is still a chance that no matter how carefully we plan and execute a project, we still need to accept that stuff happens and things could go wrong.

Robert Burns said it best, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” There are no guarantees that something will work out because of a great plan. Still, even if this possibil-ity exists, mapping out projects and fleshing them out stacks good fortune in our favor and steers us towards success — all because of the simple act of planning our work and working our plan.

* * *Nota Bene: Monette Adeva Maglaya is SVP of Asian Journal Publications, Inc. To send comments, e-mail monette.maglaya@asianjournalinc.com

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may 12-18, 2016 • LaS VEGaS aSIaN JOURNaL http://www.asianjournal.com • (702) 792-6678B�

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