Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015

Why Sam Milby

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ex AnneSee Page 7W W W . U S A S I A N P O S T . C O M

Vol. 5 No. 11 LOS ANGELES A BALITA MEDIA PUBLICATION

See ECONOMY, page 12

MANILA, Dec 4 (Mabuhay) – The Philippines is on its way to become a $1-trillion economy by 2030, according to international analytics fi rm IHS Global Insight, saying it is only sovereign entity in Asia with improving credit pros-pects.

The country is presently follow-ing a trend of improving fi nancial fundamentals, investor confi dence, and governance standards, IHS Global, noted in the third quarter report “Sovereign Risk Review.”

The Colorado, USA-based ana-lytics company, which also assigns its own credit rating, upgraded its Philippine outlook to “positive from stable.” The company’s reports are used as reference by other orga-nizations as well as credit rating agencies, investment banks, and development institutions.

“The improved outlook means that the Philippines’ existing credit rating with IHS at the minimum investment grade of ‘BBB-‘ has a

chance of being raised over the near term,” Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Investor Relations Offi ce (IRO) said on Friday.

“… Apart from the clearly strengthened macro-financials over the last few years, the more recent upgrade to the Philippines’ outlook to positive in Q3 rested on improved governance standards and reforms enhancing competi-tiveness under the Aquino admin-istration,” IHS Global noted.

The Philippines is the only sovereign in Asia that garnered a positive action from IHS.

“IHS recognized the Philippines’ comfortable liquidity as evidenced by sustained surpluses in its cur-rent account, as well as continually improving manageability of debt on the back of prudent fi scal man-agement and growing economy,” the IRO said.

The Philippines’ current ac-count posted a surplus of $4.7 bil-

Students from Ramon Magsaysay Cubao High School participate in an online video conference with students from Mindanao on Wednesday. The initiative is part of the Global Classroom, a program of DepED and Peace Teach, Inc. to mainstream peace education curriculum in the country.(MNS photo)

MANILA, Dec 4 (Mabuhay) – The Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has issued a 20-day temporary restraining order against the operation of trans-portation network vehicle service (TNVS) without certifi cate of pub-lic convenience or franchise.

The TRO issued by RTC Branch 217 puts a stop on the orders is-sued by the Department of Trans-portation and Communications (DOTC) and the Land Transporta-tion Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) that allows the operation.

Among said issuances is the

DOTC Department Order No. 2015-011, which introduced ad-ditional standard classifi cations for public trasnport conveyances, including TNVS.

It was granted in favor of the Stop and Go Coalition.

The TRO also recognized the coalition’s argument that income of those driving transport utilities with franchise are affected because of the likes of Uber and Grab, which operate without one.

It said the income of drivers of taxi and UV express (FX) were slahed by up to half because of the

(VATICAN) President Benigno S. Aquino III and His Holiness Pope Francis view the gifts at the Sala dei Papi of the Apostolic Palace during the private audience on Friday (December 04, 2015). (MNS photo)

MANILA, Dec 5 (Mabuhay) – President Benigno Aquino III has invited Pope Francis to return to the Philippines during his state visit in Rome, Italy.

“Doon sa Secretary of State ko yata nabanggit. So, sabi ko, my countrymen have instructed me to extend the invitation to the Holy Father anytime that he’d want,” the President said, speaking with

Filipino journalists in Italy on Friday.

Aquino said that Pope Francis could not immediately confi rm that he will return to the Philippines.

“They understand that the in-vitation is open, but para clear, hindi niya sinabing pupunta siya sa atin dahil ang klaro napakarami niyang kailangang puntahan pang

MANILA, Dec 5 (Mabuhay) – President Benigno Aquino III on Saturday afternoon returned from his week-long trip in France, Vatican, and Rome with news of improvement and possible climate support from European leaders.

Aquino announced during his arrival speech that European lead-ers vowed to stop global tempera-tures from spilling over 1.5 degrees Celsius during the 21st Conference of Parties on Climate Change.

“Kakabit po nito ang panawa-gan natin na tulungan ang mga bansa tulad natin sa aspeto ng cli-

MANILA, Dec 4 (Mabuhay) – Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko are scheduled to pay a state visit to the Philippines in January, Malacañang said on Friday.

In a text message to Palace re-porters, presidential spokesman Secretary Edwin Lacierda said the state visit would be from January 26 to 30.

“The state visit is in response to President Benigno Aquino III’s long-standing invitation for Their Majesties to visit the Philippines,” Lacierda said.

“Their Majesties last visited the Philippines in 1962 when they

MANILA, Dec 5 (Mabuhay) – Commissioners from the three-member Second Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) would most likely stick to its decision disqualifying Sen. Grace Poe from the 2016 presidential race for her failure to meet the residency requirement.

High-profi le litigation lawyer Raymond Fortun said he does not see Comelec Commissioners Al Parreno, Arthur Lim, and Sheriff Abas reversing their ruling on the matter, especially since they voted unanimously.

“From experience, a unanimous decision is already an ominous sign. It is highly unlikely that these same commissioners would Miss Universe Philippines 2015 Pia Wurtzbach (right) poses for media with Miss Costa

Rica Brenda Castro and Miss China Yun Fang Xue during the registration and fi tting process at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on Thursday. Coronation night will be held on December 20, 2015. (MNS photo)

PHL a $1-T economy by 2030: IHS Global

20-day TRO issued vs. operations of Uber, GrabCar

Aquino arrives from Europe trip

Aquino invites Pope Francis to return to PHL

Japanese emperor, empress to visit Manila in January

Lawyer: Comelec likely to stick to ruling on Poe’s DQ case

See EUROPE TRIP, page 12See GRABCAR, page 12

See EMPEROS VISIT, page 12

See INVITES POPE, page 12

See COMELEC, page 12

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST2

MANILA, Dec 4 (Mabu-hay) – President Benigno Aquino III on Friday (Ma-nila time) took an apparent swipe at the opponents of administration candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas II in the 2016 presidential elec-tions.

In his speech before the Filipino community in Rome, Italy, Aquino bashed Vice President Jejomar Bi-nay, Senators Grace Poe and Miriam Defensor Santiago, and Davao City Mayor Ro-drigo Duterte, who are all gunning for the presidency.

Aquino’s meeting with some 500 Filipinos in Rome is part of his four-day visit to Rome and the Vatican.

He said Filipinos should carefully choose the right successor who will sustain the gains of his administra-tion.

“Ang tanong sa inyo sa susunod na halalan, tayo ba ay patuloy na tataas o baba-gsak tayo pabalik sa ating pinanggalingan? Suriin po natin ang mga pagpipilian natin,” said Aquino.

Without naming names, Aquino hit Vice President Binay, who is facing a string of corruption allegations during his term as mayor of Makati City.

“Mayroon po d iyan,

inakusahan ng pagsa-samsam ng kaban ng bayan sa pagkatagal-tagal na pa-nahon.

Kung totoo ho ang ale-gasyon at nagnanakaw nga itong taong ito, ano po kaya ang matitira para tustusan ang pagganda ng buhay na ipinapangako niya?” said Aquino.

Aquino also slammed Senator Poe, whom he ear-lier wooed to be the admin-istration party’s vice-presi-dential candidate.

“Mayroon din naman po, nangangakong hihigitan ang lahat ng nagawa natin, at kung mangyari po ‘yan ako na ho ang unang papal-akpak. Pero pakinggan nat-ing mabuti: Ni minsan hindi niya nasabi kung paano tutuparin ang pangako. Walang konteksto, walang plano, panay batikos at hilaw na pangako,” said Aquino.

“Akala po yata niya, ‘pag nahalal siya, gigis-ing siya kinabukasan sa isang bagong umaga ng may solusyon na sa lahat ng mga binanggit niyang problema,” he added.

Poe is running as an in-dependent presidential can-didate under the theme of “Bagong Umaga.”

Aquino also took a swipe

at tough-talking Duterte, saying: “May isa naman po, marami raw po tilang papatayin.”

Speaking of Senator San-tiago, the chief executive said: “Ang isa, dadaanin lang daw basta ang kampa-nya sa social media. Siguro po, hindi siya mulat na hindi ka makakapagpatayo ng kalsada at makakapagpak-ain ng nagugutom gamit lang ang Facebook.”

Santiago earlier claimed that she is the netizens’ top choice for president in 2016.

Even Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, who is running for vice president, was not spared in Aquino’s speech.

“Ang postura daw po niya, gagawin niya ang tama, pero hindi naman niya maamin ang mga pagkakamaling nagawa sa nakaraan. ‘Di po ba: Kung hindi niya si-nasabing mali, malamang palagay niya tama ito? Kung palagay niya tama, mala-mang din po, uulitin niya ang mga pagkakamaling ito,” said Aquino.

Senator Marcos, son and namesake of the late strong-man Ferdinand Marcos, has repeatedly said that he has nothing to apologize for over the Martial Law years. (MNS)

Rep. Imelda Marcos sits with a book in her hands during the launch of their product, “Imeldifi que” cooking wines, at a restaurant in Quezon City on Tuesday. The Marcoses are trying to solidify their return to power, with Sen. Bongbong Marcos running for vice president in the May 2016 elections.(MNS photo)

MANILA, Dec 4 (Mabu-hay) – The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Friday said they are bracing themselves for the continua-tion of the alleged demolition job against the opposition’s presidential candidate.

This, following the re-marks made by President Benigno Aquino III alluding to the accusations of corrup-tion against Binay while pushing for his preferred successor, Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Mar Roxas.

In a statement, Atty. Rico Quicho, vice presidential spokesperson for political af-fairs, said they fi nd it “unfor-tunate” that the President has supposedly forgotten his earlier statement that Binay should be presumed innocent.

Aquino’s latest “jab” against the Vice President, said Quicho, signals the con-tinuation of the demolition job against Binay, the stan-dard bearer of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

“But the President’s lat-est jab can be interpreted as a signal to resume the demolition work on the Vice

President. We are bracing ourselves but we will not be deterred from talking to the people about the Vice President’s programs to ad-dress poverty, hunger and unemployment,” he said.

Aquino, speaking before the Filipino community in Italy, slammed the other individuals vying for the presidency, including Sena-tor Grace Poe, Senator Mir-iam Defensor Santiago, and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

“Suriin po natin ang mga pagpipilian natin. Mayroon po diyan, inakusahan ng pagsasamsam ng kaban ng bayan sa pagkatagal-tagal na panahon. Kung totoo ang alegasyon at nagnanakaw nga itong taong ito, ano po kaya ang matitira para tus-tusan ang pagganda ng bu-hay na ipinapangako niya?” the President said, an ap-parent swipe against Binay.

The camp of Binay, for his part, turned the tables on the President and his anointed successor, saying Roxas’ alleged incompetence and inaction as secretary of the Department of Transpor-

tation and Communications (DOTC) and the Department of Interior and Local Gov-ernment (DILG) “only made situations worse.”

“The MRT is in a worse state now. Traffi c is now a daily hell for commuters and motorists. Licenses and car plates take forever. Billions in funds for local govern-ments, water projects, devel-opmental programs remain unreleased and trapped in a bureaucratic limbo of his own making.

“Citizens live in fear and no longer feel safe in their homes. We have rampant criminality, unsolved kill-ings of judges and journal-ists, and a drug menace that has infected almost all barangays in the country,” said Quicho.

These, he said, need con-crete answers from Roxas, who is running on a platform of continuity.

The Binay camp, howev-er, claimed that this means continuing “the insensitive and ineffi cient governance that has failed to address poverty, hunger and unem-ployment.” (MNS)

MANILA, Dec 4 (Mabu-hay) – Davao City Mayor Ro-drigo Duterte on Friday indi-cated that he was too young to think about fi ling a com-plaint when he was allegedly sexually abused by a priest during his high school years at the Ateneo De Davao. “First year, magreklamo ka? Takot ka baka ikaw pa ang ma-whack,” the 70-year-old Duterte said when asked why he didn’t complain when the abuse supposedly happened.

Duterte, however, said that he was not upset with all members of the clergy.

He said three priests who are close to him had told him that Davao Archbishop Ro-mulo Valles wanted to talk to him and he’s willing to meet the prelate.

“Pinatawag ako. Walang akong magawa. In matters of religion, may away nga naman ako pero pag sinabi ng bishop na halika rito mag-usap tayo, wala akong magawa. I have to go there,” Duterte said.

MANILA, Dec 4 (Mabu-hay) – The Offi ce of the Om-budsman has found prob-able cause to indict Caibi-ran, Biliran Mayor Eulalio Maderazo for graft over the procurement of medicines without public bidding in 2010.

Maderazo is facing charg-es for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. Mu-nicipal Treasurer Loreto Serdeña Jr. and Account-ing Department Officer-in-Charge Rodolfo Baguna are also facing charges for conspiring with the mayor in giving unwarranted benefi t, advantage and preference to the supplier, Andrea Medi Center.

According to the Ombuds-man, investigation revealed that the municipality’s pur-chase of medicines worth P283,335.15 for its rural health unit in August 2010 did not pass through the Bids and Awards Commit-tee (BAC).

The Commission on Audit (COA) also reported that the purchase had “no proper doc-

umentation”, according to the Ombudsman which had received complaints that the medicines were overpriced.

“The supplier, Andrea Medi Center, was awarded the procurement contract without the benefi t of a fair system in determining the best possible price for the government. The supplier was able to profi t from the transaction without showing proof that their prices were the most beneficial to the government,” the resolution read.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, in the 11-page resolution, said Made-razo, Serdeña and Baguna are liable for unlawfully resorting to shopping as an alternative mode of procure-ment considering that the purchase price was beyond the P50,000-threshold al-lowed for a fourth class municipality. (MNS)

Aquino hits Mar’s opponents in 2016 polls

Binay camp: Demolition job vs VP resumes

Biliran mayor indicted for graft Duterte says he was too young to complain about priest’s abuse

BalitaThe leading source of News and Information for the

Filipino American Community

MANILA, Dec. 7 (Mabu-hay) -- Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV on Monday dismissed the results of the recent SWS presidential survey showing Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on top as mere pro-paganda coming from the camp of Duterte and his run-ning mate, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

“Ito po ay isang propa-ganda galing sa Duterte at Cayetano camp na kumbaga ay niluto,” Trillanes said at a forum. “Sinasabi natin na ni-luto kasi kung titingnan n’yo ‘yung tanong ay talagang isinubo na ‘yung pangalan ni Mayor Duterte.”

He added: “Tingnan n’yo ‘yung question. Very obvious ‘yung question. You don’t state that... It’s violative. Those who are well-versed in qualitative research, hindi papayagan ‘yan.”

He also pointed out that the survey firm also con-ducts its polls in Davao, known as Duterte’s baili-

wick, which to Trillanes means it would “automati-cally favor” Duterte.

The SWS survey, which showed Duterte in fi rst place with 38 percent, was con-ducted on November 26 to 28, with 1,200 respondents.

It asked, “Ibang listahan naman po ang gamitin na-tin.

Kasama dito si Rodrigo Duterte bilang isang sub-stitute candidate. Sa mga sumusunod na pangalan sa listahang ito, sino po ang malamang ninyong ibo-boto bilang PRESIDENTE NG PILIPINAS, kung ang eleksyon ay gaganapin ngay-on?”

The SWS poll was com-missioned by businessman William J. Lima, believed to be Duterte’s friend.

For his part, Jay Sando-val, SWS director for data processing and sampling, denied that the results were part of a pro-Duterte propa-ganda, explaining that the

question was in accordance with the objective of the person who commissioned the survey.

Trillanes, a staunch sup-porter of colleague and presi-dential aspirant Sen. Grace Poe, also said the survey was conducted before Duterte’s profanity-laced proclama-tion speech last November 30, which was aired on na-tional TV.

In his speech, which last-ed for more than an hour, Duterte did not shy away from his usual tough talk, peppering obscenities into an address where he boasted of killing kidnappers and cursing Pope Francis for traffi c brought by road clo-sures for the January papal visit.

“Ito ay ginawa bago nag-salita si Mayor Duterte, kung saan maraming nadismaya sa kaniyang pronouncements, so ‘yun ang mga kailangang i-factor in,” Trillanes said.

Trillanes on SWS survey topped by Duterte: ‘Niluto, violative’

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 Visit www.usasianpost.com 3

By Sattar QamarKaror Lal Esan, PAK-

ISTAN | AFP | Sunday 12/6/2015 – Estranged rela-tives of a Pakistani woman involved in a mass shooting in California spoke Sunday of their shame at her crimes, as former classmates and teachers painted a picture of a quiet, religiously conserva-tive student.

Tashfeen Malik, 29, and her husband Syed Farook, 28, gunned down 14 people at a social services centre in San Bernardino, an act praised by the Islamic State group who hailed the couple as “soldiers” of its self-pro-claimed caliphate.

According to her uncle Malik Ahmed Ali Aulakh,

who is a former provincial minister, Tashfeen was born in the village of Karor Lal Esan in the central province of Punjab but moved to Sau-dia Arabia around 1989.

Tashfeen’s father Gul-zar Malik an engineer, had grown distant from his fam-ily and “he never came back even to attend the marriages of close relatives”, added Aulakh.

“We are ashamed and shocked about this act done by our niece—why did she do something so gruesome? We can’t believe it,” he told AFP.

Malik Omar Ali Aulakh, another of her uncles, added: “We have not kept in touch with Gulzar’s family and he avoided contacting us.”

The southern region of Punjab from which Tashfeen hailed has long been associ-ated with Sufi sm, a mystical form of Islam whose adher-ents worship with song and dance, attend shrines and devote themselves to historic saints—practices viewed as heretical by more orthodox Muslims.

Indeed, according to Mo-hammad Jamil, a neighbour of Tashfeen’s father, one of Tashfeen’s uncles himself was a Sufi devotional singer.

“We don’t want Muslims to do such things. Such people should be punished, must be punished,” said Jamil, adding: “She has dis-honoured Pakistan.”

It is still not clear where

Tashfeen became radi-calised, but by the time she returned to Pakistan in 2007 to pursue a degree in phar-macology at the Bahauddin Zakariya University, she was devoutly religious and wore a veil, according to former instructors.

“She was not outspoken or ultra-modern but she was religious minded, polite and submissive,” said Dr Khalid Hussain Janbaz, chair of the pharmacy department.

“I don’t think she could have done what they have accused her of, she was a very good student who never created problems for staff or classfellows,” added Dr Hussain Shah, an associate professor in the department.

MANILA, Dec 4 (Mabu-hay) – The camp of Vice President Jejomar Binay on Friday hit back at Presi-dent Benigno Aquino III for sparing administration bet Mar Roxas from his “honest appraisal” of presidential aspirants.

“An honest appraisal of all the presidential candi-dates should not exclude the administration candidate,” lawyer Rico Quicho, Binay’s spokesperson, said in a press statement.

Quicho said Roxas occu-pied several key positions in the Cabinet in the last fi ve years “yet through his incompetence and inaction only made situations worse.”

Roxas fi rst served as De-partment of Transportation and Communications chief before being named Interior and Local Government sec-retary following Jessse Ro-bredo’s death in Aug. 2012.

“The MRT is in a worse state now. Traffi c is now a daily hell for commuters and motorists. Licenses and car plates take forever. Billions in funds for local govern-ments, water projects, devel-opmental programs remain unreleased and trapped in a bureaucratic limbo of his own making,” Quicho said.

Further, Quicho said citi-zens live in fear and no lon-ger feel safe in their homes. “We have rampant crimi-nality, unsolved killings of judges and journalists, and

a drug menace that has in-fected almost all barangays in the country.”

He said these are concrete issues that need concrete an-swers from the administra-tion candidate. “He is, after all, running on a platform of continuity. For ordinary citizens, this means continu-ing the insensitive and inef-fi cient governance that has failed to address poverty, hunger and unemployment.”

Earlier, Aquino took a swipe at several candidates in the 2016 polls as he urged the voters to carefully choose the right successor who will sustain the gains of his administration. He made the speech before a Filipino community in Italy.

In his speech, Aquino mentioned that a certain presidential candidate, whom he did not name, is accused of corruption.

“Mayroon po d iyan, inakusahan ng pagsa-samsam ng kaban ng bayan sa pagkatagal-tagal na pa-nahon. Kung totoo ho ang alegasyon at nagnanakaw nga itong taong ito, ano po kaya ang matitira para tus-tusan ang pagganda ng bu-hay na ipinapangako niya?” said Aquino.

Binay, who is running for president under the Unit-ed Nationalist Alliance, is facing graft and plunder charges in connection with alleged anomalous transac-tions in Makati City dur-

ing his term as city mayor. Binay has since denied the allegations against him, saying these were aimed at demolishing his chances in next year’s polls. Quicho said they fi nd it unfortunate that the President has forgotten his statement last year that Binay should be presumed innocent, a right accorded to all individuals under our Constitution.

He said the President’s latest jab can be interpreted as a signal to resume the demolition work on the Vice President. “We are bracing ourselves but we will not be deterred from talking to the people about the Vice President’s programs to ad-dress poverty, hunger and unemployment.”

Meanwhile, the camp of Senator Grace Poe believed the President was not al-luding to the senator in his speech.

“Sen. Poe is definitely not the candidate being referred to. Sen Poe’s can-didacy hinges on building on the gains of the current administration,” Valenzuela Mayor Rex Gatchalian, Poe’s spokesperson, said.

Gatchalian said that in numerous times, Poe has ac-knowledged that the current administration has fostered economic growth and good governance and she aims to build on those gains.

“Furthermore, as a can-didate, she has laid out a

MANILA, Dec 5 (Mabuhay) – President Benigno Aquino III said that the passing of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) will likely prevent the growth of extremism in the country, a threat that has become imminent following the increase in local bandit groups pledging support for ISIS.

In a press briefi ng, Aquino who was Italy for a state visit, mentioned that an offi cial in the Vatican City praised the country’s push for the BBL, as it is being seen as a driver for peace.

“I think it was the Secretary of State of the Vatican who was saying that we can serve as an example of how to reach out to our Muslim brothers and achieve peace, and especially in the spirit where extremism is such a threat worldwide, that example might be useful to others to build upon as a response to the radicalization that is happening,” he said.

Aquino said the BBL can prevent local bandit groups like the Abu Sayyaf from becoming full-blown extremist groups.

“We also mentioned that the Abu Sayyaf, for instance, claims that they were once part of the Al Qaeda network. Now they claim that they are part of the ISIS network, and if there is another group that comes up, I assume they’ll also be—they will claim also being the local af-fi liate,” he said.

“But we did emphasize that, to a large degree, they are more of a bandit group rather than a religious ideological group. And we are hoping that it doesn’t move in that direction that’s why (there is) the continuous effort (on the) BBL,” he added.

Although he has less than a year left as president, Aquino is still hopeful that the BBL will be passed by Congress.

“Now, I am still confi dent that there is still a very strong push that can be made. Of course, we’d want it to happen sooner rather than later, but at the end of the day, I think the movement towards having the BBL in its present form or with a little modifi cation is really just a question of time.,” he said.

The BBL seeks to create an autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Mindanao putting in practice the peace agreement between the Philippine Government and the Moro Is-lamic Liberation Front.(MNS)

‘We feel ashamed’: Pakistani relatives of San Bernardino shooterPakistan’s government

Sunday issued a statement condemning the attack, even as its interior minister said Islamabad could not be held responsible.

“A country or a national or a religion cannot be held

responsible for a crime com-mitted by an individual and I appreciate a wise ap-proach adopted by the US administration on the issue,” minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told reporters in Islamabad.

Aquino: BBL will prevent extremism in PHL

detailed plan on where to take the country as early as when she announced her candidacy,” he said.

In Aquino’s speech, he said: “Mayroon din naman po, nangangakong hihigitan ang lahat ng nagawa natin, at kung mangyari po ‘yan ako na ho ang unang papal-akpak. Pero pakinggan nat-ing mabuti: Ni minsan hindi niya nasabi kung paano tutuparin ang pangako. Walang konteksto, walang plano, panay batikos at hi-law na pangako.”

“Akala po yata niya, ‘pag nahalal siya, gigis-ing siya kinabukasan sa isang bagong umaga ng may solusyon na sa lahat ng mga binanggit niyang problema,” he added. Poe uses the slo-gan “Bagong Umaga,” and some Liberal Party members have said that she is not yet ripe for the presidency. (MNS)

Binay, Poe camps react to Aquino speech about Mar 2016 opponents

Union says now is the time with ever-present threat of terrorism

LOS ANGELES, CA, De-cember 4, 2015 – The Ameri-can Alliance of Airport Police Offi cers (AAAPO) commends efforts by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) to bolster airport secu-rity given the Russian Metro jet bombing and a recent CNN report highlighting France’s concern regarding the radical-ization of airport employees.

The most comprehensive and practical ways to increase security at our nation’s air-ports are to screen all airport employees, including TSA, and limit the number of em-ployee access points, while providing airport police ac-cess, in real-time, to all closed circuit security camera sys-tems-recommendations the AAAPO has expressed for the last several years, including in a 2012 letter to then TSA Administrator John Pistole.

At some of the country’s largest airports, employees can enter the aeronautical side of the airport via mul-tiple rudimentary turnstiles, putting them in the vicinity of active airplanes. These em-ployees undergo no screening, nor do their backpacks, purs-es or other baggage brought onto the airport grounds. Fur-thermore, most airports have a fractured camera system in which vendors, tenants, TSA and others can deny live,

real-time access to airport law enforcement so it is essential that a seamless surveillance system is provided to police.

These gaping security loop-hole have been addressed by the AAAPO several times, but these concern has fallen on deaf ears. While it may be diffi cult to track the radical-ization of an employee, 100% screening of employees could help mitigate and perhaps thwart an attempted “insider” attack. In addition, lapses in camera coordination have led to airport disruptions and numerous individuals eluding capture. Thus, the AAAPO re-iterates its recommendations that all airport employees, in-cluding TSA, be subject to the same security requirements held to passengers and any entity with a closed circuit camera system provide real-time access to airport police.

Some may claim total em-ployee screening is not pos-sible, but one major airport is already doing so-Miami International Airport. This airport is America’s second-busiest airport for interna-tional passengers, and has nearly 38,000 employees. The airport has been screening employees since 1999 and has four checkpoints dedicated to employee screening.

According to the CNN re-port, France has been track-ing the radicalization of em-ployees at French airports since 2004,demonstrating

that this is not a novel issue. The recent Russian Metro jet bombing exemplifi es this threat, as it is suspected that the bomb used was planted by an airport employee. In this regard, AAAPO calls on Con-gress to require the screening of all airport employees at the nation’s airports.

In the interest of public safety, with a record breaking Holiday travel season upon us and the ever-present threat of terrorism, now is the time, more than ever, to implement total screening of all airport employees and real-time air-port police access to all closed circuit cameras at airports.

The Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association (LAAPOA) represents the sworn police offi cers and fi re-fi ghters of the Los Angeles Airport Police Department assigned to protect and serve Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), LA/Ontario International Airport (ONT) and Van Nuys Airport (VNY). For more information on LAAPOA, please visit laapoa.com.

The American Alliance of Airport Police Offi cers (AAA-PO) is comprised of rank-and-file airport police officers (including many dual police/aircraft rescue fi refi ghters) who stand as the fi rst line of defense against terror-ist attacks, hijackings and other criminal activity at our nation’s airports.

Airport police want total screening of all airport employees

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST4

OPINIONMANILA, Dec 4 (Mabuhay) – President Benigno Aquino III on Friday indicated that he is ready to face possible charges from his critics who were not spared in his administration’s anti-corruption efforts.

In a meeting with the Filipino community during his state visit in Rome, Italy, Aquino said he is already expecting the possible “revenge” of his critics when he steps down from offi ce in 2016, and is stripped off his immunity from suit.

“Hindi pa nga po tapos ang laban: Pagbaba ko sa puwesto, baka po simulan na akong bawian ng lahat ng tiwaling pinanagot natin, para ta-kutin ang lahat ng mga tulad nating maayos ang hangarin,” said Aquino.

“Handa po akong harapin ito, dahil maliwanag sa akin na kung sumang-ayon akong manatili lang ang status quo, walang mangyayari sa bansa natin,” he added.

Aquino also spoke of his administration’s gains in the economic front as well as their inclusive growth campaign, which he said resulted to more employment opportunities and infrastructure projects, and im-proved social services.

He also praised the members of his Cabinet, whom he said were consistently criticized despite their sacrifi ces.

“Ang mga kasama natin sa Gabinete, nagbuhos talaga ng literal na blood, sweat, and tears para maabot natin ang narating natin ngayon...kapareho ko [sila] sa kagustuhang baguhin ang dinatnang status quo, at pareho po nating nagsakripisyo,” said Aquino.

“Hindi lang po bumagsak ang mga suweldo nila; pati walang saysay at walang tigil na pang-alipusta, pinasan ng atin pong mga kasamahan at Gabinete at gobyerno,” the chief executive added.

After his state visit in Italy, Aquino is scheduled to travel to the Vatican where he will pay a reciprocal visit to Pope Francis, who was in the Philippines in January this year.

There, Aquino will also witness the unveiling and the blessing of a mosaic sculpture of Our Lady of Peñafrancia, and will meet with Filipino priests and religious. (MNS)

By Andrew BeattyWashington, UNITED STATES | AFP | Monday 12/7/2015 – US

President Barack Obama, in a rare prime-time speech designed to reassure a jittery nation, vowed Sunday that America will destroy the Islamic State group and hunt down its followers at home or abroad.

Facing questions about his leadership and strategy, Obama harnessed the highest trappings of US power to calm a country put on edge by a rampage in California that killed 14 Americans.

“After so much war, many Americans are asking whether we are confronted by a cancer that has no immediate cure,” said Obama in a solemn address from the Oval Offi ce, adding that the San Bernardino massacre was evidence of an “evolving” and increasingly homegrown threat.

As a father of two daughters, Obama said, he could imagine himself or his kin in San Bernardino or Paris.

“Here’s what I want you to know,” he told the country. “The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL and any other organization that tries to harm us.”

“Our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary.”

Obama urged Muslims in America and around the world to “decisively and unequivocally reject the hateful ideology that groups like ISIL and Al-Qaeda promote.”

He detailed a multi-pronged strategy against Islamic State that will rely as much on community action, high-tech and countering propaganda as military force.

‘Dark path of radicalization’ -It is just the third time Obama has delivered an Oval Offi ce address

– deployed by presidents since Harry Truman to convey resolve in the face of a national crisis.

First was when the Gulf of Mexico was being fl ooded with crude oil and later to mark the end of combat operations in Iraq.

A senior administration offi cial said the speech was designed to con-vey the seriousness with which Obama was taking the shootings in San Bernardino, which are being investigated as a terror attack.

On Wednesday a young married Muslim couple dropped off their six-month-old daughter with her grandmother, donned tactical gear and opened fi re on an offi ce party full of his coworkers.

Obama said the pair “had gone down the dark path of radicalization, embracing a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West.”

“They had stockpiled assault weapons, ammunition, and pipe bombs. So this was an act of terrorism.”

But he added that there was “no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home.”

Both shooters died in a hail of police bullets a few hours later, leaving questions about how, when and why they may have become radicalized.

Islamic State has praised the San Bernardino attackers, US-born Syed Farook and his Pakistani wife Tashfeen Malik, as “soldiers” of its self-proclaimed caliphate, while stopping short of claiming outright credit.

In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, Farook’s father suggested his son approved the ideas of the Islamic State group and was fi xated with Israel.

Washington, UNITED STATES | AFP | Saturday 12/5/2015 – There is no indication that the shooters who killed 14 people in California are part of a larger terrorist group, the White House said Saturday, even as the Islamic State group claimed the pair were “soldiers” of its caliphate. A team of top offi cials in-cluding FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson told President Barack Obama “that they had as of yet uncovered no indication the killers were part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell.”

However the president’s team, which also included other intelligence community leadership, “high-lighted several pieces of information that point to the perpetrators being radicalized to violence to commit these heinous attacks.”

Wednesday’s rampage in San Bernardino, which also wounded 21 people, was carried out by Syed

Farook, 28, and his 29-year-old wife Tashfeen Malik. They were killed in a shootout with police hours

after the attack.The FBI said Saturday it was working in coordi-

nation with local authorities to pursue “any and all leads” in its investigation, the White House said.

The president was briefed on the latest details and directed his team to take all necessary steps to protect Americans, it added.

The FBI has already announced that it is treat-ing the investigation into the attack as an act of terrorism.

In its English-language radio broadcast Saturday, IS stopped short of explicitly claiming the attack but referred to the assailants as soldiers of the Khilafah (caliphate) who were “killed in the path of Allah.”

In the group’s Arabic-language radio broadcast earlier in the day, however, they referred to the at-tackers simply as “supporters of the Islamic State.”

Sacramento, CA – Last December 3, two gunmen entered a conference room on the Inland Regional Center property, killing fourteen people, and injur-ing many more. The facility was rented by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health for a holiday party. The attackers were not connected to the regional center. Initial reports indicate one attacker was a County employee.

Inland is one of California’s 21 non-profi t regional centers providing assessment, case management, and other direct services for over 280,000 people with developmental disabilities and their families. They also purchase and coordinate community-based services and supports. Developmental disabilities include autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and intel-lectual disabilities.

All regional center employees were safely evacuat-ed. However, one of the victims was Daniel Kaufman, an employee at a coffee shop at the conference room. The shop was independently owned and operated, and leased the space from Inland. It employed mul-

tiple people with developmental disabilities. We are relieved nobody served by the regional center was harmed. But the death of Daniel Kaufman and the County Department of Public Health employees tar-geted in this attack fi lls us with sorrow, knowing so many families are in mourning.

We are united in love and compassion for all af-fected by this tragedy. The outpouring of support continues to be truly humbling. The developmental disabilities community is a family, and in these times of crisis, we come even closer together.

The regional centers will continue to focus on en-suring the safety and well-being of the people they serve, their families, and their employees. Each center will be working with its local community to ensure their security and support needs continue to be met. They will also continue to work closely with the state Department of Developmental Services to optimize emergency response protocols.

Inland Regional Center is currently closed, and expects to reopen on Monday.

By Sébastien BlancWashington, UNITED STATES | AFP | Monday

12/7/2015 – With dust from the California massacre barely settled, the killings are sharpening the US political divide over gun control and spurring attacks on President Barack Obama’s counter-terrorism strategy.

As Obama prepared to address the nation on his plans to keep Americans safe and defeat IS, Republi-can foes lined up on the Sunday talk shows to attack his leadership.

In the wake of Wednesday’s attacks by a young Muslim couple believed to have embraced radical ide-ology, Republican presidential contenders slammed the president for pushing stricter gun laws while failing to tackle the threat from Islamic extremism head-on.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said Obama’s refusal to designate “radical Islam” as the enemy was a roadblock.

“We are having a tremendous problem with radical Islamic terrorism,” Trump said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” program which aired Sunday. “And we have a president that won’t issue the term. He won’t talk about it.”

“Until he admits that this is a problem, we’re never gonna solve the problem.”

The billionaire presidential hopeful stands accused of whipping up xenophobia in the wake of the Paris attacks, including by calling for the creation of a Mus-lim registry, and insisting “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey cheered on 9/11, a claim that has been widely debunked.

Tashfeen Malik, 29, and Syed Farook, 28 -- a mar-ried Muslim couple with a baby girl and no known history of radicalism—gunned down 14 people at a social services center in San Bernardino, before dying in a shootout with police.

While it has not claimed the assault, the Islamic State group hailed the couple as “soldiers” of its self-proclaimed caliphate.

In his CBS interview Trump said that political cor-rectness should not prevent the “profi ling” of Muslims perceived as a threat.

“If you have people coming out of mosques with ha-tred and with death in their eyes and on their minds, we’re going to have to do something,” Trump said.

‘Fight for Western civilization’ -Asked about Obama’s avoidance of the term

“radical Islam,” Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton cast her support strongly behind the president.

“The problem is, that sounds like we’re declaring a war against religion. That’s number one, wrong” she told ABC’s “This Week.”

But Clinton distanced herself from the Obama administration’s strategy on IS, saying that “clearly we have to have a much more robust air campaign against ISIS targets.”

In the Republican camp, meanwhile, presidential candidates painted the administration’s strategy on IS as deeply fl awed.

“The left has a hard time recognizing what this is, this a fi ght for Western civilization” said estab-lishment candidate Jeb Bush, whose campaign has struggled to get off the ground.

“The president has created directives from the White House that create all sort of bureaucratic chal-lenges for air strikes,” Bush told ABC’s “This Week.”

He criticized what he said was a large percentage of sorties that “came back without dropping their ordnances because there was such a concern about making sure there were not civilian casualties.”

‘Sitting ducks’ -The California rampage, which also wounded 21,

was the worst mass shooting in three years in a coun-try where such killings have become routine.

The New York Times on Saturday published a front-page editorial—the fi rst since 1920 -- in re-sponse, calling for controls to end “the gun epidemic in America.”

But a powerful conservative movement – spear-headed by Trump among others – is pushing for just the opposite.

Trump argued that in San Bernardino, as in Paris last month, the victims were “like sitting ducks” be-cause they were unarmed.

“In Paris, they had no guns. In California they had no guns. Only the bad guys had the guns,” he said.

Former neurosurgeon and Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson echoed his remarks.

“California has some of the strictest gun control laws. And the semiautomatic weapons that were used were banned. The magazines were banned. It was a gun-free zone. And yet it still happened,” Carson told Fox News.

The two candidates’ statements echo comments made by the powerful National Rifl e Association gun lobby’s president right after the attacks.

“When evil knocks on our doors, Americans have a power that no other people on the planet share: the full-throated right to defend our families and ourselves with our Second Amendment,” NRA head Wayne LaPierre said in a video.

Aquino ready to face raps after 2016

Obama tells fearful America IS will be defeated

No indication California attackers ‘part of organized group’: White House

ARCA statement on shooting at Inland Regional Center

Political knives out after California attack

By Michael MathesGreenland, UNITED STATES | AFP | Sunday

12/6/2015 – Donald Trump grabs headlines with his unshakable self-glorifi cation. But better-informed, increasingly confi dent rival Marco Rubio is making a play for the Republican presidential nomination, and winning over skeptics in early-voting New Hampshire.

Rubio is the 44-year-old US senator from Flori-da with the million-watt smile, an affi nity for hip-hop music and a propensity to ruffl e establishment feath-ers in Washington.

But at a Friday campaign stop, he came across as a national security expert playing up his foreign policy fl uency to a crowd shaken by recent spasms of extremist violence.

And he wasted little time before ripping the Obama

administration – and Democrats like presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton –for urging stricter gun laws immediately after Wednesday’s San Bernardino shooting that killed 14 people.

“Gun control” is not the answer, Rubio told about 180 voters at a Seacoast Republican Women’s lun-cheon at a country club in the small town of Green-land.

“We need bomb control” because the California at-tackers had possessed pipe bombs, he said. “We need terrorist control.”

Rubio is threading a political needle in the 2016 race.

He lies between the uncompromising ideological warfare being waged by rival candidate Ted Cruz and the establishmentarian Jeb Bush, whose campaign has struggled.

A rising Rubio shows conservative gravitas on 2016 trail

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 Visit www.usasianpost.com 5 LOS ANGELES

Saturday December 5 2015 (Relaxnews) – For anyone who needs extra motivation to get active, or just wants to make fi tness more fun, wellness technol-ogy company Blue Goji this week announced the release of their Goji Play 2 fi tness gaming system.

Wellness technology com-pany Blue Goji has released Goji Play 2, designed to turn exercise into an excit-ing gaming session with its choice of 20 free download-able games, helping you to work out while you play.

Unike other offers in fi t-ness gaming, Goji Play 2 is not a mobile app for your smartphone, or a video game for your television, but an iOS and Android platform fi tness gaming system that can be linked to a variety of

cardio machines, turning a routine and repetitive cardio workout into a fun and excit-ing game.

It can be linked to several types of machines including bikes, treadmills, stair step-pers, and ellipticals, mean-ing you can play at home or in the gym, and with two controllers and two foam batons users can work out together and play together.

Users can download games from both the App Store and Google Play to link to their chosen cardio machine. With a choice of ac-tion, racing, puzzles, trivia, and arcade style games, users can choose according to their gaming preference and how intense they’d like the workout.

Goji Play 2 is available to purchase now from www.

bluegoji.com priced at $119.The concept of combining

fi tness and gaming has been perhaps most popularized by Nintendo’s Wii with its range of games that can be played on their console device and linked with the television.

The Wii Fit U now offers 19 new activities, making the total now over 70, a Fit Meter to track your prog-ress and take on fitness challenges, and online Gym Communities so you can share progress with others. Selected activities can also be used without a television using just the balance board and GamePad.

Meanwhile other fi tness gaming systems now avail-able also include theMOVO-Ball, which allows users to work out on a Swiss ball

while playing smartphone games or as part of an in-teractive game on the televi-sion screen. Users place the Swiss ball on the MOVOBall motion cradle which is then connected with a TV, smart-phone, or Bluetooth device for an interactive workout that can be done alone or with family and friends.

The concept has also been extended to rehabilitation and physical therapy pro-grams, such as in the case of BioGaming’s interactive rehabilitation platform. Us-ing motion sensors, artifi cial intelligence, and learning systems enables patients to exercise as part of an inter-active games, which not only makes the program more appealing, but also enables therapists to monitor perfor-mance remotely.

Blue Goji have announced the launch of their Goji Play 2 fi tness game system. ©Business Wire

New fi tness gaming system aims to take your cardio workout to a new level

Saturday December 5 2015 (Relaxnews) – A team of researchers at the CNRS research center in the French city of Lyon have developed a light-emitting textile that could absorb the pollution in our homes.

With the international climate change conference underway in Paris, this discovery by a CNRS re-search team in Lyon could be a big step forward for the quality of our environ-ment by removing certain pollutants from our homes and, on a global level, by removing pollution from the

air and water and neutral-izing odors, particularly in industry.

With interest growing in eco-friendly home deco (such as the fashion for plants with depolluting properties), this new type of textile could fi nd a place in our homes in sofas, cushions, curtains, blankets, etc.

The original idea is to seamlessly integrate optical fi bers, in the form of LEDs, into fabric without using an external lamp. A photocata-lyst – a mixture of titanium dioxide and various solvents – is soaked into the textile

and activated by light.This innovative technol-

ogy is based on a chemical reaction called photocataly-sis, which was discovered in the 1990s. This process enables pollutants to be neutralized using light. The construction sector already uses it in self-cleaning paint and concrete.

This chemical process, which is an industrial se-cret, has been developed in the Brochier Technologies Research & Development lab in Villeurbanne, France. One of Brochier Technolo-gies’ core businesses is to

develop optic fi ber weaving solutions for applications in the lighting, communication, security, depollution and medical spheres.

The researchers are still studying the textile’s effec-tiveness on different types of pollutant such as fine particles.

In the industrial fi eld, the invention is currently being tested onsite as a means of removing residual phar-maceutical and pesticide molecules found in water to prevent them from being discharged into the environ-ment.

This new technology is based on a chemical process called photocatalysis, discovered in the 1990s, which can neutralize pollutants in the presence of light. ©Cyril FRESILLON/IRCELYON/CNRS

Smart textiles could remove pollution from our homes

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST6

Rome, Italy | AFP | Sun-day 12/6/2015 – The father of Syed Farook, who with his wife shot dead 14 people in San Bernardino, California, says his son approved the ideas of the Islamic State group and was fi xated with Israel, the Italian daily La Stampa reported Sunday.

“He said he agreed with (IS chief Abu Bakr) al-Bagh-dadi’s ideas for creating the Islamic State, and he was obsessed by Israel,” La Stampa quoted the father of the shooter, also named Syed Farook, as saying.

“I always used to say to him, be calm, patience, in two years’ time Israel will no longer exist,” he said, in remarks reported in Italian.

“Geopolitics are changing: Russia, China, America too, nobody wants Jews over there. They will put them all in Ukraine. Why bother fi ghting them? We did that before, and we lost,” the 67-year-old said. “But he

didn’t want to know. He was obsessed” by the idea of fi ghting Israel, Farook was quoted as saying.

The younger Farook, 28, and his Pakistani-born wife Tashfeen Malik, 29, mowed down people at a social services centre in San Bernardino on Wednesday, killing 14 and wounding 21. They were then shot dead by police.

The IS group – also called ISIL or Daesh – hailed the couple as “soldiers” of its self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and Iraq.

Wednesday’s massacre, if proven to be terror-related, would be the deadliest such assault on American soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The older Farook, who arrived in the United States from Pakistan in 1972, said that, as a teenager, his son “didn’t go to parties with his friends, saying that a good Muslim can only see his wife

dance.”He said he “once” saw his

son “with a pistol” and got angry with him about it.

Asked by La Stampa whether the son had been in contact with “terrorists outside the country”, the father said he didn’t know.

US investigators say they are examining a Facebook posting in which Malik is believed to have pledged allegiance to IS chief al-Baghdadi, made around the time of the attack.

B e r l i n , G E R M A -N Y | A F P | S u n d a y 12/6/2015 – Lufthansa crew and passengers overpowered a man who tampered with a cabin door on a Frankfurt-to-Belgrade fl ight on Sun-day, the German carrier said, insisting the safety of the plane had not been threatened.

“A passenger got up and tried to do something with the door, but was stopped by crew members and other passengers,” said airline spokesman Andreas Bartels.

“The passenger was then restrained for the remainder of the fl ight in his seat and handed over to the authori-ties in Belgrade,” he said.

“It was a normal door, which of course cannot be opened in-fl ight... it was not the cockpit door,” he said, denying an earlier report on Serbian television. “The safety of the fl ight was not jeopardized and the fl ight landed safely in Belgrade”.

Bartels declined to pro-

vide details of the passen-ger’s identity or nationality, or what the man said during the incident.

Serbia’s state-run RTS TV reported that police had arrested a Jordanian man after he tried to force his way into the cockpit of the Lufthansa fl ight.

It said the man suddenly got up during the flight, banged on the cockpit door and demanded to be allowed to enter, threatening to open one of the Airbus A319’s external doors while it was fl ying over Austria.

The man, who the Serbian press said had a US pass-port, had shouted that he wished to join Allah along with all the passengers, RTS said. Flight crew and mem-bers of a Serbian handball team overpowered him and kept him subdued until the flight landed in Belgrade where he was arrested, the report said.

The head of the handball team’s club, Milan Djukic,

who was on the fl ight, said the man had seemed “ner-vous” before boarding the plane.

“I exchanged a few words with him and he was very nervous. Before takeoff, the fl ight attendants made him change seats three times,” Djukic told private Serbian TV station Moja Prva.

“When he got up, he crossed through business class and started banging on a door demanding for that of the cockpit to be opened,” Djukic said. “A crew member and one of our coaches calmed him down and persuaded him to sit back down.”

For the rest of the fl ight, “these two men and two of our players kept him com-pany so that he would stay calm,” Djukic added.

He said that after the plane landed, Serbian police boarded and arrested the man, who he said would be held for 48 hours for “pro-voking general danger.”

A passenger walks past the “Last Check Booth” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport departure area on Thursday. The booth was installed to allow passengers to strip their luggage of any prohibited items, includ-ing ammunition before the security screening.(MNS photo)

Father of San Bernardino shooter says son ‘agreed with IS ideology’: report

Man subdued on Lufthansa fl ight after tampering with door

by John Lloyd Cruz and Bea Alonzo. The premise of the original story and this sequel are an insightful take on what happens after romance. Most romantic movies just scratch the surface, boy-gets-girl. But what happens after that?

Relationships never end up where they started. Marriage has two people who are different from what they thought they are going to be. It changes people in ways you don’t expect and can’t predict.

For marriage to work, you end up with more of what you’re sure you wanted and less of what you thought you expected.

I had the opportunity to discuss the mak-ing of this sequel from one of the creators, Vanessa Valdez. “The movie that we have right now was written and re-written, ed-ited and re-edited several times.” Then she elaborates, “Kasi we honor the audience’s knowledge of Popoy and Basha and their experience. People loved them. They want to be happy for them.”

Based on the movie trailer the question of “did they get back together?” was answered and it delighted many fans. Then there is a follow-up question, “will they survive the trials & challenges of marriage?”

“Popoy’s not the same guy you saw in the fi rst movie,” she explains. “We started the movie showing what they went through, what they were, and the result of that happiness. Sobrang happy mo, may mga pinapangako ka. May mga pangarap kayo. Pero papunta sa pangarap mayroong ma-sasaktan.

May nababaliwala, may mga fears na dadating.”

Vanessa continues in her exposition of marriage in the movie. Clearly her experi-ence in making “One More Chance” was an important insight for developing this theme even deeper. “Someone has to be brave enough to ask ‘what if ‘ to know ‘what is’. Before you get into a marriage you have to know what you want for yourself, and be brave to embrace ‘what is’. The good part, the bad part, you embrace it and learn to live with that.”

The gem of this movie is that it breaks the stereotype of romantic movies. It’s an unromanticized romance. It’s love and af-fection, warts and all. “This time we cannot be that romantic. It has to be real.”

Vanessa passionately shared her vision, “We want people to come out of the cinema thinking it was not romanticized but I still believe in the value of marriage. I believe that it’s worth spending your life with this person. It’s worth making that commitment everyday. When you get married and make that vow, it’s not the fi rst and last time that you make that vow. Everyday, when you wake up, you choose this person. I might not

like you today or you’re not likable today but I will love you even when you’re diffi cult to love, I will love you no matter what. That’s what a marriage is. It’s an eveyday com-mitment.

Sabi nga ni Direk Cathy, ‘We have to show how do you keep the music playing? How do you keep the romance going? How do you keep the candles burning?’ You gotta make it work.”

This fi lm clicked because it is relatable to me. After being married for more than two decades, this is the fi rst time that I’ve seen on screen this subject handled in a way that speaks to me so deeply.

The creators, Vanessa Valdez and Carmi Raymundo truly touched on what it takes to make life work in a durable lasting re-lationship.

The execution of the story was master-fully handled by Direk Cathy Garcia-Molina. Her realistic style was honed through many successful romcom fi lms. Sitting in that theater looking at the big screen felt like a window into the character’s lives.

The lead actors were natural. “Bea Alonzo is the ultimate romantic heroine,” states Vanessa. “She is strong and independent. You have to earn her. She knows herself well and knows her values.”

The audience is excited to see her char-acters come to life, and the fact is that the John Lloyd-Bea chemistry onscreen is so raw and so real. Vanessa says, “Para silang kapit bahay mo na mahal na mahal mo. Ang feeling mo ang invested mo sa kanila kasi when they say they love each other you believe it. When they look at each other, the small intimacy moments feel very real. They bring that magic on the screen because they are very good actors and very dedicated to their craft.”

When I came out of the movie, I answered my own question. Was it worth watching late at night and needed 3 cups of coffee to stay awake? My immediate answer to that was, yes. Defi nitely looking forward to giving myself a second chance to see this movie.

When ‘what if’ becomes ‘what is’ in ‘A Second Chance’

“A Second Chance”, the highly anticipated movie sequel of the 2007 romantic block-buster hit “One More Chance”, broke box offi ce record in Philippine cinema history. It earned 43.3 Million PHP on its opening day and grossed over 300 Million PHP on its fi rst week.

Legions of fans swarmed the movie theaters to witness the continuation of the “Popoy-Basha” love story, aptly portrayed

With the movie’s co-creator Vanessa Valdez and box-offi ce queen Bea Alonzo.

The Jose Abad Santos High School (Binondo) USA Alumni Associa-tion will hold its 2015 Christmas party at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2015, at the Mayfl ower Seafood Restaurant, 679 N. Spring St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

JASHS (Binondo) alumni Christmas party Dec. 20

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 Visit www.usasianpost.com 7

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Actress Angel Locsin on Friday expressed her grati-tude to her fans for their unwavering support as she posted photos of her in a hos-pital in Singapore moments after undergoing medical treatment for her disc bulge in her spine.

On her Instagram account, the 30-year-old Locsin wrote: “I’m still a little bit groggy and sore but happy and thankful tapos na ang fi rst stage of the procedure. Thank you all for the prayers! Hoping this is it na.”

In a follow-up post, Locsin said: “Another photo before heading to lab with the Filipino nurses who took really good care of me. Thank you so much! Mabuhay kayo!”

Locsin did not specify that exact medical treatment that she went through.

Last October, Locsin confi rmed that she will no longer be portraying the Filipino superheroine Darna after her rigorous training for the role led to her developing a disc bulge in her spine.

At the time, she said that the decision to pull her out of the project for fears of permanent damage to her health was fi nal and made mutually with Star Cinema and ABS-CBN.

Locsin’s boyfriend, television host Luis Manzano, hinted that there might still be a chance for his girlfriend to reprise the iconic role.

“Sana. Siguro not just dahil sa clamor ng tao but ka-hit ang management ay nakikita na ‘Oo nga ano baka naman kaya pa ngang hintayin si Angel.’ So sana,” he said. (MNS)

actress also wears the hat of a businesswoman. Of late, she has invested on ifl ix, a video-on-demand service that offers subscribers vari-ous entertainment content.

According to Ruffa, ifl ix is perfect for parents who want to monitor what their children watch but have no time to do so.

“Kasi ang mga anak ko, hindi na sila nanonood ng TV, imbes they go on You-Tube and kung anu-ano ang pinapanood nila, eh hindi ko na din namo-monitor. So, dito na lang sila sa ifl ix kasi nakikita ko kung ano ang pinapanood nila,” she said.

It is also good for killing time whenever stuck in traf-fi c. “Ako ganoon ang ginaga-wa ko. Para din updated ako. Minsan kasi wala na talaga akong time manood

ng latest movies and for me this is one way of keeping up with the trend,” Ruffa said.

She said ifl ix could help decrease cases of piracy in the Philippines.

“Kasi mura lang siya and all the fi lms have clear qual-ity unlike kapag bumili ka ng pirated CDs,” she said.

The actress is not exactly

There may be on good terms but how does Sam Milby truly feel about former girlfriend Anne Curtis?

“We are friends, okay kami,” Milby said. “But friends like ‘yung nag-uusap kami? No, of course not.”

The actor, who is current-ly seeing someone who’s not from showbiz, explained that he doesn’t think it would be proper for him to be chummy with an ex.

“We both have our sepa-rate lives. If we are working together, siguro (we can talk) but wala kaming work together right now,” said Milby, who added that his relationship with Curtis was

the longest he had since he joined showbiz.

Curtis is currently in a relationship with food per-sonality and restaurateur Erwann Heussaff.

“We have to respect that if I were her boyfriend, I don’t think I would want an ex—even if it’s just completely on a friendship stage—talking to my girlfriend. I wouldn’t want her ex talking, texting or being too friendly with my girlfriend even if it’s just a friendly text,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Milby, who is celebrating his 10th an-niversary in showbiz, said he considers Curtis among the 10 most signifi cant people

who have been part of his showbiz journey.

Milby, who started his ca-reer as a “Pinoy Big Brother” housemate, will mark his anniversary with a concert

“Milby Way” on November 28 at KIA Theater. He is also set to release a new album.

Aside from Curtis, Milby said the other significant people in his showbiz jour-ney are: talent manager Erickson Raymundo, Star Magic handler Lulu Romero, Star Magic head and veteran director Johnny Manahan, “PBB” director Lauren Dyo-gi, director Cathy Garcia Molina, “PBB” host Toni Gonzaga, Jonathan Manalo of Star Records, Dreamscape head Deo Endrinal, Star Cinema head Malou Santos and ABS-CBN president and CEO Charo Santos-Concio. (MNS)

Ruffa Gutierrez is not about to marry anew. At 41, she’s pouring attention on other things.

“At this point in life, no (I don’t want to get married). Kasi there are so many things na kailangan nating pagkaabalahan… Ang mas

importante ngayon eh, focus sa mga anak ko,” she said.

The former beauty queen has two daughters, Lorin and Venice, with ex-hus-band Yilmaz Bektas. They were together for four years before parting ways in 2007.

Single for years now, the

hands-on with the business but has put her trust in her business partners.

“I trust Patrick (Grove) kasi ’pag nakita mo track record niya sa mga business eh, makikita mo na he is one of the best,” she said.

Her celebrity co-investors include her brothers Ray-mond and Richard Gutier-rez, as well as Iza Calzado, Jasmine Curtis-Smith, JM Rodriguez and Karylle.

Also available in Ma-laysia and Thailand, iflix will continue to roll out its service in additional key Southeast Asian markets in coming months.

Aside from ifl ix, Ruffa is busy with “It Takes Gutz To Be A Gutierrez” on E!

She is set to appear in an upcoming TV5 sit-com “Mis-terless Misis” with Gelli de

Belen, Lorna Tolentino and Mitch Valdes.

Ruffa is also writing a book and looking into invest-ing in several wellness and IT businesses.

All is well now between Ruffa and her mom An-nabelle Rama despite the latter still seemingly not warming up to her non-showbiz boyfriend, Jordan Mouyal. The two reconciled during her brother Elvis Gutierrez’s marriage to Al-exa Uichico.

“Gusto kasi ni Elvis na maging happy ang kasal niya so, ako na mismo ang gumawa ng way.

Ganu’n naman tayong mga anak eh, kahit na umi-irap-irap si mommy eh, kailangan tayo ang mag-pakumbaba kasi tayo ang anak,” she said. (MNS)

Ruff a Gutierrez keeps focus on children, business

Ruff a Gutierrez

Angel Locsin undergoes medical treatment for spine

Angel Locsin

Why Sam Milby isn’t chummy with ex Anne

Sam Milby

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST8 LOS ANGELES

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THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 Visit www.usasianpost.com 9

With more than 16,000 SCE customers victimized since January 2014, the utility recently partnered with local law enforcement and AARP

B y C a r o l i n e A o y a g i - S t o m , Southern California Edison@SCE_CarolineA

December 02, 2015 – When Jinza Teriyaki res-taurant owner John Lee, 40, answered the phone at his business six months ago, the suspicious caller identifi ed himself as a Southern Cali-forniaEdison representative and asked for immediate payment or his electricity would be turned off.

Sensing that something was not right, he went online and checked his account. He saw that his bill was current and paid in full.

“This is a scam, right?” Lee asked.

The scammer hung up the phone immediately.

Lee’s story is all too com-mon. Since last year, more than 16,000 SCE customers have received calls from impostors asking for money. Of this number, at least 700 customers have paid them using prepaid cash cards,

losing nearly half a million dollars. This year, more than 5,500 SCE customers have received such scam calls.

And SCE hopes to bring these numbers down, es-pecially during the busy holiday season when there is often a spike in scams.

“Customers who suspect they’ve received a fraud-ulent call should ask for the caller’s name, as well as their department and business numbers,” said Kevin Payne, SCE senior vice president of Customer Service, who was joined by the Monterey Park Police Department and AARP at a recent news conference hosted by the utility. “End the call and report the in-cident immediately to local police and SCE.”

SCE has a web page with information on scams and how to avoid them in mul-tiple languages.

In addition to creating awareness among business owners, customers were urged to help their family and friends avoid becoming victims.

“We do not want to be-come the grandparents of fraud,” said Patricia Per-ez, AARP California state president. “The AARP … wants its members and non-

Since last year, more than 16,000 SCE customers have received calls from impostors asking for money. Of this number, at least 700 customers have paid them using prepaid cash cards, losing nearly half a million dollars. This year, more than 5,500 SCE customers have received such scam calls.

Don’t fall for utility bill scams this Holiday Season

to locate which Internet car-rier and portals the scam came from.

“We believe there are many more victims out there who have not reported these scams,” said Monterey Park Police Department Detective Bob Hung. ”We do want the public to be made aware and be cognizant of what is going on out there.”

Since the fi rst scam call came in six months ago, Lee continued to receive calls at his business weekly for several months.

Don’t Fall for Utility Bill Scams This Holiday Season

With more than 16,000 SCE customers victimized since January 2014, the utility recently partnered

Enjoy an evening ser-enaded by the St. Lorenzo Ruiz Church Music Minis-try, the children’s choir, and special guest performers, the Harana Men’s Chorus, at the “Rejoice! Maranatha... God is Full of Mercy” con-cert on Saturday, December 12, 2015, 7 a.m. This is the second major Christmas con-cert to be held in the church located at 747 Meadowpass Road in Walnut, California.

Music from the show will highlight both the Season of Advent – a time to cel-

ebrate becoming Christmas when hearts are prepared for Christ’s birth, and the Jubilee Year of Mercy which the global Catholic Com-munity is embarking on. By means of the evening’s per-formances, the faith family will also honor Our Lady of Guadalupe whose feast day is commemorated on that same day.

The leaders and volun-teers of SLR Parish, under the most capable guidance and direction of Father Tony P. Astudillo, pastor, aspire

not only to entertain but to evangelize and set the audi-ence’s hearts aflame with Christ’s spirit of love and mercy. The last Christmas music event the parish host-ed on December 2013 – The Winter Solstice – was very well received and got great reviews from parishioners and guests alike.

Tickets are available at the parish offi ce for a dona-tion of only $30 or $50. For more details, the parish offi ce number is (909) 595-9545.

St. Lorenzo Ruiz Church Concert Dec. 12The St. Lorenzo Ruiz Church Music Ministry

members to protect them-selves against the utility phone scam and stay alert this holiday season.”

Local police departments have been working with SCE to capture these perpetra-tors. The Monterey Park Police Department has been issuing search warrants to track down the telephone numbers used by the sus-pects. They have also issued warrants for the IP address

with local law enforcement and AARP.

By Caroline Aoyagi-Stom, Southern California Edi-son@SCE_CarolineA

December 02, 2015When Jinza Teriyaki res-

taurant owner John Lee, 40, answered the phone at his business six months ago, the suspicious caller identifi ed himself as a Southern Cali-forniaEdison representative and asked for immediate payment or his electricity would be turned off.

Sensing that something was not right, he went online and checked his account. He saw that his bill was current and paid in full.

“This is a scam, right?” Lee asked.

The scammer hung up the phone immediately.

Lee’s story is all too com-mon. Since last year, more than 16,000 SCE customers have received calls from impostors asking for money. Of this number, at least 700 customers have paid them using prepaid cash cards, losing nearly half a million dollars. This year, more than 5,500 SCE customers have received such scam calls.

And SCE hopes to bring these numbers down, es-pecially during the busy holiday season when there is often a spike in scams.

“Customers who suspect they’ve received a fraud-ulent call should ask for the caller’s name, as well as their department and business numbers,” said Kevin Payne, SCE senior vice president of Customer

Service, who was joined by the Monterey Park Police Department and AARP at a recent news conference hosted by the utility. “End the call and report the in-cident immediately to local police and SCE.”

SCE has a web page with information on scams and how to avoid them in mul-tiple languages.

In addition to creating awareness among business owners, customers were urged to help their family and friends avoid becoming victims.

“We do not want to be-come the grandparents of fraud,” said Patricia Per-ez, AARP California state president. “The AARP … wants its members and non-members to protect them-selves against the utility phone scam and stay alert this holiday season.”

Local police departments have been working with SCE to capture these perpetra-tors.

The Monterey Park Police Department has been issu-ing search warrants to track down the telephone numbers used by the suspects. They have also issued warrants for the IP address to locate which Internet carrier and portals the scam came from.

“We believe there are many more victims out there who have not reported these scams,” said Monterey Park Police Department Detective Bob Hung. ”We do want the public to be made aware and be cognizant of what is going on out there.”

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST10

MOTORING

Sunday December 6 2015 (New York-AFP) – General Motors says it will sell in the United States next year a vehicle made in China, becoming the first major US automaker to do so.

The move was quickly denounced by the pow-erful UAW auto union, which branded it “a slap in the face” and called for an immediate rethink.GM has sold 127,085 Buick Envision SUVs, made in the eastern province of Shandong, since January in China.The automaker plans to

import 30,000 to 40,000 o f the veh i c l es each year, amid high demand for 4X4, crossover and pickup trucks in North America, as oil prices dip.The controversial an-nouncement comes as labor costs are set to rise for GM in the United States follow-ing a wage deal currently being fi nalized.

“Today’s announcement by General Motors that they are importing the Envision from China is a slap in the face to US taxpayers and the men and women who worked

so hard to save GM during its darkest time,” UAW vice president and direc-tor of the General Motors Department, Cindy Es-trada, said in a statement.China became GM’s biggest market last year, but a slow-down in the Chinese econo-my allowed North America to regain its top spot in the fi rst nine months of 2015.Last month, GM – whose brands include Chevro-let, Cadillac and Buick – sold more than 100,000 Buick vehicles in China, compared to 19,000 in the United States.

China became GM’s biggest market last year. ©AFP PHOTO/WANG ZHAO

Friday December 4 2015 (Relaxnews) – The Mis-sion E, the 100% elec-tric concept car that sent shockwaves of excitement through the crowds at September’s Frankfurt motor show is going into production.

Turning the showcar into a production model is going to require €1 billion in investment, and the hiring of 1000 new em-ployees. But, by keeping the promises made at the Frankfurt show and going ahead with an all-electric sportscar, “We are making a clear statement about the future of the brand. Even in a greatly changing mo-toring world, Porsche will maintain its front-row po-sition with this fascinating sports car,” said Dr. Wolf-gang Porsche, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche AG on Friday.

As for when it will be rolling silently, under elec-tric battery-only power into dealerships, Porsche for now is simply saying “the vehicle is to be launched at the end of the decade.”

Yet when it does, it will offi cially bring with it the new chapter in automo-tive history that so many have been waiting for. The Mission E is a four-door, four-seat sportscar that, like all Porsches, has been designed for everyday use and everyday enjoyment. And like other cars in its existing range it can go from 0-100km/h incredibly quickly – under 3.5 seconds – and offers a lot – 660 – of horsepower. But what makes it different from any other current model in the Porsche lineup is that all of this performance will come via lithium ion bat-teries, rather than a fl at

six-cylinder or V8 gasoline engine. It’s a very bold step and one that will, as Porsche says, go down in automotive history if the company gets it right. But, if it really can deliver on the company’s claims – a driving range of 500km on a single battery charge and just 15 minutes of su-percharging to get the bat-tery back up to 80% when fl at – the Mission E will be mission accomplished.

“We are resolutely tak-ing on the challenge of electric mobility. Even with solely battery-pow-ered sports cars, Porsche is remaining true to its philosophy and offering our customers the sportiest and technologically most sophisticated model in this market segment,” said Chairman of the Porsche Executive Board, Dr. Oli-ver Blume.

The Porsche Mission E Concept Car. The Mission E is going into production. ©Porsche AG

GM to sell China-made vehicle in US fi rst

Porsche greenlights its fi rst green supercar

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 Visit www.usasianpost.com 11

FAMILY FEATURES

Making a New Year’s resolu-tion? Don’t forget salt. Most Americans consume about a 1,000 milligrams of sodium

over the amount recommended by nutri-tion and health experts. New research shows cooking with spices and herbs could help you ditch the salt shaker and meet sodium recommendations.

Keeping a resolution to cut salt from your diet is easy. Use simple spice swaps to create tasty, low-sodium meals. From seasoning eggs with basil instead of salt to adding spices and herbs to no-salt tomato sauce, the McCormick Kitchens

Beat 1/8 teaspoon herb instead of salt into 2 eggs before scrambling.

Add oregano, garlic powder and red pepper to no-salt added tomato sauce for a tasty, low-sodium pasta dinner.

Try making Citrus Herbed Chicken with Asparagus, Fiesta Citrus Salmon or Tuscan Pasta. These dishes don’t call for any salt. Instead, they swap in basil, garlic powder and oregano.

For more low-sodium tips and recipes – such as shaved vegetable salad with Italian herb vinaigrette – visit McCormick.com/recipes/low-sodium to keep your New Year’s resolutions on track. To see the full Anderson

of a behavioral intervention that emphasized spice and herbs, and how it impacts sodium intake, visit McCormickScienceInstitute.com.

1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained 1 can (8 ounces) no-salt added tomato sauce 1 tablespoon sugar (optional) 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar, divided 2 teaspoons McCormick Garlic Powder 2 teaspoons McCormick Perfect Pinch Italian Seasoning 1/2 teaspoon McCormick Black Pepper, ground 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 pound zucchini, sliced

1 package (8 ounces) sliced mushrooms 1 small onion, chopped 6 ounces pasta, such as spaghetti or linguineIn medium saucepan, mix tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar and seasonings. Bring to boil on medium heat. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 20 minutes.

In large skillet, heat oil on medium-high heat. Add zucchini, mushrooms and onion; cook and stir 4 minutes or until vegetables are tender-crisp. Stir tomato sauce into vegetables.

Meanwhile, cook pasta as directed on package. Drain well. Place pasta in serving bowl. Add vegetable mixture; toss well.

1/4 cup orange juice 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons McCormick Perfect Pinch Salt-Free Fiesta Citrus Seasoning, divided 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar, divided

In small bowl, mix juice, oil and 1 tablespoon each seasoning and sugar. Place salmon in large re-sealable plastic bag or glass dish. Add marinade; turn to coat well. Refrigerate 30 minutes, or longer

In another small bowl, mix remain-ing seasoning and sugar. Remove salmon from marinade. Discard any remaining marinade. Rub salmon evenly with seasoning mixture.

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 teaspoon McCormick Garlic Powder 1/4 teaspoon McCormick Black Pepper, coarse ground 1 pound thin-sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts 1 tablespoon oil 1 1/2 cups chicken stock 1 teaspoon McCormick Basil Leaves 1 teaspoon McCormick Oregano Leaves 1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces 2 tablespoons lemon juice

cheese, garlic powder and pepper. Reserve 2 tablespoons. Moisten chicken lightly with water. Coat

In large nonstick skillet, heat oil on medium heat. Add 1/2 of the chicken pieces; cook 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding additional oil, if necessary. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.

In medium bowl, mix stock, basil,

until well blended. Add to skillet along with asparagus. Bring to boil.

minutes, or until sauce is slightly thickened, stirring frequently. Stir in lemon juice. Return chicken to skillet; cook 2 minutes, or until heated through.

Fiesta Citrus Salmon

Tuscan Pasta

Citrus Herbed Chicken with Asparagus

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 9 - 15, 2015 THE US ASIAN POST12

ECONOMYFrom page 1

INVITES POPEFrom page 1

EMPERORS VISITFrom page 1

COMELECFrom page 1

GRABCARFrom page 1

EUROPE TRIPFrom page 1

LOS ANGELES

lion in the fi rst six months of 2015, largely fueled by remittances, revenues from the business process outsourcing industry, and tourism receipts.

The country’s current account has been in surplus for 12 consecu-tive years since 2003.

General government debt as a percentage of gross domestic prod-uct (GDP) is on a downward trend. As of end-June, the government debt-to-GDP stood at 36.2 percent, refl ecting a steady decline from a peak of 68.1 percent in 2003.

“The Philippines has been on a long ratings upgrade trajec-tory over the last few years. The key driver to these upgrades has been successively strong current account surplus generation with newfound sources of export earn-

ings other than workers’ remit-tances and lower energy import bills,” Jan Randolph, IHS director of sovereign risk, said in a state-ment.

Rajiv Biswas, IHS chief econo-mist for Asia-Pacific, estimated that the Philippines, with a gross domestic product of about $292 bil-lion, has the potential to become a $695-billion economy by 2025 and over $1 trillion by 2030.

“Two important growth drivers for the Philippines’ economy are the rapidly growing information technology-business process out-sourcing (IT-BPO) sector and the strong fl ow of remittances from Filipino workers abroad,” Biswas said. “The rapid growth of the IT-BPO industry is also creating positive transmission effects for

the rest of the economy, including rapid growth in demand for com-mercial fl oor space, underpinning the development of existing and new offi ce parks in urban centers,” he added.

IRO Executive Director Editha L. Martin said the favorable views of IHS on the Philippines would help further improve the way the rest of the world perceives the economy.

“Although the Philippines now enjoys investment grade sovereign credit ratings from a wide list of international debt-watchers, further building confi dence on the economy is a never-ending task as we aim for sustainability of gains. The positive assessment of IHS on the Philippines is a welcome development,” Martin said. (MNS)

new category of vehicles.The next hearing for the pre-

liminary injunction the Stop and Go Coalition is seeking has been set on December 8.

Jun Magno, president of the coalition, told GMA News that the operation of Uber and Grab is wrong because not having a fran-chise is against the law, and they are charging passengers without following the tariff issued by the LTFRB.

mate fi nancing at technology, para mas magawa nating makaambag sa hakbang kaugnay ng climate change,” Aquino said.

Technological advancements, such as the smart toothbrush and a vaccine for a fourth strain of den-gue, were also unveiled in France, he added.

Aquino also cited in his speech the results of his visit in Italy, where he said he got the support of the country’s president for his administration’s push for peace in Mindanao.

He also mentioned the Italians “preferential status” for Filipinos to work in Italy.

“Damang-dama ang paghanga

nila sa mga naiambag ng ating mga kababayan sa iba’t ibang sek-tor sa Italia. Ito po ang nagtulak sa kanilang bigyan ng preferential status ang mga kababayan nating pipiliing magtrabaho sa kanilang bansa,” Aquino said.

Aquino also paid Pope Francis a visit in Rome.

“Ang sabi niya po sa atin at sa miyembro ng ating delegasyon: please pray for me. Ang sagot ko po sa kanya: mahal na mahal siya ng mga Pilipino, at miski nga di Katoliko nating mga kababayan ay ipinagdadasal din siya,” Aquino said.

Upon his arrival, Aquino also led the turnover of the fi rst two

FA-500 supersonic fi ghter jets that the Philippines bought from South Korea.(MNS)

ibang lugar,” he said.Aquino said that he told the

Pope how special was his visit in the country early this year and the anticipation of his return “”seemed like the church was revitalized and continues to be revitalized.”

“In fact, sabi ko, up to now the tarpaulins and posters, et cetera, that were there for your visit a lot of them appear to be in very pristine condition. They were be-ing kept by our countrymen and displayed. They will probably be handed out to the next generation,” he added.

During their meeting, Pope Francis gave Aquino a coin-shaped bronze sculpture with an olive branch.

“Yung coin is broken in the middle but the roots cross each other. So the idea of being siguro

conciliatory, consensus builder, is what is being emphasized by this particular sculpture,” Aquino said, describing the gift from the Pope.

During the meeting, Aquino said that Pope also asked him to “pray for me.”

“Sabi ko sa kanya ‘Holy Father, I think in the Philippines even those who are not Catholics pray for you and I want to assure you that that continually happens,’” he said.

Aquino also met with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi during his fi rst-ever state visit in Italy.

His dealings led to both leaders pledging support to the Agrarian Community Development Support Program, which would help 53,000 families in Mindanao. (MNS)

were then Crown Prince and Prin-cess,” he added.

The state visit’s highlight will be the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between the Philippines and Japan in 2016.

Lacierda said the visit is expect-ed to “deepen and expand bilateral relations.”

“The Philippine government and the Filipino people look for-ward to welcoming Their Majes-ties,” Lacierda said.

At the sidelines of the APEC

Summit last month, Aquino held a bilateral meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

During the meeting, Aquino asked from Japan large patrol vessels for the Philippine Coast Guard.

The Philippines and Japan have an existing strategic partnership agreement – Manila’s second after the United States – that aims to bolster the cooperation between the two countries on several fronts, including defense and maritime security.(MNS)

change their mind,” said Fortun.While acknowledging Poe’s

right to appeal and move for the reversal of the decision, he said Poe has the burden of showing “compelling grounds to convince the four other members of the en banc so they can overrule the three from the division.”

Apart from Parreño, Lim, and Abas, the four remaining members of the seven-member Comelec en banc are chair Andres Bautista and poll commissioners Christian Robert Lim, Luie Tito Guia, and Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon.

“As a general rule, the Poe

camp needs to present compelling reasons before the en banc commis-sion of serious errors by the Second Division,” said Fortun.

In a separate open letter that he posted on Facebook last June 4, Fortun said Poe was not qualifi ed to run for president in 2016 under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which requires a candidate to be a resident for at least 10 years.

The FB post has since received almost 2,800 likes and shares.

Fortun urged Poe to “concede... and follow and obey this country’s laws. Otherwise, we cannot expect that you would follow those same

laws if you become president.”In a comment on his most recent

post on FB earlier this week, For-tun clarifi ed he was “not anti-Poe, just pro-Constitution.”

In the Sencond Division ruling, the three poll commissioners sided with lawyer Estrella Elamparo’s petition that Poe failed to meet the 10-year residency requirement mandated by the Constitution for a presidential candidate.

The Comelec division said Poe became a resident only in July

2006 when she applied for dual citizenship, or two months short of meeting the Constitutional re-quirement.

In her 2012 certifi cate of candi-dacy (COC) for the senatorial race, Poe had indicated her residency in the Philippines as “6 years and 6 months.” Three years later, when she fi led another COC for the 2016 presidential race, she indicated her residency as “10 years and 11 months,” instead of just “9 years and 6months.”

The Comelec division said this was a “deliberate attempt to mis-lead or misinform the electorate or hide a fact from them when she supplied the answer” in her COC for the presidency.

Also, several legal experts ear-lier admitted Poe might have a hard time having the Second Divi-sion’s unanimous ruling reversed, especially since the division had considered her COC for the 2013 senatorial race as an “admission against her interest.”