MAY 25, 2013

HAWAII FILIPINO CHRONICLE94-356 WAIPAHU DEPOT RD., 2ND FLR.WAIPAHU, HI 96797

IMMIGRATION GUIDEHow Drinking and Driving Could Result in Deportation

H a w a i i ’ s O n l y w e e k l y F i l i p i n O - a m e r i c a n n e w s p a p e r

7

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The 2013 State Legislature unanimously passed House Bill 266,

Relating to Language Access, on April 30, 2013. It now awaits

Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s signature.

The bill establishesand provides appropria-tions for a statewideLanguage Access Re-source Center (LARC)and a Multilingual Web-site Pilot Project to beadministered by the Of-fice of Language Access(OLA).

Background

According to theU.S. Census Bureau,American CommunitySurvey 2009-2011, al-most 24 percent of

Hawaii’s population speaksa language other than Eng-lish at home and approxi-mately 151,187 residents ofHawaii are limited Englishproficient (LEP). Accordingto the Immigration PolicyCenter of the American Im-migration Council, approxi-mately 18 percent ofHawaii’s residents are for-eign born, while 14 percentof Hawaii’s children with im-migrant parents are LEP.

Language barriers haveprevented our LEP popula-tion from fully benefiting

from essential governmentand government-fundedservices. These barriershave also prevented themfrom contributing to ourcommunity and living up totheir potential.

To address this, the fed-eral government throughTitle VI of the 1964 CivilRights Act and PresidentClinton’s Executive Order13166 directs all federalagencies to ensure that allprograms receiving federalfunds provide meaningful

(continued on page 4)

MAINLAND NEWSHirono VotesFor FinalPassageof ImmigrationReform Bill

PHILIPPINE NEWSCBCP: PopeFrancis May Visit Philippinesin 2016

1312

CANDID PERSPECTIVESDid You Forget? It'sAsian American PacificIslander Heritage Month

3

State LegiSLature approveSLanguage acceSS BiLL

MANILA, Philippines- The Canadianjustice department

recently elevated a Fil-ipino-Canadian to hold aseat in the Superior Courtof Justice in Ontario, amajor Canadian province.

Justice Steve AnthonyCoroza, who came fromthe Ontario Court of Jus-tice in the city of SaintCatharines, was ap-pointed to the provincialsuperior court last month-

by Camille Diola

filiPino aPPointed tohigh seat in canadiancourt

by Serafin Colmenares Jr., Ph.D. and Rebecca Gardner, JD

-the first time a Filipinooccupied a high posi-tion in the country's ju-diciary.

The Department ofForeign Affairs in a

(continued on page 5)

Phl won’t confrontchina shiPs

MANILA , Ph i l i p -pines - Chineseships have again

intruded into Philippineterritory. What does thegovernment do?

by Jaime Laude

Instead of con-fronting the intruders,the Western Com-mand of the ArmedForces of the Philip-

Justice Sabrina McKenna speaking at the Language Access Law Forum at the UH Law School in January 2013

(continued on page 6)

may 25, 20132 News Edition

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The Hawaii Filipino Chronicle is published weekly by the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle Inc. It is mailed directly to subscribers and distributed at various outlets around Oahu and the neighbor islands.Editorial and advertising deadlines are three weeks prior to publication date. Subscriptions are available at $75 per year for Oahu and the neighbor islands, continental U.S. $85, foreign country $95.Copyright 2007-2012. The Hawaii Filipino Chronicle Inc. is located at 94-356 Waipahu Depot, Waipahu, HI 96797. Telephone: (808) 678-8930. Facsimile: (808) 678-1829. E-mail:filipinochronicle@gmail.com. Opinions expressed by the columnists and contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Hawaii Filipino Chronicle management. Reproduction of the contents in wholeor in part is prohibited without written permission from the management. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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Columnists

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Contributing Writers

Belinda Aquino, Ph.D., Clement Bautista, TeresitaBernales, Ed.D., Jorge Camara, M.D., SerafinColmenares, Jr., Ph.D., Linda Dela Cruz, FiedesDoctor, Danny de Gracia II, M.A., Carolyn Weygan-Hildebrand, Amelia Jacang, M.D., Caroline Julian,Maita Milallos, Paul Melvin Palalay, M.D., Glenn

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NEWS EDITION www.thefilipinochronicle.com www.efilipinochronicle.com

Gov. Neil AbercrombieMayor Peter Carlisle

editorial

Hawaii politics is not quite the same with thepassing of the legendary U.S. Sen. Daniel In-ouye. The quarterback for the state’s Demo-

cratic party, Inouye was someone who representedthe interests of our state with commanding influ-ence. He left behind a power vacuum in D.C., thatwill take years to fill, if at all possible.

As soon as next year, Hawaii voters will takepart in the first post-Inouye election season. Alleyes will be focused on the race for U.S. Senatenot only because it will be the first election to fill In-ouye’s seat, but in many ways that race will helpclear the political haze over who will emerge as thenext leader for Democrats in our state, similar in away that Inouye was.

Those on a short list of Democrat titans whocould become the party’s new quarterback areGov. Neil Abercrombie, U.S. Rep. ColleenHanabusa and U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, who allhappen to be connected to the upcoming U.S. Senate race. (Sen.Mazie Hirono is another obvious consideration.)

the governor’s decision

Abercrombie has a lot riding on the outcome of the senate race.He was responsible for selecting Inouye’s replacement upon the sen-ior senator’s passing. The governor made a bold, somewhat contro-versial decision which could have a lasting impact on his own politicalfuture because Abercrombie went against Inouye’s “last wish” to haveHanabusa as Inouye’s appointed successor.

Abercrombie instead opted to choose the less experienced Schatzwho at the time had no congressional experience. The governor’s de-cision, however, is far from being unmerited. Schatz, while inexperi-enced, already had possessed all the brilliance and charisma tobecome a national rising political star. To put age into perspective,Schatz, who is 40, is about the same age as current Republican na-tional leaders and presidential hopefuls for the Republican Party—U.S.Rep. Paul Ryan (43) and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (42).

Evidently Abercrombie, who served in the nation’s Capitol for nu-merous terms, understood the importance of building a power base forHawaii in Congress by establishing seniority among younger, talentedpoliticians as Schatz.

Should Sen. Schatz get re-elected, it could only bolster Abercrom-bie’s chances for re-election himself and carry a symbolic, tacit under-standing that Abercrombie just very well could be Hawaii’s new

quarterback for the Democrat party, especiallysince his former lieutenant governor, would beholding a senate seat.

age and a Bright Future

That could be the case. But what is the chancefor Schatz to win a re-election? As we have seen,anything could upend the career of any rising polit-ical star. The argument Schatz supporters areusing—a need to establish seniority at the senateby the election of a younger, talented politician—sounds very familiar. Remember former congress-man Ed Case, his attempt to unseat former U.S.Sen. Daniel Akaka, and the cascading turn ofevents that followed Case’s political career fromthat point? While a similar parallel could be drawn,the simple fact that Schatz was initially appointedto his seat could spare him from a public percep-tion that he is being too ambitious or too impatient

as Case was unfairly characterized. The protocol among local Democrats was (or perhaps still is) that

“you had to wait for your turn” in order to seek higher office. Who deter-mined when that “turn” came up “unofficially” rested with the party’s quar-terback (formerly Inouye) and the party’s innermost leadership with theblessings from the “old boy's network”—referring to Hawaii’s top powerbrokers in government, unions and to an extent, business.

The fact that two of the most highly prized, blue chip Democrats inHanabusa and Schatz (backed by Abercrombie) are set to go head-to-head next year further suggests the absence of a party quarterback toorganize orderly succession. It also suggests a power struggle within theparty and possibly competing interests of Hawaii’s “old boy network.”

hanaBusa—Lead QuarterBack For dems?

The obvious spoiler of an Abercrombie-Schatz lock as the Democ-rats’ new top leaders is Hanabusa. Should Hanabusa win the senate,she would solidify what many insiders already see her as, among thevery top political leaders in the state, if not already at the helm.

Since entering local politics, Hanabusa immediately became aleader. Her rise in the state senate was quick and memorable. She’sheld powerful positions as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sen-ate majority leader and became the first woman state senate president.

Who Could Emerge as Democrats’New Quarterback?

MEMbER,

SOCIETy Of PROfESSIONAL JOURNALISTS

(continued on page 3)

may 25, 2013 3News EditionCaNdid PerSPeCtiVeS

Did You Forget? It’s Asian AmericanPacific Islander Heritage Month

Even in Hawaii, wherewe tend to forget aboutit, we need an AAAPI

Islander Month.Maybe it’s the idea of

being in paradise, or thefact that there’s so manyAsian Americans in theAloha State, one can getblasé. I can hear peoplesay, “Come on, Manong,Emil. AAPI Month is for themainland. In Hawaii, everyday is AAPI Month.”

But not so fast, coconutbreath.

Usually heritagemonths have been re-minders to help the diver-sity challenged. It’s amonth for education and

understanding, a time toappreciate other cultures.Indeed, AAPI Month isoften seen for letting othersknow who we are.

But with more of ourbroad Asian Americancommunity members beingforeign-born from homoge-nous countries not knownfor diversity, I’ve too oftennoticed the need for diver-sity sensitivity within ourown community.

I still remember when Iwas in Honolulu, there wasan uproar over the por-trayal of Filipinos by aprominent Asian Americanauthor. But to some, thefictional portrayal stungharder than a newspaperreport. It revealed howsome in Hawaii –otherAsian Americans—stillview Filipinos as beneaththem.

How do you bridge that

kind of gap?AAPI Heritage Month

helps. It helps bind us as abroader community. But italso gives us muscle inthe political game wherethe only way we can getahead is by working to-gether.

Indeed May is all aboutus: Vietnamese, Chinese,Filipino, Cambodian, Laot-ian, Taiwanese, Pakistani,H m o n g ,  K o r e a n ,Bangladeshi, Thai, Indian,Sri Lankan, Indonesian,Japanese, Malays ian,B u r m e s e ,  N e p a l e s e ,Bhutanese, Samoan, Mi-cronesian, Native Hawai-ian... to name just a few ofthe ethnicities under ourbig umbrella term.

But our diversity re-

Quires some work.

Even President BarrackObama acknowledged

when it comes to providinggovernment services likehealth care and education,helping Asian Americans isharder than it should be,unless we all dig a littledeeper and understandwho we are a little more.

“If we're going to do abetter job addressing(Asian American Pacific Is-landers),” said the presi-dent, “Then we first have tostop grouping everybodyjust in one big category.Dozens of different commu-nities fall under the um-brella of the AsianAmericans and Pacific Is-landers, and we have to re-spect that the experiencesof immigrant groups aredistinct and different. Andyour concerns run thegamut."

This is the month for ac-knowledging and under-standing all of that. Even in

Hawaii.In the last year, the um-

brella has been a shakyone for Asian Americans,with attempts by somegroups to split us on issueslike affirmative action.

But that doesn’t meanwe need to toss the um-brella. When it rains, it’s notlike a Waikiki misting.

The umbrella providescover and strength for usall---right when we need itmost.

We just need to use itbetter. And not forget who'sunder there with us.

Asian American PacificIslander Heritage Month isa reminder for us all, to-gether.

emiL guiLLermo is an award-winning journalist who writes for theAsian American Legal Defense andEducation Fund.T w i t t e r @ e m i l a m o k .  V i s i twww.amok.com

by emil GUillermO

editorial(cont. from page 2; WHO... )

Hanabusa may be the chal-lenger in the upcoming U.S. senaterace, but by no means is she an un-derdog. She has already raised$229,000 in the first three months of2013 even before publicly statingher intentions to run for the senate.

Early on, Hanabusa appears tohave the backing of Inouye loyal-ists, which could be key to hercampaign in a close race, to addonto her own base of supporters.The DANPAC, the late U.S. Sen.Daniel Inouye’s political actioncommittee, has donated $10,000to her campaign. She has gottennumerous union endorsementsand is expected to get more.

Schatz raised more than $1.1million over the past three months,perhaps due in part to his incum-bency status and confidence in hisfuture by the national Democratleadership.

The winner of next year’s sen-

ate election will serve out the re-mainder of Inouye’s six year termup to 2016. The final outcome ofthat race could very well be deter-mined in the Primary Election. Withboth Hanabusa and Schatz havingvery similar positions on mostmajor issues, this race reallycomes down to who voters believewill be the most effective leader.

Some people may say thatthere could never be another quar-terback for the Democratic party inHawaii as Inouye was. In fact,shared power is preferred, theymight argue. But in the world of pol-itics where leadership and al-liances determine influence, andultimately politicians’ own survivalto stay in public office, undoubtedly,a clear quarterback is likely toemerge. That’s how it was in the In-ouye era; that’s how it will be againin time. Next year’s U.S. Senaterace should reveal, or at leastbegin to settle, who this public fig-ure will be.

ADVERTISE NOW AND SEE HOW THE FACE OF BUSINESS IS CHANGING!

No matter how small your ad, it gets our readers attention!

CALL 678-8930 OR GO TO OUR WEBSITES@www.efilipinochronicle.com andwww.thefilipinochronicle.com

may 25, 20134 News Edition

(cont. from page 1; STATE ... )

access to LEP persons. In2006, the State Legislaturepassed Act 290 (later re-codified by Act 201 SessionLaws Hawaii 2012 intoHawaii Revised Statutes(H.R.S.) § 321C) which mir-rored federal law, requiringthat all state agencies andstate-funded programs alsoprovide meaningful accessto services for LEP persons.

The Act also establishedOLA which is charged withproviding oversight, centralcoordination and technicalassistance to state andstate-funded agencies intheir implementation of therequirements of Hawaii’s

Language Access law.Since the inception ofHawaii’s Language Accesslaw and OLA, three majorchallenges to agency com-pliance has been identified: (1) There is no comprehen-

sive and centralized sys-tem or structure inHawaii to identify quali-fied language inter-preters and translators;

(2) Hawaii has a dearth ofcompetent language in-terpreters and transla-tors available to assist LEP individuals – espe-cially in the so-calledlanguages of limited dif-fusion; and

(3) State agencies do not

have multilingual web-sites that can help LEPpersons access needed information intheir own language.OLA regularly receives

calls from agencies and thepublic for information andreferrals for available andqualified interpreters andtranslators—a functionwhich OLA consistentlyserves but is not part of itscurrent legislative charge.

The legislative proposalwas initially prepared in2009, with the assistance ofnow House Vice SpeakerJohn Mizuno, but it was notintroduced because of thebudgetary cuts at that time.Sen. Suzanne Chun-Oak-land revived the proposallast year following prelimi-nary discussions at the 5thAnnual Hawaii Conferenceon Language Access. Aftermeetings with communitystakeholders, the bill wassponsored by Sen. Chun-Oakland in the Senate(SB58), with a companionbill sponsored by Rep.Henry Aquino and the Fil-ipino Caucus in the House(HB266). The two bills wereheard and unanimously ap-proved by the House Com-mittee on Health, chaired byRep. Della Au Belatti, andthe Finance Committeeheaded by Rep. SylviaLuke, as well as in the Sen-ate Committee on HumanServices headed by Sen.Chun-Oakland, and itsWays & Means Committeechaired by Sen. David Ige.HB 266 made it to confer-ence committee and then tothe full House and Senatewhere it was unanimouslyapproved on April 30, 2013.

the BiLL

House Bill 266 estab-lishes the Statewide Lan-guage Access ResourceCenter (LARC) and a PilotMultilingual Website Project.

The LARC, which will belocated within the OLA,shall:(1) Maintain a publicly avail-

able roster of inter-preters and translatorslisting qualifications andcredentials based uponguidelines established

by OLA in consultationwith the Language Ac-cess Advisory Council;

(2) Train state and state-funded agencies on howto effectively obtain andutilize the services oflanguage interpretersand translators;

(3) Support the recruitmentand retention of lan-guage interpreters andtranslators providingservices to state andstate-funded agencies;

(4) Provide, coordinate, andpublicize training oppor-tunities to increase thenumber and availabilityof qualified language in-terpreters and transla-tors and further developtheir language interpre-tation and translationskills; and

(5) Work toward identifyingor creating a process totest and certify languageinterpreters and transla-tors and promote use ofthe process to ensurethe quality and accuracyof the language interpre-tation and translationservices.The bill also enables

OLA, in collaboration withthe Office of InformationManagement and Technol-ogy and other state agen-cies, to administer amultilingual website pilotproject that shall:

(1) Explore the possibil-ity, utility and feasibility ofcreating a multilingual web-site to improve language ac-cess to information providedonline for LEP personsseeking information aboutgovernment and govern-ment-funded services in theState; and

(2) To the extent feasi-ble, produce a multilingualwebsite for use by the publicfor the twelve largest LEPgroups in the State.

The bill sets aside$250,000 ($170,000 for theLARC and $80,000 for themultilingual website) eachyear for two years, andtakes effect on July 1, 2013.

community support

The bill gained strongcommunity and agency sup-port during the course of its

HeadliNeS

legislative hearings. Com-munity groups that submit-ted testimony in support ofthe bill included CatholicCharities Hawaii, the Con-gress of Visayan Organiza-tions (COVO), the HawaiiAppleseed Center for Lawand Economic Justice, theHawaii Filipino Lawyer’s As-sociation, the Hawaii StateCoalition Against DomesticViolence, the Office of Lan-guage Access AdvisoryCouncil, the Hawaii CivilRights Commission, theState Department of Health,and the Hawaii Public Hous-ing Authority.

Catholic CharitiesHawaii officials say that hav-ing a pool of qualified inter-preters and translatorswould enable both publicand private organizations toprovide the necessary lan-guage access for availableresources and services. Inaddition, having informationavailable via website in mul-tiple languages will supportnewly-arrived immigrantsand refugees to adjust suc-cessfully in our community.

“Immigrants andrefugees have been impor-tant contributing membersof Hawaii communities for

more than 100 years,”states Catholic Charities inits written testimony. “Today,immigrants and refugeescontinue to be a reliableworkforce in Hawaii hotels,restaurants and other busi-nesses that support ourtourism industry. It is onlyright and just that thesehard-working brothers andsisters of ours be providedthe support they need to re-alize their dreams, find newbeginnings and provide bet-ter futures for themselvesand their families. House Bill266 will provide them thatopportunity.”

The Hawaii AppleseedCenter for Law and Eco-nomic Justice says thatwithout the language ac-cess resource center, stateagencies will continue to fallshort on their obligationsunder federal civil rightsstatutes, as well as our ownstate Language Access Act.

“Without adequate re-(continued on page 5)

may 25, 2013 5News EditionHeadliNeScrease the number of quali-fied interpreters, and testingof interpreters to ensurequality control,” say HPHAofficials in written testimony,

reaction From

LegisLators

The bill is generally seenas a big step towards lan-guage access for all inHawaii. OLA Executive Di-rector Dr. Serafin Col-menares sees it as “arecognition of the impor-tance of and the need forlanguage access here inHawaii, and an affirmation ofthe continued support fromour legislators and the com-munity.

“While the funding givenfell short of our requestedamount, it is a good startand enables us to startworking immediately on thisimportant project,” Col-menares says.

Rep. Aquino says thatHouse Bill 266 is one morestep to ensure better andstronger access to pro-grams and services for ourcommunity members whomay not be proficient in theEnglish language.

“The Legislature hasdone well for our Filipinocommunity by seeing thisimportant need and makinga powerful statement andcommitment to address it,”he says.

However, House ViceSpeaker Mizuno describesthe bill as a “half-victory.” Hewould like to introduce themeasure again for the nextsession.

“We got funding but notthe amount we had re-quested—and less thanhalf,” Mizuno says. “If we can

(cont. from page 4; STATE ... ) get strong support from theHouse and Senate leader-ship, we can remedy theshortfall in this measure andpass it to represent the full al-lotment originally asked for.”

Colmenares points outtwo key issues regardingthe bill.

“First, because so manyof our loved ones are immi-grants with English as theirsecond language, we needto invest more in the Lan-guage Access ResourceCenter to ensure that ourimmigrants become self-suf-ficient and productive,” hesays,

Secondly, we also needto provide for adequate pub-lic safety and health careservices for immigrant pop-ulations. An investment inthe Language Access Re-source Center is an invest-ment in a substantialnumber of our residents. Wereally are a state of immi-grants—not only Filipino,but Micronesian, Chinese,Korean, Japanese andmany others. This legislationis essential for our state tomove forward.”

upcoming Language

access events

OLA is gearing up for its6th Annual Hawaii Confer-ence on Language Accesson August 7-8, 2013 at theEast-West Center. The con-ference theme is “Ola Pono:Language Access in theCommunity Health Setting.”

The purposes of theconference are to under-stand the need and require-ments for linguisticaccessibility in the health-care setting; learn about re-cent developments and best

(cont. from page 1; FILIPINO...)

statement on Mondaycalled Coroza's appoint-ment "historic" and the"highest attained by a Fil-ipino-Canadian" inCanada's judiciary so far.

The 42-year-old federalprosecutor started out as acriminal lawyer and becamea member of the bar in 1997and prosecuted at all levelsof court in Ontario, accord-ing to a report by Toronto-based Filipino newspaperBalita.

Philippine Ambassadorto Canada Leslie Gatanpraised Coroza's appoint-ment, saying it could be aninspiration to the Filipinocommunity in Canada.

"His elevation to aprominent position in theCanadian judiciary sharp-ens the visibility of Filipinosin Canada’s multicultural so-ciety and should inspireyounger generations of Fil-ipino-Canadians to aim forexcellence in all their en-deavors," Gatan said.

Coroza, who has been amember of the Federation ofAsian Canadian Laywers,has also been dedicated inthe outreach program On-tario Justice Education Net-work, instructing youngpeople on the justice system

Involved in the network,Coroza also conductedmock trials with English asSecond Language stu-dents, whom he could re-late with due to his mixednat iona l i ty, the repor tadded. (www.philstar.com)

practices in medical/healthinterpretation/translation;and develop networking op-portunities for language ac-cess practitioners.

National and localspeakers will be presentingat plenary and break-outsessions. Two free work-shops—one on Plain Eng-lish and another on MedicalTerminology—will also beavai lab le . Conferencesponsors and exhibitors arewelcome. The conferenceis free and open to thepubl ic but part ic ipantsmust register. Space is lim-ited and registration is on afirst-come, first-servedb a s i s .  P l e a s e  v i s i twww.labor.hawaii.gov/ola to

register or call 586-8730.From September 16-20,

2013, the Office of Lan-guage Access and the Of-fice for Civil Rights, RegionIX, U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Serv-ices, will jointly hold com-munity forums on all islandsto hear from agencies re-ceiving federal and statefunds, as well as non-profitand community organiza-tions, challenges and is-sues they face in theimplementation of federaland state language accessrequirements.

dr. seraFin coLmenares Jr.

is Executive Director, and Rebecca

Gardner is Senior Legal Analyst, of the

Office of Language Access.

sources to assist the LEPpopulation, not only does avulnerable part of our popu-lation remain un-served, butagencies out of compliancemay be vulnerable to civilrights complaints and furthercourt action,” officials statedin written testimony. It is im-portant that the legislature isproactive in moving to pro-vide meaningful access toall of Hawaii’s residents andfulfill our commitmentsunder the law.”

Officials with the HawaiiPublic Housing Authority(HPHA) say that because itsLEP clients speak a largenumber of different lan-guages, it difficult to findqualified interpreters thatare available at the placeand time they are needed.This is especially difficult onthe neighbor islands whereresources are scarce. Whenan interpreter in a foreignlanguage is requested, theagency must sometimes callon embassies, churches,and other communitygroups to find one. In addi-tion, because there are nocertification requirements forinterpreters, quality of serv-ices may vary by interpreter.Furthermore, given the lan-guage barrier, it is very diffi-cult for the agency to knowwhether the service thatwas provided is adequate.

“A language access re-source center, such as theone proposed in this bill,would provide the agencywith more resources to pro-vide meaningful languageaccess services, such aslistings of qualified inter-preters and translators,training opportunities to in-

(continued on page <None>)

may 25, 20136 News Edition HaWaii-FiliPiNo NeWS

Fulbright-Hays scholar, PhiBeta Kappa honor societymember and on the Dean’sList at the University ofHawaii-Manoa.

Applicants were chosenfor their scholastic achieve-ments and other accolades,leadership skills, accom-plishments, active involve-ment in school, civic,political, business and otherorganizations as well astheir vision, innovativenessand commitment to makinga difference in the Philip-pines and within the Fil-ipino-American community.

Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., the

Philippines’ ambassador tothe U.S., initiated the lead-ership program last year.The participants will takepart in an immersion pro-gram in the Philippines thatwill allow them to dialoguewith top officials and policy-makers, leaders of industry,legislators, media, artistsand cultural experts, entre-

HONOLULU RESIDENT

RANDY J. CORTEz willjoin 9 other outstandingyoung Filipinos for the 2013Filipino American YouthLeadership Program (FYL-Pro), which will be held inManila from July 7-11,2013.

Cortez, 24, is a programspecialist for the State De-partment of Labor & Indus-trial Relations. He is thecurrent president of the JCIHawaii Filipino JuniorChamber and a member ofthe Knights of Rizal-HawaiiChapter. Cortez was also aPresidential Merit recipient,

preneurs and innovators indifferent fields.

“We have once againcome up with anothergroup of outstanding anddedicated young leaders,”says Ambassador Cuisia.“In going through their ap-plications, I was struck withtheir sense of idealism andpassion to help their re-spective communities andFilipinos back home.”

The Second FYLProaims to build on the suc-cess of the inaugural pro-gram, which was held July13-16, 2012 in the Philip-pines. Organizers say theevent yielded a remarkablebatch of young Filipino-

Americans who continue towork on different advoca-cies to promote furtherprogress in the Philippinesand to further engage themulti-faceted Filipino-Amer-ican community.

The Ayala Foundation ispartnering with the Philip-pine government on theprogram. The cost for par-ticipants’ airfare, localtransportation and accom-modations are funded byother corporate sponsors,including Chevron, Phinma,Philamlife, Planters Devel-opment Bank, CLSA Ex-change Capital, SGV &Company, and Ayala Cor-poration.

Honolulu Resident Among Youth Leaders to Take Partin Leadership Program

Search is On forOutstanding OFWTHE PHILIPPINE CON-

SULATE GENERAL IN

HONOLULU is inviting in-terested organizations andindividuals to join the searchfor this year’s outstandingand exemplary OverseasFilipino Workers (OFWs).

The deadline to submitnominations is August 31,2013. Winners will be an-nounced during the 2013Bagong Bayani Awards,scheduled for December2 0 1 3  a t  M a l a c a n a n gPalace.

The contest is spon-

s o r e d  b y  t h e  B a g o n gBayani Foundation Inc., thePhilippine Overseas Em-ployment Administrationand the Overseas WorkersWelfare Administration.

Contact the Consulateat 595-6316 for more de-tails.

UH-Manoa Releases New Policyfor Undocumented StudentsUNIVERSITY OF HAWAII-

MANOA OFFICIALS arereminding undocumentedstudents that they mayqualify for Hawaii residenttuition, provided that theymeet certain requirements.

To qualify, undocu-mented students mustmeet the following require-ments:• Be able to show that

they have lived in

Hawaii for 12 consecu-tive months prior to thefirst day of instructionand demonstrate intentto make Hawaii theirpermanent residence.

• Attended a U.S. highschool for at least 3years and graduatedfrom a U.S. high school(or attained the equiva-lent).

• Filed an application for

legal immigrant status,filed for Deferred Ac-tion, or submitted a UHaffidavit affirming theintent to file such appli-cation.

For more information,please contact the UH-Manoa Office of Admis-sions at 956-8975 or visit:http://opmanong.ssc.hawaii.edu/undoc.html.

HeadliNeS(cont. from page 1; PHL...)

vital since it is along thesupply route from mainlandPalawan to Kalayaan townin Pag-Asa Island. The reefis located near the Chineseoccupied Panganiban (Mis-chief) Reef that now servesas China’s forward base forits warships.

The DFA said there aretwo Chinese Marine Sur-veillance vessels, a war-ship, and 30 fishing vesselsaround Ayungin.

DFA spokesman RaulHernandez stressed noother state except thePhilippines is entitled to as-

sert sovereign rights overAyungin Shoal and its wa-ters under the United Na-tions Convention on theLaw of the Sea (UNCLOS).

He said the presence ofChinese ships in the area is“China’s strategy to projectits 9-dash line claim overthe whole of South ChinaSea.”

The DFA emphasizedAyungin Shoal is part ofPhilippine territory.

China has not re-sponded to the diplomaticprotest lodged by the Philip-pines last May 10.

“We are assessing ouroptions. No one shoulddoubt our resolve to defendwhat is ours in that area,”Hernandez said.

“ T h i s  i n t r u s i o n  i sprovocative and illegal...(and) which according toUNCLOS and international

pines (AFP) is limiting itselfto monitoring the activitiesof the Chinese warshipsand surveillance vesselsthat have taken up posi-tions around Ayungin Reefin the Kalayaan IslandGroup in Palawan.

“Our task at the mo-ment is to support thepeaceful resolution of ourconflict in the Kalayaan Is-land Group so the AFP sup-ports the diplomatic actionsor protest by our govern-ment,” said Maj. RamonZagala of the AFP PublicAffairs Office.

Zagala was referring tothe protest filed by the De-partment of Foreign Affairs(DFA) against the presenceof Chinese warships andvessels inside the country’sterritorial waters.

Ayungin is considered (continued on page 7)

may 25, 2013 7

by atty. emmanuel samonte tipOn

How Drinking and Driving Could Resultin Deportation

News Edition

cation for voluntary depar-ture.

The Immigration Judgedenied his applications find-ing that he was not statuto-rily eligible for relief becausehe was not a person of goodmoral character and or-dered him deported. Immi-gration Law enumeratescertain categories of individ-uals who are conclusivelypresumed to lack goodmoral character. 8 U.S.C.Section 1101(f). Gerardo fellwithin one of the categories,namely, an individual whohas been “confined as theresult of conviction, to apenal institution for an ag-gregate period of one hun-dred and eighty days ormore.” 8 U.S.C. Section1101(f)(7). The governmentestablished that the alienwas imprisoned for morethan 180 days as a result ofhis vehicular manslaughterconviction. The Board of Im-migration Appeals affirmed.

The alien did not disputeon appeal to the Court ofAppeals that the statute pre-cluded him from establish-ing eligibility for relief, butasked the court to declarethe statute unconstitutionalon the ground that it violatesthe equal protection of thelaws and the due processclause of the Fifth Amend-ment. He argued that thevice of the statute is that itconclusively presumes thatan individual lacks goodmoral character basedsolely on the length of timeserved in prison, rather than

on the nature of the under-lying criminal conduct. Sincethere is a wide variation insentences imposed by thedifferent states for the samecriminal conduct, he con-tended that the statute al-lowed disparate treatment ofsimilarly situated individualsin violation of equal protec-tion principles. He claimedthat Congress must useconduct-based classifica-tions, as it has elsewhere inSection 1101(f), by specify-ing the particular criminal of-fenses which trigger theconclusive presumption thatan individual lacks goodmoral character.

The court rejected thealien’s argument, sayingthat Congress rationallyconcluded that in mostcases aliens who have beenconvicted of crimes seriousenough to warrant at leastsix months of incarcerationwill lack the good moralc h a r a c t e rnecessary towarrant dis-c re t ionaryrelief fromr e m o v a l .C o n g r e s swas entitledto rely onthat judg-ment to cre-ate theconclusivepresumptionof Section1101(f)(7).The courtconc ludedthat there

“Don’t drink anddrive” is a sloganthat ought to be

taken seriously especially ifyou are an alien.

Gerardo, a Mexicancitizen, was an “alien pres-ent in the United Stateswithout being admitted orparoled.” He was thereforesubject to removal pursuantto 8 U.S.C. Section1182(a)(6)(A)(i). While un-lawfully driving under the in-fluence of alcohol inviolation of the CaliforniaPenal Code, he killed a per-son. He pleaded guilty andwas sentenced to 16months in prison and servedapproximately half of thattime.

The following year, thegovernment initiated re-moval proceedings againsthim because of his convic-tion for vehicularmanslaughter. He concededremovability and applied forcancellation of removal or, inthe alternative, for voluntarydeparture. To be eligible forsuch relief, he had to show,among other things, that hewas a person of “good moralcharacter” during the 10-year period immediatelypreceding his application forcancellation or the 5-yearperiod preceding his appli-

may well be cases in whichthe same underling crimeresults in a period of incar-ceration of seven months inone case but only fivemonths in another, but thatdisparity in the marginsdoes not render the classifi-cation invalid under the ra-tional basis test.Romero-Ochoa v. Holder,No. 08-74277, 04/10/13,CA9.

COMMENT: Could thealien have been saved fromdeportation? Possibly. Hehad the qualifying relativesto make him eligible forcancellation of removal. Hiswife was a lawful perma-nent resident of the UnitedStates and three of his fivechildren were U.S. citizens.He could have fought thedrunk driving charge by re-fusing a blood test withouta warrant as the driver didin Missouri v. McNeely, de-cided last month by theU.S. Supreme Court, acase we discussed in an-

other article. Or he couldhave entered into a pleabargain and negotiated asentence of less than 180days, thereby avoiding theconclusive presumptionthat he was a person not ofgood moral character.When an alien is chargedwith a cricriminal offense, itis best to hire a criminal de-fense attorney who alsoknows immigration law sothat the attorney can adopta strategy that will avoid de-portation.

atty. tipon has a Master of

Laws degree from Yale Law School

and a Bachelor of Laws degree

from the University of the Philip-

pines. Office: 800 Bethel St., Suite

402, Honolulu, HI 96813. Tel.

(808) 225-2645. E-Mail: filam-

law@yahoo .com. Webs i t es :

www.MilitaryandCriminalLaw.co

m, and www.ImmigrationService-

sUSA.com. Listen to the most witty,

interesting, and informative radio

program in Hawaii on KNDI at

1270, AM dial every Thursday at

7:30 a.m., rebroadcast at

www.iluko.com.

iMMiGratioN GUide

HeadliNeS(cont. from page 6; PHL...)

law is illegal and has no basis,”Hernandez added.

On the other hand, Marine Col.Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesmanfor the West Philippine Sea, saidthere are no reports of numerousChinese warships in Ayungin.

He said the defense and mili-tary leadership are abreast of thecurrent situation in the area.

“We have not monitored anumber of vessels to be construedas mustering (in the area),“ hesaid.

In the case of Ayungin, Arevalosaid the Navy has boots on theground guarding it. He said thetroops on forward deployment inthe area continue to monitor devel-opments in its periphery round theclock.

“The same is true with otherNavy-occupied territories in theWest Philippine Sea,” Arevalo said,pointing out that the Navy’s actionsin the area are all based on inter-agency and multi-lateral consulta-tions between and among agenciesof government. (www.philstar.com)

may 25, 20138 News Edition CoMMUNitY Parade

may 25, 2013 9News EditionFeatUre

Keoni WrightTalking Story with a Filipino Heritage Player

Boston-born and Kalihiresident Keoni Wrightloves the sport of

rugby. His love for the sporthas led him to four rugbyhomes so far—Boston,Japan, Hawaii and thePhilippines. Yes, you read itright… the Philippines!

“Personally, there is nogreater memory for me thanbeing in the pre-game hud-dle with ‘Philippines’ in bigletters across my jersey,” hesays. “ Representing a veryprominent and strong pieceof my heritage through thesport of rugby is something Iwill never forget.”

Wright has played forthe Philippine National De-velopment Team and thelocal Alabang Eagles rugbyteam.

“I played twice in inter-national tournaments in No-

vember 2012 and March of2013 for the Alabang Eagles,” hesays. “I played for the Philippinesnational development team twiceversus the Hong Kong nationaldevelopment team in late2011. I playedin the 2011games thata r e  n o wp a r t  o fP h i l i p p i n erugby history asthey were thef i r s t  r u g b ygames everplayed at RizalStadium and inLaguna.

The Ph i l ip -pines is his fourthrugby home andWright wants to returnthere and as often as his career in theU.S. Navy allows him to. He thinks moreFilipino-American athletes should con-

sider rugby or playing in the Philip-pines as a Filipino heritage player.

phiLippine rugBy

The transformation of rugby in thePhilippines is phenomenal—from

just having one team in 2004 tobecoming one of the five

best rugby nations inAsia today. The bestnational teams inAsia—Hongkong,South Korea,U n i t e d  A r a bE m i r a t e s ,Japan and thePhilippines—j u s t  c o m -p l e t e d  t h eannual Asian

5  N a t i o n stournament. Last May 18,

GMA news reportedthat the Philippine Na-

tional team put on a show for the home crowdat the Rizal Memorial Stadium, defeating UAE,24-8, to remain in the top-flight of rugby in Asia.

Pam Belardo, a spokesper-son from the PhilippineRugby Football Union(PRFU), says that rugby istaking root in Philippineschools and covers touchrugby to full-contact rugby.

Belardo is especiallyproud of the PRFU’s part-nership with seven charita-ble foundations and theirefforts to help street childrenin the Philippines. She saysthat the Philippine team ros-ter will likely include one ofthese children when thecountry vies for a spot in the2015 Rugby World Cup, thehighest level of competition.

The pedigree of many ofthe players in the Philip-pines is top notch, withmany of them coming fromtraditional rugby groundslike England, Oceania andAustralia. Some haveplayed rugby together in

by carolyn weyGan-Hildebrand

(continued on page 10)

definitely prepared me for rugby.Rugby is a running game but it’s alsoa passing game. The awarenessand creativity I developed in basket-ball transferred over to the sport ofrugby.”

But it wasn’t until 2007 that hegave rugby sport a try.

“I took 30 days of leave from myship (USS Essex) in Japan and re-turned to Boston,” he recalls. “Byday, I was visiting family and a fewnights a week I was practicing withthe Boston Rugby Football Club andlearned the sport from some veryseasoned players. After three sum-mer tournaments later, I washooked.”

After that experience, he re-turned to his home station in Japanand sought out a rugby club. AJapanese-speaking friend helpedhim locate Sasebo City Rugby Foot-ball Club in Sasebo, Japan.

“I went on to play and my teambecame one of the top city levelteams in Nagasaki Prefecture,” hesays. “I learned in many great wayswhile in my second rugby home. Idescribe the Japanese to be verytechnical with their rugby and pre-cise.”

However, he was diagnosed withtesticular cancer in 2009. The Navysent him to Hawaii to undergo treat-ment at Tripler Army Medical Center.

“For the first two months of mychemotherapy treatment, I mus-tered up enough strength to playrugby for the Hawaii HarlequinsRugby Club. None of my team-mates realized the severity of mycondition and I doubt that my oppo-nents knew that they were playingagainst a cancer patient,” Wrightsays. “As chemotherapy pro-gressed though, my ability to run forlong periods of time diminished andI became weaker. I continued a rig-orous exercise regimen but rugbywas out of the question. I took abreak even after remission.”

But the rugby bug bit him and in2010, he started playing for variousclubs—twice for the All-Navy rugbyteam. His club, the Harlequin Rugby

may 25, 201310 News Edition FeatUre

school or via professional contracts.By international rugby rules, “TheVolcanoes” or Philippine NationalTeam can include only those born inthe Philippines or have at least oneparent or grandparent who was bornin the Philippines or have three yearsof uninterrupted residency in thecountry. The Philippine National De-velopment Team is less stringent andallows a broader range of players ofFilipino-International parentage.Local teams like the Alabang Eaglesare open to international and Filipino-heritage players.

The Philippine DevelopmentTeam coaches saw in him a tena-cious, hard-nosed rugby player.

“I have some refined skills but Ireally enjoy being in the trenches anddoing the dirty work on the field,” hesays. “Most of all, I think my coachessee someone who is not afraid tolearn and take on new challenges.And of course they see one bigstrong crazy Filipino moke.”

Being ready

For Wright, his personal journeyinvolved two non-rugby sports, threerugby homes, surviving cancer andmore. He was born in Boston andgrew up in Southern New Hamp-shire. His mother’s family is Irish andhis father is Filipino. He was alwaysvery athletic growing up.

“I excelled at basketball in partic-ular. I was a basketball addict fromthe time I was 5 years old until myearly twenties. In hindsight, it wasprobably my Filipino blood shiningthrough. I was recruited by DivisionII and Division III colleges throughoutNew England. I settled on EmmanuelCollege right in the heart of Boston,”he says.

He played for Emmanuel Collegeduring his freshman and sophomoreyears but was intrigued by sport ofboxing in his junior year. He droppedout of basketball altogether andtrained as a light heavy weight ama-teur boxer until graduation.

“Like basketball and boxing,rugby is a full contact sport that doesnot have protective gear like in Amer-ican football,” he says. “Basketball

(cont. from page 9; KEONI... )

(continued on page 11)

The Philippine National Rugby Team

may 25, 2013 11News EditionHealtH & FaMilY

study in 2010.The new study was led

by the Mario Negri Institutefor Pharmacological Re-search in Milan. It tested 1gram a day of fish oil versusdummy capsules in 12,513people throughout Italy.They had not suffered aheart attack but were athigh risk of having one be-cause of diabetes, highblood pressure, high cho-lesterol, smoking, obesityor other conditions. Most al-ready were taking choles-terol-lowering statins,aspirin and other medicinesto lower their chances ofheart problems.

Researchers at firstplanned to compare therate of death, heart attacksand strokes in the twogroups, but these were lessfrequent than anticipated.So they started measuringhow long it was before peo-ple in either group sufferedone of these fates or washospitalized for heart-re-lated reasons. After fiveyears, the rate was thesame — about 12 percent

of each group had one ofthese problems.

"They're very high-riskpeople and so the level ofother treatments was veryhigh," Arnett said. "Whenyou're being aggressivelytreated for all of your otherrisk factors, adding fish oilyielded no additional bene-fits."

Results are published inThursday's New EnglandJournal of Medicine. Mak-ers of fish oil supplementshelped pay for the study.

Eating fish is known tohelp protect against heartdisease, and the Heart As-sociation recommends it atleast twice a week.

"People who choose toeat more fish are morelikely to eat heart healthier

Eating fish is good foryour heart but takingfish oil capsules does

not help people at high riskof heart problems who arealready taking medicines toprevent them, a large studyin Italy found.

The work makes clearerwho does and does notbenefit from taking supple-ments of omega-3 fattyacids, the good oils found infish such as salmon, tunaand sardines.

Previous studies havesuggested that fish oil cap-sules could lower heartrisks in people with heartfailure or who have alreadysuffered a heart attack. TheAmerican Heart Associationrecommends them only forpeople who have high lev-els of fats called triglyc-erides in their blood, saysthe group's president, Dr.Donna Arnett of the Univer-sity of Alabama at Birming-ham.

Fish oil capsules failedto prevent flare-ups of atrialfibrillation, a common heartrhythm problem, in a large

Study: Fish Oil Doesn't Prevent HeartAttacks in Folks Already Taking Medicinesto Lower Risk

diets and engage in morephysical activity," and stud-ies testing the benefit of

supplements may not beable to completely adjustfor differences like these,said Alice Lichtenstein, di-rector of the cardiovascularnutrition lab at Tufts Univer-sity in Boston.

The results do showthat people can't rely on apill to make up for a baddiet, she said.

"It is sort of like break-ing a fish oil capsule over ahot fudge sundae and ex-pecting the effect of thecalories and saturated fatto go away," she said.(www.philstar.com)

by marilynn marcHiOne (Associated Press)

Club, won the 2013 Re-gional Hawaii RugbyChampionship last April 13.Unlike his time in Japan,Hawaii offered him a sched-ule that was better suitedfor playing rugby.

Beyond rugBy

The diverse diasporahistory is one that Filipinoheritage players like Wrightfeel needs more attention.

“Many are aware ofpost-1946 immigration his-tory only,” Wright saysabout his experience in thePhilippines. He realizes thatfew in Manila are aware ofthe Filipino stories that ourislands are most familiarwith and the one that isclose to his heart.

“My great grandfather isFortunato Molle,” he says.Wright is fortunate that hisgrandfather was the subjectof a brief oral history project.The project gives an au-thentic voice to his late greatgrandfather’s life experi-ence. The project estab-lishes that his greatgrandparents are from Cebuand they came to Lahaina towork on the plantation start-ing in 1924.

Mr. Molle was a canecutter before becoming leg-endary as a fisherman inWaialua and Haleiwa.Wright’s grandmother, Mar-ciana Molle, was raised onthe plantation and currentlylives in Hilo. Jokingly, Wrightwishes for lower airfares sohe could visit his grand-

mother more frequently.He also wishes that he

would have more of his sec-ond best memory of playingrugby in the Philippines.That’s one of drinking SanMiguel beer with teammateson beaches of Cebu!

FeatUre

(cont. from page 10; KEONI.. )

ADVERTISE NOW AND SEE HOW THE FACE OF BUSINESS IS CHANGING!

No matter how small your ad, it gets our readers attention!

CALL 678-8930 OR GO TO OUR WEBSITE @www.efilipinochronicle.com www.thefilipinochronicle.com

fliets of Copper River Salmon from Alaska in Seattle.│Photo source : AP Photo/Ted S. Warren

may 25, 201312 News Edition PHiliPPiNe NeWS

etable crates containingreused plastic bottles. Thecrates will eventually be-come eco-friendly bricks fora school library’s walls.

“This is a living exampleof how you can take food,shelter, water and energyusing existing resourcesthat people often disregardas wasteful and actuallyturn them into somethingthat is useful, and beneficialand can create a quality oflife,” says renowned envi-ronmentalist David deRothschild who journeyedacross the Pacific on a boat

made from plastic bottles in2010.

Filipino social entrepre-neur Ilac Diaz says that thepavilion will also see thelaunch of a new solar nightlight. Made by adding LEDlights and batteries to the

A BUILDING POWERED

BY SOLAR AND BUILT

from plastic was recentlyopened to the public inManila’s Luneta Park todemonstrate renewable en-ergy and highlight the prob-lem of waste.

The building, dubbedthe “Solar Revolution Pavil-ion,” was designed in part-nership with StephenLamb, founder of the SouthAfrican-based green designfirm Touching the EarthLightly. It is a 200 squaremeter, 6-meter tall structurebuilt of 1,600 plastic veg-

bottles, these lights will bedistributed to 150 locationsacross the Philippines.Diaz’s own “Liter of Light”project sponsored by the MyShelter Foundation hastransformed plastic bottlesinto sunlight-powered bulbs

for 120,000 homes of 20million Filipinos who havebeen living without electric-ity.

Visitors to the buildinghave learned about otherlocally available greentechnologies, such as hy-droponics, which involvesgrowing plants without soil.

“The world has beentoo much about expensivetechnologies that are im-ported and brought in off-the-shelf,” Diaz says. “Wewant people to be able tocome out of that pavilionknowing how to build thesetechnologies themselves.”(Good News Pilipinas)

Building Made from Plastic, Powered by Solar EnergyUnveiled in Manila

More Pinoys Returning to Work in Phl

were receiving abroad.At this time, she said,

the government is exertingall efforts to reduce overde-pendence on foreign remit-tances to sustain economicand social growth. AndPresident Aquino wants togive Filipino workers a gen-uine choice whether toleave or stay in the country.

“The aspiration that thePresident has put in the so-cial contract with the Fil-ipino people, the challengefor his administration ac-cording to him is really toexpand the base of em-ployment here and also to

keep on ready the jobs thatare here to ensure we haveemployable work force andto ensure all labor laws arebeing complied with by theemployers so that the ben-efits that are due to ourworkers are assured,” Bal-doz said.

“So what we are seeingis these new industries (en-tertainment and gaming)right now are setting thetrend on what could be thenew face of the labor mar-ket,” she added.

Currently, over 10 mil-lion Filipino are working inmore than 200 countriesand remitting $22 billion totheir families annually.

Baldoz said that basedon surveys, migrant work-ers always identify four pri-orities: daily consumption,education, health, andhousing needs of their fam-ilies. (www.philstar.com)

MANILA, Philippines - BE-

LIEVE IT OR NOT, MORE

OVERSEAS FILIPINO

WORkERS (OFWs) arecoming back home to workhere.

Labor Secretary Ros-alinda Baldoz said the gov-ernment is now seeing atrend of reverse migration,with more local firms nowoffering high salaries.

“The Philippines is alsoseeing for the first time a re-turn migration of our work-ers from Macau beingabsorbed by the emergingentertainment and gamingindustry in our country,”Baldoz said.

The labor departmentchief noted that OFWswere lured back to work inthe country’s EntertainmentCity after they were offeredthe same salaries they

by mayen Jaymalin/Monday, May 20, 2013

Almost 28% ofPinoys remainpoor

CBCP: Pope FrancisMay Visit Philippines in 2016by louis bacani/Thursday, May 23, 2013

MANILA, Philippines -THE COUNTRY'S

CATHOLIC LEADERS

on Thursday expressedoptimism that Pope Francis will visit the Philippines in2016.

Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the CatholicBishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), is hopingthat Pope Francis will go to the country after they receiveda request from the Vatican to move the International Eu-charistic Congress (IEC) to an earlier date.

Originally, the Philippines will host the event in CebuCity from May 23 to 29, 2016. But the IEC has beenrescheduled to January 25 to 31.

“Two weeks ago, we received a letter from ArchbishopPiero Marini asking us if we could move the event to thesecond preferred date because the Pope has anotherschedule in May (2016),” Palma said in an article postedon the CBCPnews website.

Marini is the president of the Pontifical Committee onthe IEC.

“We told them that January is fine because our sug-gestion was to make the Pope’s visit to the Philippines apriority,” Palma also said.

The IEC is an event held every four years that is ex-pected to draw thousands of participants includingChurch leaders from other nations.

The Philippines last hosted the event in 1937, duringthe time of Pope Pius XI.

And as the country is set to host the IEC again, Palmaurged Filipinos to continue praying so that the newestpapal visit in the Philippines will push through.

“We know that the Pope continues to inspire us andhis visit will have an enormous impact on our faith andour Christian life,” said Palma.

If the Pope Francis does visit the Philippines in 2016,he will be the third royal pontiff to go here after Pope PaulVI in 1970 and Pope John Paul II, who visited twice, in1981 and 1995. (www.philstar.com)

may 25, 2013 13News Edition

by reuben s.seGUritan

Much press has beengiven to immigrant in-vestors in recent

years. One of the main rea-sons why the EB-5 immigrantinvestor program has cap-tured the attention of so manyprospective immigrants is thelow demand for visas underthis category relative to theheavily backlogged third pref-erence (EB-3) and, for somecountries, the second prefer-ence (EB-2) categories.

At present, the EB-5 pro-gram presents one of thefastest routes to a green card,

be it through the regular pro-gram which requires a$1,000,000 direct investmentor the regional center or pilotprogram, in which an indirectinvestment of $500,000 isusually sufficient.

However, there are av-enues that have long existedfor other types of investors,particularly those who do notseek permanent resident sta-tus in the U.S.

Immigration law and reg-ulations allow treaty traders(E-1) and treaty investors (E-2) to enter the U.S. for spe-cific purposes asnon-immigrants. However,one main distinction betweenthem and most non-immi-grants is that they can extendtheir stay almost indefinitely.After an initial period of twoyears, E-1 traders and E-2 in-vestors can renew their stayevery two years for an unlim-ited number of times if they

maintain an intention to de-part the U.S. at the expirationor termination of their status.

An E-1 treaty trader is anational of a country withwhich the U.S. maintains atreaty of commerce and nav-igation who enters the U.S.solely to engage in interna-tional trade. Trade is definedas the existing internationalexchange of items of trade forconsideration between theU.S. and the treaty country,and includes goods, services,international banking, insur-ance, transportation, tourism,technology and some news-gathering activities.

The trade carried on bythe treaty trader must be sub-stantial, meaning that it mustbe sizable, sufficient to ensurea continuous flow of trade be-tween the two countries. Sub-stantiality cannot be based ona single transaction no matterhow monetarily valuable it is.

The trade must also be princi-pally between the U.S. andthe treaty country, i.e. morethan 50% of the total volumeof the trade must be betweenthe two countries.

An E-2 treaty investor, onthe other hand, is one who isseeking to enter the U.S. todirect and develop a businessin which he has invested, oris in the process of actively in-vesting, a substantial amountof capital. Like the E-1 treatytrader, the E-2 treaty investormust also be a national of atreaty country.

For E-2 purposes, sub-stantiality is determined byweighing the amount of fundsinvested against the total costof purchasing or establishingthe enterprise. It is an amountconsidered sufficient to en-sure the investor’s financialcommitment to the enter-prise’s success.

A higher proportion of in-vestment is required of smallbusinesses for the invest-ment to be substantial. For in-stance, while an E-2 investormay be allowed to fund only10% of an investment worth$10 million, for an investmentof less than $100,000, the E-2 investor would normally berequired to provide the entireinvestment.

The investment must bein a bona fide enterprise orone that is a real, active com-mercial or entrepreneurial un-dertaking. It may not be idle

or passive investment, suchas in stocks or undevelopedland. Furthermore, the E-2 in-vestor’s investment cannotbe marginal or solely to pro-vide for himself and his family.A marginal enterprise is onethat does not have the ca-pacity at present or within fiveyears to generate more thanenough income for the in-vestor and his family.

An employee of the E-1trader and E-2 investor mayqualify for the same classifica-tion if he is of the same na-tionality as the treaty employerand if the position is primarilyexecutive or supervisory incharacter, giving the em-ployee ultimate control and re-sponsibility for the operation ofthe enterprise. If the employeeis employed in another orlower capacity, to be eligiblefor E-1 or E-2 classification hemust have special qualifica-tions or skills essential to theoperations of the business.

E-1 traders and E-2 in-vestors, as well as their em-ployees, may be accompaniedor followed by their spousesand unmarried children below21 years old. The dependentfamily members need not beof the same nationality as thetrader, investor or the E-1/E-2employee.

reuBen s. seguritan has been

practicing law for over 30 years. For

further information, you may call him at

(212) 695 5281 or log on to his website

at www.seguritan.com

Immigration Options of the Investor

leGal NoteS

AFTER MANY DAYS OF

WORk ON IMMIGRATION

REFORM as a member ofthe U.S. Senate JudiciaryCommittee, Sen. Mazie K. Hi-rono voted for final passageof the Senate’s immigrationreform bill in committee.

The committee adopted anumber of Hirono’s amend-ments to the immigration re-form bill that reunites FilipinoWorld War II veterans andhelps Hawaii. Although thebill does much to improvefamily immigration, Hironosays it contains fundamentalchanges to the immigrationsystem that move us awayfrom the principle of familyunification.

“Nearly everyone agreesthat our immigration systemis badly broken and in direneed of fixing, and this bill is astep in the right direction,” Hi-rono says. “I will continueworking to strengthen theprovisions in the bill that im-pact families.

“As a new senator and anew member of the commit-tee, it was an honor to workwith my colleagues on thissignificant piece of legislation.

I applaud Committee ChairPatrick Leahy, the Gang ofEight and my Judiciary Com-mittee colleagues for theirproductive work.”

Several highlights of thebill are summarized below: • Reunifying Filipino WWII

Vets With Their Children:Hirono’s amendment would help

eliminate the immigration back-

log for the families of Filipino

World War II veterans seeking

citizenshiwp. Although thou-

sands of Filipino veterans were

granted citizenship for their

service in World War II, their

children were not granted citi-

zenship. The amendment is

identical to Hirono’s previously

introduced bill, the bipartisan

Filipino Veterans Family Reuni-

fication Act of 2013.

• Restoring Medicaid Eli-

gibility For Compact Mi-

grants: Hirono’s amendment

requires the federal govern-

ment to share the cost of pro-

viding health care to migrants

from Micronesia, Palau and the

Marshall islands living in

Hawaii eligible. Each year, the

state spends an estimated $30-

40 million to provide health

care to these migrants.

• Making DREAM Act Stu-

dents Eligible For Fed-

eral Student Aid: Hirono’s

amendment would make

DREAM Act students eligible

for federal student loans, work-

study and campus services like

academic counseling. The

amendment gives these students

financial options to pay for their

educations. These are students

who were brought to the U.S.

before age 16 and were granted

registered provisional immi-

grant status, or who are immi-

grant farm workers with blue

card status.

• keeping Families United

At the Border: Many fami-

lies are torn apart at the border

since the law requires adult

men to be transferred to a bor-

der location hundreds of miles

away from where they were in-

tercepted. Meanwhile, their

families are simply sent back

across the border at the place

they were intercepted with no

money and no idea of where

their husbands or fathers were

taken. The situation leaves

women and children vulnerable

to trafficking, sexual violence

and other dangers. Hirono’s

amendment would stop families

from being torn apart at the

border by allowing the Depart-

ment of Homeland Security

(DHS) to consider keeping

families together during re-

moval.

MaiNlaNd NeWS

Hirono Votes For Final Passage ofImmigration Reform Bill

may 25, 201314 News Edition eNtertaiNMeNt

MANILA, Philippines -Marco Polo An Un-told Love Story The

Musical written and com-posed by stage actor, singerand director Rogelio SaldoChua with a 50-member in-ternational cast and artisticteam, majority of whom areseasoned Filipino theaterprofessionals, is now inworkshop and moving to-wards the production stageas the first musical com-posed by a Filipino helmedfor West End in London andBroadway in New York.

“This is a pioneering ef-fort to make Manila a centerfor developing, workshop-ping and previewing newmaterials for musical the-aters — Manila beingunique in the region not onlyas a melting pot of bothEastern and Western influ-ences but also abundantwith musical theater talentsfrom actors and dancers toinstrumentalists, composersand lyricists,” says Chua

who also serves as artisticdirector of the musical pro-duction.

Launched in New Yorkin June 2012 with bankersand investors in attendance,Marco Polo is set to have itsinvitational concert versionin Manila on Aug. 10 at 8p.m. at the Meralco Theater.The Manila previews of thefull musical theater versionstarts with the gala night onFeb. 1, 2014, 8 p.m. and fol-lowed the next day Feb. 2,with a 3:30 p.m. matinee.The following weekend willhave two more shows on

Feb. 8, 8 p.m. and Feb. 9,3:30 p.m. Its Jan. 31, 8 p.m.show is reserved exclusivelyfor Meralco executives andemployees. The Asian pre-miere is earmarked for Sin-gapore in the third quarter of2014 followed by concertsand performances in othermajor Asian cities to drumup investor interest for theWest End production, par-ticularly from China.

The musical is a drama-tization of a love story cre-ated of Marco Polo andPrincess Kogajin, thedaughter of Kublai Khan,

amidst the historical settingprovided by his book, TheTravels of Marco Polo.Marco Polo was the adven-turer from Venice whosetravels radically changedthe way the West looked atthe East.”

The new musical’s sto-ryline sweeps the hero andheroine into adventure,power struggle with the richand mighty, assassinationattempts, romance and truelove — the medieval timesreally mirroring the presentbut without the tabloids.Written in English and con-sisting of 23 songs andthree dance numbers, thetwo-and-a-half-hour theaterproduction combines mod-ern scenography and tradi-tional light, set and sounddesign. Colorful costumesand props amidst Venetian,Middle Eastern, CentralAsian and Chinese settingswill be extensively usedwhile a 15-instrument or-chestra is envisioned to in-clude both Chinese andWestern instruments. Thenew musical was registeredunder the seal of the copy-right office of the UnitedStates in March of 2012.

“I was fascinated by thetravels of Marco Polo sinceI saw a movie about him

when I was 14 and havebeen bitten by the travelbug since then, visitingsome 35 countries. Then in2006, the year I retired frominternational banking, I sawMarco Polo in the cover ofTime Magazine in its Au-gust issue featured as “therevolutionary from Venice.”I took that as a veritablesign that it was time for meto embark on this musicaljourney. And so here it is,we are on our way to thenew musical’s Asian pre-miere, after six years ofartistic and creative en-deavor,” narrates Chua.

Belgian executive pro-ducer Olivier J. Leonard, adevelopment banker, says,“I’m confident that ourMarco Polo musical with itscontemporary themes andgreat music will appeal toglobal audiences and beboth an artistic and com-mercial success from hereto Broadway.” To bookshows and buy tickets, call(02) 811-3514; or 0908-7 7 1 4 1 8 5  a n d  0 9 0 8 -7 7 1 4 0 6 4 ;  a n d  e - m a i lArtistsTheatre@live.com.

Its cast and artistic teamare composed of theaterprofessionals, workers andaficionados of varied back-grounds. (www.philstar.com)

First Musical by a Filipino forWest End, Broadway in Workshopby naty beata

Rogelio Saldo Chua (on the piano) with the cast of Marco Polo An Untold LoveStory The Musical…

may 25, 2013 15News Edition

CLASSIFIED AD

CoMMUNitY CaleNdar

VATICAN CITY – POPE FRAN-

CIS’ FASCINATION with the deviltook on remarkable new twistsTuesday, with a well-known exor-cist insisting Francis helped “liber-ate” a Mexican man possessed byfour different demons despite theVatican’s insistence that no suchpapal exorcism took place.

The case concerns a 43-year-old husband and father who trav-eled to Rome from Mexico toattend Francis’ Mass on Sunday inSt. Peter’s Square.

At the end of the Mass, Francisblessed several wheelchair-boundfaithful as he always does, includ-ing a man possessed by the devil,according to the priest whobrought him, the Rev. Juan Rivas.

Francis laid his hands on theman’s head and recited a prayer.

The man heaved deeply a half-dozen times, convulsed and shook,then slumped in his wheelchair.

The images, broadcast world-wide, prompted the television sta-tion of the Italian bishops’conference to declare that accord-ing to several exorcists, there was“no doubt” that Francis performedan exorcism or a simpler prayer tofree the man from the devil.

The Vatican was more cau-tious. In a statement Tuesday, itsaid Francis “didn’t intend to per-form any exorcism. But as he oftendoes for the sick or suffering, hesimply intended to pray for some-one who was suffering who waspresented to him.”

The Rev. Gabriele Amorth, aleading exorcist for the diocese of

ufch 23rd ms. hawaii filiPina ● May 24, 2013,

6:00 PM ● Ala Moana Hotel ● Contact: Jenny Quezon @pr.ufch@gmail.com

united Pangasinan of hawaii 45thanniversary dinner & dance ● May 25, 2013 ●Pacific Beach Hotel Grand Ballroom ● Contact: Dr. CelyVillareal, (808) 778-2481 or (808) 689-4911

oahu filiPino community council annualconvention ● June 9, 2013, 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM ●

Philippine Consulate General Social Hall ● Contact: JakeManegdeg @524-6993; Jean Jeremiah @ 387-5481; AmadoYoro@699-9814

21st university of sto. tomas medicalalumni association in america (ustmaaa)grand reunion and medical convention ●June 26-30, 2013, ● Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki BeachResort ● Contact: (248) 626-2878 or 808-680-0558

GloBal NeWS

Pope Francis Helped Liberate Demon-Possessed Man, Says Exorcist

Valbin Corporation is currently seeking ts/scitagalog linguists who are also fluent inMaguindanao and/or Maranao. Please send us yourresume and salary requirements if interested atjobs@valbin.org

BUSINESS DIRECTORy

Rome, said he performed a lengthyexorcism of his own on the manTuesday morning and ascertainedhe was possessed by four sepa-rate demons. The case was relatedto the legalization of abortion inMexico City, he said.

Amorth told RAI state radio thateven a short prayer, without the fullrite of exorcism being performed, isin itself a type of exorcism.

“That was a true exorcism,” hesaid of Francis’ prayer. “Exorcismsaren’t just done according to therules of the ritual.”

Rivas took the Vatican line,saying it was no exorcism but thatFrancis merely said a prayer to freethe man from the devil.

“Since no one heard what hesaid, including me who was right

there, you can say he did a prayer for libera-tion but nothing more,” Rivas wrote on hisFacebook page, which was confirmed by hisreligious order, the Legionaries of Christ.(www.philstar.com)

GardeNiNG

Garden Revival

Spring floods, summerdroughts and temperatureextremes take their toll on

gardens and the gardeners whotend them. Help your gardensrecover from the crazy tempera-tures and moisture extremesthat seem to occur each year.

Start by assessing the cur-rent condition of your landscape.Remove dead plants as soon aspossible. They can harbor insectand disease organisms that caninfest your healthy plantings.Consider replacing strugglingplants with healthy plants bettersuited to the space, growingconditions and landscape de-sign. You can achieve better re-sults in less time by starting overrather than trying to nurse a sickplant back to health.

As always, select plantssuited to the growing environ-ment and that includes normalrainfall. Every season is differ-ent, but selecting plants that are

suited to the average conditionswill minimize the care neededand increase your odds for suc-cess. Roses, coneflowers, se-dums and zinnias are just a fewdrought-tolerant plants. Elder-berry, ligularia, Siberian iris andmarsh marigold are a few mois-ture-tolerant plants.

Be prepared for worse casescenario. Install an irrigation sys-tem such as the Snip-n-dripsoaker system for your garden.It allows you to apply water di-rectly to the soil alongsideplants. This means less waterwasted to evaporation, wind andoverhead watering. You’ll alsoreduce the risk of disease bykeeping water off the plantleaves.

A properly installed andmanaged irrigation system willhelp save water. The conven-ience makes it easy to waterthoroughly, encouraging deeproots and only when needed.Turn the system on early in the

day while you tend to other gar-dening and household chores.You’ll waste less water to evapo-ration and save time since thesystem does the watering foryou.

Capture rainwater and use itto water container and in-groundgardens. Rain barrels and cis-terns have long been used forthis purpose and are experienc-ing renewed interest. Look forthese features when buying ormaking your own rain barrel.Make sure the spigot is locatedclose to the bottom so less watercollects and stagnates. Selectone that has a screen over theopening to keep out debris. And

look for an overflow that directs the waterinto another barrel or away from thehouse.

Add a bit of paint to turn your rain bar-rel into a piece of art. Or tuck it behindsome containers, shrubs or a decorativetrellis. Just make sure it is easy to access.

Be sure to mulch trees and shrubs withshredded bark or woodchips to conservemoisture, suppress weeds and reducecompetition from nearby grass. You’ll elim-inate hand trimming while protectingtrunks and stems from damaging weedwhips and mowers.

Invigorate weather worn perennialswith compost and an auger bit. Spread aninch of compost over the soil surface.Then use an auger bit, often used forplanting bulbs, and drill the compost intothe soil in open areas throughout the gar-den. You’ll help move the compost to theroot zone of the plants and aerate the soilwith this one activity.

A little advance planning and prepara-tion can reduce your workload and in-crease your gardening enjoyment.

Gardening expert, TV/radio meLinda myers has more

than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over

20 gardening books, including “Can’t Miss Small Space Gar-

dening.” She hosts the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Gar-

den Moment TV and radio segments and is a columnist and

contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine. Her web-

site is www.melindamyers.com.

by melinda myers

Melinda with shovel in garden

may 25, 2013News Edition16

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