ANORAMA CITY – The rumblings had be-gun early last year when Adrian Lecaros made it known to everyone

who was willing to listen that he, a resident of San Fernando Val-ley, would run as candidate for California Assemblyman in the 46th District of California. Sur-prisingly enough, the whispered rumblings were emanating from the Filipino-American Chamber of Commerce-- Los Angeles, of which he is a member.

PinoyWatchDog.com was the only newspaper worth its salt to break the story about Mr. Leca-ros’s budding campaign; one

VOL. 1 NO. 15 • 16 PAGES • 28K CIRCULATED IN LOS ANGELES/ORANGE COUNTIES AND INLAND EMPIRE FOLLOW US @PinoyWatchDog • LIKE US PinoyWatchDog • SATURDAY, MAY 12, 2012

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Happy Mother’s Day!

Historic Filipinotown unveils largest restoredFil-Am mural in America this afternoon

By Winston A. Marbella Correspondent

By Leo Pandac PhD

Does the Fil-Am Chamber-L.A. Officially Endorse Adrian Lecaros?

‘Do Not Vote for Someone Just Because They are Filipino’ Link

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LISEO Art Silva’s 1995 mural “Gintong Kasaysayan, Gintong Pamana” (Filipino Americans: A Glori-

ous History, A Golden Legacy) has been restored, updated with new images, figures and events; and is ready for the public once again.

To celebrate the six-month res-toration project and unveil the mu-ral to the public, Pilipino American Network and Advocacy (PANA) in conjunction with Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LAN-LT), L.A. Council President Eric Garcetti’s Office, Search to In-

EOBy Leo Pandac PhD

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Is Intensifying Row Between Joe Arciaga and Adrian Lecaros

By Rene Villaroman Managing Editor

By Rene Villaroman Managing Editor

By Rene Villaroman Managing Editor

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Wthat, from the get-go, looked to observers to be quite improb-able. But Mr. Lecaros, the scion of a political family in the Bicol region of the Philippines, has told this writer that he is a veteran campaigner, not for himself, but for politicians whose campaigns he had run while still living in the Philippines. Today, he is putting that experience to good use.

Mr. Lecaros is the product of the Philippines’ political cam-paign arena, one that is built on high visibility, positive image projection, accessibility, friend-liness and excellent public rela-tions. These qualities, Mr. Leca-

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HEN the the ‘Do not Vote for Some-one Because They are Filipino’ brou-haha was uncorked

in Facebook more than a week ago, I anticipated that that the Fil-Am Chamber of Commerce-Los Ange-les would be involved in the imbro-glio even though it wants to keep its neutrality. Noel Omega, a Charter co-founder and past President, has always been a moderating element in the community, and it comes as a natural decision to me to seek his views on this issue. -- Rene Villaro-man

PWD. Do you think that Joe’s (Arciaga) statement lies within the

PWD Talks to Charter Co-Founder Noel Omega

realm of propriety, or do you think that it has somehow pinched the Pinoys’ sensibility?

OMEGA: I think we all have to look at anybody’s statements with-in the context of the message. By itself, most anything could be taken out of context. Political ads use “soundbite” approach all the time. I was not actively following Joe’s thread until this issue was brought to my attention. Therefore, after seeing Joe’s full Facebook thread, as he did not mention anybody by name, I am of the opinion that Joe was postulating that voters should not solely base their votes on affili-ation of a particular race, religion,

Salt water gypsy survivesin Filipino seafarer’s blood

FF MANILA BAY - Our story begins on the high seas.

The bravery of the Filipino seafarer is leg-

endary.It has been there since he

braved the stormy waters of the Bering Sea to catch Alaskan king crabs for the famous seafood res-taurants of the Embarcadero in San Francisco, the City by the Bay.

It has been there since he saved shipwrecked sailors off the storm-lashed coasts of southern Califor-nia, graveyard of many Spanish galleons.

It has been there since he

crewed for the Spanish tall ships that sailed the Pacific from Ma-nila to Acapulco, Mexico, and then from Veracruz for the Atlan-tic crossing to Spain---the famous Galleon Trade that brought exotic products from the East to rich Eu-ropean markets.

A replica of one of those leg-endary Spanish galleons docked near the equally historic Manila Hotel at the South Harbor recently. There the Andalucia sat in full glo-ry for a few days in October after sailing from Spain for six months to celebrate UNESCO’s Dia del Galeon, reliving the glory days of

From Our Pen

PEOPLE

OFF HOURS

ENTERTAINMENT& ARTS

Filipino horror film “The Road” Premiered at

Arclight Cinema and hosted by boxing champ Manny

“Pacman” Pacquiao

‘Dine to Share’ Fundraising Event at Castaways

The Underground Tour in the City of Seattle

p9

p7

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Y the sheer number of Chinese vessels now deployed on the disputed Scarbor-ough Shoal, it ap-

pears that the standoff between Beijing and Manila has esca-lated. By last count, there are 33 Chinese vessels arrayed against

THE SCARBOROUGH SHOAL AFFAIR

CHINA WARNS OF WAR WITH PHIF PRESSED INTO A CORNER

“China is ready to use its massive military advantage to crush the

Philippines’ challenge” – state-run China Daily News

four smaller Philippine maritime surveillance ships and a Bureau of Fisheries law enforcement command vessel. But it is still a standoff. Beijing and Manila both have their wits about them, and firing the first shot would do

PinoyWatchDog Team’s Coverage of Manila and LA Rallies on Page 2

Makati rally. Photo by Joel Bander

(Poem By BongP) Page 7

PinoyWatchDog.Com2 Saturday, May 12, 2012

Saturday, May 12, 2012

CurrentsFrom Page 1either one any good. However, it has become very clear that China, by virtue of its size alone, has shown that might is right, and it is not shy about telling this to its Filipino challengers.

On Thursday, the state-run China Daily News echoed other warnings in recent weeks that China was prepared to use its massive military advantage to crush the Philippines’ challenge for the shoal. In an editorial, the Chinese government-controlled daily warned, “Manila is living in a fantasy if it mistakes our for-bearance for timidity.”

“No matter how willing we are to discuss the issue, the cur-rent Philippine leadership is in-tent on pressing us into a corner where there is no other option left but the use of arms,” the editorial said.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said China was committed to a peaceful reso-lution.

The April Chinese illegal fishing incident on Scarborough Shoal was not China’s first incur-sion into disputed waters to go fishing illegally in other bodies of water in Asia. They’ve done it in Japan, and in Indonesia, and Chi-na had condoned these poaching by Chinese fishermen in waters that did not belong in their territo-rial boundaries.

“It is clear that Beijing is do-ing little, if anything, to rein in the fishing boats that have precip-itated nearly every maritime con-frontation in Asia over the past several years,” wrote Asian stud-ies scholar and Wall StreetStreet-Journal.com columnist Michael Auslin. He said that prior to Chi-na’s incursion in the Scarborough Shoal, Japan and Indonesia were forced to act against Chinese fish-ermen in disputed waters. “Tell-ingly” Auslin claimed, “China now no longer hesitates to send armed maritime patrol ships (not regular navy) to prevent those fishermen from being arrested by foreign nations.”

Auslin said the Scarborough incident reflects, at least, the sec-ond time that these Chinese ships have faced down the navies of smaller nations.

Global Pinoys Protest Vs. Chi-na

On Friday, May 11, the US Pinoys for Good Governance headed by Loida Nicolas Lewis demonstrated their ire against the bullying tactics being employed by China by mounting demon-strations at Chinese embassies and consulates in the world. In an interview with ANC, Nicolas-Lewis said, “I’m calling on the global Pinoys who are concerned about the this intrusion of China and who are singing the national anthem, ‘sa manlulupig di ka pa-sisiil’; let’s stand up and show up on Friday, May 11.”

Filipinos in the United States, Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, and other countries were also ex-pected to launch protests in front of Chinese embassies and consu-lates the countries where they re-side. Says Nicolas-Lewis: “The

international family of nations should see that this big wannabe world power China is not follow-ing international law.” She led the protest in New York.US to Honor Mutual Defense Treaty

Even though the United States refuses to be involved in the ter-ritorial dispute, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs has said that Manila’s key ally will not tolerate the use of force and that it shares the Philippines’ position that the standoff must be resolved legally and peacefully. Also under the Mutual Defense Treaty, the US is obliged to as-sist the Philippines if its Armed Forces’ public vessels or aircrafts are attacked. The US Constitution also says that the US President, as commander-in-chief, may com-mit its armed forces services but must notify the US Congress within 48 hours of such action, as provided for under War Powers Resolution of 1973.

Banana RepublicAside from fraying some Fili-

pino nerves, the Scarborough Af-fair is also liable to take a toll in the country’s economy, especially in its multimillion dollar banana industry. The Philippines exports some 75 million boxes of banana to foreign markets, and half of that goes to China. Recently, fol-lowing the Scarborough Shoal standoff, China reportedly im-posed tighter quarantine rules on a Philippine banana ship-ment, and that got Stephen Antig, President of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Associa-tion, on the edge. He said that China is the biggest buyer of Phil-ippine Cavendish bananas. For its part, China has denied the stricter rules had anything to do with the standoff. Be that as it may, if we lost the Chinese banana market, would that push the country to the brink of being a Banana Repub-lic?

Tense StandoffManila and Beijing have been

engaged in the standoff since April after Philippine Fisheries authorities arrested several Chi-nese fishermen poaching giant clams, baby sharks and other pro-tected marine life in the waters of Scarborough Shoal. China and the Philippines are both claiming the ring-shaped coral reef with rocky outcrops encircling a la-goon located 124 nautical miles off the province of Zambales and 472 nautical miles from China’s nearest coast of Hainan province.

The Philippines has said that the shoal, which is named Pana-tag Shoal or Bajo de Masinloc in maritime maps, belongs to them on the basis of a United Nations Convention of the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS) rule that gives maritime nations the right to ex-plore, exploit and develop areas within its 200-nautical mile ex-clusive economic zone.

The Philippines has asked China to bring the dispute to in-ternational arbitration for resolu-tion, but Beijing resisted, a move which Manila says is an indica-tion that it is not ready to validate its claims.

China Warns of War with PH If Pressed Into a Corner

OS ANGELES—Wearing yellow T-shirts embla-zoned with a pa-triotic slogan and

holding small placards, Fil-Am Anti-China protesters in this city came in disappointing numbers compared to the hundreds that participated in the other rallies organized in other countries by US Pinoys for Good Govern-ance headed by Loida Nicolas-Lewis.

The L.A. rally staged in front of the Chinese Consulate on Shatto Pl. in the mid-Wilshire district, was beefed up by the participation of some officers and members of Filipino-Amer-ican Community of Los Angeles (FACLA), headed by its Presi-dent Austin Baul, the Peoples’ CORE, headed by Arturo Gar-cia, the Philippine American Defense League, headed by Danny Lamila, and the Philip-pine American Movement for Empowerment under its Presi-dent, Atty Roman Mosqueda.

The number of participants, which maintained a moving picket in front of the Chinese Consulate was approximately 50 persons. Although its num-bers was small, the morale was quite high. At one point, the participants, some accompanied by candidate for the California Assembly, Adrian Lecaros, who brought a box of yellow T-shirts and placards, sang the national anthem of the Philippines and other patriotic songs, and prayed just before the demonstration ended at 1pm, as specified in their police permit.

A squad of L.A. Police De-partment officers in a single squad car maintained order. They made sure that the demon-strators kept the picket line mov-ing and did not spill out on the street. At one point during the uneventful demonstration, Larry Pelayo, PinoyWatchDog’s edi-torial ombudsman, arrived and joined the picket line holding a placard.

Danny Lamila, who used to be the President of the Ninoy Aquino Movement (NAM) and now President of the Philippine American Defense League, was telling Filipino and Chi-nese journalists that the Mutual Defense Treaty could draw the

Anti-China rally in LA draws few protesters; Demonstration in Makati City is bigger, festive

By Rene Villaroman in L.A. and Joel Bander in Makati, Philippines

United States into a bigger war “if China continues to intrude into Philippine territory.” Lamila said that the Philippines has no choice but to protect its territory. “The US, under the MDT, will have no choice but to help the Philippine govern-ment. So that’s how it stands.”

“The (Communist) Chinese are criminals at this point in time because they have taken over Scar-borough Shoal and there are 33 Chinese vessels under the guise of fishing boats stationed there now,” Lamila alleged. “They think they can fool the Filipino people. Under the law, we just have to accept that they are criminals and they should stop drilling in Scarborough Shoal because that’s ours.”

Lamila stressed that the Fili-pino people wants China to know that “we are not going to stop dem-onstrating and protesting against their criminal act against the Filipi-nos. We are not going to stop!”

“The Panatag Shoal or Scarbor-ough Shoal is within 200 miles of the exclusive economic zone under the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS),” said Atty Roman Mosqueda of the Philippine American Movement for Empowerment. “It’s very clear; it is about 137 miles from Subic Bay, within the 200 miles exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.” He said that China has its own claim, but the Philippines is closer to the shoal than China. The Philip-pines raised its flag there in 1965, with several laws issued in the Phil-ippine Constitution. “Again, we’d like to get a diplomatic settlement, but we would go to the Interna-tional Tribunal of the Laws of the

Seas, and we feel that we should prevail,” Mosqueda said.

If rhetoric is to be believed, the anti-Chinese demonstrations will go on for quite some time. As Lamila promised, “We are going to continue protesting until the last drop of our blood.”

The Makati, Philippines rally drew about 500 participants in a festive, circus-like atmosphere, owing to the cramped space in front of the Chinese Embassy on Gil Puyat Avenue in the financial center of Metro Manila. One lane of the avenue was taken over by fire, police, press and media, and organizers’ vehicles and supply jeepneys, leaving just one lane for moving traffic.

There was a cacophony of shouts of “No Bullying, Peace and International Law,” but from the perspective of this writer, the demonstration was well-orches-trated, and its tight management made for good television and photo opportunities, which are the goals of every political activist. But quite startling to this Ameri-can observer is the total lack of appeals for nationalism.

This writer talked with Em-man Hizon, spokesman of Akbay-an Partylist and rally organizer. He told PinoyWatchDog.com that he was not disappointed by the crowd and that this was just the start. When asked about his reac-tion to US State Secretary Hillary Clinton’s pronouncement on US neutrality on the standoff, Hizon stated that he welcomed the an-nouncement “as we do not want to invite one bully to protect us from another bully.”

Even though the attendance was not so great, anything more than the estimated 500 protesters that attended would have been a zoo, owing to the tight spaces around the Chinese Embassy of-fice building.

When asked whether protests like these meant anything to the Chinese government, some partic-ipants just laughed, and a few said it did not matter to the Chinese government. One female protester who was asked to estimate the number of protesters participating and whether the demonstration was a success, was challenged by another, saying that Manila has a lot more people and could have at-tracted a bigger participation. The woman just smiled and did not dispute the challenge.

L

Fil-Ams protest China’s intrusion into Scarborough Shoal at the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles on Friday, May 11.

Photo by: Rene Villaroman

Makati rally. Photo by Joel Bander

PinoyWatchDog.Com 3 Saturday, May 12, 2012

From Page 1ros has in copious quantities. What he lacks, his detractors al-leged, are substance and the ca-pability to honor his campaign promises if he gets elected. To his credit, Mr. Lecaros has stuck to his guns, not minding what his naysayers are bandying about. He is single-mindedly focused on his sole and paramount mission, which is to unite all Filipinos in his district in order that this frag-mented community would have its first Filipino Assemblyman in the history of California.

“I want to be a positive uni-fier,” he told PinoyWatchDog in a telephone interview on Wednes-day. “For the very first time, if I am elected, we will be properly represented in the State of Cali-fornia.” As for his qualifications, he said that he is equally as quali-fied as the rest of the other can-didates. “Everybody is qualified. I respect the others’ opinion. But I am being supported not only by Filipinos but by Latinos, Hispan-

etc. That was very successful in evoking the sensitivity (and pinching the sensibility perhaps) of his circle of readers – Pinoys and beyond.

PWD: I want to get your opinion as a Chamber founding father; what is the Chamber’s official position on Adrian Lecaros’s candidacy?

OMEGA: Adrian has been associated with our Chamber for many years and has been a member of the leadership at least a couple of periods (including as a board member during Mr. (Rodel) Lumanog’s term as President). The Chamber shall al-ways be proud and supportive of its mem-bers moving into (or attempting to move into) bigger and more influential capacities as in the case of Adrian Lecaros. Histori-cally, however, our Chamber has not – as an organization – endorsed any individual candidate for public office. We do, howev-er, announce “support” or “oppose” posi-tion on legislation on public policy meas-ures that affect free enterprise and other relevant Chamber objectives. This would change though if our Board of Directors decides to modify this de facto policy and our members approve the change.

PWD: Is it true, as Joe claims, that Mr. Lecaros is no longer a member of good standing with the Chamber?

Does the Fil-Am Chamber-L.A. Officially Endorse Adrian Lecaros?

‘Do Not Vote for Someone Just Because They are Filipino’ics, Blacks; I appeal to pro-life anti-abortion residents who want me to represent them,” Lecaros emphasized.

“So, I am calling on all Fil-Ams who are qualified to vote, register and vote on June 5, and let’s unite to have a representation in Sacramento. We’ve never had a Filipino representative in the California Assembly.”

The foregoing would be the ideal scenario, however. One of his detractors, Joe Arciaga, his colleague at the Filipino-Ameri-can Chamber of Commerce – Los Angeles, does not agree, and he has made his disapproval pub-lic by opening a Facebook link called “Do Not Vote for Someone Just Because They are Filipino…, or Asian, Black, Hispanic, Catho-lic, Jewish, or whatever”. Vote for someone because you believe that they have the CAPABILITY to IMPLEMENT and HONOR their campaign promises.

“I am surprised,” Lecaros tells PinoyWatchDog at Arciaga’s al-

legation that Lecaros is using the Fil-Am Chamber to endorse his candidacy by posting campaign messages in a Facebook page that he created in 2011 to augment the chamber’s drive for membership recruitment. “The Facebook link is an open book and anyone can post messages in it as long as they are in accordance with FB poli-cies,” Lecaros contended. Arcia-ga, for his part, said that he is only protecting the reputation of the chamber. (Editor’s note: An inter-view, elsewhere in this issue with former Chamber President Noel Omega, will clear this matter up). Arciaga emphatically said, “The Chamber is officially not endors-ing any candidate.” He said that the Facebook page should have been deactivated. “Parang luma-labas tuloy na sinusuportahan siya ng Chamber,” Arciaga com-mented.

In a related development, Rodel Lumanog, who was the President at the time the Facebook account was created, informed

this writer that he had asked Lecaros to remove his name and cell phone number from the Face-book link. “Personally, I really do not want to have a Facebook page because of personal reasons,” he told PWD on Wednesday. “I’ve called him (Lecaros) three times, requesting that he delete my name and cell phone number from the link, but as of today, they are still there,” Lumanog told this writer.

Arciaga revealed that Leca-ros has some unfinished busi-ness with the Chamber, although former President Noel Omega has told PinoyWatchDog in the separate interview that Lecaros is a member of good standing with all the rights and privileges, even though he is no longer a mem-ber of the board. “He was given enough time to explain himself; but I will not announce these is-sues in the open,” Arciaga said.

“Personally, I do not have a quarrel with him,” Arciaga ex-plained. “Don’t make implica-tions that the Chamber is endors-

ing you. It is not a forum; it is not a discussion group.” When PinoyWatchDog asked Arciaga his idea of a good candidate, he named Laurete Healy, a former CEO of the Home Shopping Net-work and former Deputy Control-ler of the State of California. “We want the best candidate that can do the job,” Arciaga said. “I’m a voter, a citizen. I want someone also that can do the job.

Hindi because brown ang skin iboboto na kita. Right? This is not about Fil-Am unity. This about local public office.”

Suzette Gm Lopez, who is a Facebook netizen agrees: “So true,” she posted on the Arciaga Do Not Vote link. “By the way, what is the track record of this Fil-Am candidate? We should know him/her. It’s not only that he/she is always in FB having his pictures taken with the rich and famous of the Fil-Am commu-nity, we will already vote for him. Remember this America; hindi Pilipinas.”

OMEGA: Mr. Lecaros is a member of the Chamber with all the rights and privileges afforded a member of the Chamber. All I can tell you is that he is no longer a mem-ber of the Board of Directors this term be-cause of his focus to run for public office.

PWD: Is it true that Mr. Lecaros and Mr. Lumanog, during his presidency, were sanctioned by the Chamber to enhance re-cruitment efforts by creating a Facebook account?

OMEGA: I was not involved with the de-cision to create a Chamber Facebook ac-count during Mr. Lumanog’s presidency. Therefore I will defer this question to Mr. Lumanog. Also, as of this writing, the Chamber does not have a policy in place with regards to protocol on social network-ing or electronic information conveyance. Let me say this, however. Facebook, like any social networking or electronic com-munications tool operates with an open door policy. Its users are afforded 1st Amendment rights so long as they are in compliance with Facebook’s policies and they do not infringe on the rights of others.

PWD: Other issues you may want to ad-dress?

OMEGA: We should be proud of the vis-ibility and accomplishments of our fel-

From Page 1low Filipinos. If there are differences in opinion between people, these should be grounds for more dialogue to search for so-lutions. The social media age has amplified the way we communicate – people could now broadcast the written word at a mere flick of a finger and with multimedia to boot. Unfortunately, this too has unleashed

“one-upmanship” between those who post in the social media. My advice is take each statement posted in these sites in context and refrain from “riding on” to posts that may provoke rage, embarrassment or loss of credibility. Many a lawsuit have been and will continue to be filed on account of social media mis-posts.

EditorialPinoyWatchDog.Com4 Saturday, May 12, 2012

PinoyWatchDog.com is published fortnightly by Tanod Bayan, Inc.,

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FTER savoring with much delight the honor and pleasure of a lead-ing role in the presscon brouhaha thrown on April 19, 2012 by the de facto clicque presently rul-

ing FACLA, I believe it is high time to take a breather, something to give Madame Rita Dinsay as a gift to get her forked tongue rest-ed, and that this much deserved hiatus will toss the ball to the other contending party so they may take the cudgels for this heatedly contested issue of legitimacy: as to who is the rightful driver of the or-ganization’s bus, which is now in the hands of the court to resolve.

However, before I take my exit and turn to happier moments, I would like to say once more what I had been saying all the time---that there is yet to be issued a final Judgment in or-der for the reinstatement as Directors of FACLA of Mr. Austin Baul and company be executory and enforceable. The proposed order of Judg-ment of February 17, 2012 is not a final or-der because there was a Motion to Intervene filed on February 10, 2012 by 5 opposing duly elected Directors led by Dr. Norma Sal-vaterra, and that is why the lawyer of Baul et al, Attorney Joel Ward, wrote the oppos-ing parties on February 27, 2012, demanding them to withdraw their motion, because he is certain it will be denied, or face dire financial consequences. I have been pointing out, quite consistently, that Baul et al are not supposed to be seated yet, much more elected as execu-tive officers and in command of FACLA.

Well, as the happy Frenchman would say- Ces’t la vie- and I am off to merrier grounds where the landscapes are much prettier.

Hosting a party, the large one I mean, is both very tiresome and expensive. I found this to be true five years ago and I had to stop the practice, and then it made me realized that celebrating with just the immediate fam-ily fosters intimacy and togetherness. What’s more, it makes for a lovelier party and the evening itself is more relaxing.

Last May 4th, on a Friday evening, my son John Alfonso tendered me a Dinner Party in celebration of my 76th B-Day. My two daughters could not make it though. Ve-ronica, my youngest, is in Portland and Rose-marie had to be with her husband, who had a previous appointment. Just the three of us had dinner in this Chinese restaurant, Hunan Taste is the name, located on San Vicente Blvd. and crossed by Fairfax Ave. The place was cozy and fairly upscale, with a Bar that plays standards from the big band era with Sinatra and Billie Holiday belting out jazz songs. A fine way to accompany the fine food, really. We finished at eight and then it was my wife Elizabeth’s turn to play hostess. John begged off, having some very important chores that needed immediate attention.

My wife and I ended up at the lounge bar of the five stars hotel, The Montage of Bev-

The Party Is Over.erly Hills, located at Canon Drive. She told me she was just returning the open invitation of her client, Miss Hillary Podell, who is the lead singer of the Matt Weisberg Trio, a jazz band, made up of Matt at the piano, Nate Light at drums and Steve Haas at bass. The lady singer, Hillary, upon our arrival, imme-diately introduced us to the members of the band and to the Recreation supervisor of the hotel, Mr Sean Fisher. The supervisor had us occupy a corner table on the left side of the band stand. We were treated as if we were

the first Filipino custom-ers they ever had, given all the works accorded to VIPs. My wife was introduced as the manager of the bank just around the block on Wilshire and I was the publisher of PinoyWatchDog.com, a Fili-pino community newspaper. I was asked by Mr. Weisberg if I had a special request for the band to play and I re-quested “Summertime”, from the Broadway musical by George Gershwin. I chose the piece for it’s langorous mel-ody, especially when played in a progressive jazz mood. It

just gives me the shivers every time I heard the music, specially when the song is sung ala Ella Fitzgerald or Julie London, which Hillary resembles. We really had a fine and lovely evening, that is if you don’t mind the bill.

The following day, in the late afternoon, we attended a Birthday party in the San Fer-nando valley, although with some reluctance on my part, owing to the late stand we had on Friday night. But my wife reminded me that it is a must for us, simply that the people in-viting us are so important in our family circle, even way back home in the old hometown of San Juan, in the province of La Union, in northern Philippines. The occasion was in celebration of the 18nth birthday of Andrea Aromin, the youngest daughter of Engr. Ed Aromin and Remy Paz Buccat Aromin. The occasion, too, would give me the op-portunity to renew camaraderie with folks from the hometown which I now missed so much, having not visited it for the last twenty years. And the occasion would also afford me the chance to have an intimate chat with two octogenarian widows who were my late mother’s very close friends: Mrs. Remedios Borja Buccat, grandmother of the celebrant, and Mrs. Paz Borja Dacumos. Surprisingly, these ladies were still sprite and young look-ing. I had to ask them, jokingly though, if they were keeping themselves fit for the next beau, or maybe they have one already.

Oscar Jornacion and his wife Gilda were there too, and he asked me how PinoyWatch-Dog.com is faring. Of course, I answered him in glowing language. The life of the party was Ruben Buccat, who was visiting from the Philippines and I have not seen for the past twenty-five years.

The party went on to the wee hours and I judged that everybody had a ball. And then it was time to say: the party is over, let’s call it a night....

HINA’S recent attempts to strong arm the Phil-ippines into submission are comparable to the neighborhood bully taking food and lunch money from weaker kids.

China perceives that its exponential economic growth and the apparent lack of U.S. interest in the Pacific makes the time ripe to stake its claims and Filipinos and other ASEAN countries know only too well the lengths that the Chinese government will go to project their power when more than 70 Vietnamese sailors were killed in 1988 when China and Vietnam battled for control of the Spratlys, an-other territory being claimed by China, the Philippines and several others. The Philippine Government has repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution to the crisis. The Aquino Administration has adroitly not falling for the Chinese government’s efforts to intensify the conflict. The Philip-pines has admonished its citizens to exercise calm and has publicly denounced its activist hackers who have been en-gaged in a tit-for-tat with Chinese hackers. Friday’s pro-testers in Makati headed that call.

China, in virtue of its economic power, its permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council, and its long-standing cultural ties with the Philippines must stop its bullying tactics. International law must prevail. China, Vi-etnam and the Philippines must bring the dispute to the proper forum for adjudication. China knows deep within itself that it cannot afford to fire the first shot in the Panatag Shoal. However, its repeated cries for a “small-scale war” and its veiled threats are just as annoying as the childhood bully we all remember.

As the themes of ‘no bullying’ ‘peace’ and ‘international law’ have been chanted throughout world capitals, at least by small but spirited bands of our Kababayan, we at Pinoy-Watchdog.com believe that this international dispute could be a true opportunity for Filipinos to be worldwide leaders in a peace and order international movement. First, Filipi-nos by nature are a peaceful, religiously observant people.

Second, we live all over the world. Well organized pro-tests can be held in almost every world capital. Third, and most important is that we truly have the moral high ground. We are saying, international law and agreements, not war-ships and bombs, must now rule the day. Filipinos, as a people, can be the next Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., preaching peace and brother, leading by example. So let us take this adversity as an opportunity, and show the world the true loving and peaceful spirit of all Filipinos.

NO BULLIES

ANILA - Instead of forcibly retrofitting him to conform to someone’s bizarre concept of what a president should be, Malacanang offi-cials should allow President Aquino to become what the people elected him to be: a People’s President.

More than his mother’s son, President Aquino is his father’s son. He is a popu-list president. He is an action president. His natural place is to mingle with his people, rousing their spirits, inspiring them to action.

Like his father, the mar-tyred Ninoy Aquino, P-Noy is a natural politician. He likes to mingle with the people. The Inquirer correctly called it when it headlined a recent presidential trip, “P-Noy fires first campaign salvo.”

Going by conventional wisdom, Palace officials were quick to deny it was a political trip, believing fervently that he should probably be work-ing at his desk. Very recently, reacting to criticism that the

OpinionPinoyWatchDog.Com 5Saturday, May 12, 2012

Political Commentary

By Winston A. Marbella Correspondent

Turn to Page 12

M

Not to worry Malacañang described the

drop as a mere “snapshot,” claim-ing it has moved forward with its aim of reducing poverty.

The SWS poll, which in-volved face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide, saw the Aquino administration’s net ratings fall to “good” from “very good” in all geographical areas and socio-economic classes ex-cept in Mindanao and among the class E.

It was hardly changed in Mindanao at +55 from +56 pre-viously, but plunged 18 points to +46 in Metro Manila; by 13 points to +39 in Balance Luzon; and by nine points to +49 in the Visayas.

By class, satisfaction stayed “very good” in class E at +52 from +53 last December, but plunged by 16 points to +38 among the ABC class and by 13 points to +44 in class D.

The net scores for promoting migrant worker welfare, devel-oping tourism, transparency and having clear policies were new record highs, the SWS said.

Still high

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the admin-istration’s approval ratings re-mained high despite criticism that little was being done to ad-dress rising prices.

A little more analysis is need-

Wanted badly: P-Noy as People’s President

black-and-white Portuguese wa-ter dog, who his daughters named “Bo.”

Could owning a dog contribute to the electability of a presidential candidate? I’d say “yes” but it would depend on how the candi-date relates to his dog. Two stories come to mind.

Checkers Speech The story goes: Two months

after presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower picked then Sen. Richard Nixon as his running mate at the Republican National Con-vention in 1952, the New York Post headlined: “Secret Rich Men’s Trust Fund Keeps Nixon in Style Far Beyond His Salary.” The arti-cle claimed that campaign donors bought Nixon by keeping a secret trust fund for his personal expens-es. Many Republicans were out-raged by the scandal and demanded that Eisenhower drop Nixon from the ticket.

On September 23, 1952, the beleaguered Nixon appeared on na-tional television and radio. He de-fended himself saying that the fund existed but it was not a secret. He claimed that it was used strictly to cover campaign expenses and em-phasized that no contributor to the

S a popular adage says, “A dog is man’s best friend.” And this is truer if you’re running for President of the United States because Americans are fond of having pet dogs. Study shows that one in every three Americans own dogs. Since dog owners tend to identify with one

another, it is not surprising that a lot of American Presidents owned dogs, too. Twenty-five of the 42 Presidents including Barack Obama owned dogs.

AThe politics of dogs

I looked up www.dog-names.org.uk and gleaned interesting in-formation about some of the dog-loving American Presidents.

George Washington owned 10 Hounds named Mopsey, Taster, Cloe, Tipler, Forester, Captain, Lady Rover, Vulcan, Sweetlips and Searcher.

Abraham Lincoln owned at least two dogs called Fido and Jip. Like his master, Fido suffered a vi-olent death. A drunk who became angry when the dog jumped on him with muddy paws knifed Fido to death in the street.

Theodore Roosevelt owned five dogs: a Pit Bull Terrier (Pete), a Chesapeake Retriever (Sailor Boy), a Terrier (Jack), a mongrel (Skip), and a Spaniel (Manchu). Pete almost caused an internation-al scandal when he ripped off the French ambassador’s pants during a White House function.

Franklin D. Roosevelt owned at least seven dogs: a German Shep-herd (Major), two Scotch Terriers (Meggie and Fala), a Llewellyn Setter (Winks), an English Sheep-dog (Tiny), a Great Dane (Presi-dent), and a Mastiff (Blaze). Fala was the star of an MGM Holly-wood movie about the typical day of a dog in the White House. Fala also became an honorary army private. He received this honor by contributing one dollar to the war effort setting a trend for the rest of the US.

John F. Kennedy owned a to-

tal of 12 dogs: two Welsh Terriers (Charlie and Pushinka), a Ger-man Shepherd (Clipper), an Irish Cocker Spaniel (Shannon), an Irish Wolfhound (Wolf), and three Terriers (White Tips, Blackie and Streaker). Kennedy was the first president to request that his dogs meet the presidential helicopter when the president arrived at the White House. Soviet Premier Khrushchev gave him Pushinka who was the offspring of the Rus-sian space dog Strelka. Pushinka had four puppies of her own that JFK called “pupniks”!

Ronald Reagan owned two dogs, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (Rex) and a Bouvier des Flandres (Lucky). Reagan was photographed being dragged across the White House lawn by Lucky in the presence of Margaret Thatcher. Lucky was sent to live in Califor-nia leaving just Rex at the White House.

Bill Clinton owned a choco-late Labrador called “Buddy.” The TV cameras caught him relieving himself on the carpet! Buddy was barely in the White House a month before Newsweek proclaimed, “At last, a friend who can’t testify against him.”

Barack Obama, during the 2008 presidential campaign, promised to buy a dog for his daughters, Malia and Sasha, whether he’d win the election or not. After he was sworn into office, the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy gave Obama a gift, a

fund received special treatment or favor. He then showed the results of an independent audit of his fi-nances and also disclosed his finan-cial history.

In the middle of his speech, he admitted receiving one campaign donation and intended to keep it for himself. He narrated how he got the gift from a traveling salesman named Lou Carrol who heard Nix-on’s wife say during a radio inter-view how much the Nixon children wanted a dog. Carrol then sent a black-and-white American Cocker Spaniel to the Nixons, who their daughter Tricia named “Checkers.” Nixon said that if Checkers was an issue, he didn’t care. His daughters loved Checkers and regardless of what anyone said, they were keep-ing Checkers.

Watched by 60 million Ameri-cans, Nixon’s “Checkers Speech” led to an outpouring of public support. The Republican National Committee was bombarded with millions of telegrams and phone calls to retain Nixon as Eisenhow-er’s running mate. Eisenhower re-tained him and their ticket won in the November 1952 elections.

Dog-on-the-roof story

Sixty years later, 2012, another dog story is making its rounds in the media and cyberspace about Mitt Romney and his dog, Seamus.

The story goes: Almost 30 years ago, Mitt Romney took his wife and children and their dog, Seamus, on a 12-hour road trip from Boston to Canada. They put Seamus, an Irish Setter, in a crate -- that Romney built himself -- strapped to the car’s rooftop luggage rack. After several hours on the road, the Romneys made an unscheduled rest stop to take care of a messy problem drip-ping down from the car’s rooftop, which they hosed down.

Recently, Mitt Romney’s wife Ann explained during an inter-

view with ABC’s Diane Sawyer that Seamus had “slimed himself and the station wagon not because he was terrified of the trucks whiz-zing past him on the interstate but because he’d snagged some turkey off the kitchen counter before being latched in the crate for the 12-hour drive.”

The Seamus incident, which first came out in 2007, became an issue during the 2008 presidential primary elections. A Boston Globe reporter described the dog-on-the-roof story in a seven-part series on Romney’s presidential bid, which hounded (no pun intended) Romney throughout the Repub-lican primary season. It depicted Romney’s knack for “emotion-free crisis management.” It also said, “Picking a president is all about de-ciding who’ll have a finger on the button for the next four years, and the last thing we need is a guy who loses his cool when the stink hits the windshield at 60 mph.”

Romney lost the primary to Sen. John McCain who then lost the presidential elections to Obama. Did it help Obama get the votes of dog lovers when he promised to buy a dog for his daughters during the campaign? Hmm…

Now, Romney is the presump-tive Republican nominee for Presi-dent in the upcoming November 2012 elections. Makes one wonder if the dog-on-the-roof story would come back – if it hasn’t come back yet -- to hound him.

During the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Wash-ington, DC, Obama joked, “Even Sarah Palin is getting back into the game, guest hosting on the ‘Today Show.’ Which reminds me of an old saying: ‘What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?’ A pit bull is delicious.” Dog-gone it!

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)

President was slow in taking ac-tion to address pressing problems, the Palace released publicity pho-tos of him at his busiest best, with armfuls of working papers on the way to a series of meetings.

There is a time for this and a time for mingling with the peo-ple, talking to them about their problems. The President is at his best when he is out of the office. They should let him be the Presi-dent the people elected him to be: their President.

And what might a President accomplish mingling with his people? Certainly not much by way of paper work. But he can lift their spirits when they feel neglected. He can be their Presi-dent, if the cordon sanitaire will just let him be what he naturally is: a People’s President.

Higher profileConsider, for example, what

a stronger presidential presence might do out there in the hustings. The number of Filipino house-holds that consider themselves poor has risen markedly, the So-cial Weather Stations (SWS) said, with surges recorded in Mindan-ao and in rural areas.

Results of an SWS poll, con-ducted last March 10-13, found 55% of the respondents -- equiva-lent to an estimated 11.1 million families -- claiming to be mahi-rap, 10 points higher than Decem-ber’s 45% or 9.1 million house-holds.

The survey also found that 45% or an estimated 9.1 million families consider themselves poor in terms of food, nine points up from the 36% or estimated 7.2 million recorded in the previous quarter.

The new levels are the highest to date for the Aquino administra-tion, which has pledged to reduce poverty, although they are still below the record highs of 74% for self-rated poverty -- hit in

July 1985 during the Marcos dic-tatorship -- and the 59% for self-rated food poverty first recorded in April 1994 during the Ramos administration and repeated in September 2002 when the Arroyo government was in power.

Self-rated poverty is a percep-tion of self. A stronger presiden-tial presence will do a lot to cure it. But it can’t do more. It can prod government bureaucrats to do more of their jobs, for exam-ple.

Satisfaction Satisfaction with the Aqui-

no administration has fallen to “good” from “very good” but its score remains well above previ-ous governments, the S WS said.

The survey done from March 10-13 found 64% of the respond-ents satisfied and 18% dissatisfied with the government’s general performance, for a “good” net rating of +46 (% satisfied minus % dissatisfied).

The new rating is 10 points below the “very good” +56 scored in the last two quarters of 2011 and compares with the +64% -- “very good” and a record high -- that the Aquino administration enjoyed in its first few months in office.

Measured against previous governments extending back to the term of President Aquino’s mother, Corazon C. Aquino, the next highest would be the “good” +36 registered in November 1998 during the Estrada administration.

PinoyWatchDog.Com6 Saturday, May 12, 2012

Suicide for the “Singkit” an escape for CORONACORYE come to this country the U.S.A. for a reason. We come from all over the world. I do not care where you come from-

for I was once like you. I arrived to the mainland in the summer of 1982. The air in Los Angeles was crisp-dry, the unemployment rate at 12% high, with three (3) luggages, the future of my family uncertain and with meager funds in my pocket. I HAD FAITH IN GOD, I WAS TRUSTING AND 30 YEARS LATER, I HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL. We could still be proud of our country, but a few look down at it with disgust that I under-stand plainly because our big city, the historic Manila, is always dirty. The pollution is terrible. Corruption in government is all over. Most systems are broken. The dirty and unpaved streets of course could be worse than Los Angeles, California today. Poli-tics at home is always on the inside of the water closet, and our economics

on the drain of the “sink.” Give these theangry meaning you want it to have and if you will agree ergo we could talk the whole day “ad infinitum.” Today, in my country of birth, we are impeaching the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, a Regal Magistrate in black robe beyond compare in the whole world for corruption. Seven (7) counts of proven offenses are not good enough to rid of him of this hastily appointed office in violation of law. It had already taken millions (P2.5M of taxpayer’s money), or about one million U.S. dollarsby my estimate, and we are still at it sitting on an impeachment trial in the Senate. He would not resignJuan Dela Cruz. That is “non-Filipino” for starters, it irritates us, and the “singkit” seems teary-eyed in the news all the time.We cannot even get the eye contact. That is for sure. He could be faking it with the smile, aka-Monalisa. Are you kidding us, he will not do an “Angelo Reyes,” or a “Jaime Ongpin” in the

By Angel Dayan Correspondent

WMarcos years (I am not sure of his first name, and so sorry also to write the name of anairconditionedEx-Pres-ident dictator we dumped.) These men committed the “hellbound”suicide as their highest escape or “flight” from their most shameful deeds. In the Filipino vernacular, Justice Corona is “kapalmuks” and for those who do not understand this Filipino slang, it means “thick skinned to his face.” No aesthesiologist, or skin-care clinic ex-pert could heal that. The lawyers de-fending him have no moral ethics,all of them, including a former Chief Jus-tice. A good number of lawyers in the nation are on his side that reveals to the world our true “delicadeza” (sin-ful character) if they even have that in their forehead. It is in truth our deli-cadeza because we are Filipinos (not me?). These legal scribes (Pharisees of our time, but maybe not all), about 50 of them are legal consultants on the sidelights, lawyers of all persua-sions working aimlessly probono, pro-publicity, proactivekuno,pro-Corona or what not. Who is paying for them would be a subject of a good research. No good lawyer “an ever corrupted panyero” in my mind should defend him at all. I will not for one moment, but I only practice administrative tax law for U.S. clients. Let him defend himself to lie on his feet or teeth, for he is a corrupt lawyer after all. But this is drama, (soap opera), and we just gravitate to it as a people always full of high emotions, yet always short of reasons.It is us Filipinos. Our men keep score, and that is Corona--- women do not. Women may fight today but gone tomorrow. Ask fulmi-naticMiriam Defensor Santiago. That is why Corona I believe would not do a “hara-kiri” (the Japanese act for the highest protection of honor-a suicide.) Maybe that is the reason why? It is deep in our imagination for the “sing-

kit”. Sorry friends for the above, I just could not help write it in this week’s article that may not even have a place in this tax column. But let us see if I could make this “tax-related.” Hey, here it is: Did we not pay for that over two and a half million pesos already spent on this fiasco (brouhaha) from our tax money. I pay Philippine taxes too, you should know. We all do, when we Board that Philippine air-lines to go to our home sweet home. We need to fight this evil folks, and we can spend, but not too much. Those Senators without legal knowl-edge of legal procedures are having their education of their lifetime. If one of them becomes President one of these days, they will know what will happen to those who go on legal trial. Looking back at history, our national hero Jose Rizal went to a trial himself and that was also a mockery of Span-ish justice--- only three (3) priests defended him quietly, Young priests Gomez, Burgos and Zamora, who would all die to the guillotine later at the hands of the Catholic church. What would happen if Corona was a priest, your Lawyer-Saint? He could probably get away just like those child molesters in the Catholic church. Walalang?But this is another subject. Let me say “mea culpa” to those who take offense but surely like this newspaper that you read. But if Corona does the ultimate escape, he should confess “mea maxima culpa” at the foot of the Cross. This mad man real estate collector needs a Saviour, Forever. Where are your senses? God bless you thinking Filipinos!

(Angel Y. Dayan, EA, CPA, ABA, ATA, is an accountant in Los Angeles, with his website at www.taxwork.com. He writes a weekly tax column for Philippine Mabuhay News. Send him an email at: angel@taxwork.com or call at (213)-365-1040).

Pangasinan Brotherhood-USA’s Induction Ball Set June 9

During PB-USA’s general membership meeting on April 29, president-elect Eddie C. Ferrer and his working committees up-dated the assembly of Council of Presidents and officers on what to expect during the Gala Night.

Vice Consul John Reyes, himself a Pangasinense from the town of San Jacinto will swear-in the officers. Consul Reyes was one of the lawyers of Rene Sagu-isag Law Office before joining the diplomatic service.

Outgoing President Dan E. Nino, founding president of Assn. of Mangatarem Overseas Residents of Southern California, will officially turn over the gavel leadership and responsibility to incoming President Ferrer of Da-gupan City. Mr. Nino is a journal-ist and a retired California State employee.

Mr. Ferrer, past president of the Filipino-American Com-munity of Orange County was a former college professor and high school teacher at St. Louis University-Baguio City and for-

mer radio station manager and announcer.

Hank Evers, Director of De-velopment and Communications, Orange Catholic Foundation, will deliver the keynote address. Mr. Evers will speak about the role of stewardship and servant lead-ership in leading and growing a charity-based organization. He will focus on the topic of engag-ing a charitable organization’s membership in ways that raise awareness, increase interest and help achieve established goals.

Mr. Evers continues to do vol-unteer work with the Knights of Columbus as the Public Relations Chairman for the California State Council. Previously, he led a lo-cal project that raised more than a quarter of a million dollars to pur-chase five ultrasound machines for a local pregnancy center and sat on the board of iHOPE (In-terfaith Homeless Outreach Pro-ject for Empowerment) and on the consultative school board of St. Edward the Confessor Parish School. Mr. Evers spent several

decades in management positions leading the marketing effort for divisions of Pioneer Electronics, Sony, and Thales.

A Mariachi Band will ser-enade the guests as they enter the dancing hall and while the at-tendees are having their sit-down dinner.—Dan Nino

In between dancing, Pan-gasinenses and their guests will be treated to wholesome enter-tainment and presentation that are expected to bring the house down.

A HAGIBIS show group im-personators from San Nicolas Association will showcase their

be present to claim their prizes. The proceeds of this raffle draw-ing are earmarked for PB-USA’s on-going Scholarship Program to less-privileged college-bound students from the province of Pangasinan.

Pangasinenses from North-ern California, Las Vegas and San Diego will be represented in this annual affair of Pangasinan Brotherhood-USA.

Founded in 1978, Pangasinan Brotherhood-USA is a non-profit public benefit umbrella organiza-tion of all town and city associa-tions based in Southern Califor-nia.

For dinner reservation, adver-tisement and raffle tickets, inter-ested parties may e-mail Pangasi-nanBrotherhoodUSA@gmail.com or visit its Website: Pangasi-nanBrotherhoodUSA.org. The public may also contact Eddie C. Ferrer at 714-562-841-5381 or edrenjac@aol.com; Dan E. Nino @ 562-921-5116 or denino@ve-rizon.net; Nieves Coquia @ 323-662-1113 or nacoquia@hotmail.com; Mellie Soriano @ 818-893-5046 or fs32488@aol.com; or Lina R. Cabal @562-841-5966 or dekaydalen@aol.com

singing talents and synchronized body gestures.

Current hit makers, “The Far East Movement” , are expected to grace the affair. DJ-Virman Coquia of the group is a Pan-gasinense. Music Director of Power 106 FM radio and a to-pnotch disc jockey Emmanuel Coquia or well known, nation-wide or worldwide , as DJ E-Man will emcee the proceed-ings. DJ-Virman and DJ E-Man are brothers whose roots are from San Carlos and Calasiao. Neil Estrada , another “gig” impressario, will co-emcee the affair. Neil also hails from Cala-siao and San Carlos City.

Other celebrities might spring a surprise to show up de-pending on their future engage-ments.

Beauty queens and muses of various town and city associa-tions comprising the Pangasinan Brotherhood-USA topbilled by Miss Pangasinan-USA Jazmyne Dela Cruz Bacani will be pre-sented and escorted by the asso-ciation’s town president.

Raffle tickets with cash prizes ranging from $100 to $1,000 will be drawn for a good cause. Raffle winners need not

A LL systems go for Pangasinan Brotherhood-USA’s Induction Ball on June 9 coinciding with its 34th foundation anniversary at the Embassy Suites in Anaheim-South.

PB-USA’s guest speakerHank Evers

Off HoursPinoyWatchDog.Com 7Saturday, May 12, 2012

Bill Speidel, an official state historian, started the “Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour”. The tour is about dirt, corruption, sewers and scandal. It is characterized by the promoters as a “Hilarious Historic Tour Beneath Seattle’s Sidewalk”. Bill was known as a humorist and a preservationist before he passed away at age 76 in 1988. He played a significant role in the preservation of what is now known as Seattle’s Pioneer Square Historic District.

The Underground Tour takes you underneath the streets of Se-attle’s Pioneer Square Historic District which is Seattle’s original downtown way back 1852. The underground streets were the actual streets before a fire destroyed the original city on June 6, 1899. The fire tore through downtown and destroyed 25 blocks of business es-tablishment. The fire was so huge that it was eventually dubbed as “The Great Seattle Fire”. To avoid a similar incident, the replacement buildings were constructed with the use of fire resistant material primar-ily brick and stone. As a result, the district adapted a strong Victorian-Romanesque character. Heavy ma-sonry base and Roman arches de-fine the district’s architecture.

The rebuilding of the city raised the original street levels by 15 feet to get rid of the marshy ground that the original city was built on. That means; the city was rebuilt on top

The Underground Tour in the City of Seattle

LL I know about the City of Seattle changed when I visited its under-ground streets and alleys through the Bill Aidler’s Underground Tour. My pre-tour knowledge was that the city is located on the Shore of Elliot Bay and that it grew significantly during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 to become a major transport and commercial hub.

A

An underground alley

of the original city. The Under-ground Tour takes you to the old city, in a world and time when the major commodity offered by the City of Seattle was flesh trade. The government then were tax-ing each prostitute, also known as “seamstresses” $10 per month. Before the city became a major transport and commercial hub, it was first a center of prostitution and all foreseeable consequences like alcoholism and high crime rate.

The tour begins in a 19th

century saloon from the so-called Building One. From that saloon, you get to see the 60-foot Totem Pole which is said to have been stolen from a tribe known as Tlin-git sometime in 1899. The totem pole was destroyed by an arsonist in 1938 and was replaced with a replica carved by the descendants of the Tlingit. From the totem pole, you begin your descent through a basement entrance of one of the buildings. The entrance leads you to an underground alley where you see remains of old entrances, doors /windows of old hotels, bank, phar-macy and of course saloons where “seamstresses” used to abound. The underground alleys are actu-ally lighted by glass beams which are visible on the street pavement above but hardly noticeable by someone who wouldn’t know that a whole structure exists underneath what they are stepping on.

At the end of the tour, you will realize that what you initially know contains nu-merous histori-cal gaps. You will know that dirt is important in the city’s his-tory because a large amount of dirt was needed to elevate the

By Alma Luna-Reyes

land area by 15 feet from its origi-nal level. You will also discover the relationship between crappers, sewers and the city’s elevated street level. And of course, you will see how corruption and scandal con-tributed to the general character of the city. Don’t forget to include the role of opium in the whole sce-nario.

Should you be in the area, don’t miss it! Prepare to laugh and to learn. As a whole, the tour was very informative and packaged with

wit and humor. It is common for historians to avoid discussing unpleasant events for fear that it will diminish how a place or a city is perceived but the tour ef-fectively handled the unpleasant part of Seattle’s history and all of it was done in a pleasant manner. The ultimate effect actually en-hanced the city’s character. The tour showed a difficult birth, a transformation and reinvention of character all weathered by noth-ing much but determination.

Remember the time when we were all little?Like huggable toys that our mothers would cuddle?

Bringing me to the fair aint much a a hassleWe watch and listen to the sights and sounds

With such wonder that my teeny weeny eyes capture.

T’was a day where I can smile, cry and ask for my bottle.When mothers are simply adoring us so cute and little.

Now as we grow and have our families to treasure.Mothers simply remind us tha going to the fair aint much a hassle.

It was such a day!Where lights adorn the night so cool

With cameras clicking and videos rolling

I remember that day..Where Mom collects all the pictures

And makes a scrapbook for memories to treasure.It was a day that makes us closer

For she is my life’s treasure.

A Day at the Fair with MomBy Bongp

Author prepares to enter theunderground

Words and photography by Rene Villaroman

It is for these reasons that Mariver Diaz-Tapawan of Dermskin USA and Maribel Catala, President of West Coast Sigma Delta Phi Alum-nae Association, Inc. teamed up to organize a fundraising event they call “Dine to Share” at the Castaways Restaurant in Burbank last Saturday. To liven up the evening, the organizers also invited well-known Filipino-American couture fashion designer David Tupaz, who is the founder of

‘Dine to Share’ Fundraising Event at Castaways Features David Tupaz’ Evening Fashion Collection

NE in 88 children (1 in 48 boys) is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous re-ports pegged the number at 1 in 110. These are alarming statistics. “These are not just numbers, these are real people with real needs,” said Alison

Singer, President of the Autism Science Foundation. “These are families that are exploding. We have to focus on build-ing the infrastructure to provide education and services to all of these people and their families. And we have to focus on what is fueling the increase in prevalence, and that means investing in research….”

the Las Vegas Fashion Design Council. Tupaz showed part of his collection of gowns and evening dresses in a fashion show that capped an evening of songs and fine dining.

“We are so blessed to have this kind of people who come and share, and to have friends with beautiful minds and golden hearts,” remarked Mariver Diaz- Tapawan. “Friends, give your selves a big round of ap-plause.”

Ms. Diaz-Tapawan was speaking from her heart, too. She is the parent of a girl with special needs. Jannelle, her youngest daughter, was born with meningitis. Half of her brain was severely damaged when she was just two months old. As a result of this condi-tion, she now suffers from cerebral palsy.

“It is hard to explain if you have not had a child with spe-cial needs. The care and time it takes. It is tough,” she recalls. But she has come to accept her child’s specialness. “Be that as it may, at the end of the day, we see them smile and hear their laughter. All the joy and happi-

ness is felt in our hearts,” Ms. Diaz-Tapawan said.

The funds raised from this event would be donated to two beneficiaries: Autism Speaks, the nation’s largest autism science and advocacy organization; and Bata, Mag-aral Ka (Child, Get Educated) a program that West Coast Sigma Delta Phi introduced in 2011 that teaches underprivileged Filipino children in Quezon City, Philippines, reading, writ-ing and arithmetic, cleanliness,

and care for the environment.Designer David Tupaz, a

very good friend of Ms. Diaz-Tapawan, got on the band-wagon because he supports all her charity projects. “When she asked me if I would do part of a collection of ballroom gowns and evening dresses, I could not turn her down,” he told PinoyWatchDog. “I think we all have a responsibility to help in whatever way we can; what-ever: talent, treasure or time; to

do our bit for a good cause.”The formerly Beverly

Hills-based fashion designer has moved his showroom in downtown Los Angeles and also has branched out in Las Vegas “because nobody’s doing what I’m doing over there.”

“I mean, you never heard of a Las Vegas designer his-tory. It’s either New York or L.A. But now, we are changing that because I founded the Las Vegas Design Council and I’m helping and mentoring design-ers who are from Las Vegas in their creative growth; to kind of, like, give them recognition on their talents and their prod-ucts on the industry level.”

Mariver Diaz-Tapawan Antoinette Taus

Mylah de Leon, David Tupaz and Precy Uy

Adz Diaz with members of the press.The Chens, Henry and Monica with Rhonda Saul.

The dazzling fashion show.

The models, the designers, hosts and guests.

Joy Antoinette Diaz, Miss Philip-pines-Universe of US-Philippines

Expo, and David Tupaz.

O

PeoplePinoyWatchDog.Com8 Saturday, May 12, 2012

E PinoyWatchDog.Com Saturday, May 12 , 2012 9

ntert inment&Arts

The fashionable tv host Tim Yap introduced the film before the screening and acknowledged the presence of boxing Champ Manny Pacquiao, Mark Borde (Co-President of Freestyle Releasing), Susan Jackson (CEO of Freestyle Digital Media), Annette Gozon-Ab-rogar of GMA Films, Joey Abacan (producer), Director Yam Laranas, and Philip-pine Movie and Television Review Classification Board (MTRCB) Chairman Grace Poe- Llamanzares. Also in attendance were GMA Executives - Redgie Magno (Asst. VP-GMA Network) and Marivin T. Arayata (VP for Entertainment TV), together with some of the cast members Rhian Ramos (wearing an Ito Curata gown), Marvin Agustin, Al-den Richards, Derrick Mon-asterio (with mom, former actress Tina Monasterio), Vicki Belo of Belo Medi-cal Group (sponsor) and son Quark Henares, GMA newsman Lhar Santiago. Actor Leandro Munoz was a late-comer at the after-party, held at the newly opened LURE Club (formerly Cabana Club), adjacent to Arclight Cinemas.

(Photos by Oliver Carnay and Vivien Tutaan)

Filipino horror film

“The Road” Premiered at Arclight Cinema and hosted by

boxing champ Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao

L-R: stars from the film Rhian Ramos, Marvin Agustin, Derrick Monasterio, and Alden Richards with Manny Pacquiao (center)IR. Yam Laranas’ “The

Road” had its U.S. North American Premiere this last Friday (May 9) at the famous Arclight Cinemas

in Hollywood, and was hosted by boxing icon and Sarangani Rep. Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. The horror suspense thriller was ac-quired and is being distributed by Freestyle Releasing and produced by GMA Films. The movie is the first ever all-Filipino film to be commercially released in main-stream cinemas all over the U.S. debuting in 16 markets theatri-cally, including New York and Los Angeles. Starring in the film are Rhian Ramos, Marvin Agustin, Al-den Richards, Derrick Monasterio,

Carmina Villoroel, TJ Trinidad, Jacklyn Jose, Allan Paule, John Regala, Alynna Asistio, Lexi Fer-nandez, Barbie Forteza, Louise de los Reyes, Ana Abad-Santos, and Renz Valerio. The film, subtitled in English, involves the investigation of a 12-year old case that is reo-pened when three teen-agers van-ish on an abandoned road.

Tim Yap interviewing Vicki Belo (sponsor)

MTRCB Chairman Grace Poe-Llamanzares being interviewed by Tim Yap

Vivian Ledesma, Atty. Jemela Nettles, and former actress Tina Monasterio during the after-party

Alden Richards dancing with Vicki Belo during after-party held at the newly opened LURE Club

Director Yam Laranas

Star of the film Derrick Monasterio with mom Tina Monasterio

Alden Richards and Vicki Belo

D

By Oliver Carnay

PinoyWatchDog.Com 10

CommunitySaturday, May 12, 2012

Its a perfect excuse to leave the car in the street and sweat the distance for this assignment. And if you’re a first timer destined for a venue called Coven Commons embedded in one of yon hills, it’s also a fine way to get lost.

The guy in the guardhouse must have run out of the handy maps and what directions he could muster was, for me at least, good only up to where the mas-sive statue of the bear mascot stands. From there another se-curity officer in white uniform also could not make out the place even after minutes peering into his pocket map. Noticeably ex-asperated by his inability to pin-point the place, he managed a nod towards the left path saying, "go straight all the way."

At some distance away, still confused and a few more inquir-ing around I fortunately found myself walking in the same di-rection as a couple of young stu-dents, Ysabel Jurado and Trung Nguyen. She's into political sci-ence while Trung, history. Her parents are from Iligan and she

A celebration and conversations with friendly FilAms

had been to the Philippines six times. Trung is obviously a non-Filipino name although he has many Filipino friends, he said. Both amiable and helpful but no photo, please.

The April 21 event was the 2012 PAA Scholarship Fundrais-ing Benefit and a Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of UCLA Samahang Pilipino. PAA stands for Pilipino Alumni Association. The theme: "One Family. Isang Pamilya.”

Casimiro and wife Jennifer Masculino Tolentino are two of the founders of Samahang Pilipi-no (SP), the others being Florante Ybanez and Sheila Napala. Jen-nifer had been with UCLA from 1970 and graduated with a Bache-lor in Sociology in 1975. She was the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 2008. About SP, she said that "it is not only active as an or-ganization but have molded many members into leadership roles, honing their skills so that they can be assets in the community. What we learned here as students, our education, was meant not to just

provide us the skills for a mean-ingful future but to enable us to give back to the community."

Casimiro also graduated from UCLA. In fact twice, he said, first in Zoology in 1972 and law in 1975. He was recipient of the Roy Morales Community Achieve-ment Award in 2001. Members of SP have kept in touch all these years. He's currently a commis-sioner in the L.A. Fire Depart-ment.

We tried to keep pace with the

O the uninitiated who thinks that Los Angeles is a vast concrete jungle, a jaunt to some forested areas near-by or through the wide expanse and lush vegetation in some of the city parks and school campuses such as Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine U, Calstate and UCLA, among many, would perhaps set them aright.

UCLA particularly, said to be the largest university around in terms of enrolment and has a campus nestled within the embrace of 419 acres that include both the green and buildings -- more than 170 of them.

T

Turn to Page 11

Words and photography by Dionesio C. Grava

PAA, Samahang Pilipino joint gala

Casimiro and Jennifer Tolentino,Samahang Pilipino founders.

Meg Thornton and Tania Gunter,recipients of 2012 awards

Janina Montero, UCLA vice chancellor of student affairs, making inspiring remarks to the celebrants

Casimiro and Jennifer Tolentino,Samahang Pilipino founders.

Bobby Rimas, PAA chair, surveys the festive crowd from the rostrum.

Joel Jacinto and son,Kai: There to supportfellow Bruins.

Mary Onglatzo and Denise Guerra ofSamahang Pilipino

Ambassador meets Fil-Ams

Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr. (left), U.S.. ambassador to the Philippines, and party arrive at the venue located within the CBS Studios Center in Studio City, California. Meeting him is publicist Ted Benito (to his left).

Charmain Clamor pours her heart out in a song for the ambassador(left, seated).

Ted Benito introduces Ambassador Thomas to members of the Fil-Am media. A press conference was held separately before the main program.

John Mina of the HiFi Rotary Club presents the or-ganization’s pennant to Ambassador Thomas.

Henry von Seyfried presents a certificate of apprecia-tion to Ambassdor Thomas.

PinoyWatchDog.Com 11 Saturday, May 12 2012

excitement and at the same time had a chat with FilAms willing to share a minute or two with Pinoy-Watchdog. Mary Onglatzo was born in the Philippines of parents who are from Manila and Quezon City. They came here when she was seven. A pre-med student, she considered her membership with SP, the umbrella organiza-tion of many Filipino groups in UCLA, beneficial because it af-fords her a link to her culture and roots, she said.

Denise Guerra, a communi-cations graduate, Class 2009, is marketing and membership direc-tor of PAA. It was from her that we got permission to cover the event. She is U.S. born but was in the Philippines until three years old. About her role in the event, she said she helped bring every-thing together. Together with John M. Lopez, she was to present the scholarship awards during the program. "It's a big reunion," she said, "and we're having people

from the 70's, 80's, 90's and all the way to the graduates of last year."

People like Joel Jacinto, ex-ecutive director of the Search to Involve Pilipino

Americans (SIPA) and whose superb Kayamanan ng Lahi per-formance at Getty Center was a feature story in PinoyWatchdog's Entertainment & Arts page re-cently. To him, it's certainly a big deal being an alumnus of UCLA. He's also a product of SP and a member of the board of advisers of PAA.

"I'm here to support my fel-low Bruins," Jacinto said. He has much to thank for in UCLA, "Everything that I've been doing in my life, working at SIPA, hav-ing a dance company Kayamanan ng Lahi and having the love of my life, my wife, who I met when we were students."

Jacinto came from San Fran-cisco and enrolled at UCLA as a freshman in 1981. He met Ave, the love of his life, that same year. He

PAA, Samahang Pilipino joint gala

then joined SP which he credited with having set him on the path to student activism, in the search for his roots and in being a part of the Filipino community in Los Angeles. He graduated in 1986 and has continued to be active as an alumnus. He was the Dis-tinguished Alumnus of the Year 2001 and his Kayamanan ng Lahi bagged the Royal Morales Com-munity Achievement Award in 2010. He was with son Kai who he wanted to be exposed to the same UCLA environment. Ave and another son, Kaineu, were not around. Mr. Jacinto said that they came as guests of Meg Malpaya Thornton, this year's recipient of the Royal Morales Community Achievement Award.

Ms. Thornton is also Jacinto's predecessor in SIPA and a former president of the Filipino Ameri-can National Historical Society (FAHNS). She has a BS degree in Biology and Minor in Urban Studies and Planning from UC San Diego. She has been the co-ordinator of Student and Commu-nity projects at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center since 1991. She graciously responded to a request for a few words about Filipinos in UCLA.

PAA, SP and Filipino gradu-ate students, she said, are a strong, vibrant, power thinking and hard working group intent on their studies. They want to contribute something to the community. Ms. Thornton was born stateside to parents Roberta and Freddie from Pangasinan and Laguna, respec-tively.

The Distinguished Alumnus of the Year 2012 is Tania Gunter, said to be the first Tagalog teacher at UCLA (1992-93). A Special Recognition was also handed to SP as they celebrate the mile-stone of 40 years of existence and activism at UCLA. Founded and established in 1972, SP is a multi-faceted student organiza-tion committed to addressing five key aspects of Filipino life: cul-tural, social, political, academic and community.

PAA of UCLA was conceived in 1991 and officially launched in 1993 as a formal network of the school's Filipino graduates. The group has raised funds for schol-arships to outstanding UCLA undergraduate and graduate stu-dents. PAA also seeks to provide career resources to students and valuable networks with other alumni professionals.

From Page 10

community

recent poll has indi-cated that during the past 12 years the white non-Hispanic face of registered voters in

California has been taken over by mostly Latino and Asian voters.

Mark DiCamillo, director of The Field Poll, said that during that period the state’s voter rolls have increased by over 1.3 mil-lion, all of it coming from the

The changing face of registered California votersthe Department of Homeland Se-curity.

Meanwhile, the population in Los Angeles County has grown by 3.1 percent to more than 9.8 million while the city of Los An-geles increased by 2.6 percent to reach 3.8 million, according to the L.A. Daily News. The surge, the report says, was driven by Latinos and Asians. Latinos grew by 28 percent to 14 million while Asians increased by about 31 per-cent to 4.8 million. In contrast, non-Hispanic whites decreased by 5 percent, and the black popu-lation is down by 1 percent.

The following table shows the breakdown of registered voters in the various regions in California.

Party preferences of Califor-nia voters in the November 2012 Congressional elections are 46 percent for a Democratic candi-date and for the Republican, 35 percent. In contrast to national preference, 52 percent in Cali-fornia support Obamacare while 37 percent oppose. Regarding the proposed initiatives, 63 percent would vote yes if the California Federation of Teachers’ “Million-aire’s Tax” initiative will make it to the ballot as opposed to 31 per-

state’s ethnic voter populations. The proportion of California’s registered voters who are Latino increased from 16 percent to 22 percent.

The share of Asian-Ameri-cans and other ethnicities have grown from 6 percent in 2000 to 8 percent or an increase of 478,000 voters this year. On the other hand whites who are non-Hispanics have gone down from a 72 per-

Table 1 The following table shows the voter population by race/ethnic-ity in the state which currently is 44 percent Democrats; 30 percent Republicans; and the remaining 26 percent non-partisan/other parties.

Table 2 Presidential elections in California have always been dominated by the Democratic Party. Considering that Latinos, African-Americans and Asian-Americans vote heavily for Democrat candidates, it is ex-pected that this blue state will become bluer still for sometime to come.

Table 3 This partisan bent is also evident in how the majority of Cali-fornia’s Latinos, African-Americans and Asian-American voters over-whelmingly approve the job performance of President Barack Obama (53 percent to 39 percent). Fifty-one percent of them are inclined to vote him back to office compared with 41 percent who wouldn’t, the poll determined.

AWords and photography by Dionesio C. Grava cent share of registered voters to

64 percent or a loss of 407,000. African-Americans are steady at 6 percent but the actual number of voters decreased by 50,000.

DiCamillo discussed Califor-nia’s changing voter population and the growing importance of ethnic voters in state elections during a May 4 presentation held inside the downtown headquarter of the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund (MALDEF). It was co-hosted by New America Media (NAM) and MALDEF.

It may be noted that the U.S. Census Bureau has estimated that the country’s population has grown by 9.7 percent to 311,591,917 from 281,421,906 in 2000. California has a 10 percent growth, the number increasing from 33,871,648 to 37,691,912 in the same period.

Residents of Asian descent comprised 5.6 percent of the total U.S. population. Among them are 3.4 million Filipinos, the second largest Asian community after the Chinese. Last year 42,520 Filipi-nos have become U.S. citizens, a number next only to those com-ing from Mexico and India, said

Mark DiCamillo, director of The Field Poll

cent who would vote no. On Gov-ernor Brown’s tax increase ini-tiative, 58 percent would vote yes while 36 percent, no. The Munger tax increase initiative, 45 percent yes and 48 percent, no.

California voter opinions about Governor Brown’s public pension reform proposal is 24 percent “Goes too far;” 51 per-cent “Strikes the right balance;” and 14 percent “Doesn’t go far enough.” Voter preferences for the sentencing of someone con-victed of first-degree murder: 48 percent for “Life in prison with-out parole” and 40 percent for “Death penalty.” Voter opinions about allowing same-sex couples to marry: 59 percent approve; 34 percent disapprove.

DiCamillo, however, con-ceded that predicted results are not etched in stone because the quality of the campaign, adver-tisement materials, who the mes-senger is and other characteristics of the election process may still factor in the outcome. Also over-time, as young voters now will become old voters, perceptions will change.

The demographics of Califor-nia is very different and will con-tinue to be different in the future. However, it is not a bellwether of how the rest of the nation’s voters behave, he said.

The program consisted of a few numbers starting with the singing of the Philippine and U.S. national anthems. Bobby Rimas and Steffi Yutan, PAA chair and vice chair, respectively, had the task of introducing the group's directors. Janina Montero, UCLA vice chancellor of student affairs, made inspiring remarks to the celebrants. Soon dinner was an-nounced and so it was time for this reporter to exit.

Then it struck me. The route coming in being circuitous as I recalled it, there was no way I would be able to get back to the car and on to another appointment on time. I approached a group of young gals and guys having a fun time in a nook of the building and inquired about a simpler way out of the area.

There is another route, some said, and three of them volun-teered to guide me all the way to where I felt I was already familiar with. My thanks to the following young FilAms: Cristina Prodi-galidad, a student of Applied Linguistics; Michael Dimaya, Chemical Engineering major; and Teejay Javier, enrolled in Mo-lecular, Cell and Developmental Biology.

Saturday, May 12, 201212

From Page 5

OPINION

Wanted badly: P-Noy as People’s President

ed, besides being more politically prudent. How to explain, for example, government inaction on the economy despite the avail-ability of hundreds of billions of approved outlays which could propel the economy?

Government has pledged to accelerate spending after missing its first-quarter tar-get and four quarters last year, blamed for slowing down growth to 3.7%.

Lost ground The Budget department said it aimed

to make up for lost ground in the second quarter after government spending only hit P394.883 billion as of March, nearly P46 billion short of the P440.588-billion target.

The first-quarter expenditure goal is the lowest for the year. The government aims to disburse P444.7 billion in the second quarter, P467.9 billion in the third quarter and P486.6 billion in the fourth quarter, for a 2012 total of P1.84 trillion.

The Transportation department had the biggest backlog for the first quarter, with P12.2 billion in unreleased balances. It was followed by the Agriculture and Education departments, both with P9 billion each.

The Health department still has to spend P8 billion worth of budget releases, while P7.7 billion has to be spent by the Public Works department.

None of the first-quarter targets for ma-jor expenditure classes was reached.

Action deficit Funds were underutilized by the Envi-

ronment and Social Welfare departments. In particular, only P5.7 billion of the P39.4 billion released to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program was used. B a n -ner programs for rice and other farm prod-

ucts utilized just P800 million of a total P11.9 billion allocated.

Family health care projects also utilized just P1 billion from the P2.3 billion given.

Infrastructure spending was the slow-est moving at 71.24% of the P54.6-billion target.

Government agencies were said to have failed to submit special budget requests and supporting documentation for projects such as the public-private partnership pro-gram (P15.6 billion), construction of basic educational facilities (P8.7 billion), and the enhancement of health facilities (P5 billion).

Spend to grow The sluggish project implementation

raised concerns that the underspending last year would be repeated.

Government spending dropped last year as agencies adjusted to the Aquino ad-ministration’s regime of stricter budget and procurement reforms.

The subsequent project delays were said to have contributed to 2011’s lacklus-ter 3.7% economic growth, barely half of the record 7.6% seen in 2010.

If the government were an ordinary household, it would make sense to con-strict spending after prices move up. But Philippines, Inc. is not an ordinary house-hold. Economics 101 teaches us that gov-ernment spending can perk up the econo-my by creating jobs.

Jobs provide income for food on the table. What’s left after spending for basic needs is disposable income. Optimism-driven consumer spending propels the economy upward.

A hands-on, high-visibility President of the People is clearly needed. He should make his presence felt where it counts – within arm’s length of his people.

empire when the Spanish armada ruled the seas and most of the known world.

Paete’s shipbuildersWhat the known world didn’t know was

that many of those wooden ships were built in the shipyards of Cavite by expert Filipino woodcarvers from Paete in the neighboring province of Laguna and shipbuilders from Mindoro recruited by Chinese contractors.

The woodcarving tradition persists in Paete, the shipyards survive in Cavite, but the glory that was Spain flickers only in memory, rekindled occasionally by the visit of a proud galleon like the Andalucia.

In colonial times, the Philippine terri-tory was administered by the Spanish crown through authorities who also ruled Mexico, which explains why Our Lady of Guadalupe is the Patroness of both Mexico and Las Islas Filipinas.

From Cebu, the galleons often stopped over in Guam and other Pacific islands to re-plenish supplies for their long ocean voyag-es---so the Catholic saint Pedro Calungsod must have boarded one of those ships for the mission in Guam, which was part of the Archdiocese of Cebu’s ecclesiastical respon-sibility.

At a certain time of year, the prevail-ing trade winds of the Pacific would blow the galleons higher up north to the coast of California, from where they would sail southward to Acapulco, hugging the rugged coastline. Violent storms caught many of those ships, and today the California coast is graveyard to many galleons.

Steinbeck’s Filipino sailorsMany stories of heroism at sea survive

in the oral history of small Filipino commu-nities along the California coast, and farther inland at the vegetable farms of Salinas Val-ley, the setting of John Steinbeck’s famous East of Eden.

Steinbeck’s son, Thomas, preserved many of those heroic tales of rescue at sea by brave Filipino sailors in a breathtaking book, Down to a Soundless Sea. One story tells of a Filipino sailor who swam in heavy seas towing a lifeboat full of survivors tied to his waist with abaca rope.

If the galleon was blessed with good weather, it would continue on down to Mex-ico to disgorge its precious cargo in Aca-pulco.

From there the cargo was packed on mule trains for the dangerous trek along mountain trails across the tropical rainforest to Veracruz on the Atlantic coast, and finally loaded onto ships bound for Spain.

To this day, descendants of Filipino sail-ors who settled down with Mexican maid-ens live in small barrios along the mountain trails, proud of their brave seafaring heritage high up in the mountains. Their dialect is

Salt water gypsy survives in Filipino seafarer’s blood

still laced with Filipino words.

North to AlaskaOther Filipino sailors found ships that

sailed north of California to the rich fishing grounds of Alaska and scattered their prog-eny there. Some of their exploits, both nau-tical and historical, found their way into the stories of the Filipino novelist Bienvenido Santos, who settled in the area and penned award-winning literature about Filipino im-migrants in the Pacific Northwest.

But enough of the productivity and pro-clivity of the intrepid Filipino sailors.

On its recent trip, the Andalucia departed Seville for Shanghai and then stopped over in Hong Kong on the way to Manila. It vis-ited Cebu and Bohol before embarking on the Pacific crossing to Acapulco.

Piedra chinaIn the years of the Galleon Trade (1565-

1815), the voyage took all of 200 days, more or less, depending on wind, storms, occa-sional pirates, and brief stopovers for rest and supplies.

On the trip from Shanghai to Manila, the cargo holds of Chinese junks which brought Chinese goods would be partly loaded with stones for ballast to keep them on an even keel in the worst of typhoons.

Many of those stones were unloaded in Manila to give way to cargo for the return trip to Shanghai.

The stones were cut to small squares to pave the streets of old Manila and survived to the early 60s until cultural barbarians re-placed them with concrete.

National treasureThe centuries-old piedra china are all

but gone. But in the veins of every Fili-pino seafarer still flows a precious legacy of the sea: the craftsmanship and diligence of Paete shipbuilders, the swashbuckling derring-do of the Spanish conquistador, the enterprising spirit of the Chinese mer-chants who plied the Galleon trade, and the audacity of seafaring datus who braved the high seas in wooden boats called bal-anghay to establish their first settlements here.

Those historic journeys are replicated everyday by brave Filipino seafarers, eight of whom, fresh from a brush with modern-day pirates near the Gulf of Aden, came home to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

Home from the sea, they will soon go back to their home at sea, to make a liv-ing away from home, sailing dangerous oceans away from loved ones who make it all worthwhile for them.

It just may be the brave seafaring tra-dition that flows in their veins. But all of them are national treasures.

From Page 1

PinoyWatchDog.ComSaturday, May 12, 2012

ITH news reports claiming that China is aggres-sively expanding its military capa-

bilities, ramping up investment in nuclear weapons and send-ing jitters to smaller countries in Asia, a senior fellow of the Center for American Progress maintained that China is not the aggressive country others believed it to be.

“China is not aggressive; it is possessive,” Nina Hachigian said during a panel discussion in connection with the 2012 Global Conference of Milken Institute held at The Beverly Hilton last week. She added that Chinese leaders are aware that war is not useful economi-cally anymore. Hachigian, au-thor of “The Information Revo-lution in Asia,” also serves on the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.

The panel on “U.S.-China Power Balance” included James Chanos, president and founder of Kynikos Associates; Charles Y.S. Liu, chairman and founder of Hao Capital and senior fellow, Peking Uni-versity Center on China and Global Affairs; and Minxin Pei, professor of Government and director, Keck Center for Inter-national and Strategic Studies, Claremont McKenna Col-lege. Moderator was Zachary

China military might a concern to US, Asia neighborsKarabell, senior fellow, Milken Institute, and president of River Twice Research.

The discussion was cen-tered on the proposition that the United States has been the most influential state on the planet for decades, but China’s meteoric rise is altering the global balance of power. Panelists examined the economic, military and political implications of having two major superpowers on the world stage.

They also discussed what is said are lopsided trade and finan-cial flows that have complicated the entanglements between the two nations. It sought to answer the following questions: Can the awkward partnership between the U.S. and China evolve into a better working relationship that can address geopolitical and financial crises? Will the competition for natural resources flare up in the coming decades? How will the long-simmering currency dispute play out? Can other nations enjoy the benefits of Chinese growth without sac-rificing long-standing American security assurances? What new international alliances might be built in response?

James Chanos observed that China’s current conflicts with its neighbors are drawing these na-tions closer to the U.S. It may be pertinent at this point to suggest that

China’s escalation of its saber

rattling over the Philippine’s Panatag Shoal (international name, Scarborough Shoal) and the Spratlys is raising concerns in the United States and other claimants in the South China Seas. The area is a well traversed international shipping lane.

About China’s economic model considered to be responsi-ble for its sudden wealth, Profes-sor Pei had dire predictions. He foretold of the eventual collapse of the Chinese economy in a book he authored six years ago, he said. During the discussion he made the bold announcement that “the fast pace of China’s growth is over. From now on it would be downhill.”

The question to be answered, Pei said, is how deep the fall will be. If the current model contin-ues, it will be a much deeper fall. The use of resources in China is extremely inefficient because it is the government doing it. We all know, he added, that “when it is the government who is doing the investing for you, you should be very worried about its outcome.”

Chinese leaders could be in a Catch 22 situation because, the way Pei said it, they are well aware of the issues that need to be confronted, that they have to change their ways but can’t do it because it will reduce the power of the party.

Charles Liu responded that the current leadership is trying to

clean up the administration and institute reforms. He expressed optimism on its success. About the current relationship between the U.S. and China that verge on mutual suspicions of each other, Liu said that it is understand-able on the part of their common folks who are a conglomeration of people from different culture and different upbringing. To the sophisticates and educated sectors of society, however, they don’t view the U.S. as a real, serious threat.

Ms. Hachigian said that most Americans don’t want an antago-nistic relationship with China but that because of the slow econom-ic recovery, there is insecurity among many. On the other hand,

W

she said that China is suspicious about U.S. designs, that the latter is trying to contain them in order to maintain the U.S. dominant position. Even the climate change issue, for example, is suspected to be another devise to keep China down. It doesn’t help that campaign rhetoric against China are reinforcing the latter’s fears, she said.

Chanos said that the U.S. is not after the fall of China and that the latter will get through current challenges because it is a great country with traditions that predate those of other countries. Hachigian also said that exist-ing relationship should not be an-tagonistic because both countries need each other.

From left: James Chanos, Nina Hachigian, Zachary Karabell, Charles Y.S. Liu and Minxin Pei

13

PinoyWatchDog.Com14 Saturday, May 12, 2012

One thing that may appear strange to newcomers is that can-didates for elective positions in this country usually depend much on financial support from the voters. Filipino-Americans are not known to be significant contributors, if at all, to campaign endeavors such that despite our great number -- at 3.4 million we’re the second largest Asian community in this country -- only a few Fil-Ams got elected to high positions of power.

“Why? It takes courage and determination to get into Ameri-can politics. The candidate also needs to have much money and knowledgeable of the process ,” said Mel Alfarero. Originally from Tagbilaran, he is the entrepreneur behind CC Alfarero & Associates and a consultant of Property In-novations, Inc. Alfarero is one of the few in the community who has been into politics for sometime.

He said that frequent talks about political empowerment in our community must focus on the fact that it all start with winning an election. “Elected officials are the ones who dispense influence, ac-cess, entitlement, policy, legislation and political favors. I don’t have much money but I learn the job anyway -- the hard way,” he said.

Alfarero is the outgoing na-tional chairman of the National Filipino-American Republicans (NFAR), former chair of Fil-Am Republicans of LA County (FAR-LAC) and an elected incumbent in the County Central Commit-tee 37th District. Unfortunately the 37th District was dissolved as a result of the recent redistricting process and its jurisdiction taken in by the 38th and 45th Districts. He is presently one of 13 candidates vy-ing for a seat in the 45th District in the June 5 California primary.

He was a delegate to last week’s statewide annual convention of the California Republican Assembly (CRA), the oldest and largest grass-roots volunteer organization char-tered by the California Republican Party. He informed that CRA failed to endorse a GOP presidential can-didate, a decision reached after a heated and contentious debate.

Instead they ended up approv-ing and endorsing a resolution to support efforts to defeat President Obama in the coming California primary on June 5 and the presiden-tial election on November 6, this year. The convention also endorsed

A close look of California’s election process

LECTIONS in our part of town is kind of ho-hum. Kababayans, even if they were political animals back in the homeland, are usually not too engrossed in politics upon taking residence in the US. It could be because of preoccupations with the more urgent

requirements of eking a living or that the game is played dif-ferently here.

Evolve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) and Historic Filipinotown Neigh-borhood Council will host: “Mu-ral Celebration. It’s More Fun in Historic Filipinotown” today, Saturday, May 12, 1-4 pm at Uni-dad Park, 1644 Beverly Boule-vard, Los Angeles, CA (between Union Street and Loma Street).

Jonny Itliong, the son of leg-endary labor leader, Larry Du-lay Itliong (catalyst of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike) will be the guest of honor. Philip Vera Cruz and Larry Dulay Itliong who both worked with Cesar Chavez to form the United Farmworkers Union are featured prominently in the mural. The artist, Eliseo Art Silva will give a guided tour of the mural.

Eliseo Art Silva, a Philippine-born artist and a Fine Art major at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles was commissioned by the Social and Public Art Re-source Center (SPARC) to paint the mural after a state-wide com-petition in 1994. Originally part of the “Candy Chuateco Commu-nity Garden” for twelve years, the City of Los Angeles bought the property from Filipina proprietor Dr. Carmencita Chuateco who owned the land which originally hosted a historic building identi-fied with the Filipino Alumni As-sociation for many years.

In 2005, The Anna H. Bing Living Trust awarded the Neigh-borhood Land Trust and the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks $4 million to build parks and playgrounds in underserved neighborhoods throughout L.A. One of the first places to benefit is located in the heart of Historic Filipinotown, now the site of Unidad Park, which features a newly-installed community garden inspired by the rice terraces of the Philip-pine Cordilleras as well as the first Dap-Ay space built outside the Philippines as its centerpiece. The story behind the mural and the park is a perfect example of how art can have a direct impact and transform the neighborhood surrounding it.

Unfortunately, the mural was covered with graffiti in 2001. Eli-seo led a community campaign to restore the mural in October 2007, just after Unidad Park’s grand opening on September 8, 2007. In 2011 through Los An-

geles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT) matching grant from Eric Garcetti’s Office Clean and Connected Communities Grant did the second round of restora-tion finally saw its completion on December 10, 2011.

Furthermore, California State Fullerton’s Prof. Carol Ojeda-Kimbrough’s Filipino American Experience Class (Fall 2011) pro-vided 20 service learning hours from each student enrolled; pro-viding the necessary manpower to complete the massive undertak-ing of covering 150 feet of public art. In addition to the restoration, certain parts of the mural where “enhanced” as part of the organic nature of public art to remain rel-evant and engaging to the neigh-borhood, and constituted the third phase of the preservation efforts.

The 1995 mural was painted by the artist when he was 23 years old and the first of many that be-came landmarks throughout the United States, including the first public memorial honoring the US veterans of the Philippine Ameri-can War located in Lompoc, CA, the Workmen’s Circle Mural of Los Angeles honoring Jewish Heritage, and the Carlos Bulosan Memorial, the centerpiece art of the Historic Eastern Hotel in Se-attle, WA.

In 2006, the Smithsonian Institute selected LA’s Filipino mural as the featured art of the Traveling Exhibition celebrating the Centennial of Filipino Mi-gration to the United States, en-titled: “Singgalot (The Ties That Bind): From Colonial Subjects to Citizens” describing the artist as “nationally recognized for creat-ing this bold 145’ long mural” and included Silva; Jacky Agtuca, NVM Gonzales, Lt. Gen. Antonio Taguba, Jessica Hagedorn, Ve-nancio Igarta, Cristeta Comerford and Cheryl Diaz Meyer.

The celebration will include music, food , art and cultural ex-hibits, community tables from various Historic Filipinotown or-ganizations and institutions, Fili-pino lanterns or “Parol” courtesy of Historic Filipinotown Neigh-borhood Council, as well as a ful-ly-restored and operating “Jeep-ney “ (traditional Philippine taxi) courtesy of the Pilipino Workers’ Center (PWC). The entire park will be transformed into a “living museum” for the community cel-ebration.

Community

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Historic Filipinotown ...

Hispanic Al Ramirez from Santa Monica, California, as its candi-date for US senator against Diane Feinstein. Alfarero was the only Filipino-American designated by the assembly as a voting delegate. Another Fil-Am, Gina “Ines” Mc-Nelley from Orange County, is al-ternate delegate.

U.S. Politics 101Candidate Alfarero volunteered

to provide PinoyWatchdog read-

ers a rundown of the election pro-cess as far as it affects the GOP or Republican Party. He said that his party has the Republican National Committee (RNC) based in Wash-ington, DC. There are chartered Republican parties throughout the 50 states of the country such as the California Republican Party (CRP), Republican Party of Los Angeles County (RPLAC) and the Filipino American Republicans of Los Angeles County (FARLAC). He founded FARLAC, the only chartered Fil-Am GOP organiza-tion in California, in 1992. Current officers are Cecile Ramos, chair; Van Dichoso, vice chair; Cristina Cimino, secretary; and Amy Ad-vincula, treasurer. Alfarero serves as the adviser. FARLAC officers were nominated as presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s delegates to the National Republican Con-vention in Tampa, Florida, to be held August 27-30, 2012. A total of 172 California delegates will be in that convention.

Alfarero said that the California primary on June 5 will select the Republican nominee for president, US senator, Congressional repre-sentatives, State senators and State

Assembly members. Candidates for Republican and Democratic members of the different Central Committees will also be elected. California has 58 County Central Committees. The 45th Assem-bly District of LA County Central Committee were he is a candidate is located west of San Fernando Valley. The District has a popula-tion of about 350,000, about 10,000 of them Filipinos.

Elected members of the Cen-tral Committee receive no salary and operate as independent groups. They elect their own chairman, vice chairman, secretary and treasurer. To be appointed also are alternate members of the committee. Their duties involve the recruitment of candidates for public offices within the district, monitor local elec-tions, voter registrations, support endorsed candidates and assist in local, state and presidential elec-tions. They participate in the en-dorsements of candidates and may form political action committees to raise funds for their operations. A Committee is composed of seven elected members, each to serve a term of two years.

Every ten years a population census is conducted to determine the boundaries of the redistricting process. The purpose is to draw new political boundary maps. For the first time in California the most recent carving of political bounda-ries was entrusted to a non-partisan Independent Redistricting Com-mission. The city of Los Angeles has a separate redistricting com-mission to set the political bounda-ries of City Council members.

California has adopted new pro-cedures for the coming elections. Republican and Democratic candi-dates will now be listed on the same ballot and under identical candidate positions. This is called a limited open primary. California will remain a winner-take-all state. It means that those who get the highest votes get elected. The two highest vote getters who are unable to get 50 percent of the total votes will be forced to a run off. In the presidential contest it is different. The candidate for Presi-dent who gets the highest popular votes will get California’s 55 elec-toral votes.

Words and photos by Dionesio C. Grava

A framed photo of Alfarero with then President George W. Bush

Mel Alfarero

PinoyWatchDog.Com 15Saturday, May 12, 2012

N November 22, 2011, the Philippine Supreme Court approved the redistribution of Hacienda Luisita to the more than 6,000 farm workers. Then President Noynoy Aquino, whose family owns Ha-cienda Luisita, filed for SC Chief Justice Corona’s impeachment. Speculations regarding the subsequent incidents lingered. Many

thought, or still think, that PNoy filed for Corona’s impeachment because of the approved redistribution of the 4,915-hectare hacienda to the farm workers.

To cap the political soap opera, the Supreme Court on April 24, 2012 ap-proved the November ruling of handing the farm workers the 4,915-hectare land.

However, the drama is far from over. There is still tension within the govern-ment and there is division within the left-ist movement. A conflict amongst farm worker organizations is brewing as sug-gested by Tonette Orejas’ Inquirer News article entitled “Disunity Strains Haci-enda Luisita Farmers” (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net).Rather than helping and creating solutions, the politicking of sev-eral individuals in the government and organizations in the leftist movement leave the farm workers and their families hurt and justice delayed.

Nonetheless, a victory is a victory. But victory is nothing without a few hard fought struggles. So aside from the legal battle for land reform and redistribution, here are two prominent historical strug-gles by farm workers.

1987 Mendiola MassacreA year after ousting former Presi-

dent Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aqui-no steps in the political arena bringing hopes of justice and democracy; one of the promises is land reform. With prom-ises delayed and broken from President Cory Aquino, thousands of frustrated farm workers march the streets of Men-diola demanding for land reform.

The peasant-led march is welcomed

By Francis Johann Verdote Correspondent

O

A Step Toward Victory in Hacienda Luisita

Look Who’s Reading PinoyWatchDog.com!

May Day in Los Angelesrecall a time when immigrant and la-bor-rights march-ers were so numer-ous that the main

city streets got clogged up and traffic gone bad al-most the whole day. May Day 2012 was a shadow of marches past such that the police outnumbered the crowd who were celebrat-ing, instead of protesting, at downtown’s Pershing square.

Still a cat-and-mouse game of chase occurred in the case of Occupy activ-ists who tried in vain to penetrate the officers line guarding City Hall and po-

I

lice headquarters. At least 13 arrests were made in-cluding 10 demonstrators at Los Angeles International Airport who were protest-ing working conditions

there. A policewoman was reportedly hurt when struck on the head with a skate-board. Most had dispersed by 10 p.m. when their city-issued permit expired.

Make love not war.

Community based solution, not jail expansion. Artistic mayhem.

The crowd at Pershing Square were in the mood for celebration instead of protesting.

not by democratic, justice-filled, and wide-open arms, but by a group of po-licemen dressed in brown uniform with truncheons and loaded guns. A big me-lee ensues between the militants and the government troops. After the gunshots and wailing,13 peasants are found dead and many more activists injured.

2004 Hacienda Luisita MassacreWith depleting work hours and land

still not distributed to the farm workers, the peasants led by United Luisita Work-ers’ Union (ULWU) declare an all out strike. Together with their demands, the farmers also called for the reinstatement of other farm workers.

Seventeen years after the Mendiola Massacre, the Hacienda Luisita farm workers face the same violent confron-tation with government forces. This time, however, the troops utilized water cannons, smoke grenades, teargas, and then opened fire on the strikers (http://cpcabrisbane.org/Kasama/2004/V18n4/HaciendaLusita.htm).

A Well Deserved Partial VictoryThe farm workers’ patience, sacri-

fice, and hard work paved the way of rejuvenating democracy in the country.

As the saying goes, “Basta’t may ti-yaga, may nilaga.” Maybe now the fam-ilies in Hacienda Luisita can have a nice, hot pot of nilaga for dinner.

Words and photos by Dionesio C. Grava

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Photo and words by Dionesio C. Grava