See HAGUPIT, page 6

Vol. 3. No. 11 LOS ANGELES Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014

Sarah: Leahas every

right in outburst

See PAGE 10W W W . U S A S I A N P O S T . C O M

1-877-35-NOPAY(1-877-356-6729)818-334-5445818-552-4500

By Cecil MorellaA giant storm left the Philip-

pines Tuesday after killing at least 27 people and devastating remote coastal towns, but the gov-ernment won praise for unprec-edented preparations that were credited for saving lives.

Hagupit hit the far eastern is-land of Samar on Saturday with winds of 210 kilometres (130 miles) an hour, making it the most powerful typhoon in the Philippines this year and threat-ening widespread destruction.

Most of the 27 people reported by the Red Cross to have been killed were on Samar, one of the nation’s poorest islands where thousands of homes in fi shing communities facing the Pacifi c Ocean were torn apart.

In San Julian, a tiny farming and fi shing town on Samar, moth-er-of-four Rosario Organo sat with a daughter in front of their ruined bamboo and palm thatch home on Tuesday.

“My only wish is that my family could get a good night’s sleep,” Or-gano, 41, told AFP as neighbours sifted through the debris of their

destroyed houses to start rebuild-ing, using salvaged material.

In San Julian and neighbour-ing coastal towns, Hagupit’s winds had snapped coconut trees and power lines, cutting off roads and making the delivery of sup-plies diffi cult.

The military fl ew emergency fl ights with food, water and other essentials from Cebu to the worst-affected areas on Samar on Tues-day.

Interior Minister Manuel Roxas said 200,000 people were believed to be in need of help on eastern Samar, but this could rise as more comprehensive assess-ments were carried out in isolated communities.

“It breaks my heart to hear their stories,” Roxas said in an in-terview with local television net-work ABS CBN.

“All we can do is give them physical support, moral support, give them food and hope we can give back their spirits so they can rise again.”

Still, after a barrage of cata-strophic storms in recent years A typhoon victim carries a cooking gas tank past a house destroyed by typhoon Ruby in Borongan, Samar on Monday. More than

a million people were evacuated as the powerful typhoon approached the country, fearing a repeat of last year’s typhoon that left 7,000 dead or missing. (MNS photo)

MANILA, Dec 8 (Mabuhay) – At least 2,339 passengers are stranded in ports around the country due to tropical storm “Ruby,” the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said.

The PCG said as of 10 a.m., 2,339 passengers, 81 vessels, 3 motor boats, and 646 rolling car-goes were stranded as of 10 a.m. Monday.

Below is the breakdown of the stranded passengers and vehi-cles:

National Capital Region-Cen-tral Luzon: 340 passengers and 2 vessels

Palawan: 30 passengers, 14

vessels and 2 motor boatsNorthern Mindanao: 197 pas-

sengersBicol: 363 passengers, 32 ves-

sels and 59 rolling cargoesEastern Visayas: 127 passen-

gers, 1 vessel and 76 rolling car-goes

Southern Tagalog: 662 passen-gers and 273 rolling cargoes

Western Visayas: 620 passen-gers, 32 vessels, 1 motor boat and 238 rolling cargoes

The PCG said the HPCG Mem-orandum Circular 02-13 (Guide-lines on the Movement of Vessels during Heavy Weather) is being strictly implemented. (MNS)

Despite under Public Storm Warning Signal, Metro Manila shoppers fl ock to malls, shopping centers and night market in preparation for the Christmas season. Photo shows Greenhills Shopping Center in San Juan City famous for its “tiangge”. (MNS photo)

Paris, France | AFP | Satur-day 12/6/2014 – They may have different names according to the region they hit, but typhoons, hurricanes and cyclones are all violent tropical storms that can generate 10 times as much energy as the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Typhoon is the Asian term for a low-pressure system that is called a hurricane in the Atlantic and northeast Pacifi c and a cyclone

in the South Pacifi c and Indian Ocean.

But meteorologists use the term “tropical cyclone” when talking generally about these im-mensely powerful natural phe-nomena, which are divided into fi ve categories according to the maximum sustained wind force and the scale of the potential damage they can infl ict.

Typhoon Hagupit, which

roared in from the Pacifi c Ocean and lashed eastern Philippines on Saturday with windgusts of 210 kilometers (130 miles) an hour, is the most powerful storm to hit the Southeast Asian country this year.

Hagupit comes a year after Su-per Typhoon Haiyan devastated large swathes of the archipelago, claiming more than 7,350 lives.

Beijing, China | AFP | Sun-day 12/7/2014 – China on Sunday slammed the Philippines for chal-lenging its territorial claims over the South China Sea through in-ternational arbitration, refusing to back down just a week before a deadline to respond in the case.

The Philippines infuriated China in March by fi ling a formal plea with a United Nations tri-bunal challenging Beijing’s mari-time claims.

The tribunal gave Beijing un-til December 15 to reply, but China reaffi rmed Sunday that it would not submit to arbitration to resolve the dispute, which has heightened tensions.

President Benigno S. Aquino III receives a gift from the Bulong Pulungan core mem-bers during 28th annual Bulong Pulungan Christmas Party at the Luzon Ballroom of the Sofi tel Philippine Plaza Manila in CCP Complex, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City on Friday (December 05). The Bulong Pulungan media forum started 28 years ago on the onset of People Power by the country’s leading lifestyle journalists. (MNS photo)

By Mynardo MACARAIGManila, Philippines | AFP |

Saturday 12/6/2014 – A Swiss man kidnapped by Islamic mili-tants in the Philippines nearly three years ago escaped on Sat-urday after a fi erce struggle with one of his captors over a machete and a frantic run to freedom un-der gunfi re, the military said.

Lorenzo Vinciguerra took ad-vantage of a pre-dawn assault by soldiers on his Abu Sayyaf abduc-tors in the jungles of a remote southern island to make his bold escape, the local military spokes-woman told AFP.

“One of them (gunmen) caught

By Dennis CHONGHong Kong, Chine | AFP | Monday 12/8/2014 – An Indonesian

former maid on Monday told a court for the fi rst time how she was starved, beaten and ritually humiliated by her Hong Kong employ-ers in a case that has sparked international outrage.

Erwiana Sulistyaningsih described in vivid detail how for months she lived on nothing but bread and rice, slept only four hours a day and was beaten so badly by her former employer Law Wan-tung that she was knocked unconscious.

“I was tortured,” she told the packed courtroom through a trans-lator on the opening day of the trial.

“She often hit me... sometimes she would hit me from behind, sometimes she hit me in the front. I was hit so often sometimes I got a headache... She hit me in my mouth (so) I had diffi culty breathing.”

Opening the prosecution, solicitor Louisa Lai detailed the har-rowing litany of abuse the former maid allegedly suffered includ-ing how she was told to wrap her sore-covered feet in plastic bags “because of the smell”.

Law denies all charges of abuse.Sulistyaningsih’s case has shone a spotlight on the plight of mi-

grant domestic helpers in Asia and the Middle East after reports of torture and even killings.

In March, a Malaysian couple was sentenced to hang for starv-ing their Indonesian maid to death, while in the same week a Sin-gaporean couple pleaded guilty to abuse after their helper lost 20 kilos in seven months.

Such cases have prompted a clampdown on domestic worker vi-sas in some countries – Myanmar suspended a seven-month-old scheme in September and Indonesia has pledged to stop sending

MANILA, Dec 8 (Mabuhay) – Filipinos in Saudi Arabia were warned over the weekend against transacting with a per-son claiming to be a Philippine labor welfare offi cer and recruit-ing workers via Facebook.

The Philippine Embassy in Riyadh said Philippine Overseas Labor Offi ce-Riyadh welfare of-fi cer Romeo Pablo does not have a Facebook account for recruit-ment or labor transactions.

It issued the advisory after receiving information about a “Romeo C. Pablo” who claims to be the OIC of POLO-Riyadh and is into consulting and business services.

“According to reports, Mr.

Pablo is using his Facebook ac-count in communicating with the Filipino public on their que-ries, on behalf of the Philippine Overseas Labor Offi ce,” the em-bassy said.

“All Filipino nationals are urged to be more cautious in re-sponding to social media invita-tions for protection from unscru-pulous individuals who resort to these scheme in deceiving other Filipino nationals,” it added.

The Embassy also reminded the Filipino community that any request for assistance or queries on labor matters may be coursed through polo_riyadh@philem-bassy-riyadh.org or through hot-line 00966-545917834. (MNS)

Hagupit leaves 27 dead; Gov’t cited

Cyclone, hurricane, typhoon: Different names, same phenomenon

2,339 stranded due to ‘Ruby’

Former maid tells Hong Kong court of ‘torture’ by employer

China condemns PHL over disputed sea arbitration

Pinoys in Saudi warned vs. fake welfare offi cer Swiss escapes

militant kidnappers

See CYCLONE, page 6

See ARBITRATION, page 6

See KIDNAPPERS, page 6See FORMER MAID, page 6

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 THE US ASIAN POST2

MANILA, Dec 6 (Mabuhay) – Lawmakers have fi led a measure urging the House Committee on National Cultural Communities to review the status of the consul-tations of the World Bank’s Envi-ronmental and Social Safeguard (WB ESS) policies.

Rep. Teddy Brawner Baguilat, Jr. (Lone District, Ifugao) said House Resolution 1624 seeks to ensure the consistency of the WB ESS policy to the country’s Indig-enous People’s Rights Act of 1997.

Baguilat said on Oct. 22, 2014, the World Bank conducted con-sultations for the creation of a new environmental and social safeguard that affects the rights

of various sectors that include the indigenous people in the Philip-pines.

The WB ESS aims to prevent and mitigate undue harm to peo-ple and their environment in the development process. “These poli-cies provide guidelines for bank and borrower staffs in the iden-tifi cation, preparation and imple-mentation of programs and proj-ects,” he said.

Baguilat said the safeguard policies have often provided a platform for the participation of stakeholders in project design and have been an important in-strument for building ownership among local populations.

Rep. Nancy A. Catamco (2nd District, North Cotabato), co-author of the measure, said the inquiry should determine the re-lationship between the Philippine Indigenous Laws and the WB ESS policy.

Catamco said Congress should exercise its oversight functions over the Executive Branch’s im-plementations of projects funded through World Bank loans.

Likewise, Catamco said the WB ESS policy was greatly entwined with the indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997 or Republic Act 8371 because of the provisions on the free, prior and informed con-sent.(MNS)

MANILA, Dec 6 (Mabuhay) – A United Nations human rights expert is interested in asking the government for an offi cial invita-tion to allow him to investigate growing reports of attacks on rights defenders in the country.

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Hu-man Rights Defenders Michel Forst indicated his interest in fi ling a request for an offi cial visit after a two-hour meeting late last week with members of Manilakbayan, a contingent of indigenous peoples’ groups and advocates, and representatives of the human rights group Karapatan from Mindanao and Southern Tagalog.

Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay, in a statement, urged the international community and human rights advocates worldwide to “press the Philippine government to accede to the request of the UNSR-HRD to look into the numerous reports of at-tacks against rights defenders in the country.”

She noted that Forst’s predecessors – Hina Jilani and Margaret Sekaggya – “both submitted several requests to conduct an offi cial investigation in the Philippines, but they were not able to obtain offi cial invitations from the Philippine government.”

Karapatan said of the 226 victims of extrajudicial killings under President Benigno Aquino III, 105 were human rights defenders.

During the meeting, Manilakbayan spokesman Datu Jomorito Guaynon told Forst of the impact on indigenous communities in Mindanao of military combat operations.

“Indigenous people’s leaders Genasque Enriquez and Jalandoni Campos are among the 213 individuals slapped with trumped up charges by the military because they continue to defend their an-cestral lands,” Guaynon told the UN offi cial. “They are both vocal in their opposition against large-scale and destructive mining op-erations, and the role of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) in protecting the interests of these big companies.”

Sister Famita Somogod of the Rural Missionaries of Philippines-Northern Mindanao, and Hanimay Suazo of Karapatan-Southern Mindanao said they have been threatened by state security agents who have tagged them as “enemies of the State.”

“Our lives are on the line. In Mindanao, there are 83 victims of extrajudicial killings; most of them are rights defenders. We are very concerned that such trend will continue with the Aquino ad-ministration’s disregard for human rights,” Suazo commented.

Bertoldo Garay, 11, a student of an alternative learning school for indigenous people in Surigao del Sur, told Forst of soldiers la-beling their schools “NPA schools” and turning these into barracks.

“Even children like me are called NPAs,” Garay said. UN rapporteurs have previously visited and released damning

reports on the human rights situation in the country.In July 2012, Karapatan said, “Sekaggya and the UN expert on

extrajudicial killings Christof Heyns released a statement high-lighting the killings and attacks against human rights defenders like Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio.”

Both called on the government to “adopt urgent measures to protect the life of rights defenders and to ensure they are able to carry out their important work.”

But among the most damning reports was that of UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial murders Philip Alston who, following a visit, slammed the government and military of carrying out a counterinsurgency campaign that deliberately targeted leaders and members of legal organizations by openly accusing them of being rebel “fronts.” (MNS)

By Tom HancockNanyang, Chine | AFP | Monday

12/8/2014 – Before their villages were submerged beneath a gar-gantuan scheme to move water hundreds of kilometers to China’s arid north, government offi cials promised farmers better lives far from their ancestral homes.

Water is due to start fl owing this month along the central route of the South-North Water Diver-sion project, a monumental $81 billion design to salve the thirst of Beijing and surrounding regions.

But many of the more than 300,000 people who made way for it have been left unemployed in leaking, shoddy houses, while few say they have been given the compensation they were pledged.

The grand scheme was sug-gested by Communist China’s founding father Mao Zedong more than 60 years ago, and analysts say the migrants’ plight shows how little megaproject manage-

ment has changed since his era.Jia Xinlong remembers pound-

ing rain soaking the ground as an entire village loaded their pos-sessions – generations’ worth of furniture and agricultural tools – onto lorries which would take them more than 300 kilometers away.

When they arrived three years ago at their new home – a clump of dozens of identical white hous-es rising out of surrounding fi elds called Yaojia New Migrant Vil-lage – some burst into tears.

“We felt uneasy. The houses were badly built, the ceilings were already cracking,” Jia said, point-ing out gaps in the plastered roof-ing of a shop.

“We made a sacrifi ce for the country,” said his friend Jia Zhangjun, “and we lost out.”

‘The country asked us’ The Chinese government says

the project will solve a chronic shortage in the cities of the coun-

try’s north, supplying Beijing with a billion cubic metres of wa-ter every year.

Northern China supports near-ly half the country’s population and economy but has just a fi fth of the national water supply, ac-cording to the World Bank.

Recent statistics show that Beijing’s water levels have fallen to just 120 cubic metres per per-son—less than Algeria and rough-ly on par with Yemen and Israel, all three of them largely desert.

The South-North Water Di-version project is an attempt to address the shortfall by reshap-ing the very geography of China, and according to state media its middle route has required at least 330,000 people in the central provinces of Henan and Hubei to move.

Migrants in four villages vis-ited by AFP had their homes submerged under the newly ex-panded Danjiangkou reservoir,

from where water fl ows to the capital through 1,264 kilome-tres of pipes.

“The country asked us to move. So we had no choice,” said Xu Zhenyan, an elderly man who was transplanted 150 kilometres to Liang-zhuangdong New Village.

Huang Jianchao, 50, said that transport was better in their new home, “but there’s no work to do, and we have less land than before”—a regularly echoed complaint. “My income was higher before we moved”.

The relocation offi ce of Nan-yang city, where the four vil-lages are located, told AFP that all migrants received at least 700 square metres of “productive” land, and a 600 yuan annual payment for 20 years.

It admitted that “embezzle-ment” of relocation funds was a problem but said the number

Buenos Aires, Argentine | AFP | Friday 12/5/2014 - A biographical fi lm on Pope Francis’s childhood and life as a cardinal and archbishop before becoming pontiff will be shot next year in his na-tive Argentina, producers said Friday. The pope will be played by Dario Grandinetti, a prolifi c 55-year-old actor who gained international recogni-tion with his 1992 fi lm “The Dark Side of the Heart” and is also known for his role in Spanish director Pedro Almo-dovar’s 2002 fi lm “Talk to Her.

Filming will begin in Janu-ary under Spanish director Beda Docampo Feijoo, produc-er Pampa Films told AFP.

The script is based on Ar-

gentine Vatican correspondent Elisabetta Pique’s biography “Pope Francis: Life and Revo-lution.”

The fi lm will be shot on lo-cation in Buenos Aires, Ma-drid and Rome, and producers hope to release it in mid-2015.

“We hope this fi lm will transmit the admiration all of us feel for the coherence of a life based on austerity and charity, and that will inspire people,” Docampo Feijoo told The Hollywood Reporter.

Born Jorge Bergoglio, Fran-cis formerly served as arch-bishop of Buenos Aires, where he was known for his work in poor communities and his ar-dent support of Argentine foot-ball club San Lorenzo.

of cases “was not too many to be checked”.

Nonetheless more than a dozen migrants interviewed by AFP said that they had not received their payments, blaming corruption.

“We haven’t received any-thing,” said Liang Qingfeng, 40, in Liangzhuangdong. “The cen-tral policies are good, but they aren’t enforced.”

‘Sa sfac on doesn’t ma er’ The displaced are among mil-

lions of Chinese relocated in re-cent decades by vast engineering experiments that have fuelled the country’s economic boom.

More than a million people were moved to make way for the massive Three Gorges dam – the world’s largest by generating ca-pacity – before it opened around a decade ago.

Thousands remain in poverty, and China’s government in 2012

made a rare admission that the treatment of migrants relocated for the dam was still an “urgent problem”.

In the 1950s, more 400,000 people were forced to relocate to make way for the Sanmenxia dam in northern China. A senior offi -cial later described the dam as “a stupid mistake” after it clogged with silt.

Those forced to move for the latest megaproject are victims of China’s centralized politics, said academics who have studied it.

“The cities and communities around the Danjiangkou reser-voir are politically and economi-cally less important than China’s capital region,” said Britt-Crow Miller, assistant professor of ge-ography at the University of Cali-fornia, adding the migrants were left “without choice in the mat-ter”.

MANILA, Dec 8 (Mabuhay) – A senior offi cer of the House of Representatives on Monday said he has fi led a bill that seeks to professionalize and institutionalize the traffi c enforcement corps in the metropolis which is currently attached to the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA). Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian said in his House Bill 5242 that he seeks to es-tablish the National Traffi c Enforcement and Management Cen-ter (NTEMC). He was prompted by the recent incident wherein an MMDA traffi c constable had an altercation with the driver of the Masserati Ghilby along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City.

“Traffi c enforcers play a vital role in maintaining public order and safety in our roads. A properly trained traffi c enforcer coupled with the best practices in the enforcement of traffi c laws will en-sure a safer road for the public particularly to motorists and pedes-trians,” said Gatchalian, a majority member of the House commit-tee for Metro Manila development.

Gatchalian said the creation of the NTEMC will pave the way for the effi cient traffi c enforcement, which is an essential element of every road safety policy especially in the light of several com-plaints cropping up against a specifi c traffi c constable.

Solons want to review World Bank’s environmental policies

China farmers washed away as Beijing taps water from south

UN special rapporteur wants to probe attacks on PHL rights defenders

Pope Francis fi lm in works in Argentina

Solon fi les bill professionalizing MMDA traffi c enforcement

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 Visit www.usasianpost.com 3

Nova Vocal Ensemble together with Christ the King School’s Pueri Cantores choir to perform familiar carols by composer-in-residence Dale Trumbore

A Christmas tradition comes back to Hollywood as the Nova Vocal Ensemble together with Christ the King School’s Pueri Cantores choir performs dazzling new arrangements of familiar carols by composer-in-residence Dale Trumbore in a free concert entitled Lesson and Carols on Sunday, December 14, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. at the Christ the King Church in Hollywood.

Headed by Founder and Artis-tic Director, Jonathan Bautista who has appeared as a profession-al bass vocalist for choral groups and church choirs in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and California., Nova Vocal Ensemble

is known to be Los Angeles’ cham-ber choir devoted to the music and choral works of living composers of all genres.

In addition to contemporary classical, Nova also performs var-ious musical arrangements from popular music, jazz, musical the-ater, fi lm, television series, video games, and animation.

Nova aims to not just enter-tain, but move and educate its audiences about the diversity of musical styles and arrangements. For more information about Les-sons and Carols and Nova Vocal Ensemble please visit www.no-vavocalensemble.org.

The Christ the King Church is lo-cated at 624 N. Rossmore Ave. Los An-geles, CA 90004.

Nova Vocal Ensemble is a profes-sional chamber choir consisting of experienced singers dedicated to per-forming the a cappella choral works of living composers.

Nova singers come from all over Southern California to entertain, move, and educate its audiences about the diversity of musical styles in today’s choral landscape: the romantic, the ex-perimental, the complex, the comical, and the profound are all part of Nova’s eclectic sonic palate.

Nova presents the music of beloved contemporary masters and classical music’s rising young stars, especially composers with ties to the choir’s home of Los Angeles.

Not limited to just contemporary classical, Nova also performs arrange-ments of popular music, jazz, musical theater, fi lm music, and music from video games, television series, and ani-mation, all orchestrated with a fl air that is contemporary and fun by innovative arrangers active in the choral fi eld.

Nova was born in the spring of 2012 and has expanded from a group of four singers to today’s roster. Nova boasts some of the fi nest vocal talent in Los Angeles, and its singers travel from all

President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers his speech during the 2014 Presidential Awards for Filipino Individuals and Organizations Overseas awarding ceremony at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Friday (December 05). Also in photo are Sec. Imelda Nicolas of the Commission of Filipinos Overseas and Sec. Patricia Licuanan of the Commission on Higher education. (MNS photo)

Free Christmas carol concert at Christ the King Church in Hollywood Dec. 14

over the valley just to perform with the group. Nova has performed in a diverse array of venues, including the San Fer-nando Mission, the Echoplex, West Los Angeles Public Library, Christ

the King Church, St. Mark’s Episco-pal Church in Glendale, E3 Electronic Entertainment Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and Disney’s Cali-fornia Adventure.

LA County Public Works will host a free used motor oil and oil fi lter recycling event on December 13, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m, at the Lawndale O’Reilly Auto Parts, located at 15122 ½ Hawthorne Blvd.

When used oil is illegally dumped into stormdrains, it pollutes local water bodies and contaminates sources of clean drink-ing water.

In fact, according to the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency, it only takes one gallon of motor oil to contaminate as much as a million gallons of fresh water – equivalent to a year’s supply of drinking water for 50 people.

In exchange for properly disposing of their used oil during the event, partici-pants will be rewarded with free used oil containers, oil fi lters, shop towels, and funnels. Those recycling oil fi lters will re-

ceive one new oil fi lter. Promotional items are available on a fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis.

Items for drop-off should be prepared by placing oil fi lters in sealed plastic bags and storing used motor oil in leak-proof containers. Used oil should not be mixed with any other liquid, including water.

Used motor oil and oil fi lters can also be recycled for free at a local certifi ed collec-tion center or on weekends at a County-sponsored Household Hazardous Waste/Electronic Waste collection event. A full calendar of collection events and list of collection centers can be found at www.CleanLA.com.

For additional information on the Coun-ty’s oil and oil fi lter recycling program, call Edna Gandarilla, Program Manager, at (626) 458-6536.

LA County to host used oil and fi lter recycling event in Lawndale

ROSEMEAD, Calif., Nov. 26, 2014 – Southern California Edison (SCE) warns customers to stay vigilant this holiday season as impostors, claiming to rep-resent the utility, continue a telephone scam demanding immediate payment for allegedly past-due electricity bills.

The hustle and bustle of the season makes customers especially vulnerable as telephone bill scammers increase calls threatening to disconnect electrical ser-

vice unless immediate payment is made on past-due bills.

The caller demands that payment be made through a prepaid card and urges victims to purchase a prepaid debit card, load a specifi c amount of money on the card and give the card number to the scammer.

Once the impostor collects the card’s value, the customer has been defrauded and the money is gone.

SCE warns customers to be aware of utility bill scam this Holiday season

LOS ANGELES

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Manila, Philippines | AFP | Sunday 12/7/2014 – Greenpeace global chief Kumi Naidoo said Sunday increasingly violent storms hitting the Philippines showed the world had to act on climate change, as Typhoon Hagupit barreled across the country.

Naidoo was in the Philippines to “bear witness” to the damage done by Hagupit, the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year, and planned to visit some of the worst-affected areas on Monday.

“Nature does not negotiate. We actually have to wake up and smell the coffee. We need to understand that we are running out of time,” he said, in a warning to UN negotiators meeting in Lima, Peru, to ham-mer out the broad outlines of a new world pact on global warming.

Naidoo, the international executive director of the environmental group, said that the typhoon passing over the Philippines was an ex-ample of the massive damage poorer countries would experience if cli-mate change worsens.

He said the storms hitting the Southeast Asian archipelago were getting stronger and stronger, showing the urgency for world govern-ments to act quickly.

Naidoo blamed “all coal and gas companies and other polluting com-panies” for the worsening climate problems, adding that it was unfair that they should make huge profi ts while poor nations suffer the ill-effects.

He warned that the world was facing a “make or break moment”, and called on governments to adopt the “polluter pays principle” as well as a commitment to give full access to renewable energy by 2050.

Rich and poor countries should act together, he said, as even the richest nations would not be immune from the impact of a warmer planet.

Storms in the Philippines have become symbolic of the potential damage of climate change since Super Typhoon Haiyan unleashed the strongest winds ever recorded on land when it struck the country in 2013 just before climate change talks began in Warsaw.

More than 7,350 were left dead or missing, inspiring greater sympa-thy for the poor among the negotiators and prompting the Philippine envoy to the talks, Yeb Sano, to go on a tea and water fast for the dura-tion of the negotiations.

Sano is expected to join Naidoo in his visit to the areas ravaged by Hagupit.

However activists observing the talks in Lima have said the pace of the negotiations was too slow and lacked a sense of urgency, with rich and poor countries disagreeing on what steps to take.

While Typhoon Hagupit is not as strong as Haiyan, it has brought new destruction to areas that are still struggling to recover from Hai-yan’s fury.

Manila, Philippines | AFP | Sunday 12/7/2014 – Typhoon Hagupit was on Sunday churning across the Philippines, the latest in a never-ending series of often-deadly storms that plague the Southeast Asian archipelago.

With more than 7,100 islands, the country is hit by an average of 20 typhoons or tropical storms each year.

The storms are created above the warmer waters of the Pacifi c Ocean near the equator, and the Philippines’ islands are often the fi rst major landmass they hit as they move northwest.

The following are the 10 deadliest typhoons on record in the Philip-pines*.

1. Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm ever recorded on land, destroys entire towns across the central Philippines on November 8, 2013. When the government stopped its count months later, more than 7,350 people were listed as dead or missing.

2. Tropical Storm Thelma unleashes fl ash fl oods on the central city of Ormoc on Leyte island on November 15, 1991, killing more than 5,100.

3. Typhoon Bopha smashes into the main southern island of Mind-anao on December 3, 2012. Rarely hit by major storms, the unprepared region suffers about 1,900 people dead or missing.

4. Typhoon Ike hits the central Philippines on August 31, 1984, kill-ing 1,363 people.

5. Typhoon Washi hits the northern part of Mindanao island on De-cember 16, 2011, killing at least 1,080 people.

6. Floods and landslides unleashed by Typhoon Trix kill 995 people in the Bicol region of the main island of Luzon on October 16, 1952.

7. Typhoon Amy rakes across the central islands in December, 1951, with fl oods, landslides and a massive storm surge killing 991 people.

8. Typhoon Nina hits the eastern city of Legaspi on November 25, 1987, triggering giant storm surges and unleashing mudslides down Mayon volcano that claim 979 lives.

9. Typhoon Fengshen tracks an erratic and destructive path across the central islands and nearby areas from June 20, 2008, killing 938 people.

10. Typhoon Angela, with gusts of up to 260 kilometers an hour, causes carnage in Bicol and later Manila from November 2, 1995, kill-ing 936 people.

Data is from government records and those compiled by David Pad-ua, a meteorologist for weather forecasting website The Weather Phil-ippines Foundation.

Washington, Etats-Unis | AFP | Monday 12/8/2014 – President Barack Obama said ban-ishing racism in the United States can only hap-pen incrementally, and urged young people to “be persistent” in fi ghting bias.

He was speaking as protests continue in cities across the United States, where thousands have gathered over the past two weeks to condemn a spate of killings of black suspects by white police.

“This isn’t going to be solved overnight, this is something that is deeply rooted in our society, it’s deeply rooted in our history,” Obama said in an interview with Black Entertainment Televi-sion to be aired Monday night.

He urged young people to press on in their fi ght against racism, and said patience was cru-cial.

“We have to be persistent, because typically

progress is in steps, it’s in increments,” he said. “When you’re dealing with something as deep-

ly rooted as racism, or bias, in any society, you’ve got to have vigilance but you have to recognize that it’s going to take some time.”

He said race relations had improved over the last 50 years, even though tensions persist.

“If you talk to parents, grandparents, uncles, they’ll tell you that things are better, not good in some cases, but better.”

A series of police killings of African American suspects in the United States has sparked wide-spread anger and ignited a national debate about race relations and police tactics.

In Ferguson, Missouri, and New York city, two separate grand juries decided not to indict white offi cers involved in the killing of black suspects, setting off a wave of demonstrations nationwide.

Lima, Péru | AFP | Monday 12/8/2014 - Half of nearly $8 billion in climate fi nance given to the de-veloping world since 2003 went to just ten countries, and nations most at risk got the short end of the stick, a report said Sunday.

The top recipients were Morocco, Mexico and Brazil, which each got more than $500 million (406 million euros) of the $7.6 billion total, according to an analysis of spending over the last decade in 135 countries.

The report of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a UK think-tank, was released ahead of the second and fi nal week of UN negotiations in Lima for a world pact to curb potentially disastrous global warming.

“Mexico and Brazil are among the top 10 emit-ters of greenhouse gases, and with Morocco, all have huge renewable energy potential,” said a statement.

However, many of the poorest countries were left behind.

“Confl ict-affected and fragile states such as Ivory Coast and South Sudan, where it is generally dif-fi cult to spend fi nance, received less than $350,000 and $700,000 respectively,” said an ODI statement.

“Several middle income countries that are vulner-able to the impacts of climate change and have sig-nifi cant clean energy potential, such as Namibia, El Salvador and Guatemala, also received less than $5 million each.”

The aid from rich nations is meant to help poor and vulnerable countries adapt to climate change impacts and curb Earth-warming greenhouse gas emissions through a shift away from fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas.

Funding for adaptation rocketed from $3.8 mil-lion in 2003 to $2 billion this year, said the report.

“While not enough, the trends in spending are

positive,” it said.“Poor countries such as Niger, Bangladesh and

Nepal have received nearly $400 million over the last decade to help them cope with this growing threat.”

However, the ten most vulnerable nations, in-cluding Somalia, the Solomon Islands, Burundi, Ni-ger and Eritrea, benefi ted from only seven percent of adaptation aid.

“Effective use of climate fi nance will help win the support of poor countries which have contributed the least to climate change but bear the brunt of its impacts,” report author Smita Nakhooda said.

Lives depend on it Finance is a sore point at the UN climate talks,

with developing nations insisting that rich econo-mies show how they intend to honor promises to muster up to $100 billion in climate fi nance per year from 2020.

To date, nearly $10 billion in startup capital had been promised for the Green Climate Fund, the main vehicle for channelling the money.

On Friday, a UN report said developing countries may need up to $500 billion per year by 2050 for ad-aptation alone.

“There is substantial scope to improve results and learn from experience” on climate fi nancing, said the ODI statement.

Funds need to become less risk averse and more fl exible when it comes to donor conditions and scru-tiny.

“There are now too many small climate funding ‘pots’ with substantial overlap and fi nance is spread too thinly between them,” added Nakhooda.

“The lives of millions of people in poor countries affected by climate change depend on getting this right.”

Giant storms show climate change threat: Greenpeace

Philippines’ 10 deadliest storms

Obama urges persistence in fi ghting US racism

Poorest countries ‘left behind’: Climate fi nance report

MANILA, Dec 9 (Mabuhay) – Philippine Catho-lic bishops this week sought “zero tolerance” against human traffi cking as they warned a failure to fi ght modern slavery could undermine the Church, a news site reported.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas issued a pastoral letter to the ef-fect, according to a report on the Union of Catholic Asian News.

“(O)ne Filipino victim of human traffi cking alone is one victim too many for us as a Christian nation,” it quoted Villegas as saying in his pastoral letter.

“Seeing how evil has spread and threatens to scat-ter the fl ock, we can only cry with the Good Shep-herd, This cannot go on! It must stop,” he added.

He said no less than a joint effort from Church

and government is needed to get rid of the “evil of human traffi cking.”

“This infamous network of crime is now well-es-tablished in our cities, and many people have blood on their hands as a result of their comfortable and silent complicity,” he said.

UCAN cited the 2014 Global Slavery Index, where the Philippines was among countries “making com-paratively strong efforts with limited resources” in the campaign against human traffi cking.

Last week, Manila auxiliary bishop Broderick Pa-billo warned against human traffi cking, especially involving survivors of super Typhoon Yolanda (Hai-yan).

In this instance, Pabillo said traffi ckers offer housing and jobs to typhoon victims. “Some survi-vors resort to criminal deeds,” he said. (MNS)

PHL bishops push zero tolerance vs. human traffi cking

By Michael MathesWashington, United States | AFP | Monday

12/8/2014 - The CIA’s interrogation of Al-Qaeda sus-pects was far more brutal than acknowledged and did not produce useful intelligence, a damning and long-delayed US Senate report said Tuesday.

The Central Intelligence Agency also misled the White House and Congress with inaccurate claims about the program’s usefulness in thwarting at-tacks, the Senate Intelligence Committee said.

As the 500-page declassifi ed summary of the committee’s report was released, President Barack Obama admitted that the CIA’s actions had been counterproductive and “contrary to our values.”

Current CIA director John Brennan defended his agency’s adoption of tough tactics under the presi-dent George W. Bush in the aftermath of the Sep-tember 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on US cities.

He insisted that, while mistakes were made, bru-tal techniques like waterboarding “did produce in-telligence that helped thwart attack plans, capture terrorists and save lives.”

US embassies were on alert as committee chair Senator Dianne Feinstein pushed ahead with publi-cation, despite Secretary of State John Kerry warn-ing that it could provoke anger around the world.

The summary is the most extensive detailing of the CIA’s brutal interrogation of Al-Qaeda suspects yet, although Obama admitted in August that: “We tortured some folks.”

Feinstein told the Senate that at least 119 indi-viduals were subjected to “coercive interrogation techniques, in some cases amounting to torture.”

The detainees were rounded up by US operatives beginning in 2001 after Al-Qaeda destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and damaged the Pentagon and through to 2009.

They were interrogated either at CIA-run secret prisons in allied nations or at the US detention cen-ter at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Feinstein said some around the world “will try to use it to justify evil actions or incite more violence.”

“We can’t prevent that. But history will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by law, and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say ‘never again’.”

While heavily redacted, the report is damning.“The interrogations of CIA detainees were brutal

and far worse than the CIA represented to policy-

makers and others,” it said.The report—a review of more than six million

pages of documents—concluded “the use of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques was not an ef-fective means of obtaining accurate information or gaining detainee cooperation.”

Seven of the 39 detainees known to have been subjected to the enhanced interrogations “produced no intelligence while in CIA custody,” while oth-ers “provided signifi cant accurate intelligence prior to, or without having been subjected to these tech-niques.”

The report noted that in many cases “there was no relationship” between cited counterterrorism successes and information obtained during the en-hanced interrogation.

“In the remaining cases, the CIA inaccurately claimed that specifi c, otherwise unavailable informa-tion was acquired from a CIA detainee ‘as a result’ of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques.”

Since coming to offi ce in 2009, Obama has sought to distance the United States from past deeds and outlawed harsh interrogation.

Declassifi edIn April, Feinstein’s committee voted overwhelm-

ingly to release the severely critical executive sum-mary and 20 conclusions of the secret document.

But fi rst the lawmakers had to negotiate with the White House on redactions – something Feinstein pledged to do.

The undertaking caused deep friction between the intelligence community and the lawmakers and Senate staffers.

“We’ve declassifi ed as much of that report as we can,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday.

“The president believes that on principle it’s im-portant to release that report so that people around the world and people here at home understand ex-actly what transpired.”

The State Department has put its missions around the world on watch, and asked them to review secu-rity arrangements ahead of the report’s release.

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill supports the report’s release, calling it “a gut check moment for our democracy.”

Former Bush vice president Dick Cheney staunch-ly defended the interrogation program, telling The New York Times it was “absolutely, totally justifi ed.”

CIA torture brutal and ineffective: US Senate report

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 Visit www.usasianpost.com 5

Los Angeles, CA - The Philip-pine American Bar Association (PABA) congratulates Assis-tant United States Attorney Rob Villeza on his appointment to the Los Angeles Superior Court. On November 12, 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed Judge Villeza to a judgeship in the largest unifi ed trial court in the United States.

Judge Villeza was the recipient of PABA’s Trailblazer of the Year Award in 2013. “Judge Villeza’s appointment is deeply signifi -cant to us,” said Hildy Aguinaldo, PABA President. “As a skillful and experienced lawyer commit-ted to public service and justice, he represents the very best of our community. We are extremely pleased that Governor Brown ap-pointed a well-qualifi ed and ethi-cal attorney to serve as a judicial offi cer in Los Angeles County, one of the most challenging, dynamic, and diverse communities in the nation, as well as the home of more than half a million Filipino Americans.”

Judge Villeza has served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of Califor-nia for more than twenty years. A veteran federal prosecutor, he is currently the Deputy Chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforce-ment Task Force Section, where he prosecutes and investigates drug traffi cking and money laun-dering cases. As Deputy Chief, he also supervises and mentors numerous prosecutors, law stu-dents, and interns.

The trajectory of Judge Villeza’s path to the Superior Court bench exemplifi es the American Dream. His humble beginnings are both distinctly Filipino American and Californian. Raised by Filipino American parents in Echo Park, he was the fi rst in his family to complete graduate school and to become a lawyer. Judge Villeza is a proud graduate of Southern Cal-ifornia public schools: John Mar-shall High, Pasadena City Col-lege, CSU Los Angeles, and UCLA Law School. Before he became a prosecutor in 1991, he practiced

civil litigation for several years in both California and Hawaii at the law fi rms Graham & James LLP (now Squire Patton Boggs LLP) and Cades Schutte LLP.

The Asian Pacifi c American Bar Association of Los Angeles (APABA) also applauds Judge Villeza’s appointment, which the organization strongly supported. “Through APABA’s vetting pro-cess, we came to know Rob as a highly respected, intelligent, hard-working fi gure in the legal community, with the calm de-meanor required for the bench,” stated Christina Yang, Co-Chair of APABA’s Public Appointments and Judicial Endorsements Com-mittee.

PABA commends Governor Brown for appointing Judge Ville-za to the Los Angeles Superior Court.

PABA serves the community of Filipino American lawyers and law students in Southern Califor-nia. For more information about PABA, please visit www.pabala.org.

Fil-Am Rob Villeza appointed judge to Los Angeles Superior Court

Villeza

Consumers can enroll at local events and storefronts

It is clear that at the top of the holi-day wish list this year for many Cali-fornians is having quality and afford-able health coverage.

Covered California, the state agency charged with administering the Afford-able Care Act in California, announced that nearly 70,000 consumers submit-ted applications for health coverage, including Medi-Cal, during the fi rst four days of the 2015 open-enrollment period that began Nov. 15.

That’s on top of the 1.2 million who are already enrolled in Covered Cali-fornia health insurance plans and are now in the process of renewing their coverage.

“We had a strong start when we opened Saturday, Nov. 15, and we are continuing to see tremen-dous interest from people seeking security for themselves and their families in both Covered Califor-nia plans and Medi-Cal coverage,” Covered California Executive Director Peter V. Lee said.

As of Nov. 18, nearly 36,000 new consumers had been determined eli-gible for coverage through Covered California, and more than 11,000 of them picked a plan. By comparison, at the beginning of the historic fi rst open enrollment in October 2013, it took 15

days to reach about the same number of people selecting a health plan.

“There still is a lot of work to do, though, and we are committed to making sure every Californian gets the health care coverage they want and deserve,” Lee said.

In Los Angeles County, about 844,000 people remain uninsured and are eligible for Covered California or for Medi-Cal. Covered California’s open enrollment runs from Nov. 15 through Feb. 15. Consumers must en-roll by Dec. 15 to have coverage begin-ning Jan. 1.

Enrollment can be done online at www.CoveredCA.com, in person or by phone with the help of a Service Center representative. Lee said most people choose to enroll in person so that their questions can be answered right away, and the assistance is free and confi dential.

“We know this open-enrollment period will be more challenging in some ways,” said Lee. “Consum-ers will only have three months to enroll, compared with the six months that they had last time. This is complicated by our knowl-edge that many who are unin-sured have adapted to a culture of coping and have become accus-tomed to living without health in-surance.”

Covered California and a bus full

of supporters recently spent nine days traveling across California, making several stops in the Los Angeles area and many other cities to spread the word. Adding another personal touch, Covered California is sponsoring its second annual holiday “Give the Gift of Health” campaign, which encour-ages friends and family members to spread the word about affordable, qual-ity health coverage.

“If you or someone you know doesn’t have health insurance right now, this is the opportunity to get the security and peace of mind that comes with coverage,” Lee said.

“You will need to enroll by Dec. 15 in order for your health insurance coverage to start on Jan. 1, so the time to get covered is now.”

Below please see Covered Califor-nia enrollment events happening in the Los Angeles area soon. In addition, storefront locations are listed below, which will provide regular enrollment assistance for consumers on weekends and after normal business hours at vari-ous locations.

A full calendar of local enrollment events and statewide storefront loca-tions, as well as other information about in-person assistance, can be viewed on Covered California’s website at www.CoveredCA.com/get-help/local/.

By Veronica SMITHWashington, United States | AFP | Wednesday 12/3/2014 – The

US economy continued growing in October and November amid widespread optimism that the world’s biggest engine would stay on track, according to a Federal Reserve report released Wednesday.

The Fed’s Beige Book, a collection of anecdotal information on current economic conditions, said that “a number” of the central bank’s 12 districts reported contacts “remained optimistic about the outlook for future economic activity.”

For the fi rst time in more than a year, the Fed dropped its “mod-est” and moderate” descriptions of overall growth, saying simply that reports suggest “that national economic activity continued to expand” in the last two months.

The details of the report were encouraging, with contacts in 11 of the districts described as “optimistic” about their sector and the economy’s direction in general.

Notably absent from the upbeat category was the huge San Fran-cisco Fed district, which includes California and eight other western states, where the economy was said to be “improving moderately.”

The Beige Book report said that employment gains, the prima-ry object of the Fed’s easy-money policy, were “widespread” while overall price and wage infl ation remained “subdued.”

Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of US output, “continued to advance” in most districts, said the report. Some contacts said lower gasoline prices, the result of an oil market slump, had helped to boost spending.

Vehicle sales were particularly strong in the Atlanta, Chicago, Richmond and San Francisco districts, while cheaper gasoline spurred sales of sport utility vehicles and trucks in the Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia districts.

The latest Beige Book covers information collected on or before November 24. It will inform discussions at the Federal Open Mar-ket Committee’s last monetary policy meeting of the year, on De-cember 16 and 17.

New York, Etats-Unis | AFP | Monday 12/8/2014 - Microsoft ar-gued Monday in a court brief that an order requiring it to give US pros-ecutors data stored in Ireland could “put all of our private digital infor-mation at risk.”

The brief with the US Court of Appeals in New York comes with prosecutors seeking customer emails in a narcotics probe, with the data stored in Microsoft servers in Ire-land.

A lower court ruled that the US tech giant must hand over data sought in the probe, dismissing Mi-crosoft’s claims of “extraterritorial” authority.

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said the case could set a dan-gerous precedent, and invite other countries to take similar actions.

“The fi ling begins by imagining how the US government might react if the shoe were on the other foot,” Smith said in a blog post.

“For example, how would the Unites States react if a foreign gov-ernment attempted to sidestep inter-national law by demanding that a foreign company with offi ces in the United States produce the personal communications of an American journalist?” Smith said that if the US prevails, “how can it complain if for-eign agents require tech companies to download emails stored in the US? This is a question the Depart-ment of Justice hasn’t yet addressed, much less answered.”

In the court brief, Microsoft said, “The power to embark on unilateral law enforcement incursions into a foreign sovereign country – directly

or indirectly – has profound foreign policy consequences. Worse still, it threatens the privacy of US citizens.”

A ruling requiring Microsoft to turn over the data “would put all of our private digital information at risk, not just emails, but everything else we store on remote computers collectively called ‘the cloud’ – a veritable ‘cache of sensitive personal information’ saturated with the high-est constitutional privacy rights.”

Microsoft had argued that the court order was invalid. But pros-ecutors contended that it must com-ply with the order and US Magistrate Judge James Francis ruled in April that “it has long been the law that a subpoena requires the recipient to produce information in its posses-sion... regardless of the location of that information.”

By Josh EdelsonSan José, Etats-Unis | AFP |

Thursday 12/4/2014 – Authori-ties began dismantling a noto-rious homeless camp Thursday known as “The Jungle” in the heart of California’s affl uent Sil-icon Valley, where skyrocketing rents have forced hundreds onto the streets. Municipal workers in white overalls and face masks moved into the camp along a creek in San Jose where some 300 people live in tents and other makeshift lodging.

“It is a disgrace,” said hous-ing advocate Sandy Perry, add-ing: “It’s an example of the total failure of our city’s housing pol-icy as well as our state and our nation.”

“It’s like a big family,” Yolan-

da Gutierrez, a former resident, told AFP. “We all looked out for each other, especially the females that are single. We all had our own little group that we would check up on each other.

“But unfortunately what they just did to us today it’s like they split the family apart.”

The encampment, only a few minutes away from San Jose’s downtown district, is home to people forced out of an overheat-ing rental market as lucrative tech companies moved in recent years.

“We have been rehousing for the last 18 months,” San Jose city spokesman David Vossbrink told AFP, saying they had found places for some 140 people in shelters, with some in hotels and

motels.About 60 others had received

offers of rent subsidies but have not yet found somewhere to live, he added.

‘Run-away people’ The operation to close down

the camp will last two or three weeks and will include putting up a reinforced fence to prevent anyone coming back and settling in again. But the spokesman ad-mitted that those forced to leave the “Jungle” could not all expect to be housed by the city, which has budgeted nearly $10 million over three years for the home-less. San Jose is partly count-ing on a refuge set to open for the winter to house 200 of Santa Clara County’s estimated 5,000-7,000 homeless, he said.

Fed report shows optimism about US economic outlook

Covered California’s open-enrollment period gets off to a strong start as Holidays Approach

Microsoft says private data ‘at risk’ in court case

Silicon Valley clears out homeless ‘Jungle’ camp

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 THE US ASIAN POST6

“By initiating compulsory arbitration at this moment, the Philippines is running counter to the common wish and joint ef-forts of China and ASEAN member states,” the government said in a lengthy position paper.

“Its underlying goal is not... to seek peaceful settlement of the South China Sea issue, but rather, by resorting to arbitra-tion, to put political pressure on China,” said the paper published by the offi cial Xi-nhua news agency.

Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea – which is home to crucial ship-ping lanes, vast fi shing areas and poten-tially valuable mineral resources – includ-

HAGUPITFrom page 1

CYCLONEFrom page 1

ARBITRATIONFrom page 1

KIDNAPPERSFrom page 1

that have killed thousands, there was widespread relief that Hagupit had not claimed more lives.

The storm crossed over many farming and fi shing communities yet to recover from Super Typhoon Haiyan, the stron-gest storm ever recorded on land, which killed more than 7,350 people in November last year. One important factor in fewer lives being lost this time was that Hagu-pit steadily weakened as it travelled west across the central Philippines.

By the time it brushed Manila, the capi-tal of 12 million people, on Monday night, it had been downgraded to a tropical storm and led to only a fraction of previously fore-

Every year, some 20 super storms or ty-phoons hit the Philippines, of the 80 or so that develop above tropical waters annu-ally.

Cyclones are formed from simple thun-derstorms at certain times of the year when the sea temperature is more than 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit) down to a depth of 60 meters (200 feet).

Sucking up vast quantities of water, they often produce torrential rains and fl ooding resulting in major loss of life and property damage.

They also trigger large swells that move

FORMER MAIDFrom page 1

up with him as he was running away and there was a scuffl e over his machete,” spokeswoman Captain Rowena Muyuela said.

“Vinciguerra was slashed on the cheek but he stabbed the other man in the head... then the bandits shot at him but he got away.”

A Dutch man who was abducted with Vinciguerra, Ewold Horn, was unable to

domestic workers abroad from 2017.Pictures of Sulistyaningsih, who was ad-

mitted to a hospital in Indonesia in Janu-ary emaciated and in a critical condition, sparked widespread anger in her home country and even drew comment from the president.

But on Monday the 23-year-old re-mained calm as she described in graphic detail her alleged abuse, including one incident where she was stripped naked, sprayed with water and made to stand in front of a fan in the middle of winter.

run away because he was too frail and is believed to still be a captive, Muyuela said.

Local military commander Colonel Alan Arrojado said his troops, acting on a tip, had been able to track the gunmen on Jolo island, a known stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) south of Manila.

“It was in the jungle, in the darkness. I sent a message to the Scout Rangers that they should not shoot randomly. Sure enough, we encountered them,” Arrojado told AFP.

cast torrential rain.When it exited into the South China Sea

on Tuesday morning, Hagupit was offi -cially a tropical depression with sustained winds of just 60 kilometres an hour. Presi-dent Benigno Aquino spearheaded what the United Nations said was one of the big-gest peacetime evacuation efforts ever.

Nearly 1.7 million people sheltered in evacuation centres as Hagupit passed their areas, according to government fi gures, and aid agencies hailed the strategy as a template for coping with future disasters.

“One of the lessons (from Haiyan) was to evacuate before the storm hits, evacu-ate if you live near the sea, evacuate if you live near trees whose branches might fall on you. That lesson was learnt,” Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon said.

faster than the cyclone and are sometimes spotted up to 1,000 kilometres ahead of the powerful storm. The sea level can rise sev-eral meters.

These powerful weather formations can measure between 500 and 1,000 kilome-ters in diameter and have a relatively calm “eye” at the centre.

They weaken rapidly when they travel over land or colder ocean waters.

Cyclones are closely monitored by satel-lites, and specialized centers around the world – in Miami, Tokyo, Honolulu and New Delhi – track the super storms’ trajec-tories under the coordination of the World Meteorological Organisation.

ing areas close to the coastlines of other nations.

LOS ANGELES

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 Visit www.usasianpost.com 7

Fewer email checks keep stress in check: study

(Relaxnews) – If you’re feeling stressed, put down the mouse and don’t click “Inbox.” It’s the lesson to be learned from a new study that says easing up on email sur-veillance can reduce physiological stress.

A group of 124 adults, includ-ing students, fi nancial analysts and medical professionals, par-ticipated in the two-week study in which they answered daily ques-tionnaires about their stress lev-els.

One group was instructed to limit email checking to three times per day for a week and an-

other was given the green light to check email as often as they could during that week.

One week later, the groups switched.

“Our fi ndings showed that people felt less stressed when they checked their email less of-ten,” says Kostadin Kushlev, the study’s lead author and a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Psychology.

Another fi nding uncovered by the study is that stepping back from email isn’t easy, for Kush-lev reports that most participants encountered diffi culties with the intervention.

“This is what makes our obvi-ous-in-hindsight fi ndings so strik-ing,” says Kushlev. “People fi nd it diffi cult to resist the temptation of checking email, and yet resist-ing this temptation reduces their stress.”

Kushlev says his personal struggles with email inspired his study.

“I now check my email in chunks several times a day, rath-er than constantly responding to messages as they come in,” he says. “And I feel better and less stressed.”

The study was published in the journal Computers in Human Be-havior.

Easing up on email could reduce stress, according to a new study. ©michaeljung/shutterstock.com

Fewer email checks keep stress in check: new study

(AFP/Relaxnews) - We picked three hot seasonal trends for our selection of holiday beauty tuto-rials. We hope they’ll inspire you this Yuletide.

Silver and green - youtu.be/-NM4OuW90Q0

This look from Amanda Ens-ing mixes a glossy pink lip with smoky silver and green eyes. We think it’ll go perfectly with a me-tallic or monochrome outfi t this Christmas, but perhaps it’s best to avoid reds for risk of looking a bit too much like one of Santa’s elves...

Red lips & brown eyes - youtu.be/nWmlZfKaomg

Australian beauty blogger

Katerina Williams created this very classic makeup look that features a stunning hot red lip (as dark and festive as mullled wine) and soft brown eyes. Try pairing it with a classic black cocktail dress and wear your hair up or down as you please.

Copper eyes & nude lips - you-tu.be/0rMkivN7Kls

‘Nude’ makeup has been a huge beauty trend for 2014. That’s why we were happy to see that blogger Lily Melrose had put together a cool girl way to pair nude lips with a slightly more seasonal copper eye. We think it’s the perfect fashion for-ward choice.

Screenshot: Katerina Beauty Blog - “Red Lips & Brown Eyes Makeup Tutorial.” ©You-Tube - Easy Holiday Glam | Red Lips & Brown Eyes Makeup Tutorial

Beauty tutorials: Holiday-season make-up

LOS ANGELES

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 THE US ASIAN POST8

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PRAYER TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

Holy Spirit Thou who make me see everything and show me the way to reach

my ideal, You who give me the divine gift to forgive and forget the wrong that

is done to me and who are in all instances of my life with me. I, in this short

dialogue, want to thank You for everything and con rm once more that I never

want to be separated from You no matter how great the material desires may

be. I want to be with You and my loved ones in Your perpetual glory. Amen. A

person must pray this for three consecutive days without stating his wish. After

the 3rd day the wish will be granted, no matter how dif cult it may be. Promise

to publish this as soon as your favor has been granted. Grateful Thanks -LUDIA

PRAYERS

Mag Tayo!www.usasianpost.com

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Life and Leisure News for Filipino-Americanswww.usasianpost.com

PRAYER to the BLESSED VIRGIN(Never known to fail)

Oh most beautiful ower of Mt. Carmel, fruit wine splendor of Heaven.Blessed

Mother of the Son of God, Immaculate Virgin, assist me in my necessity. Oh

Star of the Sea. Help me and show me here you are my Mother. Oh Holy Mary,

Mother of God, Queen of Heaven and Earth, I humbly beseech you from the

bottom of my heart to succour me in my necessity. (make request). There are

none that can withstand your power. Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for

us who have recourse to Thee (3 times). Holy Mary, I place this prayer in your

hands (3 times). Say this prayer for three consecutive days and then you must

publish and it will be granted to you.Grateful Thanks.-P.R

PRAYERS

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 Visit www.usasianpost.com 9

MOTORING

(BRUSSELS-AFP) – More than half of Europeans use their cars to travel daily in cities across the 28-member EU while less than one-fi fth of them use public trans-port, a study revealed Monday.

An average of 54 percent of people surveyed chose their cars on a typical day, compared to 19 percent who use buses, trams or subway trains, according to a sur-vey conducted for the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm.

The study was published on a day when a strike against the

austerity policies of the new Bel-gian government paralysed public transport in Brussels, the head-quarters of the European Union.

The automobile is the preferred mode of urban transport in each of the 28 member states, even in the Netherlands, where 36 per-cent use their bicycles and 45 per-cent drive their cars, it said.

Car and bicycle users across the EU cited both convenience and speed as the main reasons for their choice of transport.

Respondents who used a car, motorcycle or moped said they

would be encouraged to use public transport more often if it offered frequent service, better coverage and cheaper or seasonal ticket op-tions.

Those who used public trans-port cited convenience, price and available facilities for their choice.

Across the EU on a typical day, an additional 14 percent walked, eight percent used bicycles, two percent travelled by motorbike or moped and two percent by train.

Some 27,800 people in the 28 member states were interviewed from 11-20 October for the survey.

The automobile is the preferred mode of urban transport in each of the 28 EU member states. ©Kichigin/Shutterstock.com

Private cars trump public transport in EU: study

From 2018 all new cars sold in Eu-rope will have to be able to automati-cally call emergency services in case of an accident.

The European Commission’s ‘eCall’ initiative was fi rst proposed in 2012 as a way of improving re-sponse times to car accidents, especially in rural areas. In the event of a serious incident where occupants are unable to move or speak, the car’s on-board system would automatically alert police or ambulance crews with informa-tion regarding the car’s make, its fuel type, the time of the accident, and the vehicle’s current location.

EU studies concluded that manda-tory implementation of the technology would cut response times by 50 percent in the countryside and by as much as 40 percent in built-up, urban areas, sav-ing hundreds of lives and reducing the severity of thousands of injuries in the process.

Despite its life-saving potential, the initiative had stalled with disagree-ments and concerns about implemen-tation, the infrastructure required to support the service, and more recently privacy issues.

However, on Thursday a fi nal agree-

ment between the European Parliament and the European Union’s member states was reached. And, subject to a fi nal vote in March 2015, the eCall fea-ture will become mandatory on all new cars sold within the EU from March 31, 2018.

Of the announcement, Antonio Avenosos, the Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Coun-cil, said: “Getting emergency services to the scene of a crash quickly is crucial to preventing deaths. So this technolo-gy will save lives. However, it’s regret-table that it will be several years be-fore we see all new cars fi tted with the system and that other vehicles aren’t covered by the legislation yet. These are missed opportunities to extend the safety benefi ts further, with little or no justifi cation.”

Although the new feature will not become compulsory for a further three and a half years, most major motor manufacturers have already started of-fering the eCall feature on their latest cars. For example, Ford has been offer-ing a version of the service, called Sync Emergency Assistance, on its European models since 2012.

In September this year at the 10th

annual International Motorcycle Con-ference in Köln, Germany, the con-tinent’s leading motorcycle manu-facturers also vol-untarily committed to examining the feasibility of inte-grating the eCall system into their future models. If the studies prove successful, the fi rst eCall-enabled bikes could be on sale by the end of the decade.

New cars to get emergency call system as standard by 2018

eCall will cut response times to accidents and could save hundreds of lives across Europe. ©Rihardzz/shutterstock.com

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 THE US ASIAN POST10

Sarah Geronimo shares the frustration of her fellow “The Voice of the Philippines” coach Lea Salonga over circu-lating spoilers of the up-coming leg of the compe-tition.

The 26-year-old pop star said that, like Sa-longa, she is dismayed with the deliberate leak of the results of the Bat-tle Rounds, which was taped weeks in advance and will only start airing on Saturday.

In this part of the com-petition, artists from the same team sing-off to im-press their coach in a bid to advance to the Knock-out Rounds, and then to the Live Shows.

Each of the teams led by Salonga, Geronimo, Bamboo and apl.de.ap will fi eld artists this weekend.

Geronimo said: “Hindi ko nga alam kung ano’ng magig-ing solusyon diyan, eh... Na-kakalungkot naman na may spoilers na gano’n, pero sana ma-contain ng management.”

On its offi cial pages, “The Voice of the Philippines” ear-lier warned its followers against posting spoilers, saying anyone who leaks results of the compe-tition “will be blocked/banned from our Twitter account and Facebook page.”

Based on Salonga’s tweets early this week, an audience member during the taping of the Battle Rounds was responsible for the leaks.

“Siyempre po, nakaka disap-point,” Geronimo said, “kasi as much as possible, we would like the confi dentiality atsaka ‘yung thrill ba, ‘yung excitement kung

sino ‘yung mananalo na artist, kung sino ‘yung mapapabilang sa fi nal six namin.”

“At siyempre, ‘yung journey mismo ng artist, gusto namin makita mismo sa television, hin-di sa... Iyon lang talaga ang dis-advantages ng technology ngay-on. Marami na talagang piracy, spoilers.”

Asked for her reaction to Sa-longa’s outburst on Twitter, Geronimo backed her fellow coach, noting that taping for the canned episodes of “The Voice of the Philippines” took long nights and hard work.

“Si Ms. Lea kasi is very out-spoken. Talagang sasabihin niya talaga kung ano ‘yung sasabihin niyang tama, and she has all the right naman, ‘di ba. Coach siya atsaka pinagpaguran namin ‘yan lahat, ng mga artists, ‘di ba,” she said. (MNS)

Actress-singer Vina Morales on Friday recalled her “passionate” kissing scene with action star Rob-in Padilla for the epic fi lm “Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo.”

Morales said the kiss was part of a wedding scene in the movie.

“We do have a very passionate kissing scene in the movie. Kasi kailangan because it’s our wedding,” she said.

“Actually, honestly ilang take tayo noon, take 18. Pero hindi naman the whole time na puro kissing scenes ‘yung take 18 na ‘yun. Kasi nagkakamali ‘yung priest namin, palagi siyang nagba-buckle so kapag magkalapit na ‘yung mukha namin, ayan na naman, cut kasi nagkakamali si, ‘yung pari. Nata-tawa [din ako], so that’s one of the reasons kaya um-abot kami ng take 18.”

Morales admitted that she also felt nervous kiss-ing Padilla, who was her fi rst love, for the scene.

“I was really nervous kasi ang tagal na. Para bang, ‘Oh my God, is this really happening?’ At saka napakaganda ng eksena namin, it was in the church,” she said.

“Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo” is Morales’ on-screen reunion with Padilla.

The movie, directed by Enzo Williams, is an offi -cial entry to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival. (MNS)

The suit, the shoes, even the stag parties have been taken care of.

Groom-to-be Dingdong Dantes is all set to ex-change “I do’s” with fi ancée Marian Rivera at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Cubao on De-cember 30.

During the night of fun and games, a sort of stag party with the press thrown for him by GMA, the network’s acknowledged primetime king revealed he does not feel any pre-wedding jitters at all.

“No jitters, more of excitement,” he said, “’Pag malapit na, I’m sure kakabahan na, [pero] sa ngayon I’m happy to have a very effi cient team behind me. [They] make things easy for us. Pero siyempre obli-gasyon naming mag provide ng tamang detalye. May konting delays, pero ‘yun ang masaya, ‘yung pagha-habol.”

The past couple of weeks, the engaged couple have been juggling their showbiz duties and prepar-ing for their upcoming nuptials. Dingdong is fi nish-ing “Kubot: The Aswang Chronicles 2,” while Mar-ian is shooting “My Big Bossing,” both entries in the coming Metro Manila Film Festival that opens fi ve days before their wedding date. They have not ne-glected tradition though, and have personally gone

to each of their intended wedding sponsors.“We feel humbled at masaya kami na tinanggap

nila ang aming imbitasyon kasi sinigurado namin na personal naming pupuntahan isa isa ang gusto naming gagabay sa aming married life,” he said.

“Like what I said, everything about this wedding is very personal. Pati pag imbita at pati pag-oo [ng mga ninong at ninang], gusto naming personal na-min ma witness.”

The wedding entourage is almost complete. Best an is Dingdong’s younger brother Angelo, and among the bridesmaids are host Luane Dy and actress Ai Ai de las Alas, while maids of honor are Roxee Barcelo and Ina Feleo.

The traje de boda will be a Michael Cinco cre-ation, while the groom’s suit will be by his good friend, Randy Ortiz.

The shoes were already selected even before the engagement. Marian’s will be by famed designer Christian Louboutin, bought two years ago in Ma-cau. For Dingdong, he’ll wear a pair given to him by a ninong a year ago.

There have been several bridal showers, begin-ning with the Disneyland trip where Marian had not only her friends with her, but also mother and lola.

Dingdong-Marian altar date all set

Vina recalls ‘passionate’ kissing scene with Robin

Vina Morales

Sarah G on Lea’s outburst: ‘She has all the right’

Sarah Geronimo

LOS ANGELES

THE US ASIAN POST Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 Visit www.usasianpost.com 11

Preheat oven to 350°F. In food processor, combine oregano, garlic, lemon

zest, cumin and 2 tablespoons oil. Process until chopped. Place mixture in large bowl and toss with chicken thighs.

In 10-inch cast iron pan, layer 1 tablespoon oil and top with potatoes and sprinkle with 2 teaspoons salt. Place chicken thighs on top and sprinkle again with 2 teaspoons salt. Scatter lemon wedges in between chicken thighs.

Place pan over medium heat, cook for 5 minutes or until edges start to brown. Immediately place pan on top rack in oven and bake for 10 minutes. Adjust oven temperature to 400°F and cook for another 25 minutes or until chicken is browned and internal temperature reaches 160°F. Scatter olives on top and serve.

Servings: 4 8 sprigs oregano, leaves picked (1/2 cup packed) 5 cloves garlic 2 lemons, one zested and one cut into eight wedges 2 teaspoons cumin 3 tablespoons olive oil 8 chicken thighs (1 1/2 pounds), bone in, skin on 2 large Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch circles 4 teaspoons kosher salt 1 cup Castelvetrano olives, pitted and drained

Pinot Noir MarshmallowsRecipe created by Molly Yeh on mynameisyeh.com Servings: 16 1/4 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup cornstarch 1/4 cup Kendall Jackson Grand Reserve Pinot Noir 1/2 cup water 2 packets unfl avored gelatin powder 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup light corn syrup 1 pinch saltIn small bowl, combine powdered sugar and cornstarch. Grease two loaf pans or one 8- or 9-inch square pan and dust bottom and sides with half of powdered sugar mixture. Pour out any excess mixture back into bowl.

In bowl of stand mixer fi tted with whisk attachment, combine pinot noir and 1/4 cup water. Sprinkle gelatin over liquid. Grease rubber spatula and have standing by mixer, as well as prepared pan(s).

In small saucepan, combine remaining 1/4 cup of water, sugar, corn syrup and salt. Clip on candy thermometer. Heat mixture over medium heat until it reaches 240°F.

Resist urge to crank heat level higher, otherwise it could heat up too fast. (If takes a while to heat up to those last few degrees, you can inch heat level up to medium high, keeping a close eye on thermometer.)

Turn mixer on low and drizzle sugar mixture in slow and steady stream down side of bowl. Once entire mixture is in, increase speed to high and let it mix for 10–12 minutes, until lukewarm and fl uff y.

Using greased spatula, immediately scrape mixture into pans and spread out evenly as possible. Dust tops with remaining powdered sugar mixture and (if needed) use hands to fl atten mixture out completely. Let set for hour, cut into squares and dust edges of squares with remaining powdered sugar mixture.

Chili with Pepato CheeseRecipe created by Dirk Yeaton on murphygoodewinery.comServings: 10–12 6 dried chili pods, seeds and stems removed Salt and pepper, to taste 1 1/2 pounds top round cut into cubes 1 1/2 pounds chuck steak cut into cubes 1 cup vegetable oil 1 medium onion, chopped 3 small cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 ounces chili powder 1 tablespoon paprika 3 tablespoons cumin 2 tablespoons oregano steeped in 1 cup of red wine 1 tablespoon cider vinegar 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder 2 cups beef broth 10 ounces stewed tomatoes 1/2 cup grated Pepato cheeseToast dried chilies over medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain out chilies to cool, then chop and reserve.

Season meat liberally with salt. Heat oil over high heat in large, heavy bottom pot until it begins to smoke. Carefully place beef into pan and brown on all sides until moisture cooks out and light brown fi lm forms on bottom of pan. Reduce heat to medium. Drain meat of oil and fat.

Add onions and garlic, cooking until soft . Add chili powder, paprika and cumin. Cook until fragrant. Add reserved chopped chilies and rest of ingredients (except for cheese) and stir well with wooden spoon, scraping browned bits off bottom of pot.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, occasionally stirring. To serve, place in bowl and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Photo courtesy of Getty Images

FAMILY FEATURES

Winter is a great time to experiment with new culinary creations that incorporate the bold fl avors of wine for delicious results. Nothing

pleases the senses quite like a comfort food dish on a chilly evening. If you’re planning a menu for just you and your mate, a small group of close friends or a full-blown dinner party, stock up on great wine selections to complete the menu.Smoky Chili and Murphy-Goode Homefront RedJust as a robust chili calls for a blend of signature ingredients, so does the perfect wine to comple-ment it. Th e smoky fl avors of seasoned steak cubes and dried chili pods will please the palate when united with Murphy-Goode Homefront Red — a blend of syrah, merlot, petite sirah and zinfandel. Th is wine is comfort food friendly and fruit forward, chock full of fl avors of black cherry and raspberry, vanilla and toast. Plus, for every bottle sold, the winery donates fi ft y cents to Operation Homefront, a national nonprofi t that provides assistance to service members and their families. Classic Roast Chicken and La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay Fresh oregano, fragrant garlic and buttery Castelvetrano olives star in this traditional chicken dish which pairs wonderfully with vibrant La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. Just as in the Burgundy region of France, these vineyards off er an unusually long, cool growing season, so grapes develop complex fl avors. Th e Sonoma Coast Chardonnay is beautifully aromatic, with an intriguing interplay of lively citrus and subtle toasted oak, laced with just a kiss of butterscotch.Toasted S’mores and Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve Pinot NoirTake the traditional fi reside treat to a new, gooey level with homemade, wine-infused marsh-mallows served with a glass of Kendall-Jackson Grand Reserve Pinot Noir. Handcraft ed from the top seven percent of all the winery’s lots, with 70 percent sourced from the same vineyard blocks year-to-year, it ensures greater consistency and enhanced complexity with each vintage. Please your sweet tooth and palate with this pinot noir, with lively berry pie notes defi ned in wild strawberry and black cherry, with hints of vanilla and earthy aromas.

Perfect Winter Pairings Matanzas Creek Merlot and

Beef BourguignonBring out the rich and savory fl avors of this classic French stew with the notes of dried blueberries and cranberries, bittersweet chocolate and black cardamom in Matanzas Creek Merlot.

Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Cabernet and Pot RoastServe up this braised beef favorite alongside Freemark Abbey Napa Valley Cabernet, with its aromas of dark cherry, ripe plum and black currant.

Edmeades Zinfandel and Meatloaf Each meaty bite tastes even more comforting than the last when paired with the lush texture and notes of toasted oak, vanilla and cherry cola in Edmeades Zinfandel.

Chicken Th ighs with Potato, Lemon & Castelvetrano OlivesRecipe created by Tracey Shepos on lacrema.com

Visit www.usasianpost.com Wednesday - Tuesday, December 10 - 16, 2014 THE US ASIAN POST12

MANILA, Dec 8 (Mabuhay) – Interna-tional humanitarian aid is pouring in for communities affected by Typhoon Ruby as the Philippine government determines the scale of damage from the storm, which is now headed towards Central Luzon.

Several casualties have been reported in the Visayas, where Ruby fi rst made land-fall on Saturday, but Philippine authorities have yet to provide an offi cial tally of fatali-ties and injured.

The Australian government on Monday said it is providing 800 metric tons of rice to support families affected by the typhoon also known by its international name, Hagupit.

Australia said it will be delivered through its pre-positioned supplies with the United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP).

In addition, Australia has deployed offi -cials to the affected areas to make further assessments of the damage and to coordi-nate any further Australian consular and humanitarian assistance.

“Australia extends its sympathies and support to the people of Philippines affect-ed by Typhoon Hagupit,” Australian Am-bassador Bill Tweddel said.

Ruby came only 12 months after Typhoon Yolanda made a deadly sweep across Cen-tral Philippines, killing more than 7,000 people. Yolanda, also known as Haiyan, is the strongest recorded storm in history.

“Australia is a good friend of the Phil-ippines and stands ready to help as re-quired,” Tweddell said. “Australia is work-ing closely with the Philippine government and international partners to obtain more information on the impact of the typhoon as it makes its way across the archipelago.

The World Food Program, for its part, is providing transportation and food supplies to support the Philippine government’s hu-manitarian response.

“We are working fl at-out to support the Government in this response,” said Praveen Agrawal, WFP Philippines Coun-try Director. “Food, trucks or satphones – we will provide whatever is needed to help the people of the Philippines as this situa-tion unfolds.”

Supplies are being readied for deploy-ment to Eastern Visayas and Bicol regions to rapidly assist in the immediate after-math of the calamity, Agrawal said.

The aid agency, he said, has its own food stocks in the country if government sup-plies need to be supplemented. WFP, he said, currently has available more than 260 metric tons of high energy biscuits, al-most 4,000 MT of rice, and over 130 MT of

ready-to-use supplementary food.These food stocks could provide assis-

tance to about 1.8 million people for a two-week period, Agrawal said.

Stocks have been strategically stored in Manila, Cebu, and Cotabato, and staff have been deployed to set up a base in Tacloban. Logistics equipment has also been put in place ahead of time in the potential opera-tional areas.

The United States, on the other hand, said it is closely coordinating with Philip-pine offi cials and stands ready to provide assistance at their request and under their guidance.

Assessment teams from both the USAID’s Offi ce of Foreign Disaster Assis-tance and the US military are available to augment the US embassy in Manila’s ca-pabilities monitoring the storm’s impact and coordinating delivery of emergency assistance with government agencies and humanitarian organizations on the ground.

Canada also said it is prepared to sup-port relief efforts and provide humanitar-ian assistance as required.Its embassy in Manila said the Canadian government has relief supplies ready to be deployed, while the Canadian Armed Forces are pre-de-ploying assets toward the region to facili-tate an expeditious response if necessary.

An inter-departmental Canadian strate-gic support team, the embassy said, is also readying for rapid deployment to the Phil-ippines.

“The team’s mandate will be to under-take rapid assessment of the typhoon’s im-pact and make early recommendations on how Canada can support those in need and help the government of the Philippines to address the immediate impacts of the di-saster,” it said.

Canadian offi cials, the embassy said, are in touch with Philippine authorities as it monitors the impact of the typhoon.

The death toll from a giant storm cross-ing the Philippines rose to 27 on Tuesday, the Red Cross said, but there was wide-spread relief after it brushed the capital without causing major damage.

Most of the people killed were on the far eastern island of Samar, where Typhoon Ruby (Hagupit) initially made landfall as a typhoon on the weekend with winds of 210 kilometers (130 miles) an hour.

Ruby then weakened into a tropical storm while moving slowly west, passing close to the capital Manila on Monday night and Tuesday morning without dumping forecast heavy rain. Ruby has since weak-ened further into a tropical depression.

Destroyed houses and trees with a slogan calling for help are seen along a road in the village of Mantang in Taft, Eastern Samar on Monday. Millions of people were affected, with at least 21 people killed, as the ty-phoon barreled across central Philippines towards the capital Manila. (MNS photo)

Int’l aid pours in for communities affected by Typhoon Ruby

By Katell AbivenMatagalpa, Nicaragua | AFP | Friday

12/5/2014 – That morning cup of coffee gives many of us a needed boost, but Cen-tral American coffee farmers have found a new source of energy in their beans: turn-ing agricultural wastewater into biogas.

An often-overlooked byproduct of the world’s favorite stimulant, the water used to process raw coffee beans is usually dumped back into the environment un-treated.

In Central America, locals call it “honey water” because of its sweet taste and yel-lowish color.

Extremely polluting, it is high in meth-ane gas—a leading contributor to global warming produced, in this case, by the fer-mentation of the coffee tree’s berries.

Across Nicaragua, the 1.3 million sacks of coffee produced annually generate pollu-tion equivalent to about 20,000 cars.

Now a pilot project at 19 farms in Nica-ragua, Guatemala and Honduras is treat-ing that water, separating out the methane and using it to fuel electric generators.

“Look how high that fl ame is,” said Sar-ahi Pastran as she cooked bananas in her kitchen at the La Hermandad coffee coop-

erative in San Ramon de Matagalpa in Ni-caragua.

Her stove was connected to a pipe that ran across her lush yard and connected to a biogas generator fueled by coffee byprod-ucts that used to pollute local rivers.

The project was launched in 2010 by Dutch sustainable farming group UTZ Cer-tifi ed, seeking to use less water in coffee growing and use it more creatively.

“It used to cause a lot of pollution... and it smelled,” said Francisco Blandon of the wastewater that his family farm used to produce.

“A lot of families live by the river. They bathe there, wash their laundry. It gave them rashes and intestinal parasites when they drank it,” said Blandon, 39, as two of his four children ran around barefoot on the dirt fl oor of their house about an hour north of San Ramon.

‘Hit the jackpot’Blandon said he was skeptical when

a team of extension workers fi rst tried to sign him up for the project in 2010.

“But they were so insistent.... Less than a month later, it was up and running,” he said.

Central America’s new coff ee buzz: renewable energy