Police ordered not to reply to UN human rights investigators; Palace to invite reporter to swim in Pasig River if she persists

By Corina Oliquino | FilAm Star Correspondent

Vol. IX Issue 465 1028 Mission Street, 2/F, San Francisco, CA 94103 Tel. (415) 593-5955 or (650) 278-0692 March 8 - 14, 2018Dengue cases drop

PH NEWS | A4

STEALING FREENEWSPAPER IS STILL A CRIME !

AB 2612, PLESCIA CRIME

Feminists mark International Women’s Day by decrying Duterte’s sexist remarks

By Daniel LlantoFilAm Star Correspondent

SPORTS NEWS | A5

Google grant for San Joseschool STEM

COMMUNITY AWARENESS | B3

Dreamer future uncertain

LEGAL & LAW | B4

Jessica Soho first Pinoyfinalist NYF Best New Anchor

ENTERTAINMENT | B7

WEEKLY ISSUE 70 CITIES IN 11 STATES ONLINE

Pacquiao next fightin Malaysia?

President Duterte at the opening ceremony of the National SWAT Challenge at the Team Davao Inc. Pistol and Rifle Range in Davao(Photo from Presidential Communications/Government of the Philippines Official Facebook Page)

De Lima urges probe into alleged maid auctions in Saudi ArabiaBy Macon Araneta | FilAm Star Correspondent

Non-compliant 173 big businesses, informal settlers in 4 out of 9 wetlands, move Duterte to declare Boracay in a state of calamity

By Lara Climaco | FilAm Star Correspondent

(Photo from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority’s Official Facebook Page)

DAVAO CITY – President Du-terte ordered the country’s security forces, the police not to ‘respond’ to United Nations (UN) rapporteurs who would investigate human rights abuses under his administration’s drug war at the National SWAT Chal-lenge last March 1.

“Pagdating ng human rights o sino mang rapporteur diyan, ang or-der ko sa inyo, do not answer. Do not bother,” Duterte told Rappler.

“Why would we be answering? Bakit, sino sila? And who are you to interfere in the way I would run my country?” Duterte added.

In a report by Rappler, Duterte said rapporteurs or experts should consider that the Philippines is “be-ing swallowed by drugs” and said that he would want a different UN rapporteur to investigate allegations of human rights violation in his drug war, and not UN rapporteur Agnes Callamard.

In a statement, Foreign Sec. Alan Peter Cayetano said that the Philip-pines won’t accept Callamard because of her “bias and antagonistic stance towards the Philippine government.”’

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The Philippines has been named the best country to invest in by U..S News and has ranked the country 49th on its over-all Best Countries report.

In its 2018 Best Countries report, U.S. News said rankings are based on “how global perceptions define coun-tries in terms of a number of qualita-tive characteristics, impressions that have the potential to drive trade, travel and investment and directly affect national economies.”

The study covers perceptions of 80 countries and gauged them based

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Sen. Leila de Lima raised alarm over the alleged auction of Filipino household service workers (HSWs) to families that bid the most money for maids in Saudi Arabia.

De Lima, a known anti-human trafficking advocate, said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Depart-ment of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should investigate this illegal “maid auction” of overseas Filipino workers in the Kingdom.

She urged DFA and DOLE to verify the reported auction of

Senator Leila De Lima(Photo: www.johnib.wordpress.com)

PH among best countries to invest in – U.S. NewsBy Coina Oliquino | FilAm Star Correspondent

Filipino HSWs and test the effec-tivity of the 2013 bilateral labor agreement with Saudi Arabia, which reinforces the Standard Employment Contract providing enough protection for HSWs.

“We may need to review the agreement which we entered with Saudi Arabia five years ago to check whether Filipino HSWs are properly accorded their right and are not subjected to modern-day auctions, as if they are mere commodities.” said the Senator detained over drug charges.

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Gabriela party-list Rep. Emmie de Jesus(Photo: www.notey.com)

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DENR Secretary Gen. Roy Cimatu(Photo: www.thevolatilian.com)

President Rodrigo Duterte is going with the Department of Interior and Local Government’s (DILG) plan to declare a state of calamity in Boracay in order to hasten the rehabilitation of the top tourist destination and at the same time provide financial aid to displaced workers.

The President revealed his next move at the oath-taking ceremony for officials of the Philippine Anti-Corrup-tion Commission held last March 6 in Malacañang.

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FilAm StarA2 March 8 - 14, 2018

Indications abound that the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno will soon be approved in the House of Representatives and forwarded to the Senate for the formal impeachment trial.

But the Office of the Solici-tor General sought to pre-empt the process with a so-called quo warranto petition asking the Supreme Court itself to oust their chief.

Solicitor Gen. Jose Calida asked the Supreme Court to nullify the appointment of Chief Justice Sereno, who goes on leave effective March 5 to sup-posedly prepare for her defense at the Senate impeachment trial.

Sereno sensed that “this is it.”

In the 34-page petition for quo warranto, Calida sought the Supreme Court’s declaration voiding Sereno’s appointment on August 24, 2012 as chief jus-tice and have her ousted by the High Court from the judiciary’s top post.

Calida said the quo warran-to petition is the proper petition because Sereno is “unlawfully” holding her current position. The only reason cited for that

is Sereno’s previous filing of an incomplete Statement of Asset, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel II, as if assuaging the Solicitor General, said the Senate was ready and willing to conduct fair impeachment proceedings against Sereno. The Senate president made it clear that Calida’s filing of a quo warranto petition questioning Sereno’s qualifications was a legitimate move. But whether the case would succeed would depend on the Supreme Court.

On the part of the opposi-tion, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV claimed “it is becoming clear that they do not want the im-peachment to go to actual trial because the evidence against Sereno is weak.” Trillanes said Calida’s move shows that those who want Sereno ousted are resorting to short-cuts instead of following the impeachment process.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said extra care must be exercised by the Supreme Court in treating the petition because it could set a precedent wherein impeachable officials, even justices, could

be subjected to a quo warranto petition.

“The moment the Supreme Court entertains and rules on this – that it has the power to, in effect, dismiss the chief justice – that same rule applies to them,” Drilon noted. He said such ruling would apply to heads of such constitutional bodies as the Commission on Audit, Commission on Elec-tions, the vice president and even the president.

“This is a slippery slope that can set a precedent. Extra care must be exercised by the Supreme Court. But as I’ve said, the ball is in their court and it is up to them to decide,” the minority leader said.

Pimentel somewhat shared this view and said a quo war-ranto action would also weaken the Senate because it would provide another way to remove impeachable officials.

Sen. Francis Escud-ero viewed Calida’s move as a “novel theory” that should not be disregarded right away. Although the theory is on shaky grounds, Escudero said some novel theories have become “part of the law of the land” by virtue of a ruling by the Supreme Court.

Calida dismissed insinua-tions that the Office of the So-licitor General, whose mandate is to lawyer for government, fears that the Senate will not toe the government line. He said he will not allow Sereno “to un-dergo the indignity that the late Chief Justice Renato Corona suffered at the hands of politi-cians who unjustly convicted him.”

Under Rule 66 of the Rules of Court, a quo warranto proceeding is an action by the government against a person

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Chief justice impeachment trial imminent but SC move to oust her could set precedent vs. prez, VP

By Daniel Llanto | FilAm Star Correspondent

The Cebu City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 12 has convicted a Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) employee who demanded P100,000 from woman for the processing of a miscellaneous sale application

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Office of the Ombudsman said that the accused, Edwin Atentar, was found guilty of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Prac-tices Act (Republic Act 3019).

In March 2006, Atentar, who was a special land inves-tigator of the DENR Commu-nity Environment and Natural Resources Office, demanded P100,000 from the complain-ant, Virgilia Seguerra, for the processing of the MSA for a lot in San Isidro, Talisay City.

Since the price was “too

steep,” the Ombudsman said Seguerra requested that the payment be made on a stag-gered basis.

For the first tranche, Atentar received P8,000 from Seguerra.

“After waiting for several months without any update on the application, Seguerra demanded that Atentar return the money,” the Office of the Ombudsman disclosed.

“In August 2006, Atentar was able to return only P5,000 as evidenced by a receipt acknowledged and signed by him,” it said.

In a court judgment dated Feb. 8, 2018, Cebu RTC Branch 12 Presiding Judge Estela Alma Singco said that “as shown in the testimony of prosecution witness Seguerra, accused went twice to the university where

she was teaching for no ap-parent reason than to demand money.”

The court ruled that Aten-tar had no authority to obtain the P100,000 fee.

“This was never refuted by accused,” the judge said. “More telling is accused’s persistence in obtaining the money for pur-ported occupation fee although he has no authority to accept the same.”

Singco sentenced Atentar to imprisonment of six years and one month to 10 years and six months and perpetually disqualified him from holding public office.

The court also ordered Atentar to return the remaining amount of P3,000 to Seguerra. (Julius N. Leonen / inquirer.net)

(L-R) Sen. Antonio Triullanes IV and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno(Photo: www.politics.com.ph)

ph newsDENR employee in Cebu convicted of graft

Bodies of 2 workers retrieved from Bohol landslideTAGBILARAN CITY—

Rescuers found on Wednesday the bodies of the two workers buried alive in a landslide at a quarry site at the foot of the mountain in Sitio San Isidro in Barangay Candabong in Anda town, Bohol province.

Ariel Abac was first found at 11 a.m. while Valeriano Galeyo was pulled out an hour later.

The recovery of the bod-ies shattered the hope of KC, Abac’s wife, of finding him alive.

She remained hopeful that Abac, 32, was still alive because his phone was still ringing when she called his mobile phone on Tuesday, more than 12 hours after the landslide occurred on Monday afternoon.

“I was still hoping that he was alive,” said KC, 25. “His three children were waiting for him.”

Abac’s brother-in-law Ramon Peñaranda said they were at the quarry site gather-

ing “anapog” (limestone) on Monday afternoon.Huge rocks

When he took a break and left the group, he heard a big commotion.

He said Galeya and Ariel, who were digging at that time, didn’t notice that big rocks as big as a barangay hall had rolled down toward them, followed by a mass of soil.

When the landslide hit, he added, smog and dust covered the entire place for half an hour.

Ramon, 48, said Ariel and Galeya may have been buried in a pile of soil at least 12 feet tall. A mini dump truck near the victims was completely covered.

But Ramon said that while he believed the two would not have survived the landslide, he wanted to recover the body to give them a proper burial.Rescuers

Rescuers had difficulty dig-ging due to the huge rocks.

Tarsier 117, headed by Mark Sydney Galia, team

leader, said the soil may have cascaded due to intermittent rains brought by Typhoon “Basyang” last month.

Anthony Damalerio, head of the provincial disaster risk reduction management office (PDRMMO), said rescuers from the neighboring towns of Pilar, Alicia, Ubay, Candijay, Guin-dulman and Duero went to the site to help in the search and retrieval operation.

Volunteers from the Philip-pine Army and Philippine Na-tional Police arrived on Tuesday afternoon to help.

Rescuers had to use only shovels because the upper por-tion of the mountain remained unstable.

The mountain in Canda-bong was a known quarry site for limestone.Landslide-prone

Totsie Escobia, provincial information officer, said the municipal government had stopped the quarry because the

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FilAm StarMarch 8 - 14, 2018 A3

ph newsBy William Casis | FilAm Star Correspondent

Consortium from private sector offers unsolicited bids to de-congest Manila international airport

Sen. Grace Poe dismissed the claim that diverting flights to the Clark International Airport in Pampanga from Manila is the best solution to decongest the Ni-noy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Instead, she said, expanding the country’s main gateway would be the main solution to address the congestion.

Poe, chairperson of the Sen-ate committee on public services, said the government should seriously consider the unsolicited proposals of the private sector for the rehabilitation and mainte-nance of NAIA.

“We need to have the inter-est of the private sector to be able to help the government. We have to admit that sometimes with the help of the private sector, we can implement projects faster and especially if the consortium is composed of credible investors,” Poe said.

Poe presided over the hear-ing on the airport decongestion conducted by her committee together with the committee on finance and science and technol-ogy.

NAIA, which only has two runways, was designed to handle 30 million passengers. But travel-ers who used the four terminals reached almost 40 million in 2016. NAIA was also consistently tagged as one of the worst air-ports in the world in recent years.

A “super” consortium com-posed of some of the country’s biggest conglomerates and GMR-Megawide have submitted to the government their unsolicited proposals separately worth PHP 350 billion and PHP 150 billion to upgrade the highly congested NAIA.

The consortium is composed of seven of the country’s biggest conglomerates: Ayala Corp., LT Group, Filinvest, JG Summit Holdings, Aboitiz Equity Ven-tures, Metro Pacific Investments,

and Megaworld Corp.The consortium, which was

formed last December, will bid to rehabilitate, operate and main-tain the outdated and highly-congested NAIA.

“For as long as there’s an agreement that they will not overcharge passengers and there are certain safeguards and guidelines, I think that we should welcome as much interest to be able to rehabilitate NAIA,” Poe said.

Poe likewise touted the soon-to-open Cebu international air-port terminal when she recently visited the province, saying the modern design of infrastructure projects that provide passenger efficiency can be achieved if the government works closely with reputable private firms.

“I visited the Cebu airport and they are going to inaugurate the new terminal and I see the promise of that. Hopefully more (airports will be modernized) but definitely (the bidder) has to be

somebody with the track record and competence to be able to do this because government is so stretched and we need inves-tors and expertise,” the Senator added.

Poe’s proposal also comes as the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) plans to ratio-nalize operations at Manila’s four airports. Terminals 1 and 3 will be exclusive to international flights while Terminal 2 and 4 will be for domestic flights, meaning some domestic operations will have to be redistributed within NAIA and Clark airport, which is some 100 kilometers north of Manila.

The Senator said distribut-ing domestic operations is only a band-aid solution.

Meanwhile, Poe said pas-sengers should demand airline companies for a refund after it was reported that at least PHP 250 million in unused terminal fee remains unclaimed from Cebu Pacific.

“A lot are paying the termi-

nal fees but they don’t actually take the flight, they are entitled to a refund... Sayang naman, kunin po ninyo ang pera ninyo,” said Poe, who added that there should be an easier mechanism for pro-cessing of refunds. “If you failed to (fly) Cebu Pacific or PAL or any airline,” she added.

At present, one airline has an unclaimed terminal fee amount-ing to PHP 25O million.

Flag carrier Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific said they are processing requests for refund.

Philippine Airlines (PAL) Senior Vice-president Fred Mison said they also have around the same amount of unclaimed termi-nal fee refund from those did not take their flights.

He assured that PAL is ready to give the refunds anytime. How-ever, he said it is just difficult to refund because they do not know the recipients. He said passen-gers can reach them at wecare@philippineairlines.com

Comelec won’t cover for employees found linked to 2016 poll fraud

Senator Grace Poe(Photo: www.pinterest.com)

BACOLOD CITY—Com-missioner Rowena Guanzon of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday assured the public that the poll body would not cover for employees who may be involved in fraud last 2016 elections.

Guanzon was reacting to the expose of Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III on the alleged fraud in the automated ballot-ing system during the May 2016 elections.

“If the senators are saying there was fraud, we would like to know the details of these reports so we can take our people to task,” she said.

She added that if people were guilty, they must go to jail.

“We want to assure the public that we do not cover for our people … it is important that we have fair, honest, credible elections,” she said.

In a privilege speech on Tuesday, Sotto pointed out that Senators Panfilo Lacson, Grace Poe and Juan Miguel Zubiri got zero votes in hundreds of polling precincts in the May 2016 elec-tions because of alleged fraud in the automated balloting.

In his speech, Sotto also asked the Senate to investi-gate two allegations raised by his source — that votes were transmitted a day before the May 9, 2016 balloting and that the election servers were accessed by a foreign party.

According to Guanzon, the Commission en banc, in its regular meeting Tuesday, talked about Sotto’s pronouncements and welcomed an investigation to know the truth.

She said she would like to see the data of the senator so ac-tion could be taken.

“The vote counting machine is very efficient. It will just count the ballot that is fed to it and then it will tally and transmit the results,” she said.

But she said she would worry about zero votes if there was a

statistical improbability.Guanzon said the server

would know if it accepted trans-mission the day before.

But such, she added, would be impossible because the server was closed. It would be opened only when the voting was over.

“The Comelec commission-ers will be the happiest people in the world if there is evidence that that was done because they are always finding ways to improve

the system,” she said.On the election servers hav-

ing been accessed by a foreign party, Guanzon said perhaps Sotto was referring to Marlon Garcia, the Smartmatic technical support team head.

The Department of Jus-tice (DOJ) had accused him for changing the script in the servers in the middle of the 2016 polls’ results transmission.

Guanzon pointed out that the DOJ ordered the filing of criminal charges against Smart-matic for that.

“We should tell Smartmatic to produce Garcia at the DOJ because I think he is not in the country” she said. (Carla P. Gomez / inquirer.net)

COMELEC Commissioner Rowena Guanzon

(Photo: www.youtube.com)

Pacquaio mulling to become ‘active’ military officer

Senator Manny Pacquiao said he is contemplating about becoming an “active” officer in the military.

In an interview, following his promotion from Lieutenant Colo-nel (LC) to full Colonel, Pacquiao expressed readiness to fight for the people and country.

“Anytime, at iniisip ko nga na magpa-active,” the neophyte senator told reporters.

Asked where he prefers to be assigned, Pacquiao said: “Kahit saan, kahit dito lang sa Maynila, ok lang.”

He also answered yes when pressed if he was decided to be an active military officer.

On Wednesday, the Commis-sion on Appointments confirmed the promotion of seven lawmak-er-reservists, including Pacquiao and Senator Loren Legarda as well as Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and other leaders and members of the House of Representatives.

Like Pacquiao, Alvarez said he was also ready to be deployed anytime.

“Kahit ngayon pwede na tayong sumalang,” the Speaker said in a separate interview.

In endorsing Legarda’s pro-motion also to the rank of Colonel of the Philippine Air Force’s reserve unit, Senator Panfilo Lac-son described her as a “woman of action – a doer and a mover.”

Lacson also endorsed the promotion of Cavite Rep. Roy Loyola to the rank of Colonel, Philippine Army (Reserve). The senator described Loyola as the “most amazing lady killer” he had seen in his entire life.

“They say it takes a long time to grow an old friend. I dare say that our nominee, Congressman

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Senator Manny Pacquiao(Photo: www.chillnchillax.wordpress.

com)

FilAm Star Classifieds (650)278-0692 . (415)593-5955

FilAm StarA4 March 8 - 14, 2018

ph news

By Macon Araneta | FilAm Star Correspondent

Report reveals dengue cases drop to almost less than half of 2017’s, mostly 10-14 yr. olds affected, majority in vaccination program areas

Despite the scare over the government’s immuni-zation program following the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia controversy, den-gue cases in the Philippines dropped to 41.38 percent during the first six weeks of this year.

The Department of Health (DoH) Dengue Disease Surveillance Report showed a total of 10,980 new dengue cases, which includ-ed 51 deaths.

It indicated that the number of dengue cases was 41.38 percent lower than the 18,731 cases reported within the same period last year. It also showed that 23 percent of those afflicted with dengue were 10-14 years old.

Furthermore, the report showed majority of the den-gue cases were recorded in areas where the mass dengue vaccination program was implemented.

The Calabarzon area covering the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon provinces

listed, 2,503 dengue cases.It was followed by Cen-

tral Luzon with 1,964 cases and the National Capital Region with 1,820 cases.

Except for the Ilocos Region, Cordillera Admin-istrative Region, and Cala-barzon, all other regions in the country were found to have a decreasing number of dengue cases.

The Ilocos Region re-ported a 121 percent increase in the number of dengue cases. There was a 55 percent increase and 25 percent increase in the CAR and Calabarzon, respectively.

As this developed, Health Sec. Francisco Duque has been going around government hospitals as part of the DoH’s monitoring of the health of over 800,000 children who received the controversial anti-dengue vaccine.

Duque suspended the implementation of the mass vaccination after giant French drug firm Sanofi Pasteur divulged that their

test results indicated that Dengvaxia should only be administered to those who had already been afflicted with dengue. And that those who never had dengue could fall ill and even die if they were vaccinated with Dengvaxia.

Duque assured they would continue to strengthen their Dengue Prevention and Control Program and col-laborate with other agencies of government such as the Department of Education, and Local Government Units to safeguard the welfare of the vaccinated children.

He said they also part-nered with the Philippine Red Cross to provide imme-diate transport and referral of dengue patients to health facilities and ensure the ad-equacy of blood supply.

“We reiterate that the cost of hospitalization will be shouldered by PhilHealth through its existing case rates, and DoH through its Medical Assistance Pro-gram,” he said.

He noted that dengue prevention kits would also be distributed to all students and other vaccinated chil-dren to enable them to adopt self-protection measures and prevent them from contract-ing the disease.

He said the DoH hotlines were open 24/7 in both the Central Office and Regional Offices to promptly respond to immediate concerns and needs of the parents.

Furthermore, he called on teachers and parents to continue to work with the department with the goal of safeguarding the health of children and to prevent them from contracting dengue or other illnesses. “Together, let us continue to monitor them,” said Duque.

He added: “To the par-ents, we hope you consider the DoH as your partner in looking after the welfare of your children. There is no full protection against dengue, that is why we en-courage everyone to imple-ment the 4S Kontra Dengue strategy,” said Duque.

“To the medical and scientific community and other concerned citizens, we ask for your help in clarifying misconceptions and provid-ing only evidence-based information on dengue,” he added.

Every year, there are about 200,00 dengue cases registered with the Depart-ment of Health.

Although the case fatal-ity rate remains below one percent, “we acknowledge the fear brought by this disease. Let us work together as one nation to ensure the health and safety of our children against dengue and other illnesses, whether vac-cinated with Dengvaxia or not,” said Duque.

DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III(Photo: www.unitednews.net.ph)

Provision against political dynasties to be part of proposed new charter

The Consultative Commit-tee to review the 1987 Con-stitution will include a strict anti-political dynasty provision in its proposed new charter.

During its meeting on Wednesday, the members of the Subcommittee on Political Reforms agreed to include the provision, which would ban im-mediate relatives of incumbent officials – of up to the second degree of consanguinity or af-finity – from replacing them.

The proposal will also disallow members of one family

to hold multiple positions or run simultaneously for different seats.

The subcommittee, how-ever, has yet to finalize the particulars of every prohibition for every position at all levels – local, regional or state, and national.

“The unintended conse-quence of term limits hastened the development of political dynasties,” said La Salle Dean Julio Teehankee, chairman of the subcommitee. “Nauwi sa pagpapamana ng posisyon (Positions ended up as inheri-tance.) It hastened the genera-tional shift among the political clans.”

The move is expected to face strong opposition in Con-gress, whose members hail from powerful political clans in the regions.

The 1987 Constitution car-ries a provision banning politi-

cal dynasties, but it leaves it up to Congress to pass an enabling law.

A generation after the Con-stitution’s ratification, Congress has yet to pass a law regulating dynasties.

Teehankeee stressed the need to break political monopo-lies and the perpetuation in power of political dynasties in many parts of the country.

“If we are going to restruc-ture and reboot the political system, there is a need for all the players to start from the

same starting line. So if ever one would argue that his or her political family is really accepted by the people, then let’s all start at a level playing field. And let the people decide eventually under the new rules of the game,” Teehankee said.

According to a study submitted to the committee, at least 295 political families have power in various regions, with Metro Manila having the most number with 31 families.

It is followed by Central Luzon with 21, Calabarzon with 20, Bicol Region with 15, West-ern Visayas with 12, Mimaropa with 11, and Central Visayas with 10.

The study was led by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who chairs the Consulta-tive Committee, and former Budget Secretary Salvador En-riquez Jr. (Jhoanna Ballaran / inquirer.net)

Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno(Photo: en.wikipedia.org)

FilAm StarMarch 8 - 14, 2018 A5

sports newsTime to face the monster

After disposing of a Rain or Shine team that dragged his team into three tough battles in five days, Barangay Ginebra coach Tim Cone is now bracing for what he calls the “monsters” of the Philippine Basketball As-sociation.

The league’s winningest coach was referring to three-time Philippine Cup defending champion San Miguel Beermen and their prized big man June Mar Fajardo, the four-time Most Valuable Player.

Either way, Cone knows there will be little room for er-ror against a team that packs so much depth and firepower.

“We’re hoping for one heck of a series,” said Cone, after the Gin Kings hammered out a 99-91 victory over the Elasto Painters to complete a sweep of their best-of-three quarterfi-

nal series Wednesday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“San Miguel has won the last three championships of this conference for a reason. They’re playing great basketball and they have June Mar (Fajardo). TNT was playing well and they still couldn’t beat San Miguel.”

The Beermen did not need their twice-to-beat advantage to advance to the semifinals as they bundled out the Texters, 106-93, with Fajardo banging in 35 points.

The other semifinal series will feature Magnolia vs NLEX after the Road Warriors also swept Alaska after an 87-83 vic-tory in the other game.

This marks NLEX’s first semifinal stint in franchise his-tory.

Nonetheless, Cone was relieved to overcome Rain or

Shine, which forced them into a triple overtime battle last Friday and put up a brave stand in the quarterfinals, particularly in Game 2 when they came within 92-89 on Beau Belga’s layup with under two minutes remaining.

Joe Devance and Japeth Aguilar made back-to-back baskets to push the lead back to seven before LA Tenorio hit three free throws to seal the vic-tory for the Gin Kings, who lost to the Beermen in the finals of last year’s All Filipino tourna-ment.

“It’s a huge relief to get through (Rain or Shine) and now we face the monsters that’s San Miguel and June Mar,” he said. (Cedelf P. Tupas / inquirer.net)

Pacquiao eyes next fight in Malaysia in May or JuneManny Pacquiao made it

clear once more that his fighting career isn’t over.

In a TV interview with ABS-CBN, boxing’s only eight-division World champion said he would fight once more in Malaysia either in May or June after he rejected an undercard offer to face Mike Alvarado this April in Las Vegas.

“Definitely, Malaysia is where we will fight,” said Pac-quiao in the report (H/T Box-ingScene.com). “If not May, this coming June, maybe third week of June, so the preparation will not conflict with my work.”

Pacquiao is also a senator in the Philippines’ upper house and is part of the legislative’s majority party PDP-Laban.

The 39-year-old boxer last week rejected to fight in the undercard of Jeff Horn-Terence Crawford bout, which was for the WBO World welterweight title—the last belt Pacquiao owned.

Top Rank CEO Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, told

BoxingScene.com that a group of investors approached the Filipino boxing icon to stage a fight in Malaysia.

Pacquiao said those in Malaysia “appealed to have a fight there.”

At 39-years-old, Pacquiao (59-7-2) is considerably in the twilight of his career and his last fight ended in a controver-sial loss to Horn wherein he lost the WBO belt.

Pacquiao briefly retired

in 2016 when he beat Timothy Bradley for the WBO World welterweight title but that retirement lasted just seven months when he fought Jessie Vargas, for the same strap, in November of that year.

Despite the brief rest, Pac-quiao has yet to knock an op-ponent out in eight years with his last stoppage coming in his 2009 conquest of Miguel Cotto. (Bong Lozada / inquirer.net)

Manny Pacquiao(Photo: www.couriermail.com.au)

UAAP Volleyball: Ateneo recovers, stops FEU’s winning runAteneo started its second

round campaign on a high note as it stopped Far Eastern University in its tracks, 25-19, 25-21, 25-17, in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Lady Eagles recovered from their four-set loss to De La Salle at the end of the first round and have won five of their last six games to hike their record to 5-3, the same record as the Lady Tamaraws.

Ateneo was firmly in control of the Lady Tamaraws in the third set holding fort throughout the majority of the match.

After an 18-14 lead, the Lady Eagles allowed just three more points on the side of the Lady Tamaraws with Jhoanna Maraguinot eventually finishing

(Photo: www.youtube.com)

Dasmariñas still not used to fanfare ahead of second crack at IBO title

All the media attention Michael Dasmariñas got on Wednesday reminded him of the last time he fought for a boxing crown.

“It was nothing like this,” a smiling Dasmariñas told INQUIRER.net in Filipino dur-ing a press conference at Kerry Sports in Shangri La at the Fort in Taguig.

Dasmariñas, who is tipped to become the next Filipino world champion, should get used to the fanfare especially if he beats Karim Guerfi of France for the vacant International Boxing Organization world bantamweight title on April 20 in Singapore.

The 25-year-old Das-mariñas (27-2, 18 KOs) knows Guerfi, who is the No. 4 fighter in the WBC ranking, is a quality opponent.

“He’s not a nobody. He’s ahead of me in the WBC rank-ing and he also has a good

record like me,” he said.Dasmariñas, the Camarines

Sur native, thinks the fight is a tossup, although he believes

he has the advantage when it comes to punching power.

“We’re both volume punch-ers and we’re almost equal in

speed but he doesn’t hit that hard,” said Dasmariñas, who started boxing when he was nine years old in Bicol and decided to continue his boxing career in Manila at 18 after he graduated high school.

His trainer and former Filipino world champion Tacy Macalos also sees Dasmariñas’ power and footwork as his edge.

Macalos said Dasmari-ñas also has to embrace the underdog label and use it to his advantage.

“It will serve as a challenge and motivation for him to work much harder and win the title,” Macalos said in Filipino.

Dasmariñas, who is in the second of his four-fight contract with Ringstar Boxing, dropped a close decision to Lwandile Sityatha of South Africa for the same belt in the super flyweight. (Mark Giongco / inquirer.net)

Michael Dasmarinas(Photo: www.boxrec.com)

off FEU with two straight kills.Captain Maddie Mad-

ayag said their win over FEU was a big morale-booster for them after they saw their then four-game winning streak get snapped at the hands of the Lady Spikers.

“This is really a big plus to our confidence and our train-ing really paid off because we showed how we really play,” said Madayag in Filipino. “”We just wanted to do what we normally do in training and this game really boosted our

confidence.”It also helped that head

coach Tai Bundit was back with the team after he went to Thai-land the previous week and that Ponggay Gaston was inserted as one of the team’s libero beside Ria Lo.

“Ponggay as a libero was a big factor because she has those strong arms and she can receive well,” said Madayag. “And coach Tai lifts your spirits up because you can see him cheer-ing you on.”

Maraguinot paced Ateneo’s offense with 15 points while Kat Tolentino added 11.

Toni Rose Basas led FEU’s charge with 10 points as Berna-deth Pons, the fourth-leading scorer of the tournament with 16 points a game, got limited to a season-low five points. (Bong Lozada / inquirer.net)

Almost everybody is now concerned about school safety after the Florida school massacre where the suspected killer claimed 17 in-nocent lives! As a result, Congress is now being pressured by all sectors of society to come up

with stiffer laws in order to address the issue and avert another shooting in the future.

It has been observed that there’s too much proliferation of guns all over the country and any-body can just own and/or possess guns, including automatic rifles. Most of the killings that occurred in schools were due to the use of guns. This is the reason why the most dominant measure being floated today to curb violence in schools is stricter gun control! But, will this solve the problem?

According to Earnestine Bennett-Johnson, in his article in the college Student Journal, “Ameri-can crime and violence have overflowed onto the college/university campus, and are now affecting senior high, junior high and elementary schools”. He cited a research that suggested causes of school crime and also possible solutions.

He mentioned that, “When developing a plan of action or a plan of prevention, each school should involve community services, staff, parents, teachers, and students. Evaluation procedures and routes should be identified and posted in var-ious locations. This should be done after evaluat-ing the school building plans to find vulnerable areas. These vulnerable areas may include doors which don’t open, areas which are more easily accessible to the “criminal element,” etc. After assessing the school building plans, discussing an evaluation plan(s), getting to safe areas should be practiced by the school community-at-large.

One notices that there’s no mention of gun control in the initial research. It talks about com-prehensive measures to approach the issue. It’s a community approach!

Further it mentions that a system of com-munication should also be in place should com-munications fail. “Once a general plan has been developed, principals, teachers, staff and students should ensure that everyone is familiar with the plan and there are practices to ensure that all exit an adverse situation (i.e., bomb threats, etc.). Meeting areas for classes/building areas should be developed, as contacting needed agencies. Local numbers for emergency workers should be posted in various locations”.

The research proposed drills should be conducted for various types of adverse situations, with teachers, staff, and students completely rehearsed so panic does not enter the situation (making it worse). Teachers must report to the principal or administration any threats, and signs of discussions about weapons, violence, etc. Teachers must also be aware of possible “gang” activity within the school. They must also learn and teach conflict resolution and anger manage-ment techniques to their students.

It is further suggested that every school have a “crisis response team” which are people de-signed for specific responsibilities which include a staff person with (some) medical knowledge/training; an on-site school counselor or a staff/teacher person who has had (some) counseling techniques training; a person to whom accidents/incidents are reported; persons responsible for notifying emergency officials and parents; and, someone who maintains walkie-talkies in case of communication disruption, etc.

Most importantly, the principal/teachers/staff/students should be aware of various types of alarms and whistles (disasters, intruders, bomb threats, suspicious mail, etc.). Various companies and bookstores supply information concerning lesson plans, curricula, and activities focusing on crime and violence in schools. Some of the infor-mation includes subjects such as bullying, anger-management skills, conflict resolution, character education healthy choices, harassment, violence prevention, drug abuse prevention.

Apparently, what the research is saying and is trying to insinuate is that a very comprehensive security plan for schools is the answer and not stricter gun control. In fact, there was no direct mention of gun control in the research but… it will surely be the basis for a well-structured and a very comprehensive school security plan to make the schools safe.

I go for that! I think it is the wisest thing for Congress to do and for schools to navigate in

FilAm StarA6 March 8 - 14, 2018

opinionAs I See It

ELPIDIO R. ESTIOKO

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FilAm Star is published weeklyby Fortune News Media Inc.www.filamstar.com

The Opinions expressed by our writers and contributors do not in any way reflect the opinion of the management of Fortune News Media Inc.

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Will stiffer gun control solve school violence? order to insure safety of students, parents, staff, and school administrators.

With 15 school shooting happening in the last two years, the proposed school security plan outlined earlier will address the root cause of such violence!

The Florida massacre found out some loop-holes in implementing the security measures with security people not responding immediately to the scene of the shooting, FBI not looking into the alleged social media postings of the suspected gunman, and school administrators not in the alert.

And… the massacre at Sandy Hook Elemen-tary in Newtown Connecticut, Virginia Teach shootings, Columbine, and at an Oregon High School have parents looking into bullet-proof book bags. Arkansas gave 13 school districts per-mission to train teachers as armed guards, while Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Ohio already have armed guards on duty.

While some experts charge the media as the culprit, I don’t think they are. I don’t agree with a forensic expert saying “… excessive media coverage glorifying the shooters with front page spreads and around the clock television coverage should rethink their ratings if they want to avoid mass killings”. This is unfair because all we are doing is bringing the news to the people and let-ting them know what’s going on!

After the shooting at Sandy Hook many believed the lack of access to mental health care was the factor in many shootings and that mental health workers could have predicted the carnage. But…there is little data to support the theory that increasing mental health support would reduce gun violence without taking away civil liberties, according to Dr. John Grohol, the founder and CEO of Psych Central.

I agree there’s a multitude of factors for the reason one becomes a killer, and a person’s men-tal balance, spiritual health, family background, and the media to a certain extent, all contribute.

The CCG Team, combining nearly four de-cades of experience ranging from mental health, law enforcement, corrections, juvenile probation and parole, military and security services wrote, “ Information, perspectives, and ideas presented are not the “only” way, but they are “a” way”.

Articles exist all over the internet expound-ing on how to “end” violence in schools, but they have a tendency to be broad, generic, and focused on the symptoms of youth violence instead of the causes. They blame drugs, alcohol, and sex as reasons behind violent students instead of issues school administration and security should be spending the bulk of their time addressing.

It all leads to four general roots causes of school violence. Lack of realistic, effective disciplinary systems is definitely the first rea-son. Often, too much focus is placed on stopping violence in schools once it is already happening… instead of taking steps to stop altercations from beginning in the first place.

Another cause is the lack of community be-tween parents, guidance counselors, and teachers which provides a strong support system for the students. School administration must focus on creating easy, mandatory, and continuous com-munication between these groups, so that it is not just “parent/teacher conferences” after a student is displaying violence and aggressive behavior.

Many considers disconnect between students because students are typically the ones causing violence in schools, and so they are the true key in minimizing events of aggression and violence. Faculty and staff can go through trainings such as crisis prevention and active shooter response training, but the students are just as important to engage in school violence prevention. Maybe we need to involve the Student Government Associa-tion (SGA) in the planning process.

And… the fourth cause is disconnect between students and teachers needing student-teacher interaction which is paramount for preventing violence in schools… considering that that stu-dents are also the solution. Teachers and admin-istration must utilize the support and help from those students who stand out as role models and leaders in their classes and school clubs to help curb violence.

So, while stricter gun control law is badly needed to be passed to curb school violence, it is not the sole factor in solving violence in schools. There should be a community approach in com-ing out with a very comprehensive security plan with stricter gun control law as the base!

(For feedbacks, comments… please email the author at estiokoelpidio@gmail.com).

When Donald Trump took over the presidency, he didn’t waste any time in placing his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kush-ner in key positions of his administration. He made both of them senior advi-sors. But what surprised a

lot of political observers was the load of respon-sibilities he placed on Jared. He made Jared his point or lead person in just about everything on trade and foreign affairs. The countries in his domain included Russia, China, Mexico, and all the Middle Eastern countries. His “empire” covered more than half the area of the world. It’s like the British Empire on which the sun never sets, which makes one wonder: How can he rule his empire when he is spread out too thinly?

An ambitious 36-year-old young man, Jared attained his place in the business world through his association with the Kushner family’s real estate development company. He also benefited from his partnership with Trump in a number of successful joint ventures. It is through his busi-ness association with Trump that he met Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, whom he married. Ivanka, an equally ambitious person – she was once rumored to be preparing herself to run for president after her father’s term – has penetrated the Chinese market for her brand name products.

Jared’s life was fraught with risky situa-tions. He took some bold actions, which caused him a great deal of losses. Take for instance the infamous 666 Fifth Avenue office building in New York. Jared’s company, Kushner Proper-ties, bought it in 2007 for $1.8 billion (about 42.1 billion in 2016). At that time, the sale was the highest price ever paid for an individual building in Manhattan. “Troubled”

In September 2017, the Washington Post wrote: “With one-fourth of its offices empty, lease revenue does not cover monthly interest pay-ments, according to lending documents. A $1.4 billion in mortgage debt is due in 2019. A ratings agency has classified a $115 million portion of the loan as ‘troubled,’ and company officials decline to say whether it will be fully repaid.” It’s no wonder then that Kushner is under such tremendous pressure to raise funds to cover the mortgage.

Rumor has it that Jared and Ivanka – known as “Jivanka” in Washington circles -- are us-ing their “senior advisor” positions in the White House to promote their own personal and business interests. In a New York Times article published last February 28, it said that Joshua Harris, a founder of Apollo Global Management, was advising Trump administration officials on infrastructure policy. It was during that time that Harris met with Kushner on several occasions. The two men also discussed a possible White House job for Harris.

“The job never materialized,” the report said, “but in November, Apollo lent $184 million to Mr. Kushner’s family real estate firm, Kushner Companies. The loan was to refinance the mort-gage on a Chicago skyscraper.

“Even by the standards of Apollo, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, the previ-ously unreported transaction with the Kushners was a big deal: It was triple the size of the average property loan made by Apollo’s real estate lend-ing arm, securities filings show.

The Jivanka JinxPerryScope

PERRY DIAZ

“It was one of the largest loans Kushner Companies received last year. An even larger loan came from Citigroup, which lent the firm and one of its partners $325 million to help finance a group of office buildings in Brooklyn. That loan was made in the spring of 2017, shortly after Mr. Kushner met in the White House with Citigroup’s chief executive, Michael L. Corbat, according to people briefed on the meeting,” the report concluded.Influence peddling

What happened between Jared and Harris and between Jared and Corbat have the appear-ance of “influence peddling,” the most common form of corruption in government. While it is hard to prove that corruption had indeed oc-curred, the appearance of conflicts of interest is far too great. It is for this reason that senior gov-ernment officials are not supposed to maintain any active outside business interests.

Another instance of the appearance of con-flict of interest was when Jared’s father met with Qatar’s Minister of Finance last April, to solicit an investment in the distressed 666 Fifth Avenue property. The Qataris turned him down.

Consequently, when Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates organized a blockade of Qatar, Jared, in his capacity as Trump’s senior adviser on Middle East affairs, endorsed the Trump administration’s support of the blockade; the only one among the Trump’s senior staff who did so. Unless Jared is stupid, he should have known that Qatar hosts America’s largest and most strategic air base in the Middle East. But some top Qatari government officials believe that Trump’s position on the blockade “may have been a form of retaliation driven by Kushner who was sour about the failed deal, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.”

Jared’s diplomatic faux pas in the Qatari blockade and other controversial foreign policy decisions that Jared was involved in had put a question mark on Jared’s agenda. What exactly drove him to pursue an agenda that seem to be at odds with traditional U.S. foreign policy but consistent with his personal business dealings?Security clearance

As a result of Jared’s questionable forays into Middle East foreign policy and politics, his se-curity clearance has come under heavy scrutiny. As it turned out, he has failed to disclose more than 100 foreign contacts on his initial clearance application.

Consequently, he became a target of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Wash-ington (CREW), a nonprofit legal watchdog group focused on public accountability. CREW filed a complaint with Trump’s chief of staff, Gen. John Kelly, asking him to revoke Jared Kushner’s secu-rity clearance until he passes a “full background check.”

CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder explained: “It’s a fact that he’s been operating on a temporary security clearance for more than a year, despite the extreme sensitivity of his job — and that raises a number of questions given the level of information to which he has regular access. And his clearance is obviously a priority, so if they’re still looking into him 13 months later, it’s reasonable to assume there’s a problem.”

“There were three issues that we saw,” Bookbinder said. “One is that he omitted a lot of significant information from his application for a security clearance, and he ended up having to amend it multiple times to add in foreign contacts that he hadn’t initially reported. We don’t know whether those omissions were intentional or just slip-ups, but it raises questions either about Kushner’s candor or about how much of a grasp he has on all of the conflicting interests and is-sues he has out there.”

Last week, Kushner’s security clearance was downgraded from a top-secret level to a secret level. It means that he lost access to classified materials and can no longer view the president’s daily intelligence briefing. And without it, how can he execute a job that requires access to clas-sified materials? And yet, Kushner insists that he can do his job without it. Federal investigation

Lately, Special Counsel Robert Mueller set his crosshairs on Jared. Mueller’s federal inves-tigators are now scrutinizing Jared’s discussions with foreigners during the presidential transition to see if it shaped White House policies “in ways designed to either benefit or retaliate against those he spoke with.”

But Kushner’s loss of his access to classified materials was just the beginning of what could be Kushner’s final fall from power. He was once on top of the world. Now his world has turned upside down. He was once Trump’s “golden boy” in foreign policy and trade matters. He has now become an international pariah.

A New York Times column by Maggie Haberman and Mark Landler claims Trump has asked chief of staff John Kelly for help in oust-ing Jared and Ivanka from their advisory roles in the White House, which begs the question: Did Trump finally realize that Jared and Ivanka are the Jivanka Jinx?

(PerryDiaz@gmail.com)

Statement of Senator Ricardo Lara on Federal Lawsuit Over California’s Immigrant Detention Ban

SACRAMENTO — The fol-lowing statement is in response to reports that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will sue the state of California over laws that block the Trump Administra-tion from expanding immigrant detention. Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) authored Senate Bill 29, which prevents California cities from expanding contracts with for-profit prison companies to detain immigrants and requires public input on any expansion of ICE-operated facili-ties. SB 29 is a counterpart to AB 103, which blocked the expan-sion of immigrant detention in public jails:

“California is the first state

to block for-profit immigration detention for a reason. Stopping the growth of immigrant jails is about human rights, plain and simple.

“Immigrants in these facili-ties lack basic rights like access to healthcare and access to an attorney.

“These are jails for immi-grants like Marcelina – a mother of five who was arrested for sell-ing corn.

“For a woman I met from Uganda who was jailed for months – even though she was tortured and raped for being gay.

“Children after they win their asylum cases are still being held in these immigrant jails.

“Trump and Sessions are ly-ing to the American people. This isn’t about stopping crime. We have prisons and jails for people convicted of crimes.

“These are immigrant jails and we don’t want them to ex-pand in California.

“Trump and Sessions are suing California, but they are about to get served with Califor-nia justice.

“My parents are immigrants who brought their dreams with them instead of documents.

“Californians have always fought for families like mine, and we will never stop fighting for them.”

FilAm StarMarch 8 - 14, 2018 A7POLICE ORDERED NOT

... FROM PAGE A1

Back in July 2017, Duterte told the Commis-sion on Human Rights (CHR) and the Office of the Ombudsman that the police and military need not participate in any of their investigations.

Duterte’s order makes police complicitIn a report by The Philippine Star, Karapa-

tan’s Secretary-general Cristina Palabay said that the President’s order to the country’s security forces to ignore UN experts who would investi-gate drug war killings would urge the cops and soldiers to cover up abuses and violations.

“Duterte’s orders to police and military not to cooperate with the UN vis a vis investigations on extra-judicial killings are crystal clear orders to be complicit in covering up human rights violations,” Palabay told The Philippine Star last March 2.

Palabay noted that the attempt to prevent other people from looking into the country’s situ-ation would “foster a worse climate of impunity.”

Palabay also insisted that UN special rap-porteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions Agnes Callamard and special rappor-teur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst be allowed to conduct independent probes in the country.

Moreover, Amnesty International Philippines has called on the government to “cooperate fully” with the preliminary examination of the Inter-national Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor (OTP)into the reported human rights abuses in the country.

“This would ensure that the OTP’s factual and legal assessment of the different phases of the preliminary examination can take place effective-ly and efficiently,” AI Philippines Vice- chairper-son Romeo Cabarde Jr. told The Philippine Star.

“If the Philippines does investigate and pros-ecute suspected perpetrators and works closely with the ICC when doing so, the OTP may decide

not to open an investigation. However, this would only be the case if the prosecutor has solid evi-dence and is absolutely satisfied by genuine and comprehensive investigations and prosecutions at the national level,” Cabalde added.

If Callamard visits to investigate, Palace will invite her to swim in Pasig River

In a report by GMA News last March 3, dur-ing a briefing in Zamboanga del Norte, Presiden-tial Spokesperson Harry Roque said the Palace will only invite United Nations Special Rappor-teur Agnes Callamard to swim in Pasig River if she will visit the Philippines to investigate alleged human rights violations.

“Welcome po siya dahil after all we welcome all tourists. Kaya lang ang masama doon huwag niyang palalabasin na nag-imbestiga siya kasi ang pagpasok sa Pilipinas hindi naman po iyan katumbas ng pag-iimbestiga,” Roque said.

“So, kung siya po ay papasok sabihin niya, nagkaroon siya ng obserbasyon bilang turista. So kapag pumasok siya ay aanyayahan po namin siyang lumangoy sa malamig na tubig ng Pasig River,” Roque added.

In the same briefing, Roque said that the Philippine government will only allow a UN probe into human rights situation in the coun-try if it will send a special rapporteur that is not biased.

“Makikipagtulungan lang tayo sa mga tao na wala pang conclusion at may katapatan na tala-gang mag-iimbestiga sila,” Roque said.

Roque’s statement comes after Duterte ordered soldiers and policemen not to respond to UN special rapporteurs’ questions about the country’s human rights situation.

Duterte has made the remark after Iceland, during the 37th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, urged the Philippines to accept a visit from a UN special rapporteur without pre-condi-tions or limitations.

DE LIMA URGES... FROM PAGE A1

She noted that Filipino workers abroad, notably the most vulnerable household service workers, should be given guaranteed protection — especially from degrading practice and abusive employers — while they work hard to support their families at home.

OFWs based in Riyadh, Dammam and Jed-dah expressed alarm over the practice of some employers in Saudi Arabia who, according to them, have been trading their Filipino HSWs to highest-bidding foreign employers for several years now.

A Riyadh-based OFW was quoted in the news that she escaped from her Saudi employer after learning that she had been sold to another employer in Damman for 24,000 riyals (about U.S. $6,400). She said there are many other victims of such practice.

The agreement entailed, among others, that Saudi Arabia should be responsible for the au-thenticity of the employment contract of HRWs and the settlement of labor contract violation cases.

It also recognized the right of workers to paid vacation, non-withholding of passports and work permits, free communication, and humane treatment.

The opposition senator also called on the pri-

vate recruitment agency and their foreign coun-terparts in the Kingdom to check on the condition and location of the household workers they have deployed abroad.

“The private recruitment agencies should check on the condition of the Filipino workers they have sent abroad, especially in Saudi Arabia, to ensure that they are safe and do not fall victims to human trafficking or slavery,” she said.

In August 2016, De Lima filed Senate Bill No. 961, redefining the crime of illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate as a group of three or more persons formed to carry out illegal deploy-ment of Filipino workers abroad.

“Illegal recruitment is a menace to the society. It is one of the most detestable crimes a Filipino can commit to another Filipino, a crime that has brought about sufferings to thousands of poor and innocent victims and their families,” she said.

“Their victims dreamed of landing high pay-ing jobs abroad, instead find themselves finan-cially and emotionally distressed. Worse, many of them fell into the hand of traffickers or landed in jail as a consequence,” she added.

It was through the efforts of the Inter-Agency

Council Against Trafficking which De Lima then chaired as justice secretary when the Philippines was upgraded to Tier 1 status, in recognition of its compliance with global standards.

FEMINISTS MARK... FROM PAGE A1

Women’s groups observed International Women’s Day last, March 8 by lambasting Presi-dent Duterte for sexist remarks and his penchant for downgrading women in general. The tone was set by Sen. Risa Hontiveros who cried that Fili-pino women are facing a “new and unparalleled” spate of sexism under the Duterte administration.

“We are witnessing an outbreak of sexism and misogyny under this two-year-old adminis-tration. In all three branches of the government, we are seeing an epidemic of sexism that is state-sponsored, brazen and relentless,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

“Duterte’s latest nasty remark openly encour-ages violence against women, contributes to the impunity on such, and further presented himself as the epitome of misogyny and fascism terribly rolled in one,” Gabriela party-list Rep. Emmi de Jesus said.

Hontiveros noted that Duterte — whom she said seems to deliver an average of one sexist comment a month — has a “profound disdain” for women in government who stand up against his rule.

Hontiveros cited the instances where the chief executive threatened to show Sen. Leila de Lima’s alleged sex video (a video that the Presi-dent, the Justice Secretary, and House leaders claim to have watched), remarked on Vice-president Leni Robredo’s legs and “sarcastically” ordered soldiers to shoot female New People’s Army rebels in the vagina.

The chair of the Senate committee on women said Duterte’s remarks have incited attacks against women, particularly on those perceived to be critics of the administration.

“The Vice-president became the victim of a nasty pregnancy rumor, Sen. De Lima was slut-shamed in Congress and unjustly incarcer-ated, the Supreme Court chief justice and (the) ombudsman are both threatened with impeach-ment, students from St. Scholastica’s College who joined rallies were harassed on-line, and I, my-self, am being legally harassed by the Secretary of Justice,” Hontiveros said.

Duterte’s officials and supporters usually dismiss such comments as instances of “sarcasm” or part of the President’s supposed Bisaya humor.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who as party-list congressman previously joined in asking about intimate details of De Lima’s rela-tionship with her former driver during a House hearing in 2016, has denied that Duterte encour-ages attacks against women. He has also said feminists sometimes overreact to the President’s statements and “should just laugh.”

Hontiveros said the President’s “spin doc-tors” would like the public to believe that his statements are harmless banter by a leader who simply loves to joke. “They said that we should judge his actions and not his words. But language is a powerful medium where sexism, gender dis-crimination and even violence against women are committed and replicated,” the lady senator said.

She added: “This sexism outbreak must be contained and stopped. All women need to say ‘no’ and push back.”

Human Rights Watch (HRW) earlier de-nounced President Rodrigo Duterte’s “joke” order for soldiers to shoot female New People’s Army rebels in the vagina. HRW said Duterte’s remark was the latest “in a series of misogynist, deroga-tory and demeaning statements he has made about women.”

The human rights watchdog said the com-ment “encourages state forces to commit sexual violence during armed conflict, which is a viola-tion of international humanitarian law.”

According to a Presidential Communications Operations Office transcription and translation of Duterte’s comments in Bisaya, the President said: “Tell the soldiers. ‘There’s a new order coming from mayor. We won’t kill you. We will just shoot your vagina so that... If there are no vagina it would be useless.”

Speaking to more than 200 former rebels in Malacañang on February 7, Duterte asked why women join the NPA movement “even if you have your family.”

The President, who has been criticized for casually talking about rape, then ordered govern-ment troops to shoot their vagina, saying it would be useless.

Individuals and groups both at home and abroad have previously blasted Duterte for his remarks which they said “normalized” and “en-couraged” objectification, rape and other forms of violence toward women.

NON-COMPLIANT 173... FROM PAGE A1

“I know it works hardships and that is why I would be declaring a state of calamity. Ang state of calamity, may component ‘yan na pambigay ta-laga for those who are displaced financially. Para na rin kung ano, may bagyong dumaan, magbigay ka ng pera,” Duterte said.

“In the meantime, if I were from Boracay or you guys there, the best thing for you to do is to cooperate with the government and hasten the clean-up. For as long as there are s**t coming out of those pipes draining to the sea, I will never give you the time of the day na bumalik diyan,” he added.

The President said he would invoke public interest, health and safety in declaring the state of calamity and cautioned the courts against inter-fering with the process. He would publicly shame those who would, since “it’s a racket actually,” Duterte said.

As many as 173 big establishments are oper-ating without an environmental compliance cer-tificate (ECC) on Boracay Island, it was learned during the first hearing held on-site March 2 by the Senate committee on environment and natu-ral resources. More than 30 percent of business establishments on the island have already been found to be non-compliant with various environ-mental laws.

The root issue seems to be the failure of the local government unit (LGU) to require an ECC before issuing permits. During the Senate hear-ing, the mayor of Malay, Aklan reasoned that since the ECC is from the national government, it is “hiwalay sa LGU.”

However, DILG OIC-Sec. Eduardo Año acknowledged during the hearing that the ECC is indeed a requirement nationwide. Environment Sec. Roy Cimatu also emphasized that Boracay Is-land was declared a protected forestland in 2006, meaning that requirements for ECC clearance are more stringent there.

As Cimatu and other officers of the Depart-ment of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) reported their findings, the extent of transgressions over the past 10 years came to light. A 140-strong team from the DENR, es-corted by military and police forces, has been serving notices of violation across the island since February 23.

Cimatu himself has been making the rounds, interacting with owners of business establish-ments and island residents, based on a video he presented during the hearing. He also revealed it wasn’t his first mission in Aklan, because he was the battalion commander in 1989 of the military team that cleared insurgency hotspots on north-ern Panay Island so that the general public could find their way to the then-pristine island of Bora-cay. Cimatu is a retired military general.

The big picture is that four out of nine wetlands on the island have been taken over by illegal settlers that include big-time resorts and

the famous D’Mall. Among the resorts named by the DENR’s provincial officer during the hearing were Alta Vista de Boracay Hotel, which boasts “the best view from one of Boracay’s highest peaks” because it is situated in a forestland zone; Kingfisher Farm, a theme park featuring fish-ponds, a recreation center and a seafood restau-rant in Barangay Manoc-Manoc, and Seven Seas Hotel And Residences Boracay, a 2.2-hectare luxury project in Barangay Yapak that is under construction. Aklan Rep. Carlito Marquez also named Crown Regency Boracay as a catch basin settler, which however won on a legal technicality against the DENR.

Meanwhile, Boracay West Cove on Diniwid Beach had its forest land agreement for tour-ism, a sort of concession granted by the DENR, cancelled in 2015 because it developed more than 3,000 square meters when its concession covered only 998 sq.m., according to testimony of DENR’s director for Region 6. West Cove, which erected the viewing deck that was recently demolished in the ongoing island sweep, remains operational despite having no current business or construc-tion permit, because it appealed its case before the Office of the President.

“These (encroached) wetlands are one of the culprits in this (ongoing) pollution… I have to restore the wetlands,” Cimatu said, explaining that wetlands are catchment areas that prevent flooding and help raise water quality, which have both deteriorated in Boracay.

While it is still safe to swim around the White Beach area, the same cannot be said on the Bolabog Beach side. Fecal coliform tests done on February 13 and 19 indicated 350 most prob-able number (MPN) per 100 ml in the waters of Bolabog Beach, according to Cimatu. This shows an improvement from January’s 592 MPN/100 ml, but exceeds the 200 MPN/100 ml standard for fecal coliform.

“We cannot compromise and sacrifice our natural treasures solely for the sake of mon-etary profit,” said Tourism Sec. Wanda Teo, who also revealed that alternative destinations near Boracay, such as Cebu and Guimaras, would be promoted in order to absorb displaced workers and tourists.

A massive demolition is in store for Boracay, DILG’s Año — formerly a military chief of staff — noted during the Senate hearing. Last Tuesday, presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. told Malacañang reporters that no specific courses of action were discussed during the Cabinet meeting of March 5.

“The President said that while we are in the process of legal and factual fact-finding, that the initiatives as far as local government officials that allowed the many violations in Boracay shall be led by the DILG; whereas, the compliance with environmental laws will be led by the DENR,” Roque said.

Based on Duterte’s own pronouncements, he expects Año to show results within four months.

PH AMONG BEST... FROM PAGE A1

on 65 attributes and included 21,000 respondents worldwide.

“U.S. News and World Report said it used cri-teria developed by The Wharton School of the Uni-versity of Pennsylvania and Y&R’s BAV Group.”

According to a report by ABS-CBN News, the report’s attributes were grouped into nine sub-rankings of adventure, cultural influence, entre-preneurship, heritage, movers, open for business, power and quality of life.

Joining the Philippine in the top 10 are In-donesia, Poland, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Spain, Thailand, India and Oman.Remittances and tourism industry

“Recent government actions have boosted so-cial spending in an effort to battle high unemploy-ment and manage a rapidly growing population, a quarter of which lives below the poverty line,” U.S. News said.

In a report by GMA News, U.S. News also cit-ed that “threats to national order also come from separatist groups primarily based in the southern part of the country.”

“Each year, the Philippine economy is flooded with billions of dollars sent home by the large number of Filipinos living abroad. These remit-tances, along with a flourishing tourism industry, have helped maintain a budget surplus,” the report said.

“But the implicit dependence on global trends has proved risky, and opportunities in electronics, petroleum and other goods are being explored,” the report added.

The report said foreign investment in the Philippines was low, “but frequent devastating tsunamis and other national disasters often draw large amounts of humanitarian aid.”

“International rights groups have criticized the president for his controversial drug war, which has resulted in thousands of deaths,” U.S. News said.

“The Philippines is a member of major inter-national organizations, including the United Na-tions, the ASEAN Regional Forum and the World Trade Organization, among others,” U.S. News added.

In another report by The Philippine Daily In-quirer, U.S. News has cited a United Nations data

which shows that the country has continued to perform well despite declining inflows of foreign direct investment or FDI to Southeast Asia.

“In South and Southeast Asia, several coun-tries, including Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philip-pines, are expected to receive more FDI in years to come, especially from within the region, in line with a division of labor between more developed countries (increasingly focusing on goods with higher value added) and less developed countries (increasingly focusing on labor-intensive activi-ties),” the UN Conference on Trade (UNCTAD) and Development’s World Investment Report 2017 said.

“This may continue to strengthen these coun-tries’ positions in regional production networks. For instance, five Chinese companies plan to invest $10 billion in the aviation, downstream oil, renewable energy, iron and steel, and shipbuilding industries in the Philippines,” UNCTAD said.

According to U.S. News, the Philippines “is ex-pected to receive more FDI from within the region from powerhouses like China that are looking to utilize available labor in developing nations.”

In the same report by The Philippine Daily Inquirer, in a text message to reporters last March 5, Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez III has attrib-uted the Philippines’ top ranking to its “young and hardworking workforce, an excellent inclusive growth momentum, an expanding middle class, politically stable environment, strong and popu-lar leadership, fiscal discipline, stable monetary policy, membership in ASEAN, an achievable infrastructure program, a strong anti-corruption drive, and improved revenue collection.”

CHIEF JUSTICE... FROM PAGE A2

who unlawfully holds a public office or holds a position where he or she is not qualified. Calida insisted that a quo warranto proceeding is a “proper remedy to question the validity of Sereno’s appointment.”

Calido said Sereno will also be given a chance

to answer the allegations against her at the Su-preme Court. Sereno is facing an impeachment trial for alleged culpable violation of the Constitu-tion, corruption, other high crimes and betrayal of public trust.

“They can proceed with their impeachment. Insofar as we are concerned, the proper remedy is quo warranto,” Calida told reporters.

BODIES OF 2 WORKERS... FROM PAGE A2

area is one of those identified as landslide-prone.But he added that some residents continued

to defy the order and continued to quarry for limestone for livelihood.

Escobia said the provincial government was looking into the situation, urging the local government units for strict compliance on quarry laws.

He also said Bohol Gov. Edgar Chatto in-structed LGUs to monitor and check the permits issued to operators. (Leo Udtuhan / inquirer.net)

PACQUIAO MULLING... FROM PAGE A3

Roy M. Loyola, is one of mine. I have known him from a long way back, perhaps too long, that I have already heard of all his oft-repeated jokes and ban-ters,” Lacson said.

“Between you and me, Mr. Chairman, Con-gressman Roy has two ways to win the hearts of his friends, relatives and constituents – I am tempted to go further and say ladies. Yes, our nominee is the most amazing lady killer I’ve seen in my whole life, either through his good sense of humor or his mouth-watering binalot or rice and adobo wrapped

in banana leaves.”Turning serious, Lacson said Loyola, a lawyer

by profession and a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, has “modestly achieved his calling as a public servant.” (Maila Ager / inquirer.net)

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The National Telecommu-nications Commission (NTC) has ordered Globe Telecom and mobile content provider Got Deals Mobile Inc. to answer the complaint filed by a netizen on alleged theft of prepaid load.

The NTC issued a two-page summons dated February 28 ordering Globe Telecom and Got Deals Mobile Inc. to ap-pear before the commission on March 8, Thursday.

The commission also ordered Globe Telecom to suspend its contract with the mobile content provider pend-ing the investigation.

“You are hereby sum-moned and required to file and serve your answer to the letter complaint of Ms. Feanne H. Mauricio, a copy of which is herewith served upon you, within five working days after service hereof exclusive of the date of service,” it stated.

“Upon receipt of this Order, Globe Telecom, Inc. is likewise hereby directed to immediately suspend the implementation of its Content Provider Agreement with Got Deals Mobile, Inc. pending investigation of this complaint,” it said.

The summons was issued after netizen Feanne Mauricio filed a letter-complaint with the NTC accusing the telecommu-nications firm of perpetrating a “hidden charges scam.”

Mauricio, in a viral Face-book post, said that she “was being charged P5 multiple times every day for months, all for nothing.” As of writing, her post has gained more than 12,000 likes and reactions as well as more than 11,000 shares.

Senator Bam Aquino on Monday, launched a Senate probe to address the numerous complaints on the disappear-

ance of prepaid mobile loads or “nakaw load.”

Aquino, chairman of the Senate committee on science and technology, also urged tele-communication firms to provide a notification system on load deductions.

The senator said this would prevent instances of “nakaw load” or the disappearance of load from many subscribers.

“By the next hearing which will be by the end of March, we hope that our telcos will be able to mention na sumusunod na sila sa solusyon na ito; at iyon ay ‘yung bawat load na ibaba-was po sa atin, kailangan po mayroon tayong notification at kung nakita natin na hindi tama ito, mayroon tayong oras para i- complain ito at ibalik yung pera po sa atin,” Aquino said in an interview on Monday. (Julius N. Leonen / inquirer.net)

Q: If I remove my husband as an authorized user, will my bad credit be removed from his?

A: Some of the things we do are irreversible. This is

one of them. When we add an authorized user to our account, that account will also appear in their credit report as an autho-rized user only account.

What does this mean? It allows anyone reading the credit report to know that he does not own that account. It is not the same as a co-maker or co-applicant to the account. It only means that they have been given permission by the account owner to use that credit for any reason or purchase they want. The account owner can also set restrictions for the authorized user such as taking cash out of the ac-count. It does not make the authorized user a responsible party to the debt. How-ever, if the owner of the account were to default on payments, they can contact this person and ask them some information in order to get a hold of the account holder. Also, if the account is delinquent, this will show up on the authorized user’s credit report which also makes them look bad.

Does it affect their credit score? In most cases, since they are not the respon-sible party, it does not unless they have their own debts that are also delinquent.

Can you take out the authorized user off the account? Yes, you can but it does not mean that the delinquent account will disappear from their credit report auto-matically. The authorized user can request the credit reporting agencies to remove them since they are no longer a user of the account and they are not responsible.

Ang ating lesson, Sa problemang ant-ing gagawin ay isipin at ang ating idada-may ay di sisingilin.

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FilAm StarA8 March 8 - 14, 2018

business &tech newsItama po natin!

BEN LOU

NTC orders Globe, mobile content provider to explain ‘nakaw load’

WeChat accounts cross one billion mark: CEO

WeChat’s worldwide ac-counts have crossed the one billion mark, according to the chief executive of its parent company Tencent.

The all-in-one app is a daily necessity for most Chinese, bringing together messaging, social media, mobile payment, games, news and other services.

“WeChat’s worldwide monthly active users have surpassed the critical one bil-lion mark,” CEO Pony Ma said

Monday on the sidelines of China’s parliamentary session underway in Beijing.

“In the future, we hope to use technological innovation to push forward the next devel-opmental step of reform and opening,” Ma said.

He was referring to China’s economic liberalization policy that has fuelled four decades of breakneck economic growth.

Although Ma said WeChat’s monthly active users had

crossed the one billion thresh-olds, a company spokesman told AFP he was referring to its total number of accounts.

Still, the one billion figure indicates the huge user base which Tencent has built up both inside and outside China for its all-in-one app.

It compares with 2.1 bil-lion monthly active users on Facebook and 1.5 billion on its messaging app WhatsApp.

The popularity of WeChat — and profits from its addictive mobile games — have pushed Tencent’s earnings and share price sharply upwards.

The company surpassed Facebook in market value last year and the 47-year-old Ma has rocketed to near the apex of China’s rich list.

He is the wealthiest delegate to the parliamentary session, according to Shanghai-based luxury magazine pub-lisher Hurun Report, which estimated his fortune at $47 billion. (inquirer.net)

(Photo: www.peripherydigital.com)

February inflation surges to 4.5%Consumer prices further

rose at a faster pace in February as prices of food and beverage as well as “sin” products contin-ued to increase partly as a result of the first tax reform package that took effect last Jan. 1.

In a report Tuesday, Philip-pine Statistics Authority data showed that using 2012 as the new base year, the headline in-flation rate jumped 3.9 percent last month, the fastest rate of increase in prices of basic goods since August 2014’s 4.2 percent.

Using the old consumer price index (CPI) series based on 2006 prices, inflation hit 4.5 percent, also the highest in more than three years.

“The uptrend resulted from the faster annual gain recorded in the heavily weighted food and nonalcoholic beverages index at 4.8 percent and the double-digit annual increment in alcoholic beverages and tobacco index at 16.9 percent,” the PSA explained.

Under Republic Act No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Act, the unitary excise tax slapped on cigarettes rose to P32.50 per pack effective Jan. 1 from P30 a pack last year. The TRAIN Law starting Jan. 1 this year also jacked up or slapped new excise taxes on oil, cigarettes, sugary drinks and vehicles, among other goods, to compensate for the restructured personal income tax regime that raised the tax-exempt cap to an annual salary of P250,000.

The PSA said that prices in four other commodity groups also increased in February: Clothing and footwear, up 2 percent year-on-year; furnish-ing, household equipment and routine maintenance of the house, up 2.5 percent; trans-port, up 5.8 percent, as well as restaurant and miscellaneous goods and services, up 2.5 percent.

“Lower annual hikes were, however, noticed in the indices

of housing, water, electric-ity, gas and other fuels at 2.6 percent; communication, 0.2 percent, and recreation and cul-ture, 1.4 percent,” the PSA said.

“A faster annual mark-up of 4.8 percent in February was, likewise, observed in the food-alone index at the national

level. It was pegged at 4.6 per-cent in the previous month and 3.2 percent in February 2017,” the PSA added.

Measures to curb inflation and cushion its impact on the poor are urgently needed, the National Economic and Devel-opment Authority said.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said that the government should remain vigilant and pre-pared to implement measures that will mitigate the upside risks to inflation.

“The transitory impact of the TRAIN Law and the continued depreciation of the peso will mainly influence price movements in the coming months, and we must ensure that mitigating measures should be in place,” the Neda official said.

Pernia said government must pay closer attention to the

poor. He said there was a need to expand the Pantawid Pamily-ang Pilipino Program (4Ps) and to fast track the distribution of unconditional cash transfer (UCT) from the TRAIN. He also reiterated the call to replace the quantitative restrictions on rice with tariffs. This is expected to

lower the price of rice and raise revenues for agricultural pro-grams such as crop diversifica-tion and investment in disaster risk resiliency.

Pernia also noted that the government, through the ac-tive lead of the Department of Trade and Industry, needed to strengthen the surveillance of businesses’ compliance with the country’s laws and regulations on fair consumer goods pricing to prevent the occurrence of profiteering. (Ben O. De Vera / inquirer.net)

(Photo: www.financialtribune.com)

Argentina’s former presi-dent Cristina Kirchner and other senior members of her government have been referred for public trial over an alleged cover-up of Iranian involvement in a 1994 bombing of a Jewish charity in Buenos Aires, the ju-diciary announced on Monday.

Judge Claudio Bonadio has closed the investigative phase of the case, referring it to a higher level court for a public trial, the judiciary said. A start date has yet to be set.

The bombing of the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Aid organization killed 85 people, the deadliest attack of its kind on Argentine soil.

Kirchner and her former foreign minister Hector Tim-erman and others in her 2007-

2015 administration are accused of abuse of power and obstruc-tion for signing a memorandum of understanding with Iran in 2012 that would have estab-lished a “truth commission” to investigate the bombing.

The case against them was opened in January 2015, on the basis of charges brought by Al-berto Nisman, a prosecutor who was found dead in mysterious circumstances four days later.

Nisman had claimed that the memorandum of under-standing was a maneuver to cover up for the involvement of Iran and Hezbollah in the attack.

The case languished after his death, but Bonadio reacti-vated it in August 2016.

Kirchner, who has de-

nounced the charges against her as a political persecution, nonetheless has said she wel-comes an open trial to prove her innocence. (AFP)

FilAm StarMarch 8 - 14, 2018 A9

Argentine ex-president Kirchner to be tried in Iranian cover-up case

N.Korea’s Kim, Seoul envoys discuss easing tensions: KCNA

Cristina Kirchner(www.thesun.co.uk)

US President Donald Trump vowed Monday he will not back down on imposing steep tariffs on steel and alu-minum on Canada and Mexico unless he gets a “fair” deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement.

He also criticized the European Union for the trade barriers on US companies and repeated his threat to slap tariffs on European car imports if Brussels retaliates against the steel tariffs.

Speaking as US, Mexican and Canadian trade officials were gathered in Mexico City for the final day of the seventh round of talks aimed at modern-izing and modifying NAFTA, Trump doubled down on the threat he made on Twitter early Monday.

“No, we’re not backing down,” Trump told reporters following his Oval Office meet-ing with embattled Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. “There will be tariffs on steel for Canada and for Mexico.”

But the US leader who prides himself on his ability to negotiate business deals, and last week said trade wars were “good, and easy to win,” said the tariffs could depend on the outcome of the NAFTA talks. Those negotiations that already had hit serious roadblocks over US demands.

Trump’s surprise an-nouncement last week that he plans to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminum, sparked a fierce global response, including from NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico.

Trade experts and of-ficials in Ottawa and Mexico City raised the possibility the neighboring nations could be exempt from new measures, but the president rejected that possibility and raised the stakes by holding the NAFTA talks hostage to the tariffs.

“We have had a bad deal

with Mexico. Very bad deal with Canada,” Trump said. “Our fac-tories have left our country, our jobs have left our country. For many years, NAFTA has been a disaster.”

And without a deal “that’s fair to the workers and the American people,” he will termi-nate NAFTA, he said.

“Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum will only come off if new & fair NAFTA agreement is signed,” Trump said in one of a series of morning tweets.

Canada, which has the most to lose as the top source of US steel to the US market, has called the tariffs “unacceptable.”

Mexico’s Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo in a tweet said the threat is “the wrong way to incentivize the creation of a new & modern NAFTA.”

Despite Trump’s tweet claiming there is a large trade deficit with Canada, in fact the United States maintains a trade surplus with its northern neigh-bor of nearly $8 billion in 2016, and nearly $3 billion in the first nine months of 2017.

The US has a deficit with Mexico that was $63 billion in 2016, and $52 billion in the first three quarters of last year.

Trump administration officials frequently refer to the deficit in goods alone, excluding the offset from dominant US services exports of things like banking and insurance.Retaliation

Trump ignited fears of a trade war and an outcry from major trading partners with his surprise announcement about

the steel and aluminum tariffs, and an even broader threat to impose reciprocal tariffs on all imports from countries that impose duties on US exports.

“People have to understand, our country on trade has been ripped off by virtually every country in the world,” even by “people that we think are won-derful,” Trump said Monday.

Repeating his concern about the US trade deficit of $800 billion last year, he said “the biggest problem is China.”

While Trump said he did not think there would be a trade war, US trading partners already are preparing to retaliate, and have pledged to file a dispute in the World Trade Organization.

French President Em-manuel Macron said Monday the European Union must “react quickly” to US plans that clearly breached WTO rules.

Germany warned against protectionist measures, which it said “would inflict pain” on both sides of the Atlantic.

British Prime Minister Theresa May raised her “deep concern” about the tariffs in a phone call with Trump on Sun-day, her office said.

The European Union has said it is drawing up measures against leading US brands like Harley-Davidson and Levi’s jeans.

Trump said the EU has “trade barriers far worse than tariffs,” and again threatened to “tax their cars” if they go through with their response.

That is just the kind of tit-for-tat reaction that economist warn could spark a trade war at a time when the US and global economies have only recently returned to firmer footing.

The steel and aluminum tariffs were recommended by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross after a report from his agency concluded that the glut of the metals on global markets was a threat to US national secu-rity. (AFP)

(Photo: www.agweb.com)

Trump vows to keep steel tariffs on Mexico, Canada without ‘fair’ NAFTA deal

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un discussed ways to ease tensions on the peninsula with visiting South Korean envoys, the state KCNA news agency reported Tuesday.

Kim “warmly welcomed” the South Korean officials, who handed over a letter from Presi-dent Moon Jae-in.

“Hearing the intention of President Moon Jae In for a summit from the special envoy of the south side, he exchanged views and made a satisfactory agreement,” the Korean Central News Agency said.

“He also made an exchange of in-depth views on the issues for easing the acute military tensions on the Korean Penin-sula and activating the versatile dialogue, contact, cooperation and exchange,” it reported.

Kim’s meeting with the most senior South Koreans to travel to the North in more than a decade is the latest step in an Olympics-driven rapprochement on the divided peninsula.

The delegation is pushing for talks between the nuclear-armed regime and the United States, after Kim sent his sister Kim Yo Jong to the Winter Games in the South.

Kim has invited Moon to a summit in Pyongyang.

Kim Yo Jong’s trip was the first visit to the South by a mem-ber of the North’s ruling dynasty since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

Her appearance at the Games’ opening ceremony -- where athletes from the two Ko-reas marched together -- made global headlines.

The Winter Olympics provided “a good atmosphere of reconciliation, unity and dia-logue between the north and the south”, KCNA quoted Kim Jong Un as telling the South Korean envoys.

Moon has sought to use the Pyeongchang Games to open dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang in hopes of easing a nuclear standoff that

has heightened fears for global security.

Before leaving for Pyong-yang, the South’s national security advisor Chung Eui-yong said: “We plan to hold in-depth discussions for ways to continue not only inter-Korean talks but dialogue between North Korea and the international communi-ty including the United States.”

It is a challenging task -- in defiance of UN sanctions, the isolated and impoverished North last year staged its most powerful nuclear test and test-fired several missiles, some of them capable of reaching the US mainland.

US President Donald Trump dubbed Kim “Little Rocket Man” and boasted about the size of his own nuclear but-ton, while the North Korean leader called Trump a “mentally deranged US dotard”.

They traded threats of war and sent tensions soaring before a thaw in the run-up to the Win-ter Olympics. (AFP)

world news

U.S. calls on Taliban to consider Ghani peace talk offerThe United States on

Monday called on the Taliban to consider an offer for peace talks extended by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Ghani at an international conference in Kabul last week unveiled a plan to open talks with the Taliban, including eventually recognizing them as a political party.

In return, Ghani said the militants should officially rec-ognize the Afghan government and constitution, a perennial sticking point in past attempts to open talks.

Taliban spokesman Zabiul-lah Mujahid has maligned the Kabul Process, tweeting that the conference sought the Taliban’s “surrender.”

Alice Wells, the principal deputy assistant secretary for the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, told reporters she had been struck by Ghani’s proposal.

“I heard him offering a dignified process,” she said.

“This is not a surrender that’s being offered to the Tali-

ban, but a dignified process for reaching a political framework,” she added, noting that the Kabul conference was “really a historic benchmark event.”

Wells said the Afghan government had “listened care-

fully” to the Taliban and was responsive to a number of their requests.

Ghani’s offer was “quite for-ward-leaning and frankly I think probably caught the Taliban by surprise,” Wells said. “This was quite a courageous offer.”

“We certainly encourage

the Taliban to take this offer seriously. It does put the onus on the Taliban to respond,” she added.

Last week, the Taliban said it was prepared to enter direct talks with the US to find a

“peaceful solution” to more than 16 years of war.

That statement however made no mention of negotiating with the Afghan government -- a condition which the US has long stated is vital to any peace process. (AFP)

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani(www.voanews.com)

FilAm StarA10 March 8 - 14, 2018

FilAm StarMarch 8 - 14, 2018 B1

starliners12U baseball team from the SF Peninsula is Cooperstown-bound July 2018

San Bruno, CA – Thirteen tournaments, ten championship games, four championships. This group of scrappy kids have come a long way since their team was formed in the summer of 2017.

But, it was not always this easy.

It took a while to form this team of 12-year old boys. They faced challenges in the begin-ning. They encountered hin-drances.

Most of them started as strangers – two kids from San Bruno, one from South San Francisco, six from Millbrae, and four from Daly City. They all played in their city’s respective baseball leagues since they were four- and five-year olds.

But there was never a hint of awkwardness, even from those

initial moments of getting to know each other.

They even had mismatched hats during the first few tourna-ments. But they all have one thing in common. They all share a deep love for the game of baseball. Their three coaches (Dale Brewer from San Bruno, Eric Ginebra from Millbrae and Angelo Manila from Daly City) are equally passionate.

Within a month or two, they started to win games, fin-ish second and eventually win championships. Tournaments

Every weekend tourna-ment they joined would take them miles away from the Peninsula. Their families would wake up and drive out early to Santa Cruz, Antioch, Fremont, Sunnyvale and other cities in

Northern California. There they would stay late into the night as the boys play 2-3 games a day and return the next day for the playoffs.

All their victories were because they choose to play as a team. When one player is down, the next kid picks him up.

They have shown grit, per-severance and hard work. Championships

After thirteen tournaments, they have earned four champion-ships together. The latest victory was earned last March 3-4 at the March Madness Baseball Tournament organized by the Northern California Tournament Baseball in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The team’s three other championships were earned at the following tournaments: Halloween Havoc in Antioch (October 28-29); Toys for Tots Baseball Tournament in Fre-mont (December 2-3); and at the Millbrae Invitational Baseball Tournament (January 27-28).Cooperstown, New York

All the boys’ hard work are meant for their ultimate objec-tive of winning against teams from other states in Cooper-stown, New York. The Golden Gaters are scheduled to play at the Dreams Park in Cooperstown on the week of July 20-26, 2018. They will be pitted against other 12u teams from across the coun-try for a higher caliber and level of competition.

The boys of the California Golden Gaters (Cooperstown 2018) are: Javi Manila (Daly City), Jeric Buncio, Jr. (Daly City), Parker Mendoza (Daly City), Ricardo Uribe, Jr. (Daly City), Aaron Academia (Mill-brae), Aiden Adeva (Millbrae), Tyler Chan (Millbrae), Edgar Magaña (Millbrae), Matteo Fabbi (Millbrae), Oliver Gine-bra (Millbrae), Jordan Zahar (Millbrae), Jake Brewer (San Bruno), Ryan Bower (SSF/San

Bruno) and Sebastian Conclara (San Bruno).Fundraisers

Meanwhile, the team and their families are raising funds to cover their participation fee in Cooperstown and the boys’ travel expenses.

They have organized sev-eral a few fundraisers in recent months as well as started a GoFund Me page. If you wish to support this team of boys, please donate through this link: https://www.gofundme.com/goldengaters2018

The team can be reached through their team manager, Eric Ginebra, through email ad-dress: cagoldengaters18@gmail.com.

Millbrae Invitational Tournament championship win (January 27-28)

Halloween Havoc championship win (October 2017) in Antioch, Califor-nia. (1st row) Javi Manila, Coach Angelo Manila; (2nd row) Tyler Chan,

Ricardo Uribe, Jr., Jake Brewer, Sebastian Conclara, Aidan Adeva, Aaron Academia; (3rd row) Oliver Ginebra, Parker Mendoza, Jeric Buncio, Jr., Edgar Magaña; (last row) Coach Eric Ginebra, Ryan Bower, and Coach

Dale Brewer

FilAm StarB2 March 8 - 14, 2018

An evening to remember with good food, drink and danceThe Rotary Club of Daly City and Colma is hosting the Black and White Ball to raise

funds for various projects both local and international. The gala event will begin at 6:00 p.m., Saturday, March 17, 2018 at the Buri-Buri Ballroom located at 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco.

The event will raise funds for outdoor exercise equipment for the Daly City Library and Recreational Services adjacent to the Doelger Senior Center in Lake Merced, the creation of a community center in the Philippines in partnership with the urban design firm INCLUDED, research on preventing Type II Diabetes and Obesity within the Filipino community, and raising awareness of the important contributions of Filipinos in society through the development of a Filipino Cultural Center in San Francisco.

The Rotary Club of Daly City and Colma has partnered with INCLUDED, is a non-profit urban design firm that designs and builds relatively inexpensive modular structures that provide dignified environments for children and their families living in urban slums.

Local government officials, dignitaries and prominent professionals are expected to attend. The event will be an opportunity to enjoy an appetizing dinner followed by an enjoyable evening of dance and music.

The Rotary Club of Daly City are a welcoming group of men and women from different backgrounds, age groups, cultures and occupations that meet twice a month to exchange ideas on how to address and solve problems in our communities.

For more information about this event please contact James Calacal, Rotary Club President at jcalacal@aol.com or Donnamarie Howe at itsdonnamarie@yahoo.com.

Daly City, CA – April 7, 2018 – “Fashion with a Mission” is the theme for the annual fundraising event of the Philippine Medical Society of Northern California (PMSNC). A special performance by comedian Rex Navarrete and a fashion show by humanitarian designer Gia Galicia will headline the event. Designers Amy Lai, Rolando Carlin, Adrine Karapetyan, Eva Mejl, Coco Melody and Puey Quinones will also be featured. Proceeds will benefit next year’s medical mission in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. PMSNC has been conducting annual medical missions since 1986.

PMSNC is also committed to conducting community outreach pro-grams in Northern California. The last outreach program was held in San Jose, California on October 15, 2017 and led by Dr. Rosemarie Padua. Vol-unteers helped 234 visitors receive free flu vaccines and other screenings. The PMSNC provides scholarships to deserving Filipino-American medical students each year and relies mostly on volunteer hours and donations from individuals and sponsors to help fund its programs.

Special needs require special care

Care Indeed was one of the exhibitors at the Special Needs Planning Symposium which was held at the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country Hotel last February 15-17. The event aimed to provide the best edu-cation and training when plan-ning for people with disabilities. Photo shows Vanessa Valerio, RN, CMC, Care Indeed’s COO and VP for Patient Care.

Agnes Domingo Singh (left) and Pie Ocampo Panganiban (right)celebrated their birthdays with friends and family on February18, 2018

Be a Star ! Send us pictures of your events so the world may know.Congratulations to Olivia and Mario (4th and 5th from left) on their 25th

wedding anniversary. The couple renewed their vows last Mar. 3 attended by friends and family at South Lake Tahoe.

The PAL Seniors Interclub champions trophy (Championship Division) returns to Canlubang at the close of the 32nd Seniors Interclub at Bacolod. Shown holding the trophy is Canlubang team captain Luigi Yulo (5th from right) together with other Canlubang golfers, flanked by PAL executives. They are, from left, Dina May Flores, Interclub executive committee; Damasus Wong, Rolly Viray, Dave Hernandez, Abe Avena, Luigi Yulo, Boyet Saragoza, Jose Mari Hechanova, Zaldy Villa and Bong Velasquez, Interclub chairman.

PAL Seniors InterclubCanlubang’s 10th Seniors trophy

SAN JOSE – Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County (CCSCC) announced last March 2 receipt of a $325,000 grant from Google, Inc. to help improve Catholic Charities’ Communities Organizing Re-sources to Advance Learning’s (CORAL’s) Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM) pro-gram at Anne Darling Elemen-tary School.

Catholic Charities initi-ated CORAL in 2003 as a K-8 expanded program that focuses on improving academic per-formance with literacy and homework support.

CCSCC CEO Gregory Kepferle said in his welcome address that Anne Darling is but one of 22 sites in San Jose that helps 2,500 students every day. And that about 119 stu-dents every day at Anne Darling are involved in after-school programs like the Tech Chal-lenge at the Tech Museum. The CORAL program also helps stu-dents at other San Jose Unified schools and Franklin-McKinley School District.

CCSCC Program Direc-tor America Gomez explained that some of these students are located at the most disadvan-taged areas of San Jose. The school’s demographics list 80.3 percent of them are Latino, 86.2

percent are socio-economically disadvantaged and 52.6 percent are English learners. Gomez explained that there are five CORAL After-school instructors who stay with those enrolled until 6 pm.

Of the 119 students enrolled in CORAL at Anne Darling, 45 percent are female; 55 percent, male and 92 percent are Latino.

Kepferle also said that because of CORAL, their reading level is now up to 42 percent, English learners have improved by 28 percent and absenteeism has been re-duced from 30 to 35 percent.

He also said that they’ve seen 65 percent increase in interest on STEM topics, 60 percent increase in STEM abili-ties and 55 percent increase in interest on STEM careers.

Kepferle added that Google’s was the largest single corporate grant for Catholic

charities to date. And with the tools from Google’s support, initiate a new STEM curriculum that will eventually be adapted at the other CORAL sites.

Google’s Adrian Schurr said with the grant, the school can open new computer labs and get the kids up to speed coding. He also said they may soon be making and playing with robots soon. He invited the

kids to a future tour of Google’s grounds. He added that 60 percent of all economic growth is due to scientific progress and it starts with STEM.

Anne Dar-ling Principal Ron Hammond chimed in that diversity provides better products and innovations.

District 3 City Council member Raul Peralez told the students that he had a degree in Math and was a police officer. But before that, he

studied in the STEM program. He told the kids that they can go to the moon with STEM and that there was more computing power in their cell phones than there was in the first computer that was as big as a room.

Mayor Sam Liccardo told the kids they were the future and that somebody else had to lead the city when he’s out.

FilAm StarMarch 8 - 14, 2018 B3

community awareness

Google grant to help San Jose elementary school STEM program

7 Lakes of Northern California, Inc. inducts new officersThe 7 Lakes of Northern

California held the Induction of Officers last February 24,2018 who will be serving the admin-istration from 2018-2019. The memorable event was held in Embassy Suites in Milpitas with the Synthesis Band as the official

music that played on hand. The event also coincided with the 36th Anniversary Celebration. Notably, 36 years ago, the late Dr. Mario Borja founded this organization which is non profit-501©(3) tax exempt organiza-tion, with a thought of serving all those who hailed from San Pablo, Laguna , Philippines and now residing here in the Bay Area.

With a theme of,” A Night in Hollywood” the officers , board members, members and guests came in their glamorous attires-women in their elegant evening gowns, and gentlemen in their beautiful Tux and Black Tie, walking in style like “OSCAR”s

” actors/actresses threading the Red Carpet

The program began promptly after dinner, jubilant-ly carried through by Rachel Ticzon Balugo, the Mistress of Ceremonies. The Invocation was rendered by one of its past presidents, Mandy Rosales, fol-lowed by the Welcome Address by Tina De Gorostizas Sitjar, Outgoing President, and follow-

ing immediately , all the Past Presidents were acknowledged for all their tireless support and services.

7 Lakes has achieved vari-ous commendable projects and programs benefitting those who hailed from San Pablo and beyond. Among their projects and programs, to mention a few are: Nazareth-Bahay Pag-ibig, Home for the Aged and Home-less, Bayanihan Cultural Center, San Pablo Puerecultural Center, Academic Scholarships Program for high school students, San Martin de Poress Orphanage and many, many more.

“It was another “Affair to Remember”, and as the over-all chairperson, I do not mind to walk a mile for the success of this memorable event,” ex-pressed Maricris Benitez, also one of the past presidents.

Following were the officers and board members who took their oath of office, led by the special guest and speaker , the Honorable Deputy Consul General , Raquel Solano, who I had the privilege of introducing prior to her Inspirational Speech and induction ceremony.

Charito Briones Ticzon-President; VP’s : Dhing Ticzon Machate, Daly City, Peninsula; Edna Turuel San Jose; Athena B. Bumagat, Marin/San Francisco; Mely Noble, Alameda/East Bay; Lillian Alinea-Rosales, Seretary; Rick Sitjar, Asst. Secretary; Angie Vitug-Cosico, Treasurer; Tessie Nobel, Asst. Treasurer; Minerva de Guzman, Auditor; Romie Borja, P.R.O.

Board of Direc-tors: Ellen Cayetano, Rey Cayetanom,Sophie Borja, Fred-die Ticzon, Lorna Llamas, Greg de Claro and Anisia Bartolome, Adviser: Raul Ticzon

It was an evening well spent, meeting and greeting most of kababayans from San Pablo, and I am honored to have been a special guests in the media.

For those who are inter-ested in becoming members and support the many pro-grams and projects of 7 Lakes of Northern California, Inc. may contact, Charito Ticzon at (650)438-1815;Maricris Benitez, (408)420-585

Some of the CORAL students at Anne Darling Elementary

Google’s Adrian Schurr

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo Anne Darling Principal RonHammond

By Harvey I. Barkin

Harvard study reveals consequences of eliminating individual mandate on enrollment, premiums

SACRAMENTO — Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee issued the following statement in connection with the Harvard Medical School Study, “Eliminating the Individual Mandate Penalty in California: Harmful but Non-Fatal Changes in Enrollment and Premiums,” published in Health Affairs.

The Harvard study, con-ducted by a team lead by Dr. John Hsu, is the first national effort to measure the potential impacts of removing the individual mandate penalty based on surveying actual California consumers about their likely actions in the face of there being no penalty.

“The removal of the indi-vidual mandate penalty could result in 378,000 fewer Califor-nians with health insurance in the individual market, including approximately 250,000 who are currently insured through Cov-ered California.

“The drop in those with insurance would be even greater because there would also be drops in Medi-Cal, California’s Med-icaid program, since consumers often find out they are eligible for Medi-Cal while shopping for cov-erage through Covered California.

“While California would con-tinue to have a stable individual market, and we have the reserves and flexibility to adjust for this impact, the impacts would be real and significant for California’s consumers. Californians would be paying increased premiums, and some of those who go without insurance could face big medi-cal bills when unforeseen health events occur.

“The consumers who leave the market would be rolling the dice, hoping they would remain healthy but the fact is that many of them will lose that bet. We know that life can change in an

instant, and an illness or injury can be a moment away for all of us.

“While we all think we won’t be the ones to get sick or injured, the reality is that if 378,000 Californians decide to go without insurance, about 60,000 of them (one out of six) are likely to need medical care that will cost them more than $10,000.

“The real penalty is not what the IRS will collect through the coming year for being uninsured but rather showing up at the hospital with no insurance and leaving with a massive debt.

“In addition, with a less-healthy consumer pool, Califor-nia’s individual market could be facing premium increases for 2019 of 12 to 16 percent — with the biggest driver being the re-moval of the individual mandate.

“Increases at this level are bad news for consumers but Cali-fornians would be in better shape than most of the nation would be. This study finds that four out of five Californians would opt to keep their coverage even with the penalty going away, and here we will once again be leaning in with a major marketing campaign to promote enrollment.

“The impact in many other states, however, is likely to be far worse. The removal of the penalty in those states will be compound-ed by the absence of effective marketing and the prospect of new skimpy insurance products, which would cause healthier people to leave the individual market. Premiums in many states could spike 30 percent in 2019 alone, with large increases in fu-ture years absent effective federal or state policies.

“While consumers who receive financial help — in Cali-fornia and across the nation — would be shielded from those rate

changes, unsubsidized consumers would have no such protections. These are middle class Americans with a median income of $75,000 — approximately 800,000 in California and 6 million across the country — who would be forced to pay the entire increase or would risk being priced out of coverage.

“It is important to note that in addition to the removal of the individual mandate penalty, a variety of other factors are caus-ing instability in the individual markets across the country, in-cluding the cuts in marketing and outreach in many states, and the prospect of short-term or limited-duration plans that fail to protect consumers or provide meaningful coverage.

“There is still time for policy makers to address these issues before they become a crisis for millions of Americans in 2019. However, just as there is not a single reason for the uncertainty we face, there is not a single solu-tion. There is a range of things policy makers should consider doing now to protect consumers and provide certainty for health insurance companies, including a federally supported reinsurance program, increased investments in marketing and other state-based solutions.

“Lawmakers should seri-ously consider these steps before we turn back the clock to a time when consumers had Swiss-cheese coverage, meaning they thought they had coverage until they sought to use it, or were turned away for having a pre-existing condition.”

View the study at https://www.healthaf-fairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20180223.551552/full/

VISITWWW.FILAMSTAR.COM

(L-R) Board of Directors Freddie Ticzon, Lorna Llamas, Secretary Lillian Rosales, Auditor Minerva De Guzman, Treasurer Angie Cosico, President

Charito Ticzon, Inducting Officer Raquel Solano, Vice President-San Jose/Silicon Valley Edna Teruel, Vice President-San Francisco/Matin Athena Bumagat, Vice President-East Bay Emile Noble and Assistant Secretary

Ric Sitjar

This is a lovely photo of us with Past President Jessie Ticzon, his wife the newly inducted President Charito Ticzon and the Guest Speaker & Induct-

ing Officer Deputy Consul General Raquel Solano from the Philippine Embassy in San Francisco. And of course my beautiful Tita Charito Beni-

payo, her debonair husband Romy Benipayo and Past President MariCris Benitez and Event Chairperson.

CALL US TO ADVERTISE415-278-0692

WASHINGTON— On Feb. 21 U.S. Citizen-ship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began receiving H-2B cap-subject petitions for the second half of fiscal year 2018.

During the first five business days USCIS received approximately 2,700 H-2B cap-subject petitions requesting approximately 47,000 workers, which is more than the number of H-2B visas available. As a result, USCIS, in accordance with applicable regu-lations, conducted a lottery on Feb. 28 to randomly select enough petitions to meet the cap.

USCIS will reject and return the petitions and associated filing fees to petitioners that were not selected, as well as any cap-subject petitions received after Feb. 27.

In January, the Department of Labor announced a change to its process of issuing labor certifications. As a result, on Feb. 7 US-CIS advised of the likely need to conduct an H-2B visa lottery for the second half of FY18. As was noted in that Feb. 7 statement, USCIS would be maintaining a flexible approach to this issue by ensuring H-2B visas were allo-cated fairly and would not exceed the cap.

USCIS continues to accept H-2B petitions that are exempt from, or not counted towards, the congressionally mandated cap. This in-cludes petitions for the following workers:

Current H-2B workers in the United States seeking to extend their stay and, if applicable, change the terms of their employ-ment or change their employers;

Fish roe processors, fish roe technicians, and/or supervisors of fish roe processing; and

Workers performing labor or services in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and/or Guam, until Dec. 31, 2019.

H-2B petitioners may continue to request premium processing together with their H-2B petition. However, please note that because the final receipt date was one of the first five business days of the filing season, petitions accepted in the lottery will be given a receipt date of March 1, 2018. Premium process-ing service for these petitions began on that receipt date.

U.S. businesses use the H-2B program to employ foreign workers for temporary nonag-ricultural jobs. Congress has set the H-2B cap at 66,000 per fiscal year, with 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the first half of the fiscal year (Oct. 1 - March 31) and 33,000 for workers who begin employment in the second half of the fiscal year (April 1 – Sept. 30). Additional information is available on the Cap Count for H-2B Nonimmigrants page.

For more information on USCIS and its programs, please visit uscis.gov or follow us on Twitter (@uscis), YouTube (/uscis), and Facebook (/uscis).

US President Donald Trump claimed Monday he was “ready to make a deal” protecting hun-dreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the country illegally as children, as lawmakers missed an initial deadline for resolving their fate.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program that shields nearly 700,000 of the so-called Dreamers from deportation was supposed to expire on March 5, six months after Trump announced he was ending it.

But a US District Court judge issued a nation-wide injunction that requires the government to allow recipients to renew their permits to live and work in the country, and the US Supreme Court declined to accept the administration’s request to intervene.

Both those developments have taken the pressure off lawmakers.

With Dreamers and advocates stressing that the immigrants remain in legal limbo -- weeks

after the White House and Congress failed spec-tacularly to address their fate -- Trump insisted he was ready to negotiate a solution.

“It’s March 5th and the Democrats are nowhere to be found on DACA. Gave them 6 months, they just don’t care,” Trump said on Twitter.

“Where are they? We are ready to make a deal!”

With courts unlikely to rule definitively on immigration before summer, and the case expected to head to the Supreme Court after that, Congress is not expected to act before the mid-term elections in November.

Immigration advocates have used the unmet deadline as an inflection point to pressure Con-gress and the White House.

“March 5 is the deadline Trump gave the Congress to act and they haven’t done any-thing,” Bruna Bouhid, a 26-year-old student and Dreamer from Tampa, told AFP as she and others marched from the Washington Mall to the US Capitol.

“We are here to make sure they don’t forget about us.”

Hundreds of activists and Dreamers descend-ed on Washington to press lawmakers into action. Many in a crowd of chanting protesters blocked traffic near the Capitol, while others demonstrat-ed inside congressional office buildings.

Some 87 arrests were made, US Capitol Po-lice reported.

Immigration-related demonstrations took place in several other cities, including New York.

“Stop playing with our lives!” said Lizbeth Huitzil, a young Mexican woman protesting in front of Trump Tower.

Lawmakers had every opportunity to legislate a fix, but the fate of the Dreamers has proved too divisive for Congress to resolve.

Last month, Democrats forced a brief govern-ment shutdown over the issue, demanding that the Senate’s Republican leaders set aside time to debate immigration.

They agreed, but despite a week of floor debate last month, the Senate failed to pass any of a series of proposals addressing the situation of the Dreamers, and House Speaker Paul Ryan has not brought a legislative solution to the floor for a vote.

‘Cruel and reckless’Among the Senate bills that failed to advance

was a Trump-backed plan that would provide a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million Dreamers -- the nearly 700,000 DACA registrants, plus 1.1 million who were eligible but did not register -- in exchange for extra border security funding and dramatic curtailment of legal immigration.

Several congressional Democrats and im-migration advocates have warned that despite the court injunction, DACA recipients remain in legal uncertainty thanks to a crisis they say is of Trump’s making.

“Without a permanent solution, Trump’s cruel and reckless decision will tear more families apart, shatter communities, drive immigrants into the shadows, and make us all less safe as a result,” Democratic National Committee chair-man Tom Perez said in a statement.

Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairwoman Michelle Lujan Grisham urged “all our colleagues to support the fair, permanent, and narrow bipar-tisan bills that protect Dreamers and which have the votes to pass the House and Senate.”

Congress was already moving on. The Senate considers several judicial nominees this week, negotiations over federal spending are ongoing, and lawmakers are mulling whether to reform gun laws following a deadly school shooting in Florida. (AFP)

Visa denial based on your admission to a crime involving moral turpitude and controlled substance violation

Before going to your visa interview with the Consul at the U.S. Embassy, you should be aware that mere admission of committing a crime involving Moral Tur-pitude and admitting Controlled Substance

violation may lead to visa denial. This is because there is a questionnaire in the Form DS 260 Application for Immigrant Visa asking “Have you ever committed a crime? and “Have you ever been a drug abuser or addict?

Under INA 212(a)(2)(A)(i) a foreign national is inadmissible to the U.S. if he or she has been convicted of, or admitted to, com-mitting a crime involving moral turpitude, or a controlled substance violation. In this regard it is important to understand what actions constitute an “admission” to identify a client’s possible inadmissibility.

The procedure is governed by Foreign Affairs Manual 9 FAM 302.3-2(B)(4) which discusses admissions to crimes involving moral turpitude, specifying rules of procedure for eliciting admissions for crimes involving moral turpitude from visa applicants which have been imposed by the court and Board of Immigra-tion Appeals decisions. Specifically, consular officers must abide by the following provisions regarding admissions:

- The crime committed by the applicant must appear to constitute moral turpitude based on the statute. It is not necessary for the applicant to admit that the crime involves moral turpitude;

- Before the actual questioning, the con-sular officer must give the applicant an ad-equate definition of the crime, including all of the essential elements. The consular officer must explain the definition to the applicant in terms he or she understands; making certain the explanation conforms carefully to the law of the jurisdiction where the offense is alleged to have been committed;

- The consular officer must give the ap-plicant a full explanation of the purpose of the questioning. The applicant must then be placed under oath and the proceedings must be recorded verbatim;

- The applicant must admit all of the fac-tual elements which constituted the crime; and

- The applicant’s admission of the crime must be explicit, unequivocal and unqualified.

In addition, 9 FAM 302.4-2(B) (4) dis-cusses admissions to controlled substance violations, stating that a foreign national may be found inadmissible if he or she admits to the essential elements of a drug violation. Thus, informal statements of prior conduct to a consular officer at a visa interview do not constitute admissions for determining a foreign national’s admissibility. Please note that the Consulate may have proof of your past history of drug use by checking on your physi-cal examination result. If this happen your

best situation is to tell the consul that you have already been doing drug rehabilitation.Note: This is not a legal advice.SUCCESS STORIES

1. For the week ending March 2, 2018, we received three Adjustment of Status, one Appli-cation to Remove Condition on Residence and one Renewal of Green Card approvals.

2. For the week ending February 9, 2018, we received approvals of one I-485, one N-400, one I-90 and one I-751.

3. On January 12, 2018, we received an ap-proval of immigrant visa at the U.S. Consulate Manila for an alien who applied for I-601-A as one who entered as a seaman.

4. On January 10, 2018, we received an ap-proval form USCIS of a self petition for abused spouse based on same sex marriage.

5. On January 3, 2018, we received an ap-proval from the Immigration Court for a waiver of misrepresentation for a client who was charged with misrepresentation in marriage;

6. On December 15, 2017, we received an approval from USCIS for an adjustment of sta-tus for same sex marriage for an applicant who entered without inspection but has Sec. 245 (i).

7. On November 16, 2017, we received an approval from Immigration Court for a waiver of misrepresentation for entering as single daughter of U.S. citizen but actually married.

8. On October 25, 2017, we received an approval of I-485 adjustment of status for our client who has a DUI but has proof that he has cleared his record.

9. On October 20, 2017, we received an approval of naturalization for a client who was granted a waiver of misrepresentation in Immigration Court.

10. On October 16, 2017, we received from USCIS an approval for an adjustment of status for same sex marriage, after two sched-uled interviews.

11. On October 9, 2017, we received an ap-proval from USCIS for adjustment of status for a client who entered as a seaman but has Sec. 245 (i) eligibility.

12. On October 2, 2017, we received an approval of adjustment of status from USCIS for a client who entered without inspection but has Sec. 245(i).

13. For the week ending September 15, 2017, we received three Immigrant Visa Approvals in U.S. Embassy Manila for three applicants who entered as seaman under the Provisional Waiver Program.

If you have immigration problems the Law Offices of Crispin C. Lozano can help you find a solution before your problem gets worse which could lead to deportation and family separa-tion.

Crispin Caday Lozano, Esq. is an active member of the State Bar of California, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. He specializes in immigration law and personal injury. For free consultation email or call (info@ccllaw.net / 1-877-456-9266)

FilAm StarB4 March 8 - 14, 2018

legal & law

ATTY. CRISPIN CADAY LOZANO

Uncertain future for ‘Dreamer’ immigrants as deadline passes

USCIS completes random selection process for H-2B visa cap for second half of FY 2018

(Left photos) Dreamers and DACA protestors (Right photo) President Donald Trump(Photo: www.express.co.uk)

Answers from LAST WEEK’S Krosword

BlackBerry sues Facebook over messaging apps

Canadian telecommunications firm BlackBerry sued Facebook on Tuesday, ac-cusing the American social media company of infringing on its patents for messaging apps.

BlackBerry is claiming infringement on patents it holds for message encryption and notifications, and is seeking an injunction as well as damages for lost profits, although no figure was given.

Facebook and its wholly-owned services Instagram and WhatsApp are named as de-fendants in the lawsuit. The company said it intends to fight the lawsuit.

“We have a lot of respect for Facebook and the value they’ve placed on messaging capabilities, some of which were invented by

BlackBerry,” BlackBerry spokeswoman Sarah McKinney said in a statement.

She said BlackBerry would like to partner with Facebook “in our drive toward a securely connected future, and we continue to hold this door open to them.”

“However, we have a strong claim that Facebook has infringed on our intellectual property, and after several years of dialogue, we also have an obligation to our sharehold-ers to pursue appropriate legal remedies,” McKinney added.

Facebook shot back by disparaging Black-Berry, saying the lawsuit “sadly reflects the current state of its messaging business.”

“Having abandoned its efforts to innovate, Blackberry is now looking to tax the innova-tion of others. We intend to fight,” Facebook deputy general counsel Paul Grewal said.

BlackBerry, after abandoning the manu-facture of its once-popular smartphones, which it also pioneered, has refocused its core business on cybersecurity software and services.

(Photo: www.techbeepress.com) (Photo: www.telegraph.co.uk)

visit our websitewww.filamstar.com

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For some people to even think that the church could be per-suaded to endorse porn or abortion is ridicu-lously absurd! The title is a satirical statement to highlight the stupid-ity of the suggestion that the Department

of Health, the very guardian and sentinel of health of our country, should endorse vaping! The health experts call it ludicrous. I say it is idiotic.

Vaping is the inhalation and exhalation of the vapor produced by an electronic ciga-rette or similar device, which is loaded with toxic chemicals. Since the use of cigarettes has declined in many countries, vaping, which is no less harmful, is being marketed as a substitute for smoking.

Here are important statements I am reprinting from the email this column received from the disease prevention advocacy agency, HealthJustice:

“It would be the height of absurdity for the Department of Health to endorse vaping. As far as the national and international scientific and medical community is concerned, vaping or the use of electronic cigarettes is not safe because these still emit toxic chemicals. And it is crucial that the public be informed about it,” said Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan, Board Member of HealthJustice and former Secretary of the DoH.”

“According to Dr. Domilyn Villarreiz, Smoke-free Program Manager of the South-east Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA), “studies show that vaping involves the inha-lation of nicotine at the same levels as ciga-rettes and can maintain nicotine addiction. It also increases one’s likelihood of developing cancers and cardiovascular diseases. Fetal and adolescent exposure to it has particularly adverse effects on brain development. These are just a few reasons why vaping must also be banned in all public places where smoking is also banned.”

Aren’t we getting enough polluted, toxic, air from our environment and illnesses and deaths from smoking tobacco that we have to acquire another habit to inhale more toxins and harm our body even greater? When do we stop being masochistic and self-destructive?

As for the “pushers” of vaping, I would sus-pect that they are the same mindless and un-conscionable sectors of our society, the greedy entrepreneurs and money-hungry politicians who supported and promoted the use of to-bacco, who would again financially profit from the misery their fellowmen will experience with vaping. Much like those who, historically, had pushed for tobacco use and also those now pushing to legalize recreational marijuana.

Vaping a safer alterntive? Going from ciga-rette smoking to vaping is just like jumping out of a frying pan on to the fire. It does not make sense. The only rational way to quit breathing in more toxic air from our present poison-contaminated atmosphere is to stop inhaling from another source of toxic chemicals, like in vaping.

This is just plain common sense. No doc-torate degree needed to understand this. Just

FilAm StarMarch 8 - 14, 2018 B5

Answers to this week’s Krosword on NEXT WEEK’S issue

Aries(Mar. 21- April 20) Help others solve their dilemmas. Don’t be too shy to promote your own interests. You can make adjustments in your domestic scene this week. Changes regarding your career direction will payoff handsomely.Your lucky day this week will be Sunday. Taurus(Apr. 21- may 21) You need to enjoy the company of those who enjoy the same pastimes. Take care of matters involving institutions or government agencies. You may find yourself changing crowds. Time to deal with institutional environments, government agencies, and matters of a private nature this week.Your lucky day this week will be Tuesday.

Gemini(May 22-June 21) You won’t get the reaction you want from your mate this week. Don’t let the erratic behavior of someone you live with interfere with your professional performance. Be cautious and use your head wisely in situations that deal with the use of machinery or vehicles. If they’re too demanding, reconsider this union.Your lucky day this week will be Sunday.

Cancer(June 22-July 22) You can prosper if you in vest in property or mutual funds. You could expand your circle of friends if you get involved in unusual activities. This could be a serious relation ship. Do not give your heart to someone who may not live up to your standards. Your lucky day this week will be Thursday.

Leo(July 23-Aug 22) Your energetic nature and ability to initiate projects will add to your popularity. Avoid being intimately involved with clients or colleagues. Not the best day for business trips. Don’t beat around the bush; state your case in plain and simple terms. Your lucky day this week will be Thursday. Virgo(Aug. 23 -Sept. 23) You should channel your efforts into getting rid of bad habits. You have been going through a period of change that has caused problems for you with your loved ones. Your partner may be erratic this week if you haven’t paid enough attention to him or her. You will be able to communicate well this week. Your lucky day this week will be Friday.

http://www.starlightastrology.comHOROSCOPE

KrosWord(Source: Classic Pilipino Krosword, as edited by Ramon S. Lorenzo)

Vatican to endorse porn?Health@Heart

PHILIP S. CHUA, MD, FACS, FPCS

health &lifestyle

Libra(Sept. 24 -Oct. 23) Don’t be too quick to react. Make your intentions perfectly clear and find out exactly what is expected of you. You’ll be an emotional basket case this week. Don’t take any comments too seriously. Unrealistic promises will only get you in trouble. Your lucky day this week will be Thursday.

Scorpio(Oct. 24 - Nov. 22) You need to concentrate on solving existing problems. You may not be happy if members of your family are not pulling their weight. The knowledge you have will enhance your reputation. Use your charm to get your own way. Your lucky day this week will be Monday.

Sagittarius(Nov. 23 -Dec. 21) Try not to hurt your partner’s feelings. Try to make amends by planning a nice dinner for two. Travel could turn out to be more exciting than you imagined. Tone down and put some of that hard earned cash into a safe, long-term investment.Your lucky day this week will be Sunday.

Capricorn(Dec 22.- Jan. 20) Try not to lend or borrow money or belongings this week. You will find that unfinished projects at home will be most satisfying. Your boss won’t be too thrilled if you leave things unfinished. Your sensitivity toward those you love will capture their hearts.Your lucky day this week will be Sunday.

Aquarius(Jan. 21.- Feb. 19) Don’t blame others for your own stubbornness. Travel will result in new romantic attractions. Your ideas may be a little ahead of their time; don’t push them, instead just continue working on development. Some time spent with that special someone should be your intent. Your lucky day this week will be Tuesday.

Pisces(Feb. 20-Mar. 20) Do not yield to children or relatives when they really don’t deserve it. Think twice before you agree to take on any new projects. Relationships will form if you get out and do things that you enjoy. You can’t always have your own way. Your lucky day this week will be Monday.

No link between the pill and depression, says new study

My daughter, who lives in California, asked me to explain why it’s bad to have a mirror facing you when you sleep.

She said she just bought a dresser with a mirror which faces the bed. She said she didn’t want the mirror installed because she would have nightmares, but her American husband wanted it included. So she just covered it at night. Her husband thinks it’s mere superstition to believe mirrors in the bedroom are bad.

I only know one reason why it’s considered bad to have a mirror facing the bed. It is connect-ed with the projection of our astral body when asleep, but I found a more detailed discussion of the subject online by a feng shui specialist named Victor Cheung in July 2017. Here’s a summary of his detailed presentation:

1. It depletes personal energy and creates sleeplessness.

This is because “the mirror doubles and bounces all sorts of energy. It disrupts the tran-quillity needed in a bedroom for better sleep.” I’m not sure if this is true, but no harm in complying.Nightmares

2. It brings nightmares.“When we sleep, our soul (i.e. astral body)

leaves the (physical) body. When the soul sees its own reflection, it gets startled, hence the bad dreams and nightmares… When the soul returns to the body, it may mistake the image in the mirror from the real body, hence the saying ‘soul-stealing.’” There is some evidence for the existence of the astral body, and that it travels out of the physical body during sleep.

3. You will be alarmed by movements.“According to the researchers at Washington

University School of Medicine in St. Louis, our eyes detect movement through a neural circuit in the retina at the back of our eyes.

“Our attention is naturally attracted to what-ever moves, whether they are in front of your eyes or in the corner of your eyes… So if you have a mirror next to you when you sleep, you will notice any movement from the mirror’s reflection.” This may be true only if there’s light in the room, and if your eyes are slightly open when asleep.

4. You may scare yourself.“When we suddenly wake up from sleep,

we might scare ourselves when we see our own reflection in the mirror.” This is possible.

5. Something green in color might be seen.“Because most mirrors are not ‘perfect mir-

rors,’ you may sometimes see a bit of green in the reflection. And this may startle you. Mirrors do not reflect the full spectrum of light.”

6. You may hear strange sounds.“Mirrors aren’t just for reflecting lights and

images, it is also for reflecting sounds… The sound is considered a type of ‘Qi’ in feng shui, and mirrors bounce the sound back into the room as opposed to just absorbing it.” And this may affect the quality of your sleep.How to remedy these problems:

“Just cover the mirror facing your bed with a cloth, so it doesn’t reflect you and your bed.”

As a last word of advice: Not all react the same way to having mirrors in their bedroom. If you are not bothered at all by a mirror facing your bed, you don’t have to do anything about it. As the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” (Jaime Licauco / inquirer.net)

ask any child in the kindergarten. Electronic cigarettes and other vaping

products would outsell tobacco in five years. Young people are especially attracted to this new mode of self-destruction and suicide.

While the old generation of the 1600s (when tobacco was first introduced in Brazil and England) and up to early1900s did not have the scientific information that tobacco was a factory of diseases and a killer of man, today’s youth, in this informational age, era of comput-ers, and world wide web, have tons of evidence-based data that vaping is no less health destruc-tive and is equally deadly than smoking.

Let’s review what smoking has done to people, which e-cigarettes and vaping would do, with equal impunity.

Smoking kills. It is that plain and simple. There is no more doubt today that tobacco (cigarette smoking) is the predominant cause of lung cancer, besides other malignancies and cardiovascular diseases that maim, kill men and women and hurt our society, especially our children. In the United States alone, almost half a million die each year from smoking-related illnesses. These are preventable deaths! Demo-graphic studies have shown that smokers are about 10 times more prone to die premature deaths than non-smokers. This unnecessary loss of lives is at an immense direct cost for non-smokers in terms of increased health risks from passive smoking, in higher health insurance premiums and taxes, not to mention personal and family tragedies in all shapes and forms.

As we have alluded to in a previous column, secondhand smoke is even more dangerous, equally fatal.

Tobacco use leads to four times as many excess deaths annually compared to all other drugs and alcohol abuse combined, ten times more than all automobile fatalities per year, twelve times more than deaths from AIDS, and much more than all the American military casu-alties (in all wars) in this century put together. That’s how dangerous and damaging tobacco is to the human body and to society as a whole.

Today, lung cancer has become the main killer among men and women. Since women started “really” smoking in the 1950s, “be-cause it was glamorized in ads by actresses and models as a sophisticated and fashionable habit,” lung cancer in females has increased at least six-fold, an alarming rate, with death rate comparable to that in males. Women also have added risks: osteoporosis, thrombophle-bitis (vein inflammation and blood clot forma-tion), arthritis, infertility, cervical cancer, and menstrual irregularities. Pregnant smokers face miscarriages, stillbirths, low-birth weight and SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) babies. Almost 30,000 female lives are snuffed out every year as a result of smoking. Of the 4 billion cigarette-related deaths in the world each year, about half a billion are women. It is now the top killer among women. Today, one woman dies from cigarette-related illness every three minutes!

Shall we look the other way and allow e-cigarette and vaping to replicate the pandemic of misery and deaths with tobacco?

Visit philipSchua.com Email: scalpel-pen@gmail.com

What’s wrong with having a mirror facing your bed?

New research has found that despite some women’s concerns, there is no link between hor-monal birth control and depression.

Carried out by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in the United

States, the team reviewed thousands of studies on the mental health effects of contraceptives, which included data on various birth control methods including injections, implants and pills.

They also looked at studies which specifically looked at the effects of hormonal birth control on postpartum women, adolescents and women with a history of depression.

However, in all cases the researchers came to the same conclusion: there is insufficient evidence to prove a link between birth control and depres-sion.

“Depression is a concern for a lot of women when they’re starting hormonal contraception, par-ticularly when they’re using specific types that have progesterone,” said Dr. Brett Worly, lead author of the study and OB-GYN at Ohio State Wexner Medi-cal Center. “Based on our findings, this side effect shouldn’t be a concern for most women, and they should feel comfortable knowing they’re making a safe choice.”

Worly noted that teens and pregnant moth-

ers sometimes have a higher risk of depression, however he added that this risk is already there and is not linked to their contraception.

“For those patients, it’s important that they have a good relationship with their healthcare provider so they can get the appropriate screening done, regardless of the medications they’re on,” advises Worly.

Worly stressed that if other patients are also worried about the potential side effects of the pill these concerns are also valid, and he encourages all women to have open conversations with their doctor to find the contraceptive option that is right for them.

“We live in a media-savvy age where if one or a few people have severe side effects, all of a sudden, that gets amplified to every single person,” he said. “The biggest misconception is that birth control leads to depression. For most patients that’s just not the case.”

Nearly 37 million women in the U.S. are currently using birth control. Sixty-seven percent of current users have chosen a non-permanent hormonal method such as an oral pill, however 30 percent have discontinued their use due to dissatis-faction with potential side effects. (inquirer.net)

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Matang nasuntokInuming nakalalangoUkitHulapiBaluktot ang likodIsla sa Southern Caribbean seaMadasalinPagpatong ng isang bagay

upang makabuo ng isang yunitSombraPritong saging na may arinaIsang barangay sa Tanza,CaviteTiliPagpukaw sa natutulogna damdamin

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PAHALANG

PABABA

NEW YORK, — Television viewers could barely stifle a yawn for Hollywood’s biggest night, with the Academy Awards plung-ing to a record-low viewership of 26.5 million people.

The Nielsen company said that’s a 20 percent drop from the

33 million who watched the 2017 show, which was also hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Oscar viewer-ship is often tied to the box office muscle of the big nominees, and best picture winner “The Shape of Water” only grossed $57.4 million in the United States.

FilAm StarB6 March 8 - 14, 2018

entertainmentOscar ratings plunge to record lowBaron Geisler detained in Angeles City for threatening in-law

ANGELES CITY – Actor Baron Geisler had been arrested and charged on Monday after-noon for threatening to kill his

brother-in-law with a kitchen knife, the police reported on Tuesday.

Geisler, 35, was taken into

police custody at 3:30 p.m. after a resident in Barangay Pulung Maragul called authorities to pacify the actor.

According to the police, the actor kicked the gate of Michael Robin Stone Morales, his sister’s husband, daring

him to come out. They live in neighboring apartments at Cruz Avenue.

Geisler posted a photo of his bruised face on Instagram on Saturday (Mar. 3), saying he was beaten up by a family member.

Morales said the actor was “totally drunk” when he barged into the room of Mo-rales’ wife and daughter as they were dressing up for a party on Friday (Mar. 2). Aside from hurting the feelings of Morales’ daughter, Geisler allegedly van-dalized their fence prompting him to confront the actor.

Geisler was charged for grave threats, alarm and scandal and illegal possession of a bladed weapon before the Angeles City prosecutor. Geisler has been detained at the police’s Station 3. (Tonette Orejas / inquirer.net)

Baron Geisler(Photo: www.cosmo.ph

What Liza Soberano wants to prove aside from being ‘just a beautiful face’Even as she took the top

spot in the “100 Most Beautiful Faces 0f 2017” list, Liza Sober-ano wants to be recognized for something more.

The Filipino-American actress and one-half of the LizQuen love team admitted that she’s not satisfied to be seen only as a pretty face.

“People always say that I’m just a beautiful face. So imme-diately, I knew what I wanted. I wanted to be recognized to be more than that,” she said in her interview with talk show host Boy Abunda in “Tonight With Boy Abunda”, which aired Monday.

She admitted that what she wanted in life is to make a name for herself. But to achieve this she said she knows she has to work hard in her TV projects and films.

“I have to work hard to show people that I’m more than what they see physically; that I’m talented, and that I care and have empathy for people,”

Soberano told Abunda. “Be-cause eventually, the beauty will go away. I will age and I won’t look the same as I do now and what legacy can I leave behind to everybody to make them remember me.”

Liza’s advice to Janella Salvador, Joshua Garcia

Soberano, who has long been friends with fellow Kapamilya stars Janella Sal-vador and Julia Barretto, also expressed her care for them through some love advice.

For Salvador, Soberano said it is important to “love herself” first. She explained, “Dapat kumpletuhin muna niya yung sarili niya (She should com-plete herself first). She should make herself whole before she loves somebody.” However, when asked about the real score between Salvador and Elmo Magalona, who are rumored to be a couple, Soberano said she does not know.

As for Barretto, Soberano told Abunda that her advice

is actually for Barretto’s love team partner Joshua Garcia. “‘Wag masyadong strikto (Don’t be too strict),” Soberano said with a smile. On the question of whether she approves of the actor for her friend Barretto, she said, “Whoever she’s happy with, I’m happy with as well.” (inquirer.net)

Liza Soberano(Photo: www.thefamouspeople.

com)

U.S. rapper discovers ‘deep, rich’ Asian cultures while making docu-seriesAmerican rapper Lupe Fiasco

is learning about Asia through his production company in Hong Kong, Studio SV, and a new do-cuseries, “Beat N Path.” Choosing China for the location of his new project was an easy choice, ac-cording to the hip-hop artist.

“In my adult life, it was like, ‘I want to go to China—I want to visit the people.’ So that’s the reason, personally,” he told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

“Studio SV … is me and my business partner and producer Bonnie Chan Woo,” elaborated Fi-asco, whose real name is Wasalu Muhammad Jaco. “It’s a company [for] digital content, TV and film production. ‘Beat N Path’ is our first production.” (It will air lo-cally on Kix, starting March 8, 9 p.m.)

The 2008 Grammy win-ner for best urban/alternative performance for the song “Day-dreamin’,” Fiasco said that he hopes that his company becomes a top content provider in Asia: “A lot of content is shifting from traditional television so we are focusing on social media, film and just any avenue that we can put ourselves in.”

Excerpts from the chat:How would you describe

your docuseries’ development? It was borne out of me going back and forth in Asia, thinking what I can teach you and also learn from Asian culture. And one of the things I did as a child and up to my teenage years was martial arts. My father was a martial arts master [who] trained hundreds of students all over Chicago. He always told us that if he had the opportunity, he would go back and learn at the source (Asia). So that became our focus. [Bon-nie and I] talked about the idea of putting something together … like, “What we can do here is experience different things and try to go to different masters and learn the different arts”—and we did it and put it all on camera.

What made doing the show in China easy for your team? It was very easy to shoot there. The people, the masters and the dif-ferent schools were very willing to kinda teach and show us foreign-ers their art.

What didn’t make it in the final edit? The first season is just three episodes but there’s a a lot of information, entertainment and emotions … We shot a lot of stuff, and there were many things that [weren’t included in] the show, which was very painful for

me (laughs).What interesting things are

you learning about Asian cul-tures? One thing I’ve learned is how deep, rich and overlapping they are. When you feel you’ve got one thing figured out, you learn that it’s really just the entry point to 15 other kinds of cultures.

In China, traveling through those places, you see the vast-ness, the richness of it. I don’t think anybody can figure out Asia. I think it’s … meant to be an everlasting kind of discovery, not only of the people and the culture, but also about yourself and how it affects you.

How would you describe the show biz industry when you started, and now? I started right before the internet. I got my first record out, I think in 2000, and there was no social media what-soever.

Now, people may be inter-ested in the music content but they also want to know what your personal life is [like] … what you are doing, what you are eating. As an artist, you should be very honest with yourself, about how you want to be positioned in this new era. (Oliver Pulumbarito / inquirer.net)

(Photo: www.playtech.co)

It’s the first time the Oscars have drawn fewer than 30 million people in Nielsen records that go back to 1974. The Academy Awards are often the most-watched television program of the year after the Super Bowl, but this year’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony from Pyeongchang reached 27.8 million.

The previous low-water mark for the Oscars came in 2008, when “No Country For Old Men” won best picture.

Only four years ago the Oscar reached nearly 44 million view-ers. The biggest Academy Awards audience on record came in 1998, when the blockbuster “Titanic” was named best picture.

The Academy Awards can keep bragging rights over other awards shows. The Golden Globes reached 19 million viewers in January and the Grammys had an audience of 19.8 million, Nielsen said. (inquirer.net)

FilAm StarMarch 8 - 14, 2018 B7

entertainment

LOS ANGELES, CA, March 5, 2018 – After nabbing finalist nods for its shows, “Discovering Routes” and “My Motto: Veterans Edition” at the 2018 Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival & Confer-ence, Myx TV, the leading English-language Asian American entertainment network, through “My Motto: Veterans Edition” was announced also as finalist in the Digital Media-Short Form category at the 2018 National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) Vision Awards, presented in partnership with NAMIC Southern California.

“My Motto: Veterans Edition” is a television special created in partnership with the national vet-erans campaign, Got Your 6, to honor Asian Pacific American veterans. The special was produced by Myx TV Digital Producer Diana Vergara and execu-tive produced by Myx TV General Manager Miguel Santos who was recently accepted as a voting member of the prestigious Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS or The Television Academy), the organization that presents the Primetime Emmy Awards, an annual ceremony honoring achievement in U.S. primetime television.

“My Motto: Veterans Edition” is going up against:Digital Media

- Short Form 30 for 30 Shorts: 24 Strong – ESPN

- Christine’s Story: Raising Awareness About Domestic Violence - NBC Asian American

- Local, USA: K-Town ’92: Reporters - World Channel

- My Motto: Veterans Edition - Myx TV- The NBC Latino 20 - NBC LatinoNAMIC is the premier organization focusing

on cultural diversity, equity, and inclusion in the communications industry. Its mission is to develop a pipeline of diverse talent from which the next generation of industry leadership will be selected.

It collaborates with industry partners to grow and nurture a workforce that reflects the cultural rich-ness of the populations served.

“For 25 years, NAMIC has been proudly recognizing achievements in multicultural pro-gramming,” Eglon E. Simons, president and CEO, NAMIC, was quoted in the NAMIC release. “We celebrate this year’s nominees and encourage their work advancing diversity on screen and behind-the-scenes.”

With an outstanding 16 nominations, HBO leads the contenders participating in this year’s NAMIC Vision Awards, according to the same NAMIC release. ABC and Starz earned seven nominations each, followed by ESPN garnering six. Overall, 31 networks/distributors generated 81 nominations for NAMIC Vision Awards presented in 17 categories: Animation, Best Performance – Comedy, Best Performance – Drama, Children’s, Comedy, Digital Media – Long Form, Digital Media – Short Form, Documentary, Drama, Foreign Language, Lifestyle, News/Informational, Original Movie or Special, Reality, Reality – Social Issues, Sports, and Variety/Talk Show. Original programs having aired from November 1, 2016 to November 30, 2017 were eligible for consideration.

Winners will be recognized in New York City on April 3, 2018 as part of The Multicultural TV Summit, an event exploring the business of target-ing segments for TV and video. For more informa-tion on the Multicultural Summit visit www.multi-culturaltvsummit.com . For a complete list of the 25th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards nominees, visit http://namic.com/visionawards/2018nominees/ .

Myx TV is a network owned and operated by ABS-CBN International, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation which is the largest Filipino media and entertainment network in the world. For more on Myx TV, visit https://myxtv.com/ .

GMA News pillar Jessica Soho is first-ever Filipino to be named as NYF Best News Anchor finalist

GMA News Pillar Jessica Soho marks another milestone in Philippine broadcast history, this time around becoming the very first Filipino news anchor to become a finalist at the prestigious New York Festivals Television & Film Awards.

Soho is shortlisted in the Best News Anchor category for GMA News TV’s flagship newscast State of the Nation with Jessica Soho (SONA).

Soho holds the distinction of being the coun-try’s most awarded broadcast journal-ist with nearly 300 local awards and more than 30 in-ternational awards to date.

She is also the first Filipina recipient of the highly acclaimed George Foster Peabody Award for her documen-taries on the illegal trade of kidneys and the harrowing plight of Filipino boxers. She is a 7-time recipient of the “Most Trusted News Presenter” award of Reader’s Digest Asia.

Known for giving depth and context to news headlines, State of the Nation with Jessica Soho remains one of the most trusted news programs on Philippine television today.

Over the years, SONA’s credibility in han-dling interviews has already caught the attention of foreign and local newsmakers. In 2013, Soho was the only media professional invited by the United Nations (UN) for a one-on-one interview with then UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon during his visit to the Philippines in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Yolanda.

SONA won a Silver Screen Award at the 2013 U.S. International Film and Video Festival (USIFVF) for its special coverage of the 2012 monsoon rains. A year before that, the evening

newscast took home the Certificate for Creative Excellence from the same award-giving body for its episode on the outcome of Typhoon Sendong.

In 2013, GMA Network’s coverage of Super Typhoon Yolanda—including that of SONA—won the prestigious George Foster Peabody Awards. The said award is considered as the Oscars of

broadcast and electronic journal-ism.

Soho also hosts the top-rating magazine show Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho and is the chief corre-spondent/ host of the investigative news magazine program Brigada.

Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho re-mains as the most-watched show on its time block, and at the same time is always one of the trending topics in the Philippines every Sunday night. Recent data gathered by the industry’s most-trusted ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audi-ence Measure-ment showed that KMJS was the most watched GMA program nationwide for the whole month of

February.In documentary program Brigada, on the

other hand, Soho leads the next generation of “Brigada” reporters as they discuss relevant sto-ries and issues.

A member of the GMA family throughout her career, Soho started as a news reporter cover-ing the military and defense beats. In 1991, her report on the hostage crisis in Cagayan Valley in northern Philippines earned a Bronze Award in the New York Film and Television Festival. She served as First Vice President for News Programs of GMA Network until 2014.

Myx TV’s “My Motto: Veterans Edition” named 2018 NAMIC Vision Awards finalist

Jessica Soho(Photo courtesy of GMA Pinoy TV)

Clockwise from top left: Myx TV General Manager Miguel Santos executive produced “My Motto: Veterans Edi-tion”; the show has been nominated in 2018 by Cynopsis Short Form Video Awards and NAMIC Vision Awards; Myx TV’s “My Motto: Veterans Edition” Digital Producer Diana Vergara, second from left, is shown with Team

Rubicon COO Art dela Cruz, comedian Thom Tran and National Veterans Foundation Women Veteran Outreach Coordinator Leaphy Kim whose stories were showcased in the NAMIC-nominated special. (Photos by Justin

Baker)

FilAm StarB8 March 8 - 14, 2018

‘Pilipinas Got Talent’ sexy girl group hits back at Angel Locsin; actress responds to slut-shaming accusation

There is nothing a good friend can’t help fix, and this is exactly the case between Mega Star Sharon Cuneta and Queen of All Media Kris Aquino.

Cuneta seemed to be in low spirits after her Rated K interview with Korina Sanchez, which aired on Sunday, was misinter-preted by some people, Cuneta said. The inter-view tackled her past flame Gabby Concep-cion and, according to Cuneta’s post a day ago, she thought what she said during the inter-view were all with good intentions. Cuneta did not name the person(s) who apparently misin-terpreted her interview.

“Akala ko ang ganda ganda ng ma sinabi ko sa interview ni Korina sa akin. Aba may baligtad ang pagkaka-interpret. Nakakalungkot. Akala ko makakabuti. Hindi pala,” wrote Cuneta in dismay. “Ang dami pang nangialam sa kabila. Nakakalo-ka. Akala ko pa naman matot-ouch siya. Aba mali ang akala ko. Nakakapanghinayang!”

(I thought what I said in my interview with Korina was beautiful. Turns out it was in-terpreted in the opposite. How saddening. I thought it was for the better. Apparently not. A lot of people from the other side were nosy, too. Crazy. I thought he would be touched. I was wrong. What a waste!)

Aquino, it seems, knew exactly how to cheer Cuneta up. Cuneta shared last night on In-stagram that whenever she and Aquino text or chat, she always lets her known how she is feel-ing because Aquino always asks her how she is.

“And in a way that makes

you feel like she really wants to know, not just to make conver-sations,” wrote Cuneta. “Last night and today, I just poured my heart out to her. Because I didn’t do anything wrong at all

and in fact expected a totally different reaction from certain people who watched the Rated K interview.”

Cuneta then shared that she woke up to a message from Aquino saying she sent some-thing to her and hoped it would make her feel better. The pack-age turned out to be fur Gucci loafers and a Gucci “Marmont’ velvet bag.

“When the packages arrived kasi not just one thing pala – my smile could’ve torn my cheeks up!”

It turns out, Cuneta had planned to buy the Gucci bag before but it was unfortunately out of stock. She also shared that back in the 1990s, the Gucci loafers were her “uniform of sorts,” with daughter KC also

owning a pair.“Right now, aside from my

fans, family, and other friends who love me, Kris has made me feel special. Much more than just ‘enough.’”

This sweet gesture remind-ed Cuneta yet again “to focus on those who love me, who think not only well but highly of me as a human being. Because in the end, they ARE the ones who matter the most.”

Meanwhile, it can be remembered that Cuneta also sent Aquino a designer gift her way a few days ago in the form of an Oscar dela Renta sweater. Aquino was then found gushing over Cuneta’s gift, which she called “simply BEYOND.”

“Thank you, my dearest Kris,” expressed Cuneta in gratitude. “Especially for the prayers you say for me more than once a day. Tons and tons of love always and big big hugs from your Ate S.” (Cody Cepeda / inquirer.net)

Sharon Cuneta receives pick-me-up gift from ‘baby girl’ Kris Aquino after heart-to-heart talk

(L-R) Kris Aquino and Sharon Cuneta(Photo: www. chisms.net)

entertainmentAn all-girl group appears to

be lashing out at Angel Locsin after she rejected their audition in a talent show.

The group called Playgirls danced in a carwash set up where they performed sexually suggestive moves.

The Playgirls during their audition on “Pilipinas Got Talent”. Image: Facebook/@pilipinasgottalent.pg

Locsin gave them a no on the grounds that she did not want them to be objectified. “Kung may talent kayo, ’yun ang ipakita niyo sa ’min dahil talent ang hinahanap namin dito, hindi katawan. Kaya ko kayo binuzz, ayaw kong ma-objectify kayo.”

(If you have talent, show it to us because that’s what we’re looking for, not bodies. I buzzed you because I don’t want you to be objectified.)

While the Playgirls mem-bers barely spoke in front of the judges — apart from Locsin, they include Robin Padilla, Vice Ganda and Freddie M. Garcia — they had much to say on social media, as reflected on Facebook accounts appearing to be theirs.

Camsi Sierra, the most vocal of the four during the audi-tion said in her Facebook post, “Walanjo bakit umiyak yun? Pasalamat ka nga nagbra at panty pa kami. Ikaw nga diyan nag-Darna, may nude picture ka pa na halos hubad na. Buti sa balat namin concern ka sa sarili mong balat wala.”

(Why did she cry? You should be thankful that we wore a bra and panty. You played the role of Darna, you have a nude photo where you’re nearly naked. Good thing you’re con-cerned about our skin when you aren’t about yours.)

Locsin played Darna in the 2005 GMA Network TV series; the superhero is known for her body-baring costume.

Camsi also claimed that the concept came from those behind

the show: “Kaya nga carwash ang concept e alangan mag-pyja-ma at jacket kami. Hindi ka ata nabrief ng ‘PGT’ na sila nagcon-tact samin at sila din nagbigay ng concept. Tanong-tanong muna ateng bago magsalita.”

(That’s why the concept was carwash, as if we’d wear pyja-mas or a jacket. “PGT” doesn’t seem to have briefed you; they were the ones who contacted us and gave the concept. Ask first before speaking.)

Yuna Love Lee wrote in a now-deleted post, “Makapag-salita akala mo naman di siya nagsuot ng sexy… Nung nag-Darna nga siya naka bra’t panty lang din siya. Buti nga may suot pa kaming damit eh. Hahaha yoko na! Sana pala nagbestida nalang kame.” (She talks as if she’s never worn something sexy… When she was Darna she was only in a bra and panty. At least we were wearing clothes. Whatever! We should’ve worn dresses instead.)

Darlene Domingo said in a post that has been taken down, “Iniyak mo e! Easy lang mga bashers. Hindi naman kami naghubad sa PGT.” (You cried about it! Take it easy, bashers. We didn’t strip down on PGT.)

However, Domingo has since apologized on behalf of the women on her Facebook page. She stated, “Kung anuman mga sinabi ng kagrupo ko pag pasen-syahan n’yo na lang po. Bilang kagrupo nila, ako na po ang humihingi ng dispensa ..sorry po lahat ng bashers namin.”

(Whatever my group mem-bers said, I apologize for them. As their group member, I ask for forgiveness. Sorry to all our bashers.)Locsin accused of slut-shaming

Locsin’s concern seemed not only to be on their wardrobe choice but that they could be perceived as sexual objects.

While some netizens agreed with her point, some interpreted

her opinion as slut-shaming.A netizen, @dmraesguerra,

via Twitter said, “if @143redan-gel were really there to empower women such as Playgirls, she could’ve refrained herself from slut shaming. It’s their body after all; and they loved and are proud of what they did.”

Locsin responded, “There is no such thing as a ‘slut’ or ‘non-slut.’ There are WOMEN.”GABRIELA lauds Locsin

Women’s rights group Gabriela applauded the ac-tress’ move to speak up for the women.

They said in a statement, “GABRIELA commends movie/television star Angel Locsin for her firm stance against the objectification of women as exemplified by her recent state-ment in a local talent show on national TV.”

“Women’s objectification is widespread because it brings in huge corporate and private profit. It is also a profitable endeavor for unscrupulous poli-ticians who use women’s bodies to gain favor from powerful figures or entities or to trivialize pressing social issues by using sex as entertainment.”

Incidentally, the dance group is the same one, albeit with different members, that performed in a Liberal Party event last 2015. It was thrown by then Metropolitan Manila De-velopment Authority (MMDA) chair Francis Tolentino. The controversial performance, al-legedly a “birthday gift,” led him to resign from the political party and as MMDA chairperson.

“We call on more public personalities like Ms Locsin to use their power to influ-ence public opinion to promote women’s rights,” Gabriela appealed. “[S]omething that is badly needed particularly today amidst the misogyny wantonly being displayed by the highest officials of the land.” (Nina V. Guno / inquirer.net)